3rd Sunday of Advent:

“Christmas Joy ”

“Joy” in the O.T. * Job - 9 times (Joy in suffering)

* Psalms - 56 times (God brings joy & light)

* Proverbs - 15 times (Wise seek godly joy)

* Esther - 7 times (Joy, though in Exile)

* Isaiah - 29 times (Joyful future with God)

* Jeremiah - 12 times (Weeping turns to joy)

Deut. 16: 14-15 14 Be joyful at your Feast—you, your sons and

daughters, your menservants and maidservants,

and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.

15 For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will

choose. For the LORD your God will bless you

in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands,

and your joy will be complete.

Psalm 28:7“The LORD is my strength

and my shield;    my heart trusts in him,

and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy andI will give thanks to him in

song.”

Psalm 94: 17-1917 Unless the LORD had given me

help,    I would soon have dwelt

in the silence of death. 18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,”    your love, O LORD, supported me.

19 When anxiety was great within me,

   your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Psalm 126: 5-65 “Those who sow in tears

   will reap with songs of joy. 6 He who goes out weeping,

   carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy,    carrying sheaves with him.”

Isaiah 51:3 The LORD will surely comfort Zion

   and will look with compassionon all her ruins;

he will make her deserts like Eden,    her wastelands like

the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in

her,    thanksgiving and the sound of

singing.

Isaiah 51:11The ransomed of the LORD will

return.    They will enter Zion with singing;

   everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

   and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 52: 9-109 “Burst into songs of joy together,

   you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his

people,    he has redeemed Jerusalem.

10 The LORD will lay bare his holy arm

   in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth

will see the salvation of our God.”

Isaiah 60: 4-54 “Lift up your eyes and look about

you:    All assemble and come to you;

your sons come from afar, andyour daughters are carried on the

arm. 5 Then you will look and be radiant,  your heart will throb and swell with

joy”

Jeremiah 31: 3-43 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:

   “I have loved you with an everlasting love;

   I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

4 I will build you up again    and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines

   and go out to dance with the joyful.”

Nehemiah 12:43“And on that day they offered

great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great

joy. The women and children also

rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem

could be heard far away.”

Habakkuk 3: 17-1917 Though the fig tree does not bud

   and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails

   and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen

   and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

   I will be joyful in God my Savior.  19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;

   He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,    He enables me to go on the heights.

Joel 1:12“The vine is dried up

   and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm

and the apple tree—    all the trees of the field—are dried

up. Surely the joy of mankind

   is withered away.”

Luke 1: 46-50 46 And Mary said:    

“My soul glorifies the Lord  47 and my spirit rejoices

in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of

the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me

— holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends

to those who fear him,    from generation to

generation.”

Luke 2: 8-9

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Luke 2: 10-12

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2: 15-16

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”  16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

Luke 2: 17-20

17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”

Matthew 2: 9-10

9 “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east

went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.

10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

Matthew 2:11

11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures

and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”

Luke 15: The “Lost” Chapter

Lost Sheep - “joyfully puts it on his shoulders”

“rejoice with me”“more rejoicing in Heaven”

Lost Coin - “rejoice with me” “more rejoicing in presence of

angels”

Lost Son - “Let’s have a feast and celebrate!”

“We had to celebrate and be glad”

John 15:11

“I have told you this so that my

joy may be in you and that your

joy may be

complete.”

John 16:2222 So with you:

Now is your time of grief,

but I will see you again

and you will rejoice, and no one will take

away your joy.”

James 1: 2-32 “Consider it pure joy,

my brothers, whenever you face

trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops

perseverance.”

1 Peter 1: 8-98 “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him

now,you believe in him and are filled with

an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your

faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Matthew 13:44“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it,

he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that

field.”

3rd Sunday of Advent:

“Christmas Joy ”

“Doxology”Jude 1: 24-25

 24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you

before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the

only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord,

before all ages, now and forevermore!

Amen.