“For the Joy of the Lord is your Strength”

1. “For the Joy of the Lord is your Strength” Nehemiah 8:10

2. “Father Knows Best” by Pastor Fee Soliven Proverbs 23:22-25 Sunday Morning June 16, 2013

3. Proverbs 23:22-25 22 Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. 24 The father of

4. the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him. 25 Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.

5. Nurture: as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, means “to supply with nourishment; to educate; or to further the development of.”

6. 1. Our Heavenly Father nurtures us by comforting us when we are troubled.

7. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

8. 2 Corinthians 7:6 "Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast..."

9. John 14:27-28 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.

10. Psalm 119:49-51 (New Living Translation) 49 Remember your promise to me; it is my only hope. 50 Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my troubles. 51 The proud hold me in utter contempt, but I do not turn away from your instructions.

11. 2. Our Heavenly Father nurtures us through His tender care.

12. Isaiah 49:15-16 15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.

13. Matthew 9:35-36 35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes,

14. He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

15. James 5:11 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord--that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

16. Matthews 10:28-31 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.

17. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

18. 3. Our Heavenly Father us by providing for our needs.

19. Nehemiah 9:15-23 15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, And brought them water out of the rock for their thirst, And told them to go in to possess the land Which You had sworn to give them. 16 "But they and our fathers acted proudly, Hardened their necks,

20. And did not heed Your commandments. 17 They refused to obey, And they were not mindful of Your wonders That You did among them. But they hardened their necks, And in their rebellion They appointed a leader To return to their bondage. But You are God, Ready to pardon,

21. Gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, Abundant in kindness, And did not forsake them. 18 "Even when they made a molded calf for themselves, And said, 'This is your god That brought you up out of Egypt,' And worked great provocations, 19 Yet in Your manifold mercies You did not

22. forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, To lead them on the road; Nor the pillar of fire by night, To show them light, And the way they should go. 20 You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, And did not withhold Your manna from their

23. mouth, And gave them water for their thirst. 21 Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, They lacked nothing; Their clothes did not wear out And their feet did not swell. 22 "Moreover You gave them kingdoms and nations, And divided them into districts. So

24. they took possession of the land of Sihon, The land of the king of Heshbon, And the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You also multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, And brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers To go in and possess.

25. Matthew 6:25-34 25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor

26. gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?   28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

27. 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying,

28. 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?‘ 32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

29. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

30. Isaiah 40:29-31 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their

31. strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

32. 4. Our Heavenly Father nurtures us through personal instruction.

33. John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you..."

34. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

35. 5. Our Heavenly Father nurtures us through encouragement.

36. Romans 15:4 "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope"

37. 1 Peter 2:1-3 1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

38. "desire the pure milk of the word"

39. 6. Our Heavenly Father nurtures us through loving discipline.

40. Hebrews 12:5-11 (New Living Translation) 5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?* He said, “My child,* don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. 6 For the Lord disciplines those he loves,

41. and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”* 7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that

42. you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?* 10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew

43. how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

44. 1. Why should believers not lose heart when our Heavenly Father disciplines them?

45. Hebrews 12:5-7 5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children?* He said, “My child,* don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. 6 For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”*

46. 7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?

47. 2. What purpose does our Heavenly Father have for disciplining His children?

48. Hebrews 12:10 10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.

49. 3. What does discipline ultimately yield?

50. Hebrews 12:11 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.