Mourning to dancing

We're going to sing a song called He's Turned My Morning Into Dancing, which we sang the other Saturday night, and I think we've sung it once here before. We haven't got an overhead projector, I'm afraid, but I know the youth group know it, so I'm expecting them to sing loudly. But there is a bit later on in the song which we'll get you to join in, okay? The reason He's Turned Our Morning Into Dancing, I'd just like to read you some verses.

From Galatians, it says, Jesus died so that by our believing we could receive the spirit that God promised. In Ephesians, it says, In Christ we are set free by the blood of his death, and so we have forgiveness of sins. How rich is God's grace, which he has given to us fully and freely.

And again, in Ephesians, it says, In Christ we can come before God with freedom and without fear. We can do this through faith in God. So that's good enough reason for me, anyway.

The gift of salvation that he's given us to be happy. And He's turned my morning into dancing. He's turned my morning into dancing again.

He's lifted my sorrow. I can't stand. I must sing for His joy has come.

He's turned my morning into dancing again. He's lifted my sorrow. I can't stay silent.

I must sing for His joy has come. He's turned my morning into dancing again. He's lifted my sorrow.

And I can't stay silent. I must sing for His joy has come. Where there once was only hurt, He gave His healing hand.

Where there once was only pain, He broke comfort like a friend. I feel the sweetness of His love piercing my darkness. I feel the bright of morning star as it ushers in His joyful gladness.

He's turned my morning into dancing again. He's lifted my sorrow. And I can't stay silent.

I must sing for His joy has come. He's turned my morning into dancing again. He's lifted my sorrow.

And I can't stay silent. I must sing for His joy has come. Where there once was only hurt, He gave His healing hand.

Where there once was only pain, He broke comfort like a friend. I feel the sweetness of His love piercing my darkness. I feel the bright of morning star as it ushers in His joyful gladness.

He's turned my morning into dancing again. He's lifted my sorrow. And I can't stay silent.

I must sing for His joy has come. He's turned my morning into dancing again. He's lifted my sorrow.

And I can't stay silent. I must sing for His joy has come. Okay, this is the bit where we can all join in.

And all I want you to do is to repeat after me what I sing. You'll find that the rest of the group will repeat what you sing. So if you'd like to stand up.

He's turned my morning into dancing. He's turned my morning. He's lifted my sorrow.

Okay, well that's not bad. But I can't see anybody smiling yet. Or clapping.

So we'll try it one more time. He's turned my morning into dancing. He's turned my morning.

He's lifted my sorrow. Now He's turned my morning into dancing. Into dancing.

He's turned my morning. He's turned my morning. He's lifted my sorrow.

He's lifted my sorrow. I feel the sweetness of His love piercing my darkness. I see the bright and morning sun as it ushers in His joyful gladness.

He's turned my morning into dancing again. He's lifted my sorrow. And I can't stay silent.

I must sing for His joy has come. He's turned my morning into dancing again. He's lifted my sorrow.

I can't stay silent. I must sing for His joy has come. da da dee da da da dee Okay, let's turn to a more traditional song.

Come on and celebrate... which is number 99, and we are going to sing this today, because we've got lots to celebrate. Celebrate, it's the year of love, we'll celebrate, the son of God, the love of God. It's time to praise our King, giving us joy like never before.

We give you our offering, in celebration praise. Come on and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate and sing, celebrate and sing to the King. Come on and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate and sing, celebrate and sing to the King.

Come on and celebrate, the gift of God we celebrate, the Son of God who loved us, and gave us life. Let's shout, go praise the King, give Him the joy that He has to bring, we'll give to You our offering in celebration and praise. Come on and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate and sing, celebrate and sing to the King.

Come on and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate and sing, celebrate and sing to the King. Come on and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate and sing to the King. In the midst of the darkness shining, in the midst of the darkness shining, Jesus, light of the world, shine upon us, set us free by the truth in our ways, oh, shine on me, shine on me.

Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father's glory, let His spirit reign, set our hearts on fire. Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord placed in heaven... Send forth Your Word, Lord, and let there be light. We gaze on Your Kingly liken, So our faith to display Your liken.

Ever changing from glory to glory, We would give our lives for Your story. Shine on me, shine on me. Shine, Jesus, shine, Fill this land with the Father's glory.

Face to face, send our hearts on high. Glory of Lord, Lord, foundation, With praise and blessing. Send forth Your Word, Lord, and let there be light.

Shine, Jesus, shine, Fill this land with the Father's glory. Face to face, send our hearts on high. Glory of Lord, Lord, foundation, With praise and blessing.

Send forth Your Word, Lord, and let there be light. The city of our God, the joy of our life, Is the glory, the glory, and the victory. He aims us against the enemy.

We bow down all on knees. And, Lord, we want to lift Your Name on high. And, Lord, we want to thank You For the glory You have in our eyes.

And, Lord, we trust in Your unfailing love. For You are our God eternal, You are heaven and heaven above. Great is the glory of our God.

The city of our God, the joy of our life, Is the glory, the glory, and the victory. Is the glory, the glory, and the victory. He aims us against the enemy.

We bow down all on knees. And, Lord, we want to lift Your Name on high. And, Lord, we want to thank You For the glory You have in our eyes.

And, Lord, we trust in Your unfailing love. For You are our God eternal, You are heaven and heaven above. And, Lord, we want to lift Your Name on high.

And, Lord, we want to thank You For the glory You have in our eyes. And, Lord, we trust in Your unfailing love. For You are our God eternal, You are heaven and heaven above.

Please be seated. So how do you turn your mourning into dancing? Your sorrow into joy? Imagine you were like those ancient Hebrews Whose story is recorded in Psalm 137. By the rivers of Babylon we sat and we wept When we remembered Zion, that is, Jerusalem.

There on the poplars we hung our harps. There our captors asked us for songs, Our tormentors demanded songs of joy. They said, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How can we sing the songs of the Lord While in a foreign land? If I forget your Jerusalem, May my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. But you move on from the book of Psalms To almost, but not quite, the last book of the Old Testament.

That is the prophecy of Zechariah. And here to the same people is written An injunction which changes the circumstances completely. The 18th verse of Zechariah chapter 8 says, The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

This is what the Lord Almighty says, The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months Will become joyful and glad occasions And happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love, truth, and peace. What does the average person think about religion? The religious individual.

How is he conceived? What is the cartoon picture of such a person? Well, doer, somber, miserable, Or maybe an elderly person, And it's forgivable if they go religious Because, well, they've just got a few years to study for their finals. But what a travesty. What a libel on the definition of religion As found in the Old Testament And the New for both testaments Really constitute one book With exactly the same message And like a rivulet flowing through the Old Testament And into the New Testament There is this repeated definition of religion.

Religion is something that brings joy and gladness. True religion is something that brings happiness. Jesus said, I have come that your joy may be full.

And there's one of the great hymns of yesteryear Which says, if of Zion's holy city I through grace a member am Solid joys and lasting treasure None but Zion's children know. In other words, the characteristic of those who belong to God Who are citizens of Jerusalem, so to speak Is this, they know solid joy. And here in the Old Testament You find a remarkable example Of people whose mourning, whose sorrow Turns into jubilation and ecstasy.

The book of Psalms There are the Hebrews away from Israel And they are sorely distressed They remember Jerusalem And they recall the reason why they are exiles From that holy city Is because of their crass disobedience. You see, you can listen to the Gospel. God will bring His Jeremiah's He'll bring His Isaiah's He did in the Old Testament He does in New Testament times too He does in the modern century.

And if you do not respond to what those men and women of God have to say Then you've only yourself to blame If you find yourself in despondency A state of utter and crass despair. Sing a song. How can you sing with a broken heart? How can you sing when your memory is filled with nostalgia When you think of the days that were past The wasted opportunities The brokenness of your life.

So what do you do in such a condition? You go off your food. And sometimes the distaste of food Becomes concentrated in specific periods Or specific occasions As far as the Jewish calendar was concerned And they had their days of fasting When they were in exile. They fasted because Jerusalem had been ransacked.

Fast one. They fasted because the temple had been destroyed. The second fast referred to in Zechariah.

They fasted because one of the Jews Had been dealt with in a treacherous fashion. They fasted because of the state of the city At that particular time. Four days of fasting are referred to in Zechariah And yet the Lord says Those days of fasting actually can be changed From days of fasting into days of jubilation.

What is the reason? What changes the attitudes of these people? What has happened? Well, what changed the prodigal In the New Testament story? Because in the Old Testament You get anticipations of that remarkable account That Jesus gave of someone who blew it And found himself in a sorrowful condition Not wanting to take down his guitar And sing a few songs either. What brought the prodigal by? What caused the nation of Israel to change In its whole attitude? Well, they returned to Jerusalem. Seventy years had gone by Seventy years of exile Seventy years of national disgrace and punishment.

I'll tell you something You can never have your mourning Turned into dancing And your sorrow into joy. Unless you acknowledge That the experiences through which you've gone Are as a result of your disobedience. You see, the change that comes in the book of Zechariah Is not because God is dishing out indiscriminate blessings He tells the people that those four fasts Can be turned into occasions of rejoicing Because they have acknowledged That the sins that they have committed as a nation Are as a result of their own folly.

You can never enter into the joys of Christianity Until first of all you have gone through the experience Of turning your back on your sin Your sin has become distasteful in your mouth In your experience. What is more When those Jews returned from Babylon It wasn't because of anything that they had done They were released because of God's sovereign pleasure And I want to say this about you If you have come to the Lord Jesus Or if you are in the process of coming to Him It's not because of anything that you have done There is no work that you can achieve That would cause you to be released from your Babylon From your judgment It is only as a result of the grace of God The nation of Israel should have perished in Babylon Their name should have been obliterated from the history books The prodigal should never return from the swinging cities Where he had exploited the wealth of his father And neither should you or I have the right To come into the presence of God And to become a member of the city of Zion Were it not for this That God in His grace has moved out And reached us and liberated us Why was this fasting turned into feasting Why did this sorrow and despondency Become joy and elation Because God had taken away The reason for the punishment He had dealt with the sins of the nation You see, as I said before The Jews would never have returned Had it not been for the grace of God Why did Jesus come on earth? Well, He came to, quote His words To bring freedom to those who were captive He came for those who were sick Not for those who considered themselves to be healthy How did Jesus conclude His life? Well, He went to the cross He was killed, no He wasn't actually killed in terms of Someone plundering His life, taking it from Him He offered His life up As a sacrifice for what? For your sin and for my sin In other words, as God dealt with the nation's sin In the Old Testament day And enabled them to be liberated from Babylon And brought back to Zion So God has dealt with our sins In Jesus Christ God taking the initiative Not one son of Benjamin Who came back to Jerusalem in the days of Zechariah Could have said, I have got what I deserve Or He could have said, I have received The grace of God And don't you see that when they returned to Jerusalem In the days of Zechariah's prophecy They were still holding on To the thought that God was not through with them You see, you go around the city And what do you find? Well, the temple is still in a state of acute disrepair They've returned to a city that they own But it's only a shadow of what it had been But they believe that if God had released them from The land of bondage of Babylon And brought them back God could not only conserve their present But He could preserve the future And make them to be a great nation once again And don't you understand my friend That when you come limpingly to the church Not conceived in terms of a building But in terms of a spiritual organization The men and women who too have confessed Jesus Christ As Lord and Saviour It's not at this moment a glorious church There are those within it who are faltering Many of us who are feeble We're trying to do our best within the grace of God But we're not what we shall eventually be But we believe that if God has brought us back into His Zion If His Son bled and died to save us The day will come when the church shall be glorious The day will come when our Lord Jesus shall return And when He shall instigate and institute His reign On this earth And Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Doth its successive journeys run His kingdom will stretch from shore to shore His people shall be glorious And reflect His image So here is Zechariah And the people in his day And he speaks anticipating In a fashion of anticipation Of all that is yet to be As far as Jerusalem is concerned But at this moment He reminds them of what the Lord has done He has turned the fasts of the 4th And the 5th and the 7th And the 10th months Into fasts Into feasts where there is joy And thanksgiving Into glad occasions And happy festivals for Judah And Zechariah underlines The summary of all his preaching And the preaching of all the prophets And the preaching of our Lord Jesus Therefore, love truth And peace Can He turn your mourning Into rejoicing? Yes If you acknowledge as the ancient Hebrews did The folly of your sin Can you bank upon Him to receive you? Well, He has received other sinners Down the centuries He has done remarkable things In history Is it really the truth that God wants you to be happy? And the answer is yes He doesn't just want you to be happy He commands you to be happy But this happiness does not result from you using religion as your crutch Sometimes a psychiatrist will deal with religion in this fashion It will help if you sort of roll yourself upon A possible eternal principle and believe that out there There's a good benevolent force Alcoholics Anonymous Society for whom I've got great respect They tend to do the same thing But you can't use religion quite like that Not the Christian religion God wants you to know the fullness of joy God wants to break into your heart And into your life And for you to move out from this tabernacle Having embraced Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour Not leaning on God as a prop Not using religion like you might use a bottle of medicine Or take some sedative God wants you to know solid joys And lasting treasure The solid faith of those Old Testament Hebrews Was built on the fact that God released them from Babylon And brought them back to the land of promise It was based on the historic dealings of God And the Christian gospel is the same It's based not just on the whim of good psychology It's not based on pure fancy It's based on the fact that God in history moved into this world In the person of our Lord Jesus Who died one day on the cross for your sin and for my sin And when you've seen the horror of your sin When you've realized the enormity of your folly You can move from the mourning to the rejoicing From the sorrow to the ecstasy He loved me, gave himself for me My future is certain I'm not what I will be But I'm not what I was I'm part of the people of God And I have a right because of God's grace To rejoice in what he has done for me So tonight my friend We take down our harp from the willow And we sing our praise And we make known our faith As we glory in the goodness of our God Who has loved us with an everlasting love And shown us that love Through Jesus Christ our Lord Number 158 For Thou, O Lord For Thou art higher above all the earth Thou art exalted far above all the earth Thou art exalted far above all the earth I exalt Thee O Lord O Lord For Thou, O Lord Art higher above all the earth Thou art exalted far above all the earth For Thou, O Lord Art higher above all the earth Thou art exalted far above all the earth O Lord O Lord Number 67 Breathe on me breath of God Let's sing this as a prayer together Breathe on me breath of God Let me live with joy That I may love what Thou dost love And do what Thou wouldst do Breathe on me, breath of God, Until my heart is pure. Until we meet, I will, one will, To do and to endure.

Breathe on me, breath of God, Till I am wholly Thine. Until these lonely paths oblique, Those rivered paths divine. Breathe on me, breath of God, So shall I ever die.

Lord, live with me the perfect life Of my eternity. Of my eternity. Then just put your hands out in front of you and just expect to receive from him.

Father, some of us here do need your help in loving what you love. Whatever that means for each one of us. Whether it's a course of action, a person, or just something that's good, that you're pointing out to us, which we're finding it difficult to accept and embrace.

If that's you, just hold out your hands and ask for this breath of the Holy Spirit, that he will help you to love something that he loves, that he loves in your life. Some here face a new start in life and are a little bit fearful, and the unknown is always a bit scary, isn't it? And if you're in that position and you just want the breath of the Holy Spirit particularly upon you for the future, put out your hands and ask him to breathe on you. Some here need a touch in their own body particularly.

I'll pray for you, but perhaps again you'd like to put out your hands to receive from the Lord. Father, we thank you that your Spirit comes into our lives at every level. And for those who particularly are ill and for those who perhaps are worried about sickness at this time, we pray Holy Spirit for you to breathe on them, to bring peace of mind and a security in the love of God.

But also we would ask Holy Spirit for that breath of yours which brings health to our bodies. Father, we claim this blessing too through our Lord Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. So Father, thank you for the privilege of worshipping you and remembering your Son this evening.

May we all go out joyful into this week knowing your love in our lives. And Father, may it be so that other people notice your joy in us this week and ask us to account for that. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

It's good to have you here again this evening. You're welcome to join us for coffee and tea out the back and we'd like to chat to you and get to know you better. If you'd like to join a home group, you'd be very welcome to do that.

Just come and see me or somebody on the desk and we'll put you in touch with a group of people who meet locally in your area of the town where you can get to know a little bit more and pray along with. Good night and may God bless you.