Friday, April 29, 2011

SACRED CELEBRATION

I'm thinking that when you hear the word, "Celebrate", this song might pop into your mind:


If that's the case, AWESOME!!! This is probably one of the main songs that I hear at every wedding reception, because of the fact that it's a celebration.  So we celebrate there.  We celebrate at sporting events, graduations and special events.  We celebrate over new births, first steps and the first time that your kid goes pee pee in the potty (can you tell I'm a dad?).  But when we get to the church building, what happens? We get more serious because it's a sacred time.  But what makes it sacred? Is it sacred because of our attitude or because of the God who is present? So, if it is the presence of God that makes something sacred, maybe we are missing out on the sacredness of celebration.

And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. — Deuteronomy 12:7, ESV


And you shall rejoice BEFORE the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. — Deuteronomy 12:12, ESV


The response, in the book of Ezra, to the foundation of the house of the LORD being finished (just the foundation mind you), was this:

And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.  But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. — Ezra 3:11b-13, ESV


CHRISTIANS: We should be the professionals of celebrating.  We have so much to celebrate.  And the truth of the matter is this: to celebrate is a good thing, but to celebrate in the presence of Jesus is truly sacred.

FLOOD FAMILY CONTINUE READING...
To keep in step with this, we will be having a party this Wednesday night, May 4th.  We will meet at 7:00 just like every week.  We will be worshipping Jesus through our praise time, prayer, and the study of the Bible.  And then we have a time of baptism.  This is always a crazy time.

After all of this, we are going to have a party to celebrate Jesus for the people that have surrendered to him since January here at FLOOD, and to celebrate with those who get baptized that night.

So here's what you need to do: come ready to celebrate.  Come ready to PARTY!!! For the baptism time, bring signs congratulating those who get baptized.  Bring noise makers and come ready to shout so loud that all of Pomona hears us.  We are going to sacredly celebrate all that Jesus has been doing.  And a bonus: we will have us some birthday cake.

Come this Wednesday night to FLOOD, ready to worship Jesus through celebration.  Bring people with you to witness the celebration that we have in Jesus.  Bring people who don't know Jesus as I bring them a message of hope that is only found in Jesus.  This is going to be an unbelievable night.  I am so excited.  I hope you are too.  See you there.

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