We are entering into the holiday season. This is truly a time to celebrate.
What are you thankful for this year?
These are things worth celebrating
Think about it…
We have survived COVID, everyone survived, and all the dire predictions about the disease and its variants
We made it through all the gossip and nasty talk
We have made it through a difficulty with schools all of last year.
As a church we made it through physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and especially spiritually.
We are still a family
We still live in the greatest country in the world
We have everything we need
God is still in control
We are growing to become more like Jesus
Hopefully because of seeking the Lord during the fast and that COVID is more under control, you are more at peace and less stressed
When the Lord does great things for us or we are grateful knowing He is doing to do great things for us, it is time to celebrate
2 Samuel 6:12-19
Then King David was told, “The LORD has blessed Obed-edom’s household and everything he has because of the Ark of God.” So David went there and brought the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the City of David with a great celebration. 13 After the men who were carrying the Ark of the LORD had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. 15 So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the LORD with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.
Michal’s Contempt for David
16 But as the Ark of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she was filled with contempt for him.
17 They brought the Ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the special tent David had prepared for it. And David sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD. 18 When he had finished his sacrifices, David blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 19 Then he gave to every Israelite man and woman in the crowd a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people returned to their homes.
David, at around 999 BC, recognized blessings come to the Lord’s people when the Lord is present. He knew to celebrate because of God’s presence being restored
For all of us, because of the Holy Spirit God’s presence is with us always. We should expect great things and celebrate daily but especially on the times we set aside to celebrate. The Psalmist encourages us to celebrate daily
Psalm 118:24
This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.
When Solomon completed the temple, a physical place for the manifest presence of God he called all the people to celebrate not only the festival that was planned but an additional 7 days
1 Kings 8:65,66
At that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days—fourteen days. 66 On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that the LORD had done for His servant David, and for Israel His people.
Celebrations remind us to be thankful for people, blessing, or just life
We are…
- reminded to be thankful
- Reminded all that we have come from God
- Reminded that the only things that last in life are the relationships we have
- Reminded of God’s goodness toward us
We need to choose to celebrate and as we head into this holiday season, I want to encourage you to celebrate not necessarily with stuff but celebrate the goodness of the Lord in your life, Celebrate the people the Lord has brought into your life.
The Jews celebrated, many days, by God’s instruction days to remember his goodness, blessings, the harvest, His deliverance and they celebrated with food, prayer, music, and dancing all because the Lord encouraged them to do so….Psalm 150 gives us an example and encouragement to celebrate
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!
There is joy in celebration, there is a moment however brief when all the problems of the world fad away. There is a way the Lord meets us when we gather together as families to remember and celebrate…Jesus gave us this promise
John 15:11,12
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Jesus had just told the disciples about resting and being in Him always. Learning to allow Him to be in control and watch the fruit just come through us and He promised if we do we can always have joy and part of the way that comes about is by loving each other.
When we remember the blessings we have been given, life, love, family, food, a roof over our heads it is easy to celebrate and that celebration can either be the impetus of joy or joy can be the impetus of the celebration
We have gone through so much over the last year and ½ that we need to choose to celebrate, to dance, to sing to laugh, to love together
Solomon wrote these words in Ecclesiastes 3
4) A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
13) …..every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.
Please take time with friends and family this week and this season to shake off all of the heaviness and to remember the goodness of the Lord, to celebrate his goodness. Give yourself a break from the mourning, weights, sadness, hurt, brokenness to remember God has got this and he truly loves you!