Celebration Time

INTRODUCTION

SLIDE #1

• How many of you are completely done with your Christmas shopping? Next Sunday is Christmas or I guess some would just call it holiday?

• There has been a lot in the news concerning the Christmas holiday. Many businesses for some reason are fusing to call it Christmas. We have holiday trees, holiday ornament, holiday wreaths, etc...

• I know that some of the Lowes stores called their Christmas trees, Holiday trees. Later they changed the signs to Christmas trees. I wonder if they are going to have those holiday trees out for July 4, Memorial Day, Columbus day, Presidents Day or any of the other national holidays we celebrate as a nation?

• The issues that are before us bring us to an interesting question as Christians, “Are we supposed to celebrate this holiday and the Easter holiday?

• I know there are a variety of opinions on this matter so I am asking each one of us to listen to the whole message and then make your decision.

• I want to start off by saying that god never commanded us to celebrate Christmas and Easter; however’ God does want us to celebrate. God has several reasons that He wants us to celebrate. We are going to look at three of them this morning.

• I believe when we take into account these three reasons we will see that it is important for us to celebrate in the Lord!

SLIDE #2

SERMON

God wants us to celebrate because:

I. CELEBRATIONS REMIND US OF WHAT GOD HAS DONE

SLIDE #3

1. There are several examples of God commanding His people to celebrate.

• Throughout the Old Testament God commanded His people to celebrate and remember what He had done for them. Some of the Feasts were more somber in nature than others.

• In Deuteronomy 12, God is commanding the people to tear down the alters and places where the inhabitants of the land used to worship. Then He tells them to do some other things pertaining to worship. Follow along with me as I read. READ DEUTERONOMY 12:1-12.

• Notice in verse in verses 7 and 12 God commands His people to rejoice. God did not want them moping around like their dog died, He wanted them to celebrate what He had done for them!

• SLIDE #4

• If you will look at your hand out on the Jewish Feasts, you will see a few listed on Part 1.

• Instead of going into deep details of all these feasts, I wanted to give you a handout that would help you.

• The Feast of the Passover was given by God to commemorate God delivering His people out of Egypt and particularly when the Death Angel passed over the homes that had lambs blood on them during the last plague sent upon Egypt. This is the one that convinced Pharaoh that he ought to let the Israelite go free.

• The Feast of the Unleavened Bread was designed to honor God by offering to Him the first fruits of the harvest; this was connected to the Passover and was to remind the people of God delivering them out of Egypt.

• The Feast of Pentecost was to thank God for the harvest. SLIDE #5

• In Exodus 12:14, God commands the people to CELEBRATE the Passover.

• The word “celebrate means to’ properly to move in a circle, that is, (specifically) to march in a sacred procession, to observe a festival; by implication to be giddy:—celebrate, dance, (keep, hold) a (solemn) feast (holiday), reel to and fro.

• SLIDE #6

• In Exodus 23:14 God commands the people to celebrate more festival! Then He tells them the festivals He wants them to celebrate.

• SLIDE #7

• You can see a list of a few more on the back side of the page. I want you to look at a couple of passages pertaining to the celebration of he Feast of Tabernacles, (also known as the Feast of Booths and Ingathering).

• SLIDE #8

• Leviticus 23:40 (NASB) 40‘Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

• SLIDE #9

• Deuteronomy 16:15 (NASB) 15“Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

• It looks like God would like us to celebrate and enjoy what He has done for us.

SLIDE #10

2. The Lord’s Supper reminds us of what God has done for us.