Loving God through Celebration

Walking on the Road to God

Story of getting caught in a ditch.

Results of the Survey’s in September showed two major Spiritual pathways in our church. Enthusiasts and intellectuals. This week we will focus on Enthusiasts and next week intellectuals.

Enthusiasts like to let go and experience God on the precipice of excitement and awe.

Skiing story

Mystery of Faith

Many churches avoid mystery and celebration because they don’t want extremes.

The best way to avoid extremes is not to not do whatever may go extreme but to focus on the Biblical bases.

When it comes to the Mystery of Faith Adventist fair pretty well because of our understanding of the Great Controversy theme. We understand Spiritual warfare and Spiritual gifts.

We understand God gave dreams as a way to lead his people.

Spirituality is important to the Enthusiasts.

God using dreams today… Giving away bread in Chattanooga.

Dreams are an important thing but we need to understand how they work Biblical. God does not give secret meaning to Believers with the exception to Daniel. If the dream is from God you will understand that.

In the Bible, members outside of the community of faith, such as Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, required a member of the community of faith to interpret their dreams (Joseph and Daniel, respectively). But people belonging to God, such as Joseph and Paul, seemed to have the interpretation clear in their minds as soon as they awoke.

Thomas, Gary L.. Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul's Path to God (p. 158). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

certainly a dream should never be used to counteract the clear teaching of Scripture… If we want to hear from God, the first place to go is Scripture.

If we want to hear from God, the first place to go is Scripture.

Thomas, Gary L.. Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul's Path to God (p. 160). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

A quick word on Prayer both answered and unanswered (Enthusiast struggle with unanswered prayer)

Celebration

Celebration in worship is very important.

The Feast of Tabernacles, for example, involved a seven-day feast in which the Israelites are commanded to rejoice.

David was known as an enthusiast

1 Chronicles 13:8 NKJV

Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets.

“David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets.”

Many psalms show David as an enthusiast

Jesus also encouraged celebratory styles of worship. Not only did he and his disciples participate in hymn-singing,

Matthew 26:30 NKJV

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

but when religious leaders complained about the people’s loud celebration of Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus said, “I tell you, if [the people] keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”()

) but when religious leaders complained about the people’s loud celebration of Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus said, “I tell you, if [the people] keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”()

Paul loved to sing with personal and group worship

Acts 16:25 NKJV

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

: )

Ephesians 5:19 NKJV

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,

)

The most recorded worship service in Heaven is in and 5 and involves crying out “in a loud voice.” And the roar of shouting Hallelujah.

In the midst of a celebration it’s easy to forget how fearful and awesome God is. Without reverence, however, celebration degenerates into shallow triviality. It’s interesting to note that in a later psalm, recorded in —after Uzza’s death—David includes both celebration and reverence: “Sing to him, sing praise to him…Tremble before him, all the earth!” David had learned his lesson: celebration must never lose touch with what Isaac called the “Fear” of Israel.

Thomas, Gary L.. Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul's Path to God (pp. 165-166). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

My friend Nelson Fernandez says

“You don’t get reverence in church by asking for reverence (when people get quiet, that’s just compliance.) True reverence happens when people come into the presence of God, whose very nature brings us to a mindset of reverence.”

(5/16/18, Twitter post)

It is why there is balance in the Bible.

The apostles often participated in supernatural activities they found it necessary to include formal and structured religious observances.() Paul stressed the importance of Order () and we knew from Bible prophecy that miracles and signs can deceive us ()

In the Adventist Church when Worship is talked about, both private and public the idea of Reverence always comes up. Many time I have experienced strong voices in the church saying we need to be more reverent. The atmosphere of the sanuacty should always be quite. When I challenge that with some of the Biblical passage we have already covered I am reminded of Testinomyies vol 5 pages 491-500, the chapter on Behavior in the House of God. However, it is never balanced with an article she wrote for the June 24, 1886 Reviewed called Acceptable Worship

There she starts off by encouraging praise in worship and then warns that

“There is too much formality in the church” ~Ellen White, Review, Acceptable Worship, June 24, 1886

In an article called Authentic Adventist Worship by Raymond Holmes in the October 1991 edition of Ministry Magazine calls from bringing into balance the need for celebration worship and Proclamation ministry. He Writes

Balance between preaching and praise is assured by the preaching of "the old gospel doctrine, sorrow for sin, repentance, and confession" within the context of worship governed by order, discipline, and dignity. ~Raymond Holmes, Ministry Magazine, Authentic Adventist Worship, October 1991

In the article he needs to focus on the what is consider “traditional worship” or “contemporary worship” he does acknowledge the need for both celebration and praise.

How to enhance the spiritual life

Children

Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” He also said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Enthusiasts can treat these passages literally and learn all about loving God by watching children. In this sense, volunteering in the church nursery is much more than service; it is a worship experience in itself. The burdens, demands, and obligations of life can stifle adult fellowship. Sometimes adult banter is nothing less than depressing. Spending time with children is a good way to gain a new perspective and to remember a time when life still held hope, promise, and joy.

Creating

Whether it’s building a business, writing a poem, painting a picture, or planting a garden, creating something can be a profoundly holy experience. Far more than hobbies, these activities can be powerful expressions of worship. One of the most powerful antidotes to addiction is participating in different activities, lifting the addicts out of themselves and into positive, constructive acts of creation.

Thomas, Gary L.. Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul's Path to God (p. 167). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

The first two and last two chapters in the Bible talk about creating. We are made in the image of a creator God.

This includes painting/drawing, building, making music even cooking can be an act of worship to God.

Praying in Color

https://prayingincolor.com

Journaling

Colossians 3:23 NKJV

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,

Bible Study

Using reflective Bible Study (Tryon Notes)

Gospel Workers, Revised and Enlarged Facilities for Training

All who would be efficient workers must give much time to prayer. The communication between God and the soul must be kept open, that the workers may recognize the voice of their Captain. The Bible should be diligently studied. The truth of God, like gold, is not always lying right on the surface; it is to be obtained only by earnest thought and study. This study will not only store the mind with most valuable knowledge, but will strengthen and expand the mental powers, and will give a true estimate of eternal things. Let the divine precepts be brought into the daily life; let the life be fashioned after God’s great standard of righteousness, and the whole character will be strengthened and ennobled.

Reflective Bible Study

Involvers reading the passage devotionally, focusing on the meaning of the passage in my life today

Tools needed

Bible (several versions)

Journal

Pen

Definition

Reflective Bible Study is reading a passage of Scripture for the purpose of applying it to my life today. It is asking God to speak with me His will through HIs word

Reflective Bible study involves reading and reflection - two-way communication with God

Steps to Reflective Bible Study

Pray before Beginning

Choose a passage of Scripture (story)

Read the passage over slowly, several times looking for details in the story

Put yourself in the story - choose one of the characters, be a silent observer int he corner

Ask questions:

Who, what, where, when and why

Write thoughtfully on what you have collected using the God speaks to me - I speak to God format

What is God saying to me

What is my response to God

Warning

Seeking Experiences for Experiences Sake

… End time

Being Independent

… no need for church

The apostle Paul, who experienced spiritual reality that most of us could only dream about, made sure he submitted himself to the counsel of the apostles in Jerusalem.

Thomas, Gary L.. Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul's Path to God (p. 170). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Equating Good feeling with Good worship

Balance between Celebration and Proclamation.