Reasons to Celebrate
Notes
Transcript
Passover
Passover
Celebrating God’s Deliverance in the Past
Celebrating God’s Deliverance in the Past
1 “Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, because the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night in the month of Abib.
(March April)
Unleavened bread- symbolizes haste in leaving Egypt and ridding ourselves of sin
Deliverance from Egypt
Although Deuteronomy did not mention the death of the first-born and angel passing over when he saw the blood, Israel would have understood this.
“When I see the blood I will pass over”
Passover is on ongoing commemoration of a past event where God brought salvation to the Jews.
For the Christian, we should celebrate the day Jesus saved our souls.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper commemorate this
Our songs often do this.
Whether its our choir singing “I’m undone by the mercy of Jesus, I’m undone by goodness of the Lord, I’m restored and made right, He got ahold of my life, I’ve got Jesus, How could I want more?” or our congregation singing “mercy there was great and grace was free, pardon there was multiplied to me, there my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary, or Sue Dodge singing on a Gaither Homecoming Video “I never shall forget the day, when all the burdens of my soul were rolled away”
If you have been saved at any point in the past and you know Jesus as your Savior, you should never get over it.
Question: Do you know for sure you are saved from your sins?
Pentecost
Pentecost
Celebrating God’s Blessings in the Present
Celebrating God’s Blessings in the Present
10 You are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the Lord your God has blessed you.
(Day Holy Spirit came in Acts 2)
(May or June)
Festival of Weeks (here)
Festival of Harvest (Ex. 23.16)
Festival of First-fruits (Numbers 28.26)
50 days after passover (Leviticus 23.16)
This celebration reminded Israel that God blesses His people on an ongoing basis. Once again the blessing of harvest had come around. Once more God had provided them what they needed.
This passage directs Israel to rejoice.. to make offerings to the Lord… and to include again the priests, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
Jesus taught us to pray to God that He would give us our “DAILY BREAD”
The song calls us to count our many blessings and name them one by one.
For what can we be thankful TODAY? Our salvation, our family, our faith family, our job, our income, food on the table, roof over our head, our nation, our salvation, or security as a believer, and on and on.
Booths
Booths
Celebrating God’s Provision for the Future
Celebrating God’s Provision for the Future
13 “You are to celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days when you have gathered in everything from your threshing floor and winepress.
Tabernacles or Huts
This is not technically a harvest festival, but a celebration that everything has now been processed. In our southern terminology we would talk about when the crops are laid by.
They were to move into tents once they had arrived in their permanent homes in Israel. This was to remind them of their time in tents when escaping Egypt and the wilderness wanderings.
What a blessing. When they wandering, they had daily manna, but now as they entered into the Promised Land, they would experience harvests SO GREAT, that there would be abundance, and they would store it away for the FUTURE.
There are many applications that can be made.
God teaches in many places about the importance of saving for the future, even referring to how ants store up for winter.
God’s interest in our future is based on his love and tender mercy for us.
God’s interest in our future brought Jesus to the cross, and left and empty tomb. This gives us abundant life now, and a future that will endure after the passing of time.
As a matter of fact look at
14 The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Took up residence- tabernacled- lived in a tent.
This will preach- Jesus left the glory of heaven where He had been worshipped as long as there was any created thing to worship Him. He left that behind and took on flesh and tented with us. HE provided for our future by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross.
He also promised in John 14 that he was coming back so that where He is, we will also be.
17 Everyone must appear with a gift suited to his means, according to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.
1 Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.