Theme: What Do You Celebrate?
Good morning Greater Life! I want to know this morning if there is anyone here who likes a good party. Do you like to celebrate? Yes? Then I have a couple of questions for you. When do you party? When do you celebrate? What occasions, what events, what brings out the party in your life? Turn to someone next to you and share when you party and what you celebrate.
You probably know that the Bible is full of celebrations. It is full of parties. We were created to live in joy, to celebrate - yes to party? Would you agree with that? I mean there is something in us that longs to celebrate, to rejoice, to just cut loose and party. There is something in us that just needs to relax and have a good time. Did you know that this desire comes from God? In Psalm 91:15, (MSG) God says: “Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I'll rescue you, then throw you a party.”
They may surprise some of you. Because you have been thinking all along that God is against parties. That He is a serious, stoic, grave killjoy who does not want you to have any fun. You might be thinking that all parties are of the Devil and if you want to celebrate you have to act like the devil. That is because you really don’t know God. You have this desire to party and you don’t know that God likes parties and has created a few Himself. You can read about the feasts and festivals in the Old Testament of the Bible. But because you don’t believe God is into parties, you don’t know anything else to do with your desire to kick back and have rowdy celebration except to go “tie one on” and “get down and dirty” and “come on and celebrate good times.” Some think that a good party is when you get wasted, plastered, snookered, and can’t remember the end of the party. A lot of people think that a party is the best when as many as people as possible do stupid things that they would never do in their right mind with all their brain cells hitting on all cylinders. But the desire to party and celebrate did not originate with Satan or Juice magazine. It came from God.
So the question is not whether you party or celebrate. We were created to celebrate. The question is what do you celebrate? When do you party? What do you get excited about? How do you celebrate? That is the question.
Last week we went out and did some service projects and then came back and had a celebration. We ate some great barbeque. We heard some great testimonies of how God is at work in the inner city of Des Moines. We connected with people and some of you experienced some great God moments where you encountered God in the people you were serving. We celebrate that.
Party: Church Introduction - Faith in Action DVD
You have studied in your small groups in the last gathering on the “party” theme.
So the disciples went and some great things happened. In Luke 10:17-24, (NIV) we read that: “The seventy-two returned with joy” (they were ready to party. Why? “and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." The disciples had been sent out to heal the sick and share the good news of Jesus and His kingdom. They had seen miracles and healings, but what impressed them most was that they power over demonic spirits that were oppressing and possessing people. Acts 26:17-18, (NIV) says: “I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' This tells us that anyone who is not a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ is caught in the power of Satan who causes us to sin. So if you are here today and you are sinning and you have not confessed that sin, you are under the influence of Satan. You may not realize it, you may think that you are in control of your life, but the reality is you are being influenced by Satan to sin. The bible tells us that Satan is Lucifer who was created as an angel, the most powerful angel in Heaven and the angels closest to God Himself. But Lucifer rebelled and got one-third of the angels to follow Him in the rebellion against Father God and as a result Lucifer and all his cohorts were cast out of Heaven and they became demonic. They became terrorists against the kingdom of God. Lucifer became Satan- an Adversary against God and all of God’s creation. That is why He hates you and me so much. It is why he works so hard to get us to feel that we don’t have any value or that we are somehow not “good enough” for God and that for some reason God doesn’t really love or even like us. He wants us to believe that we are on our own and then he can influence us and wreck our lives.
Some people have gone all the way with Satanic power and willingly embraced it. When they do, they and their children can become vulnerable to becoming demon-possessed. They lose the ability to control their faculties. Right now this very month coming up to Halloween, there are covens of demonic witches and groups of Satan worshippers meeting in secret ceremonies praying to Satan and seeking to release curses on all Christian believers and the Church. Did you know that?
This was happening in Jesus day and most of God’s people lived in great fear of demonic power. Jesus had not come yet and they were helpless against it. No one ever had the power to fight Satan and His demons successfully. But Jesus taught them to not fear demonic power, but to confront it with the Name of Jesus. So now the disciples had gone out on their mission and they were surprised and ecstatic when they spoke to demonic powers and the demons submitted and came out of people’s lives.
We have a fascination with this in our culture. I noticed that there is a TV program called “Angels and Demons” on now. We want to have power over the spirit world. We want to know and have power over the unknown, don’t we? We need to go to God’s Word, the Bible to get accurate information on the spiritual powers. Ephesians 6:12, (NLT): “For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.” This spiritual world and the battle is real, you need to understand it as a Christian believer.
So the disciples were just overjoyed that even demons obeyed them. And Jesus said in verse “18He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (Jesus is saying: I saw it all happen all over again just as when Satan first rebelled and was thrown out of heaven. Satan and his demons cannot remain in the presence of God and His Son Jesus Christ - they have to leave. Jesus goes on to say: “19I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions (the most frightening creatures in creation, the serpent or snake being a simple of Satan Himself. Jesus says we have authority to come against everything that Satan throws at us with power) and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”
So these disciples were ready to party - they have power over demons and all the power of Satan. That is something to celebrate, don’t you think? But Jesus interrupted their plans for a party celebrating the power over demons. He said: “20However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written (some translations: “recorded”) in heaven." Why would Jesus say this? What in the world is He talking about? Whose names are recorded in heaven? How did they get there? Where are they recorded or written?
The Bible talks about a book of Life or as it is sometimes called, the Lamb’s Book of Life. In this book there is a record of names kept.
This whole concept is first mentioned in Exodus 32 after the people of God decided to throw a party while Moses was up in the mountain getting the Ten Commandments from God. They were tired of waiting for Moses to get back from His meeting with God. So they started wondering that maybe Moses wasn’t coming back - that something had happened up there. They started thinking that maybe this Yahweh God had killed him. So they decided they needed a new leader and new god. Since Moses and Yahweh God appeared to not be working out they decided to build a statue of a calf out of pure gold like other nations and religions were doing. They also chose a new leader, Moses, brother, Aaron.
So with a new leader and a new god to worship - that called for . . . you guessed it . . . a party! An inauguration party! Boy was it a party - it got way out of hand with sex and booze. Juice magazine would have loved it. They would have reported it with pictures. Lasted for days. Moses came back and found the party in full tilt. Moses broke the tablets of the Ten Commandments. God was not happy, not because they were celebrating but they were celebrating a god that could not save them or help them at all. They were under the influence of Satan thinking they were having a great time when in reality they were cancelling their future of prosperity and blessing. God doesn’t just get mad at us because He doesn’t want us having fun. No, He gets angry for us when He sees us doing things that will have long lasting harmful effects.
So Moses knew that this could be the end of relationship with Father God. So he starts talking to God and he says: Exodus 32:31-33, (NIV): "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin-but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written." 33 The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.” The concept of this book was understood by the Israelites because it is how they kept records of who was in the family - the nation and who was not. They kept meticulous books. When a person was born into a family, there was a written recording of the name. That is why the Old Testament has long lists of names. So and So begat So and so . . . etc. The record of names was important for many reasons: to keep track of inheritances, promises, etc.
Moses understood this to be a practice that had been given from heaven and thus a practice that was used in heaven. The New Testament picked up the concept with regard to the citizens of a kingdom. Jesus talked about being “born again” a description of being saved from sin and brought into the family of God. John 1:12 says: “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” That “right” is authority to be included in the citizenship records of Heaven. So when you invite Jesus to become your Savior, he forgives your sins and writes your name in the record books - the book of life in heaven.
So Jesus tells His disciples to celebrate not the power of what they can do for God, but rather what God has done for them and in them. Which do you get more excited about - what you can do for Jesus, or what Jesus has done for you? Does it really matter? Why does it matter? It matters because:
· It Determines Where You Will Spend Eternity.
It determines whether you are going to spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven or whether you are going to separated from God in a Devil’s Hell.
Several years ago, I served as Youth Director over the whole state of Iowa in the Church of the Nazarene. Every year there is a huge youth event at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas. It was my responsibility to reserve rooms for all the participants for this event. One year I called the Holidome in Overland Park and reserved a block of rooms. As the time got close we did not need all the rooms. So I called to cancel a few of the rooms. The day came for the event and when we arrived I walked in to register for our rooms. I was informed that they no record of my name or anybody’s name from Iowa. I protested that there must be some mistake, but it was too no avail. The rooms were not available and the hotel was full. They promised me that the next day we could get in, but that for the first night we would banished across the street to a Motel 8. It turned out that when I had cancelled a few rooms, they had cancelled them all.
The Bible says that only those who have a right relationship with God are going to make it to Heaven. Psalm 69:28, (NIV) says: “May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.” How do you get your name on the list of the righteous - those who have a right relationship with God?
Jesus told His disciples in Luke 10:21, (NIV): “21At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. 22"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Jesus says that it is not hard to get into the kingdom of Heaven. Little children can understand it. You don’t have to be educated, have a high IQ to get your name in the Book of Life. You need to come as a child- open, simple, receptive and humble.
Jesus said in Revelation 3:5, (NIV): “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.”
Revelation 20:12, (NIV) says: “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”