Fight for Your Family
Celebration
The pressure on
family can be great
Pressure, Pressure,
Pressure
Nehemiah and the
people were under a lot of pressure building the wall
After the wall was
built the people had a celebration
Does your family “celebrate?”
Remember the Words of
David, “This is the day the LORD has
made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24
If you are alive
today it is because God gave you life
And He has something
especially in mine for you
So rejoice and help
your family to rejoice every day
Yes, the pressures
around us make it work, but it’s worth the effort
Plan mini
celebrations every day
Plan big celebrations
regularly
Because Jesus came
that you might have life and have it more abundantly
PAID FOR ON THE
CROSS
Celebration
The pressure on family can be great.
Whether it is the ongoing pressure…
Of building walls of protection,
Safe guarding and protecting the minds
of our loved ones or the physical
protection for health and safety.
Families take work…
Pressure to keep the
lights on
and the refrigerator full
Education and keeping up with the teachers
and school environments to make
sure your children are getting the best
The spiritual pressure of keeping the family
engaged in Kingdom Living and the Church.
Pressure, Pressure, Pressure
Nehemiah and the people were under
a lot of pressure building the wall.
After the wall was built,
the people had a celebration.
But this celebration almost did not happen.
Nehemiah appointed singers
and had the Word of the Lord read,
but that did not
bring joy.
It was church with sadness.
It was church without life.
Nehemiah was too wise.
He knew God’s Word
was to
be celebrated not mourned.
Entering into the presence
of the Lord should be a joy.
So Nehemiah says…
"This day is
sacred to the LORD your God.
Do not mourn or
weep."
For all the people had
been weeping as
they listened to the
words of the Law.
Nehemiah said,
"Go and enjoy choice food and sweet
drinks,
and send some to those
who have nothing prepared.
This day is sacred to
our Lord.
Do not grieve, for the
joy of the LORD is your strength."
The Levites calmed all
the people, saying,
"Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do
not grieve."
Nehemiah
8:9-11
It takes effort to celebrate.
It takes focus to celebrate.
It takes planning to have a celebration.
My wife and kids love parties and celebrations.
Every birthday in our family is celebrated,
accomplishments are celebrated.
It seems that Sandy is
always planning a celebration.
We just had one of those celebrations.
To have the celebration it took a lot of work.
After Sandy developed the idea,
she had to get
everyone excited about it.
Sandy had assigned everyone a movie character.
It meant they would
have to
dress up and act like that character
the whole time we were together.
For some this was great…
But for others acting
was intimidating.
But Sandy sold us all on the idea.
We had to decorate, prepare food
and work everything into a time line.
The celebration went great and
everyone had a wonderful time.
Before the event there were some of the
family who were fighting depression
as their family was under attack.
They did not feel like a party…
But the celebration
helped them to see joy
and hope that they were drained of.
At the end of the night, we realized we did
not celebrate the characters we played
but we celebrated each other and thanked
God we could enjoy life together.
If you take a close look…
You will find God had
called
His people to celebrate often.
Jewish feast days, celebrations…
Shabbat—The Sabbath, Rosh Chodesh—The New Month, Rosh Hashanah—The Jewish New Year, Tzom Gedalia—Fast of Gedalia, Yom Kippur—Day of
Atonement, Sukkot—Feast of
Booths (or Tabernacles),
Shemini Atzeret and
Simchat Torah,
Hanukkah—Festival
of Lights, Tenth of Tevet, Tu Bishvat—New Year
of the Trees, Purim—Festival of Lots, Pesach—Passover, Sefirah—Counting of the Omer, Shavuot—Feast of Weeks—Yom HaBikurim, Mourning for Jerusalem: Seventeenth of Tammuz and Tisha
B'Av, Tu B'Av, Other fasts
That is a lot of Celebrations.
God has given you and your family “LIFE”.
And Life is to be celebrated.
When our children are very young,
we look for ways to
make
their life fun and enjoyable.
We try to inspire them by
making learning and work fun.
We need to continue making
life fun for our families.
Especially the spiritual aspects of life…
Prayer, reading and studying
God’s Word, church and serving.
Sadly, I remember church and
prayer meetings being boring.
I can remember doing the
“Christian thing” because I had to.
It is like going to work because you have to.
Because if a man does not
work he does not eat.
God does not want you or your family
going through life because you “have to”.
Frank Churchill wrote the music and
Larry Morey wrote the words for the
"Whistle While You Work"
It is important that your family knows
how to “whistle” while they work.
Be joyful always; pray
continually;
give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God's will
for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians
5:16-18
Sandy put a lot of time and
effort into our last celebration and
it was worth every second of it.
Give thought to the life of your family.
You cannot always reduce the pressure…
But you can work in
times of joy
and celebration so we do not
forget the goodness of God.
Don’t let your prayer time,
reading the Word of
God
and church become boring.
Remember when the people
began to weep, Nehemiah said…
This day is sacred to
our Lord.
Do not grieve,
for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
Nehemiah 8:10
Then all the people
went away to eat and drink,
to send portions of
food and to celebrate with great joy,
because they now
understood the words
that had been made
known to them.
Nehemiah 8:12
From the days of
Joshua son of Nun until that day,
the Israelites had not
celebrated it like this.
And their joy was very
great.
Nehemiah 8:17
Does your family “celebrate like this?”
Remember the Words of
David…
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be
glad in it.
Psalms 118:24
If you are alive today…
It is because God
gave you life.
And He has something
especially in mine for you.
So rejoice and help your
family to rejoice every day.
Yes, the pressures around us
make it work, but it’s worth the effort.
Plan mini celebrations every day.
Plan big celebrations regularly.
Because Jesus came that you might
have life and have it more abundantly…
PAID FOR ON THE CROSS
Scripture Reading
Nehemiah 8:16-9:1 NIV
16 So the people went out and brought back branches and
built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts
of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate
of Ephraim. 17 The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and
lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day,
the Israelites had
not celebrated it like this.
And their joy was very great.
18 Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read
from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days, and
on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.
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