09
Excessive Celebration
Posted on March 9th, 2009 in Church Life, Faith by Fred McKinnon
A couple of years ago I had the privilege of sitting in the stands and watching the Georgia Bulldogs pull off an incredible upset of their arch rivals, the Florida Gators. After the first touchdown, the entire team ran onto the field and had a major celebration. They were penalized for “excessive celebration” but nobody cared – the momentum changed, the fans were crazy, and that was all she wrote.
I’ve been known to say something around our church … a lot. I say, “we don’t celebrate the victories enough”.
If you are like me, you may be in a place in ministry or work that is striving for excellence, is full speed, and has little room for error. You don’t celebrate the victories.
Today I want to invite “excessive celebration”. I’d like to invite EVERYONE WHO READS THIS BLOG to join me and post a victory comment. I want you to think of AT LEAST ONE victory that you’ve seen in your church, ministry, family, or business.
Let it rip – and give God the praise. Enjoy it. Celebrate it.
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18 Responses to “Excessive Celebration”
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We adopted 3 kids at once & already had 4 kids. To see God transform us into one family and see the heart of an angry 5 year old boy soften has been hard and amazing!!!!! I give all praise to my God & Savior for without Him, it would have been impossible!!!!!!!
There's nothing better than snatching victory from the jaws of defeat! So when one well-trusted teammate with a lot of authority used his position to steal six figures from church funds over a period of time, and was finally caught, confronted, and confessed, the church could have fallen apart in the face of such a betrayal. The money will probably never be reclaimed, but the church family has increased their giving to make up for the budget shortfalls, and the church leaders have begun implementing new methods and practices to ensure austerity in spending and accountablity in stewardship. From the pain of betrayal and thievery came the realization that there was a spiritual problem in the church – the people were being disobedient to God in the stewardship of their finances. But the dire situation caused the leadership to investigate how people were giving, and once confronted with the reality that the tithing was typically only 10% of the 10%, an awakening happened among the people, who responded by honoring God through their finances as well as their worship!
I just want to say that God is good. When I feel utterly powerless to complete the tasks in front of me – to overcome my own human frailties, He shows up on my behalf and does it so decisively that I know I've been in the presence of the King. Glory!
Sometimes just making it through the day is a victory worth celebrating. I am learning more and more that I can't even do that without His help! More to your point though Fred, we often don't celebrate it enough when God comes through in a big way, and we should. My list is too long to put down here, but He is a GREAT God and GREATLY to be praised!!!!
And just for fun, since you started this off with a football reference, I'll end with this:
GT – 45 / UGA – 42
Jesus loved me, even while I yet a sinner, and gave Himself for me. WOW!
He loves me still, and that love is totally independent of anything that I have done or will ever do. It's simply a gift. WOW again!
The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me! He has called me a king, a priest, victorious, a treasure, his bride.! If you knew me before I met Him, you would all see that THAT is great cause for EXCESSIVE CELEBRATION! WOW! HOW AWESOME IS OUR GOD! PRAISE HIM! YAY GOD!!!!!
We have gone through a year of discernment regarding what to do to reach more people in our community and to keep more visitors that “drop in” It then became focused on service times..pointed at moving and changing things we do as well as the times we offer them. We are in the second week of our new service situation..we have had a few bumps but eveyone has responded in faithful and loving ways to the change and I think the spirit has moved in great ways the last two weeks.. another cool thing that has happened is that because of reduced rehearsal time on Sunday morning we have started shooting vids of rehearsal and posting them on youtube..it has allowed those who need more reps to learn songs, to be ready on Sunday a.m. It also allows those that can't make wednesday night practice due to conflicts to be ready Sunday morning…and we have had a better worship offering because of it.. Some really cool stuff!!
We've seen people give their life to Christ in our church every week for the past I don't know how many weeks/months, but it's been a lot. God is showing his grace and power in Phoenix and I'm honored to be part of it.
God is protecting my family during this time of storm. No matter what happens – He Reigns! One day, He'll come back and everything will be OK. MARANATHA ! Come quickly Lord Jesus!
Wow, that's an amazing story. We have some good friends who are in the process of adopting two children from Africa. They already have their own children, but want to bless two more. Amazing!
Kit, you know I do have the power to REMOVE or EDIT your comment, right? Watch it … boy. Or you'll be hearing ooooooohhh.
Alicia,
I can hear your passion and joy – I bet you let out a big ole' shout after typing that! Doesn't it feel good to celebrate?
Artie, that sounds really cool … I'm glad to know your church and their leadership is cool w/ changing things up to reach the community … so many churches refuse to change ANYTHING. Kudos!
Kyle, that's one of my victories too – we saw probably 50+ people commit to Christ in February … and at least 20+ who came forward for more info, discipleship, etc.
Very “snappy” indeed!
Since I didn't get to post my setlist yet, I will celebrate. On Sunday we had our confirmation celebration, and 10 people were baptized and a total of 23 students stood up and expressed their faith in Jesus. One very cool moment was where a father, and his son were baptized together. It was an amazing
Jut before Thanksgiving, our Church installed a brand new sound system. It replaced a system that was 33 years old, and should have been replaced 32.5 years ago. We are now able to do more things much more easily, like our upcoming showing of Fireproof. I hope to bring some great bands in for the kids too!
We stayed. In spite of it all we all stayed. And only because He asked us to…
All for joy.
Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Ah Fred you had to post this, after trying to forget about this game, you brought it back up. (Being from Florida it hurts), but in seriousness, you are right, We need to celebrate victories more often, especially when we worship.