Culture of Celebration | Luke 15:11-32 | Coleton Segars

The uh teaching text for today's message comes from Luke 15, verses 11 through 32.

Luke 15:11–32

I believe it.

One of the things we wanted as a church is a culture of belonging, and it's just building and growing, and it's wonderful, and it's beautiful.

So thank you.

I I don't mind uh everybody chatting and getting to know one another and everybody feeling welcome.

Um I love it, actually.

It's really good.

If nobody wanted to talk to one another, I don't know what kind of church that would be.

So I'm I'm thankful.

Um all right, the teaching text.

Teaching text is from Luke 15, verses 11 through 32.

Luke 15:11–32

That's a rather long passage, but you'll know the story.

Um and actually I'm beginning it somewhere in the beginning.

Um, but here we go.

Luke writes, Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

And Jesus told them this parable.

There was a man who had two sons.

The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate.

And so he divided this property between them.

And not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth in wild living.

After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in the whole country, and he began to be in need.

And so he went, hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into the fields to feed the pigs.

He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

And when he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare?

And here I am starving to death.

I will set out, go back to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants.

And so he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him.

And he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him.

Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Bring the fattened calf and kill it.

Let's have a feast and celebrate.

For this son of mine was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

And so they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field, and when he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.

And so he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.

Your brother has come home, he replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back, safe and sound.

The older brother became angry and refused to go in, and so his father went out and pleaded with him, but he answered his father, Look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me even a goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him.

My son, the father said, You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

This is the word of the Lord.

Today finishes up our series, a miniature series just going through the vision and values of our church, the vision and cultures of our church.

And so our vision as a church and what we're aiming at is to see the fame and deeds of God that the prophet Habakkuk prays, and he's like, Lord, I've heard of your fame.

I stand in awe of your deeds.

But I just want you to repeat those things in my time.

And so that's our cry, that's what we want to see too.

And a city like ours, and a town like this, and the lives that we're living in this particular time and space.

Like we want to see the fame and deeds of God repeated in our time, made known in our time, and not for them to be this thing that's distant back there, something that we hear about, heard about, or read about.

But like we're experiencing those things actively in our time.

And so we're pursuing those things.

Cultures that we want to have, the way we want the room to feel, our time together to feel, the environment that we want as a church.

We want it saturated with the gospel.

We want the message of God's great love for you.

This, what you heard in this text, really, like this father's love that's scandalous and so loving in a way that other people are like, that's stupid.

Don't be that loving.

Like that message of love will shift and transform people's hearts the more that we understand it.

So we want a culture saturated with the gospel.

We want a culture of pursuit because God responds to being wanted.

He waits to be wanted.

And there's a difference that we experience when we seek him.

And so we don't just want to hear about cool things that God has done in the past.

We want to experience those things in our time.

And he responds to being sought after and pursued.

Culture of blessing, because according to the scriptures, followers of Jesus were always meant to be the catalysts and the people that he uses to move out in the world and bless the world.

He's always been looking for people, sons and daughters, who would bless the world.

And so we want to be those people.

We want to, because of Jesus, we've been brought into a family, grafted in, no longer outsiders, but now we're insiders in the family.

And so now he has kids again that he can bless the world.

And then we want to, last week we talked about a culture of belonging.

And I just want the space that we have here as a church to be, I mean, similar to what, you know, you guys were chatting so much, it was hard to get you to be quiet there for a second.

And I actually don't mind that.

Um I think it's beautiful, but I do want a space that's so connected and so loving and such a um uh welcoming that it it actually can feel like this must have been what it was like to stand in the presence of Jesus and to meet Jesus.

Because if you do that and you have that space, it does something in you where you feel safe enough to be healed back together and made whole.

And so we want a culture of belonging.

And then today I want to talk about uh a need that we have as a church to have a culture of celebration, a culture of celebration.

I said this last year, and I'll say it again this year this year.

When I talk about a culture of celebration, even in my mind, just to random people of like, I just want us to be a more celebratory people.

It can sound very elementary, like you just want to like have some hype in your service.

And I'm like, I don't want manufactured hype.

I don't want to like have to like the doing the lights like this wasn't a way of like we're not trying to, we're not doing that.

It's like we have a problem with the school that we rent, like, and so we're just trying to figure that out, and our team is working on it.

Um but I want a culture of celebration, and I want us to really see that like we when we talk about like we need the gospel-centered, everybody's like, yes, I totally get that.

Then I talk about celebration, they're like, well, kind of, like if we if we get there, like celebration's fine.

And it's like we need to see these as equally as important.

And so I want to show you today that like celebration inside the community of believers is supposed to be so central to what we do that it's not like a leftover thing if we get to it.

It's supposed to impact every single thing that we do.

So I didn't grow up in the church, started going to church really uh like a little bit here and there when I was 12.

I heard the gospel for the first time, and then really began going to church around 17.

And when I began to go to church, my experience was that the house of God, like I entered into this thing, the house of God where you encounter God's presence.

What I experienced was that was the space I was supposed to learn to sit down, be quiet, don't ever run.

They will stop you if you run.

This is God's house, why are you running?

I was like, I don't know, David danced in his presence, but it's cool.

Um be calm, pay attention, and take off your hat.

Because if you don't take off your hat, God can't hear you, apparently.

He's he's omniscient, but the hat really stops him.

It's like a like a lead thing, like Superman.

Um and so my experience in church, when I started going there, I was like, okay, these weird rules, but that's fine.

I'll follow the rules.

I'm a rule follower.

But then I read the scriptures, and we got a slide here.

I read the scriptures and I realized that the the presence of God, where you encountered God's actual presence, was where in the scriptures, that was where people did a little undignified dancing, and David did a little undignified dancing because God's presence was coming back.

It's where people shouted for joy in God's presence.

They feasted with their friends and their family in God's presence, and they were told to sing and get loud, celebrating his abundant goodness.

And I was like, where'd we go wrong in the church if, according to the scriptures, in God's presence, we should do, we should learn to dance.

We should learn to shout louder than anything else.

Like, where do we hear be quiet?

And I know people be like, well, we're supposed to be still before the Lord.

And it's like, if you read that in context, he's not talking to the believers, he's talking to the nations.

Y'all need to recognize that God is God.

We can celebrate with joy.

And so there's supposed to be this thing inside the church where there's a celebratory atmosphere that even in the midst of suffering, Paul could say, like, we rejoice even in the midst of our suffering, because we're joyful people.

I love what Charles Spurgeon said back in the 1800s about being excited in church.

Um he's a pastor and he said, We sometimes hear complaints about church revivals being too exciting.

He goes, and perhaps the rebuke is deserved, but I do not see the fault.

This age does not generally sin in the direction of being too excited about God.

However, we have sinned so long on the other side.

Perhaps a little excess in the direction of zeal might not be the worst of all calamities.

For it is a mark of Christ's presence when the church becomes enthusiastic.

I love that.

He's in the 1800s, and everybody's going, like, you guys are too loud.

And he's like a British, very, you know, he's wanting tea and cigars and stuff, and like he's like, Hey, I think we should throw down a bit.

I think there's supposed to be more here than what we're actually experiencing.

And so I want a culture of celebration.

That was my intro.

Here's what I mean by a culture of celebration.

I want the environment in our church and at our gatherings to be filled with joy, that people don't want to be so filled with joy that people don't actually want to leave because they're having so much fun and they're experiencing so much joy.

If God's presence, according to the psalmist in Psalm 16, is where the fullness in his presence is fullness of joy.

And then the psalmist says, like, better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.

They seem to have this idea that like being with him in his presence is like by far the best thing you could.

I don't want to leave.

Like I'm I'm experiencing a fullness of joy that I've never experienced before.

And so I'd love for the environment of our church and out of gatherings to be so joyful that people are like, oh man, is it time to go already?

I love it here.

I've experienced something here that I just don't experience anything else.

Maybe even to the point where people who you know grew up in different backgrounds of churches may experience so much fun at our church that it leads them to wonder, am I allowed to have this much fun at a church gathering?

Like where the pagans want to party with the Christians.

Like, like, am I allowed to do that thing?

Is this even allowed?

Am I sinning by having this much fun at a church gathering?

I'm not saying that I do want to sin at our church gatherings.

I'm just saying that it would be so much fun to be like, is this okay?

Like, are we supposed am I supposed to feel as good as this in these spaces?

In an environment like that that fills people with so much joy that like I just can't help but worship him and say thank you to him because I've never experienced this much fun and I've never had this much joy being poured into my heart.

And I'm so grateful for that.

And so that's what I mean.

I want something where it's like, I don't even want to leave because it feels so joyful.

We had Bible study um Wednesday night, and then a couple of the uh people stuck around, and they were there till one in the morning, which I don't stay up to one in the morning.

Um, but we were having so much fun, and it was so life-giving and so joy-filled.

It was Kelsey and Boyd and the new girl Erin and uh Matthew, and and uh Ella was there, and like I just I don't know if I'm forgetting anybody, but like it was uh uh Georgia was there, like it was just like, and then Rainy was there, and then she had to go to bed at nine because she's a normal human.

Um but like we were having so much fun, and I looked down, I'm like, it's one in the morning.

Like, what are we doing?

Um but it was so good, and I was like, this is it.

Like, there's something here that exists and that's happening.

I'm like, this is supposed to be the common feel inside the church, and so I want a culture of belonging so that people feel that way.

And I know that we gotta go and we got responsibilities and we got homes and all the rest of it.

And I'm not saying we should stay here, but the feel would be, ah, I love it there.

Whenever I need to be filled up, I can go to those people and to those spaces, I can be uh enriched.

And so that's what I mean by a culture of celebration.

Three reasons, I'm gonna give it to you very quickly.

Uh well, we'll see.

Uh, three reasons um uh why I believe that we need this, why I believe that it every church should have this, but why we definitely will aim at a culture of celebration in our church.

The first is celebration gives us a correct view of what God is actually like.

It will correct the other way view of like, I don't know, he's probably angry with us, disappointed at us, mad at us all the time, looking down his nose at us and probably thinking I'm having too much fun and wants to stop that.

It will correct that view.

A culture of celebration will correct that view.

Because in my experience, people struggle to experience God that way.

And when you ask them about him, like, what do you think he's like?

One of the first things they don't normally say is joyful.

And yet Dallas Willard, one of my favorite authors and theologians, he said, Um, we will never fully understand God.

You'll never fully understand him until you believe that he's the most joyful being in the universe.

That's you'll never actually get to this point where you know what he's like until you can actually believe he's the most joyful being in the universe.

And he gets this from the scriptures.

He's not making this up and then just going like, we should think of him this way because it's fun and nice.

Like he's getting this from the Bible.

And so I'm just wanna, I'm just gonna go through the entire Bible real fast.

You guys got an hour?

We're gonna be real quick.

Um, so the first, just looking at the Torah or the law.

In Genesis, God is celebrating each day by marking it with a mini celebration and saying it is good.

So he's doing something and then going, That's real good.

I'm even proud of myself right there.

That's all right.

I really like that.

And then at the very end, after all of it's done, he's like, it was very good.

He is celebrating it its work.

He's celebrating this stuff.

Exodus and the law, when you get there, uh, every single time that God does something extravagant for the people of Israel, he tells them to sing, throw a party, celebrate, and never forget.

Make sure you throw a huge festival so that you never forget how good I am and how good I've been to you.

Three months out of the Jewish calendar, they were supposed to be celebrating.

Three months.

And I think back then there was only 10 months in the year because the Romans hadn't added the other two yet.

And so, like, 30% of their time should have been celebrating the goodness of God in their time.

And they were like probably stationing them in these different spaces so that they constantly remember.

Uh, Exodus 23, 14, three times a year you should celebrate a festival to me, says the Lord.

Like, what's the command, God?

Like, what do you have for us?

Like, what should we should we like really work for you?

And he's like, hey, could you throw a massive party in my name?

Like, that's what I want.

I want you to do that.

Invite all your friends and your family.

Deuteronomy 16, be joyful at your feast.

It's crazy they had to say that, but like, this is a feast.

Be joyful, have fun, eat good food, drink good drinks, be joyful, dance and sing.

Like, I have been good to you, remember that.

And when you're enjoying a good time, remember, why do I feel so good?

It's like, because he is so good and he has been so good to you.

In the wisdom literature and the Psalms, Job, uh, which is actually one of the first books uh of the Bible uh written, um, God is questioning Job at the end.

But in his questioning of Job, God actually gives you some insight as to what was taking place at creation.

And so this is what God says.

He goes, He's asking Job, on what were Earth's footings set and who laid Earth's cornerstones, basically saying, You didn't do it, I did it.

He goes, but when that was happening, the morning stars were singing together and the angels were shouting for joy.

Like, and so you're like, what was happening at creation?

God wasn't the only one celebrating and saying it was good.

Like the angels in heaven were going, like, what is happening here?

And they're clapping their hands and they're shouting to him, like, that's beautiful, that's brilliant, you're amazing.

And they're shouting for joy.

That was creation.

So God creates out of joy, he creates you out of joy.

It's a celebration in the beginning.

Psalm 16, I talked about this.

In his presence, this fullness of joy.

Psalm 30, he said it's uh the psalmist says, God, you have turned my morning into dancing for me.

Not like you've turned my morning into sit quietly, listen to someone preach, kind of thing.

Like that's fine too, but like you've turned my morning into what?

And it's like a massive celebration, something completely different.

I'm dancing now.

You've untied my sackcloth and you've covered me with joy, that my soul may sing praise to you and not be silent.

Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

The prophets and the historical writings, so we're just moving through the Old Testament.

Prophets' historical writings, Zephaniah 3.17 says, God rejoices over us of singing.

He celebrates over us with a song, the way a mother or a father do, a little baby.

They just sing over them.

Nehemiah and Nehemiah 8, when the people finish rebuilding the wall, they they the word is read, the scriptures are read, they understand the Bible for the first time.

Nehemiah says, Hey, look, go and enjoy choice cuts of meat and sweet drinks.

That sounds awesome.

And then send some to those who have nothing prepared.

This day, and notice what he says, this day is holy.

And most of the time we're like, hey, God is holy.

There's no running in his house.

And Nehemiah is going, go and enjoy some fatty brisket and some sweet wine, because this day is holy.

And like, so so it's holy, so we should be quiet.

It's like, no, no, no, it's holy, so you should celebrate.

There's something here.

And then he says, Do not grieve, don't be sad.

The joy of God, the joy of the Lord is your strength.

His joy is strength to you, he'll give life to you.

And so there's something in the midst of it there.

And then Isaiah 61 says, he prophesies about the Messiah.

And then notice what he says that the Messiah is going to do.

He says, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, says the Messiah, because God has anointed me to proclaim good news, joyful news to the war to the poor.

He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, the release of darkness from prisoners, to proclaim the year of jubilee, the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God.

He wants me to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who grieve in Zion, and then to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

And so it's like, even like from beginning to end, even in the midst of our sin, it's like I'm gonna send somebody to restore the joy in you, to lead you from a space of despair into a space of praise.

And he's referencing Jesus, and then you get to the New Testament, and Jesus is filled with joy.

So much so that they're like, He's probably a drunk and a glutton.

Like he parties way too much to be the Messiah.

And it's like, that's him though.

And so you get to uh Richard Foster in this wonderful book, it's called the uh Celebration of Discipline, and it talks about spiritual disciplines.

But at the very end of the book, uh, the last chapter, he the last chapter isn't a discipline.

It's like the discipline of celebration.

It's not like reading your Bible.

It's like you need to be disciplined in how you celebrate.

He says this about Jesus.

Think of celebration is at the heart of the way of Christ.

Jesus entered the world on a high note of jubilation.

I bring you good news of great joy, cried the angel.

And then Jesus leaves the world, bequeathing his joy to his disciples, and says, These things I have spoken to you, that my joy, Jesus' joy, may be in you, and then that your joy may be filled up and be full.

And then if you just watch Jesus through the gospels, his first sign where he displays his glory is adding 150 gallons of wine at a wedding where they ran out.

And then the person says, Like, you have saved the best for last.

Like there's something here that exists, and Jesus is like, I am the best for last.

Like I am it.

Like you will find fullness of life.

And he's just displaying, what's it like to be with me, to do life with me?

Is it empty and sparse and spare?

Like, no, no, no, it's rich and it's filled and it overflows, and it's actually better than the thing that you had on your own.

Our teaching text in Luke 15, Jesus says about God that there will be more rejoicing over one sinner who repents.

There's rejoicing in heaven.

Jesus says that God is like a father of the prodigal, and he throws a party for his son.

And he says, and he says to the older son who's struggling, it's like, we have to celebrate.

We have this is not an option.

And so, like, you this idea that like you're gonna come back and enter into this space, like, what's God gonna do?

What's gonna and Jesus is going, he has a father who's gonna celebrate over you.

His his gut reaction is celebration.

He is going to celebrate you.

Matthew 11, 19, again, Jesus went to so many dinner parties that they criticized him for being a glutton and a drunkard, which I think is hysterical and awesome.

Um, Matthew 22, Jesus said that the kingdom of God, this is Jesus talking, Jesus said the kingdom of God is like a wedding party that everyone is invited into.

That sounds great.

Paul says that uh what God's spirit wants to grow in us is a spirit of joy.

And so something that's like, what's it like to be in his presence for the spirit to live in us?

Like, oh, he's gonna grow in you joy.

This is something he wants for you.

Celebration is something he wants to actually develop in you.

Paul says that believers in Jesus should rejoice always, and then he says, Again I will say, rejoice.

Rejoice always, again I say, rejoice.

Even in the midst of suffering, he says that we can rejoice.

Hebrews says, for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross.

It was like the joy of spending the eternity with us, the joy of actually accomplishing the Father's will, the joy of all of it was like, I'm going to get through this, not in my power, but out of joy.

There's something gonna lead me.

The joy of the Lord is going to be strength, even for Jesus, to get him through that thing.

Peter says that believers in Jesus rejoice with unspeakable joy.

We don't have words to put to it.

And then in Revelation, we will join in the celebration with Jesus and feast together at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

The Bible begins with a marriage celebration and a creation celebration, and it ends with a marriage celebration.

It is bookended by two incredible celebrations, and all the way through, God is trying to restore back to their people what he has had before.

And then Jesus shows up and is like, I'm here to announce the year of Jubilee, the year of freedom from for prisoners and life being put back into people.

Like this is what he's like.

And so celebrate, having a culture of celebration isn't something that like some 38 year old pastor who didn't grow up in the church was like, We just need to have more fun, y'all.

Like that, I that's not what I'm saying.

I'm like, if we're going to be biblical, if we're gonna aim at fidelity to the scriptures and go, like, this is really what I like, I believe the text, I love it, and I want to live my life by it.

One of those things has to Be celebration not as optional, but like this is a part of who he is and what he's like.

It's his heart on a page.

And so we have to actually do this thing and make sure that celebration is a part of us so that we'll have a view of him that's correct.

Because if our view is constantly that he's mad at us or whatever, he does it, we're having fun at a party and it's like that was fun, but now I gotta go to church.

Like, then we're viewing him wrong.

Versus it going like, I'm having so much fun, and that is because God is here pouring something into this space.

His heart is celebration, and I want us to be reminded of that.

Okay, that's the first.

We need a culture of celebration so that you're reminded of what he's actually like.

Number two, uh, we need a culture of celebration because you and I, we will pass on what we love and enjoy to the next generation and to the people around us, to our coworkers and the people that don't know Jesus.

Whatever, you're gonna pass on consistently what you love and what you enjoy.

Donald Miller and his best book, Blue Light Jazz, if you haven't read it, go read it.

It's beautiful.

But just in the very front pages, like right before he even begins a chapter, he says this.

He says, I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve.

But I was outside the Baghdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone.

I stood there for 15 minutes and the man never opened his eyes.

After that, I like jazz music.

And he says, Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself.

It's as if they're showing you the way.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something out loud before they can actually love it themselves.

And working in student ministry for 15 years, um, I noticed this really interesting dynamic among students uh and their parents.

So I'd have these students in my ministry, their parents come to church, I see them at church on Sunday mornings and things like that.

And uh then I'd get to know the students in my ministry, everybody's at church together, right?

They're all doing this thing together.

And I talk to the student and they're like, they hate their parents.

They're so mad at their parents.

They want nothing to do with Jesus or their parents' faith at all.

But then when football season started, come on, when football season begins, they would show up, their kids would show up wearing the exact same swag as their parents.

And I was like, oh, so you you guys, you you hate your parents, you hate their faith, but you love their football team.

That's interesting.

Like, and it was, it was like, ah, yeah, we're both UT fans, which I'm like, I don't know why, but like that's like you both love those, like that's so you hate every you hate the air that they breathe, and you share the same love for this football team.

And I was like, this is so and even the college itself, like where are you going to college?

Well, my dad went to Mississippi State, so I'm going there.

I'm like, you hate his guts.

Why do you want to go there?

I was like, I yeah, I'm going there, I'm so excited.

I'm like, what?

So not with faith, and not even with the person, but like the football team.

And I just found it so interesting.

But then I started thinking about it, I see it more and more and more.

I started thinking about it.

I was like, you know why?

It's pretty easy.

Go to this first slide here.

This is a common spread of food at a tailgate party.

It's pretty strong.

Next slide, common spread at a church.

Which one do you want to eat?

Be honest.

There's something different about go back to the last slide.

Go to that last one.

Come on, that's that's so good.

But just imagine, like, so this is the experience of like in entering into a church, it's like, hmm.

And then you go to a party where there's there's tons of food and drinks, and everything's great.

Everybody's excited.

Go to the slide where they're celebrating.

This is a common expression at a tailgate party.

This is at a Memphis game.

We're gonna get that guy to church.

Come on.

We need to put a little bit of that in the front row, just shirt on, maybe.

Um and then here's a common expression at a church service.

Boop.

And so it's not actually that difficult to be like, why is one being passed on and the other one not being passed on?

It's like, it's pretty clear.

And I'm not saying like, I'm not saying, oh, we we gotta make church a tailgate party.

I'm not saying that.

Uh, because there is something to reverence and to and to be and to be holy, but there has to be this space inside the church where people show up into this thing and it's like, it is so celebrated and so wonderful, and our gatherings are here in this space where it's like, it feels like this space where I don't want to leave.

I know they're different, but we should have great food.

And we Kelsey sets up these things with these with the women, and I'm like, hibachi night was brilliant.

Then she came to my table one day and like made a charcuterie board off of my janky table that we bought at a uh a garage sale and stuff like that, and like made it this beautiful thing.

I was like, this is what the kingdom of God is supposed to look like.

This this space of being made into beauty where people walk in and is like, that is delicious.

And it's like, what is that?

It's like, man, that's the kingdom of God on a table.

Go eat some food.

And so there needs to be this space where it's not just I realize again, it's not exactly the same thing, but there has to be this space where we pass on a love and an enjoyment.

And if what we love and enjoy are things outside of the faith, then you will pass on those things, but you won't pass on the faith because you don't love or enjoy those things, and so celebration has to be there.

I did that all from memory, so I have no idea where I am in my notes.

Oh as much as I want Teddy to hate U T and love um UGA, I do want him to you know pass the faith.

I want I want him to love Jesus as well.

I want him to know that Jesus came to give us life and life in abundance, and that's true, that he can actually experience those things.

And so there has to be a space where he can do that.

Um Thomas Aquinas says this.

He says, No one can live without delight.

No one can live without delight.

And that is why a man deprived of spiritual joy goes over to carnal pleasures.

Because the church has deprived people of the joy of God, the world looks good.

Sin looks better.

And it's like, man, it it was never supposed to look bad.

It's not, it's actually death.

It's poison sin is death and poison.

And when poison looks better than life, like, man, what is something's wrong?

And it's like, and Aquinas is going, it's not the world's fault, it's our fault.

Like we've forgotten somewhere along the way that like we're supposed to be a joyful people with a joyful God who created out of joy will lead us into fullness of joy and wants to celebrate at a feast with us one day where we drink new wine and eat great meats and like do this thing.

That's what he wants.

And so I want Teddy to understand this.

And in our family, we just do a couple of practices.

We do things like donuts for dinner.

Some of y'all heard that.

Anytime a prayer is answered in our lives, we go get Gibson's donuts because where else is heaven meeting earth?

Like, that is so good.

Um, and like he he loves it.

He loves it.

And so he loves when we pray and he loves when it's donuts for dinner night because we cheers our donuts and look at each other.

It's like, why do we eat donuts for dinner?

It's like, because God answers prayer.

I'm like, let's go.

But I want something to be attached to joy for him.

That like God is not like, sit down, shut up, make sure you do the right thing.

It's like, who wants to stick with that?

Like, I don't want to do any of that.

And and verses like, I love God.

I love that he answers prayer because I get donuts for dinner and taste and see that he is good.

Uh we uh Randy and I have a redemptive calendar where God has broken into our story and done amazing things just to save our relationship or do other things in our lives.

And uh Marriage Day was one of them uh where uh August 25th, 2010, where we went to counseling for the first time and our marriage was put back together, or excuse me, our relationship was put back together so that we actually did want to get married because when we went into that counseling, we didn't want to get married.

Um, but we celebrate that day every year, and it's been 15 years, and so we we do this feast, and now Teddy's a part of it, and so this is a you know, it's a picture I took with my phone.

But like every it was like I told Teddy, I was like, hey, order whatever you want.

And so we all wanted three different types of pizza, and Rainey was like, we can do half and half.

I was like, there's no half and half on marriage day.

There's no half and half in the kingdom of God.

Everybody get their own pizza, and so we got like barbecue pizza up there, I got an all-meat pizza right here.

Teddy's got his cheese pizza, I got an old-fashioned sitting there in the middle.

Come on.

Uh, there's uh there's cookies, there's MMs, there's we just splurge, and there's some fruit that nobody touched.

Like, there's some, it was just like, so we we get this feast of food, we're gonna watch Survivor, we watch Survivor as a family, and uh, and it was like, it was just so good.

It was the best day, and we ate our food, we ate way too much, and just felt terrible at the end of it because that's the way it works here in the of the earth.

Um, but it it was this wonderful thing that like, and then we sat down and I told it we just very quickly told the story to Teddy like, hey, here's why we're feasting, here's why we're eating all the different food that we want to eat.

And we can say, No, uh, he wanted more cookies, and Rainey was like, he hasn't eaten enough fruit.

We can't have cookies.

Like, the boy can have cookies today.

He can have as many cookies as he wants.

It's marriage day.

He wouldn't even exist without this day, and that's true.

And he needs to know that.

And so his life needs to be infused with faith, but it has to be infused with a faith that's enjoyable, where he actually sees God and like, what's he like?

He's like, he has three different pizzas, cookies, MMs, old fashions, and then a little bit of fruit on the side.

Like, he is all of that put together.

And it's the best day.

And so I want him looking forward to marriage day and walking up to other families and being like, Do you guys celebrate marriage day?

Because I can do it at your house if you want.

And we're like, oh no, we don't do that.

It's like, oh, you should come to my house then.

You will get your own pizza.

Like you're gonna God has been so good to us.

And so I want those things.

Another one that we're adding is a Deuteronomy 14 feast.

And Deuteronomy 14, um, God says this uh to the people it's like, hey, if you can't make it to Jerusalem for the festival, take your tithe that you would have spent and spend that money on whatever you desire.

Come on, oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, whatever your appetite craves, buy that thing.

And then make sure you eat that meal before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your whole household.

And so God says, like, look, uh, you I want you to come to Jerusalem and spend time in my presence, but if you can't make it there, take whatever money you were gonna spend on me, giving to me, take it and buy whatever your heart desires, food-wise, but just make sure that the meal is surrounding me, that we eat this thing together, that your family knows that this is a holy meal.

It is a feast, but you're eating it with me.

And it's gonna be joyous and celebratory.

And so, like, we uh Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Bible.

This is Deuteronomy 14, so 5, 14.

So May 14th, this coming year, we're gonna do a Deuteronomy feast and take what we would normally tie to the church and go ham and just buy whatever we want and have like the fanciest food.

I don't even know.

We'll probably get pizza again.

Um but I wanted to be like, why are we doing this?

When Teddy goes, why are we doing this?

It's like, oh, because we're celebrating the goodness of God.

We're not just eating a meal randomly, we're eating it around him.

Okay.

Those are the things that I want.

I want my family to have parties with the best food and the best drinks and the best time.

And then when Teddy does go, like, why?

It's like, because he's good.

He's good to us.

Because I think that's how we pass on.

We pass on what we love.

All right, pass on what we love.

Last thing.

I want a culture of celebration in our church because uh I believe that when you have a culture of celebration, sinners will begin to come home.

People who are struggling in sin, running away from God, sinners will begin to come home.

And I think you see this in this text.

Jesus is telling this story in front of tax collectors and sinners who believe they're on the outs with God.

There's no way I could come home.

They feel the way the prodigal would feel.

There's no way I could come home.

And so they probably think when Jesus gets to the point where the son is deciding to come home, they their expectation is we don't really know what's gonna happen when the prodigal gets there.

Jesus is telling the story.

We've never read it before.

We don't really know what's gonna happen, but probably the father will disown the prodigal.

He might beat the prodigal, he might like make him be a slave or something like that.

We have no idea.

But then when he gets to the home, and the father throws a huge party, and actually, what it says is like, bring the best robe, put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet, bring the fattened calf, kill it.

We're gonna eat fatty brisket, it's gonna be amazing.

And like, we're gonna do all this stuff.

Let's feast, let's celebrate.

What Jesus is trying to communicate to tax collectors and the sinners, he's trying to tell them, like, hey, it's okay to come home.

It's safe to come home.

You will not be condemned, you will be celebrated.

Like if you will turn and come back to the Father, all he wants is for his kids to come back home.

And so he's trying to communicate to these people, is like, where do I stand?

It's like you're far away right now, but you don't have to be.

And some of you are nervous to come home with your sin and like, I don't know if I can step back into this thing.

I've abandoned my people or I've done this terrible stuff.

I don't know that I can come home.

And he's communicating it is safe to come home.

And I think so many people inside the church and in our families, my family, and outside, is like, I there's an interest in God, or maybe a disinterest in God because it's like, he doesn't want me, I don't want him.

And so if he doesn't want me, then fine, I don't want him either.

Or he's probably so disappointed in me, and so I don't want to give him a time of day.

And it's like we need to have this celebratory culture so that people are actually able to see, like, he is the father who is like, what are you going to do?

He's not gonna berate you, he's gonna celebrate you.

He's not gonna reject you, he's gonna rejoice over you.

This is who he is, and that's what he's like.

And so you're free.

Please come home.

It will be a celebration, it will not be a funeral.

Like he's been having this funeral, going, like, I'm never gonna see my son or daughter again, I'm never gonna see them.

And it's like, but then they come home and he's like, he is going to rejoice over you.

There's gonna be rejoicing in heaven.

And so I want us to have that here so that people do recognize like what's he like.

It's like he's the most joyful being in the universe.

He loves you.

He's so excited for you to come home.

So that people in their sin who are nervous to actually express those things or to say those things, so that they know they can do that stuff in front of God because they know I'm not gonna be rejected, I'm gonna be rejoiced over.

He's gonna sing over me, he's gonna celebrate me.

All right, so here's how we're aiming at those things.

That's those are the three things that we we want.

It gives you a correct view of God when you have a culture of celebration.

We will pass on what we love and enjoy, and so a culture of celebration hopefully stirs some enjoyment in our own experience with God.

And then sinners will come home.

At least they should.

There's a lot easier time to come home when you're expecting a celebration and not condemnation.

And so we want that.

Here's how we're aiming at it very quickly.

One, worship on Sundays.

Um, obviously, we want to celebrate and we we want to do that.

Again, I don't want manufactured hype, I don't want, you know, distraction or anything like that, but I do want this to be a celebratory time where we celebrate the goodness of God in our time, even in the midst of struggling, even in the midst of suffering, even while we're walking through that thing.

Paul and Silas are in prison, but they're singing hymns.

They're still worshiping.

And it's like, you're in prison, what's happening?

It's like there's still something welling in me that wants to give him praise and sing to him.

And so I want our worship to be celebratory.

Um, we were gonna do prayer and worship nights, worship and prayer nights.

Just some of our young adults in here know how to play the guitar and they can sing and they're like, you know what, we need worship and prayer nights.

So I think one of them, when is the first one?

October?

October 21st.

Thank you, Matthew.

Um, so we're it's at my house because we don't have a building.

Yeah.

Um and so, like, just we're just gonna come together and worship and pray and just enjoy it.

And I if it if I'm there, there's gonna be great food and drinks.

Um, and so it's gonna be a it's gonna be a good time.

But you know, we want to do that.

Uh donuts from Gibson's, uh, we do that here at the church.

That's uh Kathy and Don Johnson and other people who pick it up.

But they just pay for that thing and they want to bless our church for that.

It's not something that we need.

Oh, it's a church in the south.

We've got to have coffee and donuts.

It's like, yeah, maybe, but like I want it to be bigger than that.

Like, taste and see that he is good.

Like, I want you to understand, like if your kids are excited or whoever's excited, adults are excited to come and get a donut, like, good.

You should be excited to come to church for more than just the donuts, but this should help.

And so we have that uh fun days at the church.

Uh we uh, you know, around Halloween, uh kids and adults dress up uh, you know, in costumes and things like that.

And we don't do it because we worship demons or the spirits.

Um we do it because it's festive, the same way that you you don't like, you're not put hanging Christmas lights and putting up a tree because you worship Satan at Christmas time.

Like you're just doing it because it makes the room festive and it's fun.

And so, in the same way, people dress up on Halloween and stuff like that, and like, that's great.

I love that.

Please do that thing.

Don't be like a slutty nurse, but you know, that kind of thing.

Um I'm just making sure y'all are paying attention.

All right.

Also, don't leave our church.

All right.

After that, we also do baptisms.

Hey, am I okay?

Okay.

Okay.

I'm gonna stick to my notes.

It's a good thing the lights are off.

I'm blushing.

All right.

We do baptisms.

Baptisms are celebrations.

It is like I have moved from death to life, and I'm letting everybody know.

And so when they come up out of the water and we go ham, I do think that we should celebrate so big, we should get noisemakers and the whole thing and pop balloons, or I don't know what we do, but like it should be a great thing.

Like somebody has made a decision to follow Jesus with their lives.

And in our culture, somebody choosing to follow Jesus with their life, like with everything that's happening in our culture and all the different spaces that like there's so many different options to choose and so many different things to do.

It's like, hey, actually, instead of doing all that, I'm gonna choose to follow the narrow way of Christ, to be persecuted for his name.

Like, I'm gonna choose to do that with my life.

It's like throw a party, it should be amazing.

Celebrations.

Um, we also want to do next, we want to do parties.

Uh we do most of our parties at the Baldans.

After party, we do two of those a year normally at the Baldans where we just have a good time.

We did one a couple weeks ago.

We do a Christmas party at the Baldans, which is just so beautiful, and they're very generous to give us their space.

And um they're just fun, they're just optional.

Like, please come and hang out and enjoy yourselves.

It's just a way to enjoy yourself.

But again, to sit there and be like, why are we doing this?

Like, not because we have to, but because God is good and this is good.

Let's just do these things together.

Um, I want to do community block parties if we ever get a permanent space, and we're working with the church right now to figure that out.

Like, just to like have this incredible time, maybe even put it on the day of like this day is the day we finally our prayers are answered.

We got a permanent space, and this becomes a day that we celebrate and just invite the community to come and like let's get some bounce houses and Derek and make brisket and we can just, you know, I've got so many done, like, I don't know, just bring everybody into this free thing.

And then when they ask, like, why are you guys celebrating a party?

Why are we invited to this thing?

It's because God has been good to us and he wants to be good to you too.

And so if you're experiencing fun here at this thing, we're not trying to like sucker you in to attend our church, although you'd love it here, but like telling the community, like, we're doing this because he is good.

And if you don't know him as good, you need to, and let this be a foretaste of what he's actually like.

And so we want parties.

Um I don't want anybody to get ripped or anything at our parties, but I do want us to understand that parties are also worship.

They're also worship.

Um second, I don't know if it's last, but competitions.

Um, we want to do competitions at our church, chili cook-off, because they're just fun.

They're just fun to do.

And it's nice to have a winner and a loser and to point at everybody else when you win.

Um quarterly game nights, we have one in October, just after our midweek Wednesday night, when we finish our study, we're gonna do a game night.

We did those over the summer and they were a blast.

And I got pretty heated.

Um, but we were all friends at the end and no one left our church, so that was fun.

Um, and then any of our gatherings, like men's, women's gatherings, the men's gathering today, it's a competition and a gathering, and then we're gonna go eat happy Mexican food afterwards and just enjoy that.

Kelsey did the hibachi night and she plans these incredible events that are beautiful, and it's like this is one day we will sit before a king who who lowers down this thing in front of us, what we get to enjoy, these sweet drinks and great food.

And it's like, this is a picture of what it's actually gonna be like and what he wants to give us.

And so I want those things for our church.

I love it.

I love it when people hear about our church and go, man, uh, if that's what church is like, I could go to that church.

I do like that.

That's great, but that's not what I'm aiming at.

I want people to show up to our gatherings or to into your spaces or to spend time with you and to realize like if Jesus is this good, then I want, I want, I think I could worship that Jesus because my experience with Jesus is somewhere over here, but like y'all, your church or your time as you celebrate him, you seem to suggest that he's great.

If he is that good, I want to know that Jesus.

I love it when they say about our church, but I'd love that for them to say it like it's not our church that's doing it.

He is that good.

We're a reflection of how he, how good he is, and so don't look at us, look at him.

And so I want that to be true of us as well.

All right, how you can participate, and then I'll close out.

I just want you to have a culture of celebration in your heart.

Um, and so, one, find a reason to throw a party and throw one.

Um, we do things where God has really answered our prayers, uh, celebrate moments where God has been kind to you, like marriage day for us.

Think of a time where God has been good to you, and then just make a party out of it.

Invite people into it, have the best food and the best drinks.

And when the people are there, you're like, what are we celebrating again?

Like, what is this?

And it's like, and then just talk, this tell the story.

It's like, this is the day that God did this thing for me, or this is the day that God, you know, uh did this save my kid, or I almost, you know, I got sick and I got healed.

Like, I don't know.

Like just find a reason to celebrate and invite people in and use the party to display the goodness of God.

So when they're eating the best food and drinking the best drinks, like I've never had so much fun in my life.

Why?

It's like because Jesus is at the center of this party.

This is something he's in.

And so create a redemptive calendar where you can do those things.

And then the last is practice the Deuteronomy 14 feast.

This is so much fun.

This is why you should give to the church.

Um, you have a tithe to like, actually, I'm not gonna give it to the church this month.

I'm gonna give it to now, look, don't do that all the time because then we wouldn't have a church.

Uh but I do think, like, man, if you have this space where you're like Deuteronomy 14 feast, I want to take what I was gonna tithe.

And you need to know that like the tithe isn't just thing that God's like, you better give or else.

That he also saw this space was like, I do, I all of your stuff is mine, and I am giving it to you.

And so I do deserve to receive things back, God is saying.

He's like, but I also want you to know that I'm not a taker.

Like, I'm not asking you to give me money because I want to make your life difficult.

Like, I'm actually trying to free you of a thing.

And so this is just a way to go, like, what's he like?

It's like, he's actually told me not to give it to the church this time or to the poor, but to go buy a ton of great food to experience how good that food tastes and to eat a meal in front of him and then to enjoy it and go, like, why is this so good?

It's like, because he is this good.

And so we need to have those spaces in our lives and in our time as well.

And so find a way.

Find a party, throw it, invite me.

I'd love to be there.

Um, practice Deuteronomy 14 feast, and then just join in to this thing here.

It is not elementary to want a culture of celebration, it is integral.

It needs to happen because it's true in the scriptures.

He is the most joyful being in the universe.

Joy began with him, with his idea, and it's something that he wants to pour out into us.

And so be a part of that, allow that to be something, allow it to shape you, and allow it to form you, because that's what he wants for you.

Let me pray.

Oh Jesus, would you grow in us, just a desire for joy?

Would you grow in us and joy that exists in you?

If the joy of the Lord is our strength, would you strengthen us by it today?

If in your presence is fullness of joy, if laughter was your idea, God, I just pray that you would allow it to be something that defines our church.

That's what we're about.

And would it never lose sight of the fact that like the only reason this exists is because you are joyful, you are good, your heart is celebratory.

And in your kingdom, it's a celebration that you're inviting people into.

And so, God, will we know you that way?

Will we experience you that way?

In Jesus' name.

Amen.