Celebrate Tonight....

Celebrate (Defined) --- A joyous or happy occasion to mark some event or situation.

Recovery (Defined) -- The act of regaining or recovering something that was lost.

Tonight I go to Centre to speak at their Celebrate Recovery. It will truly be a celebration of God recovering people and restoring them to their original state of being. I won't try and go into great detail, but over the years, what has worked for me is that I spend a lot of time reading Scripture before I go to speak. As the day progresses, God kind of narrows down what he wants me to say. I don't do a lot of preparation for speaking but rather spend my time in prayer. When it comes time to speak, I take the verses I think God wants to highlight and then simply allow him to fill in the chinks, so to speak, with what he wants to say. One thought, as I'm speaking, may lead me to another verse where God wants to highlight a thought or precept.

I know it sounds like I simply wing it when I stand up to speak and you might not be far from that concept. I don't like to say,"I'm winging it." I'd rather say that I'm trying to follow God. This way of teaching and speaking came about from being here at Rapha. When I first started teaching a class here, I would come prepared. Many pages of teaching notes. Verses highlighted and organized. I would have spent hours reading the teaching, getting it straight in my head. Once I stood to teach, someone would ask a question that would take us in a complete different direction, so everything I had prepared was really of no use anymore. When we would venture in the direction that the question was taking us to, God would show up and there would be much power and presence in the room. I saw many saved and healed during this time of completely not knowing what I was doing. I simply discarded what I had prepared and embraced what God was doing at that moment. Over the years, my teaching has changed into this pattern of reading and praying, and once the teaching starts, simply listening for God and following where the Holy Spirit wants to go. I don't know that it would work for everyone, but it has been the way God teaches through me.

Oh yeah....Back to Celebrate Recovery........Centre......tonight.

I have been stuck in Psalm 150 this week.

V1. - Praise God in his heavenly dwelling. Praise him in his might heaven.

We begin at the top. We start with the one who has made our living responsible. That would be God. It is hard for me to read the word "praise" and see it as a passive behavior. I think praise is off the hook, wide open, raucous, loud, boisterous and about a gazillion other adjectives. IT is the highest thing we can do. I mean give praise that rises up from the deepest recess's of our spirit and heart (Heart got recess's?)

V2. - Praise him for his mighty works. Praise his unequaled greatness!

God is not silent. God is not a "do nothing" God. God is active and moving and changing and touching and interacting. Oh and one other thing...................HE AIN'T GOT NO RIVALS THAT ARE EQUAL TO HIM OR UP TO THE TASK OF TAKING HIM ON! That wasn't very good English, but it did get my point across. Also, one more reason to praise him.

V3. - Praise him with a blast of the trumpet. Praise him with the lyre and harp!

Now we're talking. We are going to pull in the horn section. I mean let's find us a bunch of worshippers that have got some "punch" to their sound. I don't want no wimpy, airless, don't want to make any noise horn players. I want a Memphis Soul Section...I want Muscle Shoals Horn players. I want horn players who play with feeling and don't simply follow the notes.

V4. - Praise him with the tambourine and dancing. Praise him with stringed instruments and flutes!

Dancing and tambourines? You got to be kidding me! We don't allow no dancing in our church. Well, number #1....it isn't your church. If you check the Bible (remember that book) the church belongs to Jesus. Number #2.....No where does it mention that this is to only take place in the church. Why not cut a rug at home. Dance a jig in the shower. Dance for God. Dance with God. Dance to God. But honey....Dance.

V5. - Praise him with a clash of cymbals. Praise him with loud clanging cymbals.

Noise! Noise for Jesus! Noise with a purpose. I'd love to have about a hundred people who played cymbals and just go for it. Do you see how confined our worship has become. How we have allowed our joy to be taken away. We sit in rows with our hands folded and look as though we were baptized in persimmon juice. I think God wants us to get happy!

V6. - Let everything that lives (has breath) sing praise to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Did you catch that? Everything that has breath....everything that is living....

It didn't say everything that is saved. Or everything that belongs to First Church. The entire creation has been called by God himself to join in this incredible worship time and scream and dance and proclaim the greatness of the one who has so lovingly given us life today.

Wow!
Now that is worth getting excited about.

God on you..........

mb