TLP 377 (COG 1): What Is The Year Long Celebration of God?

Today AMBrewster unveils Truth.Love.Parent.’s newest biblical discipleship tool. This dynamic resource utilizes the Bible and our holiday calendars to equip Christians and their families to know, believe, and celebrate God all year long.

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Click "Read More" for today’s Episode Notes and Transcript.

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Transcript

Introduction

Hey everyone, I am super excited about today’s episode. This has been over a decade in the making, and it’s finally here. 

I pray the resource we discuss today will have a massive spiritual impact on your family. Of course, no system or plan will ever do anything against our wills. We have to intentionally and premeditatedly use the resource to the glory of God for the discipleship of our family if we hope to see the benefits.

And that’s what we want to equip you to do.

But before that, let me remind you to check out TruthLoveParent.com if you haven’t been there in a while. We’re daily adding retroactive content so that all of our episodes and seasons will finally be accessible on our website. 

All of our Pilot Season and Season one are there, and though that may sound crazy behind since we’re now cruising through Season 15, don’t worry. Most of our content is already on the website. It’s those first few seasons that need to be posted brand new. Once that’s done, getting all the other content updated will be significantly easier.

So, check it out. 

Also, while you’re there, decide how you want to interact with our TLP Community. Are you just a Follower? Would you like to become part of the Family? Perhaps you may consider becoming a TLP Friend or even joining TeamTLP? Well, all the information and details are at the website, so go check it out and make your decision.

Alright, let me tell you what’s about to follow.

​As I mentioned last time, TLP is rolling out a new biblical parenting resource that includes its own podcast. 

We wanted to introduce it to you guys first and then roll it out to the world on its own platform. I think it’s going to be amazing, so we’re handling it like a normal TLP series . . . but there will be differences.

For example, you’re going to hear the new podcast from start to finish, that means you get to hear the new intro and ending.

You’re also going to find that though there is parenting content on the podcast, there’s also a lot of other application so that Christians who aren’t married and don’t have kids will still benefit from it. We want this resource to be practical and applicable for teachers, pastors, aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends, and absolutely any relationship you can imagine.

Lastly, since this is a new endeavor, we’d love your feedback. Tell us what you love and what you hate by sending an email to [email protected].

Alright, that’s enough introduction. 

My friends, here it is: The Celebration of God.

*Begin Celebration of God*

We generally celebrate the most important events of our lives for one day only. Birthdays, anniversaries, adoption days, and religious holidays galore are revisited every year for just one day.

But think with me for a minute.

What if something or someone were so amazing that it you couldn’t possibly do it justice with only a one day celebration. What if you needed a whole week?

My dear friends from Germany celebrated their wedding over the course of a full week. They had various parties and photo shoots and activities all dedicated to the celebration of their becoming one flesh. However, as far as I know, they still only celebrate their anniversary over the course of one day.

But what if the thing you wanted to celebrate was so incredible that — after a week of celebrating — you just couldn’t wait to do it again? Next year is just too far away! There’s still more to laud. There’s still more to do to show our joy and admiration.

What would a month-long party look like?

Think about that! No breaks, no going back to work, no other responsibilities but the continual celebration of something or someone for the entire month.

Now, we have to stop here because I think we might be wondering if that were just a bit overboard. I think we have a hard time imagining something that is so worthy of a month-long celebration that it wouldn’t get . . . boring.

Seriously, how much partying can a person take. How many speeches and feasts and activities dedicated to one person or one event can you endure before — surprisingly — all the fun and festivities just get to be too much?

And I think we feel that way because we all know there is no thing, no event, no person on this planet who is so incredibly amazing that anyone would dedicate day-after-day to celebrate their awesomeness. After a while, it would be strained and difficult, and we would all be yearning to return back to some productive activities and normal life.

We’d be excited to get back to work after a while because we crave rhythm.

I completely understand. I feel the same way.

But . . . and I think you know where I’m going with this . . . there is Someone Who is so incredibly, infinitely, and eternally majestic, magnificent, and marvelous that even a month-long celebration wouldn’t be long enough.

If God really is Who He says He is in the Bible, then it makes all the sense in the world that His followers will be able to spend all eternity worshipping and celebrating Him without once getting bored or running out of things to praise.

Still . . . we need to pause again for a moment.

If you’re a born-again believer, you know that what I’m saying is true, but it still fries our brains to think about it. You try to imagine worshipping God for one million years, and then you know that’s not long enough to represent eternity, so you add another and another. We can barely conceptualize what a billions years would even mean. So, trying to picture the fact that we could — for the never-ending span of eternity — find new things to celebrate and new facets to explore and new depths to worship in our great God is a little overwhelming — especially when we imagine that we absolutely will love every minute of it and will never get bored. 

We can’t fathom it now. It hurts our brains.

Part of that is due to the fact that we’re finite beings who think that living 100 years would be overwhelming. We wonder what a couple would have left to discuss after being married for 50 years. Fantasy movies about immortal beings always portray them as somber and sober and often yearning for death because there’s just no more purpose left in their never-ending lives.

We’re too limited in our physical and spiritual capacities to even begin to imagine an eternity of worship and praise.

But, my friends the idea that celebration is an all or nothing endeavor is simply not true. 

Though we may not be able to perfectly conceptualize what it will mean to spend eternity with God on the new earth and celebrate Him and love Him and fellowship with Him and live the life He intended from the very beginning . . . I do believe we can — and should — get a foretaste of that glory divine right here and right now.

But the second problem we face when imagining what it would look like to celebrate God for even twelve hours straight is the fact that — though we know how awesome He is — we don’t really believe it.

You see, knowing something is just that; it’s possessing information and facts. Understanding something takes that information to a new level where it really sinks in. But I can know and understand something without allowing it to change my life. I know who Santa Claus is — both the historical figure and the fantasy character. I understand who he is and what he does and why and how, but I don’t live like he’s real because I don’t believe he is real.

And I think we Christians can sometimes slip into a practical atheism where we read our Bibles and pray and sing and attend church, but then we spend the rest of our day and week not really thinking about Who God is, my relationship with Him, and how I should be living in light of the fact that He’s my Savior and my God.

Those two reasons right there — the fact that we’re finite beings, and the fact that I don’t think we really believe in and love God the way we should — those are the big reasons that imagining an eternity-long celebration leaves some of us a little nonplussed. 

But I hope to change that in me. And I hope my family’s journey can be part of the process God uses to help your family truly know and believe that He is God and that He is worthy of an eternity of worship and praise that will never get boring, never get old, and never run out of things to celebrate.

And I believe that we will accomplish that — in part — by learning what it looks like to celebrate God — not just for a day or a week or even a month — but over the course of the entire year.

Yes, Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving will all still be there, but instead of seeing them as individual events, those holidays — and many others — will become mere slices of a much larger celebration.

But we’ll also learn that sometimes celebration happens in the pomp and circumstance of activity and excitement while other celebration happens in the quiet of solitude. 

God has designed celebration to flow through the natural rhythms He’s imbued in creation. It’s not all on celebration at Christmas and then stop celebrating until Easter. It’s a new kind of celebration. It ebbs and flows. 

I believe that if our families can start to truly understand and appreciate the Year Long Celebration of God, we will all start looking forward to what an eternity of perfect worship could look like. We’ll stop wondering how we won’t get bored, and we’ll start really loving God and praising Him and worshipping Him every day of our lives.

And I believe achieving that slice of heaven here on earth is not only going to be a really great experience, but I believe it’s an absolute necessity if we want our families to truly know God and glorify Him.

That’s right. I’m saying that our families aren’t going to be who God wants them to be here on this earth if we’re not participating in the Year Long Celebration of God.

Topic

Hey, everyone, my name is Aaron Michael Brewster. I’m the president of Truth.Love.Parent., which is one of the ministry arms of Evermind Ministries, and this is The Year Long Celebration of God podcast.

I originally created the Celebration of God as a parenting resource to help families know God, believe Him, and bask in His awesomeness so that our homes can truly be Christ-honoring places — so we and our spouse and our kids could achieve our full potential in God. 

Of course, if you don’t have a spouse or kids, this podcast is still definitely for you. All Christians regardless of their age or nationality or family status should participate in this celebration.

However, as a unique tool for the family, I believe Christian parents will find the Celebration of God to be instrumental in capturing their kids’ hearts, teaching them about God, and training them to walk with Him every day of their lives.

Over the next few episodes I hope to unpack for you what the Year Long Celebration of God is, how it works, and why it’s absolutely vital for us and our families. And then I’m so excited to be able to actually step you through the entire year-long celebration. 

That’s right, I plan to walk hand-in-hand (or maybe just voice-in-ear) with you as your family experiences the Celebration first-hand. And then — just as gift-giving becomes more meaningful as the giver matures and better understands the person to whom they’re giving a gift — every year we have a new opportunity to make our family’s celebration of God even better and more grand and more impactful and more glorious than the year before — to deepen the rhythms, to bask in the significance.

I hope you’ll join us for each show and take what you’ve learned and teach it to your family. In fact, I encourage you to listen to these episodes along with your family. The totality of our content is all about celebration . . . so you know it’s a topic that’s exciting and encouraging and something toward which you can look forward every week. 

Now, given the nature of the subject content, this can’t be a once or twice a week podcast. Sometimes it will be once or twice a week, but there may also be times that an episode posts every day of the week in preparation or observance of a specific slice of the year long Celebration. 

Now, don’t worry, the more episodes that post a week, the shorter they should be. And though you may be wondering why the show will post so sporadically, I’m going to have to leave you in some suspense and explain that more later.

So, when it comes to learning this material for yourself and teaching it to your family, in addition to the podcasts — however often they’re going to post — you can go to CelebrationOfGod.com or CelebrationOfGod.org for more resources.

Of course, if you’re joining us during our first year-long celebration starting in 2020, there won’t be that many resources there yet, but those resources will grow as we progress through 2020 and into the future. Which means that if you’re just joining us sometime after 2020, there should be plenty of amazing resources for you at CelebrationOfGod.org or .com.

Some of the things you can expect to find at CelebratioOfGod.com right away is a calendar with the various events and special days already recorded. Some of them you’ll recognize, some of them you won’t, and some of them you may even wonder why they’re there. Trust me, it will all make sense as we move through the year together.

And you’ll also find episode notes for each podcast. Those notes will be a valuable resource as you teach your children how to celebrate God all year long, so I hope you’ll take advantage of them.

Conclusion

I am so incredibly excited about this. I’ve been working on this for years, studying it and researching and implementing and speaking on it. I’m extremely happy to finally be walking through this with you.

Of course, I must admit that it’s not finalized and completed. I believe the Year Long Celebration of God will continue to grow and mature and change every year from now to eternity as we learn to better know and believe God.

So, gather your family, invite your friends, and get excited as we embark on a Year Long Celebration of the most amazing Person in the entire universe.

You can get others involved by sharing this episode on your favorite social media outlets so Christians all over the world can get in on the party.

God is awesome, so His celebration better be awesome too. 

Join me next time as we learn that God Himself invented celebrations. He’s the King of parties and feasts, and I think that when we understand how much God loves celebrating, we’ll get even more excited about what it means to really celebrate Him in a way that He loves.