Introduction: Well, another year has gone by since we last remembered and celebrated the founding of this local church. If you recall last year’s celebration was interrupted by severe thunderstorms during the AM service, the electricity went out, and it became quite dark, such that it was hard to see the songs in the song book, etc. We ate our meal downstairs with oil lamps. All we needed to set the scene of over 100 years ago would have been period costumes! Move ahead nearly a year and we arrive at this past Monday afternoon and the very severe storms that passed through here and caused so much damage and lost of electricity for several days. It looked like we might have a repeat of last year’s anniversary Sunday.

I looked up the word anniversary in Webster’s Dictionary, and here is what he said: "A stated day on which some event is annually celebrated; the annual celebration in honor of an event." We usually associate the word "anniversary" with the day a man and woman got married. When that day reaches such milestones as 25 years and 50 years, the celebration is pushed up a few notches and others are often invited to celebrate with the couple.

Illustration: When Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Kantzer were about to celebrate their forty-eighth wedding anniversary, they shared their joyous news with a lady assisting them at the cash register. Amazed, the young cashier said, "I can't think of any man I'd like to live with for forty-eight years!" Mrs. Kantzer replied, "Well, don't marry until you do."

Though we don’t call it an anniversary, we all celebrate another annual event in our lives - our birthday. Sometimes a very significant event in a family’s history, a town’s history, states’ history, or even a nation’s history is remembered. The 4th of July is one such date, as is Dec. 7th - Pearl Harbor Day. Those who were especially touched by the events of that significant date remember it.

As the word "anniversary" implies, such times are to be times of celebration and remembrance. Some here have been attending this church for many years. Take some time today to think back on what you have seen the Lord do here in your life and in the life of others. Consider some of your brothers and sisters who used to worship the Lord with you but are now worshipping the Lord in Heaven right now. Rejoice in the people who have been saved over the years because there was a church here where the Word of God was preached and proclaimed. Maybe you have not attended NEBC all that long, but like those who have attended for many years, we all have that which we can rejoice about. I’m speaking of the wonderful truth that every believer is a part of the Body of Christ - the Church - of which this place is one of countless visible manifestations of that Body of Christ in the world today.

The Bible doesn’t tell individual believers and individual churches to celebrate the day they were saved or formed themselves into a church. In fact, unlike the OT Jewish feasts, there are no dates set for Christians to celebrate certain matters. The only thing that comes close to that is the institution of the Lord’s Table by our Lord before His death. Our Lord did not command the Church to remember His birth at Christmas, or to remember even His resurrection at Easter. All of these "Christian" holidays were many instituted by traditions and incorporation of idolatrous practices and days from false religions. We need to be very careful about setting forth special religious days. Why? Because so many associate the special day with being religious, and if they are good on that so-called religious day then they reason that maybe they are alright with God.

On the other hand, the scriptures tell believers to rejoice and show thanksgiving for all that the Lord has done for them. For instance, here is what Paul wrote in Phil. 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, rejoice." The words "rejoice" and "joy" are often repeated words in this epistle of Philippians. Peter says the same thing in 1 Peter 1:6-8 "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:" Paul writes to the Colossian believers and tells them to abound in thanksgiving, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."

I therefore conclude that it is perfect ok for us to set aside a day like this day to rejoice and give thanks to the Lord for the things He has done over the years here at North Eulalia Baptist Church and in our individual lives as believers no matter where we have been. We should never let this day become something more than what it is.

I went in search of some Biblical example of people remembering an event on an annual basis. I settled upon the OT story of Esther. Permit me to review quickly that wonderful OT story of God’s mercy and grace, though not once do you find God’s name used in the book.

I would like to use the pattern for the Jewish celebration of Purim as a model for how we should each celebrate what God, through Jesus Christ, has done for us. There are several areas of similarity between the annual celebration of Purim and what each of us here who are believers can rejoice and give thanks concerning on such a day as this day. We should not come to the conclusion, though, that such rejoicing and giving thanks should be limited to an anniversary celebration like today - it should be "for ever more" as Paul tells the Thessalonian believers.

First of all,

I. There Is A Calamity Avoided

A. Purim remembers the defeat of Haman and all those who sided with him.
Some might like to think that Hitler was the first fool who though about eliminating the Jewish people from the earth. Haman tried to get rid of all the Jews in the Persian Empire centuries before Jesus was born. Satan wanted to get rid of the Jewish people so that he could attempt to thwart God’s master plan of sending Jesus Christ into the world to defeat, or bruise the head of the serpent, promised in Gen. 3:15. Of course he failed, but that didn’t keep him from attempting to do it.

B. The Christian who rejoices in their salvation, celebrates the defeat of Satan, sin and death over them.
Consider what Paul told the Corinthian believers in the resurrection chapter, 1 Cor. 15:54-58: "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Satan, sin, and death are the greatest of calamities to avoid. By our own strength they are impossible to avoid, but by the power and work of Jesus Christ that trio of spiritual disasters is avoided forever. Each person who is member of the body of Christ is a soul that has been delivered from the disaster of sin.

Illustration: The severe thunderstorm that passed through our area on Monday afternoon is one that we will not soon forget. We have all seen storms and high winds, but not often does a tornado come through our area - though Daryl Jackson knows what a tornado can do when it touches down on a hill. We have seen the trees that came down, and have probably cut up a few or helped others clean up. Some of you know some who were not so fortunate, and had some damage to their home and property. We can praise the Lord that there was no loss of life. For the most part, we all avoided a calamity that in other places has resulted in loss of life to many.

Application: We can easily understand how we avoided a calamity on Monday, but how well do we comprehend the consequences of what would be true if we experienced the eternal defeat that always comes from sin, Satan, and death? People who have come a "whiskers breath" from death never forget it and appreciate each day that God gives them to live. Each of us here who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour were rescued from the clutches of eternal death, yet what kind of impact is that rescue having in your life and my life today?

I Cor. 15:58 gives us two down-to-earth applications of what should be true in the life of one who has avoided the calamity of eternal destruction.

a."Be ye stedfast" - the literal translation of the Gr. means "being seated" and implies having a moral fixity. The word "unmoveable" has a similar meaning - "firmness". These two words of command tell every believer to put their spiritual roots down deep so that they can hold on when the winds of change begin to blow around them. They don’t stick their head in the sand, but they do remain stalwart in what they believe and how they put to practice in their life what they believe.

Illustration: I know this is not true with all the trees that came down in the storm Monday, but around the parsonage and in the fields near us there seemed to be one type of tree that came down - what I have heard called the "Poppel" tree or maybe the "poplar". Whatever it is called, they seem to always fall down whenever there is a strong wind. They simply fall over with the roots and dirt going with them. They do not seem to have a strong root structure, and as far as burnable wood - their junk.

That illustration is to help us realize why it is so important that we be "stedfast, and unmoveable" in what we believe and how we live it. If we don’t put down deep spiritual roots into the soil of the Word of God, we are apt to be blown over by whatever comes blowing our way.

b. "always abounding in the work of the Lord" - The word "abounding" means "excelling" Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who knows that the greatest calamity of all eternity has been avoided for them is suppose to be a person who always excels in serving their Lord, and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Who was Paul addressing in 1 Cor. 15:58? Was it the preacher? Was it the missionary? Was it the Sunday School teacher? Was it the deacon? It was all the above and all others who know the Lord as their Saviour. If you are one who has avoided the calamity of sin, death, and Satan - what are you doing for your Lord Jesus Christ? Are you excelling at something for Jesus, or are you a slacker? This physical church has been around for 107 years because there have been folks down through those years who knew fully the calamity they had avoided by being forgiven of their sins, and as a result excelled in serving the Lord here. We each need to get a vision of that kind of zeal for Jesus Christ - not just a few.

Enough on the Calamity Avoided

II. A Celebration Advanced

A. Purim is a time of rejoicing, feasting, and giving of gifts.
As Esther 9 tells us, the people began doing this on their own when it was realized what a wonderful victory had been achieved over their enemies. Mordecai simply wrote it down and encouraged the Jews to make this a yearly event of joy, feasting, and giving of gifts so that they would not forget what had happened.

B. We who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; we who are partners together in this local church called North Eulalia Baptist Church - should also celebrate in a similar manner.

1. There should be joy or rejoicing
1 Peter 1:8 says, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:"
Romans 5:10-12 says, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"
Psalm 32:11-33:1 says, "Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright."

2. There should be spiritual feasting in the Word of God
Feasting implies eating. Are you feeding on the things of the Word of God? The author of Hebrews had some harsh words for those who had been saved long enough to have grown to the place spiritually that they should have been teaching others, but had wasted the time and still needed others to feed them, Heb. 5:12-14 says, "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

If your not eating from the Word of God, then you are not feasting. And if your not feasting on the Word of God it is highly likely that there is no celebration in your heart and life for the things of God and what He has accomplished for you.

3. There should be giving of gifts
Now don’t go away from this service and message saying that Pastor Reeves is teaching that we should run down to the store and regularly buy each other gifts. It is true that this is what the Jews were doing on Purim, especially toward those who were poor.

I do believe if we are really people who have avoided the calamity of sin and have been forgiven of all our sins (and we have if we have placed our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ), then we will want to give something back to the Lord and to others. A sign of true Christianity is the willingness to help others. Listen to how the James puts it in James 2:14-17 "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

Gifts can also take the form of using the spiritual gifts that the Lord has bestowed upon each believer at salvation. In using what the Lord has given to us, we are celebrating in the new life He has given to us. Use your spiritual gifts in this local church to honor the Lord and to lift up your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Conclusion: I entitled today’s message Celebrating God’s Blessings. As individual believers in the Lord Jesus Christ - we each have many blessings to celebrate. I shouldn’t have to tell you that though. Do people who really have something wonderful to celebrate about need to be told to celebrate? I don’t think so. The Jews broke out into spontaneous celebrations all over the empire of Persia after the victory that was achieved over their mortal enemies. A person who has been forgiven of all their sins, rescued from the clutches of the Devil and Death, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb should be a person that doesn’t need anyone to tell them to celebrate what the victory that has been given to them. So then, why are there so many believers who have no joy or rejoicing in their life? Why are there so many believers not interested enough in the things of the Lord to read their Bible daily, to come to their personally chosen local church whenever the doors are open for services? Why is there a holding back from serving the Lord with all one’s heart? It doesn’t make sense, does it?

I wish to challenge each believer here today, on this Anniversary Sunday here at North Eulalia Baptist Church, to ask themselves if they are honestly celebrating God’s blessings in their life. Be honest - Don’t lie to yourself! If you come to the conclusion that you are not really celebrating the blessings of God in your life, then ask Him to reveal to you what it is in your life that is preventing you from doing so. When He does, confess it and forsake it.

There may be somebody here today who when they ask themselves if they are a celebrating Christian, they already know the answer to that question, because they know in their heart that they are not saved, born again. Friend, you are living with the possibility of the worst calamity of all befalling you at any moment - being separated from God for all eternity. That calamity can be avoided by believing that Jesus Christ died for all your sins and asking Him to forgive you of all those sins He died for. Will you do that today? You can leave this building today really celebrating for the very first time in your life.

Folks, that is really what this Anniversary Sunday is all about - Celebrating God’s Blessings in our lives as members of His Church.