John K. Jenkins Sr - Dancing In The Streets

Years ago, there used to be a show on television called American Bandstand. Y 'all remember that? Music groups would come on, people would be dancing, and special guests would be highlighted. That show was generally for white people. Then Don Cornelius came along with Soul Train. Yeah, I see I got more amens on the Soul Train part. It had a similar flavor to it . Some of you young people have never seen Soul Train, but it was the Black version, the African-American version of American Bandstand, and it always featured what was called the Soul Train Line. That Soul Train dance line got replicated all over the country at parties and gatherings. We would make a line and take turns coming down the line , doing our dance-you know, the jerk and the bump . This was before spinning around on your head and breakdancing, but even that came along . It was a time of celebration; people would do spins, splits , and twists. I mean , people would show energy and effort while celebrating, and it made its way into the parties and cabarets. The floor would be filled with people dancing. Yet, if the truth be told , some of you were right there on the dance floor in your day. This is the section that lies right here, not raising their hands. Yeah, you were dancing. You enjoyed it, you liked to dance , but somehow that fever and fervor for dancing at parties has not translated into dancing in the church . Let me let that settle in with you for just a moment. In fact, there might be a handful of people who would dance in church, but for the most part, most of the 8:00 crowd are observers. Y'all don 't have to like me; you don't have to agree with me, but the truth be told, every now and then, somebody might jump up and do a dance at 8, but that's more for the 12:00 crowd-that's the dancing crowd. Yes, because they just finished dancing the night before. I'm a little concerned because dancing, in fact, is an expression of deep feelings . It is a celebration of what's going on in your soul. It expresses joy, praise, and excitement. The question is: You are expressing joy and praise , but who are you doing it for? When you were in the world, you danced to the music of the devil. You danced to satisfy your flesh. Somehow the devil has taken something that God intended for His glory and is using it for his celebration. I'm in a mode today to try to restore dancing into the hearts of God's people for Him. I don't expect anybody in the 8:00 crowd to break out into a dance today, but allow me just a few moments . Thank you, Diane; I appreciate you so much! That 's my girl! Give her a quick shout-out. If I can't count on anybody else to celebrate and help me , Minister Acres is always on the page to do it. If I had 100 more Minister Acres, I could get rid of the rest of y'all jokers. God wants us to worship Him; He wants us to celebrate Him. He wants us to express joy and praise to Him. He wants us to raise our hands and open our mouths. He wants us to dance for His glory. In fact, it's peppered throughout all of Scripture. In Exodus 15 , Miriam and the women of God danced when they crossed through the Red Sea . You remember when the children of Israel got down to the Red Sea, and God parted the waters, and they walked across? On the other side, the Bible says, when they got there, Miriam and the women took out their tambourines and started shaking and banging their tambourines, and they began dancing. In Psalm 30, God says, "I'm going to turn your mourning into a dance." In other words, God's going to wipe the tears away from your eyes, whatever drama has been in your life , whatever has caused you trauma, pain , and anxiety. God says He's going to turn your mourning into a dance. Somebody look at your neighbor and say, "He's going to stop you from mourning and make you dance." Tell them you're about to break into a dance. In Psalm 149, it says, "Praise Him in the dance." In Psalm 150, praise Him with a dance. Psalm 30 talks about the dance. Jeremiah 31 discusses a dance to celebrate the rebuilding of the temple . In Jeremiah 31, it says the virgins rejoice, and God turned their mourning into a dance. In Luke 15, when the story is told about the prodigal son, when he came back home-check this out-I hadn't noticed this until I read it recently. When the prodigal son came back home and the oldest son was approaching the house , here's what the scripture says in Luke 15: he heard music and dancing . Wait a minute; y'all missed a great spot! He heard music, and he heard dancing! They were dancing so hard you could hear it! Oh, I think it would be a great thing if we could dance enough for God that people in the streets could hear our dance! Maybe- hold up-where the single ladies at? Where all the single ladies ? All the single ladies, where are you ?