What's Driving Your Life? (Galatians 5) | Pastor Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

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For our community, we're going to be reading from Galatians chapter number five.

And so I want to invite you to go ahead and grab your Bibles.

If you don't have one, we would love to give you one.

If you don't have one, it's okay.

It'll come up on the screen in just a moment.

We're going to be reading from the ESV translation, but you can follow along in whatever version of the Bible you have.

This this text is going to set the foundation of the series and where we're going over the next several weeks.

Paul wrote this letter to a church that he planted that was dealing with some confusing times, and so he's trying to redirect and correct them.

He's about to wrap this letter up, and then in chapters five and six, he really begins to hone in on his message.

And starting here at verse number 16, the word of the Lord says this to us.

But I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of your flesh.

For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

But if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have been crucified with its passions and desires.

Verse 25.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

It's important to place emphasis that he's writing this letter to a church that he planted.

In other words, the stipulations, the correction, the direction that he's given, he's giving this to the community of faith that has gone astray.

This is meant to serve as an eye-opening moment for us as the church to stop looking at this list and expecting the world to come into alignment with it.

He's talking to a church that these things are happening in so that we can model a life that invites those who are away from God into the community of faith.

And what we see in this community, and what I believe we see in our very own lives, is that Paul is speaking to people who have fallen out of rhythm with God.

They've fallen out of sync with God.

And I think all of us know what it feels like to be in moments where you just feel like things aren't in alignment.

Something feels off, things don't quite feel in sync.

Today and over the next several weeks, we're going to be speaking about how to get our steps back.

So today's message is pulled straight from the text where he says, if we begun in the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit.

Today's message is simply called in step.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you so much for your faithfulness.

I thank you for your word.

I thank you for your truth.

I thank you for the transformation that's already begun in this space.

Lord, I pray over this message.

I pray over your word.

I pray over your people.

God, I decrease and ask for you to increase in me and in this space.

Lord, we ask that you give us open eyes to see you above all else, open ears to hear you above all else, and open hearts to receive the incorruptible seed of the word of God that comes from you.

That's God breathe.

So speak to us.

Speak to your people, stir our hearts and transform us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

It's time to get our step back.

Turn us somebody around and say it's time to get our step back.

Time to get our step back.

If you're joining us online, if you're joining us from the family lounge, we're so glad that you are with us today.

We're excited about what we believe God is going to speak to us today.

I think that it comes to no surprise or any mystery for those who may have been a part of our community for any period of time that Megan and I, we we love to have moments where we can unplug and disconnect a little bit.

And one of the best places we found that we're able to do that is when we're able to go on a cruise.

It kind of forces you to kind of just disconnect from the realities of the world.

And it's been a beautiful restorative thing for us.

And so we recently just came back from an amazing cruise, amazing few days just allowed us to just spend time together, but also disconnect as we were preparing to reintegrate into the things that God has called us to do.

And one of the nights they had this event called a silent party.

And the silent party is really it's a it's a total vibe.

And if you're unfamiliar with it, let me paint the picture for you really quick.

Ultimately, you walk into a room, you walk into a space where it looks as if no music is playing.

You see people dancing and moving, but there's nothing can be heard.

You hear sneakers screaking on a floor, but what's happening is people have on headphones.

And in these headphones, there's a couple of different frequencies that are being pushed through them.

Somebody may be listening to slower music, somebody may be listening to faster music, and so you have to change the frequency in order to be dialed into whatever it is that DJ is playing.

And it's a hilarious thing to see because you see people dancing at all types of different rhythms.

Some people are fast, some people are slow, some people are singing out loud, terribly offbeat, but it's hilarious to witness.

Now, Megan and I, we didn't go this particular time, but we went to a silent party before, and I still remember what that experience was like.

I remember us getting our headphones and looking around the room and seeing the people that had on the red frequency that we were all singing, we were in alignment together, people had on green and people that had on blue, like you knew what each other was listening to.

And so we're there vibing, and so Megan and I were inside the party, we're just having a good time.

Now, for me, I keep it simple.

I have my two steps.

This is what you're gonna see me.

Anything that's going on, this is what you're gonna see from Keith.

If it's fast, I'll speed it up.

If it's slow, I'll slow it down.

But this is safe for me.

I'm gonna stay in this lane.

Megan's over there is twirling around, she's having a ball, but for me, I'm just everything is a 90s rap video for me.

Like I'm just like, this is this is my movement.

I keep I keep it here, I keep it safe.

People are wobbling, not me.

I'm standing.

I'm just I'm just here.

This is my space.

But but I remember there was this moment when we were at the silent party and I'm just doing my thing, and I noticed that Megan and I are literally holding hands, but but but we're not moving at the same pace.

I'm moving a little bit faster than her, and I'm doing my thing, and she's just over there, just kind of eyes closed and going slow.

And and I looked over at her and I realized like that we're we're not on the same page right now.

We're not moving at the same frequency.

I'm moving faster, she's moving slower, and and then it hit me because I believe this is a profound revelation that we're in the same room.

We're all we're both moving, but we're not moving and listening to the same frequency.

Something is off because we're listening to different sources.

This happens to us every single day.

Where we may be in the same house with somebody, but feel like we're in different rooms.

We we may be looking at a book but feel like we're in completely different chapters.

And this is not something that's concentrated in everyday life.

It all actually begins with the presence of God because the truth of the matter is there are moments in our life that we can be reading the word of God but still feel like we're not in sync with the Spirit of God.

And when we're not in sync with the Spirit of God, it overflows into every area of our lives.

Our marriage feels out of sync, our work feels out of sync.

Things in our life just seem as if it's not all in alignment, and it could be because we're dancing to a rhythm that God has shifted us to a different one.

And we're dancing to the memory of something that's no longer playing.

This is not a modern problem, but this is exactly what Paul wrote to the Galatian church about.

Paul planted this church, and when he planted this church, he presented the gospel of Jesus Christ to these people.

He he also began to give them a framework of what grace looked like for them in their everyday life.

And so this transformational message, this transformational moment had begun to unpack them in such a way that it transcended every area of their lives.

Paul finishes with this work and then he begins to leave to go on and do his next missionary assignment, but something interesting happens.

He receives word that this church that he loves so deeply, so dearly, he sees that somehow they've gotten out of step with the things of God.

And this is what was reported to him.

What was reported to him was that there's two DJs that have worked their way into the playlist.

They got the ox chord somehow, and they're working in songs that God never intended for them to dance to.

One of the things that was being played now and integrated into the community was the melody of performance.

The people that were used to legalism and religion and the rigidness that comes with it, they worked themselves in and they were like, hey, grace is a great idea, but you still need to be very, very dogmatic about the law, and it was causing confusion.

They were judging and criticizing other people around them because their dogma didn't quite look the same.

That got integrated into the playlist.

But then there was another rhythm and music that had gotten worked into it, and that was the one of license.

Because Paul began to preach about how the law was so restricting, but in Christ Jesus we have freedom.

So on the other side of the coin, you had other groups of people that were saying, Not only do I not have to keep up with the law, but I can do whatever I want.

I can sleep with whoever I want, I can drink whatever I want, I can go wherever I want, I can live a life doing whatever I want free of consequences, free of me having to live up to any kingdom standard.

Paul writes back to these people, and the beautiful thing is he doesn't fix the problem by using each of the other playlists.

He doesn't say to the people who are living so freely in the name of Christ that their lifestyle looks nothing like Jesus.

He doesn't say to them, you need to have better discipline.

But he also doesn't say to the people who are very rigid and dogmatic, hey, you guys need to loosen up a little bit.

But he actually brings them both back to a different song that maybe they've missed, and he begins to talk about the importance of you both need to switch your frequency to be in alignment with the spirit.

He refuses to fix one problem with the other, but he reintroduces the idea of the spirit.

In these short verses we just read, Paul mentions in my translation the spirit seven times in a couple of short verses because he's trying to reinforce, he's trying to get his people back to understanding that they need to have a different pace that's being set for them.

Because Paul is reinforcing something that we know to be true: that whatever sets your pace is the thing that sets your life.

Whatever sets the pace is the thing that shapes your life.

Make no mistakes, my friend.

Something is setting the pace in your life.

Make no mistakes, my friend.

Something is shaping your marriage, something is shaping your family, something is shaping your ministry, something is shaping the way in which you engage work.

We're all being shaped and conformed by something.

It's just a matter of what is the thing that we're allowing to shape us.

Now, for some of us, we're being shaped by routine.

Routines are incredibly important.

Routine is a pattern that you keep, it's a decision that you make in advance.

It's the thing that you decide before the moment requires you to make a decision.

I've heard it said this way: it's the mindset of saying, if you stay ready, you don't got to get ready.

You're already ready because you're living a life of constant preparation.

It's the mindset of saying, hey, if my goal is to lose weight and to get in shape, I need to have a routine that supports that goal.

I'm going to go to the gym on Mondays and I'm going to work on chests and tries, Tuesdays, back and by.

It's like we have a routine that allows us to reach the goal that we're intended to reach.

All of us need to have a healthy routine if we're expected to ever get the outcomes and the things that we're working towards.

Daniel is a beautiful example of someone whose life looks like they have a routine of spending time in the presence of God.

Now, I know for many of us when we think about Daniel, we think about the young man who stood ten toes down in a lion's den, refusing to bow to the idol that Nebuchadnezzar had established.

But before we get to that, we have to rewind time to understand that the boldness to stand in the presence of your enemy and say no starts with you being able to stand in the presence of God and saying yes.

What the Bible tells us in Daniel chapter 1 is that when Daniel was kidnapped from his land, he was taken into Babylon.

Daniel 1 · chapter mention

And the thing about Babylon is that they didn't just strip you away from your homeland, they stripped you from your identity that was connected to your creator.

They began to strip Daniel's appetite, they stripped his food, they stripped his name, they called him Belshazzar instead of calling him Daniel.

And then the king would invite them to his table.

Don't get it twisted.

Him inviting them to the table, it wasn't hospitality, it was formation.

Babylon had a routine of bringing people in, indoctrinating them with the culture so they were so compromised they didn't even know to resist the things that doesn't look like God anymore.

Babylon knows something that maybe we've lost sight of.

Whoever planned your patterns, they shape you as a person.

Then verse 8 shows up, and what it says is that Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's meat or drink the king's wine.

Resolved in Hebrew means that he set it up in his heart beforehand, that he had made up in his mind before the temptation ever came that I am not going to participate in the things that I know that are contrary to the word of God.

Whatever sets your pace, it will shape your life.

Daniel was sitting at Babylon's table, but he had set his heart on the things of God before the food had ever arrived.

The decision preceded the dinner.

He wasn't going to white knuckle his devotion to God in the moment.

He had already predecided.

It's to be settled in your heart.

And that only happens when we have a routine that allows us to stand in the presence of God on a normal basis.

I want you to catch this.

Babylon may have different emperors, they may have different idols, but Babylon is still setting tables for us right now.

Somebody, something is planning the patterns in your life as we speak.

Watch this.

The apps that you open without even thinking about it, that's not by accident, that's by design.

The calendar that gets filled with a bunch of activities that somehow shrink the priorities of the things of God, that's not by accident, that's by divine.

Culture is forming us into an image that looks nothing like Christ.

And if we're not careful, we'll be conformed into the image of the world instead of shape into the image of Christ.

The decisions that we don't make on a first, on a front end will make decisions for us that we didn't anticipate to make.

What does a decision, what does a routine in the presence of God looks like?

It means setting an alarm and being faithful to your appointment with the things of God.

It means saying that I am going to show up in these environments that I know are going to strengthen me and make me better.

Every day I'm going to open up the word of God and I'm going to engage Scripture.

Every day I'm going to prioritize listening to the Word of God.

I'm going to prioritize worshiping in His presence.

The reason why many of us are so exhausted is because we're redeciding things that should have already been determined.

Every day we're trying to determine whether we say it out loud or not.

Am I going to live a day where I'm going to honor God or am I not?

Am I going to go to church the next week or am I not?

Am I going to serve or am I not?

Am I going to give or am I not?

And we're exhausted because we're making ourselves vote on whether or not Jesus is worthy every single day.

But what if we lived a life where we said, I have a routine in my life that I prioritize the things of God?

My devotion will not be led up to my feelings.

My devotion will not be contrary to the things of God.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to make sure that I prioritize God in every area of my life.

Listen to me, friends.

Nobody drifts into freedom.

You don't accidentally become whole.

You don't accidentally get transformed into the image of Christ.

It happens when you settle in your mind that I am going to decide to prioritize God and I have a routine and what that practically looks like.

A routine is a pattern that you keep.

It's a decision that you make on the front end.

But let me caution you: any decision that we make in advance that we don't revisit has the ability of turning into a rut.

Because maybe we have some strong routines, but there's some of us in this room that are finding ourselves feeling like we're stuck in a rut.

A rut is a pattern that keeps you.

I want you to notice the slip of the language.

A routine is a pattern that you keep.

This is a decision.

This is a pattern that I'm keeping.

But a rut is any pattern that keeps you.

It keeps you from growing.

It keeps you from evolving.

It keeps you in the same spot.

You're doing the things, you're showing up, you're doing the work, but somehow something is missing.

You're reading the word of God, but maybe two or three paragraphs into it, your mind begins to drift.

Nothing has changed on the outside, and that's what makes a rut so hard to identify.

You just know you're going through the motions, but it doesn't feel like you're getting any traction.

This is what's happening in the church of Galatia.

Because the most disciplined people that were in that community, people that had a strong foundation of the things of God, but now had this invitation of who Christ was and what it meant for their life, they should have had the most profound revelation that was known to man.

But those very same people found themselves being so locked and rigid into the routines of the past they couldn't recognize what God was trying to do moving forward.

Their routine with God turned into checking off boxes.

Yes, I'm gonna open up this Bible reluctantly.

Yes, yes, I'm I'm on planning center, so I guess I gotta serve tomorrow.

Yes, I okay, I'm gonna go to church.

We're doing the things that we know we're supposed to do, but somewhere along the way we've lost our why.

A rut is not the absence of discipline, a rut is discipline that has lost its why.

This is why Paul is saying to this community, you have fallen from grace.

Notice, he's not saying you've fallen from the church, he's not saying you're falling away from effort, he's saying you have fallen from grace.

And when grace begins to drain out, the pattern that you keep grinding on willpower alone is the very thing that makes your devotion feel like it's duty.

There's many times where Megan and I sit across from couples who are in varying seasons of their life, and and one of the things that you could always recognize from a couple when you're beginning to identify and look at where they are, is there a moment when they're saying, We're doing the things, we're celebrating the anniversaries, we're celebrating the birthdays, we're we're going through the motion, but but somewhere along the way, the passion had begun to wane, and we don't even know where it happened at.

This is not just a marriage story, this happens in our walk with God the same way.

Do you remember what Psalm 122 says from the words of David?

I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.

Do you remember those moments when God really got a hold of your heart and you were so excited to open up his word that you couldn't even go with sleep at night?

You had so many questions, and there was such expectation when you came to church the next morning.

You you were so filled with joy, and then somewhere along the way you've lost your first love.

Revelation speaks about this.

Ironically enough, to the church of Ephesus, which is the very church that Timothy was commissioned to be the leader of.

But Jesus saying, like, I see your activity, I see you're doing the work, but you've lost your first love.

You you've lost sight of the most important thing.

A rut doesn't look like backsliding, a rut looks like a person who's faithfully showing up, but the lights have gone off.

But Paul begins to speak to this condition when he's talking to Timothy.

In 2 Timothy 1, 6, he says something that is so prophetic that I think it can transform us.

But what he says to him, he says, I need you to fan into a flame the gift of God which is already in you.

In the Greek, it's one word and it says, make the fire live again.

I want you to notice that Paul is not telling Timothy that you need to go and find a new fire.

What he's saying is, there's a fire that's already on the inside of you, but the enemy has been trying to snuff it out by giving you distractions or allowing you to get stuck in rust that you can't even discern where the spirit of God is leading you to get into.

But he's saying, I need you to fan into a flame what's already on the inside of you.

There's a flame on the inside of you that the enemy is trying to suffocate with storm.

There's a fire on the inside of you that the enemy doesn't want you to activate in because that's how you begin to walk in authority.

How do you fan the flame that God has placed on the inside of you?

What do I do when I feel as if the fire is gone?

You remember the faithfulness.

Of God.

This is why the altar is so important.

When you read in the Old Testament, there were moments when they would come back to the altar because the altar was a place of remembrance.

The altar altered their perspective of the faithfulness of God.

And if you're at this space right now where you feel like I'm in the rut with God, for some reason, whenever I show up at church, it feels like a task.

Whenever I show up at church, it feels like it's work.

Sometimes I don't even know if I want to go.

Let me help you to get that flame going again.

Remember God's faith.

But do you remember that time that you should have OD'd, but by the faithfulness of God, He allowed you to come out of that addiction?

Do you remember that time that you should have got killed in that karate to them, but yet you're still standing here to be able to tell your do you remember that time when you were away from God and you didn't die in sin, but God found you and plucked you out and redeemed you and given you the gift of salvation?

Do you remember that crazy person that you thought was going to be your spouse, but God closed that door and shifted you to find the destination?

Do you remember the things that God has done in your life?

Because when we can remember, we can reassemble God's faithfulness and not begins to fan the flame again.

I was glad when they said it in me.

Let me go to the house of God because I remember where I was, and I forgot where I am.

And God has not done as we yet, but God is doing the work on the inside of me, and he deserves all glory, he deserves all honor and all praise.

I am going to worship God.

I'm going to get out of this rut by fanning the flame of God's faithfulness.

What is the thing that God is trying to remind you of that can fan the flame?

Remember this, family.

A rut is a pattern that keeps you.

It keeps you at a standstill, but God wants to do something new.

But not only do we have ruts that shape us, not only do we have routines, but we have that sweet spot which is called rhythms.

I want you to hear me, family.

A rhythm is a pattern that is fueled by grace.

Let's back up, let's look at this.

If if if a routine is a pattern that's that's kept by you, and a rut is a pattern that is that keeps you from moving forward, a rhythm is a pattern that is fueled by grace.

That means that I have a routine, but I'm inviting the breath and presence of God to breathe on it to give it fresh life every single day.

Whenever Megan and I are going on a trip, especially if it has something that involves an airport, I am meticulous about while we're in an airport waiting in the lounge or whatever that looks like, I have that app open and I'm swiping down to get a refresh to get an update on if I'm at the right gate.

Because, spoiler alert, there was a time when I didn't do that.

And I almost missed my flight because I was moving off of old information.

I had the routine of being at the airport.

I was there on time, but I was in the wrong spot because I didn't get a fresh revelation that there was a change that was happening in the midst.

So many of us are living in routines and turning into ruts, and we're not getting the fresh revelation that God is shifting and doing some new things that are inside of our lives.

Living a life of rhythm means recognizing that yes, I have a routine, but I'm inviting the breath of God to move in this routine.

This is what Paul's talking about in this chapter because he's talking to people that have forgone all routine altogether, people who've given up on everything that as it relates to being in fellowship with God, and they're living in a way that we would define as carnal.

And so Paul is saying, listen, you have to get back into the things of God.

You have to get back in step with God, you have to get in step with the Spirit.

Jesus speaks about this in Matthew chapter 11 when he says that when you're in fellowship with me, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Are you experiencing that right now?

Because oftentimes our perspective of what it means to be in fellowship with God is it's hard and it's arduous and it's a struggle.

But the image that the Bible presents of our fellowship with Christ is one that is easy and it's light.

Eugene Peterson says in his translation of this very same passage in the message, he says, we need to learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

Do you realize that when the tabernacle was being established, they had the high priest, and the high priest had a lot of clothing on?

And sometimes we look at it like, hey, this is the Middle East.

Why would God have them dressed in so many garments?

But the reason why God did that was one to set them apart, but also the clothing was meant to absorb the sweat and the burden because he never wanted his people to believe that serving me is hard work.

What are we wearing right now?

That when people think about what it means to be a follower of Christ, it looks like a burden.

But when we understand the rhythms of grace that's in front of us, we're able to walk and lean into the wind of God.

Now, I've gone on enough cruises and I watched the Odyssey, so I feel like I have enough expertise on telling you what it means to be on a body of water.

You guys have been around me long enough, and y'all know that the way to my wife's heart is us going on trips.

Y'all pray for me.

Y'all pray for my budget, and y'all pray for me because I'm gonna probably get shanked on the way home today, but I'm gonna speak the truth because I have the microphone and I'm back.

This is my time to tell my story.

But but having been on enough trips, been on enough cruises, I know that there's a big difference between rowing and setting sail.

When you row, you're you're doing it in your own strength, and you're you're fighting against the elements, and it's it's all on you, and I'm and I'm working really hard, and I'm hoping we can get there, and I'm not understanding why we're dealing with such resistance.

But when you set sail, that's you allowing the wind of God to change your direction.

Yes, it requires you to put your hand to it.

It requires you to put your hand on a rudder, but it also means that I need to lean into the wind of God.

The beautiful thing about the wind of God is that there's literally a word for that in Hebrew.

It's ruach, which is literally the breath of God.

And so many of us, we have a routine, but we have not invited the breath of God to breathe on it to make sure that it's filled with life and purpose.

Paul, when he was going on his missionary journey, he had a strategy, he had a routine, but the ruach, the wind of God, was blowing him in a different direction, and he had to lean into the direction that the rhythm of grace was taking him in.

There's a reason why when Adam was assembled, that it says that there was no life in him because the breath of God wasn't in him yet.

There's a reason why they say dry bones, can they live not until the breath of God enters into them?

Can we stop having all of these strategies without inviting the wind, the breath, the spirit of God to breathe on this situation?

I need the wind of God.

I need the wind of God to lead my family every day.

I need the wind of God to lead this church every day.

I need the wind of God to lead myself every day.

But if I'm so fixated on my routine, I can get into a rut and I can miss out on what God is trying to do in me.

To keep the metaphor of the gym, if if having a routine means going to the gym so that I can have a plan on getting the goals that I want, having a rhythm means that if my equipment is not available, I can also work on other things.

I'm not so fixated on this one machine that I don't have the ability to recognize that maybe this isn't available, maybe I need to do something different.

And I believe that sometimes we get so fixated on our routine that we missed that the breath of God is shifting us in a different direction.

Whatever we let grace set the pace, it's going to carry the weight.

Listen to me, family.

Routines will shape you, ruts will drain you, but rhythms will carry you.

This is what's happening in the church of Galatia.

You had people who were rowing in their own strength and they were filled with religion and judgment.

You had other people who were rowing in their own strength and they were filled with carnality, sin, and destruction.

And Paul is saying you need to come into alignment with the spirit.

Get back in step with the spirit.

So, so how do we do that?

I have three quick principles that I want to give to us that's gonna serve as the blueprint of where we're going for the rest of this series.

Here's the first thing you need to do to get back in rhythm with God.

First thing, tune in to God first.

Listen to me.

When you wake up in the morning, you let grace be the first word that you hear.

Don't let your impulse of checking social media, looking at the news, don't let that be the first thing that you hear and see in the morning.

You let the word of God set the tone for how you engage the world that God is calling us to be witnesses in.

The first voice you hear sets the pace of every step that you take.

Tune in to the presence of God first.

Here's the second thing: keep his pace.

Go at the pace of grace.

That's what it means to keep in step with the things of God.

Keep his pace is literally the statement that you will find with soldiers when they're in a cadence.

My son is in the army, and I remember going to watch him march.

There's a cadence.

We're all in routine, we're all in rhythm.

We're going at that pace.

You know what I notice about Jesus is that he is never in a rush.

It frustrates me.

There's no urgency sometimes.

He's just chilling.

He's in the middle of talking to one person.

Hey, Lord, can you my daughter is sick and she's about to die?

Can you?

I need you to come and I need you to come and heal her.

Cool, I got you.

Somebody else shows up.

Hey, Lord, um, I'm gonna touch the hem of your garment.

Cool, I got time for that.

Me, I'm like, look, bro, you have to get in line.

But Jesus just was unhurried.

He had a rhythm of grace and a pace of peace that I think is missing in society.

Honestly, this is something that I wrestle with because there's so much to do and there's so many things to get involved in.

But but if my and my desire to do the things of God means that I have to miss the things of God, then there's something that's out of order.

Listen to me.

Literally on our way to church today, I get off at the exit, I see a man who obviously has some needs.

And he has a sign up, and and I know in our culture we don't know where that stuff comes from, but I try to discern if there are moments where God wants me to lean into that.

And I was like, man, I said maybe God does want me to give him something, just to be a blessing to him.

And I was like, oh man, a light's green.

I gotta get to church, I want to make sure I'm a part of huddle.

And I completely missed it.

Now listen, thank God for someone in a nine o'clock service.

She said, You talking about that man that was on prison?

She said, I took care of it.

I'm like, praise the Lord.

He was able to have his needs met whether I leaned into it or not.

But here's what I'm saying: I was so fixated on getting to do the things of God that I missed an opportunity to demonstrate the presence of God.

Don't be so busy, don't be so consumed with your schedule that you can't slow down and recognize the space that God is calling you to make sure that you can lean into.

The third thing is this let it overflow from your life.

Let your life be one of overflow.

There's a reason why in this text Paul begins to talk about the fruit of the Spirit.

I I like to think of our walk with God with being like breathing.

There's a moment that you inhale, and when I inhale, I'm taking in the things of God.

This is formation for me.

I'm reading his word, I'm I'm worshiping, I'm engaging in the things of God.

This is giving me life.

But if I just inhale and never exhale, I will still suffocate.

The fruit of the Spirit is the exhale, and that becomes the beneficiary of other people around me.

So when I exhale love, people are drawn closer to God.

When I exhale patience, when I exhale grace, when I exhale kindness, it becomes a beneficiary of others.

So I inhale the things of God when I sit with him, and I exhale the presence of God when I'm amongst other people.

I need to make sure that I live a life of overflow.

I wrote this down, it's not in your notes, but you need to write this down.

Tweet it.

Give me sure you give me my credit for it.

Watch this.

Private rhythm produces public fruit.

Come on.

Cassie, I'm up here preaching.

I'm I got lights for that.

Y'all see the lights that came up?

Thank you, Andy.

Apparently, I just learned that whenever I drop bars, there's a special light that comes up.

Those are indicators for it.

So thank you for that.

Bars.

Let me say it again.

Andy, Andy.

Andy, are you ready?

I want you to get ready for this, Andy.

I'm gonna say it again.

Private rhythm produces public fruit.

Come on.

When I can have a rhythm that I'm inhaling the things of God, that I can exhale on how it can produce and impact people.

When I think back to Megan and I being in that silent party, no matter how much we tried to get in alignment, get in step with one another, it wasn't going to work because we had different frequency.

One of us had to change what we were listening to.

The truth is it was me because Megan's not gonna change.

It's my cross to bear.

One of us has to change.

Watch this.

Many of us are out of sync with God right now.

And we're expecting him to change.

We're expecting him to condescend, to minimize his standards.

Now listen, the grace of God meets us where we are, but the holiness of God calls us to the standard of what he's called us to be.

I'm calling you up.

I see you, I love you, but I'm calling you up.

One of us has to change.

And I believe that right now, God is bringing things to the surface and saying, there's some things in your life that are out of step with me, and I need you to get in step with me.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to bring us into a space of just quick reflection.

We're not doing this because it's a secret, we're not doing it because it's private, but we're practicing communal solitude.

We're together, but we're entering into a space where we're inviting the Holy Spirit to speak to us uniquely where we are.

And as we sit in this moment, as we sit here inviting the Spirit of God to reveal to us, there's some of us that are in here and we recognize, yeah, I'm out of step.

I'm out of step when it comes to the things of God.

Like I'm when I look at that list of the works of the flesh, the carnality, the sin, yes, I I love God, I'm saved by grace.

But there's way too much, there's way too much division in my life.

There's there's way too much bitterness in my life, there's way too much sexual immorality in my life.

There's a lot of things that are in my life that are producing the lifestyle that God is not calling me to live in.

This is what we surrender to God, and this is how we get in step with the Spirit.

There's also another group of people in here, and the reason why you are so out of step with God is because you're not walking in fellowship with it.

Truth of the matter is you're in a distance.

Just away from God right now.

We call it being an unbroken fellowship with our Lord, and sometimes life, sometimes challenges, sometimes opposition makes it so hard and we drift away.

Or maybe we've never engaged to things of God before, but today is a day of salvation.

The Bible says that we're born in sin, shaped in iniquity, and we were born separated from God, but Jesus came so that we can get in routine and get in rhythm with God by his grace.

It's not my performance, it's the finished work of Christ.

That is what salvation is, that is what the gospel is, that is what the good news is, and he invites me to now live in alliance and allegiance to what Jesus has done on the cross.

It's the most precious and beautiful gift you can ever receive.

And there's some among us that need to say yes, it starts with a decision.

So if that's you, you know that you're away from God, but God is saying, I want you to come and step with me.

You don't have it all figured out, you don't have all the doctrine, you don't have all the theology, but you're here for a reason, and it's because God is calling you home.

I believe today is the day of salvation.

So on account of three, I just want to invite you to slip a hand up.

We're gonna celebrate with you, we're gonna pray with you, and we're all collectively gonna go into worship.

So on account of three, if you're ready to say yes to commit or recommit your life to Christ, this is your moment.

One, two, three.

Hands up.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you, amen.

If you join us online, amen.

Come on, church, let's put our hands together and celebrate when everyone just said yes to the gospel.

I want us all to stand on our feet.

We're gonna go into a moment of worship.

And as we sat here and reflected for a few moments, maybe there's some things that God brought to the surface of us being out of step with Him.

But today we're gonna get our step back.

Today we're gonna get our rhythm back.

So I just want us to present this to Christ.

Allow the Holy Spirit to do a work.

But let's lean in with every hand lifted up.

Lord, we thank you so much for your faithfulness.

We thank you for your grace, we thank you for your presence, we thank you for the truth that is found in your word.

God, you spoke to us exactly where we are.

And there's things in our lives that are out of step with you.

You're not looking for perfection, but you are leading us to a place of surrender.

So whatever those distractions are, whatever those burdens are, whatever those things are in our life, God, I pray that we can surrender them to you so that we can be in step with your grace, in step with your growth, in step with the peace that surpasses all understanding.

Holy Spirit, reign down in this place.

Prune out anything that's not like you, God.

Allow us to walk in agreement, allow us to walk in alignment, allow us to walk in authority.

In Christ Jesus' name we pray.

Come on, family, let's go and worship the God together.

Now, really, really, really quick, I want to I really want to give you guys the heart behind where we're going in this rhythm series.

Um, this is something that God has put on my heart over six months ago.

And so I'm glad that we are finally here because I believe that what this series is meant to produce is giving us a framework that we will carry with us for the next 10 years in our walk with God.

This is not just a series in a moment, but this is a movement that can bring transformation.

And it starts with us knowing where we are so that we can go to where God wants us to go.

So we're gonna make some resources available to you.

We're gonna unpack everything we talked about today in deeper detail over the next couple of weeks.

But but here's what I need you to do to start it.

There's a QR code that comes up on the screen.

And it's a QR code that gives you access to a spiritual assessment.

This information is just for you.

So go ahead, everybody, get your phones out.

This is the first and final and only time I'll ever say have your phones out while I'm in the middle of being on platform because I know how distracting that could be.

But get your phones out and scan this QR code.

It's gonna take you to a website that is hosted by just a brilliant person that I truly trust, John Mark Homer's Practicing the Way.

It's a phenomenal book and a resource that you can read, but it's a place where you can take a spiritual assessment that just allows you to know the areas of your life where you're really in tune with God and the areas of your life where maybe you need to lean in a little bit more.

It's gonna take you to a space where you can set up your account, super simple, and then there's gonna be 39 questions based off of certain practices, and at the end you're gonna get a summary that says, like, hey, here's an area where you can draw a little bit closer to God with your fellowship with the Lord.

Maybe it's reading the Word of God, maybe it's serving the people of God, maybe it's hospitality, but it's gonna give you a framework that allows you to know this is where I probably need to lean in a little bit more based off of my response.

And what's really important here is at the end of the series, we're gonna create what we call a rule of life.

That's just simply an old monk term for uh discipleship practices.

That's the journey we're on.

It's for us to be intentional about the path of growth that God has us on.

But it starts with knowing where we are.

So my hope and my prayer is that everyone will take this assessment.

39 questions, we can do scroll, we can do a lot of things.

I promise you, if you can commit to doing this and you really lean into it, I promise you it will transform your life.

But it starts with us knowing where we are.

So here's the next thing I want you to do: show up next week.

Back to school blessing, the week after that, baptisms.

I really, really, really want our entire church to lean in this season.

These rhythms will transform us.

So, because we're not going to redecide something that should already be decided, I'm gonna go ahead and prophetically say, I'm gonna see everyone in this room next week.

I'll see you next week, but let me pray a blessing on you.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May He make his face to shine upon you and give you everlasting supernatural peace.

God bless you guys.

We love you.

We'll see you outside in the courtyard and we'll see you next week.

Thank you for joining us to learn more about Celebration Orlando, a church devoted to reaching the lost, equipping the found, and helping the hurting.

Follow us on social media using the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website, celebrationorl.org.