The Danger of Freedom (Luke 15, The Prodigal Son Pt. 1) | 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, follow us on social media using the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website, celebrationorl.org.

But starting here at verse number 11, the word of the Lord says this.

It says, And he, this is being Jesus, said, There was a man who had two sons.

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me my share of the property that is coming to me.

And he divided his property between them.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country.

And there he squandered his property in reckless living.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine had rose in the country, and he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out to the citizens of that country who sent him into the fields to feed pigs.

He was longing to be fed, and no one gave him anything to eat.

But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread?

But I perish here with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Treat me as one of your hired servants.

And he arose and he came to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, somebody say, long way off.

Somebody say long way off.

That while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced and kissed him.

And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants, Quickly, bring bring me the best robe and put it on him.

Put a ring on his hand and put shoes on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

For this, my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found, and they began to celebrate.

Have you ever got exactly what you wanted, only to discover that's not what you needed?

Have you ever found yourself in a space where you knew that you can make your own choices, you can live your life your way, only to arrive at a space and not be curious about how did you get here?

You know how you got here, but you're just wondering if you can ever go back home.

Sometimes there can be danger and too much freedom if we don't function with restraint.

Today I want to just talk to us for a couple of minutes around this text and the message that I've called.

Let's pray, Lord.

We thank you so much for your faithfulness.

We thank you for your presence.

We thank you for your grace, and we thank you for the reminder that there is no place like home.

Father, I pray over every precious soul that's in this room today.

God, I know that we all walk into this space with varying perspectives and understanding of what home is, varying experiences on what a father is.

But Lord, I thank you that we can we can turn to your word and glean from that and allow our minds, our souls, our very experiences to be oriented around this truth.

So, Lord, I pray.

I pray for all of us who have wounds that were generated from home.

I pray for all of us who are living with the residue of our choices.

But God, I pray for all of us that we could be reminded that we can always come back home.

Lord, I pray that we decrease and that you increase inside of all of us.

Lord, I pray that every distraction is silenced now in the name of Jesus and that we fully lean into what I believe you prophetically want to speak to us today.

I ask that you give us open eyes to see you above all else.

I pray that you give us open ears to hear your truth above all else, and Lord, give us open hearts to receive the incorruptible seed of the word of God that will take root on the inside of us and produce significant fruit.

Holy Spirit, have your way.

Transform us, transform this service in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Turn someone around you and say there's no place like home.

Amen.

Amen.

If you're joining us online, we're so glad that you're here.

If you're in our parent lounge, we're so glad that you are here with us today.

This passage is probably one of my favorite.

And it's hard for me to really synthesize a favorite passage, but I believe that there's there's some powerful things that happen here that encapsulates the idea of what the gospel is and how we can respond, but also it reveals the heart of the Father.

At this point, Jesus has become quite a lightning rod character.

Because he's the man who's able to step into spaces and comfort people as well as confront them with the exact same message.

People were confused on how they were supposed to receive and respond to Jesus because in one moment he seems like he's comforting people and encouraging people, but in another scene it seems as if he's challenging people and pushing them beyond their limits.

Jesus was a quite a lightning rod character, and for the religious people specifically, they didn't quite know what to do with him.

They had an issue with Jesus, and it wasn't because he was speaking false doctrine, it wasn't because he was saying anything that was inaccurate, but they they had a hard time understanding what Jesus' motive was because for them they were saying, How can someone who is so holy?

How can someone who is so righteous, how can how can someone who embodies these characteristics that we see in scripture still be found around those people?

The people that that we know that we're supposed to write off to the edges of society, the the people that we've identified as sinners.

Even when we look in God's word, there are these messages about don't let bad company corrupt good character.

We see proverbs written about making sure that we keep a distance from people that can sometimes drag us down.

So, how am I to understand the message and the motives of Jesus when he seems to literally be sitting and having meals with people that will make all of us feel a little bit uncomfortable?

They were interrogating Jesus and they were ultimately asking this question Jesus, we get the whole idea of the gospel, we we get this whole idea about this redemption that you're talking about, but but where do you draw the line?

Where is the line?

Because if we if we don't have a line, that means we're functioning without boundaries.

So, Lord, help us to understand where do you draw the line?

When when is it enough?

When is a person so broken you have to release them?

When when when is it enough?

When when do you say that they're not willing to change, so you have to release?

Like, when is it enough?

Where do you draw the line?

When is it too messy?

When is it too sinful?

When when does a person go beyond the grace and mercy of God?

Lord, we're just trying to figure out where the line is.

And if we're honest with ourselves, all of us are asking that question.

We see debates on social media, we see these on podcasts about people talking about the lines and where Christians should and shouldn't go because all of us we want to know where the line is.

Where do we draw the line?

I draw lines, y'all draw lines, don't look at me and act like y'all don't.

We all we all have spaces in which we we draw the line.

Like, like if you're on the highway and a car is trying to get over, maybe you let one car get in front of you.

That's cool.

But two cars, maybe if the spirit's moving, three cars, absolutely not.

They should have got over a little bit sooner.

We all find spaces in which we draw the line.

I was literally in a drive-thru yesterday, and if you ever want to experience a social experiment, it's those self-regulating drive-throughs where one car goes and another car goes and another car goes, and we're and we're trying to figure out who got here first.

And I was behind a car and they were obviously feeling very spirit-led on this particular day because they let the car that got there after them go in front of them.

I was like, man, God bless them.

They're so kind.

I wonder if they go to celebration church.

Then they let the next car go in front of them.

The guy's like, no, you go, you go.

And I'm like, okay, I got places to be.

And then when he was about to wave in the third person, I had to hit that horn.

And I'm not like a horn guy, but I was like, hey, bro, what are we doing?

This is no longer being kind.

We're turning into a charity.

Like, you we gotta pick this pace up.

We we all have spaces in which we draw lines because drawing lines are important.

We we call them boundaries in the modern world.

We call them boundaries and definition and clarity and perspective.

Boundaries are are important for in order for us to function as a society, for us to have mutual respect.

You know, I still remember when when the boundaries language was introduced into our household.

My daughter said it to us a couple years ago.

She said, Dad, I'm drawing a boundary here.

I said, I don't underwers understand the words you're saying, so I have no choice but to take them as disrespect.

What are you talking about?

She said, No, no, I was I was talking with a therapist, and they told me that you have to start drawing boundaries in key areas of my life, and so I'm I'm gonna draw a boundary here.

And I remember looking at her, I'm just like, does your therapist know that your parents are black?

That you have a Jamaican mom and a very urban dad?

Is your therapist letting you move in with her?

But after we got past all that, and I understand it, we understand that boundaries are they're healthy, they they give us clarity, they give us perspective.

So here's the idea.

Jesus, what are the boundaries?

What do you really expect from me as a follower of Christ?

What can I expect from you like that?

At what point do we do we say that enough is enough?

And Jesus begins to approach this conversation in a series of stories that are meant to reveal the heart of the Father, but also expose the moral policing that exists within all of us.

Jesus exposes this vivid truth that religion draws lines to keep people out, but the kingdom draws a line that points to Jesus so everybody can come in.

And it can mess with us a little bit, it can it can mess with our inner righteousness a little bit, it can mess with the I go to church every week version of ourselves, it can mess with the I give every week faithfully version of ourselves, it can mess with our mindsets a little bit, but Jesus continuously is challenging us and he tells a series of stories.

And so now he had he's at his third story in the narrative, and he talks about a father who has two sons.

And the youngest son comes to his father and he says to him, I want you to give me my share of the property.

I I want the resources that are coming my way.

Essentially, what he was saying is, I want the benefits of being your son without the burden of having to live under your rule.

I want the blessings that come from you, but I don't want anything to do with you.

This this was not just a son being rebellious, but this was a relational funeral.

This was a son choosing to distance himself from his father, and many scholars say that ultimately the disrespect that was extended from the son to the father was him saying, Dad, I'm disappointed that you're not dead yet, so just give me the resources because you're dead to me now.

And the wild thing about this is the father gave it to him.

That that blows my mind every time I read this.

I see the heart of the father who gives it to him.

Because this is something that is so important for us to understand.

God will not force you into relationship with him, he will not force you to love him, he will not force you to be in proximity to him.

In fact, the greatest gift that God has given us is honor and integrity, and he gives us integrity by giving us free will and allowing us to make a choice.

He gives his son the very thing that he was asking for.

He releases his son with the resources.

The son had come to a conclusion that me living under this roof, me living under these rules, it's limiting to my life.

And I feel like there's so much more for me to experience and explore, and I need to distance myself from my father's house.

This sounds so similar to the Garden of Eden.

That same rebellious nature that we inherited from Adam and Eve.

The you can eat from any tree in the world, just avoid this one.

And that very thing that God says draw a boundary around is the very thing that seems to draw our attention to it closer and closer because we've allowed the enemy of this world to convince us that God is holding out on you.

That there's so much more for you, that living under God's rules are so so rigid and so structured, and you're gonna miss out on opportunities.

YOLO, you only live once.

You gotta go out and explore life on your own terms, and so it's that space that all of us get to where we begin to define life on our own terms instead of trusting God with what He's defined for us.

It's the gift and the curse of choice.

I'll do life my way, I'll handle things my way, I'll build my identity my way.

I want to use my body my way.

Everything becomes about me and my, and we don't even realize that when we are walking in the fulfillment of all of our choices, that we're still craving something that the world can never give us because it can only be found in the presence of a loving father.

The Bible tells us that the son leaves the father's household a few days later.

He took a journey off into a far country.

And what's so fascinating about the text is that the Bible doesn't say what that far country's name is.

I think that's intentional because I believe that it's different for all of us.

I believe for some of us that far country can be the land of lust.

For some of us, that far country can be the land of money and idolatry.

For some of us, it's it's approval at any means necessary.

It's it's striving for success, it's it's living within the bitterness, it's the desire to control.

For some of us, that land that's far away from God is the numbing, the scrolling, the drinking, the binging, the working, the shopping, the things that we try to do in order to be okay with being distant from our Father's house.

And Jesus says something that he doesn't mince his words.

He says, and then he went to this far country, this land that's distant, and he squanders everything he has with reckless living.

Just reckless living.

That word reckless is it's so human.

Because what we see is it's not a matter of him destroying his life with a singular decision, but it's him walking in a lifestyle that slowly begins to erode its very character.

Reckless living.

It's a series of small compromises to I'll do this and then I'll do this, and next thing you know, I find myself in the space doing things that I never thought I would do.

How did I get here?

We begin to lean into pain management to deal with the consequences of our choices, and and now we find ourselves in this spiraling loop of living in brokenness, living in silence, living with unmet needs in this country that's far, far away, that can never give you what it promised to give you.

I've learned that the grass is not greener on the other side, it's greenest where you water it.

And oftentimes we're looking off into the distance instead of stewarding the land that God has called us to function with.

This faraway country that promised relief, but it never provides restoration.

It offers escape, but it cannot give you healing.

It promises pleasure, but it can never give you wholeness.

And it says that he squandered his life away in reckless living.

The Greek word for reckless is asotos.

A-S-O-T-O-S, asotos.

That a in front of Sotos is a negation.

That means that it's like a negative, it's a draw on the word that it's in front of.

So if you take the word belief and put un in front of it, unbelief, it drains from it.

Unbelievable, unhealthy.

So that word a in front of Sotos is a negation, it makes it negative.

So what it's ultimately saying is it's saying that this man was living a life that was literally killing him, draining him of his life.

He was living an unsaved life, he was living an unsafe life, he was living an unhol life.

But I love how God hides his mercy even in the grammar.

Because when you remove the A from it, you get Sotos, which is connected to the same word family as sozo, which literally means life, which means that no matter how broken and corrupt you have been, God says that redemption is closer than you think it is.

That healing is closer than you think it is, that the pain that you're feeling, that your breakthrough is a much closer than you think it is.

No matter where you may find yourself, no matter where you may have been, redemption is a lot closer than you think it is.

That faraway country cannot define your very identity.

The text tells us that while he's there, that a famine strikes the land.

And he found himself in need.

Because what I can promise you is that sin will never deliver on its promises.

There's a multitude of fine print.

Sin is incredibly expensive.

It promises freedom, but it will send you an invoice.

It promises you no rules, but it will hand you chains.

It promises you just once, but it turns into a lifestyle.

This free country of free trials will have you locked into a contract that you can't seem to get out of.

And he's in famine, he's in isolation, he's destitute, he's hungry.

And the Bible says that because of this hunger and this desperation, that he goes and he begins to put in job applications to work with citizens of that country, people who had governing authority in that faraway country.

In other words, structures and systems that have been designed outside of the father's house is where he's trying to get his support and resources from.

And he takes a job feeding pigs.

Now I would say on a good day, even in our current context, that's probably not a good feeling, but in their context, pigs were considered unclean for the Jews.

They were considered to be filthy and detestable.

So I want you to get this image that this man who was once provided for in his father's house wanted a separation.

Now he's living with reckless life on his own terms.

He experiences a famine, and now he's working in the very environment that he once used to call unclean.

He's doing things that he never thought he would do, and he was so desperate.

The text tells us that he was so desperate that he was willing to eat the food that the pigs were eating.

The very nutrients that feed something that's unhealthy, I'm willing to be nourished by it.

This is what we call getting to a space of feeling like we're at rock bottom.

This is what it feels like when we're getting to a space where we recognize that I'm in a location that I never thought I'd be in.

I'm doing things that I never thought I would do.

I'm in a space and I'm feeling ways that I never thought I would feel.

And it's while he was in this space, the text tells us something so crucial.

It said that he came to himself.

Somebody said he came to himself.

There was something about the condition that he found himself in that he came to himself.

There was a self-awareness that began to kick in where he came to himself.

He understood that when I look into the mirror, the reflection looking back at me doesn't look anything like me.

He came to himself.

This is a moment that we call rock bottom.

This is a moment where we have a moment of clarity, but it's a space where we come to ourselves.

I am convinced that the greatest distance we can ever travel is the moment that we have a made-up mind.

He said, I'm coming to myself.

It's an awareness, it's a distinction.

It's a moment where we can look around and say that where I am is not a reflection of who I am.

I need to go back to my father's house.

He he came to himself.

Some of us have been living on autopilot too long, and God is saying, It is time for you to come to yourself.

Just last week I was leaving from a meeting, and and when I got into my car and I connected my phone to my car, my my app popped up and says, Hey, are you are you driving home?

And I said, Yes, yes, I am.

I'm so thankful for technology.

Hit the button and it Automatically gave me the route to home.

So here I am, driving down the street.

Got my windows down.

It was a great sunroof day.

I love sunroof days.

I got the sunroof open.

I'm driving.

I'm relaxing.

I'm enjoying the wind, the breeze.

God's grace and favor is on me.

I get off at my exit, I'm following the instructions, only to realize that I hadn't updated my address in my car, so it's taking me to my old address.

I'm 45 minutes away from where I should be.

Now, now here's what happens for many of us.

We are still driving to locations that we know God's saying that there's nothing there for you no more.

There's no healing here for you anymore.

There's no access here for you anymore.

There's no freedom here for you anymore.

So why are you driving on autopilot in a direction that is never going to lead you back to home?

So I had to be willing to turn around, to go through the traffic, to deal with the frustration.

But I knew that I had to come to myself in order to reorient myself.

This is the language of repentance.

Repentance is not just saying I'm sorry, but repentance is literally turning 180 and being willing to do whatever it takes to get back in the direction that God is ultimately calling you to go to.

It is not self-deprecation, but it is self-actualization and saying that I have been on the wrong road, heading in the wrong direction for far too long.

And when I look into the mirror, this is not who I am.

This is not God's best for my life, and I've had enough of it, and I'm going to start to fork for orient my life around the things of God, and I'm coming to myself.

And I believe that in this room right now, there have been many of us who have been struggling too long.

We've been an autopilot too long.

We've been suffering for far too long.

But God is saying that the grace is here for you right now to come to yourself, that you can change your direction, you can change your mind because the father is still waiting for you to come home.

He has this significant turning point moment and he begins to then rehearse this speech.

Man, I'm no longer worthy to be considered your son.

I I come back as a servant.

As he's walking towards his father's house, he's rehearsing, I'm no longer worthy, I'm no longer worthy, I'm no longer worthy.

And while we celebrate the repentance in his heart, we have to also be careful that we're not walking in shame as we approach the Father's house.

Because many of us, we are aware that where we are is not where God wants us to be, but sadly we bring where we were with us into God's house, and we will never thrive into who God is calling us to be.

Because we allow the residue of what was to keep us from becoming what can be.

Father, you I I've been through so much.

I I've I've I've I've degraded myself in such a way that I could never be considered a son.

I could never, I could never truly be embraced by you.

So so here's the best thing I can hope for.

Maybe I can come back as a hired servant.

In other words, maybe I can work my way into your favor.

And many of us bring that into our relationship with God.

If I work hard enough, if I pray hard enough, if I do enough, then maybe God will look at me and smile upon me.

And the text tells us that as he's approaching his father's house, the image is beautiful because his father is on the porch and he's looking off into the distance and he he sees his son, and it says that while his son was still a far way off, he wasn't even close yet.

He wasn't close to getting to the father's house.

And I don't believe we're talking about distance anymore.

I believe we're talking about behavior, I believe we're talking about lifestyle, I believe we're talking about transformation.

That while his son was still a far way off, the father came off of the porch and ran to his son.

This was something that was so unheard of in this cultural context.

Men of renown, men of success, men of authority, men of influence, they they didn't run for anything.

They may send kids to run.

Women may run, but men with influence, they they don't run.

Because when a man of that stature runs, he's actually inviting shame upon himself.

Men are not supposed to be overly demonstrative, they're not supposed to be overly expressive.

This is why when David was dancing before the Ark of the Covenant, when the when the presence of God was coming back in, his wife was like, Look, man, you're doing too much.

You're supposed to be more dignified, you're supposed to be more structured, you're supposed to be more subdued, you're supposed to be more relaxed, you just have to you have to be presidential and leadership driven.

And David shut it down, and I believe we need to shut it down for ourselves that what we're seeing in the text is that the father was willing to take on the shame in order to redeem his lost son.

That sounds a lot like the cross to me.

That sounds a lot like what Jesus did when he stepped down off of glory and nailed himself naked before everyone, taking on the shame, so that we can in turn go boldly before the throne of grace.

The text tells us that the father runs up to the son, and the son, even seeing his father run towards him, even watching his his father degrade himself in order to come and embrace him.

He says to his father, No, no, no, and I gotta get this speech out, Dad.

I have sinned against heaven and against you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But if you can just take me back as your son, and before he can get the word off, his son, his father cuts him off and says, Wait a minute, somebody bring me the robe, somebody bring me some shoes, somebody get me the ring, and we're about to have a celebration.

He begins the act of redeeming him before he cleaned him.

Ah, somebody missed that.

He redeemed him before he cleaned him.

That means that he still smelled like those detestable pigs, and his father put a robe on him.

That means he still had the residue of where he came from on him, and his father still put a robe on him.

Robes signifies authority and belonging.

Shoes represent you're not a slave, but you're a son.

Ring represents that you're part of our family, and I'm giving you the crest in return.

That means that the son did not have to perform his way back into the father's family.

Somebody needs to hear that right now.

Because you have been coming back, and the father is trying to embrace you, and you're stopping him and saying, I need to clean myself up first, I need to take a shower first, I need to go get myself in order first.

And God is saying, I'm just so glad that you're home.

I'm not fixated on all the things that you did in the past.

We're gonna walk that out together, but can you just allow me to embrace you?

Can you receive my love over your life?

Can you receive God's grace?

Can you receive God's love?

And Sally, because so many of us are used to coming from works-based environments, whether it's with families, whether it's with friends, whether it's in working environments, that when it comes to God, we have a hard time wrapping our minds around what love of that magnitude really looks like.

When you think about home, what comes to mind for you?

We had this conversation with our staff a few months ago as we were reading through a book on this very subject, and I was amazed at the different ways in which we all came to different answers.

Because home looks different for all of us.

For some of us, home is wherever we are.

This is this is home until the next place is home.

Maybe if you're an immigrant, home looks a lot more complicated because there's the home that I came from, but then there's also the home that I'm I'm building, and and I can resonate with all of it.

As a person who doesn't live in the same state with my family anymore, I know that tension of what is home.

I remember for many years when we had moved to Jacksonville initially, Jacksonville wasn't home because that's where my family was, so we didn't build any memories at home.

We didn't have any holidays at home.

We were always going back to home, and I believe that there's an aspect of that that will always ring true.

But I have found for myself that home is the space where I feel safe to make mistakes.

Home is the space where I feel seen.

Home is the space where I feel I can be embraced.

Home is a place where I don't have to perform.

That's what home is.

And maybe for some of us, we don't even know or have an earthly comparison to what that type of home is, to what that type of home can be.

But but I was raised by parents that released me with my choices.

But one of the most beautiful things they've always said is but no matter what, you can always come home.

And if anything were to happen in my life, I know that I can always go home.

And what I want to try to perpetuate with my children is I want to release them to make their choices, but I want them to know, but no matter what, you're safe to come home.

You're safe to come back.

And maybe for some of us, maybe you've never heard that from your father.

Maybe you've never experienced that from the home of origin.

But I believe that God is prophetically redeeming those experiences that let you know no matter where you are, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, it is safe for you to come home.

I see what you've been through, I see the decisions that you've made, and I still have a road for you.

I still want to help you, I still want to walk this out with you.

Maybe you're in here right now and you know it's time for you to come home.

You've been heading in the wrong direction for far too long.

You know that you've made a series of choices and decisions that have led you into spaces that are distancing you from the Father, and and and God has sent me here to give you a reminder that He's still waiting for you to come home.

Maybe you have never submitted your life to Christ.

Maybe you believe the lies of the enemy that told you that this life of surrender of Christ is one of control, one of the lack of joy, the one of a lack of peace, and and one that it's so much better when you can define things on your own terms instead of trying to live inside of the structure of religion.

But I assure you, religion isn't drawing a line to keep you out, but God's grace is pointing to the cross to invite you in, and He has so much more for you.

So maybe today is the day that you're ready to come home.

Maybe today is a day that you're ready to surrender, submit your life to Christ.

Maybe you've never done it before, but what you do know that if you take inventory, that you're distant from the Father and His grace.

I would love to pray for you.

So on account of three, I would love for you to boldly lift your hands up saying, Yes, I'm ready to come home.

One, two, three.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Church, we put our hands together.

I want to speak to someone else really quick before we go into a time of of worship and prayer.

Maybe you're in here right now, and maybe the stench of where you've been, you can't get it out of the fabric of your humanity, and that's causing you to walk in shame.

It's causing you to walk in guilt, it's causing you to walk in condemnation, it's causing you to walk with this limited, shrunken view of yourself.

Because when you look in the mirror, you don't see yourself as God's son, you see yourself as a person who has done detestable things, who's been away from God, who's found yourself in spaces you never thought you would be, and you've made decisions you never thought you would make, you've you've compromised yourself in ways you never thought that you would.

But I'm here to let you know, regardless of where you've been and what you've been through, that God is for you.

His desire is not for you to stay there, his desire is not to affirm it, but I promise you, he will walk with you through it.

So if that's you, and you're ready to shed the chains of shame and condemnation, guilt, fear.

I want to pray for you.

So on the count of three, I want to ask you to lift your hands.

One, two, three.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Put them up higher, put them up higher.

This is you coming home.

This is you coming home.

Here's what I want us to do.

I want us all to stand on our feet.

And and we're gonna go back into a song of worship at this time.

And and what I want to invite us to do in this moment, that if you're one of the ones who lifted your hand, whether it be for salvation or if you're one of the ones who lifted your hands for breaking the chains of shame off of you, I want to invite you to come down and meet me at this altar right now.

Come on down here, do not pass go.

Come on down here right now.

Church, let's celebrate and honor people as they're coming down to this altar.

Let's celebrate and honor as people are coming down to this altar.

I'm gonna ask for any of our prayer team or elders that are in the room to come up here.

Come on in, come in closer, come in closer, come in closer, come in closer.

I want us to come on in, come on in, come on in, come on in.

We're gonna go into a moment of prayer and worship.

We got some space over here if you wouldn't shift down a little bit.

This is a powerful moment because this is the moment of surrender.

This is the moment of coming to ourselves.

This is the moment of saying, I'm I'm exhausted of living a life that's outside of God's grace, I'm exhausted from doing things on my own terms.

I'm I'm tired of trying to figure it out for myself.

And today is the day that I surrender it at the altar.

Today is the day that I lay it at the altar.

Today is the day that I let the enemy's voice go into a silence because I'm not going to respond to it anymore.

Today is the day that I'm declaring to be free.

And for every person up here, I don't know the circumstances that have led you here.

I don't know the decisions that you've made or the decisions that have made to you.

I don't know about the trauma that's been in your life, but I do know the great physician who is able to heal.

I do know the loving father who is able to redeem.

So I want you to lift your hands to heaven and I just want to begin to pray for you.

And I want all of us in this space to begin to pray with me as we pray over them.

We're gonna go into a song of worship, and I want us to lean into this moment, but the presence of God is here to do something significant.

Spirit of the Living God, we thank you so much for your presence.

We thank you for the reminder.

Elders and team, you can go and begin to lay hands on people as you see them.

But Lord, we thank you so much for the freedom that is found in Christ and Christ alone.

We thank you for the reminders, God, that you have been waiting for us to make that decision to come to ourselves.

So, Father, we recognize the sacrifice that it takes to leave the comfort of their seats and to make their way to this altar.

There's nothing magical or special about this space except it signifies a space of surrender, it signifies a space where they're going to allow something to die.

So we're allowing pride to die, we're allowing the lives of the enemy to die, we're allowing something new to be birthed on the inside.

Holy Spirit, I pray that you begin to rain down and saturate these individuals, God.

I command for every chain to be broken off of their lives in the name of Jesus.

I declare that every lie of the enemy will become revealed so they know that they are still sons and daughters of the king.

I pray in the name of Jesus that they don't feel that they have to perform their way back into the family.

But because of what Christ did on the cross over 2,000 years ago, that the line of grace has been drawn in such a way that we're invited into the family.

So, Father, we strip the powers of the adversary off of these precious individuals.

We command freedom over every area of their life.

We command for the chains of addiction to be broken off of them.

We pray that the lives of the enemy are being exposed in the name of Jesus.

We declare that this is a child of the sovereign and living God, and they are walking in wholeness and they are walking in freedom.

Give them their kingdom identity, give them their kingdom authority, give them their kingdom freedom in the name of Jesus with the name that's above every name.

So if you're asking saucer, I want you to begin to give God some praise.

It's because He's doing the work in you by praying the name of Jesus with that.

That you can walk in confidence, that if you can walk in strength, you can walk in authority.

It's because you are the styles of the living God.

You are whole, you are free to declare it over your life.

Believe it, write it down, walk it out.

But in the name of Jesus, you are set free.

In the name of Jesus, you have a new identity.

In the name of Jesus, you are welcome back home.

You are in the Father's house and you are covered, and the enemy can't take you from it.

So we declare in the name of Jesus new residence, new identity, new freedom, new hope.

In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name.

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 at celebrationorl.org.