In The Ordinary | Ps. 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.

If you have your Bibles, I would love for you to join me in Isaiah chapter number seven.

That's our foundational text for this Advent season and series that we've been in.

And then we're going to jump over to Luke chapter number two.

Our foundational passage comes to us from Isaiah chapter 7 at verse number 14, where the word of the Lord says, Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign.

Isaiah 7 · chapter mention

Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel.

God with us.

And that has really been the focus for us as a church community over the past couple of weeks with this idea of advent, this idea of what it means to slow down in a season is to acknowledge that God is indeed with us.

That with us, that withness of God has the ability to transform the posture of our hearts and our hands.

Skipping over to Luke chapter number two, we see the origin story and our current covenant of God truly being with us.

So starting at verse number eight, the word of the Lord says this.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of good joy for all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David, our say a Savior, Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was an angel, a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

And when they saw it, they made it known, saying that what had been told to them concerning the child, and all who heard wondered what the shepherds had told them.

But Mary treasured these things in her heart, pondering them.

Verse number 20.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them.

Today I just want to take a few moments to speak about how practical and how personal the presence of God is even in our everyday lives.

So if you take a note tonight, I hope that you are.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your faithfulness.

We thank you for Emmanuel, God being with us even in the ordinary hearts of our lives.

Lord, I just pray that over the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you have open ears to hear your truth above all else, and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Church, I've been I've been thinking quite a bit just about where we are as a as a culture.

And what I mean by that is how we respond and engage and even describe things that we experience on a day-to-day basis.

And I'm not sure if this is just a part of my own observations, if I'm being hypercritical, or if this is a pandemic of sorts that we need to acknowledge.

But have you noticed that that everything we describe, it has to be amazing.

And what I mean by that is like everything is incredible, everything is amazing, everything is perfect.

We we look at social media and it's everything.

I went on this vacation and it was amazing.

I I my my my family, look at our look at our photo.

We're it's amazing.

Me and my spouse, we never argue relationship goals.

It's amazing.

Everything in our lives are amazing, it's incredible, it's it's it's so awe-inspiring.

And and I and I get it because I truly love when we have these amazing mountaintop experiences.

But but I often wonder if we are so consumed with everything being so amazing that we often miss the power of just the normal, the power of the ordinary, the power of what's just living everyday life.

I often have conversations with people and it's often a competition of sorts of what are you doing this weekend?

And for me, my answer is often staying home and enjoying my mortgage.

Like, is that good enough?

Or do I or do I have to go out and and and find something to do in order to make sure that my my life feels incredible and that it feels filled with with opportunity and options and what I believe can happen in these moments is that we can miss God in the everyday life.

See, I went to uh a restaurant just last week with the staff.

It was an amazing experience.

And I remember texting a friend of mine and telling him, like, hey bro, I'm at this restaurant you've been telling me about for years, bro.

I'm looking forward to having a great meal.

I heard him talk about it for years.

At the end of our meal, he texts me and he said to me, So how did you like it?

Now I was driving at the time, so when I was driving, I saw it pop up on my screen, and I knew that if I didn't reply, I'll probably forget to.

So, you know how in and with iPhones, I can't speak to the Android users in here, but for the iPhone, you know how it automatically gives you some responses that you can just hit a button and it goes off?

And so here's what I hit.

I said, It was good.

He's like, How was dinner?

It was good.

He texted me back and said, What didn't you like about it?

I said, No, I said it was good.

No, no, no, but I know you didn't say it was amazing, though.

You didn't say it was incredible, you didn't give all these adjectives and all these other extra, where's the explanation points, Keith?

Where's all the extra, you're you're a person of words, where's all the words you just said it was good?

And sadly, what I think can often happen to us is that we're so consumed in believing that goodness and greatness is only found in fireworks that we miss the presence of God in the silent nights.

We often confine ourselves believing that if things are in the middle, that it's not good enough.

That good has become the new mid.

Everything has to be extraordinary, but what if I were to tell you that that God dwells in the ordinary?

Good indeed is good enough.

The Bible shows us in Genesis chapter 1 that as God is creating all things, that He has a rhythm, He has a cadence that He's using.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

He calls them night and day, and at the end of every night and day, he says, it is.

He didn't say it's viral, he didn't say it was fascinating, he didn't say it was fantastic, but God simply says at the end of his work, it is good.

Now, who am I to critique our Lord?

But if there's ever an opportunity to use amazing, if there's ever an opportunity to say that's incredible, if there's ever an opportunity to say that this is life altering, I would imagine creating something out of nothing is absolutely an opportunity to say, hey, that was amazing.

But in the mind and heart of God, he was modeling something to us that was intended to help us to find joy even in the ordinary.

He says it was good.

The word that they use in Hebrew is the word tov, T-O-V.

And let me give you a description of how the Bible defines good so that we can upgrade our understanding of what ordinary means.

Here's what good means in the mind of God: it means fitting, suitable, life-giving, acceptable, worthy of delight.

When God is speaking about Him stepping into our lives, He's saying it's acceptable.

So watch this.

When God finishes with creation every day, He's literally saying, That's good enough for today.

This is acceptable for today.

This is good enough.

I uh sadly, I believe that many of us we burn ourselves out because it's never good enough.

My my home is never good enough, what I drive is never good enough, where I live is never good enough, how much money I make is never good enough, and we could find ourselves uprooting ourselves from places that God is saying this is life-giving for you, only to be stressed in an environment that robs us of our rest.

This is why Jesus said, What good is it to gain the world but lose your soul?

And I know a lot of people that makes multiple numbers and six figures, but they have no peace.

But when is it ever good enough?

God is so intended to make sure that we acknowledge his presence in the ordinary rhythms of life that he literally built it into our worship.

For the children of Israel, when they were coming out of bondage, he literally gives them an outline of what it looks like to choose joy even in the ordinary seasons.

The Sabbath was meant to be a daily or weekly reminder of slowing down and saying, in spite of what you may have or what you may lack, God is good and it's worthy of delight.

Literally, for the children of Israel, when they come out of bondage, the Bible tells us that the very first time we ever see worship break out amongst human beings is in the book of Exodus when they get on the other side of the Red Sea.

Keep in mind for a moment, that is rejoicing in the Lord.

That is worshiping God, that is delighting in the Lord.

But watch this, they didn't even have a home to live in.

They didn't even have their destination locked in yet.

But they were still able to choose joy.

They were still able to worship and celebrate the goodness of God, even though they didn't have clarity on what was going to happen the next day.

Choosing joy is not about what we have, it's about who we have.

The Bible reminds us that we rejoice in the Lord.

It reminds us that we delight in the Lord, that we worship God.

This is not escapism, but it's coming into an alignment with God's goodness.

And God reminds us that in his presence is the fullness of joy.

Biblical joy is defined as this it's spirit-given, covenant-anchored, resilient delight in God.

Resilient delight in God.

It's the steady gladness that comes from being in proximity to God.

It shows up in gratitude, it shows up in worship, it shows up even in seasons of hardship.

I said hardship with a pee.

Hard ship.

I want to make sure I enunciate that clearly.

No matter where you may find yourself, we understand that joy is presence-anchored, not outcome-driven.

So for the children of Israel, even while they were in their journey making it to the promised land, they had joy.

That means that even while they were waiting for their breakthrough, they chose joy.

That means even while they were waiting for their for their miracle to show up, they chose joy.

That means that even while they were waiting for them to get to a place where they had stability, they chose joy.

I'm not sure who I'm talking to right now, but we don't choose joy when we get on the other side.

We choose joy today.

Even though I'm waiting for that job, I'm still choosing joy.

Even though I'm waiting for my breakthrough, I'm still choosing joy.

I'm still choosing to delight in God, even if I don't have the outcome that I'm looking for as of yet.

The thing I want us to know is that there is joy in the ordinary because God is with us.

The proximity to God is the thing that allows us to erupt in joy regardless of where we may find ourselves.

This is why this text that we read is so significant.

Because maybe every year for Christmas we read the birth of Jesus and it's it's beautiful, we have our candlelights, but if we only can see God invading people's ordinary lives.

The Bible tells us that there were shepherds that were working out in the field.

These were working class men, they were mostly invisible to culture, they were essential to economy, but very low on social status.

And ritually, they were complicated because they would often touch things that were considered unclean.

They weren't the people that were at the temple every single time the temple doors were open.

They spent long stretches of time outside working the night shift, and the fact that they worked the night shift was evidence that they were low on the pecking order, they were they were laying their lives down for predators and thieves and had to protect the sheep from weather.

And this is where our Lord decides to meet them and give them a word.

In their ordinary lives, just working their ordinary shift.

They weren't in the temple, they didn't get a prophetic word while they were in the midst of praying and fasting, but God met them while they were at work, just doing an ordinary job.

The text goes on to tell us that they're working the night shift, this evening time, the night shift where it's it's dark, the night shift where it's cold, the night shift where it's uh it's lonely, the night shift where you can feel unseen, when everyone else is resting, you're up working those moments that that rob you of sleep and those moments that make you feel you're isolated, everybody's not up like you are, the night shift.

Theologically, we call this the the long night of the soul.

This is the moment where our reality collides with the truth of God's word, and we see a discrepancy, and so now it leaves us at a place where we feel abandoned, we feel isolated, we feel, we feel alone.

And then it's in these seasons that we can begin to drift away.

It's in these seasons that we can begin to spiral into despair, the the night shift of the soul.

It's the place where what we don't have becomes magnified.

The struggles that we do have become magnified.

It's the place where we're somehow always tired but unable to find rest.

The night shift of the soul.

It's that part of our lives where we don't have energy but we have responsibilities.

It's that part of our lives where our mind is racing, even though it feels like we're moving in slow motion.

What I'm describing is that feeling of depression where it literally feels like a weighted blanket on your soul.

And as you look around and you see this is the holiday season when people are filled with joy.

This is the holiday season when when people are excited to be around family.

It's the holiday season when people are looking forward to tomorrow, and yet here I am in this space where I don't even feel like getting out of bed.

I'm talking about the night shift of the soul.

And it's in this place we can feel overwhelmed.

This is why typically in a holiday season we see more people struggle with self-harm because they're thinking to themselves, if I can't be happy today, if I can't be happy in this time of year, then I don't feel I'll ever be happy.

So why is life even worth living?

That despair and that brokenness, that's not because you have a lack of faith.

It means that you're human.

And by the Bible tells us that God meets us even there.

Scripture reminds us that the Lord is near those who were dealing with heartbreak.

That even in the night shift season, that God shows up.

They were in the night season of their lives, and yet the word of God met them in that space.

The scripture tells us that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

God meets you in the middle of your night shift.

God meets you in the middle of your suffering, God meets you in your most bleakest moment.

The Bible tells us about Paul and Silas who were in prison, and this text tells us at midnight is when the angel of the Lord showed up and shook them free.

I'm not sure if you're in a midnight season right now, but the text tells us that because they were able to worship even while they were in a cell, that because they were able to worship even while they were in bondage, they were able to worship even while they felt restricted, that it literally shook the foundations of the prison and it set them free.

Maybe you're in a jail right now, maybe you're in a mental prison right now, but if you can choose to delight in the Lord even in these seasons, it will shake the foundation of the ground and the enemy will lose his grip on your life when we choose the Lord, when we choose to delight in God, even in these moments.

Can we give God some praise in here, church?

Maybe for you, I want to be practical.

Maybe you're in a night shift season.

I want you to know that there's no shame and no condemnation.

Acknowledge it.

Take a deep breath and know that God is with you, but then borrow calm for someone else.

In the counseling world, we call that co-regulation.

What that ultimately means is then you connect with someone who can bring you up.

Here's what I want to encourage you guys with.

It is important for us to recognize the people that are around us.

God positions different people in our lives for different seasons for different purposes.

And we have a friend that we know that is encouraging.

We have a church community that is going to speak words of life.

We have people that will pray with you, we have therapists and counselors that will help you walk through your difficult season.

Here's some wisdom for you.

We all know that friend who is negative and critical.

We love them.

But if you're in a night shift season, that is not the person you call when you're trying to come out of your deepest pit.

You need to reach out to the people that are able to speak life over you no matter what the situation is.

Bad company corrupts good character.

So maybe you're giving your voice to people who are unable to speak words of wisdom to you because maybe they're in their own season.

I love you.

We're in this together, but I need to speak to someone that can speak life over this situation.

I don't need someone that's gonna say, Yeah, girl, you should leave him.

He's not good for you.

Maybe he's not, but you need someone to say, But God is for you, that God's gonna be with you through this tough season, he's gonna bless you in this moment.

We need to position ourselves around people that will speak light into our darkest season.

The text tells us that for the children of Israel, while they were in their darkest season, God was a steady light.

So when we look at Luke chapter 2, these men were working the night shift season, and God met them where they were.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

And the angel of the Lord says to them, I bring you good news.

I have some good news to tell you.

I got I got some information that's gonna blow your mind.

The word of the Lord met them while they were at work in the ordinary.

The word of the Lord met them in their night season, in the ordinary, and he said to them, I have some good news for you.

Something that will change reality as you know it.

Good news literally means evangelism, it means something that can shift and rewrite your reality.

The good news is that Jesus is born.

The reason why this is so significant, because for those people, they didn't even realize that the Messiah was what they needed while they're in their season of suffering.

They didn't realize that the distance they felt from God, the answer was actually found in the manger.

The good news is freedom is here and freedom is available.

And so the good news is you've been operating in bondage all this time, but freedom is available and you need to begin to pursue it.

I want you to think about June 19th, 1865.

Two years after slavery had been abolished, there were people in Galveston, Texas who were still in bondage.

Until on that day, a ship showed up and said, You've been operating in bondage, but you're actually set free.

We are giving you some good news.

The good news is, yes, you may have been dealing with some struggles, but you are set free as of today.

You may still have some challenges ahead of you, but the good news is that Jesus is here.

And I'm here to let you know that while you may be in struggle right now, the good news is that Jesus is here.

The text tells us that they said today that a savior is born.

Today.

Uh, today.

It doesn't say tomorrow.

Today, it doesn't say next week, it says today, it doesn't say after you get the job, today.

It doesn't say after the child is born, but today.

It doesn't say when the marriage is restored, but it says it's today.

What it's ultimately saying to us is that even though Jesus is in infancy, he is with us today.

So maybe it needs to grow in us.

Jesus still needed to grow into the fullness to accomplish his mission, but even in baby form, that means that Jesus was doing something.

Let me put that in our our everyday life.

Your development and your healing may be in the development stages, but it is with you today.

No matter what your struggle is, his healing is with you today.

It may need to grow, it may need to develop before you see it, but it is with you today.

It says, a savior is born to you, made available to you that Jesus is indeed near.

We begin to see the reality that God's goodness is wrapped in his presence.

And that means that we're able to choose joy even in these seasons.

The text tells us this is a sign for you.

The sign is going to be a baby wrapped in swallowing clothes in a manger amongst poor immigrants.

That's the sign of God's presence.

That is such.

That is such a paradigm shift, particularly when I think about the way that Christianity has evolved over the years, especially here in the West, because our idea of God's favor and blessing is found in the palace.

Our idea of God's favor and blessing is found in power and dominance.

But every verse that I read in the Bible is that Jesus, he could have chosen to appear amongst any people group.

He could have chosen to be born in the palace.

He could have chosen to be born in the epicenter where there was a lot of popularity.

But he chose to be born amongst immigrants who were overlooked and unseen and who were poor, and that is who Jesus chose to manifest himself through.

How we have missed the mark so deeply here in the West.

How we vilified the very people that Jesus would have been amongst.

We see through scripture that Jesus says that this is a sign that God is with you, that I'm amongst the poor and the marginalized.

That's the sign.

Not because I'm in a position of power, not because I'm forcing myself down your throat, but the sign that Jesus is with us is expounded on how we treat the least of these.

Oh my goodness.

If that doesn't mess with your theology a little bit, if that doesn't mess up our comfort, he doesn't say that the sign is found in happiness.

Because sadly, we can make the mistake of using interchangeably happiness and joy.

But there's a big distinction because happiness is dependent upon the circumstance.

Happiness is built upon what is happening.

Happiness is based on what's happening in the present.

But joy is based on his presence.

That means that it's possible for me to have joy in his presence no matter what else is happening.

I remember a season when Megan and I were struggling.

I got into a car accident when we're living up north, and she was the only one working.

I wasn't able to work for almost a year.

So we were living less than paycheck to paycheck.

Just just struggling.

And bills were due, things were running behind.

You can't imagine the the the financial and emotional stress we were under.

But every single week we chose joy.

Every week we chose to show up at church.

Every week, I'm talking about sacrificially living by faith, to the extent of we don't even know how much gas we got.

But God will bless us if we can find ourselves in His house.

But we're going to trust in God and not lean on our own understanding.

And every single time we chose God above our circumstance, something would move on our behalf.

Somebody would bless us, somebody would put some money in our pocket.

Things would happen that transcends all rationale.

What I'm here to encourage us with is this stop looking at things through your natural lens and begin to choose God above all else.

The text tells us as we close, it says that that for the shepherds, they said, Let us go and see this thing that you're talking about.

So they leave where they are and they go and visit and see Jesus.

Let me tell you something.

They left their comfort zone and they pursued Jesus.

The message was powerful and the message came to them, but they still had to choose to pursue it.

Maybe for you, the message is meeting you while you're at work.

The message is meeting you at three o'clock in the morning when you're feeding that child.

The joy is available even in those moments where you feel isolated and alone.

But there's that moment where it becomes responsible for us to get up and to still choose to pursue it.

They chose to put themselves in the environment amongst community where they knew they could experience it in their own form.

Once they see Jesus, they leave and they go back to the field, telling everyone about it.

They came and they went and they became the witnesses of the good news and they began to declare it.

They went right back to the mission field.

Maybe for some of us, you have lost sight of the fact that where you are is your mission field.

That you come here on Sunday to get filled up, to be amongst community, to be inspired by the presence and word of God, to be sent back out to begin to take that message to the environment that you were called to be in.

Take the message with you.

They took the good news back with them.

They came and they went back.

And I believe that's the same assignment that God gives us.

Maybe you're in a dark season right now.

Maybe it's so hard for you to choose joy, but joy is possible even in the ordinary moments because God is with you.

With every head bowed, I want to pray for us.

Lord, I thank you so much for your faithfulness.

I thank you for your presence.

And I thank you, God, for these mountaintop moments that are filled with excitement when things are amazing.

But God, I also thank you for the silent night where you meet us in the long night of the soul, where you meet us in the midst of our depression, where you speak a word to us in the midst of our despair, where you encourage us when no one else is looking.

It's in those night seasons that it is just as valuable because your presence is good enough.

So, Father, I just pray that we can right size our expectations and we can be people that choose joy in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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.