Vision Sunday | 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 Celebration ORL or visit our website, celebrationorl.org.

But one of the things is uh today we're concluding 21 days of of prayer and fasting.

Um and and having been a follower for Christ for many decades now, I know that every time I've gone into seasons of prayer and fasting, um, it's always been set up with great expectations.

Um, particularly when you read the Bible, you see these breakthrough moments.

And quite honestly, we've heard some of your stories.

We've heard some of you talk about these breakthroughs, these revelations, whether it be a literal answered prayer, um, whether it be some some profound insight, some clarity on something that you're believing God for, maybe it's healing.

It could be a multitude of things, but we've heard so many of your stories.

In fact, over the past three weeks on Wednesdays, we've been having our prayer night um at our church office.

So I got any of our prayer words that have been here the past couple of weeks, where we've been going through um the Lord's prayer, unpacking what it means and creating space on what it means to really just sit with God.

And and and each week has been powerful.

And last week we had uh a teaching on deliverance and what does it mean to be delivered?

And and so again, we've seen this momentum um that God has been establishing in our community, and and I can't wait to tell more stories and hear more stories.

But I also know um that for many of us that we enter into a time of fasting, and it could be a couple of things that can take place.

One, um, we start and then we stop, we we we don't know if we're fasting the right way, we get discouraged.

And and so for you, I want to let you know that there's no condemnation.

God, God sees you, um, God honors your sacrifice.

I don't want anyone to feel defeated or deflated, whether you chose to fast, whether you didn't fast, whether you started to fast and you stopped fasting.

Um, God sees and honors the sacrifice, but I also wanted to take a moment to speak to some people um that may have been believing God for some things during the 21 days of prayer and fasting, and and maybe you didn't get them, maybe you didn't get clarity, maybe you're still um waiting.

I want to read a passage of scripture to you to kind of help you to understand um some of the nuances of what happens when we seek God in times of prayer and fasting.

Um, the book of Daniel, chapter number 10, tells the story of the prophet Daniel, um, and and he had this profound vision and he was seeking some clarity considering the the Babylonian environment that he was in um in conjunction with the Persian rule that had just taken place.

So for Daniel, he was really trying to get some clarity.

And so, Daniel chapter 10, it breaks down, he goes on what the Bible refers to as 21 days where he consecrated himself.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

This is often what we pull the concept of the Daniel fast from because he chose to, I'm not gonna drink any alcohol, I'm not gonna eat certain meats, I'm gonna I'm gonna turn down my plate so that I can kind of get some clarity from God.

So Daniel goes 21 days with this heart posture of getting some clarity from God.

22 days hits, 23 days hits, 24 days hit, and he still didn't get this massive breakthrough that he was believing God for.

But the Bible shows us here at verse number 12, where he's visited by a divine messenger.

And verse number 12 kind of gives us some insight into what's happening.

It says this he says, Don't be afraid, Daniel, he said to me, for the first day that you purposed to understand and humble yourself before God, your prayers were heard.

I have come because of your prayers.

So, two things.

The first day that you started to pray, your prayers were heard, and I have now come in response to your prayers.

The angel then goes on to really break down the nuances of spiritual warfare because what he literally says is as I was on my way to respond, God sent me, I got caught up in the battle and spiritual warfare, and I fought with the opposition for 21 days until Michael the Archangel came, released me, and I was able to continue on my mission.

It's all there.

You can you can read it in its context.

But I want you guys to recognize that every time we pray, it's doing something in the heavens.

That that every time we pray, that that your prayers are arising into the throne room of heaven, as the Bible says, a sweet smell and fragrance, but there's also an enemy that wants to oppose the breakthrough that you've been praying for.

So maybe today is day 22 for you, and you're standing on the shoreline, much like Daniel, and you're saying, God, I entered into this time hoping and believing and seeking and and and thinking that I would have this supernatural breakthrough.

My encouragement for you is this God sees you, he hears you, and your breakthrough is coming.

Can I get a good amen to that?

Amen.

Okay, so now I want to continue on with kind of unpacking um what Vision Sunday is going to look like for us today.

Vision Sunday is something that we typically do at the conclusion of our fast, and it's an opportunity for me to kind of share with our church some things that I believe that God has been speaking to me for our church for the past 21 days.

These are things that I've been thinking and praying and meditating on, and in many instances they start the year before, but it kind of gets solidified during our time of prayer and fasting.

So I do want to take a brief moment to unpack what I believe God is showing us as a church family.

The other thing that I want to do for this Vision Sunday is really give you some vision for us as a church, as a local assembly, and really celebrating a major milestone in our church community that I can't wait to share with you.

And then at the end, we're gonna enter into a time of communion and prayer and worship to close us all out.

So I want to open us up in prayer and then we're gonna jump in and then we'll just go through the varying stages together as a family.

Lord, we thank you for the gift of your church, we thank you for the gift of your presence, and we are humbled and honored that you would invite us to participate in such a high calling.

Lord, as we unpack the vision that I believe has been birthed through your heart for your people, I pray, God, for just wisdom and clarity and discernment.

Father, I pray for all of us that as we listen, we can consider ourselves as being a part of the vision that you have for our church family.

So, God, I just pray over for the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you, open ears to hear you, and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

I I recently watched a documentary um that I found was very provocative.

Um, and and what it was, it was about a young man who was accused and ultimately convicted for a crime that he said that he didn't commit.

From the very beginning, he he said, Hey, this you got the wrong guy.

It wasn't me.

I I I have an alibi, but but because of some circumstantial evidence, he he still found himself going through the pipeline of the legal system.

He subsequently ends up going to court, he loses the case, and he gets about 20 years in prison.

While he's in prison, he's continuing to fight his case, he's continuing to plead his case.

He's going from lawyer to lawyer, he's doing research and and in hopes of clearing his name.

Time fast forwards, and now he's been in jail for 10 whole years, and now he's eligible for parole.

He goes before the parole board and they say, Hey man, you've been a model's you've been a model prisoner, so we're gonna go ahead and put you um on parole.

You're still gonna be on probation, though.

So they gave him an ankle monitor, they put him in one of the halfway houses type things where he can work, but he got to be back at a certain time.

And even though he was no longer in prison, he still was connected in the system.

So he was still fighting to ensure that his plea and that his case could be heard.

After a lot of hard work and after two years of being on probation, they were finally able to examine his case and they found out that they had the wrong man.

So after 12 years, 10 years in prison, two years on probation, they came to him and said, My bad, you're right.

You you didn't do it.

We didn't look at this evidence, we we we didn't consider these things, and and so now you're going to be exonerated.

So, what exonerated is is it's it's not just a matter of you are now free, but it's wiping the entire thing off of your record.

Now, of course, he lost the time, but but they're wiping the slate clean.

But uh there was something interesting about him that he we would begin to hear him talk about during this documentary.

He began to share how even though he was now completely exonerated, that now he's completely set free, that he still had the mindset of a prisoner.

He was so conditioned to being in jail, he was so conditioned on where to go and how to be paranoid and and and and what's allowed and what's not allowed, he had curfews, all of these things were so deeply embedded in his life that he really struggled with what it meant to be free.

My friends, I I believe that when Jesus came, he came to set us free.

But but unlike this man, we inherited our sin nature, but Jesus took the penalty for us to set us free, ultimately exonerating us from any of our wrongdoings.

But the reality of it is, many of us, just like that young man, struggle with really walking in the divine freedom that God has made available for us.

That even though the prison doors are open, we still find ourselves sitting in the cells.

Or maybe we're out in the community, but we're still concerned about what it means to really flourish and thrive in the things that God has made available for us.

The concept that I'm talking to us about is this idea of biblical freedom.

Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 31 and 2, he says this he says to the Jews who believed in him, if you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.

John 8:31

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Skipping down to verse number 36 to reinforce this thought, Jesus says the same thing.

So if the Son sets you free, you will really be free.

What we're seeing here is that Jesus is making this genuine plea and helping us to understand that biblical freedom is connected to us abiding in his word, embracing his truth, and recognizing him as our ultimate liberator.

Now, this is not a fleeting or partial freedom, but it's a transformative release that begins in our spirit and then overflows into every area of our lives.

And the truth of the matter is, this is exactly what Jesus came to do.

I often refer to Luke chapter 4, verse number 18 as Jesus' mission statement.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

And he's pulling from Isaiah chapter 60, and it's pulling from another idea from Leviticus 25, but this is the words of Jesus when he says, This is why he came in the flesh.

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

It says this the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he's anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.

Over and over again, we see that Jesus is saying, The very reason that I came is so that the people who were called by my name can experience freedom, that they can thrive in every area of their lives.

Now, this is pulled from a concept that is found in Leviticus 25.

I'm giving you that reference so that you can go and read it in its entirety on your own time.

But in Leviticus 25, it introduces us to the concept of Sabbath, but also this concept of jubilee.

See, back in those days, whenever a person was given their designation of land, this is what happens after they made it into the promised land, the Bible tells us that people, in the same way that we do today, that they needed to exchange of goods and services.

And so they would find themselves going into debt.

And back in those days, if you found yourself in debt, not only could you lose your land, but you could lose your freedom.

And so this was a part of the of the ecosystem in the economy back then.

But God's heart was never for his people to be in bondage, whether it be in debt or to one another.

So what the Bible tells us is the Jubilee, every 50 years, no matter what you were caught up into, no matter what debt, no matter what you have sold yourself into slavery, every 50 years, God hit the reset button, and everything that you lost will be restored back to your family.

Every 50 years, the Jubilee.

This is why the Pentecost, the day of Pentecost happened on the 50th year, Jubilee, Holy Spirit.

There's all these things that are connected to it.

Every 50 years, the Jubilee would be available to God's people.

What I truly believe for us as a church is that 2025 is our year of Jubilee.

That everything that we lost is going to be restored.

That everything that we've been believing God for, we're going to begin to see these breakthroughs in.

That every prayer that we've prayed, we're going to begin to see some movement and some shaking and some shifts in our own lives because I truly believe that God hears our prayer.

Church, I truly believe that this is the year of our Jubilee.

Now, this is not an overnight fix.

This is not a magical shift, but what I do believe, it's a heart posture that if we abide in God's word and we embrace his truth, the truth shall set us free and we're going to experience everything that God has made available for us.

This is not just, this is not Christian self-help, but this is biblical truth that God has pushed so deep in my soul that I believe it's for every single one of us.

This is the year of your freedom.

There's some areas of our lives that we haven't been able to flourish in, but this is the year of your freedom.

There's some relationships you've been struggling in, but this is the year of your freedom.

There's been some financial burdens in your life, but this is the year of your freedom.

There's been some sickness in your body, but this is the year of your freedom.

What I believe God has shown me for Celebration Orlando that this is the year of our Jubilee.

Everything lost will be restored.

But I want to break it down in very practical terms so that we can understand the things that we're going to be doing as a church and the content that we're going to be making available to us and the opportunities that we have to abide in some of these things.

When we think of freedom, a lot of times we're thinking of simply captives being set free, and it's certainly a port of that.

But freedom also means the ability to flourish in a very intentional way.

And here's what I truly believe for our church.

I believe that there's going to be a new freedom in our faith.

I believe that there's going to be this breaking off of us being indifferent to the things of God.

I truly believe that this is going to be a time where there's going to be no more lukewarm Christianity where we're looking at God as a sense of convenience instead of being a conviction and commitment.

I'm believing that this is going to be an opportunity that every time we gather in the household of faith, we're going to prioritize it, knowing that if I can abide in the things of God, God's going to draw near to me and I'm going to see breakthrough in every area of our lives.

This is going to be a year of jubilee.

I think that there's going to be a freedom in our family and our friendships, inclusive of all of our relationships.

When Megan and I sit down with people in our counseling practice, I would say 95% of the times when we're sitting across from people, the tension, the pain, the suffering in our life is connected to relationships.

It's connected to problems with their spouse.

It's connected to problems with their mother, their father, their siblings, a coworker.

That we see that God has given us the gift of relationships, but yet at the same time, these relationships can be the source of some of our biggest challenges and pain points.

But I truly believe that if we can have a healthy biblical perspective on how to engage these relationships, conflict resolution, finding common ground, how to extend forgiveness, how to find ways to be reconciled to one another, I think those are going to be the tools that's going to help us to begin to thrive in even some of our most fractured relationships.

It may require us to put some boundaries in place, but these are the things that as a church we're going to be walking through, having classes and groups and things that's helping us to unpack this.

I also believe this is going to be a year of freedom as it relates to our finances.

The Bible tells us that the borrower is slave to the lender.

We know this.

Every single time I see a new bill come in, I feel this sense of deep responsibility and commitment.

And I have this day of envisioning a day when I can be completely debt-free because we know that there's a responsibility there.

The Bible's vision for us is not for us to be stuck there.

So I truly believe that we serve a God of abundance.

The Bible tells us that He supplies all of our needs according to His riches and glory.

Financial struggle is one of the biggest things that most Americans are stressed about in this day and age.

But the year of Jubilee, people were not concerned about that because there was a freedom.

And so what we want to make available to our church is continuing to give us resources inclusive of Financial Peace University.

How to effectively budget?

What does it look like to steward your resources with a kingdom perspective?

These are the things that we want to make available for us so that we can experience God's freedom for us.

We believe that this is going to be a year of freedom, even in our fitness.

The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 through 20.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20

Don't you know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit?

That means that God desires for us to be whole and our minds, our bodies, our souls, our emotional and physical and mental well-being are vital in order for us to effectively have an impact in the things of God.

I believe that this is the year that as we engage these things and we we talk about these areas of anxiety and stress and depression and other pain points that's in our lives, that as we invite the Holy Spirit in, that they're going to experience a fresh new level of freedom.

We're going to have equipped classes talking about some of these things.

But the final thing that I believe God for is I believe this is going to be a year of freedom from anything that's hindering us.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 12, verse number one, let us throw aside everything that hinders us and the sin that easily entangles us.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

So whether it's a past trauma, whether it's hidden sin, maybe it's addiction or shame, I believe that God's desire for all of us is to break the chains of anything that has held us back.

Anything that has been a struggle for us.

And so many of you guys know that we have a discipleship classes, discipleship one and discipleship two, that has been brilliantly led by Pastor Vinny and his wonderful wife Juliana.

Yes.

We're going to be adding another layer to that, which is going to be a discipleship on what freedom really looks like.

And we're going to be talking about some of these things that are keeping us from thriving and what God has for us.

Just as Luke chapter 4 has proclaimed that this is a year of freedom, he has promised to do his part if we abide in him.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

The truth will set us free.

The Holy Spirit will set us free.

And that's freedom in every dimension of our lives.

So as we continue on this journey and as we conclude this time of prayer and fasting, I want to encourage you that I personally fast once every week.

And then in the beginning of the month, the first three days of the month.

This is a lifestyle that I want to invite you to participate in.

You don't have to wait until January in order to have some time when you consecrate and set yourself apart for seeking intimacy with God.

I believe that there is nothing wasted whenever we invest our time in the things of God.

I truly believe that this is a year of us to experience the freedom because I truly believe that if the Son has set us free, then we are truly indeed free.

Free indeed to worship, free indeed to love, free indeed to serve, free indeed to be generous, free indeed.

And so we want to lead our church on a journey of what it looks like to really experience and walk in biblical freedom.

But I want to shift gears now.

And I want to share the next portion of our vision.

While today is focused on freedom, I also recognize that that freedom often leads us into new territories and responsibilities.

Celebration Church is a church that I've been a part of for almost 20 years now.

And maybe you're not familiar with the overarching um dynamic of Celebration Church, but Celebration Church, we we kind of have this statement where we're we're a local church with global impact.

We have locations in Jacksonville, we have locations in DC, we have locations in Zimbabwe, we have locations all across the world where we're able to take the grace that's on our house and express it in these different parts of the world, and God has done incredible work through it.

He has done and he continues to do, and we have been so thankful and grateful for it.

I spent almost a decade on staff just in um Celebration Jacksonville, spent two years in DC, and then God called my wife and I, our family and I, um to come here to Orlando.

And it's been incredible experiences.

But I would say about five years ago, as I began to recognize the ever-shifting landscape of what it meant to be a local assembly in the community, I began to really pray and believe that maybe God is calling us to activate some people in our local church to step up into a new level of leadership.

To put it simply, it's similar to this.

And I will use corporate terms, but it's not really corporate, but I think it's something that we can identify with.

When you think about Chick-fil-A, which is closed on Sunday, I've recently found that.

When you think about Chick-fil-A, no matter where you go, Chick-fil-A is Chick-fil-A.

The sauce is the sauce.

It is what it is.

Now, different locations may have different setups.

I learned a valuable lesson when I went to when I moved up to DC that the Chick-fil-A in DC, that even though the recipe is the same, they don't have the same parking, they don't have the kids' gym and they don't care about kids playing anything in DC.

It's not about any of that.

But in the suburbs, they they have the gyms, but at the same time, it's still the same recipe because there's a central system that ensures every location has exactly what it needs to carry on the Chick-fil-A brand.

For lack of better words, that is kind of how we functioned as a church family.

That each individual location had its own unique expression, but we had a central family that helped to make sure that every location has exactly what it needs.

There was a central board, there was a central team of leadership, one that I was a part of, and that was the way that we functioned with overseeing all of the celebration locations.

But about five years ago, God began to kind of press on my heart of yes, we are one house with many rooms, but what if God was calling us to be our own house?

And so I began to pray and process through this idea of us still being relationally connected, still being relationally committed and connected to one another, but also recognizing that there's room for us to begin to really explore what it looked like to activate our own leadership team in our city.

I like to look at it like this.

When my oldest son, Keith Jr.

Um moved out.

I remember when he moved out the he went away to college, he came back, and then he moved out the last time.

And when he moved out, he literally still has my name.

He still has a lot of the influences in my life.

We still have a phenomenal relationship, but he also now has the room to grow in his own family.

That in essence is what we're doing as it relates to Celebration Church.

That we're under the umbrella of Celebration Church for the first 10 years, but now God has called us to establish our own home.

We're not changing our name, we're not changing our relational dynamic, and I can stand before you and I can stand before God and saying that there is no drama, there's no tension, there's no conflict, that we're doing this because we recognize that in our local church, God has sent us leaders who could step in to serve as our leadership council, and we believe that now is the time for us to do it.

So, effective January 1st of this year, we are now a fully autonomous church location.

What that ultimately means is this is why you may have heard us talking about changing our giving platforms and changing our app and updating a lot of other things because now we're fully autonomous, still relationally connected, still have the name, we're still spending time, we're still exchanging ideas, but now we have our own local governance, which we believe is the next step that God has for us.

This journey started for us about five years ago.

Three years ago, we began to put some things in motion.

Two years ago, we began to aggressively work on it in conjunction with our council and lawyers, and then over the last year, we've worked really hard at identifying and establishing the leadership that God was sending us here as our church community continues to move forward.

Now, when we talk about autonomy from a day-to-day standpoint, that is nothing that's going to impact any of us on a day-to-day standpoint.

But what it does mean is that now we have elders, we have our own board, we have our own staff pastors that are part of our local community that are helping to foster the vision that God has given us.

What you'll see in the book of Acts is that whenever a local church was established, they would quickly establish and appoint elders and deacons and leadership of that local community to ensure that that local assembly had what they need while also being connected to the larger body of Christ.

That is exactly what we are doing here today.

So today we're going to be introducing and commissioning all of our local leaders that will now serve as our council for Celebration Church.

These roles used to be something that was centrally allocated that oversaw all of our locations, but by the grace of God, we have found some wonderful people that want to step into leadership from our congregation.

And so we want to take an opportunity to introduce them to you and to anoint them and commission them into this new role.

This is broken down into a couple of categories the senior pastors, our pastoral team, our board of trustees, our elders, and then also our lead team.

So I want to introduce you to all of them.

And so, first the senior pastors.

Megan, will you come on up here with me?

The first service, Megan, she you want to?

I told her I felt like T.D.

J's because he has like a personal sweat guy.

So now that's going to be a new thing.

I would just be in the middle of preaching up a storm, so I'm gonna randomly run up.

I feel like that's when you're really anointed.

That's when you got him.

My armor bearer.

Okay, so so as the senior pastors, Megan and I's job will be to continue to provide the vision and leadership and pastoral oversight of this incredible church.

To make sure that we stay rooted in scripture, aligning with the mission and being led and responding to the Holy Spirit.

The the next group of people I want to introduce us to is our pastoral team.

So I want to ask you guys to come on up.

Pastor Nate Capshaw, who he's on vacation right now.

He's actually in Puerto Rico with his wife.

He much let's give it up for Pastor Nate.

Um, so we'll pray over him.

We've done it before, we'll pray over when he comes back.

But I'm I'm also gonna introduce now um Pastor Lindsay Brenner.

Lindsay, will you come on up here?

There she is.

And then also Pastor Vinny Kostama.

So our pastoral team, um, they are our um our pastors that are here on staff with us, and their role is to um partner with Megan and I, um, to shepherd and disciple and to support the congregation overall.

Um, they play vital roles in teaching.

Um, can we give it up for Pastor Lindsay and Vinny with their preaching gifts, their teaching gifts, worship, leadership, the everyday life of our church.

They do such an amazing job.

The the next group of people that I want to introduce you to is our board of trustees.

So I want to first introduce uh Pastor Weyland Wiseman.

If you can come on up here, Pastor Whalen.

He'll share with us in just a moment, but Pastor Weyland, um, he's the executive pastor of Celebration um housed in Jacksonville, but he's the executive pastor of all of the celebration locations.

And um, when Celebration Orlando launched 10 years ago, he was the executive pastor here.

He literally, now again, I want y'all to hear my heart.

God is the price of his mission.

We know that without God, none of this is possible.

So we're past that part.

Without Pastor Whalen, our church wouldn't still be here.

It's his vision, his leadership, his wisdom, his ability to help navigate through not only the financial um things that we've had to navigate through, wonderful job, but also just leadership.

So Pastor Whalen has done a phenomenal job, but he's also been uh a brother and a confidant for me, and I'm so thankful that he has agreed um to serve on our board of trustees.

Um we also have Tina Eubanks.

Tina, come on up here.

Tina's been a part of our church ever since we were back in Jacksonville.

In fact, Tina used to be one of my group leaders back in Jacksonville when I was a group's pastor.

Remember that, Tina?

That's a very long time ago.

I honestly used to think Tina didn't like me, but here we are.

Here we are, all this time later.

Um we have um fitness groups.

Remember something about how we're believing God for freedom in our fitness, every area of our like Tina is our fitness guru um at our church.

What time does your group start?

8:30.

I thought it was like six in the morning.

I was looking at 60, but they wouldn't come.

They wouldn't come.

Okay.

In other words, you're saying our church in the faithful.

Okay, we're gonna work on that.

We're gonna work on that, we're gonna work it back a little bit.

Tina does a phenomenal job, not only just with being a part of our church, serving wherever there's a need, um, but also Tina has faithfully like incredible gifts as it comes to resources.

And then I also want to introduce to you my brother Jeff Rojas.

Jeff, can you come on up here?

Jeff, too, has been a part of Celebration Orlando since the very, very um beginning.

I said this in the last service and I'll I'll repeat it again.

Um, I remember when I and I officially like really, really met Jeff.

He was a part of um of my men's group.

And I remember that he would like just sit in the back and then he would just share some profound insight.

I mean, like, like really, really like stuff.

I'm like, man, like this dude is sharp.

And so a lot of times for me, just as a pastor, I want you guys to understand that whenever I see somebody's gifted at something, I'm like, how can we use that?

Bring your gifts to me.

So I'm like, man, like maybe we can hire him.

And then I learned a little bit more about him, and I'm like, well, we can't afford him.

Um so we found the best alternative to get him to do the work of the kingdom for free.

Isn't God good?

The rewards in heaven.

So our board of trustees, these are the individuals that are helped to oversee the stewardship of our resources, our finances, making sure that we're compliance with the IRS because we don't want any problems with the IRS, um, but to also make sure that we're attaching all of our dollars to our kingdom vision.

I also want to introduce you guys to um our elders.

These are people that are gonna serve alongside the pastoral team.

Um, they help to discern the spiritual direction of the church.

They offer wisdom and prayer support um and guidance and making sure that we're unified and that we're pursuing biblical truth.

So I want to introduce these incredible people now.

I want to have Larry and Lori Thompson come up to join us.

You guys can come on up here.

John and Susan Stevens.

I want them to come on up here, John and Susan Stevens.

Bob and Yolanda Cadle, I want you guys to come on up here.

And Vinny very stealthily stepped off stage, but he went to go get his wife because him um and his wife are on our um elder team.

So I want you to give it up for Vinny and Juliana as they're coming up.

Our elders are a really crucial component of our church and us discerning the things of God.

And then lastly, we have our lead team.

This is our our staff members that help us to operate and function in our day-to-day capacity.

Now, because we're a small staff, people wear multiple hats.

So mostly all of our staff is already up here in other roles, but we also have Lizzie.

So, Lizzie, can you come up here who serves on our lead team?

These are those who are serving as servant leaders for our church, and they do such an amazing job at making sure that everything that God has commissioned us to do, it gets done at the highest level of excellence.

So, this is our council.

This is our this is the people that God has entrusted and that He's equipped in order for us to function as a church.

And so, what I want to do now is I want to have Megan um go and anoint every one of um our precious members.

Now, I uh I want to share that um this is our special anointing oil.

We got this um from a monastery in Greece when Megan and I went there a couple years ago, and um that's Megan and I's personal anointed oil.

We we typically only use that to pray over ourselves and over our kids because it's it's for us, it's only for our family.

Um, but I wanted to anoint you guys with it because you guys are part of our family.

That's what today signifies.

And as we prepare to pray over you and commission you into the things that God has called you to do, I want to share a couple of things with you.

This is my charge for you as you're being commissioned into this new season and these new roles.

Here's the first thing: walk in humility.

Remember that we are servants first.

The Bible reminds us that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

The other thing I want to encourage us to do is to stay rooted in prayer, to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading, and making sure that we're devoted to interceding for the people that God has commissioned into our care.

I want to make sure that we are maintaining unity.

One of the major responsibilities that a council has is ensuring that there's unity and connection between the saints, making sure we protect the spiritual things that bond us together.

And then lastly, we have a responsibility to foster a healthy culture.

That means that we cultivate an atmosphere of honor, honesty, and grace where our congregation can grow and thrive.

And here's the part where you guys play as our as our family.

I'm going to pray over them.

Megan's going to go and lay hands on them as she's praying for them.

But I want you to pray with us, but I also want you to pray for us, not only in this moment, but going forward.

Um, I've shared with you earlier that spiritual warfare is a real thing.

And whenever you step into the things that God is calling you to do, it's inevitable that we will face some measure of opposition.

But I also stand on the principle that if God before us, nothing can be against us.

So let's pray as we commission our new council.

Lord, we thank you so much for this incredible opportunity that you would call us to be a part of this incredible kingdom work.

Over the past 10 years, we've saw you do some incredible things in our celebration family, not only just across the globe, but here specifically in our Orlando location, and we are humbled and blown away at the thousands of salvations and baptisms and lives that we've seen change over the years.

And God, it's in that same mindset that we are filled with expectation of what this new season will be.

Father, we lay hands as we recognize the calling that is in every single one of these precious people's lives.

We've seen the way that they steward their lives, we see the way that they steward their families, we see the way that they steward their resources.

And Father, right now, we come alongside recognizing what you're doing in our lives, and we're commissioning them.

We're anointing them and releasing them to function in the anointing and the grace in which you've called them.

Father, we call them blessed.

We call them anointed.

We recognize their calling and we release them to serve.

We ask as this new mantle comes upon their shoulders, Father, that there's new grace, there's new vision, there's new wisdom, there's new insight that you will send to them.

So, Father, I pray a covering over them, over their families, over their households, over everything that they touch, as they've decided to put their hand to the plow and not look to the left or to the right, but keeping their eyes on you, Jesus.

So, God, we bless them and release them in which you have called them in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

I I want to now turn it over to Pastor Whalen as he wants to share a couple of things with us.

Thank you, sir.

As uh as you have commissioned uh all of us as your leadership, we just want to honor you and let you guys know that we submit to your leadership.

It's an honor to be led by you all.

Uh when we talk about commissioning, it's uh it's really uh it's really just setting in place, it's it's it's giving authority, it's it's putting someone in that position, it's it's giving a mandate, right, to uh to lead in the way that they're called to lead.

And so you've done that for us as your leadership.

So now we want to commission you as your leadership.

We want to commission you guys as the pastors of uh of Celebration Church.

And so the reason that we do this really is for it's for the church, it's for the church as a leadership, but it's also for the congregation.

So it's something that that we all kind of recognize, you know, that we have to recognize that uh just amazing lives you guys have in that ministry.

You know, commissioning is not what itself uh puts that authority there.

Only God can do that, right?

God God calls and gives us to do what He's called us to do.

And when a church body recognizes that and their leaders, that's what commissioning is.

A little different than an ordination, you're ordained, you've got you're qualified, you've done all the things that need to be done.

But this is us, your leadership, and your church coming together saying, We believe in you, we trust in you, we're gonna yield to you, we're gonna submit to you as our leaders.

So that's really what commissioning is.

And so I would ask all of you in the congregation, you know, our our responsibility in this is to to pray and to keep the pitmans in prayer, uh to support them.

And so I would just I would ask everyone in this room real quick, if you if you agree to do that as a congregation, just say I do real loud for me, real quick.

Awesome.

I'm gonna ask you guys to the same thing.

So if if you if you agree to lead and shepherd this this congregation the way you have already, say I do for me.

All the leadership here would come through their hands.

We just love you, Lord.

We thank you for what you're doing in this amazing church.

We thank you for the presence, God, we thank you for the calling that you have on their life, Lord Jesus.

We pray God to have your protection over each one of them, Lord, over everything they do, their hearts, their minds, and their bodies, Lord.

We pray over Caleb De Nair for Keith Jr.

and his family, God.

We pray your protection over them, we guard them from the attacks of the enemy.

Lord, as a church, we come together, we support them.

We love them, we thank you for the gift that they are to this church.

God, we're excited for all of the things that uh that are gonna happen as we move forward.

Lord, in the name of Jesus, we just commission them to faithfully execute the responsibilities and the duties of the pastors of Celebration Church all right.

This is a great day, God, as we move forward.

We just love you, Lord.

We thank you, we thank you for this leadership team, we thank you for this church, we thank you again for everything that you have already done.

But everything that you're gonna do is we move forward.

So all of these things we give to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

You guys can go ahead and take your seats.

Thank you all so much for for um being with us.

We're we're gonna go into a moment of um communion.

Um so if you when you came in, you should have received the communion elements.

So if you if you have them, you can go ahead and um get those out.

Um if you didn't get them, then you can um just raise a hand and someone would love to come and make sure you have some.

Actually, I don't I don't have one either, so just when you guys get a chance, I I do want to circle back really quick on thank you so much computers.

Um I do want to circle back on one of the things that Pastor Whalen just mentioned.

Um We have some down here, Paul.

Thank you.

Um particularly about supporting um your pastors, submitting under their leadership.

That's what honor looks like.

And so I want to I want to ask us to do something that I think is really important um to put that to practice.

Um next week the Philadelphia Eagles are playing against um are playing against the Kansas City Chiefs.

So we're a Philly church, Philadelphia Eagle Church.

We will not stand for any rebellion in this church.

I don't even want to see the color red next week.

One of our elders, Larry and Lori, they're actually from Kansas City, so they're like our arch nemesis right now.

I almost kicked them off the elder team instantly.

So you know that I love God.

Alright, let's skip focus for a minute.

When Jesus was sitting with his disciples, um, he showed them the bread and he said, This is the bread that um symbolic of my body, and it's it's broken for you.

Jesus was referring to a scripture that's in Isaiah that says that by his stripes, the stripes of Jesus, we can experience healing.

So wholeness is available because of the finished work of Christ on the cross.

So maybe you came in here today, and maybe there's an area of fracture, an area of pain, an area of suffering that you're experiencing.

Though you're not walking in it yet, I want you to know that it is available.

So as we sit together as a community, let us be reminded that Jesus took whatever it is that you're struggling with, he took it to the cross, and that healing is available.

So as a family and as a community, let us take and eat together.

Jesus also shared that that the wine was symbolic of his shed blood.

And he says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission or forgiveness of sin.

You know, before the blood of Jesus came into the equation, there was a sin that separated us from having true unbroken fellowship with God.

But because of the shed blood of Jesus, it removes that stain of sin.

And now when Jesus sees us, he sees us through the blood.

So we've been reconciled to God because of the blood of Jesus.

But more importantly, or I would say additionally to that, we've also been reconciled to one another.

The shed blood of Jesus, it allows us to recognize that we're all family.

So we're reconciled to God, but we're also reconciled to one another.

That is what it means to be a part of a faith-filled community.

So as a community, maybe there's some areas of brokenness, some areas of shame, some areas of distance that you're experiencing with God or with someone else.

Let us allow the blood of Jesus that unifies us also empower us so that we can seek reconciliation.

Let us take and drink.

So I want to invite us all to stand on our feet, worshiping together as a family and as a community.

God has been so faithful to us, and this is literally just the beginning.

So as a family and as a community, as I pray over us, let us lift our hands, let us lean into this moment and be open to what it is the Holy Spirit wants to do.

Lord, we thank you.

We thank you for your faithfulness.

We thank you for your grace.

We thank you for the wisdom and everything that you make available to us.

As we enter into this sacred moment of entering into your presence with the lifting of our hands and the lifting of our voices, God, I pray that you inhabit our praise.

Father, I pray that you lift the head of the discouraged.

I pray that you bring healing to those who are suffering.

I pray that you bring reconciliation where there's broken relationships.

Because God, we know that you are faithful.

Lord, we declare that this is the year of our jubilee, that this is the year of our freedom.

We see it, we're going to keep our eyes on it, we're going to walk in it, we're going to abide in you, and we will experience everything that you have for us.

Everything that's been taken, we are going to see it come back in multiple fold because we know that you are faithful.

So, Father, because of that, we're going to give you the praise.

We're going to give you the glory and the honor.

And this in Jesus' name that we pray.

If you believe that church, say amen.

Come on, let's worship together one more time.

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.