God's Promise | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you for joining us.

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And we've found some amazing ways to do that.

Celebration at the park and church at home and all those things.

I gotta say, there is nothing like gathering in a household of faith with a bunch of other believers and worshiping God together.

So it is so, so good to see every single one of you.

I pray that you all had an amazing holiday, whether it's full of rest or just full of energy, whatever that looks like for you.

I hope indeed that you did have an incredible time with family and friends and community, and even some time for self-reflection.

Today I'm excited because we're we're kicking off uh a brand new series, um, but it's not really new if you've been around Celebration Church for any period of time.

Every year, you guys can anticipate that that we're going to preach about Advent, the concept of us waiting and anticipating the arrival of Christ, not only celebrating um the nativity of Christ, but also anticipating his return.

And maybe you guys haven't heard that lately, but Jesus is coming back for his bride.

And that is something that is worth celebrating for.

So while we celebrate that Jesus has come, we also anticipate that he's gonna come back and put things back in their rightful place.

So every year we we find a different way to engage the traditional theme of Advent.

Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, and it really just simply means coming or arrival.

And it allows us in a very hectic and busy world to just simply slow down and to allow this season to wash over us so that we can we can anticipate what God has done.

We can we can reflect on what God is going to do and we can sit with a huge expectation of what God's gonna continue to do in our lives.

Can we get a good amen to that?

If you have your Bibles, I have a couple of passages that I want to read to us today.

Um, I'm gonna reference several other scriptures that that won't likely come on the screen.

So um, if you're taking notes, I want you just to kind of write down some of these references.

Um I've I've shared with you guys many times, but but nothing was more formational for my faith than when I would come to church on a Sunday morning and I would listen to the pastor preach and I would write down the notes and scripture references, and then I would go back during the course of the week and I would read every passage um that he referenced, just finding myself immersed in scripture.

And so my hope is that we can carry on that same tradition that as I reference things, that I don't want you just to take my word for it.

I want you to go back and actually look and examine God's word for yourself because I truly believe that the word of God can change your life if you allow the word of God to read you as you are reading it.

Can we get a good amen to that?

We're gonna be spending first um some time in Isaiah chapter nine, very familiar prophetic scripture um relating to the coming of Christ, and then we're gonna jump over to Luke chapter number one.

But starting here at Isaiah chapter number nine, the the verse that we're gonna step into is verse number six, and then we'll skip over to Luke in just a moment.

But but here's what God's word um is for us today.

For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders.

He will be named wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father, prince of peace.

The dominion will be vast, and his prosperity will never end.

He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.

This prophetic word was was coming to the household of faith, the people of God, in a time where they were dealing with some pretty tumultuous situations.

The government was very unstable, they were dealing with a significant amount of oppression, and so so God uses Isaiah to speak a word and saying, like, hey, I know that it's not good right now, but I want you to know that there's gonna come a time when when the Lord is going to send you someone that's gonna bring justice.

This is what they were hopeful for, and this is what they were anticipating.

We see the fulfillment of this coming many, many years later.

Um, and we pick it up here in Luke chapter number one.

Starting at verse number 26, we're gonna read down to 38, but but I want us to stay locked in because I want us to capture the essence of what this announcement means.

But starting in verse number 26, it says this In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David.

The virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel came to her and said, Greetings, favored woman, the Lord is with you.

But she was deeply troubled by this statement and wondered what kind of greeting this could be.

Then the angel heard her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Now listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him a throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.

We're seeing the parallels of Isaiah 9 here.

Mary asked the angel, How can this be?

Since I have not had sexual relations with a man.

The angel replied to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore, the one to be born will be called the Son of God.

And consider your relative Elizabeth.

Even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was once called childless.

For nothing will be impossible with God.

Verse number 38.

See, I am the Lord's servant, Mary said.

May it happen to me as you have said.

Then the angel left her.

Today I want to talk to us about a foundational concept that I truly believe can be encouraging for us.

And it's a very basic biblical principle, but it has the ability to bring radical transformation.

So if you're taking notes, and of course I hope that you are, I simply want you to write down this statement God's promises.

Let's pray and let's see what it is that the Lord wants to speak to us today.

God, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for your presence.

We thank you for an opportunity for us to come to gather together as a community.

We thank you for what your spirit is already cultivating and done in this atmosphere.

And now we sit with an expectation that we're going to hear a profound word from you, a transformational word from you.

So, Lord, we all decrease so that the Holy Spirit and the Word of God can increase.

We ask for open eyes that we can see you.

We pray for open ears that we can 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.

Each year, um, for I think the past five years for for uh Megan and I, we we've had the the joy and the privilege of of hosting varying people um at our homes um for for Thanksgiving.

It's it's something that that I truly um enjoy doing.

This this year, your boy was throwing down.

I did two smoked turkeys.

Um I did I did two hams that were so amazing that I gotta go back and make another one for my family, or they said I can't come home.

And and then I also did some bourbon smoked salmon.

So y'all should have pulled up.

It was it was absolutely amazing.

I love when we're able to serve and connect together uh as a family, but but this year was a little bit different because um trying to navigate around having family and friends in town while also trying to create space for for my extended family, my son and and and his children, and trying to create space for them, but they have their own traditions that they're beginning to establish.

But one of the traditions that we've always done for the past five years is that we would always put up our Christmas tree with our grandchildren.

That was just a part of what we did.

And so I was thinking to myself, I don't think we're gonna see them before Thanksgiving.

I think it's gonna be not until December.

So I was thinking, like, we're gonna have to put the tree up um without them.

And I was like, okay, like our tradition is broken, but it's okay, we're gonna we're gonna power forward.

But then there was a window where it's like, hey, but if we if we're able to maximize this 24-hour window, we can we can drive to Daytona, we can get them, bring them to our house, we can hurry up and put the tree up, we can spend some time and then we can take them back.

And for me, it was a worthy sacrifice because I wanted to hold on to tradition.

But then I for completely forgot that that traveling on the Thursday before Thanksgiving to go to Daytona is probably the worst thing you could ever possibly do.

My I wrote it down and I'm gonna show film to my grandkids when they're older so they can appreciate the sacrifice that their grandfather has made for them.

So we go up there, we get them, we bring them back, and and so I'm exhausted after spending hours in the car to get to Daytona, hours to get back, and so now they're looking at us and they're thinking, like, okay, like we're gonna do all of the traditions, which included um putting the tree up, it also included making cookies, it also included going to the park, it also included hot chocolate.

There's all these things that they have an expectation that they're going to do.

And when I was driving there and we saw them, and when they got in the car and we're on our way back, and we're telling them what we're gonna do, they I was filled with so much zeal and ambition.

And if I'm not sure if that's you, but have you ever like told your kids you're gonna do something with your mouth?

And then when they call you out on it, you're wondering what got into you to make you say it in the first place.

That's what this was.

So when we got to the house, I'm exhausted.

I've been fighting through traffic.

I finally get home, I'm exhausted, and they say, Okay, we're ready.

Where's the tree at and all these other things?

And I'm looking into their eyes and I'm trying to calculate reasons and rationality to tell them why we're not gonna be able to do it.

Because I don't have the energy for it, I'm completely exhausted, I need some caffeine.

There's a lot of things that I'm trying to work it through my mind, but as they're looking at me in my eyes, they're saying, But G Pop, because that's what they call me G Pop, because I'm I'm I don't look like a grandpa, but G Pop fits my vibe a little bit.

They said, G Pop, you promised.

There's nothing worse than when your kids look you in the eyes and use your words against you.

I'm like, how dare you quote me to me?

But somehow it motivated me.

They said, G-Pop, you promised.

And so I powered through it.

Megan powered through it.

When I say I powered through it, I brought the tree in, I did that.

Megan's the one who handles all other things.

She's the one that handles all the dancing parties, she's the one that handled all the cookies.

I did the heavy lifting, so we still are equally yoked.

We all did our part.

But we we we we did it all.

But but after having that moment with them and seeing the joy on their face, it really did make me think about the power of a promise.

See, a promise is only significant and it only has value if you follow through on it.

It's actually the building blocks that establishes a healthy relationship.

And so as I look at my grandkids and I give them a promise and they give weight to my words, they can say and look at me and say, I know that you're gonna follow through on what you said to me.

That builds trust, that that builds mutual submission, that builds a commitment in them putting themselves in position to be the recipient of said promise.

Now it makes me think about all the promises that God makes available to us.

God's divine promises are these assurances that are rooted in his unchanging nature and his sovereign will, communicated through humanity throughout his scriptures.

They're an expression of his covermental relationships.

It's it's revealing the tense, the desire for him to act graciously towards every single one of us.

One of my favorite promises in God's word is Jeremiah 29, 11, where he says, For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord.

Plans to prosper you, plans for your well-being, not to bring you disaster, but plans for a future and a hope.

This is a promise from God.

God said, I have these promises that I want to make available to you.

These promises are connected to his very nature.

And the beautiful thing is that when we look at God's word, we're able to recognize that there are over 8,000 promises in God's word.

Almost, almost 9,000, if we think about it.

It's 8,800 promises from God's word.

Of that 8,800, 7,800 of those are God's promises to us as his people.

That's a beautiful thing to consider that God is making these incredible promises to us.

And the thing about God's promises, these scripture says that I'm not a man that I should lie.

In other words, what God is saying, that if I said it, I'm going to do it.

That if I told you that we're going to do it, then we're absolutely going to.

If I said that I have this for your life, then you are going to see it in your life.

I love how Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 20, for all of his promises are yes and amen.

2 Corinthians 1:20

That means that you can take God's word to the bank.

That if he says he's going to do it, he's absolutely going to do it.

I love how he tells the prophet Jeremiah, I watch over my word to make sure it accomplishes everything that I set it out to do.

That means that much like a father may watch over his children as they're outside playing to make sure they don't put themselves in harm, God looks over his word to make sure that it accomplishes everything that he intends for it to do.

But I also think that there are some foundational things that we need to be aware of to put ourselves in alignment to receive the promises that God has issued to us.

So I want you to write down these three thoughts that I'm hopeful that can serve as a foundation, that can give you something to reflect on, that can encourage you, that can even challenge you a little bit as we begin to recognize the role that we play in experiencing God's promises in our life.

Here's the first thing I want you to write now.

There is purpose in the promise.

There's always a purpose in the promise.

Looking back at our foundational text in Isaiah and in Luke, we'll see a couple of things that are very, very clear.

For the people of God, back in the times of Isaiah, they were dealing with significant oppression.

They were crying out to God, they were dealing with overreach of governing authorities.

They were finding themselves in these contentious situations, and then God shows up and says, Listen, it's not going to always be like this.

But God wasn't showing up to just give them temporary comfort.

God wasn't showing up to tell them that you're my favorite and nobody else.

But he was literally talking to them and saying that what I'm going to do through you is also meant to benefit others.

There's a purpose behind this promise.

We see this really come together with Mary.

The Bible tells us in Luke chapter number one that when when God presents himself through angels, through Gabriel to Mary, he's talking to her.

And as Mary is listening to these words, the angel gives her some pretty specific instructions.

Listen, you're going to have a son, and you're going to name him Jesus.

And this is going to be his role.

And you know that guy that you were reading about in Isaiah chapter 9?

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

That's actually your son.

And you're going to have to raise him up in the ways of the Lord, and then you're going to have to release him to the world and prepare him for what God's ultimately calling him to do.

There's this powerful promise that was connected there, but there was a purpose behind it.

It was not so that Mary could go on Instagram and say, hashtag blessed, you know who I'm carrying.

It was not to elevate her social status.

He wasn't telling her this so that she can flex and flaunt about, look at how good I am, look at the fact that God has chosen me.

No, no, no, my friends.

That when God issues a promise, you're not better because you're chosen, you're actually given a bigger burning.

The responsibility then becomes that because I'm the recipient of this promise from God, He requires me to do something with it that extends beyond me.

Mary was told that you're going to give birth to a son, but you're going to have to give that son over to the world.

You're blessed, but I'm going to need you to release that blessing.

You're called, but I'm going to need you to release that calling.

I'm not blessing you just for you.

I'm not blessing you just for your family.

Everything you have is not just for you.

In fact, I look at you as a conduit that I'm entrusting my blessings to so that you can release it to people who are less blessed than you.

This is the part where God begins to challenge us, these promises that God issues to every single one of us.

This is why that when we engage God's word, we have to do it on the Bible's terms.

I think one of the most damaging things that I've seen in the modern times when it comes to engaging God's word, and it was all meant to be well intended, we've all been a part of those devotional groups where we sit down with our friends and we read over a passage of scripture, and then someone utters these words.

This is what this means to me.

I'm sorry.

We don't get to determine what it means.

What I can say is this is how I apply it to my life.

But sadly, we look at God's word and we begin to look at it through the lens of how can I make this about me?

We begin to engage God's word and we remove the context from it, we remove the original audience from it, and we're trying to find a way that we can do it all about us.

They call that isegesis, where we read ourselves into every biblical narrative, and sadly we come up with a theology that everything revolves around us, that everything is all about us, which allows us to somehow be these narcissistic, self-indulged people that call themselves Christians who don't even know what generosity is, but I'm blessed and highly favored.

Welcome back.

But the Bible is telling us that we need to approach the Bible on its terms.

And when we have a healthy hermeneutical approach to God's word, we begin to recognize that while those promises are available to us, it's actually meant to go through us.

It's challenging us to recognize that it's not all about me.

One of the first promises that we see issued in Scripture is through Abraham, who had many sons.

We know the story of Abraham.

But the beautiful thing about Abraham is that when God calls him out and says, Hey man, I'm I'm choosing your family.

There's nothing special about you.

You you didn't you don't stand out amongst anybody else.

I'm choosing you because I'm entrusting you with a bigger burden.

But I want y'all to recognize what God says of him in Genesis 12, verse number three.

Through you, all the nations will be blessed.

It's not just about Abraham and his family being good and being well off and having all the resources they need and having the land.

It was understanding that through you, everyone else is going to receive their blessing.

Through you, the Messiah is going to come.

Through you, you're going to be able to be a blessing to everyone else.

Can you sign up for that?

I think so often that when we engage God's word and we're looking for these promises, sadly we let the promises stop with us.

But God is challenging us today to recognize that we are blessed to be a blessing.

This is why Paul tells us in Galatians chapter number three, and I want you to read it in its entirety.

I don't have enough time to break down every passage, but he then begins to let us know that we are the continuity of the promises that were issued to Abraham.

He says that we're heirs to the promise.

So that means that everything that was promised to Abraham has now been transferred to us because we are people of faith.

That's beautiful.

So that means the the provision.

That means the blessing has been passed on to us through Abraham because we're people of faith.

But guess what?

Through us, the people in our community must be blessed.

Through us, the people that are in our church must be blessed.

It was never intended for it to stay with us.

As we read God's word and we recognize these promises, we have to recognize that there's purpose behind the promise, and the purpose isn't for just to stay with us.

That every single one of the things that God releases in our lives are ultimately meant to bring about redemption, that are meant to reveal the nature of God, that are meant to bring restoration, that God entrusts us to be a blessing to others.

Can I get a good amen to that?

Okay, my next two points are gonna make y'all happy.

I know that some of y'all are like, oh my gosh.

Okay, here's here's here's a second point.

We're gonna shout in a minute.

Here's a second point.

The promises require preparation.

That every promise, it still requires us to prepare in some way.

When we consider God's promises, it's crucial to understand that they invite us into a process of preparation.

But preparation isn't just getting ready, it's also about positioning ourselves to receive what God has promised us.

Let's look at Mary for a minute.

Even though we don't have a lot of detail about her life prior to when the angel has this profound encounter with her, what we're able to do is look at the Jewish culture of that time and recognize that the Bible identifies her as being blessed and highly favored, and the Bible declares that she is a virgin.

Here's what this all means: that means that she lived a life of devotion to God.

That means that she would have practiced the Sabbath, that means that she would have watched what she ate.

That means that she would have been mindful of where she goes, she would have adhered to all of the all of the standards of cleanliness, that she would have done all the things that were responsible of a person of Jewish culture at that time.

And as a result of doing those things, she had positioned herself to be in a place where she could be the recipient of the promise that God was going to issue in her behalf.

Mary says these words, she says, I am the Lord's servant.

May it happen to me as you have said it.

Mary lived a life that understood that as the life that I live, it positions me to receive what God wants to do in my life.

See, there's something that we see in Scripture that is so easy for us to overlook.

I've overlooked it for many years in my life, and I believe that God has challenged me to go back and look at these words.

And it's one word that is so powerful.

I want you to highlight it every time you see it in scripture, and I want you to listen to me as I say it.

It's the word if.

If.

This is a subordinate conjunction word that simply identifies that if we do our part, then the back end of the thing.

Become available to us.

We see over and over in Scripture that God will issue these promises, but there's always this word if attached to it.

It's not about earning it because Jesus already earned it on a cross on our behalf, but it is about putting ourselves in position so that we can be the recipients of what God wants us to do.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says, If my people who are called by my name will do what?

2 Chronicles 7:14

Humble themselves and pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then we will hear from heaven and I will forgive and restore their land.

We want restored land.

We want to hear from heaven, we want all these things restored.

If my people will humble themselves, humility is a lost art in our current context.

If they could just pray, if they could seek my face in my word, if they can do their part, they would put themselves in a position to receive my promise.

John chapter 15, 7.

John 15 · chapter mention

But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you can ask whatever you want and it will be granted.

If you stay with me, if you stay with me, it will produce fruit.

This doesn't this means that you don't uproot yourself every time you get upset.

This means you don't uproot yourself every time things don't work out.

But if you remain in me and I remain in you, you will produce fruit.

But it's going to require you to do your part if you do your part.

Deuteronomy 28 says this.

If we fully obey God's word and keep his command, then we are going to be able to experience the blessings that God has available for us.

We see over and over again that this word if talks about us putting ourselves in a position to receive the blessing that God makes available to us.

Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, I want y'all to know that we have a part to play in receiving the promises that God makes available to us.

We have to do our part.

I want to illustrate it like this.

Demetric, I want you to come up here for a second.

I want you to come up here for a minute.

Y'all, y'all give it up for Demetri, keeping us safe.

I also want y'all to pray for Demetri because he also went to Florida State.

And um it's a it's a tough, it's a tough time.

It's a tough time for your team right now.

Just a little bit, a little bit.

But but but it's it's all good.

Come on over here, man.

Come on over here.

So so so we see we see Dmitrik is up here.

And and so watch this.

Um Dmitrik is the quarterback, right?

And and he has the football, and we have the playbook that we're going to look at that gives us the game plan.

And so Dmitrik is telling me, hey, listen, I promise you I'm gonna get this ball into your hands, but I need you to be at the exact spot where I'm going to throw it.

Isn't that what you said to me earlier, Dmitri?

Exactly.

That's exactly what he said to me.

He said, I need you to get to that exact spot.

So so let's back up.

Let's test your arm real quick, DC.

Listen, we're on stage, don't hurt me.

Okay, there we go, there we go, there we go, there we go.

Try one more time, one more time, one more time.

Boom.

I don't even need the gloves.

Look at this.

Okay.

All right, one more time, one more time.

So, so watch this.

He we have a game plan, right?

And so so he's gonna tell me I need to go up here and I need to make a left.

Now, something inside of me may tell me I want to go right, but but I can't be up there calling my own plays because if I call my own plays, I won't be in a position of where he wants to deliver the ball.

So, so so I'm gonna say hype.

So even though, well done, well done.

I'm I'm running, I'm running.

And man, I would love to go this way, but that's not where the playbook told me I have to go.

So I turn over this way, and then he drops it, boom, and I and I run in and I and I make the touchdown, and we win the game, and the Eagles won a Super Bowl.

Okay, so so so we got that, we got that.

But but here's here's the reality.

Sometimes it's not that easy.

Chris, I want you to come up here for a minute.

Everybody said, ooh.

Because here's the truth.

Even though we have a game plan, even though we have a strategy, there's also an opponent that wants to keep me from getting where I'm supposed to be.

There's there's an opponent, he doesn't know the playbook, he doesn't even know where I'm supposed to go, but what he does know is he doesn't want me to get to the spot I'm supposed to get to.

So so now I have a very big, massive man who's standing in front of me, and he's trying to stop me from getting to the place so I can't receive what the quarterback wants to throw my way.

Okay, we practiced this earlier, Chris.

Okay, so so so come a little bit closer, come a little closer.

Listen, I'm the pastor, okay?

I need you to, it's in the script, just like Kansas City winning their games.

Just let it let me do my part.

Okay, but but watch this.

I gotta get past Chris.

But as I'm trying to go up, go ahead and go ahead and stop me, Chris, but be gentle.

Okay.

So I'm trying, I I can't get by him.

So so I recognize that if I am not doing some work before I get on the field, I gotta be doing some work in the gym.

Because I gotta I recognize that I'm gonna face some opposition.

I gotta make sure that I'm eating appropriately so that I can be in a position to get past my opposition so that I can get to the goal that I'm supposed to be in.

So so now that I've been doing my preparation when no one's been looking, I've been going to sleep on the time, I've been making sure I steward my body appropriately.

Now, when I'm lined up, even though I know that he's my opposition, but I know the promise is coming my way, and I'm not gonna let him stop me.

So now as I'm coming up and Chris is coming up, I'm gonna say, get out the way, man.

And now I'm wide open.

Boom.

So so so so so let me make this plain real quick before they walk away.

God has given us a playbook that allows us to know the routes that we should be running.

God is telling us, I promise you, that if you can follow my playbook, I promise you I'm gonna get this into your hands.

You are gonna face some opposition that's gonna try to knock you off track.

You're gonna face some depression that's gonna try to knock you off track.

You're gonna face some anxiety that's trying to knock you off track.

But this is why your prayer life matters.

This is why reading my word matters, because if you can power through it and get to the destination I'm gonna get you to, you can catch that ball and get the destination that God is calling you to get to.

You can give God some praise in here today.

We have to be willing to put ourselves in a position that we can receive the promises that God has for us.

We gotta stick to the game plan.

We gotta make sure that we run the route that God has given us.

We gotta make sure that we understand that we're gonna face resistance, but we gotta power through him because we have an enemy.

He doesn't know the playbook, but he knows if he can stop you, he can stop your legacy.

But I gotta power through it, I gotta push through it.

Our response in these moments is much like Mary, is to prepare ourselves and live lives and position ourselves so that we can receive every promise that God makes available to us.

We need to engage God's word regularly, we need to align our actions with God's will, and we need to persevere through challenges.

I want to encourage every single one of you that even though this is not about perfection or earning God's love, God's love is unconditional, but his blessings, his promises are contingent upon how we prepare ourselves.

We have to position ourselves to receive what God has for us.

Can we get a good amen to that?

Here's my third and final point.

Live in expectation of the promise.

Live a life that is actually expecting the promise.

To live in expectation of the promise means embodying a posture of hopeful anticipation that's grounded in faith.

It's not passively waiting, but it's actively participating and having an expectation and knowing that I am going to get my breakthrough because I know that God is for me.

Two years ago, um, Megan and I made a very interesting decision.

And when I say Megan and I, I mean Megan made an interesting decision.

This actually goes back probably about five years.

But she began to tell me that say, I feel like the Lord is leading us to go back to school.

And I said, man, the Lord's leading you to go back to school.

She said, No, I think we should go back to school.

I said, we're not French, we've too many people.

It seems like that's something that you should do.

But she said, no, I really believe that God is calling us to go back to school, to better equip ourselves and to better serve the people that God places in our care.

So I heard what she was saying, but she was saying it to me at a time where we were coming out of a global pandemic.

Uh we were beginning to re-establish the community here.

We were we were in the process of actually leading two churches, one here and then also the one in DC.

So the last thing I wanted was to add more responsibilities to the plate.

But my wife is very persistent.

Thank God she is.

So two years ago, we we signed up to go back to school to get our master's degree in professional counseling.

In the first year, I gotta tell y'all, man, it was amazing.

The first year, I'm learning things about myself, I'm learning things about the human condition, I'm learning things about minds and emotions, and it was amazing to see the Bible integrate with humanity in such a profound way.

We even went to Greece and to study abroad for three weeks.

It was incredible.

But then year number two hit, and and it hit hard.

Because in year number two, we were now seeing clients while still simultaneously being parents, husband, wife, grandfather, grandmother, pastors of a church.

Meanwhile, more things are being added to our plate, but the plate's not getting any bigger.

So when we got into year two, we were exhausted.

I would I would borderline say burned out, just exhausted, writing papers, seeing clients, writing treatment plans, all these things that are part of it.

And there are a couple of times where I'm like, I'm tapping out.

I I don't know if I have an enemy to continue to do this.

But there will be moments when I was down, she was up, and moments when she was down and I was up, and we would encourage others saying, No, remember, God told us to do this, and remember that that God, and this is gonna last forever.

This is gonna always be this way.

So we got within the six-month window, and then I felt like a person who was just looking for my prison release date every day closer to getting out.

One day down, one day closer, one day closer, one day closer, one more sleep, and it's finally over.

We kept just crossing it off, crossing it off.

And at one point it seemed like it was never going to happen.

But I am so grateful to stand here before you and tell you that next week, my wife and I are gonna walk across the stage at Southeastern University getting our master's and professional counseling.

Watch this.

Both of us with a 3.9 grade average.

And and and to make matters even more amazing, we were nominated to speak at our hooding ceremony to represent our classes.

And and and here's what I want you guys to recognize that I know that when we get that paper that is symbolic of our hard work, it is literally just the beginning.

Because now the true work starts.

We're gonna start our own nonprofit counseling thing.

We're gonna train up all of our care partners in the ways of the Lord that God has equipped us to do it.

There's so many things that God is going to do in us, and even though it hasn't happened yet, I can't wait.

I can't wait to see what God does in our marriages.

I can't wait to see what God does with every single one of us.

That, my friends, is what it means to live in expectation.

That means that even though it's not here yet, I am so expected of what God is going to do.

And even though it's not tomorrow, and even though it's not next week, I know that God's promises are true, and I'm sitting with a posture of preparing myself, and I am so expected of what God is going to do in every single one of our lives.

What I want you to recognize is the Bible says that eyes haven't seen and ears haven't heard, neither has entered into the hearts of men what God is going to do for the people that love him.

The Bible tells us I consider our present surf suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

What I want you to understand is that God is just getting started and he is going to blow your mind.

I serve a God that says, I will do exceedingly abundantly above all that you may ask or think.

If you can think about it, God's going to do more.

If you can ask for it, God's going to do more.

This is what it means to live in expectation and knowing that I have some big dreams, but God is going to exceed those dreams as long as I am doing my part.

So, in a nutshell, I want to make sure that we keep our perspective and live a life of expectation.

Because for the people of God back in the times of Jesus, they were so steeped in despair that they lost sight of the promise.

Because watch this.

For centuries, they've been waiting for the Messiah to come.

For centuries, they've been combing over the scriptures and looking for signs for the Messiah.

And when Jesus shows up, they didn't even recognize him.

Is it possible that the very thing you've been praying for is right in front of you and you don't recognize it because you're so much in despair?

When Jesus showed up in infancy, the promise was there.

He wasn't fully matured yet, but the promise was there.

And I suspect for some of us, we may be looking at these little movements of God around us, and we're like, oh, that's just a small thing.

That's just a small thing.

But what happens to that thing when it grows up?

It can grow into the very salvation that we all have been crying for the entire time.

Maybe we've lost sight of the promise.

Maybe you've lost sight of what the things that God has been doing.

But I'm here to remind you that he who has begun a good work in you is absolutely going to complete it.

And we need to live a life of expectation.

Live a life of expectancy.

Live a life knowing that I am the child of the king and he's going to follow through on his promise.

So my mindset is I expect a miracle in my life.

I expect to see breakthrough in my family.

I expect to see healing in my body.

I expect to see freedom that is going to happen for me and my family.

I expect to see restoration.

I expect to see reconciliation.

I expect everything that God has promised me.

If God said it, He's going to bring it to pass.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I wanna ask us this question.

Maybe you're in here with us today.

And maybe there's something that you are believing God for.

Dare I say a promise from God.

Remember, the promises that were issued to Abraham become available to us, but we have a part to play.

But if that's you, if there's something that you're believing God for, I just want to include you in a prayer.

Because I believe there's moments like this that we can link our faith together and see what God will do when all of us declare the name of the Lord.

I want to count a three.

Yes, I'm believing God for a breakthrough, a miracle, whatever that is.

I want you to boldly lift your hand up.

One, two, three.

Amen.

Hands up everywhere.

I see two hands in the back.

Wonderful.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

You can go ahead and put those hands down.

Before we go back into worship and before I pray for us, I want to ask this question because I believe that there may be some among us that maybe as we're hearing the message of Jesus, his nativity, him coming, what that means for us, that maybe your next step is simply to accept Jesus as Lord of your life.

I don't want to leave without creating a space for you simply to say yes to that invitation.

Recognizing that that Jesus came not only to just allow us to have festive moments where we can celebrate and exchange gifts, but he came to bring redemption.

He came to bring salvation, he came to bring restoration.

And the first thing that all of us need is to accept that gift that he makes available to us.

So if that's you and you want to surrender your life to Christ, maybe for the first time, I want to create a space where we can pray for you as well.

So on account of three, this is a sacred moment between you and God, but we celebrate it as a family.

I want you to boldly lift your hand up saying yes to Jesus.

One, two, three.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you guys.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Church, we put our hands together for every single person that is saying yes to Jesus.

I want us to go into worship, so let us all stand on our feet.

I want to lead us into a moment of prayer, and then I just want us to worship and give our all to God with an expectation that He hears our worship, He hears our prayers, and He's going to meet us exactly where we are.

Lord, I thank you for the opportunity for us to gather in your presence.

Right where you are, I want you to lift your hands up to heaven.

Lord, you see our hands lifted up.

You know the burdens that we carry, you know the fear, you know the anxiety, the depression, you know the opposition that we feel.

But yet, God, we we still throw up our hands and we and we say hallelujah and we declare that you are Lord of it all.

Father, I pray specifically for the people that are saying yes to you.

God, I pray in the name of Jesus that as they're saying yes with this commitment of lifting our hands, but it's a it's a decision of the heart, that your Holy Spirit begins to stir on the inside of them and order their steps.

Lead them to a community where they can be supported and encouraged and get the resources that they need.

Father, I pray in the name of Jesus for every promise that has been spoken over your precious people, that in the name of Jesus they will grab a hold of the promise.

They will present themselves in a position to receive the promise, and they will live in expectation of the promise.

God, I command breakthrough over their lives.

I command healing over their lives, I command freedom over their lives, God.

I command a fresh start over their lives.

In the name of Jesus, their story is still being written.

God, you have plans for them.

Plans for them to prosper, plans for them to advance.

In the name of Jesus, we call down every blessing.

We declare healing and breakthrough in Jesus' name.

So as we worship you, God, as we lift our hands and we lift our voices, we do it with an expectation that you inhabit our praise and that you bring us freedom and joy.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Let's put our hands together and let's worship God 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.