The Jesus Factor | 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.

God bless you, church.

If we have any middle or high school students that are in here with us, um you can be dismissed at this time.

We have an amazing service that is geared um just towards you.

We have some leaders that would love to serve and and and take care of you.

Um but if you have your Bibles, I would love to invite you to join me in the Gospel of Mark, chapter number five.

I want to speak to us for a few minutes in hopes that we can get back to some worship.

But I want to read a segment of scripture that kind of gives you a glimpse of what I believe God wants to do in us and through us today.

Starting here at verse number one, it says, So they arrived at the other side of the lake in the region of the garrisons.

When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out of the tombs to meet him.

This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain.

Whenever he was put into chains and shackles as he often was, he snapped from the chains from his wrists and he smashed the sackkles.

No one was strong enough to subdue him.

Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.

When Jesus was still a distance away, the man saw him and ran to meet him and bowed low before him.

With a shriek he screamed, Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

In the name of God I beg you, don't torture me.

For Jesus had already said to the spirit, Come out of this man, you evil spirit.

Then Jesus demanded, What is your name?

And he replied, My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside of this man.

Then the evil spirits begged him again and again, do not send them to some distant place.

There happens to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside.

Send us into those pigs, the spirits begged.

Let us enter them.

So Jesus gave them permission.

The evil spirits came out of the man and entered into the pigs, and the entire herd of about two thousand pigs plunged down the steep hill into the lake and drowned in the water.

The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran.

People rushed out to see what happened.

A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, and he was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly saned, and they were all afraid.

Then those who had seen what happened told others about the demon-possessed man and the pigs.

The crowd began to plead with Jesus that he may go away and leave them alone.

As Jesus was getting back into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him to go with him.

But Jesus said, No, go home to your family and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.

So the man started off to visit the ten towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

Today I want to talk to us for a couple of minutes about the power of God and how when Jesus gets involved, it changes everything.

If you take a note in the hope that you are, we're going to write this message title down to Jesus as a factor.

Let's pray and let's get into it.

Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your word.

It's to it that we can look to get perspective, to get insight, to get encouragement, and to get instructions.

It's from these that we can extract principles, Lord, that are not ancient ideas of the past, but they are present truths that we are able to embody and walk in.

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

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

You know, church family, I have been a very dedicated follower of Christ now for uh just over 25 years.

And when I say dedicated, that means like when I started walking with God and I didn't turn away from it.

Of course, I had those varying like confession moments when you were like, God, get me out of this.

So I've done that many times.

But 25 years is when I did it and I'm actually stuck with it.

And in that 25 years, I had an opportunity to serve at different churches, live in different cities and states, and be exposed to a lot of different things.

And those things have helped me to understand and witness the power of God, and those guiding principles became things that that allows me to kind of shape the values of who we are as a church based off of biblical revelation theology as well as shared experiences.

You know, one of our values here is that we celebrate the goodness of God.

We're celebration church.

And so I believe that in spite of whatever we may see in the world, that God is good and we want to be a culture that finds ways to celebrate the goodness of God.

I'm also a believer that God is a presence that is meant for us to engage, that we're not meant to be spectators, but we participate.

He invites us into moments where we are able to lift our hands and sing songs that these are sacred moments that we're able to participate in.

It's a beautiful thing.

There was a time when everyone couldn't worship God freely because sin was a barrier, but because of the sacrifice of Christ, we're able to participate freely and not take that to be something that we get a chance to do.

I've seen the I've seen demonstrations of God's love.

It's one of our core values to be generous, to be kind, to serve others, and to be others focused, recognizing that I was served and that allows me to serve, and we can perpetuate this and literally change the world if we all have a posture of being a servant.

But I also believe one of our guiding principles is near and dear to my heart, is that we believe in the power of God.

And I've seen the power of God manifest itself in many different ways.

I remember about 25 years ago, very early in my faith, there was such an encounter that that radically shifted my theology and my understanding of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

I recall we were sitting in this church service, very similar to this, and and the pastor was preaching a very strong message.

And as he began to preach, we could kind of hear a little bit of a commotion beginning to take place in the back row.

We were used to having this commotion because we were able to identify the young lady, and we understood that she was having some mental health challenges and some emotional challenges.

So it was pretty much our tradition that whenever she got to a place where she was overstimulated, that someone would go back to her, sit with her first, and if she was unable to be consoled, they would then take her to the back room and sit with her, pray with her, maybe helping her to kind of cope, to regulate a little bit, is what we would call it in the counseling world.

But this particular Sunday was a little bit different.

On this particular Sunday, as the team went back to try to encourage her and to sit with her and to kind of help co-regulate, she couldn't be consoled.

And so the pastor began to recognize that this distraction turned into a commotion that began to kind of like overpower the entire service.

So it was a much smaller service than what we have right now.

It was probably about 20 or 30 people there.

And so the pastor, because it was very family-oriented, just said, Hey guys, we're we're gonna go ahead and wrap this service up.

So he paid a blessing over everyone.

He said, I'm gonna go ahead and dismiss you guys.

You guys go on and have a blessed Sunday.

We'll see you next week for Bible study.

He said, But I do want to ask all the prayer warriors and the elders to stay behind.

Megan and I are grabbing our stuff and we're about to leave, and we get tapped on the shoulders, like, no, we want you to stay.

That's when I knew we graduated because we're now prayer warriors.

Up until then, we had to be on the other side, but we're they said, No, we want you to stay in here with us.

And as we stayed in the room and and and everybody kind of left the room, they put on some really somber worship music, powerful.

I still specifically remember we were playing, No Weapon Formed Against Me Shall Prosper by Fred Hammond.

I'll repeat, over and over again, just we're just creating an atmosphere of faith and belief and declaration of God's word.

And I remember as the pastor began to approach the young lady, as he drove closer to her, she would get even more erratic.

And at first he was just whispering, In the name of Jesus.

She would flinch a little bit more.

Then he would say it more, in the name of Jesus.

And every time he said the name of Jesus and drew closer to her, she would convulse a little bit more and fight a little bit more.

And then he finally got close enough to her that he says, In the name of Jesus, I command you to come out of her.

And you could see that there was literally a battle going on where there's a part of her that is trying to be free, and there's another part of her that seemed as if it was holding on to her.

So he said to her, He says, What is your name in the name of Jesus?

And then you could hear this thing come out of her stomach that says, suicide.

He said, In the name of Jesus, I command the spirit of suicide to come out of her right now.

You've seen her begin to convulse and then she collapsed.

And I kid you not, guys, it was almost like something you would see in a movie.

30 seconds later, she was completely healed.

It was then that I realized that being a follower of Jesus was not about just securing my place in heaven.

It was then that I realized that being a follower of Jesus was not about behavior modification and being a good Christian.

It was then that I realized that being a follower of Jesus was not about religion and traditions and showing up at church and continuing to live my life on my terms.

It was then that I realized that I got a glimpse of God's pursuit of wanting to make sure that his people are free, delivered, and healed.

It radically changed the way that I looked at my current life because I began to look at scriptures differently.

And before I would highlight passages like John 10, 10 that he wants us to have life and life to the fullest, an abundant life, and those were like great concepts and theory, and I'm spiritually rich, but I began to understand that God wanted to see me rich in my soul as well as in my natural flesh.

I'm not speaking finances, I'm talking about being free and whole, no longer bound.

I began to look at passages of scripture differently when I recognize God's desire to invade our everyday lives to bring us to a place of wholeness.

When we look at scripture, we see these instances where the biblical narrative reveals to us God's desire to see his people set free.

We see in the Old Testament the word Rapha used, and I was often associated with the name of God, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah, my healer.

Understanding that healing is something that is in God's very nature, it is who he is.

In the Greek we call it therapio, where we get the word therapy, which is the concept of the process of being made well.

So when we put these concepts together, we begin to get a glimpse of God's desire for his people that I want you to be made well, but it may take some time.

I want you to be whole, but it may be a process that's included in it.

I want you to experience shalom.

That means peace.

That means nothing lost, nothing stolen, nothing fractured, nothing missing, everything restored.

And as we look into the Bible, we see instances where people's lives were missing their shalom.

People's lives were fragmented, people's lives were fractured, people's lives were missing vital components in order for them to fulfill the biblical mandate of being fruitful and multiplying.

And we see that in one instance, an interaction with Jesus changes everything.

The Bible tells us about the woman at the well, this woman who lived a life and was with one man after another man after another man, lost her identity, lost her dignity, and didn't see any value in herself.

But when Jesus had an encounter with this woman, it changed everything.

The Bible tells us in the Gospel of John, chapter 9, about a man who was born blind.

John 9 · chapter mention

He never had vision.

It was so much so that the disciples thought that his parents sinned and it was passed on to him.

But Jesus said, You're asking the wrong questions.

This man was born this way, so that my power can be demonstrated in his life.

And one encounter with Jesus, it changed everything.

The Bible tells us about Jairus and his daughter, who was very sick.

And while they went to get Jesus to come and heal her, she died while he was waiting.

I can imagine the frustration and the disappointment.

And they came and got Jesus and said, Don't even bother coming, she's already gone.

But he said, I want you to still have faith.

I want you to still believe.

And then Jesus went into the room where this dead girl laid and he raised her back up to life.

She was once dead, but now she's alive because Jesus changes everything.

The Bible tells us about a man who was paralyzed, and the church service was so full that he couldn't get into the presence of God.

Side note, imagine that the church service was so full.

In other words, the religious people wasn't making room for the afflicted person to have an encounter with the living God.

Does that sound familiar?

I'll get back to my message.

The Bible was telling us that he couldn't get into the presence of God because the religious people wouldn't make room for him.

So his friends had to lift up a hole in the roof and they lowered this paralyzed man in the presence of Jesus.

He was once paralyzed, but he walked out the front door with boldness because one encounter with Jesus, it changes everything.

The adulterous woman, Jesus changes everything.

Blind part of man is Jesus changed everything.

Zach King is Jesus changes everything.

What I want you to know is no matter what your affliction may be, all it requires is an encounter with Jesus, and it can change everything.

So when we look at this story about this man who was in this condition, that people didn't know what to do with him.

He was living literally in the cemetery.

They would try to chain him up because they didn't want him to be a harm to others or a harm for himself.

It would be easy to pretty much summarize that he was written off by society and they lost hope.

But Jesus changes everything.

The Bible tells us that Jesus encountered this man and radically changes his life.

And there's a couple of principles that I think we can pull from this that can be encouragement for us.

Here's the first principle that I want you to remember: that Jesus meets us exactly where we are.

He meets us where we are.

The Bible tells us that Jesus encounters this demon-possessed man, not in a church service.

He doesn't encounter this man in the middle of a small group.

That Jesus literally meets this man on the enemy's territory.

He goes into a graveyard, which was unclean for the Jews, next to swine, which was unclean for the Jews, in a gentile environment where the religious people didn't go.

And yet Jesus confidently and boldly went into an environment that the other religious people wouldn't go.

Jesus meets exactly where we are.

I don't know where we got our theology from that sometimes I find myself talking to friends and family, and they say, I'm going to start going to church once I get myself together.

Somehow we've perpetuated this idea that somehow I have to do something on my terms because Jesus can't meet me where I am.

But when we look at the biblical narrative, what you find is that people are living their everyday lives and it intersects with Jesus and it changes everything.

He meets us where we are.

But sadly, the enemy can weaponize our struggles to keep us away from him.

Many of us carry unseen chains, very similar to this man.

Past traumas can lead to destructive thoughts, which can then lead to coping mechanisms and harmful behavior such as addiction and sexual immorality, things that we're hoping will one day fill the void that the damage initially was done.

And then as we find ourselves in this cycle of not feeling worthy, not feeling good enough, feeling that Jesus doesn't meet us where we are, so then we begin to cope even more, doing more destructive things.

We find ourselves feeling more isolated, and we call that we're being trapped in a shame guilt cycle.

We can't get out of it.

We keep doing it because we're hoping it's gonna make us feel better, but when we do it, it makes us feel worse, and we don't find ourselves in the position of God because we think that he can't meet us where we are.

And sadly, I think it's because many times as Christians, we end up viewing God as an angry judge instead of a loving father.

We often envision that our encounter with God is gonna be one that's in the courtroom instead of in the living room.

But I believe that Jesus is beginning to help us to shape our theology around the grace and love that is found in him.

He meets us exactly where we are.

The Bible tells us in Luke chapter 15 that there was an analogy that was provided on three different levels that was all about showing the value of something and how the owner was willing to pursue it.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

The lost coin left behind the other ones to go and find that one, the lost sheep, leave behind the 99 to go and pursue that one, the lost son, the father left from his his prestige to chase his son down to embrace him.

All of these were meant to give us a vision of what it looks like when God meets us where we are, even if we're lost, even if we're broken, even if we're afflicted, that Jesus is willing to meet us exactly where we are.

The ministry of Jesus is characterized by his willingness to meet people in their most broken and desperate states.

But the beautiful thing is when he meets us there, he doesn't leave us there.

The second principle I want us to grab a hold of is that Jesus restores us to where we should be.

He meets us where we are, but he begins to do the work to restore us back to our rightful place.

I want us to get a glimpse of this because the Bible is pretty clear of painting a worldview that is shaped by the supernatural.

Even as we read this biblical narrative in our Western perspective, it can make us feel a little uncomfortable because we often lose sight of the supernatural.

Even as I shared my testimony from earlier, I could see some of us felt a little uncomfortable because the idea of the supernatural and what that looks like can make us feel a little uncomfortable.

But the Bible is rich with stories that continuously help us to be reminded of the reality that there is something going on beyond what we can see.

In the same way that I'm on my iPad right now, I can see the words on the screen, but I also understand there's software and a lot of mechanisms that's happening behind the scenes that's allowing me to see what I can see.

That's exactly what's happening in the spiritual realm.

And what's often happening behind the scenes is this war of these cosmic forces, light versus dark, good versus evil.

The devil hoping to topside the things that God is doing in our life.

In fact, the apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8, he says this, I want you to be sober-minded and alert, because your adversary is like a devil who's who's who's prowling like a roaring lion, looking for whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5:8

He says that you have there's a real enemy, there's a devil, the Satan, the opponent, the accuser.

He's the opposite of anything that's for God, and he's looking for an opportunity to devour your very souls.

This is what we call spiritual warfare.

And what he's looking for is an open opportunity to gain access to our minds and our hearts and our very well-beings.

He's looking for an open door, and that open door is called a foothold.

That foothole is if I can find an entry point into your life, if I can see that you have enough unforgiveness in your heart, I can use that as an opportunity to begin to work my way into your heart to a place where you're now stonewalling people.

If I can, if I can just find ways to exploit your trauma to keep you trapped in it, then that foothole will give me an entry point.

To put it plainly, uh, a couple weeks ago, I made the mistake of leaving my garage door up all night long.

I woke up the next morning, I'm like, oh my God, I'm glad I didn't get murdered last night.

Like, there was, it was an watch this, it was an open door.

That if somebody who had ill intent, I basically left the door open for them to get in.

This is what happens with the lifestyles that we live.

That if we're not careful, we can leave open doors for the enemy to gain access into our hearts.

And then once he gets in, then the next thing happens, and that's a stronghold.

A stronghold is not, if the open door gives the enemy entry, a stronghold is when the enemy moves in.

This is when he moves in and he begins to take up residence, and now he begins to build up a strong fortitude structure that resists the truth of God.

This is when we stop going through people that we're stopped struggling with things, and we end up becoming the things we struggle with.

Let me give you an example.

Have you ever been around somebody that's gone through some significant trauma, some kind of relationship dilemma, something that's caused them to really have a breach in trust?

After time goes on, and if they continue to live in unforgiveness, they go from being angry with that person to just becoming an angry person.

They're angry at everybody.

This is what a stronghold looks like.

So that even when they're confronted by the truth of God's word, it's hard to penetrate it because the enemy has taken up residence in their heart.

But now there's hope.

Because what Jesus shows us is that even when the enemy is gaining access to our hearts, to our own lives, to our own actions, and even tries to take over our identity, the power in the name of Jesus still has the ability to remove every brick that the enemy has tried to establish in your life.

The power in the name of Jesus still allows us to know that there is victory and there is healing and there is hope.

The power in the name of Jesus lets you know that we still have hope and that Jesus is still for us.

And if God be for us, then what can be against us?

This is what we see in scripture.

And so when we look at this, Jesus is encountering this man, and we don't know how we got there, but I suspect it went from being a foothold to being a stronghold to him being fully now animated by the activity of the enemy, harming himself, harming others.

And when he has this confrontation with Jesus, Jesus approaches him and says, What is your Now, for some of us, we we may be thinking maybe this is a formula for deliverance.

Maybe we're thinking that this is the way that things are going to be handled so that we can begin to get clarity on how we can begin to declare the name of Jesus over it.

But Jesus wasn't doing that for his benefit, he was doing it for ours.

The man says, My name is Legion because there are many.

In other words, there's a lot of issues going on inside of this man.

It wasn't just one thing, it was literally thousands of things if we're looking at that word literally.

Tons of things going on, tons of activity of the adversary that's that's stirring up inside of this man that it's got to a point where he's lost his mind and he's fully being used as a vessel of the enemy.

But the beautiful thing is, no matter what the name of the enemy is, it is not stronger than the name of Jesus.

No matter what the label that the world tries to place on us, it is not more powerful though than the name of Jesus.

This is why we worship and we say, at the name of Jesus, every knee, every every label, every diagnosis will bow under the name of Jesus because Jesus Christ is Lord and He's above it all.

I I don't know what labels have been spoken over you.

I don't know what titles have been given over you over the years.

I don't even know what diagnosis you have been given, but I want to help you to be encouraged here today.

Just because it has a name, it doesn't mean it gets to define you.

That just because it has a title doesn't mean that it has victory.

Don't let the labels of man make us miss out on the power of God.

No matter what labels have been placed over your life, no matter what sickness, no matter what diagnosis, it doesn't have dominion, and there's a moment where we can invite the power and the presence of Jesus in it to snap the chains of the enemy so we can walk away in freedom and in healing.

The Bible says that Jesus calls us out and the man is sitting in his right mind.

That means he's able to think clearly, that means that he is completely healed, that something that had been diagnosed, something that had been given to him, a bondage that kept people away from him, that when people saw that he was fully clothed in his right mind, it literally terrified them because they seen an encounter with the living God.

Because an encounter with God changes everything.

All it takes is one moment in the presence of God, and it changes everything.

My third and final principle is that He commissions us to where we should go, that the healing didn't stop there.

He now became an advocate, an evangelist, and what many believe to be the first Gentile person to declare the gospel in an entire Gentile region and telling the stories of what God did for him.

I believe that God can use every single one of us.

And sadly, we've often allowed our affliction to be the thing that keeps us silent.

But Jesus often says, I need you to use that very thing to draw more people to me.

You are commissioned, you are released to share the good news of the gospel.

In my 20 plus years of following Christ, I've seen so many things.

I've seen so many God moments, so many invasions of the supernatural superimposing itself on the natural with people being healed and restored and redeemed, and it's all be because of declaring the name of Jesus.

When we had a conversation with that young lady from our church service, she continued to go to her therapist, she continued to take her medicine.

But when she tells her story, she says it was almost like I was in a maze and I couldn't get out, it was dark.

But as the pastor was approaching me, every time he said the name of Jesus, there was a flicker of light.

And every time he declared the name of Jesus, the light got bigger.

And then when he came up to me and he said, Suicide, come out, the light became so bright that it literally led me out of the maze, and now I am completely delivered and I'm healed and I'm set free.

The doctors help, the medicine helps, but let's never get it twisted that Jesus is our deliverer.

And if I could be honest with you guys, over the past 25 years of ministry, I remember being a young man who would read these scriptures, and I would I would be looking for opportunities to declare the name and the fire of God.

But then I went to college and I started learning theology and and proper etiquette.

I began to to to pick up some degrees and some other accolades to help me to broaden my understanding, and I regret none of it.

But can I tell you, there are moments when I can look at things, and if I'm not careful, I can look at the DSM diagnosis and stop looking at the Bible.

I can begin to look at things in a very natural, oh okay, that's that's depression, and and this is what we need to do to help with that, or that's anxiety, and that's very true.

But Jesus changes everything.

And I want to encourage somebody in here today that maybe you're very well aware of the natural dilemma you find yourself in.

Maybe you're going through the motions, you're going through marriage counseling, you're doing the things, and maybe it is helping because I believe it will.

But when you got Jesus, it tips the odds in your favor because Jesus changes everything.

Jesus changes everything.

Jesus changes chaos into peace.

He changes everything.

Jesus changes despair into hope because Jesus changes everything.

Jesus changes bondage into freedom because Jesus changes everything.

Jesus changes darkness into light because Jesus changes everything.

Jesus changes sorrow into joy because Jesus changes everything.

Jesus changes fear into faith because Jesus changes everything.

Jesus changes death into life because Jesus changes everything.

Jesus changes weakness into strength because Jesus changes everything.

He changes guilt into forgiveness, turmoil into rest, brokenness into healing, because Jesus changes everything.

Therapezo, commit to the process of being healed, but also don't forget to invite Jesus in.

Because when we invite Jesus in, it changes everything.

With every head bowed and with every eye closed, I simply want to pray for us before we close out.

Maybe you're in here with us right now.

And when you look at your current reality, you understand that there's areas of my life that I need Jesus to change everything.

I want you to think on that as I pray.

Lord, we thank you for your presence.

We thank you for your healing.

We thank you for your grace.

We thank you for the supernatural.

We know that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and spiritual wickedness and things that are looking to up in the very will and the mind and the power of God.

But Father, it's in this moment that we surrender ourselves to you and we invite you to come in and change everything.

Lord, I pray over every marriage in the name of Jesus that you can begin to change it.

I pray for the diagnosis and the sickness in our body that you begin to change it.

I pray for our mental health that while we're going through the process of therapy, we're inviting you in because we know that the Jesus factor changes everything.

Lord, I pray over our homes.

If there's anything not like you in our home right now, Father, I pray that you reveal it and that you kick it out in the name of Jesus.

If there's any foothold, any repeated sins, any things that we haven't dealt with yet, I pray that you bring it to life so that we can close the door and the enemy no longer has access to our minds, our hearts, and our wills.

Lord, if there's any strongholds, any barriers, any burdens that have been developed inside of us that literally resist the truth of God's word in the name of Jesus.

I command for those bricks to come down and for healing and for change to be broken off.

If there's any uncleanness in us, I command in the name of Jesus that it comes out and that we be healed by the power and the blood in the name of Jesus.

Jesus, change it all.

Anything that's not like you, change it, transform us and allow us to be renewed and in the news of your glory.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's give them some praise, church.

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 at celebrationorl.org.