The Word of God | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Amen.

Thank you guys so much for coming and joining us today.

We're so glad that you were all here.

Before I get started, I want to shout out as I always do, my brothers from Fresh Start are in the building.

Now, Fresh Start, when I set y'all up like that, y'all gotta give me more energy than that.

So let me back up.

Let me back it up.

Okay, before I get started, I gotta do this as I always do.

My brothers from Fresh Start are in the building.

Here we go.

Give me that energy, man.

I'm so so glad that you guys are here.

Thank you so much for coming into worship with us uh today.

We we have a lot of amazing things going on as a church family in the community.

I'm really excited to get into um God's word today.

But before I do that, I also want to do something that's kind of uh a personal um for me.

I I got my my youngest son is in the building today.

He normally works on Sundays, but he's here because today is his birthday.

He is 20 years old and one step closer to moving out.

Okay, I'm just kidding.

So you can stay as long as you want, man.

I love you.

I'm so glad that you are here with us today.

I'm so proud of you.

Um, it's an honor to be your dad.

All right, let's get into the word of God today.

If you have your Bibles, um, I want you to join me.

I'm actually going to turn to two different passages.

Um, so let's do this.

Let me get you to turn to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Gospel of Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

As as Lindsay and Amy were unpacking some of the things that's happening here in the life of our church, we are also in this series that we're calling devoted.

And and the premise of this theory of this series is quite simple that we live in a world of so much customization and and literally being able to build everything around us and our timing and our standards.

That what does it mean to be devoted to God in a world where we have so many different options?

So last week we just talked about the principle of what it means to be devoted to God, to be devoted to people, and to also be devoted to God's house.

So if you missed it, I want to encourage you to go back and check it out because we are using the book of Acts as the template that we're speaking from.

Each message will stand on its own, but I do believe that we are building some momentum here.

I want to turn to Matthew chapter 28 first, because these are the words of Jesus talking to his disciples, ultimately giving them their assignment.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

We often call it the Great Commission.

This is your responsibility, and by proxy, us as well.

He's these are words of Jesus speaking to his followers, and this is what he says to them.

He says in verse number 19, he says, Go therefore and make disciples in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Verse 20, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and remember, I am always with you until the end of the age.

These are the words of Jesus talking to the disciples as they're about to go off into the mission field for the first time without him, so to speak.

That they have to wait for the Holy Spirit to come, and then they have this responsibility.

And so they're thinking to themselves, we've been with you for three, three and a half years, we've we've watched you do ministry, we've learned how to live life, we've learned all these things, and now you're leaving us.

What do we do with it?

And so Jesus says, Here's what I want you to do I need you to go everywhere, I need you to baptize people, I need you to train them to be disciples, and I need you to teach them to honor the things that I've showed you.

So now we see this put into practice in Acts chapter number two.

We see immediately, not that far over that, immediately in Acts chapter number two, we see the implementation of the disciples taking the words of Jesus and putting them into practice.

The day of Pentecost comes, Jesus, I mean, Peter preaches a profound message.

The people are so compelled that they want to do something with it.

They ask him what they have to do.

Peter responds and says, This is what you got to do, you got to get baptized.

That's the first thing.

Again, he's calling back to what Jesus told him in Matthew 28.

We got to get baptized first and then let us show you the ways of Jesus.

So, starting at verse number 41 in the book of Acts, chapter 2, uh, I want us to see how this community that started as this small movement is turned into what we now know as the church.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

So, verse 41 says, So those that accepted his message were baptized, see that word again, and about 3,000 people were added to them.

Here's a second verse.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

I want to back up to the first part of verse 42.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

Somebody say, Teaching.

That's the same word that Jesus uses in Matthew 28.

The didact is what they call it in Greek, and it's the idea of the teaching of the ways of Jesus.

For the early church, they were living the New Testament, so they didn't have the New Testament to pull from.

So, what they did in that time is they would look at the Old Testament and show how it was all pointing to Jesus, and then they would share the gospel message.

In other words, sharing the ministry of Jesus, and then after they lived enough life, then they turned into books that we now get the benefit from.

But they were taught the ways of Jesus, they were demonstrated the ways of Jesus, and that ultimately is what brought about radical transformation.

Today I want to talk to us about what I truly believe is probably one of my favorite subjects, and is the Bible.

I've entitled today's message something profound and provocative.

Get ready for it.

The word of God.

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

Lord, we thank you so much for your words.

We truly look at it as a gift that you have provided for your people so that we're not stranded, so that we're not wandering and wondering what it is that you want from us, but you've given us a blueprint that we can follow so that we can live life and live it to its fullest while being on mission.

God, I pray over the next few moments that I decrease and that you increase.

Lord, I'm asking that you give us open eyes that we can see.

Lord, I'm praying for open ears to hear your truth, and I'm asking for open hearts to receive everything that you have for us today.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

I I I officially believe that I am in and embracing that grandparent season of life.

And and it's interesting because when I look at certain behaviors that I may have, I remember when my father had these behaviors, and I'm officially have become them.

So you guys are probably too young to appreciate this dynamic that I'm wrestling with, but I'm starting to see certain things in myself, certain things in my wife, and I'm like, wow, like I'm I used to look at that when I was younger, that was old, and I'm officially that, so I guess I'm old by definition.

So I'm trying to wrestle with that.

And one of the things that I've noticed, and this is not necessarily me, but it's adjacent to me, is that I've noticed more recently with my wife that she has really gotten into puzzles.

And and I remember my grandmom putting together puzzles.

I remember my mom putting together puzzles, but but for my wife, she's really taken to just putting together these puzzles.

Now, if you ask me, there is nothing more I want to do than avoid putting together a puzzle.

It's pure chaos and it's anarchy when you open up this box and all these pieces come out, and now I have a responsibility to patiently look at everything.

I'm looking at the box, it's it seems so nauseating to me.

But when Megan got into it, I would say last year, I was watching her and I thought to myself, I would be a good husband and come alongside her and try it out.

I stood there for about two minutes and I realized that the Lord wasn't calling me to assemble puzzles.

It was like a divine call, and the Lord was like, no, don't do it.

Like it's gonna cost you your marriage.

Because I'm jumping in there, just throwing pieces together, and I didn't have the border in place yet.

And anybody knows about putting together puzzles, you can't start moving pieces around if you haven't established the borders as of yet.

Like, so I literally thought it was gonna cost me my marriage.

So I said, okay, I'm gonna fall back and relax.

But but Megan, she is deeply into it.

Like now, like she was received a gift for Christmas that's actually like this like puzzle box thing that actually has separate drawers, so now she can isolate all the colors.

Like, she is fully committed into this whole public, this whole puzzle nuance.

It's really, it's really interesting to watch.

Now, when I look at this and I see how overwhelming it is, I see all the pieces and I see all the chaos and all the nuances that are with it, it seems like a hot mess, but she seems to be so at peace.

She's singing songs, she's whistling, she's moving around, she's dancing, and to me, I'm thinking it's very anxious.

But then I asked her, I said, why do you have so much peace when looking at all these piles of mess that seem to make no sense?

She said, Well, Keith, as long as I have the box that gives me something I can look to as a reference point, I can make a sense of this mess.

So I can look at this box and I can see, like, yeah, this is a mess, but if I align it next to this, this will actually connect to something else that will create a beautiful picture that at the end will be something that we can put on display.

I like to think that our lives can sometimes be a hot mess.

Can I tell the truth in church this morning?

I like to think that there's areas of our lives where there's pieces that are all over the place, and when we look at them, it seems as if it makes no sense whatsoever.

I got I got a little bit of job loss over here, I'm dealing with drama with my family, my kids are getting on my nerves, I got issues with my neighbor, I got all these pieces that seem to be individuals and independent, and I don't see how they fit together, and it's looking like it's pure chaos.

But only if we had something that we could look to that could allow me to look at these messy pieces, that I can then begin to say, well, maybe, may, maybe if I look at this and use this as a reference point, I can move this over here and this will be connected to this, and by the end of it, I can see how it all works together for a beautiful image.

See, the Bible is the blueprint that God has left for us.

This beautiful image that is spans over 1,500 years, that has over 40 different authors, had different literary styles, it's it's literally genius in the way that it was constructed.

It is powerful, it is shaped culture and shape different arts and all the things.

We know that there's beauty in the power of these scriptures, but the problem is we don't engage it.

We don't engage it.

The most recent studies that I was looking at, it says that 50% of Christians read the Bible once or twice a year.

50% of Christians read this document that literally gives us instructions that gives us a blueprint, so to speak, that helps us to understand the messenger.

50% of us read it once, maybe twice a year.

34% only engage the scriptures when they come to church on a Sunday.

That's it.

16%.

16% engage the Bible daily.

Look at those stats.

50%, I may read it once or twice, maybe I'll see a tweet, maybe somebody will send me an inspirational quote.

That's 50%.

34% says I don't even look at it at all unless I come to church and hear Pastor Keith preach about it.

And then 16% says I'm actually engaging the Bible myself.

16%.

No wonder we're living in a world right now where we can look to politicians and treat them like messiahs.

No wonder we're living in a world right now where you see Christians who are arguing and fighting with one another and fighting against culture, saying that they're representing Jesus, but the truth of the matter is they don't even recognize him.

No wonder we're living in a world that is filled with division, even amongst the people who are supposed to be followers of the way, is because we're following our own way and we're hoping that Jesus can endorse it.

What if we began to be people that began to look at the blueprint of God's word and began to do this?

This is radical.

Instead of me lowering the Bible to meet my life, I began to rise my life to meet the Bible.

What would it look like if I began to look at Scripture as the template that I was going to live my life through instead of saying that I'm going to rewrite scripture to fit my feelings and my preferences?

So if we understand, if we know that, that this Bible is transformational, that this Bible is so impactful, that it has the ability to literally change our lives, why don't we read it?

And here's the thing: I'm not here to beat up on anybody because I get it.

Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to spend some time around people who have varying views of the Bible, and it comes with validity.

There are people who have seen how this sacred book has been weaponized in such a way that it makes them feel defeated and deflated, and they don't even want to engage it.

I I've seen instances where people who read the Bible, it's it's so enormous and it has so many different nuances.

It appears as if it contradicts itself, so they don't want to read it.

There's other people that when they try to read it, they they don't understand it, they don't know where to begin.

There's a whole lot of different things that are that are happening inside of the pages of scripture that can sometimes make it say, I'm just gonna leave it for the experts.

You mix in a little bit of trauma, you mix in a little bit of cultural influence, and you can understand how we've gotten to a place where we no longer engage God's word.

But if we believe that God is real, if we believe that God has given us his word as a reflection of his mind and his heart, so that we can understand a life that he wants us to live and see in pursuit of things that he has for us, wouldn't it seem as if the enemy's primary strategy to keep us from being the people of God is to attack the thing that God gives us in order for us to function appropriately.

I truly believe that if we can have a healthy view of Scripture, it has the ability to change everything.

But what's so unique about all of this is that everything I've just described to you is not unique to us.

The fact of the matter is that for the early church, they were dealing with a lot of the same things you're talking about.

They were dealing with Pharisees and people who were so overly religious and they were beating people up with God's word.

They were living in this pace where they didn't see God's promises come into fruition in their lives and they weren't even sure if the word of God was relevant anymore.

I assure you, even scripture says that nothing is new under the sun.

So even the early church was wrestling with this idea of how do I live a life devoted to God?

What is my reference point when I'm not seeing evidence of it in my life?

And even in spite of all of that, the disciples used God's word, they redeemed it, they reclaimed it, they began to show them Jesus in every single verse so that they could begin to establish hope.

I know that all of us may have varying interactions and relationship with God's word, with God, with God's house.

But what I want to do for the next couple of moments is give us a healthy view of scripture.

Y'all with me?

Here's the first thing that I want to share with us that maybe you did not know about God's word.

The Bible is life-giving.

The Bible is life giving.

Let me read up a passage of scripture to you.

2 Timothy 3, 16 says, All scripture is inspired by God.

And it is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.

All scripture is inspired by God.

When you look at that word inspired, it literally translates to saying God breathed.

That God breathed on it.

Let's take this a step further.

When you consider the breath of God and how it has been utilized as we understand it in the Bible, God breathed on Adam and he became a living soul.

The Bible says that God breathed on the Red Sea and it was separated.

The Bible tells us that that in the valley of dry bones, that even after everything was assembled, that God breathed and then they rose up to be an exceeding great army.

The breath of God always gives life.

So this is what it means.

That even when it says that God is correcting us, it is in order for it to produce life.

That means that even when God is rebuking us, that means that it is an effort to make sure that it produces life.

That means that when even God is challenging us, the end result is so that it can produce life.

And sadly, we have been in places where we've encountered God's word and it didn't do that.

That it was weaponized in such a way that it broke us down and made us feel as we were insufficient.

But every time God confronts us with truth, it is always to make us better, not to walk away feeling worse.

I remember when I first got radically saved.

And anything that I'm involved in, I I jump in 100%.

That's just my personality.

If I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it.

And so when I got saved, I remember like making a hard 180.

And I threw myself into the Bible.

Megan will tell you, like, I would stay up literally all night reading scripture.

Like I would stay up, and and that's not something to brag about because I was like up all night.

I was dysfunctional in every area of my life, but I was obsessed with reading God's word.

I was reading scripture, I was reading books, I was they didn't have podcasts and things like that.

I feel like I'm an old man.

They didn't have any of that stuff, but I would listen, I would literally watch televangelists and I would order tapes and listen, like it was a lifestyle for me for a long time.

And I remember as I was memorizing and internalizing and walking things out, that something interesting began to happen in my heart.

I have never been a mean-spirited person.

It's not who I am, it's not my characteristic.

Even before I surrendered my life to Christ, I've never been a mean person, but I did notice as I engaged God's word more, I became a lot more critical.

Just more critical.

Just you look at things and be like, hmm, the Bible says this.

Like, I wasn't the type of person that felt like I needed to approach people about it, but anytime I went somewhere, it would just be those little subtle things, like, hmm, I don't, I don't think that quite lines up.

Yeah, that's not what Jesus.

Like, I was one of those people who was just real quiet, just real cynical, real critical.

Then I then I found myself going back through the gospels one day.

And and something had blew my mind.

When I when I got into the Gospel of John, it says something so profound.

It says, In the beginning was the word.

The word was with God, and the word was God.

Somebody's with me, somebody's reading their Bible, somebody's on their Bible Depot plan.

Come on.

The word was God.

Just skip down to verse number 14, and it says, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Hebrews says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

For some reason, I've read that countless times, it was highlighted in circle.

But when I saw this time, something interesting began to happen in my heart.

In the beginning was the word.

The word was with God, and the word was God.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the word became flesh.

I began to recognize that Jesus is perfect theology.

That Jesus is the perfect expression of God's mind, heart, and will.

So if I am doing something, even if it says it in the Bible and it doesn't look like Jesus, then my interpretation is wrong.

It began to challenge me when I began to look at these passages of scripture that seem to be critiques when I look at them through the lens of Jesus.

Because when I saw the very thing that the Bible would define as sin, I then began to look and see how did Jesus addressed that very issue.

And it was always through the lens of grace and forgiveness and love.

I began to recognize a discrepancy between the way that I was engaging people and the Jesus that I saw in the Bible.

And this is what I firmly believe.

There are two Jesus that exist amongst Christians: the Jesus in our mind and the Jesus in the Bible.

And I believe that our challenge is to get closer to being like the Jesus in the Bible so that we could create an ecosystem where people can feel welcome and loved and valued and built up.

God's word has never been intended to tear you down.

It is life-giving.

It changes everything when you understand that.

I began to look at the Bible a little bit differently.

I began to see passages differently when I began to understand that when Jesus showed up in people's most broken and challenging moments, that he issued love and grace to them, not these rebukes that was meant to tear them down as life-giving.

I began to look at passages of scripture differently in Philippians 4 when it says, I can do all things in Christ Jesus who strengthens me.

That means even in the areas of my weakness, I began to see it differently.

The Bible is life-giving.

When I find myself in difficult situations, I would think about Jeremiah 29:11 when the word of God was studying.

Jeremiah 29:11

I know the plans that I have for you.

Plans not to tear you down, but plans to help you prosper.

Do you know the context of that?

It was because the Israelites were in sin.

Every time we see in God's word, when the people of God made mistakes and were broken, God responds with love and correction, but he also builds them up.

How do we skip these passages context, but we apply them in a way that was meant to be critical and judgmental?

We've missed the mark.

These passages are meant to change our lives.

The Bible is life-giving.

And for those of us who have not engaged scripture because we're afraid of what we're going to see when we find there, let me sum it up for you.

You're going to find love.

You're going to find love.

You're going to find love that meets you where you are and leads you to where God is ultimately calling you to be.

Here's the second thing that I want to say to us because I want to move through this pretty quickly.

The second thing is the Bible does not expire.

Period.

We live in a world where we have so many trends, we have so many fads, we have so many things that come and go.

And I'm a fan of it.

I love new things to optimize my life.

I love being efficient.

I love techniques and all of those types of things.

But if you notice, it's hot one moment, it's gone the next.

It's viral this moment, and then it's being demonized the next.

But God's word is always in season.

God's word is always truth.

God's word will never expire.

The Bible says this in Isaiah chapter 40.

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

It says that grass withers, flowers fade, but the word of God remains forever.

Another translation for that word remains is endures forever.

Endures.

That means it's Durable.

It has the ability to sustain some resistance.

It has the ability to handle different storms.

It has the ability to handle different setbacks.

The word of the Lord endures forever.

It's durable.

Jesus speaks to this a little bit in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter number seven.

He's talking with a bunch of his followers and he then he's concluding his message.

He says, Okay, listen, so let me wrap this all up in a bow.

I've been preaching to you through the past three chapters, and let me sum it all up.

Anyone who listens to my words and does what they say is like a person who's built their house on the rock.

The storms may come, the wind will blow, but even at the end of it all, their house will be sustained.

Or the person who doesn't build their life on a rock, they will build it on the sand, and the storms will come and the rain will come, but the home will not be stable.

Jesus said, make a choice.

What Jesus was saying is that when you build your life on his word, that you will be able to withstand the attacks of culture.

That when you build your marriage on the word, that you'll be able to withstand the attacks from the enemy.

That when you raise your children on the word, they'll be able to withstand the temptation that the enemy tries to throw their way.

I know that a lot of things come and go, but God's word will never fail.

And here's what that means: that means that the Bible tells us that He has a covenant with us for a thousand generations.

What that means is if God spoke a word to you, then that means that that word is for your children and for your children's children, that God's word will never fail and never expires.

You may not see it right now, but keep pressing in and knowing that God's word will never fail.

Flesh and blood may pass away, but my word will never pass away.

Your word, O Lord, is eternal and it stands formed in heaven.

Isaiah 55, my word comes out of my mouth, and I make sure that it attends and does exactly what I said it's gonna do.

The Bible constantly reminds us of the proficiency of God's word and that we can depend on it.

In other words, we can take it to the bank and it's gonna clear.

God's word, it doesn't expire.

Here's the third thing.

Here's the third thing.

The Bible gives us boundaries.

The Bible gives us boundaries.

Let me talk to us for a moment about that.

Psalms 119, verse number 11 says this I have treasured your word and my heart so that I might not sin against you.

The Bible absolutely gives us boundaries.

But I think the challenge is we look at these boundaries that God establishes for us, and we can think that it's God's desire to control us.

We can think that it's God's desire to keep us from having our fun, that it's God's desire to keep us from living our best life.

We we can look at these things that God establishes in our lives, and we can think that it's God robbing us of all of the fun and the joy.

We've all been in relationship and have heard about this God that seems as if all the fun stuff just happens to be a sin, huh?

Like everything that I enjoyed it doing just happens to be something that the Bible says that I shouldn't do.

I I I have been a father for 30 years, almost 31 years.

I've been a uh I have three wonderful children, I have three grandchildren, and and one of the things that I know that as a father, one of my responsibilities that I still to this day with adult children take very take very seriously is making sure that my children are safe.

They're all adults, but I I want to make sure that they're safe.

So even as adults, and I'm talking to them and I have to change my approach a little bit, it's always through the lens of you probably don't see this the way that I see it.

But but I I I've lived long enough and I can see a little bit further down the field than you.

And and there's a potential that if you continue on this pathway, that that is gonna lead you to something that's gonna hurt you.

I know right now it may seem like I'm being a little critical.

It may seem right now that I'm trying to keep you from finding yourself, but but trust me, if you continue down this path, I've been doing this long enough that I see what happens if you go down this path.

So it's good if you establish these boundaries.

Same thing happens with my granddaughters now.

They're at our house and they're running up and down the steps, but now they have a they only have a little brother.

And he sees everything that they do.

He wants to model everything that they do, and they're running up the stairs or running down the stairs.

So I go to the oldest one, Kyla, I say, hey, listen, you know, your little brother, he's watching you.

And I know that you like running up and down the steps, but watch this.

Your little brother's gonna want to run up and down the steps.

And if you're not careful, one day he's gonna run up the steps because that's what he's used to doing, and no one's gonna see him.

He doesn't know how to come down, he's gonna fall down and hurt himself.

So you also have to be an example.

Can you please make sure that when your brother's around, that you're not doing something and leading him into behavior that can actually hurt him?

God gives us boundaries because he's called us to be set apart, but he also wants to improve our quality of life.

Do you realize that when God gave the law to the children of Israel, you can fact check this their life expectancy doubled than that of the rest of the culture?

Doubled literally.

Because they had high gene standards, they had dietary standards, they had how they would engage culture standards.

That literally changed their longevity and existence.

Watch this.

What if we began to recognize that when God gives us boundaries, he's not trying to control us, but he's saying to us as a loving father, I'm trying to improve your quality of life.

I know that when you hear me say some of these things, you think I'm being harsh, you think I'm being critical, you think I'm trying to rob you of fun and joy.

But listen to me, you're gonna go down a path that it's gonna end up going to bring harm to you.

I'll meet you there, I'll help you, but you're choosing to take the wrong way.

I want you to choose today what you're going to serve, but if you do things my way, you're gonna have peace, you're gonna have joy, and I promise you you're not gonna be missing out on anything.

That what I have for you is so much better than anything you could ever ask or think.

But I'm asking you just to trust me with this moment.

I've given you boundaries, but I want to I want you to trust me.

I want us to rewind time a little bit and think back to the Garden of Eden.

You know when God said to Adam and Eve, like, hey, you can eat anything you want, but just don't eat that.

You can do anything you want, but just stay away from that.

And wouldn't you have it?

That the enemy shows up and is like, so God said, Y'all can't have that.

You know why, right?

He's holding out on it.

He knows that if you have that, that that you have godlike, like you'll you'll be just like God, like you can define good and evil on your own terms, you can do what you want to do because you're different and you're set apart and you can you can navigate through this.

Don't don't let him control you.

And the Bible says that then they took of it, but their eyes were open.

Shame enters into the world, brokenness enters into the world, death and murder enters into the world as a consequence.

And God was simply saying, if you could have just chosen my way, you had access to eternal life, could you choose things my way?

So, yes, when we engage God's word, it's life-giving.

It doesn't expire, but it does give us boundaries, but it's not meant to control us, but it's meant for us to be set apart, and it's absolutely meant so that we can enjoy and endure our quality of life.

Here's my fourth and final point.

My fourth and final point.

The Bible tells us for the Israelites as they were learning their ways and engaging the things of God, they were understanding that the Bible was also meant to give them directions.

Give them directions.

Psalm 119, 105, it says this.

For your word, what am I saying?

There's a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.

The interesting thing about lamps and lights, and you won't be able to appreciate this illustration, but I'm still gonna go.

I got this light on.

If it was dark in here, it would give me just enough visibility to know one, maybe two steps ahead of me.

I I couldn't see the whole room, I couldn't see everything around me, but as long as I got this light, I can see the next one or two steps that I need to take.

I think we've been conditioned as people that we need to see it all.

We need to understand it all.

Show me the whole blueprint.

But but the Bible says that we walk by faith and not by sight.

So when I'm engaged in God's word and it's a it's a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my path, it may not show me everything that I need to do, but it's showing me my next step.

I may not feel good about the unknown, but I'm I'm choosing to trust God.

And every step that I take, it has the ability to order my steps.

It shows me how I need to function as a father, it shows me how I need to function as a husband, it shows me how I need to function as a pastor, and it shows me how to walk these things out in such a profound way that it brings transformation.

God's word, it gives us direction, it shows us the way that we need to go.

For Christmas, we um we bought my my son Caleb, we bought him one of those VR headsets, and that's like this whole new virtual reality thing.

Like it's it's eventually getting it's it's essentially at a place where I can't even keep up with all of it.

But it's very, very immersive that when you put these goggles on, you're entered into this digital world where you're seeing things and it's it's it's incredible.

But when you're on the outside looking at a person who has those things on, it looks ridiculous.

When Caleb put them on for the first time, and he puts these glasses on, and he's like, Oh my gosh, and like so he's walking around and he's looking around, he's fighting stuff, and and and we're watching this, and I'm like, this looks absolutely ridiculous.

We're laughing at him, we're we're making fun of him, and he said, Hey, hey, y'all laughing at me, but I can see something that you don't.

You're making fun of me right now, but but but you but you can't see what I can see.

So he hands the glasses over to me, he's like, Okay, you try it.

I put it on, and even in my mind, I'm saying to myself, Keith, you're in a game.

Don't make a fool of yourself.

You're in a game, don't make a fool of yourself.

But when I put the glasses on, I'm fully immersed into this world.

And as I'm walking around, I look over and I'm seeing enemies that nobody else can see.

I'm seeing obstacles I need to walk over that nobody else can see.

And so I'm I'm I'm fighting battles and everybody's laughing at me.

I'm like, hey, listen, to quote this great scholar, Caleb Joshua Pittman.

Y'all laughing at me right now, but y'all can't see what I see.

I believe that when we engage God's word, it's like putting on a filter where we see everything differently.

And when we're walking through the world, people are saying, why are you walking on such a narrow path?

My response to you is you can laugh at me all you want, but but I can see something that you can't see.

You may be wondering, why do I have my hands lifted up?

But because I'm looking at things through the lens of worship, the Bible tells me that he inhabits the praises of his people.

So I lift up holy hands when I enter into the circumstances and when I enter into the sanctuary, you can't see what I see.

The Bible tells us that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood.

So when everybody else is yelling and complaining about the boss, I'm praying for them because you can't see what I see.

When I'm in a situation where I can't fight anymore, something compels me to get down on my knees, and you're wondering why are you on your knees?

Because the Bible tells me that when I kneel and humble myself and pray, that God shows up.

You can laugh at me all you want, but I see something that you don't see.

What I want you to understand is that when you begin to engage God's word, it changes the way that you see everything.

Everything.

You see people differently, you see the world differently, you see your job differently, you see the people that annoy you differently.

This is why the enemy doesn't want us to engage God's word because he doesn't want it to change our perspective.

I want us all to stand on our feet, and we're gonna go back into just a brief moment of worship before we wrap up.

But I recognize that that all of us in here have a next step, and I believe that there's things that maybe we walked in here with and we feel uncomfortable lifting our hands, we we feel uncomfortable lifting our voices because we're wrestling with it a little bit.

But if you only understood the power of your praise, if you only understood the power of lifting your hands, if you only understood the power of lifting your voices and what it does in the heavenly, if you could only see it the way that I see it, you wouldn't hesitate to do it because maybe your breakthrough is not found in your strategy, maybe it's found in your worship.

So, over the next few moments, as we go into the presence of God, let us worship the ends of the Bible, believing that as I worship God, that God is moving on my behalf.

With every hand lifted up, I want to pray for us as we prepare to worship.

Lord, I thank you so much for your presence.

I thank you for your grace, your mercy, and how you make yourself available to us.

So, Lord, even over the next few moments, I ask that you meet us exactly where you are.

We're updating our filter and we see things the way that you see them.

Meet us where we are in Jesus' name.

Let's worship, family.

Thanks again for listening.

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