Devoted | 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.

Church family, you guys doing good?

Oh, that's terrible.

Y'all sound like Pittsburgh right now.

We I need some I need some feeling energy in here.

Church, you guys doing good?

There it is, man.

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

We're so glad that you're here and we're gonna engage in in God's word together.

This is a sacred time where we come together and we get a chance to um just position ourselves around God's word and see what it is that He wants uh to speak to us.

Um today I I want to frame up because we're gonna go on a journey um over the next four weeks, inclusive of this week, um, in a series that we're entitling Devotion.

And and it's been something that I've been thinking quite a bit about because what does it mean to live a life of devotion specifically to God and how it flows out?

Now, that that may seem, because I'm preaching to the choir, so to speak, that as I'm talking to a community of people that are sitting in the church, people who are watching online and listening maybe on our podcast or even in our family lounge, like you guys are here.

These are things that would indicate that we're on this path of being devoted to God, and that certainly is true.

But but what we wanted to do in this series is to take it just a little bit deeper.

And and what I mean by that is that because I realize that that this is the life that I live, this is the life that Megan lives, this is the life that many of our staff members live.

So not only do we attend this church, but we also work at this church, and so all of these things are kind of interconnected for us.

So this is just a lifestyle for us.

But but I'm also aware that even as you're following and trusting God, that that there's other things that you have going on in your life.

Like I know what I'm doing on Tuesday, I know what we're doing on Thursday as a staff, it's integrated, it's part of my job, but it's also my calling, and it's also my church, and it's also easy for me in my perspective.

Not easy in the way it's executed, but easy in a sense of my walk with God is integrated into everything in my life.

Whereas I realize with you, you're moms and dads, and you're working, and you got businesses, and you're traveling, you got a lot of things going on, and so because of that, it can cause you to be not at church sometimes, it can cause you to kind of figure out how do I fit God into all of these things?

Because I don't work at a church, Keith.

This isn't my everyday life, so how do I make sure that I'm living a life that's honoring and devoted to God while at the same time trying to do my best to move my family forward in a way that will still honor God?

The reason why this is a tension that we have to manage is because we do live in a world of radical customization, radical customization.

Like, and these are things that I embrace, these are things that I absolutely love.

The fact that we that we're living in a world where we can kind of customize whatever we want.

They call it a filter bubble where I can determine what I want to see on social media, I can determine what I want to see when I go onto my YouTube page, I can determine, like I can create my own ecosystem that reinforces only the things I want to see and only the things I want to hear, and I can literally drown out everything that I don't want to hear.

That's amazing technology.

So that can kind of be a thing that bleeds into every area of our lives.

Everything is customizable to me, and so what ends up happening, my world becomes about me.

What works the best for me?

What is it that I am interested in?

Full disclosure, being completely honest, I recently bought a new TV for our bedroom.

And when I was looking at the TV, I wasn't looking at all the specs, like that's the price of admission.

I was looking for the TV that had the best interface so that I didn't have to log into different apps when I wanted to stream one of my one of my streaming platforms.

That that may me sound ridiculous, but I didn't realize it was a problem until there was a software update on our television.

And when I went to watch something, it said, okay, you have to log in.

The software update unlike have basically logged me out.

And my reaction would you would have thought I was a two-year-old toddler.

Oh my gosh, I gotta I gotta find my phone and take the picture of the thing and sign in all over again.

It's supposed to be integrated in.

I hate when stuff doesn't work the way it's supposed to.

No, no, I say that as a little bit of hyperbole, but that didn't actually happen.

But then it made me think that I have been so spoiled and privileged that everything just works out so perfectly for me, and the slightest inconvenience was something that that brought a reaction out of me.

So now let's translate into our relationship with God.

My relationship with God is customizable.

I have Bible reading plans, I have all these things that just work out perfectly for me.

So when I hear something that challenges me to do something that's out of my convenient filter bubble, I can vilify it and all but ignore it, not realizing that it's God inviting me to do something to go a little bit deeper.

So what we're gonna do over the next couple of weeks is just unpack what does it mean to be devoted to God in a world that has so many options.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the Acts of the Apostle, the book of Acts, chapter two.

While you're turning there, I want to frame up um where we are in this passage.

The book of Acts is one of the ecosystems that I love to engage in several times a year because I'm a big fan of origin stories.

I love whenever a TV show, a movie or something gives us an origin story, allowing us to understand how we got here.

You ever seen like a TV show and you see a character and you're like, wow, I wonder why they function this way, and then they have like an origin story episode.

And you're like, oh, now I understand why he functions this way.

Now I know why he reacts that way.

It just helps you to have a little bit of context as to what we're seeing.

So whenever it comes to life and especially in scripture, we often quote passages from the Bible, but what's the origin story?

What's the culture?

What's the context?

What led up to Paul writing those words?

What was going on in it, so we can make sure that we're extracting the principle, but we're not being legalistic about a behavior.

So when we look at the early church, it was it was teeming with with growth and impact and just influence.

So for me, when I look at what the church can be, what the church should be, and I look at some of the discrepancies that I often feel, I'm like, well, let me go back to the origin of it so I can see what are we doing, what are we not doing, what's missing, so that we can do our best to see what the Bible saw.

So for the book of Acts, Jesus had finished his ministry, he goes off into heaven, the Holy Spirit comes down, it's a radical movement, and when the Holy Spirit comes, that gives birth to the concept of the church, this idea of Jews and Gentiles, equality, this powerful movement that was called the church.

It's a radical movement, but there's a moment when, after this happens, people are trying to figure out what does this mean, though?

Because I still got to go back to work.

What does this mean?

I still have a family.

What do I do with this radical revelation of how we begin to function as a body of believers while simultaneously needing to be in a world and in a culture where I got so much going on?

I believe that the book of Acts is also a reflection of us.

So the people had asked Peter this message after he preached this powerful message about Jesus, and they said, So what do we do with this?

Like, okay, I hear it, but what do we do?

And so Peter tells them what their next steps are.

So starting here at verse number 41, it says that so those who accepted his, Peter's message, who accepted his message, were baptized, and on that day about 3,000 souls were added.

Verse 42.

And they were devoting themselves to the teachings of the apostles and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers, and fear, which is means reverence, honor, came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were performed by the apostles.

And all who believed were in the same place and had everything in common.

And they even began selling their possessions and property and distributing to these things, all to the degree that anyone who had a need, and every day devoting, that word shows up again, devoting themselves to meeting with one purpose in the temple courts and breaking bread, going from house to house.

They were eating their food with joy and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all people, and the Lord was adding every day to the total of those being saved.

That is so beautiful.

The birth of the church was this incredible moment that turned into a movement where there was just radical generosity, there was devotion, there was commitment.

People were connected from all different backgrounds, and and while there's so many things that I can focus on, but one of the things I want to highlight in that text is it said that they had favor with everyone, just favor with everyone.

When they're saying this, they're not just talking about with other believers, they're talking about with the world and the culture that was around them.

So let's back up.

At the time of the early church, this idea of Jesus being the Messiah, it was so threatening to the religious system that they had him killed in partnership with the Roman government.

So Jesus was not someone who was very well loved, but somehow when his believers came together and they began to demonstrate the life of Jesus that they had favor even with the people who killed Jesus.

They had favor everywhere they went.

So now when I look at our current culture and when I think about how people perceive the church, how did it go from being this beautiful community of people of unity and generosity and love and still having their biblical standards?

But at the same time, the Bible says that thousands of people were being saved as a result of the way that the church functioned.

But how did we get to a point that we are afraid to even mention that we go to church because we have people that have been so harmed by the church?

We have people that have been so rejected that the church is unattractive to the world.

I believe that revival is amongst us.

I believe that the thousands that are being saved in the book of Acts is still happening today and is still meant to happen today.

But I also believe it requires us as the church to get back to doing things the way God had intended.

So, interestingly enough, this is contrary to anything I have ever said.

I believe our future is actually behind us.

Because if we can do things that they did in the Bible, we can start to see things that they saw in the Bible.

And so today, and over the next couple of weeks, I want to unpack what it means to live a life of a devotion.

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

Lord, we thank you so much for your presence.

We thank you for a new year and for gracing us and allowing us to make it to this point.

We're here today, God, and and and we honor you and we're thankful for you honoring us with your presence.

God, we we we humble ourselves and we position ourselves to hear from you.

So Lord, I just ask that your Holy Spirit, the same way it was present in the book of Acts and His presence amongst us, that He's here to inspire us, that He's here to challenge us, He's here to encourage us, He's here to order our steps.

So Lord, we ask that you give us open eyes to see you, we ask for open ears to hear you and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

And amen.

Full, full, full disclosure.

I am exhausted as I stand on this platform before you.

And here's the reason why.

For the past five days, Megan and I have spent um our time in Lakeland, Florida.

Many of you guys know that that we are in, somebody's from Lakeland, come on.

Um that we're going to Southeastern University getting our master's in professional counseling.

And so every year there's a space where we have to be there in person, intensive trainings.

And so we just got back last night.

For the past five days, we've been there, and and the subject matter varies, but for this one, it was all about sex and human sexuality and all these things.

So as I stand here on this platform, I'm exhausted, but I'm also a sex expert now.

So get ready because we're gonna be doing uh a series on the book of Corinth, and there's a lot of weird stuff sexually happened there.

I can't wait.

We're gonna, it might be a part two, part three, part four on all things sex.

I'm just telling y'all, get ready for it because I I got some stuff that I need to share with y'all that's gonna blow your minds.

But anyway, while I was there, it was incredible to kind of learn a lot of different things about human anatomy and physiology and even connecting it to us spiritually.

And one of the things that I was familiar with, but didn't quite have a understanding that I do now is this is this thing called dopamine.

Dopamine, dopamine, and it's this it's this neurotransmitter that is often connected to to joy and and pleasure, but it's also the thing that often is the component that instigates addictive traits.

So whenever we find ourselves in this space where I need that shot of dopamine, is typically something that there's a measure of addiction or we've associated some relief or pleasure connected to a dopamine, and it's very, very highly addictive in our brains.

So when we talk about this concept of the honeymoon effect, the honeymoon effect is this idea of when we're in this euphoric state when we're in our relationships.

And all of us know, maybe, what it feels like to be in a relationship and to kind of have that honeymoon effect.

That honeymoon effect is that I love you so much.

I see no flaws in you.

There is nothing wrong that you've ever done.

Like you are literally perfect in my eyes.

The the honeymoon effect, that honeymoon effect, that dopamine where it literally has you so inebriated by the presence of the person that you don't even see the flaws that they have.

When Megan and I started truly dating, the dopamine was strong amongst us.

It was real strong.

Like when we saw each other and we began to really begin to connect and get to know each other, it was amazing.

Everywhere we went was incredible.

Where restaurant do you want to go to?

I don't care what restaurant we go to.

As long as we are together, I am at peace.

It doesn't matter to me.

I will just watch you eat a salad if I had to.

Like we we're just doing all these things because the dopamine is strong and the fumes and and the attraction, so we're literally high on love.

But scientifically, at some point, the dopamine wears off.

The honeymoon effect drifts away.

And unfortunately, there's no warning when it happens.

It's just one day, it's gone.

And then we don't know this.

We're riding in the car, and I'm like, hey, babe, um, we're gonna pull up at that spot that we ate at last night.

I know that you loved it so much.

Like, why are we going there?

I don't even like that.

Like, who are you?

For the past three months, this is where we've gone every single Sunday.

I don't like that.

And now while we're on the subject, I don't like this, I don't like this, I don't like this, I don't like.

How do we get here?

Because the dopamine ward off, it's no longer euphoric, I'm no longer high, I'm actually looking at you, and things that I overlooked, things I ignored, or things that I didn't think was a big deal, I'm seeing them now, I got issues with them now, and I'm gonna let you know whether you ask for it or not.

That's that's human conditioning.

That it's I I need to figure this out.

So for Megan and I, we had to literally learn how to, we had to learn each other again.

We had to discover one another again because now that the dopamine was off and she's seeing me, I'm seeing her, and now I have to like man, like so.

What is your love language?

Because beforehand, I could love you however I wanted it, and you would receive it because you were just so happy to be in my presence, and she still is, naturally.

Naturally, I mean, what's not to love?

Again, I always say this.

Megan's always like in the back trying to like mess up my messages.

Listen, when you preach, you tell your version of the story.

But right now, I'm gonna live my truth and you can't take it from me.

Anyway, so so so when it but but when we began to have to figure out like what is your love language?

What are the things that you prefer?

We had to rediscover one another, and vice versa, she had to she had to rediscover me.

It's a process of of learning because for the longest time I could do anything and it was all beautiful, it was all wonderful.

So, so now here's the here's the Jesus juke.

Get ready.

When we first start engaging in our relationship with God, the spiritual dopamine is so high.

We come in the church and everything is amazing.

They're singing my favorite song.

Like I highlighted a verse in the Bible that talked about God's promises, and then the pastor is speaking on that very same thing.

The Holy Spirit is speaking exclusively to me.

I'm gonna stop at public on my way home.

But when I pull up, just as I get there, someone is backing out and I'm pulling in favor ain't fair.

God is for me.

The spiritual dopamine is high in this season, everything is working out.

I'm praying about things, and before I even get to say, Amen, it's already done.

I am in this space where things are perfect for me.

But then the spiritual dopamine begins to wear off.

And then the reality of the world that I'm in becomes this thing that I'm trying to make sense of.

Because before everything was so perfect, everything fell into place, and these scriptures would speak to me.

And every time I would just do Bible roulette, which is when you just open up the scripture and the Holy Spirit allows these words to jump off the page, and they're talking about God's blessings and favor.

But now when I do spiritual work roulette, the passages are talking about suffering and sacrifice.

I'm like, I don't like that section of the Bible.

I want to get to the other stuff where it all feels good, but this is the reality where we find ourselves.

This is what was going on with that community in the book of Acts.

They had been familiar with the teachings of Jesus for three and a half years, and even though they were unsure what it meant to be rooted, but now they're in this gathering, and Peter gets up and he he preaches this profound message that's revolutionary, and the spiritual dopamine continues to kick in and like this is amazing, like Jesus died and all this other stuff, like this is great.

But at some point they knew that this is going to wear off.

So they're like, So, what do we do with this?

How do we practically walk this out?

Because I know what it feels like to be in community and to be in revival settings and to go to conferences and you have these great moments, but but I also know that I have to go back home and things aren't going great in my marriage.

I need I need God in that.

I also need to know what it feels like when my resources aren't in alignment, but God is challenging me to be generous.

Lord, I need I need some clarity in that because I don't feel it in those moments.

So the Bible says that as they're trying to wrap their minds around it, there's a couple of things that that God ultimately was leading them to do.

What the text tells us is that the first statement that it says is that those who heard and accepted this message.

Those who heard and accepted this message.

That seems such that seems like such an arbitrary thing that I've literally preached this passage probably hundreds of times, and I've just bypassed that line of those who heard and accepted the message.

But I I want to assure you that acceptance of the message is the foundation of everything that we can do from that space.

Because if I don't accept the message first, then everything I'm doing can become legalistic and it lacks power that God truly wants me to have.

Accept the message.

So what exactly is the message?

Lin, this is gonna be the most prolific thing you've heard in 2024.

God loves you as you are.

I know that seems so elementary.

I know that seems so simplistic.

But the more and more that I spend time around people who are either deep followers of God or a little bit removed followers of God, or people who are indifferent to God altogether, the point of contention is often found in this space of do you really receive that God loves you?

Because sadly, I think a lot of times we we look in the mirror, and what we see looking back at us is often our our mistakes, our shame, the brokenness, how people perceive those things, the pressure that those things can create, and those are real consequences if we've done things.

I'm I'm not denying that.

But what ends up happening if I'm not careful, as I begin to recognize what culture is saying are clearly these things, I can begin to feel as if that nullifies my value.

And if I don't receive that God loves me in spite of those things, I will never have what it takes in order for me to love Him appropriately.

I have to accept it.

The Bible says that as Peter is unpacking this profound message, if I could simplify it, he is saying that Jesus died for you.

Can you accept that?

But but there's a deeper message that I think we can sometimes overlook.

What you'll notice from Old Testament to New Testament that the imagery that God uses when he's talking about his relationship with his people is this idea of a marriage.

This idea of a husband and wife and what it means to be in this committed relationship with him.

So he always uses this imagery to help to reinforce a principle that culturally they understood that I think sometimes we could miss.

Because in that culture at that time, when you were in a relationship that was at the level of marriage or engagement, there was something that was called the dowry that was paid.

And what that would often mean is that the husband would say, I can look at this woman and I can assess her value based off of her family, based off of her community, based off of what she can likely produce, and then I can abscribe a number to that, and then that is what I will give her family to communicate.

This is her value.

So the the groom and the father would often agree on what the value of was the bride.

I know that's that's awful, but I just want y'all to stick with me.

This is what was understood that you're going to pay the price for the bride because the bride is leaving that family and moving on with this new groom.

So I can only imagine the the pain the reality of being raised in a poor family and the idea value for you was like hey you're you're worth two cows and and that was the expected value and you were treated like that.

But if you came from a val a family of of prominence, a family of influence they would have to save up and they're saying hey listen um we have all these bars of silver we also have these other things we want to give you part of our land because we look at this bride and we see this is her value.

So often the sacrifice was a reflection of the value God looks at us and our brokenness and he desires to have an eternal relationship with us.

So the dowry that he paid for us which was meant to be a reflection of our value was the life of his actual son so when we look in the mirror and we rehearse that we're not good enough that when we look in the mirror and we look at our lives and we see the the consequences and we look at that it's it's possible for us to lose sight of the fact that even in spite of those things that God values you and loves you so much that he still sent Jesus to die on the cross just so y'all can be in an unbroken relationship with him.

But do you accept it?

Do you receive it?

Because if you don't receive this nothing else matters.

If you don't receive this showing up in church doesn't matter if you don't receive this all the acts of kindness that you try to do it doesn't matter because we can't do it with purity if we haven't first received the love that God has for us.

The Bible tells us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

There's nothing we could have done there's nothing that we could have none of us are more righteous than anyone else there's not a single thing we can do while we were in our most broken condition Jesus foresaw all of it and said yes I'm still going to the cross for you.

I'm still taking that to the cross and I know you're going to get tripped up but I'm still taking that to the cross because I value you what I want you to walk away with if there's nothing else you walk away with for this message and this isn't even my main thought is that God loves you and I need you to accept it.

And sometimes we need to sit with that.

Sometimes we need to process that sometimes we need to really begin to embrace that because the truth of the matter is maybe we didn't feel loved from our family of origin.

Maybe we didn't feel accepted from the people that we were around and unfortunately that becomes the blueprint on how we see church that becomes a blueprint on how we see God and we're thinking that every time I make a mistake that God has done with me but I'm here to shred that down and let you know that in spite of whatever your origin story is, God loves you as you are accept it.

The Bible says that once they accepted it that they shifted into this place of devotion and what devotion ultimately means in its purest form there's a lot of different adjectives but what devotion means is loyalty.

Loyalty that that we're in this relationship and I'm going to be loyal to you committed and loyal.

Megan and I when we were in this dating phase but when we got to this point we're like hey we're going to be exclusive that was this loyalty that was implied and I I remember that moment and and and anybody who's single or you're in that stage of dating and you're trying to figure out what's the best way to kind of rope the woman in and keep her forever let me tell you exactly what I did because it worked for me and we're 30 years in I looked her in her eyes we just left her favorite eating spot at the time which was Denny's a lot has changed.

My bills are a lot more expensive now.

Anyway I'm sitting across from her and I look at her and I say hey girl you want to be my girl that was it when you got the truth you don't got to use a lot of words she heard this and of course she's like yes and and now here we are but here's the thing that was understood and implied the fact that we're in this relationship now that means that I'm saying yes to you but I'm also saying no to everything else I'm saying yes to you and that means that I'm no longer going to be looking anywhere else.

There was loyalty that was insinuated when I said I'm entering into this committed relationship.

When we begin to understand what this word devoted means the premise is built on this principle of understanding God you are my God and I'm going to make every effort to be loyal to you.

It doesn't mean that I'm going to be perfect.

It doesn't mean that I'm not going to have moments where I'm not still influenced by culture.

It doesn't mean any of that's why grace is there and he accepts me in spite of it.

But it was an understanding that we're going to be loyal or we're going to be devoted.

So what were the practical things that they had to walk out because for this culture that understood religion they understood politics they understood oppression they had family dynamics to work through the book of Acts outlines the very practical pillars that I think are still very relevant for us today.

And I'm going to move to these quick because everything I'm going to share with us today are going to be extended messages throughout the rest of the series.

So just stick with me even though if you're like oh say more to that we will next week in the weeks beyond that.

But the first thing was being loyal or being devoted to God.

Now that I've accepted that God loves me and I understand that there's this loyalty now that we have now I need to be devoted to him.

I need to have this loyalty that is extended to him.

I need to make sure that I begin to orient myself around what he says about my life.

When I enter into a season of fasting and praying and goal setting I want to make sure that it's in alignment with God's word and I want to make sure that it's in alignment with what he wants for my life that I'm devoting myself to God and I'm learning how to do that by engaging his word.

This is so important.

Next week I'm going to be preaching on the value and the power of God's word and while we don't deviate from it because I find that unfortunately in culture that we've gotten to a place where we bring our customization even to our theology.

And now on one end of the spectrum where we have so much grace and understanding and forgiveness and and all of those things are critical important pieces, we can unfortunately begin to read that into the Bible and now we're just making our own spiritual playlist of the things that apply to us and the things that don't.

But but when I get to a place where I'm saying but I'm devoted to God here's what we have to end up doing.

We have to say that I am going to look at God's word and let that be the standard and I'm going to orient my life to raise my life to the level of God's word but I'm not going to lower God's word to meet my life.

We live in a world now where it's like hey the this is how I feel this is what culture says I know God's word says that so let's just lower it down.

But what the beautiful thing about sanctification is this is God's standard.

And even when I fall short grace makes up the gap and Jesus sacrifice makes up the gap.

But because I am loyal to God I'm going to continue to make every effort to draw closer to him and my understanding of that is found in God's word in these spiritual disciplines that we're going to be talking about.

The other thing that we know that we see in the book of Acts is that they were also devoted to others.

We're devoted to God but we're devoted to others you see in the book of Acts there's this radical generosity that's happening amongst the community that there was not a need amongst them I know that as I've traveled the world this is not as much of an issue in some cultures as it is in America.

Because again we have to understand the origin story of America this is the place where every idea fits and everybody can have their own way and then we have this narrative of pull yourself up out of bootstraps, get after it on your own and and I understand all of that be have have ingenuity have inspiration do all those things here's where this conflicts with scripture the Bible and the community of the people in the Bible was always written in a communal way.

So sadly we can bring our radical individualism and look at passages of scripture that were meant to be applied to a group of people and say but no that's just me.

It's just the way that I see about that.

It's the way that I feel about that.

But what we see in the early church it was never meant to be what does this passage mean to me?

It was what does this passage mean to us?

How do we work this out together?

It was literally the remedy of selfishness.

It was the remedy of the lack of empathy.

What the Bible tells us is that as they would look and see that there were needs amongst them that they would say oh man you you have a need?

Well let me see how I can help with that because I actually have a little bit of extra that we we have a person in our church who last year had reached out to us and said hey I got a bonus that I wasn't expecting and and so I could do a lot of things with it.

I got some things saved up but is there anyone in our church that could benefit from a couple dollars that would help them provide Christmas for their family?

Such a simple but incredibly powerful gesture.

We're able to partner them with someone in our church who had reached out to us and it literally allowed a miracle to take place where the person who felt generous and felt by God was partnered with someone who had a need and it was a beautiful thing that takes place.

There are a multitude of needs around us.

And the whole idea of being in a community and being devoted to one another is that this isn't just the church that I attend but this is my church and these are my people.

And as we're worshiping together and as we're connected together and I find out that hey man I got a new TV I'm actually going to either sell my TV or throw it away but then I'm made aware like hey somebody over here is actually moving and they need a TV oh cool well I'll bring it to you that it sounds so mom and pop-ish but that's what the church was.

It was literally saying like hey I got that no don't go buy a new one I'm not I was going to sell it and make about a hundred bucks on it but but I actually don't need it.

I'm going to go ahead and provide it for you.

That's what the church was supposed to be.

And I think that we've lost that a little bit but but what if we could get back to being a group of people that were devoted to one another that were aware of the needs of people I'll tell you another story that I was up here preaching this is probably going back three years ago and and I was talking about having to get my son a car.

I was saying it in jest.

So I had a gentleman come up to me and is like hey like I actually am about to move can I give your son this car?

So I'm like man like we're we're good like I don't I don't I don't need that like I'm not up here preaching because I I want something for my family.

But if anybody does have a car I'm I joke but I'm not okay I'm joking.

So so as I said I'm like oh man we're good like that's not why I was sharing the story no no no like honestly I have this car and I want to give it to you like if I don't I'm going to have to like just give it away so I'd rather give it to someone in our community.

So as we began to go through the process of figuring out what that was there was actually someone that my son knew who needed a car.

And so we were able to say oh wow like that's a perfect transfer it's a kingdom transfer that there's a need and we're able to make sure that someone is able to to meet that need.

What I'm saying is maybe you have some things that you have some excess things that are just sitting around and you're like this is a waste why do I have it could it be possible that God has you have he you're holding on to it because there's someone in your community that you don't even know that has need of it.

They were devoted to one another so they never looked at it as a way of trying to gain profit.

They just looked at it as an opportunity to be generous.

The third and final thing is that they were devoted to the house of God.

Again we're going to unpack all this in more detail but what the Bible says is that they were devoted to gathering together.

Now we live in a world where we have access to so much information.

We have access to so much content.

Like you don't need to hear another message from me.

You can go onto YouTube and you can watch anyone all over the world people that are a million times better than me.

You don't need to hear another message you don't need there's podcasts there's books there's an abundance of content and and I want to be completely real with you I get revelation but I'm not saying something that probably hasn't been said before.

Because if I'm an M, then it's probably not biblical.

We got to be careful of people with fresh revelations that out of 2,000 years of Orthodox Christianity you've uncovered something that God has not revealed to somebody else that makes me a little bit nervous.

So so for me I'm not I may have a revelation I may connect some dots but at the end of the day you don't need me.

But even in spite of that the Bible says there's power in gathering together in the house of God together.

There's power in coming and worshiping together there's there's power in us being connected there's power in us communing together.

And I believe again that idea of radical individuality and lone wolf theology it allows us to get to a place where church becomes this spiritual side chick.

Where yeah I'm doing all these other things and then I'll show up at church and it's all cool and I'll I'll engage and I'll engage with God okay good great to see you and then I'll go off and I do my own thing and then I'll jump back in and I'll see you in the this is not shame.

But the early church they were devoted to it they believed like man there's value in this we're better together we're connected and when two or three are gathered in the name of God that he's in the midst amongst us and we can share stories and be encouraged by one another we can worship together we can grow this is why the writer says that those who are rooted in the house of God they begin to flourish.

It produces results because we're growing in continuity together and we're being pruned together and we're being watered together we're being exposed to light together and we're growing together.

And one of the things that I truly believe on my heart is that as we've looked at church has gotten away from the generational methodology and thinking that what I'm believing God for because I've already seen it at different points of my ministry career of watching children grow into adults who grow into being people who are married who didn't grow into being people who are rooted in the church who didn't grow into being on staff for the church and I'm not saying that's the end all be all but what I'm saying is when you're connected to a community I can look at a young man who's now on staff at our church but I remember when he was in kids' ministry and I understand his story and I know his parents' background I know what they're going through.

And so when we begin to walk through these things together and there's moments of celebration and celebration from an authentic place because I saw what you endured I saw what you overcame.

I also understand the dynamics with your family and now we're all in this together imagine a church that was so connected to one another that we grew together that we understood each other's story there's empathy and we and we're knowing one another this was the image of the church this is God's view for us.

So when I think about this idea of being devoted to God and devoted to one another and devoted to the house of God and seeing how God uses all of this to create a powerful ecosystem that I then believe will bring us to what we saw in the book of Acts where it says and they had favor with everybody I know what statistics say about the church.

I know what people who've experienced pain at the hands of the church are feeling and my heart breaks for it.

But I also see what God's word says and I believe that if we can do what the Bible says then we can see what the Bible tells us we can have it's possible.

You know one of the things that I learned while we were on this retreat was that every three to five years every cell in our body is replaced.

Every three to five years.

So what that literally means is because our cells carry so much information is that every three to five years we are literally different people.

So that that that makes sense because there are certain milestones in people's lives that we not only mark as moments of maturity but they're also moments of conflict in marriages every three to five years we're different people and so for years Megan and I we would find that man it seems like every three to five to six years we are completely in different places.

And so now we have to go through the process of rediscovering one another so that we can get back on track and to move the way that God wants us to move.

We grow apart but then we come back and then we grow together.

It's just part of our journey and our process here's what I want for you here's what I want for all of us as we're entering into this season of prayer and fasting.

I want this to be a season where as we're devoting ourselves to God's word, we're devoting ourselves to coming to church we get this incredible fasting God that has so much information I just don't have the time to get into it that as you engage this that you're going to rediscover some things about God you're going to rediscover some things about you and that you're going to grow strong as a result of it.

Amen?

Amen let me get you guys to stand on your feet I want to pray a blessing on you and we want to go ahead and dismiss you at this time all this information is going to be available we have a great guide that's outside that's available for you that you can get on your way out but let me pray for us as we conclude this opening thought on what it means to be devoted.

Lord we thank you for your presence we thank you for your work.

And God as we've just begun to scratch the surface on what does devotion mean being loyal and being connected but first needing to receive your love I pray that we're in a healthy space where we can receive it.

I pray that we can be devoted to you as a result of that love and we can be devoted to one another and we can be devoted to your house.

And as we enter into this season of 21 days of prayer and fasting I ask God that this be a season that we can rediscover some new things about you and rediscover some things about us and we can grow not only as individuals but also as a community.

So may the Lord bless you and keep you may he make his face to shine upon you and give you everlasting supernatural peace in Jesus' name.

God bless you guys.

We love you.

Cannot wait to see you during this 21 days of prayer and fasting but be blessed this week and we'll see you soon.

And if you're hungry pray about it.

It'll be all right what you heard today.

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We hope you join us next time