We Engage the Presence of God | Ps. Nate Capshaw

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.

We love you, brother.

We're so thankful for you, man.

Thank you for sharing your story.

That is uh truly powerful to see God's work in your life.

And uh he got baptized a couple Sundays ago as well.

So such an amazing story.

Well, good morning.

Everybody doing good, everybody doing well, glad to be in the house of the Lord.

If you're glad to be in church today, let me get a good old-fashioned amen.

Woo! Come on now.

Reminding me of the good old days.

We're in the good old days.

Um, on behalf of our pastors, Pastor Keith and Pastor Megan, uh, welcome to Celebration Church Orlando.

Uh, especially if this is your first time here.

Uh, my name's Nate.

I'm one of the pastors here, so thankful that you are with us this morning.

Uh, if you are online, thank you for joining us this morning as well, or you're watching later or listening on the podcast.

Uh, if you are in the Orlando area, we'd love to have you uh come hang out with us here at the Orlando Museum of Art at either 9 or 10 30 a.m.

And you get to meet really cool people like my friend Andy here.

So um we are continuing on in our series as we gather, but before we do that, I'd like everybody to either pull out your phones or what you're taking notes down with and write down July 15th.

Everybody say July 15th.

July 15th is our annual serve day.

That's right.

We are a church that doesn't believe in serving just one day out of the year.

However, uh July 15th is uh there's a special emphasis on this day because churches from all around the globe go out into their community to be the light, like Andy was talking about, and to uh just help out and to be uh a church uh in a place that that needs light.

So July 15th is serve day.

Last year we got to go out to Bill Frederick Park and we partnered with the city of Orlando and did a green up there.

And uh you can drive by the park now and see the beautiful trees that uh we planted.

And uh it is known around town by city employees that we are the buff church.

So congratulations to that because we were pushing these really heavy wheelbarrows and all that good stuff.

Anyways, July 15th, serve day.

Sound good?

Awesome, awesome.

Uh like I said, we are in uh a series, second week of our series called As We Gather.

And through the entire year of 2023, we've kind of adopted this mantra, my life, God's way.

My life, God's way.

All right, catching on here.

And what we're what we're looking at, what we're trying to examine throughout the entire year basically is spiritual disciplines.

What does it look like to be a follower, a true disciple of Jesus?

And so I figured it'd be appropriate for us to take a look at a passage recounting uh the first two disciples of Jesus.

So you can go ahead and turn in your Bibles to John chapter 1, John chapter 1, or uh like my good friend Vinny said last week, you can turn your Bibles on to John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention John 1 · chapter mention John 1 · chapter mention

And speaking of Vinny, can we celebrate that word that he gave us last week?

So it's so encouraging.

In this As We Gather series, we're looking at uh our values at Celebration Church Orlando.

What do they mean?

Why do we have them?

What's what's behind them really?

And last week, Vinny shared with us our first value, which is we celebrate the goodness of God.

And it was so encouraging to me personally, and some things that I took away from it was number one, God is good when he is good all the time.

We hear that phrase before, but there's no circumstance, there's nothing that can happen in the world that negates God's goodness.

His goodness is not contingent upon circumstance.

So every now and then what we need to do is we need to zoom out, as Vinny said.

We need to check our posture and make sure that we are celebrating God's goodness in the good, the bad, the ugly, the highs, and the lows, because at Celebration Church we celebrate the goodness of God.

Today we're gonna continue on in that series and look at our second value, and we're gonna be reading verse number 35 of John 1.

John 1, verse number 35.

The following day, John was again standing with two of his disciples.

As Jesus walked by, John looked at him, Jesus, and declared, Look, there is the Lamb of God.

When John's two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.

Jesus looked around, saw them following.

What do you want?

He asked them.

They replied, Rabbi, which means teacher.

Where are you staying?

Where are you staying?

Come and see, he said.

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, and they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.

As we gather here at Celebration Church, Orlando, we engage the presence of God.

We engage the presence of God.

Will you bow your heads in prayer with me?

Father, we thank you so much for today, Lord.

We thank you for the ability to gather, the the blessing that it is to gather as a body of believers.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that you've preserved it, that you've kept it for us, uh, and that we can learn a little bit more about you each and every time we gather here and each and every day.

Lord, we need you.

We need you uh in this place, God.

We need you to speak to us both individually, collectively.

And God, our prayer is that we would walk out of here changed, not the same person because of you.

It's in the name of Jesus that we pray, and everyone said, Amen.

Have you ever considered what would happen if Jesus walked into the room?

Have you ever pondered that question?

What if Jesus walked into the room?

For whatever reason, oftentimes, almost every Sunday without fail, during worship, I think about that question.

What if Jesus were to come down this aisle here in the auditorium and walk in?

What would happen to the environment?

What would happen in this auditorium?

Or perhaps standing out in the rotunda, welcoming you as you walk in here and Jesus walks through the doors.

What would I do?

What would happen?

Or maybe I'm standing outside, shaking some hands, kissing some babies if you'll let me.

And Jesus is walking through the parking lot.

What would happen?

Would I recognize him?

Or would I need someone a little bit more holier than me to be able to point him out?

John the Baptist was quite the character, to say the least.

John spent his days sort of secluded in the wilderness, declaring that the chosen one of Israel was on the way, and that people should repent of their ways and be baptized.

There are some aspects of John's life that are fascinating.

The scriptures inform us that John clothed himself in camel hair.

You won't find that at Nordstromrak.

He also nourished himself with locusts and honey, all your nutrition that you need.

Needless to say, John was getting a little bit of attention.

He garnered the attention of the local religious elite, and he had gained quite the following himself.

However, when Jesus steps onto the scene, John stays true to his calling and does not hesitate to proclaim that this is the one Israel has been waiting for.

Instead of preserving his own ministry, validating his own worth, John points to Jesus immediately.

What about us?

Are we quick to point to Jesus in our circles?

Are we quick to remember why God has placed us in the very environments that we are in?

Or are we consumed with building our brands?

Are we trying to expand our influence?

Perhaps gain a few more followers.

We read on and find that John's disciples immediately respond.

All that the disciples needed to hear was that this is the Lamb of God.

No doubt a callback to earlier narratives that they would have been familiar with.

The Passover lamb, the one who saved their people from extinction, the lamb that was slain, that the blood put the blood was put on the post of the door, and the angel moved over them to save their people.

No doubt they would have known this.

So they leave John behind in order to follow that Savior.

Some of us are still waiting to be convinced about Jesus.

We're skeptical.

We're waiting for him to show us something.

We're not yet convinced.

We're waiting for Jesus to prove himself instead of believing what has already been said about him.

But not these men.

These men immediately begin to follow Jesus.

And when Jesus realizes what's happening, he turns around and in quintessential Jesus fashion, he gets to the heart of the matter.

He gets down to business and says, What do you want?

Can you imagine being outside, walking to your car after church?

Someone says, Yo, man, that is Jesus.

You begin to walk behind him, most likely a little timid, wondering, what should I say?

Do you think he's gonna say something?

I don't want to be awkward.

Do you think he's gonna be awkward?

What is this exchange gonna be like?

And he turns around to you and he asks, What do you want?

The gamut of responses for the disciples is probably many.

And there's probably many responses that we could respond with as well.

Jesus, my boss and I were not on the same page.

We're button heads a little bit.

Any word of advice, any wisdom for me that I can take back to work?

Jesus, my family, we're struggling.

There's conflict in the home.

Would you be able to come back to the house, maybe sit down with us for a moment and help us sort through these issues?

Jesus, I'm suffering.

I've got something going on in my body.

I don't know what to do.

The doctors don't have an answer.

Would you be willing to heal me right now, Jesus?

The rents do.

I don't have it.

Could you provide?

There are several ways that those men could have answered.

But instead they reply, Rabbi, teacher.

Immediately recognizing the authority that Jesus has.

Immediately recognizing that perhaps I can learn something from this guy.

Do we recognize his authority in our life?

Do we recognize how much we could learn from him if we would only ask?

Or do we bring our to-do list?

Do we ask him to fit into our agenda?

The men continue in their response.

Where are you staying?

Where are you staying?

In other words, we just want to be where you're at.

Where are you going?

How can we be close to you?

Think about it.

This is a risky question.

This is a little bit of a risky question.

The Bible says it's getting a little bit later in the day.

They could be tired, could be hungry, could be responsibilities waiting for them elsewhere.

Jesus could be miles and miles away, and yet they asked the question, Jesus, where are you going?

We want to be with you.

It didn't matter where Jesus was.

It doesn't matter to us.

Are we willing to go out of our way to be where Jesus needs us to be?

No matter how tired or hungry or how busy we may be.

The beautiful thing is the invitation from Jesus is clear, isn't it?

Come and see.

Come and see.

There's no prerequisites, there's no proving.

There's no passwords.

There's no pop quiz on your theology.

The invitation is clear.

Come and see.

For many of us, engaging God is a challenge, right?

It's hard to know how to engage Him, where to engage Him.

Is engaging God primarily on a Sunday?

Are there other opportunities to engage?

What does engaging God actually look like?

Perhaps some of us are even asking the question: does God really need to be engaged at all?

Interacting with God takes on many expressions, and depending on your background or your culture, perhaps even your personality or your theological framework, it could be tempting to believe that we possess the proprietary practices for engaging the Almighty.

Now, of course, there are prevailing pathways by which we engage him, reading his word, singing and worship, prayer and meditation.

However, the manner in which we do these things are as numerous and unique as each of us.

The scriptures are teeming with passages that invite us to engage God.

Jeremiah 29, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Proverbs 8, I love those who love me, and those who seek me what?

They find me.

John 7, let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.

Matthew 19, let the little children come to me.

And do not hinder them, for such belongs the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 11.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you what?

I will give you rest.

The imitation is clear.

What are we implying when we say we engage the presence of God here at Celebration Church?

What is the implication of that statement?

By uttering that phrase, we are implying that God can be engaged.

That God is accept accessible, he's approachable.

Now let's think about that for a second.

I kind of want you to follow where we're going here.

Ponder this for a moment.

The Almighty God, the one with no beginning, the one with no end, the one who created everything seen and unseen is accessible.

But not only is he accessible, no friends, it's a little bit better than that.

He is the one who initiated contact.

And he didn't do it from afar either.

It wasn't an email, it wasn't a text, it wasn't a letter, it wasn't a carrier pigeon.

God got up close and personal.

He moved into the neighborhood.

God desired that man be in a relationship with him so much so that he became a man in order to make the introduction.

Our amazing God is not playing a cosmic game of hide and seek, nor is he perched up on a pedestal, patronizing us to get on his level.

As a matter of fact, it's quite the opposite.

Our amazing God took on the humble position of a servant.

And the moment of his elevation took place on a cross.

And the people there mocked him and said, if you are the Son of God, you should come down off of it.

Contrary to what you or I may think, engaging God is a response and not an initiation.

Engaging God is a response and not an initiation.

God is the initiator.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

John chapter 1, verse number 15 says this.

John 1 · chapter mention

John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, This is the one I was talking about when I said, Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am.

For he existed long before me.

From his abundance, we have all received one gracious blessing after another.

For the law was given through Moses, but God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God.

No one has ever seen God.

But the unique one, who is Himself God, is near to the Father's heart.

He has what?

Revealed God to us.

So many of us are spinning our wheels or burning ourselves out, trying to get God's attention with our good deeds, hoping that he just looks down on us and gives us the thumbs up.

Some of us are running from the presence of God because we're ashamed of the things that we've done.

We're ashamed of the person that we've become.

And there's no way that God would ever want to associate with me.

God knew the end from the beginning.

He knew you would fail.

He knew you wouldn't measure up.

He knew your good deeds wouldn't even warrant you total access to his presence.

And that's precisely why he took the initiative to come to you.

Our worship leaders can exhort you to lift your hands, to come down to this altar, to sing as loud as you can.

We can encourage you week in and week out to be generous, to trust God with your tithe and your offering.

We can implore you to step outside of your comfort zone and to serve this church, to serve the surrounding community.

I can invite you to groups until I'm blue in the face.

But what we're all trying to do is just trying to help you realize the magnitude of God revealing himself to us.

The sacrifice that it took for him to do so.

Otherwise, we're just going through the motions.

I grew up in a home that was involved in church, where church was just as much a part of breathing.

It was eating and sleeping, it was sport.

I mean, it was just you went to church, that that's what you did.

I served, we gave in groups, the whole nine.

But somewhere along the way, that it didn't become a priority for me.

It wasn't the way that I wanted to live my life any longer.

But thank God for his intervention.

Thank God that he sought me out.

Through someone sending me a link to a YouTube sermon that turned into another sermon, that turned into me realizing how amazing and beautiful Jesus is.

Now I'm compelled to respond in worship.

I can't help but be generous.

Going out of my way to help a neighbor in need isn't actually going out of my way at all.

I'm filled with anticipation each time I open up the word of God because I know I'll get a little bit more of a glimpse into who he is.

None of these disciplines, listen to me, church, if you don't hear anything else, none of these disciplines are giving me right standing with God.

They are just enhancing my relationship with him.

They're not giving me right standing with him.

So, so what is giving me right standing with God?

John chapter 1, verse 10, I think, gives us the answer.

John 1:10

The band can join me as we close.

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him.

He came to his own people and even they rejected him.

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

They are reborn not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

The beauty of the gospel church is that God revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus.

Jesus not only made God known to us by living the perfect life that you and I could not live as sons and daughters, but he died a sacrificial death that you and I so deserved.

However, he was raised on the third day.

Children of God, as people who have the right to be children of God, we have been raised with Him if we are in Christ.

And you are secure in that.

So much so that the scriptures say we are seated in heavenly places with Jesus.

In other words, Jesus sits in heavenly places as though you do.

And I don't understand how that all works out in reality, and I don't need to.

But what I do know is there's nobody that's going to heaven that's plucking you out of the Father's arms.

It's not happening.

This is a right that cannot be earned, and it is a right that cannot be taken away.

There is no power in the universe that can separate you from the love of God.

The only way to lose your right to be his child is to refuse your right to be his child.

Are you hearing me?

The only way for you to lose your right to be his child is for you to refuse that right in the first place.

My son will always be my son.

There is no distance between us, there is no calamity, there is no amount of space, there is nothing that can happen that will ever make my son not be my son.

How much more you, a loving God, his child.

How much more.

There may be some of us listening that we felt abandoned by our dads, or we've actually been abandoned by our dads.

I want to encourage you this morning, if you are a child of God, nothing can separate you from the love of God.

It is a right, if you are in Christ, to be his child.

The reason I know that, the reason I can say that with assurance, is because when Jesus was on the cross, he uttered the phrase, Father, why have you abandoned me?

Why are we separated?

Why are we not in relationship right now?

And it's when the sin of the world, your sin, my sin, was placed on Jesus.

And we believe that the Father had to distance himself for the first and only time from his son because he could not be associated with that sin.

But my friends, you never have to experience that because Jesus experienced it for you.

How beautiful.

It was no accident that Jesus passed by John and his disciples that day.

They all had decisions to make.

John had to choose whether or not to point to Jesus, even though it would cost him followers and eventually cost him his life.

The disciples had to choose whether or not they would play it safe, stay with John, and be called a day and head home.

Or they could accept the most beautiful invitation ever uttered when asked the question, Jesus, where are you staying?

Where are you staying?

Come and see.

Come back and see.

That invitation still stands today.

And just because Jesus has ascended into heaven, he has entrusted his spirit to us, given his spirit to us as a gift, so that we will never be alone.

It's no accident you're here.

It's no accident you're online.

It's no accident you're listening to the podcast.

The invitation still stands.

Jesus, where are you?

Come and see.

Come and see.

At Celebration Church, as we gather, we engage the presence of God because God has been revealed to us.

Will you bow your heads in prayer with me?

God, you're so good.

God, we celebrate your goodness.

God, we thank you for the invitation.

We thank you that we have the right to become children of God.

For anyone in here who has not accepted that right, today can be your day.

We'd love to meet you outside to lead you in that.

If you're online, you can reach out to us at any time.

But remember the words of Jesus.

Come and see.

Lord, we engage your presence in Jesus' name.

Would you guys stand to your feet?

We're going to sing a brief moment of worship here, and then we'll continue on throughout our day.

Thanks again for listening.

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

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We hope you join us next time.