Altar’d | 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.

Right, all right, all right.

Alright, church family.

How's everybody doing?

You guys doing good?

I like the energy.

I like the energy.

Let me go ahead and put my Eagles Cup right here.

Um, who will be in the Super Bowl next week.

I'm not sure if you guys knew that or not.

Um, so yes, this is gonna be uh a strong service next week of prayer and fasting and believing God um that he's gonna finish what he started.

Um, as I've been declaring all year that this is God's team.

Um and actually I had this thought because in 2017 the Eagles won uh the Super Bowl.

And so I'm gonna go back and look and see what I wore that Sunday.

Um and I very well may be doing a repeat because I feel like we just gotta lock in and stick with where things are.

Um but I'm excited for today, because today we're we're we're concluding our fasting um of 21 days of prayer and fasting.

In addition to that, we're gonna take communion together, and then we're also gonna have baptism.

So our service is really broken up um into two parts.

It's gonna be us and us spending some time in here today, but we're also gonna conclude the service out in the courtyard by taking communion um and watching people get baptized.

So it's gonna be a very powerful time for us to conclude the fast, and we're excited about it.

Um, let's do this really quick.

Can we show some love to those who are joining us online and welcome them for being with us today, man?

We're so, so glad that you're with us.

I want to spend a special shout out to several of my family members.

We had an opportunity to travel up to Jacksonville last night and spend some time with some family up there, and so many of them are traveling back to their varying locations, but they said they were gonna get up early this morning and and watch.

So I'm gonna quiz them after this to see if they actually did listen to the message, but if they are watching, um, I'm glad you guys are here with us today.

I have a brief message I want to share with us.

Um, and and my my text today is gonna be found in Matthew chapter number nine.

Matthew chapter number nine.

So um as you turn there, I want to give you a little bit of uh a context as to where we are at this point.

Uh John the Baptist is the cousin of Jesus, and and now he has found himself arrested.

Because sometimes when you're doing what God has called you to do, it can sometimes put a little bit of restriction on you.

You may not blend in, you may not be the most popular.

So as a result of the ministry of John the Baptist, he finds himself, um, he finds himself in jail.

But he has some very devout followers, he has some very devout people that were with him who were who were praying and fasting on his behalf.

They were trying to get a hold of heaven on his behalf.

So his disciples felt a little bit conflicted because as they're seeing the piety that they had, as they see the the reverence that they had, the the the brokenness that they were experiencing, they were simultaneously frustrated because when they looked at Jesus and his disciples, their walk with God didn't look like theirs.

They they were very serious and and very stoic and and very sober-minded, but when they're looking at Jesus, Jesus is hanging out with sinners and tax collectors.

And so for them, there was a massive conflict in regards to what they felt it should look like when you're truly pursuing the things of God.

So now they've reached the point of frustration where they come and they confront Jesus to get some clarity about the discipline or the lack thereof that they're seeing in the lives of his disciples.

Starting here at verse number 14, it says this Um One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, Why don't your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?

Jesus replied, Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating the groom?

Of course not.

But someday the groom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.

Besides, who could patch old clothing with a new cloth?

For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.

And no one puts new wine in old wineskins, for the old wineskins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine in, ruining the skins.

New wine is stored in new wineskins so that they both are preserved.

Today I want to talk to us on an important topic of what does it look like to live a surrendered life in the presence of God.

And I've entitled today's message, Altered.

Altered.

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

I think God's gonna really um inspire us today.

Lord, we thank you so much for uh your word.

We thank you for an opportunity to come together as uh a community, Lord God.

We we host you, God.

We we this is your place, and and God, we create space, Father, for you to speak to us, to challenge us, to inspire us, to to encourage us, to help us to take whatever our next step is.

So Lord, I just pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes to see you, open ears to hear you, and open hearts to receive everything that it is that you're speaking to us today.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Well, well, family, as I as I mentioned earlier, today we conclude um our our days of fasting in prayer.

And and and it's been for me, it's really been a powerful time.

Today, in this cup right now, this is my my first cup of coffee that I've had in 21 days.

And it's it's glorious.

My God, it is it is it is just nectar for my soul, and I definitely needed it this morning.

Um, but I'm I'm thankful that to see what God has done.

But but here's the thing that I know when we go into these seasons of of prayer and fasting, I think about how we talked about uh prayer and fasting in the beginning of the year as we were ramping up in preparation.

There's there's a lot of expectation that can get built up from it.

We we talked about when we really pursue God and the things that we can expect to get from God when we dedicate time and space to God.

And so for some of us, maybe we've had like a miraculous breakthrough.

Maybe there's some clarity that you did get during these past 21 days of prayer and fasting.

Maybe there's some some things that you feel like God has clearly spoken to you over this time.

And so for you in your mind, you're thinking, yes, this this fast was effective because I went in with this and I'm coming out with this, and I feel so much better as a result of it.

But but there's others of us that that maybe there's a couple of things that happened.

Maybe our fast didn't go as well as we thought it was going to go.

Maybe maybe our discipline had slipped from one point to another.

Maybe some of us had given up.

Man, I I looked at my Bible reading plan and didn't even realize I was like three days behind.

Like, and and it happens to all of us, it creeps up on us, and if we're not careful, we'll begin to feel discouraged and feel as if we weren't effective and that we didn't get our breakthrough.

But I do want to say this that any effort that we make to draw closer to God to become more like Jesus is never wasted effort.

That that is it's a seed that's being planted that I do believe is gonna bring some results and that's gonna bring about transformation.

But but if you did manage to finish this fast and I'm celebrating with all of us, there are some benefits that I know that I can personally speak to for me and for my household.

Like I know that the benefit of fasting for us is that man, I I lost some weight.

I I did.

I lost some, I definitely lost some spiritual weight, some things I was carrying, but man, your boy's about 16 pounds down, going strong.

And I'm keeping it off too, in Jesus' name.

But but but but here's the thing that I that I recognize now as a result of that.

I haven't been looking at the scale, I haven't been giving it much thought, but the thing that's been the clearest indicator that that I had lost some weight is that the clothes that I used to wear don't fit the way that they used to fit.

So there's things that I wore a couple of weeks ago, they're a little bit looser now.

Things, the belt loops that I used to be able to connect to, I I can't connect to them anymore.

And so now I had this profound revelation, and I feel a need to have a public act of repentance before my beloved wife.

Because now I fully understand something that I have wrestled with ultimately my entire marriage.

And here's the thing, some of you fellas may be able to appreciate what I'm about to say.

It seems to me that every single morning, my wife kind of goes through this process of getting dressed, and it is a process.

Like she goes in a closet, she comes out, and then she ultimately asks the question, What do you think about this?

And and see, so here's the thing, man.

Like, I don't I don't know what you want from me in this moment.

I don't know if you want me to speak my truth.

I'm not sure if this is a moment where I'm just trying to maintain peace, but but the very logical and linear part of me simply says this I love that outfit when we went to the store and you tried on 19 other ones and you only got that one.

I loved it then.

I I love that outfit when you wore it three months ago and you asked me that same question.

I I love that outfit when you wore it two months ago and you asked me that same question.

You don't have to ask me anymore.

The answer is always the same.

But the thing that I have learned, and the reason why she was asking the question is because just because I was able to fit it in the previous season doesn't mean that I can fit it now.

What worked for me before may not work now, so I'm inviting you to speak into whether or not this still looks good or not.

See, what I what I recognize is that there's some things in our lives that maybe that as God has begun to reveal to us some weights and things that we are carrying, that maybe this is a good opportunity to do a mirror check and say, do I still fit this or not?

Does this still fit me or not?

Should I still be wearing this?

Let me pose a question to this.

Are you still wearing something that God has said is now that's outdated for you?

Or are you trying to fit into something that God has said that you have outgrown this?

See, the thing is, when God begins to reveal to us in dedicated moments of prayer and fasting, and he begins to unveil things to us that we're carrying that we shouldn't be carrying, what he's saying is, don't go back and pick that weight back up.

Because what I'm outfitting you for now, you've outgrown the things that you used to do.

And so don't go back to the things that I've delivered you from.

The book of Hebrews, chapter 12, I believe, beautifully articulates this where it says, We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

So watch this.

So lay aside every weight and sin that easily ensnares us and let us run the race with endurance that he has set before us.

What he's ultimately saying is this we are all on a journey, and we all can't make the trip if we're carrying things that God has called us to lay aside.

I want you to notice that the text refers to things that are required in order for us to be optimal in this race that he's called us to run.

And what he says is to lay aside every weight and sin that ultimately is slowing us down.

I know more than anything that in times of prayer and fasting and pursuing off after God, he begins to reveal things to me that maybe I shouldn't be carrying anymore.

What are some of the things that during this fast that maybe you laid aside for a season?

Because what the writer is helping us to understand is that every weight isn't a sin, but every sin is a weight.

Let me let me give you the correlation.

It is not a sin for you to have social media.

It is not a sin for you to watch certain shows.

All those things are perfectly fine, but it may be a weight that is preventing you from hearing from God more clearly.

So he's saying maybe during the season of fasting and prayer, you've laid something down that has actually freed you up.

What he's saying is, don't go back to it if it's going to keep you from being the person that God is ultimately calling you to be.

He's saying maybe you need to do a quick mirror check and say, I've laid this down for a season.

Do I need to go back to it because I'm feeling much lighter now?

And maybe this outfit no longer works for me.

What the text is ultimately trying to say is you are a child of the king dress like it.

You you are a child of a king and act like it.

Why are you going back to things that I've delivered you from just because it's comfortable and it's familiar?

See, when you lose weight, you're gonna have to make alterations.

And what alterations ultimately communicate is that you're gonna have to make some changes, that you're gonna have to modify.

It's going through the process of transfiguration, it's it's metamorphosis, that when you begin to lose the weight that God has maybe revealed that you need to take off of your shoulders, that there's a moment where we all need to evolve and adapt.

What I've learned in my life is that you can't grow and remain the same at the same time.

That you can't move forward and look backwards at the same time.

So when the disciples of John come to Jesus and they're critiquing the way that they are living their lives, Jesus begins to try to adjust their perspective.

For John's disciples, they are they're criticizing, they're they're comparing, they're grumbling, and they're complaining to Jesus' disciples that they're not as strict as they are.

We are so quick to criticize the way that other people worship God, aren't we?

We're so quick to be critical of other people and say, How come you guys aren't doing what we're doing?

It's amazing how the human nature is quick to compare and to be critical of other people.

But instead of recognizing their own vulnerabilities and asking themselves, does this still fit in the new season I'm going into?

They're trying to force people to fit into seasons that have been too restrictive for them as well.

Instead of asking Jesus, how can we live free like them?

They were asking the question, how come they won't live restricted like us?

They were trying to get Jesus to fit into their box instead of using Jesus to break out of their own.

Jesus responds by providing three parables, which are three illustrated teachings.

And what he's trying to do is help them to understand that we're moving on from some old things and we're leaning in to some new things.

He starts off with talking about this idea of weddings.

He says, Man, like, you know, when there's a wedding going on, that's a time of celebration, not a time of grieving.

Now, I but I know that for me, I love when I get a chance to go to a wedding, whether it's officiating them, whether it's just being a participant and watching.

But the thing that I love about weddings is that there's a lot of emotions, and yes, there's a lot of tears, but it's ultimately this thing that's sacred, but it's also celebratory.

Jesus uses this reference because what he wants us to understand is that consistently through scripture, our relationship with God is viewed and communicated to be a marriage.

It even refers to when Jesus comes back for the church, that he's the groom that's coming for his bride, which is the church.

This language of the groom coming for the bride is consistent in the way that God communicates his relationship with the church.

And what he's ultimately saying is the same way that a marriage is sacred, yes, it's sacred, but it also is supposed to be celebratory.

That is this idea of people coming together, and there's a lot of emotions, but at the end of the day, it's a place where there's joy and there's a place of abundance.

What John was trying and his disciples were trying to do was trying to take something that should have been celebratory and make it something that was celibate.

They were trying to basically neutralize this joy that they saw that Jesus have with his disciples.

They didn't quite understand, but as Jesus was painting this picture, then no, being in a relationship with me is something that's actually going to be something that you can celebrate.

You don't have to walk around and be somber and depressed and grieving.

I I don't know about some of the people that maybe you've encountered in your time with interacting with other believers, but Megan and I have been doing this for a very long time.

And have you ever been around like a just a depressed Christian before?

It's just, it's just awful.

Let's just call it what it is.

Like, I'm just, I'm gonna live for God.

Like, man, why are you so angry?

I'm just I'm just holiness.

Like, I mean, it's just this, this, this angry thing.

I don't know how I got into this weird algorithm on YouTube, but I've been scrolling through and I've just been looking at the spiritual version of Doom Day Preppers, and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is this is discouraging to just have nothing but but doom and and gloom and depression, and ultimately all they're doing is the same thing that John's disciples were doing.

How come you guys aren't as angry as we are?

How come you guys aren't as depressed as we are?

And Jesus is like, hey man, whoa, hold up.

There is a time and season for grieving and all that type of stuff, but man, when you're in a relationship with me, you're in my presence, and in my presence is the fullness of joy.

What he wants to try to make sure that he drew a distinction from is that yes, there will be seasons of grief, there will be moments of disappointment.

But can I turn your attention to what Paul says to the Thessalonian church?

But we don't grieve like those who don't have hope.

What he's trying to help them to understand is that yes, in this world you will have trouble, but in this world you still have Jesus, and you can still be a person that walks with joy even when it's uncomfortable.

The Bible tells us in John 10 10 that he came to give us a life of abundance.

And what we find in Psalm 16, 11, it talks about how in his presence there's the fullness of joy.

And ultimately, what Jesus is trying to communicate with us is that when we're in this relationship with him, that it's a place where abundance and joy is available, and that even when we walk through difficult times, that we can still find ways to pull on his presence and experience peace and love and joy.

When you are a follower of the ways of Jesus, it has the ability of altering your perspective.

The other illustration that Jesus begins to speak to is he begins to talk about new cloth and old clothes.

He begins to say the saying like, Hey, it's hard for these two things to coexist because it distracts from one another and actually reveals a deeper vulnerability.

Everybody in here likely has that outfit or maybe those sweatpants or maybe those jeans that are your comfort pants.

I know during the pandemic, Megan, I almost want to lose my marriage because I had these comfort sweatpants I just wore every single day.

Every single day.

I mean, and it just I just felt I just felt right.

In fact, I felt like Megan was coming in like John's disciple, saying, like, hey, are you gonna keep wearing those?

I'm like, girl, let me be free.

But but nonetheless, we worked through it.

But but I I know we all know those outfits or those things that it's just our comfort outfit.

It feels really good.

But but we all know that moment when the thing that you got from the store that you used to wear out in public, it then begins to wear away a little bit, and then it transitions to, well, I can't wear this when I'm going out to certain places, but I'll make I'll wear it when I'm making a quick store run.

And then it gets demoted to being the thing that you may wear to the gym, and then it gets demoted to the thing that you only wear around the house.

I know I'm talking to some people in here, like I'm I don't throw away anything.

I'm like, okay, it went from being here, I used to wear it on Sundays, now I only wear it when I'm washing my car, but I don't get rid of it.

But but here's the but here's the thing that Jesus is trying to communicate.

But there's a moment when if you're trying to wear that thing that is all worn out to a wedding, it doesn't fit.

It's inappropriate.

It doesn't match the new outfit that you just put on.

Let me say it this way it would be wild for me to wear an old dingy shirt and some new jords.

It would distract from it because it's like, man, like yo, you got it going on right here, but up there, man, they're unequally yoked.

It doesn't match, man.

Like it's something I see you made some effort right here, but but up here, man, it looks like you got some wear and tear and it just doesn't match.

It doesn't look the same.

Or or vice versa.

Can you imagine going out and getting yourself like a nice sweater, like maybe like just a really nice outfit from top to bottom?

But when you get to the shoes, you're like, you're like wearing like some crocs that maybe that you have worn on a hike that were all muddy.

Like you're looking at them, you're like, man, that distracts from the whole outfit.

I'm not hating all crocs, I got a pair.

I wear them when I'm making my store runs.

But what I'm saying is, yeah, but there's a time and place for it, right?

There's a time and place for it.

But but watch this.

There's a there's a there's a way that the outfit is supposed to flow, there's a rhythm that's supposed to be to it.

What Jesus is ultimately communicating is is I didn't come here for you to just add me as an accessory to an old outfit.

I be I came to make you a whole new outfit.

Why are you just adding me to something that's old and worn out when I actually want to be the tailor that gives you something completely new?

What he begins to talk about is how when we get holes in our garments, it would be wrong for us just to put a patch over it.

What he's saying is, your relationship with me, I didn't come here to just patch the holes in your life.

I came to make you whole by making you something completely new.

What he's saying is that sometimes when we get into a relationship with Jesus, we're trying to figure out I got holes here, so let me patch Jesus here.

I got a hole over in my relationship, let me put a patch of Jesus here.

And he says, I'm not something that you just sprinkle on top like salt bay or maybe with a little bit of a garnish.

What I want you to do is recognize that I'm a brand whole new thing, and I want to do a new thing on the inside of you, but it's gonna require you to look at these old outfits and recognize I don't wear those things anymore because God has delivered me from that, and now I'm walking in the newness that is found in Christ.

Jesus was painting this powerful picture and saying that I don't want you to compromise your faith by trying to intertwine me with the old thing when I'm trying to do something completely new.

What he's ultimately telling us is this is why I say be born again, get a fresh start.

This is why he says that when we enter into Christ, that we're a new creation, it's a fresh start.

That when you are a follower of the ways of Jesus, it alters our convictions.

He then provides the third um illustration and he begins to talk about new wine and old wineskins.

Now, I'm no Somalier, but I'll give you a little bit of breakdown of how wine actually works.

Um so what happens is whenever the the the fermentation process is how the grape juice then gets turned into an alcoholic beverage, and there's a lot of things that have to take place in order for that to happen.

There needs to be it needs to be in a proper type of container, it needs to have the a proper amount of oxygen.

And and so back in those days, they would put it inside of what they called wineskin, which were these leather, very flexible bags that gave the that gave the grape juice room to expand during the fermentation process.

So when you pour the new wine inside of the new wineskin, the the wineskin will begin to expand as the grape juice is expanding during fermentation.

And so then once it all gets settled, then the wineskin is settled.

The grape juice has now turned into wine, and now you have this container that was perfectly outfitted to fit the new wine that takes place.

Jesus uses this illustration, which they fully understood, to say this if you're taking this new idea, this new wine that I want to pour into your life, and you're pulling it into an old container, that old container can't contain the newness of what I want to do in your life.

And what'll happen is while I am trying to grow on the inside of you, you're gonna put parameters and try to put a lid on the activity of God in your life, and it's gonna cause some things to break, and it's gonna cause a lot of waste, and it's gonna cause some things to be unstable in your life.

But if you can recognize that I want to pour this new thing in your life, but you're gonna have to put it into not a brand new structure, you're gonna have to put it into something brand new.

I don't want you to put this newness that I have in your life into something that's old.

What he's ultimately saying is that sometimes that we could take a desire to take this newness that God has made available for us and fit it into an old idea, fit it into an old philosophy, fit it into an old religion, fit it into an old structure.

And when he's saying that I am bigger than the thing that you're trying to put on me.

What he's saying is take the limits off.

When he's speaking about wine, that's a metaphor for new life.

It's a metaphor for joy, it's a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.

And what I want to, what I want to impart into you today, that God is here right now and he wants to pour out new life into your life.

He wants to pour out new joy into your life, he wants to pour out a fresh dose of the Holy Spirit in your life.

But the thing that can keep it from happening, if we try to pour it into old structures, what he's saying is, I need to have the space to let it breathe.

I need to have the space to allow it to grow.

Let me say it to you this way: the thing that's growing on the inside of you is bigger than the thing that the world wants to put on you.

This is why the Bible says, greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world.

That means that there's growth happening on the inside of you.

But if you allow the structures of culture and the world to be a lid of what God's going to do, you're not going to experience the breakthrough that God truly has for your life.

What God is ultimately encouraging us to do is recognize that I'm doing a new thing on the inside of you.

So can you believe for me for just a second to create a new structure for the new thing that I'm doing in your life?

It takes a lot of wisdom to recognize when something just doesn't fit you anymore.

This is why I love the story of David when he was about to fight Goliath, because what happens here is that Saul comes and tries to put his armor on David.

But David looked and did a wardrobe check and said, like, hey, that outfit works for you, but it doesn't work for me.

What God is doing on the inside of me is bigger than what you want to try to put on me.

I know you want me to fight your way.

I know you want me to worship your way.

I know you want me to pray your way, but what God is doing uniquely in me is just for me.

And I'm not going to allow you to limit what God is trying to do in my life.

I'm going to worship the way that God leads me to worship.

I'm going to serve the way that God leads me to serve.

I'm going to be in my family, the way that God leads me to be in my family.

I will not be restricted by the culture or the pains of the brokenness of this world.

I want to let God have free reign in my life.

See, when we're a follower of the ways of Jesus, it alters our limits.

As I said, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 tells us to lay aside every sin and wait.

Hebrews 12:1

So how do we lay those things aside?

We lay them aside when we come to the altar.

I'm going to invite the worship team to come back out and to join me at this time as we prepare to close.

We lay it aside when we come to the altar.

To make it simple, the altar is the meeting place with God.

It's the place that we intersect with God.

It's a place where heaven meets earth.

It's sacred space where we are inviting God, and God is inviting us in into this place or space with God that allows us to basically benefit in two different ways.

Those two ways is that when we come to the altar, it's a place where we're able to experience surrender.

It's also a place where we're able to experience strength.

When we come into the presence of God and we create sacred space, it allows us to recognize that I'm coming to the altar.

And as I come to the altar, I'm laying aside things that God doesn't want me to carry anymore, and I'm picking up God's strength so I can walk in the grace that He has on my life.

When Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane, he turned it into a sacred space between him and God.

And what I love about this beautiful idea is that while he was in there praying to God, this place that he turned into a sacred space, he says, Lord, if there's any other way for us to fulfill this profound covenant, let it happen.

He's he's taken his burdens, he's taken his cares to the altar.

But he ultimately concludes, but nevertheless, not my will, your will be done.

This is a place of surrender.

When we come to the altar, when we enter into a sacred space with God, we are able to surrender the thing that we've been carrying, that maybe is calling us to have sleepless nights, the things that are weighing us down, the things that are activating stresses and burdens in our life.

We we have the ability to lay it at the altar.

But the moment that Jesus says, Not my will, but your will be done, the text actually says, Then the angels came and they strengthened him.

It's when he surrendered, is when he experienced strength.

It's when he laid it down that he picked up the power of God.

When he put it in God's hands, that's when God put his hands on him.

I recognize that for all of us, there are things that maybe we are carrying that we need to be casting.

And there's a strength that we need to have.

I know that I have turned multiple places into a sacred space with me and God.

I've turned my car into an altar before the Lord where I've just cried out and I laid down and surrendered some things and picked up his strength.

I I've made my bedroom an altar where I've laid down my burdens and I picked up his strength.

I've come to this altar myself and I've laid down some things and I picked up his strength.

What I want us to understand is that when we go into the presence of God and we create sacred space, it allows us to lay down the things that are weighing us down, but it allows us to benefit from picking up his strength.

The altar is the place that we are altered.

The altar is the place that everything begins to change and shift, and the weight begins to come off and we don't pick it back up.

My marriage has been altered at the altar.

My mindset has been altered at the altar.

My the way that I steward my money has been altered at the altar.

The way that I understand ministry has been altered at the altar.

That the way that I lead our church has been altered at the altar.

The way that I understand the way that we serve this context of ministry has been altered at the altar.

That the way that I understand my family and my responsibility has been altered at the altar.

I even have had to lay down areas where maybe I've been holding on to unforgiveness in my heart and in my own strength.

I knew that I didn't have the capacity to forgive people that have violated me.

But when I got into the presence of God and I was able to say, Lord, I don't know how I can forgive.

Lord, I don't know how I can move forward.

Lord, this thing is a heavy weight that is weighing me down.

And I understood that God said, That is not my best for your life.

Will you put it in my hands?

But you're gonna have to meet me at the meeting place.

And when you put it in my hand, I will give you the strength to forgive.

I will give you the strength to move forward.

I will give you the strength to endure.

What I want you to understand, church, is that when we create sacred space to God and we lay it at the altar, we can lay down our weaknesses and pick up his strength.

We can lay down our burdens and pick up his glory.

We can lay down our frustrations and pick up his power.

It's the ability for us to lay aside every sin and weight that is slowing us up and keeping us from functioning in the optimal condition and saying that, Lord, I am not moving in the optimal pace, but I'm laying it at the altar and I'm gonna move in the direction you've called me to go in because I'm placing it in your hands.

This is what God is calling us to do.

This is why during worship we'll see people come to the altar.

This is why we see people lift their hands, they're creating sacred space and they're inviting God to come in.

And they're saying, Lord, I put it in your hands because I know that I can experience your power.

Theologically speaking, the cross, the cross is the most powerful expression of sacred space for us as a church.

We understand that it's at the cross of Christ, it's at the cross where we're able to lay down our burdens, we're able to lay down our sins and pick up salvation and pick up forgiveness and pick up freedom, the ability to pick up strength.

With every head bowed and with every eye closed in here, I want us to take inventory for a second and ask the question what is it that I'm carrying right now that is weighing me down?

What are the things that as I look at as we conclude this time of prayer and fasting, that I look and say, Lord, I'm I'm I'm still carrying this weight that I need to bring into your presence because I need to surrender it into your hands.

Lord, it's it's it's weighing me down and I'm not flourishing the way that it is.

I want you to just think on that for a second.

We're we're gonna go back into worship in just a second.

And what I'm asking you to do is to make sacred space where you are and begin to say, Lord, I surrender this into your hands and I'm gonna pick up your strength.

Maybe sacred space for you is coming up to this altar.

Maybe sacred space for you is just staying in your seat.

Maybe sacred space for you for those who are joining us online are just literally just meditating on it.

But what I don't want us to miss is an opportunity to pause and invite the presence and the power of God to move and transform our lives.

You see, if the altar is the place where God ultimately alters us, baptism is the place where we get our new outfits.

There's some of us in here that God is even stirring in our hearts right now and saying that your next step is you need to be baptized.

Because what baptism is, it's acknowledging that I'm leaving some things in my past and I'm gonna put on the new wardrobe that God has for me in the future.

I'm gonna just leave it in the water.

Wherever you are in here, whatever your next step is, don't leave here without taking it.

Let's stand on our feet together, let's worship, and let's get into what God wants to speak and do in us today.

Lord, we thank you.

We thank you for your presence.

We we thank you for your grace, God, and we thank you, Lord, that you are with us right now.

And Father, right now, we create sacred space where we are.

Father, we create sacred space in our seats.

We create sacred space up here up front.

And God, as we look at the things that we're carrying, the worries, the burdens, the things that are weighing us down, Father, we take them and place them into your hands.

And Father, I pray that we can pick up your strength as a result of it.

Father, I pray that you stir our hearts and help us to recognize that maybe our next step is to get baptized.

Father, I pray that maybe our next step is to surrender our life to you.

But whatever it is, Father, I pray that you give us the courage and boldness to lay it at the altar and pick up the new thing that you have for us.

Speak to us, Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name.

Let's worship together, church.

Thanks again for listening.

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