A Quiet Place | 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.

Yes, yes, yes.

She had a lot to cover in like four minutes, and she did a remarkable job.

She did a remarkable job.

I think it's just a it's a beautiful representation of all the things that um that God is doing through our community.

I I was I was standing over there and just listening to all the things and the announcements, and I was like, man, I I just love um being a part of this church.

And and of course, that seems like that would be the price of admission, but I just love seeing a church that's that's active, that's vibrant, that has so much um opportunities for us to get involved in.

So I pray that you find whatever your next step is and get connected to um community.

Before I jump into my message, can we put our hands together for all those who are joining us online as well as those who listen to the podcast?

What is up?

What is up?

We're so, so glad um that you are here with us.

If you ever happen to be in the Orlando area, provided that you're not, please consider coming and checking out uh one of our services in person.

We truly believe that um you would love the community and love to get connected.

Um, also, um, before I jump into the message, I I would be remiss if I didn't take an opportunity to shout out my brother Pastor Mike and Ashley are here in the building.

Go ahead and stand, let the people see you guys.

Let me go ahead and go ahead and stand and and and let them see you.

Many of you guys may remember that that Pastor Mike was here on staff with us many years.

In fact, he was part of the launch team that planned a celebration in Orlando and then God called him, um, or maybe not, um, to go to um Atlanta.

Um, we'll see.

Um, but he's doing incredible work there, but we're so glad that he's back uh amongst us.

And Mike and I, we came from uh a church discipline um that was called Always Be Ready.

So Mike's gonna be preaching.

I'm just kidding, Mike.

I wouldn't do that to you.

I wouldn't do that to you, brother.

Next time I will though.

Um if you have your Bibles, join me in 1 Kings chapter 19.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

We're in week three of our series, Whole Life.

And really, what this series was built upon is built off of this passage of scripture that's found in 3 John verse 2.

And I'll read it to you.

It says that I pray that you are prospering in every way and are in good health, just as your whole life is going well.

The premise is that that John is communicating to his disciple is he says that we understand that we are a triune beings, triune beings.

What that means is that in essence, we're made of body, that's our flesh, soul, that's our mind, our will, our emotions, basically our personality, and then our spirit.

That's the that's the God factor, that's the godliness that's in us.

We're triune beings.

And and what can happen for many of us who are followers of Christ, we can believe that our walk with God is simply spiritual, that I can be doing well spiritually and everything else can be out of whack, and that's just okay.

But but what John is communicating to us is that God's will for our life is not only that we are doing well spiritually, but we're doing well mentally and emotionally, but also physically as well.

That's what this idea of whole life is.

It's about getting things to a place where we're thriving in every area of our lives.

When he says that I want your life to go well or to prosper, what he's actually saying is I want every area of your life to move forward.

I want every area of your life to move forward.

I want you to move forward physically, I want you to move forward emotionally and mentally, I want you to move forward spiritually.

God's desire is for us to move forward.

So over the past couple weeks, we've been unpacking varying ideas, and I believe each message built on the previous.

So the first week we talked about getting things in order.

It's so hard to move forward if you have chaos in your life.

The next week we talked about control and learning that some things are just out of our control until we live a life of surrender.

We will find that it's hard to move forward if we have to be in control.

And so if you didn't check those messages out, go back and check them out.

I think that they can be an encouragement for you.

But today's message, man, I gotta tell you, it's probably one of my favorites because it's a it's a fresh revelation for me.

Let me let me paint the scene for you.

Today we're gonna be talking um about a prophet named Elijah.

Now, Elijah, I don't know any better way to say this.

Like he was the man, he was he was anointed, he was powerful, he was a vessel that that God used to do some incredible things.

And and there's different moments when I when I read the Bible and I see certain characteristics in people in the Bible, and I'm like, man, I feel like I can relate to him.

I feel like there's an aspect of his characteristic that either I want to try to be like or that I can certainly connect to.

And and Elijah has some aspects of him that I'm like, man, I'm completely dialed in with this guy.

It's not because he called down fire from heaven.

I God hasn't given me that ability.

It's it's not because he's able to manifest um oil for a widow.

Like, I God didn't give me that gift either.

Um, it's not even the ability to to to cause rain to stop.

For three years, God didn't give me that gift.

But what I love about Elijah is that brother was sarcastic.

God did give me that gift.

Megan is like, okay, Megan, calm down.

Um, if you read the previous chapter, he has this moment where he's battling against the prophets of Baal.

And and I challenge you to go back and read it.

But there's a moment where it's just Elijah and he's battling against 700 other prophets.

Uh now imagine for a moment.

This is like Battle Royale.

This is my second WWE wrestling reference in two weeks.

You're welcome.

So, so imagine, imagine it's just Elijah against 700 other prophets.

And the idea is whoever can call down the presence of God, let that person be the worshiper of the true God.

So as Elijah is waiting there for these 700 prophets, and they're doing all these different things to try to get this false, non-existent God to respond.

And Elijah and all of his pettiness says, Maybe he's taking a nap.

Pray a little bit louder.

I don't know, but I just feel like I can relate to petty Christians.

Anyway, we're gonna jump.

We can jump into the word of God right now.

Elijah's name means my God is Yahweh, which is very fitting because the focus of his ministry was to present a healthy vision of who God is.

So he's just defeated the prophets of Baal, and you would imagine after such a triumphant victory, that he's filled with so much inspiration, so much, so much hope, so much fervency that he would be doing a victory lap.

But the text shows us something interesting that takes place.

Starting here at verse number one, it says this When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel, I feel like we should do this.

Whenever I say Jezebel, people just say boo.

Which let's try this.

When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel, Nicely done.

When Ahab got home, we're gonna do this again.

When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Bel.

So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: May the God strike me and even kill me by this time tomorrow, if I have not killed one of you like you killed them.

And Elijah was afraid and he and he fled for his life.

He went to Beersheba in a town in Judah, and he left his servant there.

And then he went alone into the wilderness, traveling all day.

He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die.

I've had enough, Lord, he said.

Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.

Then he laid down and slept under the broom tree.

But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, Get up and eat.

He looked around, and there beside his head was some baked bread on hot stones and a jar of water, so he ate and drank and lay down again.

Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.

So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.

There he came to the cave where he spent the night.

But the Lord said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?

Elijah replied, I I've been zealous and served the Lord God Almighty, but the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets.

I am left alone, and now they're trying to kill me.

Go out and stand before me on the mountain, the Lord said to him.

And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain.

It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind.

And then there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And then after the earthquake there was fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire there was a sound of a gentle whisper.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and he went and he stood at the cave's entrance.

And a voice said, What are you doing here, Elijah?

You know, each one of us that we pour ourselves out in some way or another.

Whether it's at your job, whether whether you're a doctor, a lawyer, uh a medical professional, maybe you're a stay-at-home mom, stay-at-home dad, whatever it is that you do, you you pour yourself out.

You're you're you're taking what's in you when you're doing your best to invest and make a difference in other people.

But but the question becomes what do you do when you're depleted?

What do you do when you feel like you have nothing left to give?

You know, the Bible says that God refreshes those who refresh others.

But there are times when I feel as if my pouring out is quicker than my ability to be refreshed.

So what do we do in order to be refreshed?

Today I want to talk to us about a forgotten and often overlooked spiritual discipline that I believe if we can incorporate it into our lives has the ability to change everything.

If you're taking notes, I want you to write this message title down a quiet place.

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

Heavenly Father, I count it as an honor uh to stand before your people.

And Lord, I silence myself and I I decrease and ask for you to increase.

So Lord, um, I pray that you give us open eyes to see you, open ears to hear you, and open hearts to receive what it is that you want to do um in us today.

Holy Spirit, inspire us, change us, challenge us.

Help us to take our next step in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

You know, one of the one of my favorite things about um pastoring this incredible church is its diversity.

I I love that over the past, I guess, almost 17 years in ministry, um, God has allowed me to be part of such diverse communities.

And the thing that I love about it is what it exposes you to.

It exposes you to different cultures and different backgrounds and things that if you kind of live in your own bubble, that you can miss out on.

So because I'm connected to such a diverse culture of people, there are moments that God will challenge me and inspire me to step into places that may be just beyond the boundaries of my comfort.

One of those instances is when a good friend of mine had invited me to go hunting.

Why are y'all laughing?

Um, I don't want to be stereotypical, but there's nothing in me um that ever had thought that hunting would be something that's in my future.

So initially, when I was invited to do it, um, they were like, Man, you're gonna enjoy it, man.

It's gonna be awesome.

Like, you're gonna absolutely love it.

Man, you you gotta do it.

So I'm like, okay, man, I'm open to new experiences.

I'm open to go and do some things I've never done before.

Let's go.

I thought it was a good idea until they woke me up at three o'clock in the morning.

I said, Lord's not even up yet.

He's not, he's still asleep.

Um, but I get up and I'm upset, I'm frustrated, I'm annoyed, and then they load me into the back of this truck.

And so we're like out in the deep woods, and as we're riding there and I'm looking around, and I see a couple of guys that I know, but there's a lot of guys I don't know, and they're all like got their camo on, they got their faces all painted up.

I'm sitting there with like my Timberlands on and and and a Nike hoodie, and I'm like, man, like some one of these things don't fit.

And and and as they're driving deeper and deeper into the woods, I begin to take inventory of the people around me.

You got it.

I'm the only one that looks like me.

Going deep into the woods with a bunch of guys with guns.

I said, This is the beginning of a horror film.

And we know what happens to people that look like me in horror films.

They typically don't make it past the credits.

Thank God for Jordan Peel, man.

He's changing the narrative for us.

Nope.

Get out.

Us.

Like, I'm just so I'm I'm I'm at this space where I'm looking around, feeling deeply uncomfortable, but I'm like, okay, you know, but but God is with me.

They drop me off and then send me, like, hey, just just walk down, you're gonna see this ladder, climb up the ladder, and and just sit there and take in the silence.

So here I am walking in the pitch dark.

I can't see a thing.

I got my little cell phone light, it's terrible.

I'm walking around.

I finally find this little ladder, and I climb up the ladder, but I left a gun at the bottom of the tree.

Because they didn't give me like a strap, and I'm like, they're not gonna catch me carrying a gun, it goes off and I kill myself out here and nobody finds me.

So, at least if I'm up here, nothing can get to me.

So I'm sitting up in the tree with no weapon, just sitting there.

And as I sat there, I felt like the world began to close in on me.

It was so dark, and there was nothing but complete silence.

Now I'm I'm from the city, and so you don't realize like the noise pollution that we have.

You don't realize just how much stuff is going on.

But when you kind of get out into like the mountains and you get out into these secluded places and you actually hear nothing, that's actually eerie when you're not used to it.

So as I'm sitting there in complete silence, I'm like, this is this is weird.

I'm on the verge of hyperventilating.

I'm like, this, my friends have lied to me.

They said there was gonna be peace, they told me it was gonna be a great place to just relax.

I feel like the devil is attacking me.

What is that that just crawled on me?

Oh my god, like I'm I'm I'm about to lose my mind.

And then literally there was this moment where I was like, okay, Keith, calm down.

I I'm I'm literally talking to it, calm down.

Breathe in, breathe out.

So I start to do these rhythmic breathing, and my my emotions begin to calm down and and I shift from a place of panic to a place of peace because now what was once scary in this silence actually became a place where I could just quiet myself down and truly begin to reflect.

It was amazing and it was so surreal as I now was able to appreciate this place of silence.

It actually became a place of refuge where I was able to just process and download.

It was like I I disconnected from all of the confusion, I disconnected from all the activity.

I put my phone away and I just sat there and I just stood still.

It's interesting how I was in the same place but had a different experience because I changed my posture.

See, I believe this that our posture determines our perspective.

That it's possible for us to be in the same place, but if we don't have the proper posture, what is supposed to bring us peace can usher us into a place of panic.

See, the quiet place, this place that I believe that God will often lead us into, if we're not careful, a place that should be solitude can get turned into isolation.

See, when we look at the life of Elijah, he he lived a life where he did some powerful things for God, but when he hears this threat, he goes into isolation.

See, the problem with isolation is that we get disconnected from community.

The problem with isolation is that we find ourselves removed from any source of help.

Elijah was afraid, and it's completely understandable because this is your part.

Jezebel, Jezebel was a terrible person.

She killed so many prophets.

She literally took the people of Israel and led them into false idol worship.

So Elijah in his ministry was all about battling her and shutting down her influence.

So when he defeats her prophets, she feels like this is an attack on me and it's an attack on my authority.

So she she issues this threat to Elijah.

Elijah is terrified and he runs into this place of isolation.

What's interesting to recognize with this place of isolation is that as Elijah is on the run, he goes to a place where Jezebel, come on, stick with me.

Y'all never know what's gonna come up, where she doesn't have any jurisdiction.

See, the the kingdom was separated into two parts.

There was the northern kingdom, which is pretty much all the tribes of Israel, and then there was the southern kingdom, which was the tribe of Judah.

And what we learn is that each of the tribes, they had their own symbolism and own meaning.

Take, for instance, the Levites.

They were the priests, they were the ones who took care of the word of God.

So then when we look at Judah, we understand that Judah was the praise and worship group.

Their job was to usher us into the presence of God.

So it's interesting that when Elijah is on the run, he still had the wherewithal to go to a place where the enemy didn't have jurisdiction, and that just so happened to be the place where there was praise.

I'm not sure if anybody caught that, but there's sometimes we feel as if the enemy is breathing down our backs, and we feel like that no matter where I turn, it seems as if I'm being inundated with lies and attack.

But if we only could understand, if I can get to the place where he doesn't have jurisdiction, then maybe I can begin to experience freedom.

Your praise is the place that the enemy doesn't have jurisdiction.

Your praise is the place that the enemy doesn't have access.

Why is that?

I'm glad you asked me.

Because God inhabits the praises of his people, that every time we lift up our hands, that every time we declare the goodness of God, that every time we exalt God above all else, that it brings in the presence of God and the enemy recognizes I can't cross this boundary because God will judge me.

What if we only understood that every time we face an attack at the job, that every time we deal with opposition from the enemy, if we could just give a God a little bit of praise, that it begins to move the enemy from out of our jurisdiction, if we only understood the power of our praise, our praise draws a boundary that the enemy is unable to pass.

Elijah had the wherewithal to go to a place where the enemy didn't have any access.

While he's there, he begins to isolate himself because what the scripture says is while he's there, he leaves his servant behind.

He goes deeper into the woods.

Now, now that doesn't seem like that would be a terrible idea because sometimes we just need to be alone.

Any introverts in the building.

I'll put up both hands.

Sometimes you just need some time to yourself.

We all can understand and appreciate it.

We need some time to disconnect and to and to be on our own.

But the problem is Elijah wasn't going into a place of solitude, he was going into a place of isolation.

There's a difference between the two.

You see, what solitude is is me running into the presence of God.

What isolation is is me running away from him.

What solitude does is solitude is a place where I'm able to engage.

Isolation is a place where I try to escape.

Solitude brings me to a place of safety.

Isolation brings me to a place of danger.

Solitude allows me to open myself up to the things of God, but isolation puts a target on my back for the enemy.

Solitude is when I set aside time to allow myself to allow my soul and my spirit to be nourished and let myself mature.

But isolation is the place that I go when I'm not taking care of my soul and I feel neglected.

Solitude, as sober as it sounds, isn't anything but loneliness.

It's communing with God.

Isolation is the ecosystem that loneliness thrives in.

You see, scripture tells us how David was continuously on the run.

And there were moments that he was alone.

From the moment that he was anointed king, he dealt with opposition.

But interestingly enough, he often talks about when he was in these moments of solitude, how he found strength in them.

Psalm 46, 1 says, God is our refuge and strength.

Always ready to give help in times of trouble.

David wrote these while he was living in a cave on his own.

He wasn't in isolation, he was in solitude because he continued to saturate himself in the presence of God.

Psalm 32 7 says, For you are my hiding place, you protect me from trouble, you surround me with songs of victory.

What David demonstrates to us is that it's possible to remove ourselves from the chaos and engage the presence of God in such a way that the enemy can't gain access to us and we can grow stronger as a result of it.

Looking at the life of Jesus, we see that he lived a disciplined life where he constantly engaged this idea of solitude.

If we if we call it solitude, maybe it trips us up a little bit.

So the actual term would be a quiet place.

What it says in Luke chapter 5, it says that, but the news about him began to spread even more, and large crowds would come to gather together to hear him and to be healed of their sickness.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

Yet he often withdrew to a deserted place and pray or to a quiet place.

Now, if we're honest with ourselves, if Jesus was doing ministry right now, if he was in the 21st century, Jesus' marketing team would say, Listen, Jesus, you're hot right now, you're trending.

So so there's a lot of people that want to get interviews with you.

There's a lot of things that you need to do in order to continue to grow your brand.

So we need you to be active, we need you to be posted, we need to do TikTok, we need to get a Jesus dance, we need to do all These things in order to increase your popularity, because of course that's where your value is.

Jesus said, No, I don't need any of that.

Imagine if Jesus lived and did his ministry looking for the validation of man.

But because he consistently, after profound miracles, would disconnect and go and get into the presence of God, he says that I am living for the audience of one.

And even after I feed the multitude, I'm going to go and get a download from God.

And even after I open up blind eyes, I'm going to prioritize getting away in the presence of God.

He wanted to make sure that he got away from the chaos.

I believe that if we look at the life of Jesus and we can extract some of those principles, it can keep us from getting consumed by these things that the world throws at us.

He would silence himself because we're all so easily distracted.

And then he will let things slow down.

You know, I love to listen to audible books.

It's one of my favorite things, and naturally, um, I listen to it at twice the speed.

Because like I need to get through it quicker so that way I can get the little badges that tells me how accomplished I am at the end of the month.

Like, why do we let this stuff happen to us?

But but but as I'm listening to the audible book, there was this one book that was really, really good.

I'm listening to it at twice the speed and I'm crushing through it.

I'm like, man, this is amazing.

So at the end of the book, I have these reflective moments.

I get to the end of it, I'm like, that was amazing.

I have learned nothing.

I don't remember anything.

So I went back and I replayed it at its normal speed.

And at first, I gotta be honest with you, it messed me up because it was so slow.

I was used to listening to a movie like this.

But it was now saying, now let's turn to the gospel of John.

And I was like, this is terrible.

This is awful.

Like, I don't know if I could do this because my mind wanted to go so fast and I wanted to consume it.

But the truth of the matter is, I was listening fast but learning slow.

What if God wants to invert that for us and say, I need you to learn to listen slow so you can learn quicker?

We often move at a pace that supersedes the grace of God, and we're wondering why we're not retaining the things that he wants to do in our life.

Jesus would disconnect and allow things to slow down.

This is why he never seemed bothered.

You ever notice how Jesus just didn't seem like he was in a rush?

Like, do you remember the story of Lazarus where it's like, hey, your friend is dead, like he's dying.

Jesus, like, okay, cool, man, I'm gonna chill for two more days.

Like, it's something about him.

Like, if that's me, I'm like, okay, let me hop up, let me go right now.

Like, what's the quickest way I can get there?

Jesus, like, man, he's not doing well?

Like, how bad is it?

Like, Jesus not looking good.

Cool, cool, cool.

Okay, I'm gonna chill for two more days.

Jesus just had this very unhurried rhythm in his life, unrushed, because he he had these moments where he knew how to download in the presence of God and he walked with this pace of peace.

He just knew how to go slow.

You see, I believe that Jesus had the strength, the capacity, the wisdom to move at a pace of grace because he had regular moments where he got alone with God.

Those moments where he he was in solitude, not an isolation.

See, when we look at this narrative and we look at Elijah, there's this moment where he's living in isolation, but God wants to turn it into solitude.

And the truth of the matter is, I think for some of us, if we're honest with ourselves, we're living in isolation right now.

Sure, we we may be around people, but it's possible to be alone and yet still be surrounded by people at the same time.

It's possible to have a bunch of folks around you, but still feel alone and isolated.

And so Elijah is at this place where he's isolated, he's all alone, but God said, if you can just change your posture a little bit, we can take this alone time and turn it to something that would allow me to empower you.

See, Elijah was at this point in his life where he said, I've had enough.

I can't do this anymore.

I I've I've done what you wanted me to do, God, and I'm not seeing the results.

I I can't keep this up.

Let me let me um translate that into a current context for us.

Let me let me try it this way.

Okay, God, I went to the small group and I still haven't found my people.

I don't know if I can keep this up.

Lord, I went to the equipped class on finances, but I'm still finding myself running behind.

I don't know if I can keep this up.

Yeah, Lord, me and my wife, we we went to marriage counseling, but but we still aren't getting a breakthrough.

I don't know if if I can keep this up.

Has anybody ever done the things that you're supposed to do and you don't see the results and you've gotten to that point where you feel like I don't know if I can keep this up?

It's in those moments that we're vulnerable because that's when it's easy for us to withdraw and go into isolation, go into autopilot, just kind of go into a place where we allow the noise and the lies of the enemy to withdraw and we end up getting stuck there, just buffering.

Just we can't process, we just end up staying there.

But but God, He found Elijah where he was and he brought him into a place where I'm not calling you into isolation, I'm calling you into solitude.

And I think there's three things that we must do to change our isolation into solitude.

Here's the first thing that we absolutely have to do.

We have to engage God's word.

We have to engage God's word.

If you are at a space where you're in a quiet place and you're not engaging God's word, unfortunately you're going to be influenced by the lies of the enemy.

It is it is inevitable that if I am removed and I've kind myself in a place where it's a quiet place and I'm not engaging God's word, I am going to be vulnerable to the enemy because the lies will begin to creep in, the doubt will begin to creep in, the condemnation will creep in, and I'll continue to replay my pain and I will never get the perspective that God wants me to have.

We have to engage God's word.

See, the angel comes to Elijah and he says, get up and eat.

Because if you don't do that, you're not going to have the strength to continue on your journey.

Like there's still some work you got to do, there's some places you got to go, but if you don't get up and eat, you're not gonna make it.

Here's why this is so relevant.

There are so many scriptures that equate the word of God with food.

Like there's more than I can even announce.

So you can Google it or you can just trust me, but you can check it out.

But there's so many different passages of scripture that equate the word of God with food.

Now, here's what we know about food.

We love food.

My God.

Hey, hey, I'm telling you, like I I just I I love, I love, like, I love to cook food, I love to eat food.

They're like, I know, Keep, I can tell, shut up.

Okay, so we we we we love food, and and and but here's the practical thing.

What food does is like our metabolism converts that food into energy that allows us to succeed, allows us to thrive, it allows us to live.

So we have a metabolism that converts food into energy, right?

That's how it's supposed to work.

God uses this connection of the word of God with food because he wants us to understand as important as food and water is to your natural body, the word of God is to your spirit.

You you can't go too long without eating and drinking naturally, neither can you spiritually.

It's when I engage God's word that allows me to have this fancy diet that allows me to be nourished in my soul and metabolized faith.

What God wants us to do is to have a steady diet of his word.

So then it begins to convert his word into truth that I need for the journey that's ahead of me.

So now when I begin to face opposition and the enemy is coming after me and I feel like I cannot survive, instead of me going back in fear, word of God begins to come out, and I can declare there's no weapon that is formed against me that shall prosper.

When I begin to recognize that the enemy is coming after my marriage, and instead of me giving up and saying I can't take it, the word of God comes out and I say, But what God is joined together, let no man put asunder.

When I recognize the word of God and allow it to come in, even in moments when I feel inadequate, the word of God rises up and I say, But I can do all things through Christ Jesus that strengthens me.

Even when I make a mistake and I feel as if and somehow I'm no longer good enough for the things of God.

The Bible tells me there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

When I engage the word of God, it has the ability to renew my mind.

It changes the way that I see things.

The way that we can convert our isolation into solitude is making sure that we engage God's word.

The next thing we need to do is we need to engage God's presence.

We have to engage the presence of God.

This is not a passive thing, this is active.

You see, when Elijah is in a mountain and he says to him, What are you what are you doing here, Elijah?

Elijah goes into this speech, man, I'm all alone, I feel isolated, I feel rejected, and God's like, Man, get up.

Go out and stand in my presence.

Now Elijah could have very well said, Man, listen, God, I'm kind of comfortable.

Can't you just tweet it to me?

Can't you text me?

Um can't can't you just make this simple for me?

But God said, No, I need you to actively engage my presence.

So Elijah gets up, and when he gets up, he he stands at this spot, and what happens is God begins to move.

And what happens first is we see that there's this tornado that comes, this wind comes and it loosens up the rocks.

And and the Bible says, but God wasn't in that.

Then after that, then the ground begins to shake, literally, an earthquake.

And Elijah's like, surely that's that's gotta be the presence of God, and it says, but but God wasn't in that.

And and then the fire came, and Elijah's like, Okay, man, I know God moves through fire, so this is the presence of God, and it said, God is not in that.

And then it said there was this whisper, and that is when Elijah knew that's God.

Watch this.

All of those things were symbols of what God did with Moses.

Pay attention to this.

See, a lot of times when we're in isolation, we end up struggling with comparison.

See, when Elijah was in isolation, he said, God, I'm no better than your servants.

He began to compare himself primarily to Moses.

So God took him outside and showed him how he moved with Moses, but was also showing him, that's not how I'm gonna speak to you.

I'm gonna speak to you in the silence.

What I've learned on my journey with being a follower of Christ is that sometimes I used to believe that the presence with God was only gonna be found if I can get chills during worship.

I I used to feel that it was the presence of God only if I could start to cry when the preacher is preaching.

It was only the presence of God if it could just get this feeling.

Because you know what?

That's how I got saved.

When I got saved, I I cried.

When I got saved, the the earth shook.

When I got saved, there was fire on the inside of me.

So I end up trying to be this person that was chasing after this high.

God, like God, like God, you got you got to do that because that's the that's the only way that you move.

But maturity allows you to recognize what I did then is not what I'm doing now.

I I I used to speak to you this way because you needed evidence, you needed proof, you you needed to see some things, but but you've grown up.

You don't need to feel the feelings.

I just need you to be able to stand still and listen to my voice even when I'm whispering.

Some of us, we end up uprooting ourselves and chasing after a high that God is not interested in fulfilling.

What God is looking for for us is to get into a place where just His word is good enough for us.

He's He's looking for us to get to a place where just being obedient is good enough for us.

He's looking for us to get to a place where I can see a word that's highlighted in the Bible and I can meditate on that all day.

This is what God was ushering Elijah to, is showing that I want to speak to you even in the silence, but can you stand still long enough for it?

Stop chasing after the emotions, stop chasing after all the signs and wonders.

Can you just stand still and let me speak through the silence?

Elijah was was confounded in this moment, but he was also inspired.

Here's the third thing that I want us to remember that's so important about when we're trying to turn our isolation into solitude.

The worship team can join me.

It's this we have to engage God's community.

See, when we engage God's word, we engage God's presence, it's rarely just for us.

It's normally to empower us, to activate us, and then to release us to get back to community.

With Elijah, if you remember his speech, he was like, Lord, I'm all alone.

I have I have nobody to help me.

I feel like I'm I'm on an island all by myself, I can't do it anymore.

And when you read further in the chapter, God says, Man, you got it twisted.

I still got 7,000 more prophets that have not bowed a knee to Baal.

Not only that, there's some other kings that are gonna come in and they're gonna undo all the mess and the craziness that Jezebel come on, a little slow, but we got there, that Jezebel and her king had end up doing.

I I I need you to get back to work.

We've had this moment in solitude where where you've heard, you've engaged my word, you've eaten, you've gotten strong, so you can get back to on mission.

You've you've you've engaged my presence, you stood, and you recognize that I'm not speaking to you through all those things anymore.

I'm speaking to you through the stillness and how to be silent.

But now that I've done that, it's time for you to get back to community.

You know, one of the biggest delineations between isolation and solitude is that isolation tries to keep you there, solitude activates you to get back to work.

He said, get back to work.

It's time for you to get off the sidelines and get back to work.

There's there's actually another prophet who's gonna pick up where you left off at, who's waiting for you to recognize him.

There's there's kings that you need to be preparing to anoint to carry on my message.

You are not alone.

God is like, I'm with you, but there's a community of people that's with you, and you got to get back to work.

God is inviting us that when we usher ourselves into these places of solitude, it's for me to get filled up with God's presence, but it's also meant for me to continue to pour out.

Isolation wants to keep you there, but solitude it wants to move you forward.

This is why groups are important, this is why being connected to teams is important, is it keeps us from living in isolation.

It helps us to be connected to the presence of God.

You know, one of the things I love about community is that it challenges us, it inspires us, it calls the best out of us.

You know, one of the things that I love about going to the gym is I typically go with my family.

And and Daenerys every morning will come to me, um, and I could hear her footsteps.

And I don't want to hear her footsteps.

But she comes in.

It's like, Dad, you ready for the gym?

And there was a couple of times I faked like I was still asleep.

I did, I did.

But for the most part, I'm like, yes, let's let's get up and go.

I love the accountability.

So we'll get up and we'll go.

But but I also love now, like, now I go to the gym with my son Caleb.

I mean, he's a he's a grown man.

Like, I mean, he's he's like, and so he's at that stage where like he's trying to like compete with dad a little bit.

And so like every now and then when he'll like say something, I'm like, hey man, is today the day?

He's like, what day?

I'm like, the day you test me.

Nah.

Let me help some of you young fathers out there.

If you can instill enough fear in your kids when they're young, when they get bigger than you, they're still scared of you.

Hold on to that.

So so Caleb is at that point where he's trying to test his boundaries, but when we go to the gym, man, like that boy is strong.

So there's moments when we're there, I'm I'm putting more weight on the bench than I normally would, but I gotta show him that I still got it.

But watch this.

I wouldn't have known that I could push some of that weight if I didn't have somebody there to push me.

This is the power of community, it calls something out of us that we didn't even know that was in us.

So when we're in isolation, we end up being a weaker version of what God wants us to be.

But when we're in solitude and God activates us with community, you see that yes, I can carry the weight.

Yes, I can do this, yes, I can move forward.

God never intended for us to do this thing alone.

Elijah was activated to get back to work.

You know, I I I gotta I got an honest confession with you guys for those that are part of our community.

Many of you know that that Megan and I just came back from sabbatical, eight weeks, and it was an amazing time.

And the first five weeks of it, it was so busy.

It was it was amazing.

Like we had a we have our grandson now, KP3, we call him Trey.

Like, I mean, like it's it's amazing like that to be to be in this stage of my life, and it's just it was beautiful.

But if I could be honest with you guys, we're getting to the end of of week number five, and I was like, man, I am still tired.

Like, I certainly thought that by week two I would be so refreshed and so rejuvenated, but I was still tired.

So here's what I began to ponder I said, man, I think I need like another two weeks, maybe another month, and and that that would be the thing that would help me.

And God spoke to me the way that he spoke to Elijah.

I was sitting at my friend's beach house, and God said, What are you doing here, Keith?

And at first I thought it was rhetorical, so I said, I'm working on my tan.

Um, some of y'all catch that.

He said, No, what are you doing here?

I'm like, Lord, you know, I just I feel like I need more time.

He said, You don't need more time, you need more me.

I I I honestly thought that if I had more time, that that would give me what I needed.

But what God reminded me was if you do that, that's you escaping, not you retreating.

I don't need you to escape, I need you to retreat in my presence.

And in that moment, in that moment alone, everything shifted inside of me.

I didn't need more time, I needed more Jesus.

I was able to shift from thinking that if I could just get more time to if I can just be still in the presence of God and let the silence do what it wants to do, it has the potential of changing everything.

My question for some of us is that maybe you are living in isolation.

You're around people, you're around community, you're busy, you're doing a lot of things, but you're you're chasing after something that that just hasn't been able to satisfy you.

You're chasing after something that hasn't brought you peace, that you're you're living in this place of of isolation and and and you're removed, you're disconnected from community, you don't you don't have peace, you don't have strength, you you have the wrong posture.

Maybe maybe you're looking for God to to turn the world upside down, maybe you're waiting for fire to come, maybe you're waiting for that feeling, and God is saying, That's not how I want to do this in your life.

I just want you to be still.

We're gonna go into a song of worship, and and I don't want anyone to to stand, I don't, I don't want anyone to to to move.

What I want us to do is I just want us to be still.

The song is called Quiet, and and what it's trying to do is usher us into this idea that instead of us feeling like there's another thing that we have to accomplish, what would it look like if we could just be still and receive the word from God?

And at the end of this song, we're gonna have a moment of silence and recognize that we're not chasing after feelings, that maturity doesn't allow us to do that, that we're gonna be still, and maybe God has a single word that can change everything for you, the same way that it did for me, the same way that it did for Elijah.

So I'm gonna ask Vinny and the team to lead us in this song.

And what I want us to do is just do our best, disconnect, put our phones down, try our best not to overthink about it, but just be present, listen to the words, and let's enjoy this moment of silence.

Lord, we thank you.

I thank you, God, for the gift of silence.

And I pray that as we engage this moment, that you speak to us, that you allow us to stand still and to recognize your voice.

I hear your voice up away from the distractions.

The presence of God to instruct us and the instructions of God to allow us to recommune with his people.

Father, I pray that this is not something that we just do on Sunday, that we can live a lifestyle where we silence ourselves, a rhythm of disconnecting from all the voices and all the distractions and comparison and all the things that have been chasing after us, but we can truly withdraw and retreat in your presence and just be still.

Allowing your word to renew our minds and to help us to understand what it is that you want to speak to us.

God, allowing us to be sensitive enough to your presence that it may not always be feelings, but it just may simply be in the silence you're whispering something ever so gently.

And the whisper reflects that you are just so close to us.

And Father, I pray that you empower us to continue to get back on mission, to get back to work, to get back to community, to continue to do the thing that you've called us to do.

We're grateful for this gift, and I pray that going forward we can have a quiet place and a quiet time where we can truly experience your best and have wholeness.

A word that God began to speak, something he reinforced.

Maybe there was a next step that you need to take.

Whatever he told you to do, do it.

Whatever he says, do it.

Forgive, do it.

Get involved, do it.

Don't overthink it.

Just allow that moment to inspire you, to challenge you, and get back on mission.

But maybe for some of us, maybe your next step is to live a surrendered life to Christ.

Maybe you know that you're away from God and that you've been living in isolation your entire life, even though you're surrounded by people.

But if you're honest, the the the fruit of it is brokenness, the fruit of it is condemnation, the fruit of it is not living a life of freedom.

The fruit of it is being fractured.

Maybe your next step is simply to say yes to Jesus.

I don't want to miss this moment.

So if that's you, we're not gonna rush, but I do want us to move.

If that's you, on account of three, would you be bold enough just to lift your hand?

It's my time to return to Jesus.

It's my time to say yes to Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

Amen.

Amen.

Church, we put our hands together for those who are saying yes to Jesus, even those who are joining us online.

We're so, so proud of you.

Here's what I want us to do: I want us all to stand on our feet.

I want to lead us in a prayer, then I'm gonna play a blessing over us, and then we're gonna get on with our day.

And maybe your next step is to get involved in one of our groups, come to the equipment.

Maybe it's to get involved on a team, or maybe it's just to keep showing up at church, whatever your next step is, just do it.

Whatever God spoke to you, do it.

But the biggest thing I want you to do is create the space and the time where you can enter into God's presence and turn it all off.

What I do now is I don't even bring my phone with me when I read my Bible.

And here's why I want to say this: because as much as I try to read my Bible from my phone, the alerts are going off, things are coming up to distract me.

So now when I engage God's word, when it's just me and him, I use a paper Bible.

I'm not prescribing that, but whatever you need to do to make sure that these distractions don't keep us from hearing from God, do it.

And I promise you your life will change.

For those that are saying yes to Jesus, just receive them in your heart.

I want you to receive them and then I want you to connect with us outside.

But I want to pray a blessing over us, and then we're gonna get on with the rest of our day.

Lift your hands up like you believe that you're gonna receive what I'm about to say.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May He make his face to shine upon you, and may He give you super natural peace in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

And amen.

God bless you guys.

We love you.

We will see you next week.

Thanks again for listening.

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