GOD the SPIRIT | The Presence of God

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.

All right, church.

How you guys doing?

You guys doing good?

I am I am so thankful to be in the household of faith.

I'm so grateful to be back.

I'm thankful for all of the prayers.

Can you guys believe it's been like almost six weeks since you heard from me?

So you can't imagine what God has been stirring and speaking to me.

So let's do this real quick.

Let's show some love to those who are joining us on at home, watching us online, as well as our celebration DC family.

So let's give them some love.

Thank you guys so much for joining us and being with us today, man.

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

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the book of Psalm, chapter 23.

Psalms 23 · chapter mention

We're gonna go to a couple of passages today, um, but we're gonna start there in the book of Psalms.

We've been in this series um entitled God the Spirit.

Um, and and our heart's desire, our heart's desire has really been to hopefully unpack the mystery of the Holy Spirit and let you realize just how accessible He is, how available He is, and how much if we can engage the Holy Spirit, then I believe that we can live spirit-filled, empowered, and purposeful lives.

And so over the past couple of weeks, we've we've had a chance to hear from some amazing people that are a part of our family that have been able to share different themes and ideas around how we can engage the Holy Spirit, and and I'm honored to come alongside and to contribute to that.

You know, at varying points in in my life, I've I've often had people ask me, uh, what is my my life verse?

What is your favorite uh verse, chapter, or whatever of the Bible?

And and and quite honestly, I've always wrestled with that because I believe that that I get different ideas and things from scripture in different seasons, so it can look a little bit differently from one season to the next, but at the expense of contradicting myself, a passage of scripture that I can find myself coming back to no matter what season I may be in, that adds on or brings clarity.

It is Psalm 23.

I reference it a lot because I believe it encapsulates a great deal about what God wants to speak to us.

Starting here at verse number one, it says this it says, The Lord is my shepherd, I have what I need.

He lets me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he renews my life, he leads me along the right paths for his name's sake.

Verse number four for even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger.

For you are with me.

Your ride and your staff, they they comfort me because you're with me.

I there's always something about verse number four that just begins to stir in my mind and in my heart, this idea that we can go through some some difficult times, but we don't have to be afraid of it because he is with us.

There's there's something to be said about what you walk through when you know who's with you when you're in it.

I I know that I've I've found myself wandering into the wrong neighborhoods at times, but when I know somebody in the neighborhood or I got the right people with me, you have a different level of confidence when you know who is with you.

I've always had a bigger brother who who played on the football team, significantly bigger, less good looking, but he was always with me.

I I always knew that that as long as I knew that he was with me, there was a different confidence when I was facing opposition.

Because I knew who was with me.

Verse number five says, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Or if you're looking at it in a more modern translation, you prepare a table for me in the presence of my haters.

Depending on what your translation is, you anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows.

And verse number six, only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life.

I will dwell in the house of the Lord for as long as I shall live.

See, verse number four, it it highlights the the primary thought I want to share with us today because it says, For you are with me.

You know, when I when I back up and I begin to think about the varying passages that I've seen in scripture, it seems as if whenever God gives someone a very daunting task, something that seems far beyond their capacity, their education, even their skill set or their willingness, he always encourages them with this statement, For I am with you.

With Abram, when he comes to him and says, I'm I'm going to make you the father of nations, like people are going to be blessed because of you.

How are you going to do that, God?

Just trust me and see it, I am with you.

When he when he appears before, when he appears before Moses in a burning bush, and this man who was running away from his past because he had killed a man was establishing a whole new life, and God appears before him and gives him this assignment of going back to the very thing he was running from, and giving him this assignment of confronting the people that were chasing him for the sake of getting God's people free.

You can only imagine that that if that Moses began to measure his assignment with his abilities, and he said, Man, you got the wrong person.

But then God said, You can do this.

Why?

Because I am with you.

When Joshua had this assignment of actually picking up the mantle after Moses in Joshua chapter 1, over and over again, God said, Be of good courage, don't be afraid.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Why?

Because I am with you.

There's something that I've seen from Genesis to Revelation that we consistently see that God wants to drill down into the minds and hearts of the people that follow him.

And I believe it has something to do with he is with us.

You see, when Jesus was walking on the face of the earth, he was fulfilling a prophecy that said that we shall call him Emmanuel, which means God with us.

And what scripture says is that Jesus begins to manifest these characteristics of God Himself.

And so people were trying to determine, is he God?

Is he a prophet?

That was the whole tension with the with the Pharisees.

Like he's doing some things that only the Messiah can do.

So is that God with us?

So you can only imagine as He as He's wrapping up his three and a half years of ministry, and as He's sitting with His disciples and what was going to be His last moments, He begins to speak to them in what I consider to be a uh kind of like an enigmatic pattern.

It was kind of confusing, and we have the we have the the benefit of a historical context and moving forward in time, but can you imagine in real time when Jesus is speaking to His disciples and saying to them, I am going to be with you forever, but I'm about to leave.

They really couldn't wrap their minds around it.

Thomas said, Lord, where are you going that we can't go?

Are you going to show us the Father?

He said, To see me is to see the Father.

Jesus is trying to help them to understand this dynamic, and then he says to them, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit, I'm going to send the comforter, and he is going to be with you.

And Jesus says in John 14, verse 18, I will not leave you as orphans, I am coming to you.

John 14:18

And then his final assignment, what we call the Great Commission, Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20.

Matthew 28:19

Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations.

That's essentially the assignment that every church that every believer has to go, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.

And remember, I am with you always until the very end.

I want to talk to us around this idea, and I've simply entitled today's message, The Presence of God.

Will you pray with me?

Lord, we thank you.

We thank you for your presence, God, because we recognize that in your presence is the fullness of joy and that you are indeed with us.

Lord, I pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes that we can see you, open ears that we can hear you, and open hearts that we can receive everything that you want to speak to us today.

We give you room.

We invite you in.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

Just write that down in your journals, put it in your calendars, and if you happen to see me, if you want to give me a gift, receiving gifts is one of my gifts.

So just do with that what you will.

I admit it, I own it.

Anytime my family tries to surprise me or do something, it never falls apart.

And it's not because I'm necessarily looking for it.

I'm not trying to chase down and see what they're doing, but I am an observer of human behavior.

So if you begin to do something a little off, kilter, I'm like, okay, you're something's off, what's going on?

And I begin to deduce and see exactly what's going on.

I remember one year they almost had me.

They almost had me.

There was one year where my daughter, she almost came and visited me and I didn't know it.

She was living in Atlanta, it was going to be the perfect surprise for my birthday.

Everything was all lined up.

Her and my wife concocted this conspiracy behind my back, and everything seemed as if it was good.

However, there was one mistake that they made.

Through their negotiation of how they were going to fulfill this thing that was birthed in darkness, because what's done in the dark would be brought to the light.

It's the truth.

My phone like it chirps at about like 12:30 a.m.

I I awaken because of course no one wants to get a text message that late, at least when you're as old as I am, because typically it's bad news.

So when I pick up my phone, I see that it's from my bank.

And I look at it, I'm like, okay, what in what in the world?

And I see that a transaction has gone through where someone has paid for some luggage at an airport.

The devil is a liar.

By 1232, I was already up, fully focused, calling the bank.

My wife looked at me with such frustration, she said, I can't stand you.

That's an interesting turn of events.

What's the problem?

She said, We were going to surprise you when De Niro was gonna show up, but she paid for the luggage using your car, and I just wish you weren't as meticulous with all that stuff.

She kind of goes into it.

I'm like, you know what?

I appreciate the effort, but you're gonna have to get your own car because you can't run nothing through this.

But it turns out the joke is on me because she went and got her own cart, and literally every day packages are showing up, and I don't know where.

I'm like, what's this doing here?

Who paid for this?

Like, so y'all pray for me.

So I digress.

I mention all that because this year, this past year, I was I was pleasantly surprised when they actually gave me a gift that I did not anticipate.

And and that's a big deal for me.

And they got me a smartwatch.

I'm not sure if I have any Apple Watch or Smartwatch fans in the houses, one of those things that I've been looking at, I'd been considering it, but I was like, okay, do I really need it?

It's it was something that I kind of resisted.

Oh, how my testimony has changed.

Ever since I got this watch on my wrist, it has been a substantial game changer.

You you guys have no idea the power that I feel now that I have this device on my wrist.

And let me explain to you why.

I genuinely believe this.

I believe this with the core of my being.

I'm not sure about anybody else's Apple Watch in their relationship with Siri.

I can't speak for you, but what I could tell you is my watch generally cares about my well-being.

It genuinely does.

Like it genuinely loves me.

It wants to make sure that I am good.

It encourages me.

I want to tell you guys this.

Just the other day, I was washing my hands for the full 20 seconds.

I did the ABC song and everything.

When I got done, my watch chirped and said, Well done.

Good job in keeping everybody safe around here.

It was so encouraged.

Just last night, just last night, Meg and I are watching this movie.

And you guys ever like watch a movie that's very suspenseful and a lot of action, and you're you're all dialed in.

So we're watching this movie.

I'm all dialed in.

I'm like, oh my gosh, like, what's about to happen?

My watch chirps.

I look at it and it says, breathe.

I know it's a lot of suspense.

You're gonna see, but don't forget to like who who wouldn't want a device that's reminding you that you need to breathe.

It can even detect if I fall and I can't get up.

It can it can detect and even and look at that, and I already have it set up where it'll send out an emergency alert.

Hey man, like he's falling, he can't get up.

Somebody go and send him um.

I read an article recently, how it literally saved a young boy's life because it was monitoring his heart, and it began to recognize the the the heart rate began to increase and he wasn't doing anything.

He called his mom, his mom picked him up, took him to the hospital.

He ended up getting a life-saving surgery, all because the watch cares about us so so much.

When I'm driving down the road, it tells me when to turn left and when to turn right.

It's an amazing, it's an amazing thing.

Like I remember one time that I forgot my watch and I literally felt like I left my soul at home.

Like it just it just felt like something was missing.

I you see the little tan line where the watch used to be.

You just you could just feel that something is off.

I I don't know where I should turn.

I don't even know if I should breathe up past and out.

Like you just I I I don't know how long I should wash my hands or standing at the sink for 10 minutes.

Like, is it enough?

Somebody gonna affirm me?

I like it's it's uh you just you just need you just need the uh the attention.

It is it's done such a good job.

I've seen people that'll stop and go back home because they they forgot their watch because they know it's hard for them to function without it.

Looking at you, Megan.

Um because there's nothing more hilarious than than watching my wife like at 10 30 at night because you set up these move goals and you want to count your steps and get all your little calories burnt and all that type of stuff.

And we could be sitting at home watching TV and she'll just jump up.

Watch is telling me it's time for her to move.

I've been sitting down too long.

Like it's amazing how these devices can encourage us to get up and move, can tell us when to breathe, and it's tell helping us to know how to live our lives and and if we and if we forget them, how void we feel.

But it makes me wonder if we could live our lives with a dependency on the Holy Spirit like we do on these digital devices.

If we could, if we could really, really live our lives where we engaged God the way that we engage the technology that's around us, because we're very quick to not want to make a move if we don't have these little devices in our lives.

But I wonder how many of us are making moves without consulting and seeking God.

See, the truth of the matter is that the Holy Spirit is the presence of God in our lives.

And there are moments when I believe that we miss opportunities to engage him.

But God is always there, he's just there waiting for us to recognize him, he's he's waiting for us to engage him, he's he's waiting for us to consult him, he's waiting for us to have a conversation with him so that way he can begin to speak to us.

But but God is always there.

We just got to finish singing songs about the presence of God, we just got to finish talking and thinking about the presence of God, but no matter where we may find ourselves, the presence of God is always there.

Because the truth of the matter is there have been moments that I've gone in through my life where you get that phone call that you weren't anticipating.

You get that news that you just didn't expect and didn't see it coming, and it can take your breath away.

I remember being on vacation just in February, and I called my mom up to reflect on how dope our room was.

Mom, I want you to see how good this room is, but I can see that something was off with her mood.

I said, Mom, are you good?

She said, No, you're you're your Uncle Bill.

Have you ever had a moment where it just interrupted your life?

I've learned that it isn't my life.

It just has a way of marginally in a moment where it isn't needed.

After the initial shot somehow, the Holy Spirit shows up and saying, I'm with you.

We're gonna get through this together.

I I've I've been in moments where I've struggled with things, and the Holy Spirit will begin to speak to me and says, Okay, let's let you check your heart.

Because God is with us.

I I've been through seasons of my life where I've experienced setbacks and struggles, and yet somehow the presence of God, the Holy Spirit, will begin to speak and stir me and let me know that I'm right there with you.

That the Holy Spirit has been the one that every time I'm trying to step into a door that I know that's not where I'm supposed to be, that he begins to close it and nudge me in ways that may not necessarily make fundamental sense, but nonetheless, it's evidence that God is with me.

I love that I have the Holy Spirit in my life because he can remind me when I need to breathe.

I love that I have the Holy Spirit in my life because he recognizes when I fall and he knows how to help me to get back up.

I love that I have the Holy Spirit in my life that tells me that it's okay for you to stand and you can't get comfortable in these environments because I firmly believe that there are some environments that we get too comfortable in.

Let me let me talk to somebody in here right now.

I believe that there's some areas that we're supposed to be passing through, but we end up putting our feet up.

There's some places and some people and some environments that are temporary, but we end up taking our shoes off and getting comfortable.

And I believe that the Holy Spirit begins to stir us and maybe get us uncomfortable in an uncomfortable place because he's saying this is not where you're supposed to be long-term anyway.

I have something so much bigger for you.

So I'm grateful that we have the Holy Spirit that can stir us, that can challenge us, that can encourage us, but that can push us in the direction where he knows that his best is for us.

That is that is the God that we serve, that is the God that we love.

Imagine if we could live our lives where we're as dependent on him because he's always there.

I love what David says in Psalm 139.

He says, Where can I go to escape your spirit?

David is like basically trying to get away from God.

Like, where can I go where I can just do what I want to do without any conviction, without any, without any criticism, without any correction?

David said, Where can I go to escape from your spirit?

Where can I go that I can flee from your presence, where I can just do what I want to do?

He says, if I go up to heaven, you're there.

But if I make my bed in Sheol, which is hell, you are there.

If I live on the eastern horizon, or if I settle in the western limits, even your hand will lead me, your right hand will hold on to me.

That should be encouragement for somebody because there's that one part where it says, if I make my bed in hell, you are there.

And what I feel is that there's some of us right now that we may feel like I am laying in some chaos in hell right now, but I want you to know that God is right there with you.

And even if you put yourself in that position, he will take you by your hand and begin to lead you to a place of wholeness, a place of clarity, a place of freedom, because that is the good God that is in our life.

He is the presence of God in our lives.

But but here's but here's what I've learned.

In the same way that I that I have to make sure that I keep my watch charged and I have to make sure that I respond when it's prompting me, it's the same way that we have to respond when the Holy Spirit begins to stir and prompt us.

I think the most challenging thing in the world is when we expect God's results when we're not doing things God's way.

But if we can just engage the presence of God and actually respond to it, I believe we begin to see the fruit of what he wants to do in our lives begin to take root wherever we may find ourselves.

You see, I truly believe that when we engage the presence of God, it changes the atmosphere.

I I believe, I'm just of the mindset that I believe that if we really, really are responding to when the Holy Spirit begins to prompt us, it has the ability to change the atmosphere.

Let me let me show you an example of this.

In 2 Samuel chapter 6, verse number 11, the ark of the Lord, that's a representation of the presence of God.

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

That the ark of the Lord, the representation of the presence of God, remained in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom.

Go back and look at that name.

The Lord blessed Obed Edom and his whole family.

You see what happened here is that the presence of God was inside of his home, and what the scripture says is that it blessed his entire home and his family, because he had the presence of God in his home.

Let me say that again.

It blessed him, his household, and his home family because he he activated and engaged the presence of God in his home.

I believe that that's beginning to land on some people right now because I'm not sure if you've ever been in a place where you feel like I feel the presence of God when I go to church on Sunday, but it's the Monday through Saturday that I'm still trying to figure out.

But I believe if we can worship God at home, just like we got finished worshiping, that we can begin to experience the peace and blessing where we want to see God move.

I truly believe that if we can lay hands and pray for our children, I believe that we can begin to see the hand of God move.

I'm of the mindset that if we can complain least and pray more, that we'll start seeing the activity of God begin to stir in our lives.

I think that we have a tendency to overthink and underpray.

But if we can begin to shift the ratio a little bit and begin to say that I'm going to engage the presence of God, I can see God moving in my marriage.

I can see God moving with my family.

I can see God moving in my workplace because I'm choosing to make sure that I invite God everywhere that I go.

See, when we engage the presence of God, I believe it truly changes the atmosphere.

And I believe my assignment here today is to give you three observations that I have that I believe can really be helpful when it comes to really acknowledging the presence of God in our lives.

Here's the first thing that I want you to write down the Holy Spirit brings order.

The Holy Spirit brings order.

And I know that can seem counterintuitive because depending on your background or your understanding of the things of God, the Holy Spirit has always been viewed as like the wild card.

The Holy Spirit has always been the excuse when people do things weird.

The Holy Spirit is always the one that seems as if you throw your plans away.

Like you just gotta live this life of being a spiritual hippie and you're just gonna wake up every day and just be this.

I don't know why I'm walking like that.

But that's give it just kind of gives you this vibe that you just you just kind of like, oh, I don't have any strength.

It's just like you just kind of flow with it.

But but I believe that there's actually something contrary to that's my favorite dance move, too.

Megan knows she's like she's been seeing it for 25 years.

That's all I got.

It's all I got.

It's like hitch.

Just keep my hands here.

Okay, so so I'm back.

It's been six weeks.

Okay, so so we may, I think the Holy Spirit has, I think the Holy Spirit has a bad rap.

But what Paul says about the Holy Spirit and 1 Corinthians 14, 33, he says that God is not the author of confusion.

That God is not the author of confusion.

So if you begin to see and engage and experience things that are just flat out weird or brings confusion, you have to ask yourself, was that is that really God?

I believe that the Holy Spirit brings order.

Let me break it down a little bit further.

Genesis chapter 1, verse 1.

Genesis 1:1

It says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and empty.

Darkness covered the face of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

There's a couple of things that I want to highlight in this to kind of help really drill down what I want you to walk away with.

There's a couple of words.

The first phrasing that I want you to see is that it says that in the beginning God created, but it says that the earth was formless and empty.

Formless and empty.

Formless means to be rendered with nothing.

To be barren as a wasteland, it means to lack structure, to have no form.

It's like the absence of boundaries.

It's just formless.

I I've talked with many athletes and I always hear them talk about the importance of form.

My son, he he loves to go to the gym, and when I occasionally go with him once every quarter, um, when we go to the gym together, he'll often say, like, Dad, let's let's work on the form.

Because we want the results of lifting the weight, but if your form isn't right, you're not going to actually begin to see those muscles stabilize and grow.

Big man, you know what I'm talking about.

Somebody get him on a security team.

Okay, so we need to have the proper form.

I have I have friends of mine, Pastor Nate.

He he's he's a golfer.

And and anytime we go out to top golf or any environment and he's knocking the ball over the fence, I'm like, man, like I know that I got the strength.

He said, Yeah, but we've got to we gotta work on your form.

Because if you don't have the right form and the right follow-through, it's it's it's just gonna go anywhere that it wants to go.

You have to have the right form.

So so imagine living a life where you don't have any form.

We want results, but we don't have structure.

And the Bible says that that is what the world looked like.

But then it says that it was that it was empty.

Empty means lack substance, there's no depth, there's nothing to stand on.

So if you take this idea of not having form, and then you take this idea of empty and you put them together, that is what we call chaos.

That's chaos.

Chaos is just erratic, and and ultimately what the scripture says is that when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth didn't have any form, it didn't have any depth, and there was nothing there but chaos.

And sadly, that that very well may describe what you feel right now in your life.

You may feel like I am falling and I can't even get to the ground, I don't even have anything to stand on.

I I don't even have any boundaries.

When I wake up, I generally have no idea what the next day is gonna bring.

I feel like I don't have anything to hold on to, I don't feel like I have anything I can place confidence in.

I feel like every day there's something new on the news, and I can't I can't wrap my mind around it.

I just feel like I'm descending into pure chaos.

But the beautiful thing is that it says that that even in the midst of that chaos, that the presence of God was there.

Did you catch that?

That even in the midst of the chaos, it says that the presence of God was there, and the text says that he was hovering.

To hover means to be moved yet in position.

Imagine that, to be moved, yet in position.

That means that God was getting in position and he zeroed in on what he needed to do.

And what the scripture says is that while he was moved, he was stirred, he was observing the chaos of the world, and then he began to put things in order.

Let there be light, and there was light.

Okay, the next thing, okay, we need to let skies emerge, skies.

We need we need to create, we need to create oxygen and atmosphere, okay.

Boom, that's there.

We need to have waters, okay, that's in place.

We need to have vegetation and fruits and vegetables, boom, that's there.

We need to have land animals, we need to have all these other things in place, and now the apex of all of my creation, man.

Now, if I'm man and I'm aware of all this stuff, I'm like, God, put me in.

But imagine if God would have put man when there was no ground for him to stand on.

Imagine, imagine if if God would have put man when there was nothing but water, imagine what would have happened if God would have put man in place and there wasn't even oxygen for him to inhale.

It would have possibly killed him.

It would have possibly made it impossible for him to thrive.

But God was putting things in order so that man could not only survive but to thrive.

I get a sense that some of us we're in that space right now where our lives feel like chaos and we feel like we don't have clarity, and we're saying, God, when are you gonna put me in?

But God is like, if you can just be patient, I'm putting some things in order, not for you to survive, but I've called you to thrive, and I need to turn the lights on first.

I need to get you into an environment where you can breathe and you can stand on my promises.

I believe that God is bringing order to every one of our lives, and even though we may not feel it, even though we may not see it, God is working and putting things in order so that you have an environment where you can thrive because we're all called to be made in the image of God and to fulfill the purposes that He has for our lives and He's called us all to thrive.

But it's uncomfortable.

But if we can just be patient, if we can, if we can just hold on, if we can just recognize that God is moving, I truly believe that when order is restored, the blessing is released.

And that when God is putting things in order, that He's removing the chaos out of our lives, He's turning on the light, He's creating the ecosystem for us to thrive in, and then we'll begin to see the fruit that will flourish from our lives.

Be encouraged, be patient.

I know you may not feel it.

I know you may feel like you're in chaos, but I promise you, because God's word is true, that he is hovering over your situation.

That means that he is moved by what he sees and he is zeroed in on what he needs to do, and he's about to turn on the lights for somebody.

I prophesy right now that somebody who needs clarity, that God is about to turn on the lights in your situation.

I pray right now in the name of Jesus that God is going to give you the foundation that you need to stand on, that God's gonna give you the air that you need to breathe so that you can thrive and not just survive.

The Holy Spirit brings order, but here's the other thing that I want you to see: the Holy Spirit brings strength.

The Holy Spirit brings strength.

That when the Spirit of the Lord shows up, there is strength there.

Judges chapter 14, verses 5 and 6.

Judges 14:5

Samson went down to Temnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Temnah.

Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him.

The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat.

Let me stop there.

Samson was this man who was who was chosen to do some powerful things for God.

And if you're familiar with it, if you if you've seen the stories in scripture and even some of it illustrated in film, they always typically depict Samson as this huge man who has all these muscles, and and every time he faced a battle, it was it was like child's play to him.

That's not true.

Fact of the matter is that Samson lived in covenant with God.

He was set apart from the time that he was in his mother's womb.

And because of that covenant, God had given him strength.

But here's the beautiful thing the strength wasn't there all the time, the strength was there when he needed it.

So when Samson would face an obstacle, the strength of God would meet him there.

Let me say that one more time.

That when he faced opposition, the strength met him there.

I have this sneaky suspicion that sometimes we're looking down the road of battles that we don't even have to fight on our own and we're scared to get on the field.

Because we're looking and saying, I don't I don't have the strength for that.

I don't have the capacity for that.

But if we only recognize that the strength of God meets you at the place of your obedience, I remember when I when I led my very first small group for our church.

I was the group's pastor, was my my first job with the church, so to speak, and and and the assignment was for me to lead this group called Grief Share, which, as the name implies, is dealing with people who are processing through the loss of life.

I had another leader signed up to do it.

There were several families that that needed this environment, but unfortunately the leader wasn't able to do it.

And I knew it was important enough that it had to get done.

We couldn't postpone it, so here I am.

And I remember saying to myself, man, I'm like 35 at this point, maybe a little bit younger.

Everybody in there is a little bit older, and I'm thinking to myself, like, I don't have the strength, I don't have the capacity, I don't even have the desire to do this, to sit in the room and and to carry the weight and the heaviness of people that are experiencing the loss of life.

It was brutal.

To make matters exponentially worse, it was five families in there, and every single family was dealing with the loss of a child.

Far be it from me to measure the weight of death, but as I've heard it, the loss of a child is weighty.

It's very weighty, it just hits differently.

I often think about those things, it hits differently.

So I remember going through this group, and week after week, I I relented going in, but I knew that God was calling me to be there, and somehow God began to bring strength and encouragement to the community that was there.

The last week that we were there, one of the mothers has spoken up.

She said, I I don't know what I'm gonna do without this group.

I don't know what I'm gonna do.

And I said, I said, could you please explain it a little bit more?

And what she said to me was something that ministered to my spirit then and it continues to sustain me now.

She said, Every week I never wanted to show up because I didn't want to have to process and talk about it.

But every week the strength of God met me in this room.

And because I showed up, God showed up and now I'm strengthened as I leave it.

She she didn't realize that then that she had changed my whole theological understanding of how God's strength works.

I used to think that God just strengthened me and I could just walk around like piped up on spiritual steroids.

I'm just always strong.

But what I have found more often than not, that whenever God leads me into an environment, the strength of God meets me there.

So all I have to do is be obedient to what he's calling me to do, and the strength of God is going to meet me while I'm there.

I I want to encourage somebody right now, because I feel that some of us, we know that God is leading us to do some things and we don't feel strong enough to do it.

God, you're leading me to start a business in this current context, in the middle of a pandemic, we don't know what's going on.

But if God is leading you there, he will strengthen you while you're there.

I remember when when God really began to stir my heart to go back to school.

I didn't have the time.

I'm traveling, I'm leading, I'm preaching.

This isn't the best time.

My wife, she said, I'm gonna sign you up anyway.

But somehow, God's strength met me with every assignment.

Somehow, God's strength allowed me to get through those years and I was able to complete and get my degree.

What I want somebody to understand, it's never convenient to follow your purpose.

But if you can say yes to the things of God, the strength of God is going to meet you there.

Psalm 46:1 said that God is our refuge and strength, our helper who is always found in times of trouble, our present help in the time of need.

Psalms 46:1

God is going to show up.

The presence of God is there.

For some of you that are saying, Man, am I ready to be a parent?

The strength of God is going to meet you there.

Am I ready to take that next step?

The strength of God is going to meet you there.

Do I really need to leave this job because I know that it's toxic and God is leading me a different direction?

The strength of God is going to meet you there.

I found that the strength of God will meet you at the place of your obedience.

This is why Jesus can be saying, I don't want to die in the garden, but then defeat death when he's on a cross, because he obeyed, and because he obeyed, the strength of God met him even in his most painful moments.

I want you to be encouraged in understanding that the strength of God will meet you there.

Wherever the presence of the Lord is, there is strength.

Here's my third and final thought I want to share with us today.

The Holy Spirit, He He brings us this order, He brings us strength.

And then lastly, the Holy Spirit brings freedom.

He brings freedom.

2 Corinthians 3, chapter 17, it says, And now the Lord is a spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

There is liberty.

You see, the word freedom or liberty is used quite frequently in the in the Christian lexicon, so to speak.

Jesus even announces that that's part of his assignment, that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he's anointed me to preach and bring freedom to those who are captives.

We we understand that word, but sometimes I think we we don't quite comprehend what it means to us practically because at the end of the day, we we are free, right?

We're able to worship and freedom, right?

But the Bible paints a much different picture.

In fact, when we think about what freedom is, freedom means to function without hindrance.

That's the definition of freedom.

And so many of us are thinking, well, I I thought I was free.

I thought I was good.

I didn't think there was an issue.

But what the Bible says is that we are born in sin, shaped in iniquity.

Sin is missing the mark, falling short of God's standard.

Iniquity means that we have the proclivity to sin, which is why a child already has in them the ability to say mine.

They already have the ability that when you say, Did you eat the cake, even though the cake is on our face, they say no.

They already have it in them.

It's just part of who we are as human beings.

So then the process begins of us being aware of our sin nature.

So what scripture says is that sin is often associated with being debt.

It's like it's like debt.

And any of us know what it feels like to have debt.

You feel like you're you're making the minimum payment, but you're not actually paying it off.

That's what happens when we try to live life on our own terms.

I'm I'm gonna be a good person.

Yeah, you're doing a good job of being a good person, but you're not removing the debt, the weight of sin.

So what scripture says is that the wage or the price for sin is death.

That something had to die to take the place because we can never afford it.

So Christ comes, he dies in our place, and he releases us from the debt of sin.

We're free from that debt.

Now, there's a difference between a person who has filed bankruptcy versus a person who's had the debt removed completely.

See, when when you when you file bankruptcy, you you live in this world where, okay, I don't know how long it's going to take for me to be trusted again.

You kind of live at this place where you're just trying to figure out how you can move forward.

I understand it.

But when you see that something has been put on your credit report that doesn't belong to be there and it gets wiped off all completely, you actually feel a lot more free.

Your score is appropriate.

You have access to things because you're not carrying the weight or the consequences you can never pay.

When Jesus came and he died, he not only just got the debt off of our books, but he wiped them off of the plate altogether.

So now we are actually free to go into the directions that God is calling us to go to without carrying the burden or the weight of the debt that now allows people to see us.

We're free from sin.

We're free from the consequences of sin.

We're free from the condemnation that is connected to sin.

But I'm not only free from something, I'm free for something.

See, who the Son sets free is free indeed or free in deeds.

I am now free to walk in my purpose.

I am now free to walk in my calling.

I am now free to do the thing that God has called me to do because that debt of sin is no longer a barrier that's keeping me from moving forward.

This is what we call when you begin to produce fruit.

When you begin to see the fruit in someone's life, they are beginning to live lives because the consequence of sin is no longer there.

They can now flourish the way that God had intended them to flourish.

See, now we're free to worship.

See, when God was when God was trying to get the children of Israel set free from bondage in Egypt, every time Moses went to Pharaoh, it was, let my people go so that they can go and worship me.

That meant that they were they were there, but they were restricted in how they could function and operate.

But thanks be to God and the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit brings freedom.

And now He frees us up to begin to walk in the promises that God has called us to do.

So now we are free to worship, we are free to serve, we are free to love, we are free to function and to forgive, we are free to be people that can produce the fruit of the spirit because we're no longer being limited by the past, but God has given us a very clear future that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom for us truly to do the thing that God has called us to do.

What is the thing that God has really placed on your heart?

What is the thing that you know is is the best next step for you?

I've I've had conversations with with friends of mine who were afraid to actually move forward with their families because they have made mistakes in their past.

That because their their their their biological father may have walked out, they didn't have a model or that they could go to, so they have literally been afraid to move forward.

They've been in broken environments and they've been afraid to take that next step.

But when you recognize the Holy Spirit in your life, he frees you up, he begins to allow those things to be pruned off of you and you can move forward with complete confidence.

See, when the Holy Spirit shows up, he gives us freedom.

Freedom to worship, freedom from sin, freedom to walk in our purpose.

And when you put them all together, God brings us order, God gives us strength, God gives us freedom.

That's the presence of God in our lives.

That's what the Holy Spirit does.

And I believe that right now, the Holy Spirit is hovering.

He's hovering over your situation right now, he's hovering over the chaos in your world right now, he's hovering over every burden that you've been thinking about.

See, the thing that I've the thing that I've really love about having these incredible devices that we have is that as amazing as they are, you have the Apple Watch, you have the the iPhone, you have the the iPads, you have the computers, you have all these things in this in this Apple ecosystem.

But the thing that the thing that makes it all work is that they're all in sync.

That the the watch is talking to the phone, and the the phone is talking to the iPad, and the the iPad is talking to the computer, and and I can have my my AirPods on, and I can be looking at my phone, and the AirPods automatically just know to work, and then I can look away and they automatically jump on to the iPad.

It's kind of like witchcraft, but I'm believing that God's in it, so I'm just gonna accept it as that.

But but literally, it just it just it just it just works because it's all in sync.

It's and if it's connected to the cloud, it's in a cloud.

And it's interesting how the presence of God has often been defined as the cloud, the glory cloud, the presence of God.

And as long as the people of God engage the cloud, they were in sync with God.

And and I believe that our responsibility is to be the type of people that position ourselves to make sure that we're in sync with the things that God wants to do in our lives, that when He's prompting us to move, we are able to move, that when He's prompting us to stand, that we're able to stand, when He's prompting us to breathe, we're able to breathe, that all these things are in sync.

But when something is not in sync, we begin to live lives that are fragmented.

And fragmented simply means that I am thriving at work, but my whole life is terrible, something's out of sync.

Man, my my marriage is strong, but things with my kids are just off.

Something's out of sync.

And what we have an opportunity to do in those moments is when we see those things that are out of sync, is to begin to position ourselves and engage the cloud and allow him to begin to bring order, allow him to begin to bring strength, allow him to give us freedom so we can watch the hand of God move in our lives.

And what I believe is that some of us right now, we need God to give us some order in somewhere.

We need God just to give us clarity, put some things in place.

For others of us, we are we are we're facing some things that we just don't have the strength to do, and we need God to give us the strength to endure the season we're in.

There's others of us that we are we're we're carrying some weights, some burdens, and whether it's the the sin or way we don't have clarity on what our next steps are and walking in the fullness of God, whatever, whatever your lack of synth may be, I believe that the Holy Spirit is hovering the same way that he was in Genesis chapter one.

And I believe that he wants to bring order, strength, and freedom to every area of your life.

So if you're in here with me today, you're watching online for our DC family as well.

If if you know that Keith, yes, I I need I need some I need some clarity, I need some order.

I I I need I need some strength for what I'm enduring right now.

I I need some I need some freedom because there's some things that I'm carrying that that seem as if it's hindering my ability to to be a mother, it's hindering my ability to really lead well, it's hindering my ability to operate the way that I believe God is calling me to operate.

If that's you, I'm gonna ask you in this moment of sobriety, with every head bowed and with every eye closed, to just slip a hand up.

Whether you're at home watching this online, I need some strength, I need some cloor order, I need some some clarity, I need some I need some freedom, I need some things in my life that's gonna allow me to thrive and not just survive.

Holy Spirit, you see every hand that's lifted up in these seats with our DC family, those who are watching online right now, God, you know the burdens on our hearts, you know the struggles that they have.

And I pray in the name of Jesus that Lord, you begin to go from hovering to bringing order, that you're bringing the lights on right now, that you're bringing clarity, Father, and that you're restoring and allowing to establish an environment, Father, where they can begin to not just survive but to thrive.

God, I pray right now for every one of us.

In here, those who are in need of strength.

Father, there's areas of our lives that you're calling us to step into.

Moments that we're in right now, Father, where we just don't have the strength to do it.

But your word says that you will give us strength.

I believe that your spirit is moving right now.

You're going to give us the strength to be able to endure that marriage if we don't quit.

You're going to give us the strength to be able to continue to believe and pray for our children, even though we don't see the results right now.

You're going to give us the strength to continue to be a witness and an example at our workplace, even though it's crazy and chaos.

But Father, you've called us to be a light in that environment.

Father, I pray that you give us the strength to endure whatever it is that you've called us to face because we know if you called us there, you will strengthen us while we're there.

Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus that you give us freedom.

Any area where we're experiencing brokenness and bondage and struggle, God, where the weight of the past may be keeping us from moving into our future, Father.

I pray that condemnation is released off of us right now in the name of Jesus.

God, I pray that we know that we are free to worship, we're free to serve, we're free to give, we're free to engage your presence, God, because you've called us to do it, Lord.

I silence the voice of the adversary right now because you're stirring some of us to step into some uncomfortable places.

Your strength will meet us there.

You'll meet us at the place of our obedience.

But God, I'm also believing that you are going to give us freedom so that we can be the people that represent you in every place that we're in.

So free us from the past, God, so we can walk into our future.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

I wanna I want to speak to another group of people, and we're gonna go into a time of worship and then we're gonna wrap up.

And and and I want to speak to those that that may be away from God right now.

That that last thought of God bringing us freedom, that's really that's for you.

You you're you're moving, you have the ability to do some things, but if you're honest, the weight of being away from God still is restricting you.

I believe that the presence of God is hovering over some of us right now, and he's inviting us.

Will you let me in?

Will you will you let me take you from Egypt so I can lead you to the promised land, the place where you can flourish and do what I've called you to do.

So if you're in here with us right now and you know that you're away from God, but the spirit of God is hovering, scripture says that no one can come unto Christ unless he is drawn by the Holy Spirit.

And you know your next step is simply to surrender your life to Jesus.

If that's you, I want to create space for you to do that.

On account of three, I want to ask you to boldly lift a hand up, inviting God to bring order to your life, inviting God to bring you on his journey so that you can truly accomplish what he's called you to do.

One, two, three.

I want to commit or recommit my life to Christ.

Amen.

God bless you, brother.

God bless you, sister.

I see you.

God bless that hand in the back.

I see those hands in the back.

Church, can we put our hands together for everybody in here?

Here and online.

Here's what I want us to do.

I want us to go back into a time of worship.

I want to ask us all to stand on our feet as we prepare to do it.

And I want to lead us in a very simple prayer.

And as I say often, the prayer is not the thing that saves you, it's our belief.

And I truly believe that the moment that we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we begin this journey of producing the fruit that will allow us to model him and to be empowered by his spirit.

I want all of us as a family to repeat this prayer after me, helping along those who are making this confession possibly for the first time.

Repeat it after me.

Say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins.

I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead.

And today I am saved.

Fill me with your spirit and order my steps.

In Jesus' name.

I celebrate with you.

Church, we put our hands together one more time for everyone that has made that incredible decision.

Our team is going to come up and give you some instructions as to what your next steps are going to be.

But as a family, one more time, let us all worship God one more time together and really seal in what we believe God has done in us.

Thanks again for listening.

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