Rediscovering the Awe | Pastor Carlos Serrano

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.

Thank you so much, Pastor Keith.

I I almost want to listen to myself speak after that introduction.

Like, man, you were too generous.

Um Wow, before I go any further, um, the Bible's very clear about giving honor to whom and where honor is due.

And um, I don't know all the time if you have context around your pastors and who they are as people.

I don't know how long you've been a part of this church family online or in the building.

Um, but like Pastor Keith said, we've known each other for a while.

Him and Pastor Megan, um, you won't find not just better leaders, you can lead anything.

You can lead a corporation, you can lead a foundation, you won't find better pastors.

See, you and I live in a day and age where it's all about the communication, right?

The public speaking portion.

But here's the thing um God calls us to be pastors, not preachers.

What's the difference?

Pastors are shepherds, and the shepherd smells like they're sheep.

And so whenever I talk to Pastor Keith or Pastor Megan, they they talk about their sheep.

They talk about how they love you and how they want God's best for you.

So rest assured that you have pastors who love you, that are for you, that literally have laid their lives down to be here in Orlando, uprooted their family, and everything they had to do to be here to love you so well.

And so, can we give our lead pastors here a hand?

Thank you, Pastor Keith and Pastor Megan, for your sacrifice and your love and your beautiful family here as well.

Like Pastor Keith said, my name is Carlos.

I'm the pastor up at Amelia Island.

It's a beautiful area, so come check us out sometime.

I'm joined here by my wonderful family that uh I just love embarrassing them.

So you'll see a picture behind me, which is kind of what you do as a dad, you know.

And so um, I've got my wife who we've married for 20 years here in February, and my beautiful daughters, we've got Anna and Bethany and Naomi, and I'm so grateful and thankful, and also very stressed out to um to be a father of three daughters, if I can be candid for a moment.

One going to college in the summer has got me with real bad nerves.

If y'all see any of this, you know why.

Well, um, I am so grateful to be here in a very real way.

I feel like I'm on assignment.

Because I prayed for you.

And I asked God to give me what you need.

Not only a timely word in the season you're in, but the season you'll be walking into.

It's not just about the now.

I hope you know that when you pray.

It's not just about now, it's about God.

What are you walking into and where he's leading and guiding you and directing you, not just in this year, but in the years to come.

And so I just believe God's gonna do something um significant today in your hearts and your souls.

Um, I'm willing to believe when we pray, he answers and he hears.

And so today is what you needed, whether you're in the building or you're online today.

And so, for the next few moments together, I want to talk to you from the the idea of rediscovering the all.

Someone look at your neighbor and say, rediscovering the all.

Would you pray with me?

Father, is our desire to honor you today.

We live in a self-honoring culture, but today, Father, can it be said of every person tuning in today that you are honored?

We live in a culture where we want to build our brand and our name.

But today, could it be said of us gathered today that we build your brand and we build your name today?

Our request is very simple, Father.

Limit every distraction internally and externally.

And may the Holy Spirit have its way in these next few moments together.

We pray and we believe this in the only name, Jesus' name.

Amen and amen.

So, celebration family, my goal today was to bring you like a fresh revelation.

Just a something you have never heard about the Holy Spirit.

Just give you a spin, like, man, that was amazing.

Spoiler alert.

I didn't get anything fresh.

I didn't get anything amazing.

Done a lot of traveling this past week, been in different airports, different cities, been high up.

Sometimes you think like when you're 30,000 feet, you're like closer to God.

I'm like, I'm really gonna get something right now.

Um, no.

What I found out is this um, as much as I've studied, I've prayed, and I've processed, there's no fresh revelation of the Holy Spirit available.

He says he changes not.

And so it's more of a rediscovering of who the Holy Spirit is.

It's more of a rediscovering who he is at his most authentic point.

The Holy Spirit that's been covered over and layered over through millennia, through tradition, through religion, through uh relationships and generational stuff and all kinds of stuff that's been piled on top of him to make him what maybe he is to you and to me today.

And so I asked the Holy Spirit today, could you reveal to us who you truly are?

Like I don't want to make up who you are.

I don't want to lean back on my experience and kind of how I see you to be.

Could you reveal who you are?

And I'm crazy enough to believe that today he's gonna reveal to us as a church family, he's gonna reveal who he is today.

I was reading recently about um some archaeologists, and they were uncovering a Byzantine-era Christian church.

On the wall in this church, they had a fresco painting, and they brought in some historians and tried to uh fix the painting up and restore it to its original uh way that it was.

As they went to restore the painting, something interesting happened.

As they restored this painting of Jesus, it was a very European Jesus.

He had the, you know, the Jesus with the lamb.

He had long, straight blonde hair, and he had fair skin and blue eyes.

They were restoring the painting, and the most interesting thing happened: there was a painting under the painting.

And when they uncovered the painting under the painting, do you know what they found?

They found a different looking Jesus.

When they got to the original painting, dated AD 600, they found not a blonde-haired Jesus, but a brown hair, curly-haired Jesus.

They didn't find a blue-eyed Jesus, they found a brown-eyed Jesus.

They found a Middle Eastern Jewish-looking man, crazy thought.

Imagine that.

And so today, as we engage this awesome thought, this awesome topic of the Holy Spirit, I am praying and believing that he will reveal the Holy Spirit that's been covered by millennia and tradition and everything else that's been packaged over him to get the truest form of the Holy Spirit.

If you believe that, put your hands together.

I'm sorry I can't bring you a fresh revelation because there's not one.

We're asking for the truest and most authentic version of him today that we have not seen before, but he and he'll be faithful to show us that.

Here's another thing I want to do.

I want us collectively to not be afraid to ask the tough questions.

Do you know what I mean?

Are you aware of this?

God is not afraid of our questions.

You're grown up in the church like me, anybody at church brat, I'm a second generation pastor.

There's some questions you learn.

You don't ask that, you just have faith.

Find that one here.

You can ask the questions.

He's God enough.

He's big enough to reveal himself.

So today I want to get into the nitty-gritty.

I want to ask the questions like, why does everyone have a different opinion of him?

Like, how did we get there?

Or how about why are people scared of him?

Or even maybe the most basic one, who is he?

Who is the Holy Spirit?

See, culturally speaking, in the US, um, universally, we're like lockstepped on most things.

Here's what I mean.

If you grew up, your parents packed you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for school every single day.

I see the heads nodding all over the place.

We know that we're just very culturally aware.

This is what you do in the continental United States.

You pack your kids peanut butter and jelly for lunch.

Right?

We're all in agreement on that one.

If you're a parent right now, the God who we serve and love has given us a parent hack.

We have uncrustables.

No more dirtying up the peanut butter jar with a jelly jar and the knife and stuff everywhere, and everything's sticky the rest of your day, and you're finding stuff on your sleeves.

You just drop the encrustal in there and you praise God and go on the rest of your day, right?

At a 4th of July cookout, without even saying it.

We all know what we have, right?

Burgers and dogs.

This is what we do.

We're all culturally aware of what you do at a 4th of July cookout.

If you don't have that, it's not a cookout.

Call something else.

In our culture, if you're talking about the greatest musicians of all time, you're talking about Prince, right?

At least my wife.

And if you're from where I'm from, you say the best musician of all time is Mark Anthony.

And many people in the house, McKenzie.

I'm not alone.

I'm pretty alone, if you know what I mean.

Honey, Mark, Mark Hill, Mark Hill, homie.

You guys are feeding my soul, whether you know it or not, right now.

Thank you.

Please welcome me back, Pastor Keith.

Here's what's not so unanimous in our culture, the Holy Spirit.

Here's what's not agreed upon in the mornings, packing lunches at 4th of July, get together.

Here's what's not agreed upon, the Holy Spirit.

We have these weird ways of looking at the Holy Spirit in my almost 40 years now being in church.

This is the part where you say, you look far too young to be almost 40.

This is keep it coming.

I'll take it all day.

Far too young to have a daughter in high school and middle school and one in elementary.

Far too, I'll take it, thank you.

But what we see here is that uh there's nothing unanimous about the Holy Spirit.

Everyone's got a different opinion on the Holy Spirit.

And you know this because if you've ever invited anyone to church, you probably have never heard this.

Hey, do you go to one of those like God or Jesus kind of filled churches?

Because that's weird and that's spooky.

Like do you guys operate in the God or Jesus giftings?

Because if you do, not going.

Like in the healing of God or Jesus, because my family, we don't do that.

That's strange.

But I guarantee you've heard.

Hey, do you guys go to one of those spooky Holy Spirit-filled churches?

Like, well, you know, where they like do Holy Spirit things, because I'm not down with that.

That's weird.

You've heard that.

What that reveals is this just how foreign the Holy Spirit is in our culture.

I'm not talking about around the world.

Right here in the western part of the world.

He is so foreign.

His person, the understanding of who he is, and the benefits of him in our spiritual walk, more than the benefits, the necessity of who he is in our spiritual walk.

Can I be real with you, celebration family?

If you don't know who the Holy Spirit is, you don't know the full version of God.

Because you can't know the Father without the Spirit revealing who the Father is.

And if you don't know the Holy Spirit, you don't know who Jesus is.

Because the Son is revealed by what?

The Spirit, the Spirit of Revelation.

And so there's this understanding you and I have to come to terms with and pray and process through that, Lord, would you reveal your spirit to me?

Because I may not know you the way I think I know you.

You ever came to that part in your walk?

I don't know him the way I thought I know him.

Like he's revealing a deeper level of himself to me through his spirit.

Amen.

Who is he?

He is who he reveals himself to be in his actions.

Just watch the way he works and you'll find out who the Holy Spirit is.

One of the things I love about the Spirit is this the Spirit is not here to trick you or to fool you or to be a mystery.

He's not an ACT or SAT or a G R E.

You should know that about him.

Like, are you kidding me?

As though A, B, and C isn't enough.

You're gonna give me a D?

All the above, maybe?

We are not on the same team.

The Holy Spirit is not a mystery.

My backyard, that's a mystery.

Can I tell you why?

I'm in a verbal contract with my daughters not too long ago.

See, for 18 years, I've been asked, Dad, can we have a dog?

Dad, can we have a dog?

Dad can have a dog.

Every birthday, every Christmas, every New Year's, every Hanukkah, you name it, any holiday?

Can we have a dog?

I said, no.

And as parents were good, no, your room's not clean.

How can you take care of a dog?

You know what I'm talking about, parents.

You know what I'm talking about, parents.

No, you got a rip in your jeans.

You can't take care of your jeans?

Surely can't take care of a dog.

I played this one out until I think the Holy Spirit convicted me.

I'm not sure.

That I'm I'm hindering my kids, I'm holding them back from life experiences.

And so, like this past Christmas, we got a dog, and uh they wanted a golden doodle.

Anybody know what that that is?

Golden Doodle?

Okay.

Um, so we got a golden doodle.

I made a verbal contract with them.

I said, hey, we're gonna get this dog right.

Your dog, your responsibility.

We have a backyard, and the very back of that backyard there's a tree.

That's where this dog does whatever its business that it does in the backyard.

So that was our verbal contract.

I don't want to step in anything, I don't want to see anything, and I don't want to smell anything.

Well, if you're in the market for a miniature golden doodle, let me help you out.

The things that come out of a miniature golden doodle or anything but miniature, you can see them and you can smell them from a long distance.

And so in my backyard, they didn't uh satisfy the end of the verbal contract, they broke the verbal contract, as a matter of fact.

And there's stuff all over the yard.

It is a landmine in my backyard, it is a mystery.

You don't want to walk unguided, you don't want to walk at night, you want to make sure where you're going.

And I said all that to say this.

Well, maybe I was getting some things off my chest, Pastor Keith.

Maybe, maybe that was therapy.

I'm not sure.

We'll find out.

Um, I say all that to say this is that the Holy Spirit is not a mystery.

He's not looking for the learned, he's not looking for the educated, he's not looking for the Bible college, he's not looking for the seminary.

I will reveal myself.

He's not the Morgan Freeman voice.

I will reveal myself to you.

That's my best Morgan Freeman voice.

I will reveal myself to you when you get to a certain plateau in life.

That's not what he's trying to do.

He's looking to reveal himself to you and to me in every area, in every situation of our lives.

As a matter of fact, there's not a day and not a moment in life he is not actively trying to reveal himself to you and to me.

Nothing too big, nothing too small.

Nothing too great, and nothing too random.

Let me show you from the very beginning how he's trying to reveal himself to you.

If you've got a Bible, maybe you're like me, you're a leather-bound kind of guy.

This is actually was my dad's first Bible, and I preach from it and teach from it.

See my duct tape here on the side and the front.

But maybe you're a leather-bound guy like me, or maybe you've got an electronic device.

Any Bible, any version you want.

Genesis chapter 1, 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

It says, God created what?

Everything.

And you know when he reveals the spirit?

Verse 2.

If you're not a reader, I got you today, alright?

I got you.

Watch this.

Genesis chapter 1, verse 2, it says this.

Genesis 1:2

It says, And the earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters.

You're only two verses into your Bible.

I'm not even making you use a bookmark, alright?

And the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water.

There goes that spirit.

Verse 2.

He says, Oh, you should know not only that I create everything, but I operate by the Spirit.

Why?

Because the Spirit hovers over the deep and there's chaos and darkness, but the spirit brings clarity to chaos.

Did you know that the Holy Spirit wants to bring clarity to chaos in your life?

Did you know you need the spirit today to bring clarity to areas of chaos internally and externally in your life?

I want you to know this celebration, family, that the Holy Spirit is in your life for a reason.

So he can reveal things to you and not just sit in your soul.

He wants to unveil what you can't see in the natural.

He wants to reveal to you things in the spiritual.

God the Father is the creator, but he's the great unveiler.

He wants to show you what you have not seen yet.

Here's a question.

What if there are things currently that God wants to reveal to you, but you can't yet see it because you have not asked the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you?

What if there are doors that he wants to open for you that you have not yet spoke to the Spirit about to reveal to you?

And maybe more importantly, if you live long enough, you know what I mean by this.

Maybe more importantly, there are doors that he wants to close that you have not sought him about yet.

And you're running through all kinds of doors and banging down and kicking down doors that he never opened.

The Holy Spirit looks to reveal himself to you and I if we engage him.

We need an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit because here's what I found.

You can read every scripture in your Bible, but there's no scripture telling you who to marry, what job to take, what house to buy, what school to send your kids to.

Back in the day, we used to have um Bible drills or Bible swords, whatever your your your um Sunday school called them or Christian school called them, and they would do this to us.

They'd be like, all right, hand on the bottom, hand on the top, go.

I don't know what we were learning by getting into scripture fast.

Like all these years I'm looking back, like we were just embarrassed because usually there was like a really smart kid in the class.

He always got there first, and we all felt like not Christian, you know?

But um we had these Bible drills, and guess what?

I read the Bible from front to back, and it still doesn't help me with everyday decisions.

I need intimacy with the spirit for my everyday decisions.

Like holistically, structurally, contextually, I I got what God wants.

But the everyday decisions, the the here and the there, the minute details, that's the spirit's job to reveal that to you and to I.

And until we engage the Holy Spirit, there will not be clarity.

There will be maybe, I think, we won't have that peace that the Bible talks about.

Because sometimes you know to move forward or not based on the peace you have about something.

Like if you don't have a peace about it, don't move forward.

If you have a peace about it and you're led by the Spirit, you know where He's leading and you know where He's guiding you.

He reveals Himself in so many ways throughout the Bible.

I love how he reveals himself to Israel in Deuteronomy as the mighty hand and the outstretched arm.

The psalmist reveals him as a finger of God.

How different could our lives be if we're led by that same spirit?

Jesus says he must lead to the Spirit or the Comforter can come.

He's the comforter, watch this, in our success and our failure.

Sometimes success brings a whole lot more issues than failure.

And the Holy Spirit wants to lead us and guide us in all areas of our life, whether it's revealing our deepest groanings.

Did you know that?

Sometimes when you can't pray what you feel, and you're so agitated, angry, upset, hurt, angry, mad, sad.

I said angry twice.

I get angry a lot.

Um the Bible says those groanings, he takes the heaven for you.

I can't even explain how I feel or how this hurts me or how this offends me or what this is happening.

It says the Bible says he takes that groaning to heaven for you.

And at some point in your day, you don't know when it happened, but a peace came and a strength and tranquility.

You don't know when and where.

It's because the spirit took it to the Father.

It says, here's the pain of betrayal, here's the pain of hurt, and here's the pain of not enough, and here's the pain of deficiency, and here's the pain of those who would plan evil against me.

Here's the pain of it.

This is what the spirit does.

He's not a mystery.

Don't let the culture make you think he's a mystery.

Don't let past church experiences think make you think he's spooky or weird or mystery.

He's not.

People are spooky, weird, strange, and a mystery.

My backyard is weird, spooky, strange, and a mystery.

Holy Spirit, he's not.

Did you know how much your father loves you?

That he makes sure there's no misunderstanding or misinterpretation about his spirit, about him, or about his son Jesus.

Can I show you how?

God the Father.

You know his name's not God, right?

We call him that our English version.

If you want to know his name, just go to back to Mount Sinai with Moses.

And Moses' got to go back to Egypt.

And he's like, Alright, burning bush, but it's not consumed.

Who do I say sent me?

Because there's a lot of gods in Egypt.

If you read Exodus chapter 12, you'll see God on pastor visit all the gods to show who the real God was.

Exodus 12 · chapter mention

Moses said, Who do I say is gonna send me back here?

And he says, not God.

He says, You tell them what Yahweh sent you.

The first and the last time the name was ever used by a person.

And in the Hebrew, Yahweh means that He will be or I am that I am.

He reveals you by His name, no mystery.

Whatever you need, guess what?

He becomes that.

The one who was, the one who is, and the one who will be.

You've not walked into what you need yet, but He'll be there.

Isn't that amazing?

Anxiety, fear, and everything else, you let them know when they present themselves, either internally or externally, whatever they look like, whatever they whatever text and message number it comes under, you let them know, oh, he'll be what I need.

Not a mystery.

The Son?

You do know his name's not Jesus, right?

That's the English version.

His name is Yeshua Hamashiach.

And in his name, in the Hebrews Yeshua, it is revealed who he is.

Yahweh is great.

He reveals his Father is great.

And he reveals the plan of the Father.

He says, If you've seen me, you've seen what?

We didn't know what love looked like when Jesus came on the scene.

We didn't know what forgiveness looked like when Jesus came on the scene.

We didn't know.

Who to be friends with until Jesus came on the scene, and then they said he's a friend of sinners.

This is weird.

And then the Holy Spirit, the great mystery, the one that we're so concerned in our culture about, about engaging him or praying to him, or has him to be led by.

Do you know what his name is?

You probably know where we're going at this point.

His name is not Holy Spirit.

He reveals himself in the Hebrew in our Bible as Huach Hakodesh.

If you're Jewish in here, I apologize for the pronunciation.

Huach Hakodesh.

And the literal translation is the breath of God.

Isn't that amazing?

The breath of God.

That not only did you need God, but you need his breath in every season and every situation.

Are you aware that Jesus thought it so important that before he goes anywhere and does anything, he does this to his disciples?

John 20, 22 says this.

And he breathed on them and said, Receive the what?

The whoah.

Or the breath of God.

You're going to need this, he told them.

He said, for what's ahead of you, for God's plan, for God's purposes, you're going to need the whoa.

You're going to need the breath of God on the inside of you because you're going to have doubts and you're going to have fears and you're going to have moments where you feel isolated.

You're going to have moments of confusion.

God's going to take you on different paths and journeys.

And without the breath, you can't be sure of where he's leading and where he's guiding you.

I want to encourage somebody today because sometimes you've gone through your life and you have not even realized you've been led by the Holy Spirit.

Like you might say today, this would have been good to find out a lot earlier in life, a lot of different decisions and things that could save a lot of money, a lot of heartache by this point.

I want you to do an exercise with me.

Think for just a few moments about moments in your life where you look back on right now, you're like, wow, I am so glad that didn't work out.

Or I'm so glad that worked out.

Like many of us today, we paid top dollar for an education in a degree and a major that we don't even operate in today.

Can I get an amen?

Your parents are still upset about it.

They won't amen this.

There are many of you here today that you were so in love with someone in high school or in college, and you looked on their Facebook, you creeped and looked on their Instagram, you're like, dodge a bullet.

Yeah, that was a crazy woman.

That was a crazy woman.

You start speaking in tongues, you don't even know the Holy Spirit, but you just an utterance became thank the Lord and his power and his might.

You don't call the Holy Spirit, but can I tell you what it was?

It was the Holy Spirit.

You were headed one direction in life, and he turned you, and you know that's why you're in Orlando now.

He led you.

I encourage you to do the exercise throughout your life.

Think back.

What you might have called a stomach block might have been the Holy Spirit's stepping stone.

What you might call bitter in your life, the Holy Spirit might have made you better, given you grip.

You can make it through things.

That was the Holy Spirit leading you.

That was the Holy Spirit guiding you.

It is time to give him credit where credit is due.

Amen?

Amen.

This is the realm the Holy Spirit wants to engage you and I in.

The realm of intimacy.

The realm where your feet can't hit the ground in the morning until you say, Spirit, lead me, Spirit guide me, Spirit, direct me.

Spirit, give me an unction, give me a peace, or guess what?

Don't give me a peace and I don't need it.

Like until you get to that place, you are not fully engaged with the Holy Spirit.

The spirit that Jesus said he could not operate without.

Are you hearing me, family?

Jesus said he couldn't operate without this spirit, and you and I may or may not engage him on a daily basis.

We will sign a contract, we will commit to something, we will uproot our family, go across the country, we will do, and not ever say, Holy Spirit, lead me and guide me.

It is so necessary for a healthy daily walk spiritually, mentally, emotionally, relationally, and financially.

Like you and I, we need the Holy Spirit.

We would benefit from engaging in every way and in every place.

I love this scripture in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 14.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

It talks about exercising our spiritual senses.

You might want to write that down and check it out later.

It talks about exercising our spiritual senses, to be aware of the Holy Spirit, to engage the Holy Spirit.

It's like going to the gym and working out.

We get our word gym or gymnasium from the word exercise, right?

You put it into practice and you put it into play and you begin to use and become more aware of the Spirit.

The more you use and engage the Holy Spirit, you begin to understand.

See, our problem is we're talking to people who we can see instead of who we can't see.

We're taking issues and pains and problems and drama and things, trauma from our past, and we want to text, we want to call, and we want to email who we can see, forgetting who we can't see truly has the answers.

Like you might want to wait a 24, 48-hour window and engage the spirit before you start texting and calling and engaging and paying and taking out debt and loans.

You just might want to engage just a little bit longer and say, Spirit, lead me, because I'm so consumed with who I can see and what I can see in my life.

You know, people tell me all the time, and it's the nature of being a pastor, I know, I'm not spiritually where I want to be.

I'm just, I'm just not there yet.

And what I want to let us all know today is take heart.

You're where you need to be.

You're just not exercising your spiritual awareness enough, like Hebrews 5 says.

Exercise the spiritual senses that the Lord gave you.

See, right now, I could bring up here, I could bring a junior high kid, 70 pounds, soaking wet, right?

And I can bring a bodybuilder, like an Arnold Schwarzenegger or a Callum or whoever you follow on your social media platforms, right?

Bring these two.

You got the junior high kid, you got the bodybuilder.

You look at them and you'd be like, Yeah, that guy definitely has a lot more muscle on him than the junior high kid.

And can I teach you something really quick?

That would be inaccurate.

God gave them both the same amount of muscle.

One has made use of exercising that muscle.

And one has not made use of exercising that muscle.

And what I'm gonna show you is that we all have the same amount of muscle when it comes to the Holy Spirit.

Some of us are exercising the muscle more than others.

Some of us are trusting and engaging and asking, Lord, lead us and guide us and direct us in your spirit and not in my flesh.

The same amount of muscle as Pastor Keith, same amount of muscle as Pastor Megan.

We just got to flex it more and be led more.

You look at some people, oh, they're so spirit-led when they pray, when they live in their marriage, their kids, their families, their finances, no different.

You got the same amount of muscle.

They just spend more time in the gym flexing their muscle.

This is not a mystery.

This is not a secret.

This is who our God is.

So here's the question I have for you.

When is the last time you experienced or exercised the Holy Spirit in your life?

Like you can point to that moment.

Yeah, that was Holy Spirit led.

I engaged the Holy Spirit.

If you can't answer that, that might not be your fault, but can I tell you why?

Because the benchmark of success in the 21st century Western church in the United States has been attendance.

That's where you when you are.

The benchmark of success in the 21st century American church has been my favorite pastor being at my church.

Who's speaking?

Who's there?

Who's who's how many locations?

That's been the benchmark of success.

My favorite preaching, my favorite location, and we never talk about the spirit moving.

If I had time, we would go into the book of Acts, and they you would not even be called a church in the book of Acts if you weren't led by the Spirit.

They could care less who is speaking, they could care less how many locations, they could care less how many satellites all on a person.

And we get into this place where we come into the church, we're like, feed me, give me, give me, instead of Holy Spirit, lead this moment.

Holy Spirit, what can I offer you in this worship?

What sacrifice of praise can I offer you today?

The speaker, feed me, you better give me, you better be funny, and all the tricks and the things that I see on other podcasts and other things, you better give me.

No, Holy Spirit, lead my pastor.

God, my pastor.

We are so concerned.

That's too deep, Pastor.

That's too much, Pastor.

That's too spirit.

Field, Pastor.

Are you doping me right now?

You should want Pastor Keith to convict you every single time.

His mouth opens.

I'm telling you, we live in the day and age where if your toes are getting stepped on, you're going to the wrong place.

This surface level, this prosperity gospel, this blabbing and grabbing, just tell me how great I am.

How's that working in marriages right now?

We got this to back that thing.

How's that working with kids right now?

How's that working with Gen Z right now?

Yeah.

Not working well.

We want to pray over our leaders.

We want our churches to so be led by the spirit where they're operating at the voice of God.

Don't be surprised if God speaks to your leader and He wants to take you deeper than you've ever been.

And it won't make sense from a generation of what we didn't do this growing up.

My friend's church doesn't do this, or I'm not familiar with this.

Good, that's the spirit.

If God wants to mix some things up in your church or in your workplace or in your home, good, that's the spirit moving.

We got to recognize, not to be offended or put out by the spirit, but to welcome it.

Thank you, God.

I'm not comfortable.

Thank you, this is out of my comfort zone.

Thank you that you spoke to me today, and I walked out with some bruises on my toes.

Guess what?

I'm gonna have to pray over my wife.

Yep.

Even when I don't feel like it, even when I don't like her.

I'm gonna have to pray for my children, even when they're disobedient.

I'm gonna have to seek you and honor you, God, even when I don't feel like it.

That's the move of the Holy Spirit.

Read the book of Acts, and they were led by that kind of spirit.

I'm very aware of what my job is today and why God sent me here.

Most of you are believers.

You're led by wonderful, God-ordained leadership.

You believe in the Holy Spirit, just some don't live as though he's vibrant.

I've got to encourage you to live as though he's real and relevant.

It's one thing to believe and to have the head knowledge, but to have that in your heart and in your lifestyle is a whole different perspective altogether.

See, with the with the attractional movement in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, the attractional church, we weren't really pursuing the Holy Spirit, but yet numbers and buildings and locations, online experiences are popping up all over the place.

That's why you can't be fooled by numbers.

You can't be fooled by numbers.

You can't be fooled by the crowd.

You can't be fooled by what's popular.

Are you aware that Jesus died alone?

Died alone.

Be led by the Spirit.

Let your heart yearn for the things of the Spirit.

If I preach to you ten ways to get rich and ten ways to not be stressed out, ten ways not have anxiety, you should be upset with me.

No, no, your heart should yearn for more.

I want more of my king.

I want more of my savior.

I want to see him in a light I've never seen him in.

Jesus even said to his followers, he said, You're not yet ready yet for the Spirit wants to reveal.

Did you know that?

He says, Because you're not hungry enough.

You're not thirsty enough.

You want the surface level thing.

And Peter said, How many times do I forgive?

Seventy or seven?

And Jesus says, Oh, I pray the Spirit revealed to you seven times seventy.

You're not hungry enough.

There's more there for you.

Your life is a direct result of the voices that you listen to and the keys and comes.

Your life is a direct result of the voices that you listen to.

Your life is a sum total of this because anytime someone has your ear hear me, they have influence over you.

Be careful who you listen to, be careful what you listen to.

Be careful to get your time and attention.

Because anytime they have your ear to have influence over you, can I show you how?

I'm willing to bet no one in here ever went to an English class and yet you speak English.

Think about that for a minute.

You've never gone to an English class and yet you speak English.

Because of the English voices around you.

You heard the voice enough and it became normalized.

A couple of phrases, a couple of words, a couple of sentences, it became thoughts and became interaction, and you could communicate.

You knew the local regional diction and the vernacular.

You knew how to press someone's hot button.

You knew how to give it right back to someone.

Because of the voices around you.

I believe the voice of the Holy Spirit will be like that moving forward for us.

The voice will become normal.

The voices not of the Holy Spirit will become more static.

Where for you, you might say, I'm not sure always of what his voice is, but I for sure know what it isn't.

And that's a good place to start.

Whenever it's self-seeking, whenever it's arrogant, whenever it's prideful, whenever it's lustful, whenever it's hateful, whenever it's uh prejudice, I know that's not the voice of the Holy Spirit in my life.

Whenever it's getting the last word, I know it's not the voice of the Holy Spirit.

I know it's just not.

Whenever it suits me better than suits my neighbor, it's not.

Whenever it puts me in a better position, elevates me, it's more spiritual and more godly and a better husband and a better father.

Whenever it's I know that's not his voice.

Start there.

And keep walking that thing out.

And watch when he begins to reveal his voice to you by just pursuing and just seeking his face.

So I asked you when was the last time you experienced him?

But here's my next question.

And the final question is when's the next time you experience him?

When is the next time you will engage him?

When is the next time you will say, Spirit, I want to be led, guided, and directed?

I'm all yours, heart, mind, and soul.

And only you get to answer that question.

Only you get to take this seriously.

It's been an amazing series you've been in, but will this go from a series to a lifestyle?

Will this get into your prayer life?

Will it get into your communication with God?

Will it be the topic of conversation around the dinner table tonight?

At the office tomorrow.

And whenever people try to make it strange or weird, you just you level set things.

Now that's not strange or weird.

I'm sorry you've seen something out of order.

I'm sorry you've seen something that someone blamed the spirit on it.

That wasn't the spirit, that was them.

Spirit loves, it covers, it protects, it encourages, it provides, it reveals, it brings illumination.

We're searching for answers everywhere else, but where we need to go to the spirit.

I'm crazy enough to believe that someone's gonna be led by the spirit today and tomorrow.

God's gonna move on your heart to call someone or to text someone and just tell them you're thinking about them.

Because see, we live in a culture where we want more from people than for them.

Holy Spirit's gonna turn that thing around on us.

You're gonna begin wanting more for people.

You can get nothing in return.

You're gonna make friends who can do nothing for your career, nothing for your family, and nothing for your financial bottom line.

You're just gonna make friends and you're just gonna love them well.

Celebrate, be led by the spirit.

God, I have nothing in common with them, but I'm gonna love them.

We don't see anything eye to eye, not ideology or anything else, but I'm gonna love them so well because the Holy Spirit teaches me in the Bible they will know us by our what?

Love.

Celebrate moments where you're led by the Spirit, where you're generous, not just to your church, but to people in your office, people in your community, where you just want to cover something from them that you know they can't cover.

Celebrate those moments because I believe God is leading us to rediscover the all.

The spirit that He said, I must leave, said He must come.

Father, we thank you for your faithfulness.

We could be anywhere today, but we're here, we could be tuning in online anywhere today, but we're here.

So, Father, I believe in a very real way there's no coincidence in this moment.

As a matter of fact, in the Hebrew, there's no word for coincidence, God.

That's it's more of all terminology.

And so, right now, wherever you are, can you begin?

You can lift your hands like me if you want, whatever's comfortable for you.

Can you just ask the Holy Spirit to come and have his way?

If you're saved, he's there on the inside.

If you said, Jesus come into my life, he already incubates on the inside of you.

Can you say, Holy Spirit, come and have your way like you never had before?

Can you ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide and direct not just today but the rest of your days?

Can you begin to normalize language, Holy Spirit, open doors and close doors?

Can you begin to normalize language, Holy Spirit, lead me into relationships and out of relationships?

Can you begin to normalize, Holy Spirit, leading God my career?

Leading God my actions and my thought life.

Leading God every part of whatever I consider important, whatever I consider value.

Leading God that Holy Spirit.

Maybe you can give the Holy Spirit access to areas that no one else has access to right now.

Areas of hurt, pain, and trauma.

Holy Spirit, would you bring healing?

There's maybe a reason why you still have those trigger points.

There's maybe there's a reason why there's still hurt and pain there.

Holy Spirit, can you reveal yourself in a way that brings glory and honor to your name?

I believe with all of my heart, as you pray this, He wants to reveal Himself.

He's been waiting, He's been yearning, He's been longing to be intimate.

And today is the moment.

So don't be surprised when you're led in different directions.

Don't be surprised when God reveals Himself to you on Sundays when you want deeper things, you're tired of surface level, you want more of it.

So, Father, in Jesus' name, we pray for a new revelation, for the most authentic version of the Holy Spirit.

We pray that we believe these things.

And lastly, with your heads bowed and eyes closed, if you're far from Jesus Christ anyway in this place today, if you're joining us online and you know about Him, but you never prayed to receive Him in your life.

This Holy Spirit would be foreign to you, but you you know it's what you're next step and what you need.

I want to invite you to pray this prayer.

And for others of you, maybe you've grown up in church and you prayed a prayer at one point, but you've walked away from him.

This moment is for you.

And so, church family, I'm gonna ask you to pray with me, whether you're in the building or online.

We're gonna let you feel like you're part of the family, not singled out.

And so, if that's you in this moment, would you pray with us?

And just ask the Lord to enter your life.

Church family, pray with me.

Say, Lord Jesus, we believe in you, we welcome you into our lives.

Lead us and guide us.

Give us a hunger for your word and for discipleship.

And let your spirit lead us.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen and amen.

Give all those a hand who prayed that prayer for the very first time.

Come on, first, let's give it up for Pastor Carlos.

Thank you so much.

An incredible message, man.

It was such a strong word.

us all stand to our feet.

We're gonna wrap up here in just a moment.

But as we traditionally do, we like to go back into worship.

And you know, we say those church things to seal it in, but I think it's just good for us to engage God before we have to engage the world.

And Pastor Carlos hit on so many powerful things and I pray that you that if you're encouraged by this, send this to to family and to friend.

Go back and revisit it because I think he hit on so many incredible things.

Thank you so much.

Thank your wonderful family for coming down and being with us today.

You know as we as we prepare to go back up and into worship, I I want to I want to speak specifically for some of us that that may have decided to say yes to Jesus.

Don't don't leave here without spending some time and connecting with us.

We would love to to answer any question we can that you may have or to simply provide you with some next steps.

If you're watching us online we want you know that our that our our content for kids is available now.

So please go on and and engage church at home with your family is such a powerful thing.

We're so grateful for for what God is doing here in our community but but I I really want to worship with us one more time.

Can we just can we worship God one more time together before we before we get out of here I believe it's powerful in these moments though.

So let's worship God one more time and then we can be dismissed.

Thanks again for listening we hope you enjoyed today's message we'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast and review and share what you heard today.

If you'd like more content like this or you'd like to connect with us go to celebrationorl.org.

We hope you join us next time