The Great Exchange | Pastor Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

So glad to see everybody, man.

Thank you guys so much for coming out and worshiping with us today.

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

I'm so expected for what I believe God is going to do and speak to us today.

You know, I I think about all the the work and all the energy that that went into us being here today and all the things that we've we've walked through.

Thank you so much in this past season.

And I recognize that in this room there's many of us that that may not have been in a worship environment for well over a year.

It's hard to believe we've been in this weird space for for about the time of a year.

And as we come back into the presence of God, I just felt this sense that God wanted to encourage us.

I'm so I'm so proud of the way that you've endured.

I'm so proud of the way that you've all persevered.

I'm so proud of the way that you continue to pray and engage virtually and stay connected to the things of God.

And I believe that we're entering into a season where God wants to take us to the next level.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the Gospel of John, chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

While you're turning there, I want to honor and thank all of our online community for being with us today.

We're going to share some updates and some announcements at the end of our service today.

And while you're turning to John chapter 20, I want to give you some context as to frame up how we've arrived at this moment that we find ourselves sitting in right now, here as well as in the text itself.

John 20 · chapter mention

I want our minds to travel back to a little over 2,000 years ago.

It was a Thursday evening.

And Jesus, who had been doing ministry for about three and a half years with his disciples, training them, developing them, activating them, releasing them into doing some incredible things for the benefit of the kingdom of God, for the benefit of us.

He's now at a point where he knows that his earthly ministry is about to come to a close.

He's about to pass a baton now to the disciples.

So he sits down with his disciples on this Thursday evening to have a meal.

It's called the Passover.

See, for the disciples, this was a this was a holiday that they they celebrated their entire lives.

It was a day where where they understood that for their people, it was a day that they were set free from Egypt.

If you've been around church for any period of time, you may have heard stories about the narrative of Moses and heard stories about being set free from Egypt.

We may have even seen the Prince of Egypt.

Anybody seen the Prince of Egypt?

You've seen these different these different things that kind of commemorate what that moment was really all about.

And ultimately what it was is the day where God set his people free from bondage, and he did it on this powerful night that we call Passover.

And on this Passover night, it was a night where a perfect spotless lamb would be killed, his blood would be dripped on the door.

I know it seems weird, but it's it's it's the way that God did things, and it all makes sense in just a moment.

And the idea is that when when the death angel passed by, as long as there was blood on the door, it would pass over the people, it would not issue judgment on them.

So this was a substantial feast that they celebrated because it was the day that they understood that we're set free from bondage because of the blood of the Lamb.

Now Jesus is sitting with his disciples many centuries later, and he says to them, Hey guys, remember that holidays you guys have been celebrating all these years?

It was all pointing to me.

They're blown away as they recognize that the broken bread that they all had done their entire life was was symbolic of Jesus' body being broken so that we can be healed.

They were blown away that the wine they were used to drinking was symbolic of the shed blood, which was the blood of the Lamb, so that they can be set free.

So he says to them, Every time you gather, do this in remembrance of me.

Every time you gather, remember, it all points to me.

All those feasts, everything you did, it all points to me.

So you do them remembering that I am the fulfillment of all of it.

It's a powerful moment for them.

Jesus washes his disciples' feet and he prays for them, and then he goes into the garden as he's in the garden praying and processing because he knew the reality that he was about to face, but at the same time, he he genuinely didn't want to die on the cross.

But he says these powerful words nevertheless, not my will, your will be done.

He's then arrested, he's driven off into six illegal trials at night, and now he's about to be publicly executed.

He's nailed to the cross, he's he's mocked, he's made fun of, and people have made statements like, if you really are who you say you are, then then climb down off of that cross.

You could save so many other people, but you you couldn't save yourself.

And then there's this moment that that many scholars and historians believe, this moment when when the presence of God for the first time in Jesus' life withdrew from him.

It's the first time that Jesus ever felt separate from the Father, and and his only response, his only reaction was to to utter these words Elah, Ela, La Ba Sanatalahi, which are the words, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

It's when Jesus felt the full weight of sin for all of humanity, and God took a step back so he could really feel it.

Jesus then says, Into your hands I commit my spirit.

It is finished, and he breathed his last breath.

When Jesus breathed his last breath, the literal foundation of the world shook.

The sky was blotted out in darkness, and people were amazed at what was happening.

But his disciples were still confused.

Jesus' lifeless body was then taken down off of the cross.

He was wrapped in grave clothes and he was placed inside of a tomb.

And it seemed as if for his disciples, for his followers, that was the end of the story.

They didn't have any context, they didn't have a framework, they didn't have an understanding of what was going to happen next.

So Friday night takes place, Saturday, Saturday night takes place.

They're grieving, trying to process what do we do next?

But then there's Sunday.

So she went running as fast as she could to tell Peter and the other disciple, the one that Jesus loved.

Little side note, when it says the one that Jesus loved, that's John, he's actually referring to himself.

I'm not sure if that's a flex or not.

To me, it kind of seems like one, like, hey, the one that Jesus loved.

You know.

Um, so the one that Jesus loved, but you know what?

Maybe we need to refer to ourselves as the one that Jesus loves.

I wouldn't even plan on preaching on that, but I can go all day on that.

There's some other people, but I know I'm the one that Jesus.

Okay, let me keep going.

Okay, so so the one that Jesus loves, she told them they've taken the Lord's body from the tomb and we don't know where he is.

The Peter and the other disciple jumped up and they ran to the tomb to see for themselves.

They started out together, but the other disciple, the one that Jesus loved, he outran Peter.

Guess he had more passion for it.

He reached the tomb first and he didn't enter, but he peeked in and he saw only the linen cloth lying there.

The Peter came and he went straight into the tomb.

He noticed the linen cloth lying there.

But the burial cloth that had been on Jesus' head was rolled up and placed in a separate spot from the other cloths.

Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first went in, and after one look, he believed.

For until then they did not understand the scriptures that prophesied that he was destined to rise from the dead.

Puzzled, Peter and the other disciple left and went back to their homes.

Today, I want to spend a few moments talking about what really took place and what we can take away from that place.

If you're taking notes and I and I encourage that you do that, I want you to simply write down this message title The Great Exchange.

The Great Exchange.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for opportunities like this that we don't take it lightly, where we can come and gather in your name.

So Lord, I just pray for the next few moments that you give us open eyes and we can see you, open ears that we can hear your truth, and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

And amen.

I want to pose a quick question to us just to kind of get a sense of how to navigate through some seasons and things that I've I've found myself during the course of my life navigating through.

So have you ever received a gift that you just didn't like?

Like something that that you just knew, like, man, like this, this just isn't for me.

I'm I'm not rocking with this, this isn't for me.

Now, I I began to Google what do you do?

Because I'm I'm very concerned about making sure that I that I adhere to appropriate social etiquette.

Like that's really big for me.

I want to make sure that I honor social etiquette.

So you'd be amazed that there are websites on how you're supposed to navigate and respond to moments just like this.

And so I saw a couple of options.

One of the options was you can smile and just accept it.

AKA lie.

So you can just say, I'm good with this gift, I love it, it's the best thing ever.

So you have the lying category.

You you have the other one where you can say, Hey, thank you, but no thank you.

That that's the one where basically I call it the heartbreaker that someone went through the effort to go and get you a gift, you can be like, no, it's terrible.

Thanks, but no gants, thanks.

You you have that category.

Then you have you have the third category.

And the third category is you could just take that thing and re-gift it and give it to somebody else.

They said amen to that.

So, so whoever said that, just make sure if you get a gift from them, there's a good chance that it wasn't really from them.

I consider that outsourcing generosity because somebody gave you a gift and you just gave it to somebody else.

You really didn't give much thought to it.

But anyway, I I found myself processing through this because I I remember this one time where I received this gift.

It was like one of those like uh Secret Santa type gifts.

It was around Christmas time.

And here's attention.

I'm navigating through do I am I gonna tell the truth?

Am I gonna smile through it?

What am I gonna do about it?

But for this particular gift, all those rules were thrown out the window because the gift came with a commentary.

Here's what a gift with a commentary means.

As they hand me the gift, they say to me, You are going to absolutely love this gift.

This is the best gift that anyone has ever given in the entirety of their life.

I prayed about it, and the Spirit of the Lord told me that I'm supposed to give you this gift.

He said that you were in need of this gift and that I went and got it, and it wasn't easy because I couldn't get it online, I couldn't get it from the nearest store.

So I drove the Sarasota on half a tank of gas in prayer, and I went and picked this gift up, brought it back to you, I wrapped it up and I presented to you.

You're gonna absolutely love it.

I I don't know how you respond to a gift when it has such a deep detailed commentary attached to it when you think that it's a terrible gift.

So you know what you do?

You go back to category one and you smile and you lie.

Thank you so much for this.

I'm so grateful that you thought of me and you honestly thought that I wanted to wear these bright red Jordans.

I I I I'm my wife told me I'm not allowed to wear the color red.

That's the reason why there's context for that.

I didn't realize that like you can age out of a color.

But but Megan says, like, hey, like Keith, you're on the other side of 40 now, so you can't wear red.

Like, I don't know where it comes from, but my wife said so.

So if you buy me red shoes, she says I can't wear it.

Um, but if you give me some black ones or some white ones, we can talk.

So, so so I'm I'm I'm I'm I know I can't wear it.

So I'm sitting there with this gift that I know that I can't use, and I'm I'm trying to process through it.

It sits in my closet and I'm looking through it, trying to process what my next steps are, and then I found the ultimate get out of jail free card, the gift receipt.

Thank God for gift receipts.

Because if you give me a gift receipt, that means you're giving me permission to go and exchange it for something that may be a little bit better.

It's a blessing whenever you get a gift with a gift receipt.

So I noticed that I had a gift receipt, so I'm like, oh, praise God.

So I go to the store to exchange it, but I get there and the fine print says, no refunds, exchanges only.

So now I'm wandering around this store that I don't like, trying to find some items that I don't want just to exchange the thing that I never wanted in the first place.

And the stores it's got a lot going on.

There's a lot of colors, there's there's a lot of fragrances being pumped through the vents.

I'm afraid it's gonna get on my clothes.

I'm not gonna tell you the name of the store, but I'll tell you later if you ask me.

Like I'm I'm afraid, and then there's like got this loud club music going, like, like I'm just I'm I just I wanna just get out of there.

And and while I'm there, I I can't find anything, so I pick up a couple of random items that I would never buy.

I mean, I I go in and get like a biggie t-shirt, Tupac socks, wear them together so they can see that East versus West, man, we're back together, we're united.

Like I put them on together, I get all this stuff, but I go to the register to go to check out, and and I realize that that the items that I got cost more than the things that was bought for me, so now I'm actually paying money.

How did I get here when I was just simply trying to exchange the gift that I didn't want and I'm walking out paying an additional$25 for Tupac socks?

Like how how how how did I how did I get here?

It's it's so frustrating when when you get a gift that that you don't feel like it's really equal value, but it still seems as if you gotta still come out of your pocket for more.

It's it could be so frustrating when you feel like you're not getting the equal exchange.

Because at the end of the day, we're wired in such a way where we all just want a return on our investment.

I want an equal share.

It's called sowing and reaping.

If I'm if I'm gonna go in, I want to get out of it what I put into it.

We we know what that feels like.

We we want to see a return on our investment with our relationships.

If I'm investing time and and energy and and effort into a relationship, you're you're hoping it's being reciprocated.

It's only natural we want to have an equal exchange.

We we see the same things even in our places of work.

We we we work at a place and we invest in a place where we're giving our energy, our our skill sets, and we believe that we're really making a difference.

We we just want to feel like we're being adequately appreciated and taken care of with the same energy that we give out.

We all just want our fair share.

We all want at the end of the day what's coming to us.

But I am so grateful that the kingdom of God operates differently than that.

See, the currency of the kingdom is grace and mercy.

And what I love about the God that we serve is that he didn't give us what we deserve.

See, we deserve judgment, we we deserved death.

Let me let me rewind time and help us to understand how we've arrived here.

Our our parents, Adam and Eve, they represented all humanity.

In the same way that an athlete on a football team, they're wearing the same jersey, they represent the entire team.

So if that if that athlete goes off sides, the entire team is penalized, right?

15-yard penalty.

We all have to back up.

Well, Adam and Eve, they represented all of mankind.

So when they went outside of the will of God, we all carried that consequence.

We have sin in our DNA.

You ever notice how when you're talking to a child, like how just how easy it is for them to lie?

Did you did you eat the candy?

Nope, it wasn't me.

Literally candy flowing out of their pockets.

Like it's like I I can I can see it on you.

Like it's it's so natural.

Like David says that we are born in sin and shaped in iniquity.

That means that our sinful nature, it's just literally connected to who we are.

It's just it's so embedded into the fabric of who we are that we can't even make a distinction from it.

That's that's what we're born with.

So the Bible says that the consequence of that is that something has to die.

So for Adam and Eve, when they stepped out of line, when they got out of the will of God, it says that their eyes were open and they knew that they were naked and they were ashamed.

So they hid themselves, and so God had to come and fix it.

So he went and got them a nice dope outfit.

He said, I'm gonna, hey man, you guys are naked, you're trying to wear these fig leaves.

That is not gonna be comfortable.

So, so so let me let me get you something that's gonna work better for you.

Let me put this this this leopard print on you.

Let me let me cover you up with something.

But but here's what we have to understand about the leopard print.

That meant that an animal had to die in order to cover their sins.

So, what that meant is that activated God's redemptive plan that said this that death is required in order to cover our brokenness.

And redemption is expensive.

It comes at the cost of blood, it comes at the cost of something that we can never do on our own.

In fact, the Bible says that if we were to take all of our good deeds, it would never be good enough for us to satisfy what God expects from his people.

It literally defines our best efforts as filthy rags.

That's kind of harsh.

That means that God is saying, if I were to look at your life and we counted for every time you took a shopping cart back at Publix.

We we counted for the time that you held the door open for that sweet old lady.

We we counted for the time when you let that person get in front of you and they didn't even have a blinker on and they knew that this lane was going to end eight miles ago, and yet you still decided to slow back and let them over, and all they gotta do is give you a courtesy wave.

If you give me a courtesy wave, it's all good.

If you don't give me a courtesy wave, I'll get caught up in my feelings.

Y'all pray for your pastor.

Like, I feel like cutting you back off.

Like, hey, all I'm asking for is just a little wave.

You ain't give me that, man, I'll run you off the road.

How did I get here?

I'm shaped in iniquity.

That's it's in me.

But what the Bible says is that that if we were to stand at the register of redemption and take all of our best efforts, that we would still come up woefully short of what God's expectation is for mankind.

I I remember standing behind uh a gentleman, I was two um customers behind him, and and he didn't have enough money on him.

You could see that he was looking at the register and he he didn't have enough on him.

And so the lady that was behind him said um to the cashier, she's like, Hey, you can you can just put all of his stuff on on my bill.

And and the man was flustered, he was he was confused, like, no, no, I can't have you to say no, please.

Like, put it all on my bill.

I'm I'm gonna pay the bill, I'm I'm gonna take care of it for you, put your put your money back in your pocket.

That was so kind.

You know what I think?

I think what happened for humanity is that as humanity was standing in the line of redemption, we never had enough.

So Jesus stood behind us and said, Hey, put put it on my tab.

Every every sin they ever committed, put put it on my tab.

All of their brokenness, put put it on my tab.

Their insecurities, you can you can put that on my tab.

Everything that they're struggling with, you can you can put that on my tab.

I'm I'm gonna pay for it.

Now, now here's the thing.

I'm not only gonna pay for it for you, but I'm gonna pay for it for all of humanity.

But but you gotta you gotta be in this line, though.

And and you gotta be careful because while we're standing in this grocery store of options, there will be a lot of things that are gonna tempt you to want to get out of this line.

Because I know when I go to a grocery store, I am scouting out to see who's the most efficient cashier there.

I walk in a media, I'm like, okay, that's my person.

I can tell that they're gonna get me through this line fairly quick.

I want to be there as short as possible.

So when I'm in line, I'm always looking and seeing what line can I get into that's gonna help me to get out of here quicker.

But what the Bible says is that there's only one line that's gonna lead to life.

There's only one line that's gonna lead to redemption, that you gotta stay in this line because this is the line that Jesus paid for everything.

I know the temptation is for us to look in other lines and thinking that they're gonna be the ones that's gonna provide healing for us.

It's not gonna be able to cover it.

I know that there's other lines that's gonna tell us that if you get in this line, then maybe you'll feel validated.

It's it's not gonna cover for it.

But if I can stay in this line or in alignment with Christ, that I can benefit from his generosity.

Everything that he's already paid for is available to me, but but I gotta stay in his line.

And I believe that the enemy sometimes cometh over the counter and he's saying, like, hey, you can come over here, I can give you peace, no, he can't.

You can come over here, I can give you joy, no, he can't.

You can come over here, I can give you redemption, no, he can't.

Jesus has already paid for it, and I'm not gonna get out of this line and allow the adversary to distract me, to get into a line that is not gonna lead to life, but it's gonna lead to death.

Jesus has already paid the price, but we just we gotta get into the alignment and receive what he's done for us.

I I know that whenever I go out to dinner, and if somebody pays for my dinner, I am I am so thankful.

I have a friend of mine where we we literally try to fight to see who's who's gonna pay for the meal first.

Like, there's been times where I'm like, hey, I'm gonna go to the restroom and I go and pay for it, and and there's and vice versa.

And there's that moment when you find out that that he beat me to the punch, that he paid for dinner before I could.

And and when we leave, I'm like, man, I'm so I'm so grateful for you.

Thank you so much for your your generosity, for your kindness, man.

You were you were too much, and I know I can't pay you back, but but I am gonna be a person that's gonna express my gratitude to you.

That's for paying for my dinner.

If I could be that grateful for someone who paid for a meal, how much more grateful should I be for someone who redeemed my very soul?

How much more grateful should I be when I consider that that Jesus took on the pain and the death that I deserve just so I can have access to heaven?

See, this is why when we come to church and you see people serving, they're serving from a place of gratitude.

When we talk about giving, people are giving from a place of gratitude.

We can't pay God back, but we're expressing gratitude.

When we get saved and we begin to share that testimony with other people, it's because we were telling other people, hey, I was in a bunch of other lines and they never could satisfy, but I got in this line and Jesus gave me everything I ever wanted.

And now I want to be an ambassador and tell you when you're in this grocery store, get in that line because they have the best cashier ever.

Everything's already been paid for.

This is from a place of gratitude when we come in.

Here and we sing out songs to God.

I'm not waiting for my favorite song because the song's not about me, it's not exalting me, it's about God.

So when I'm coming to here, no matter what song is being sang, I'm gonna lift up my voice to God.

I'm gonna give praise to God.

I'm gonna clap my hands to God because He is worthy.

Come on, church, let's give God some praise and we can express our gratitude for what Jesus did over 2,000 years ago on the cross.

This is the great exchange.

This is the power of that great exchange and understanding that the currency of the kingdom is grace and mercy.

I have three ultimate thoughts that I want you to walk away with.

Because what I suspect for some of us, there's some things that we're carrying, there's some things that we still need to exchange in order to get what God truly has for us.

Here's the first thing I want to make you aware of is that our pain can be exchanged for his healing.

Our pain can be exchanged for his healing.

See, the scripture tells us that that that morning, that when when Mary woke up into her third day of losing her her savior, the scripture says that she was brokenhearted.

She was grieving, she was distraught.

So her and when you read the other gospels, you see it's her and and and a couple of other women.

They all go to the tomb.

It's dark outside still, and they go and visit the tomb of Christ.

And what the Bible says is that while they're on their way there, that the stone has been removed.

That Mary looks in and that she sees the clothing that Jesus was wearing neatly folded on top of the tomb.

I mean, imagine for a moment.

His clothing was neatly folded.

I mean, I can't get my son to neatly fold anything in his room.

But but Jesus, his clothing was was neatly folded.

See, the prevailing thought back then was, hey, some grave robbers came in and they stole the body of Jesus.

I I don't, I'm not a criminal, but I know a few, and I know that when they're breaking into something, they're we're praying for them.

Hopefully they're gonna get saved after this service.

But but I but I know a few, and what I know is whenever there's about something going on, you always see that things are ransacked.

They don't have time to neatly leave something folded in its proper place.

It's almost as if Jesus wanted to send a very clear message.

It's almost like when he got up, he's like, hey, these are garments of death.

I don't need these anymore.

I'm gonna put these back in their place and I'm gonna go ahead and change into something different.

What a powerful thought that these grave clothes, these clothes that would have been soaked with the blood of Jesus, were neatly folded in their proper places.

Almost as if saying, like, there is a season when I could have worn these and this was appropriate.

But I'm in a new season now.

And what scripture says is that when Mary saw Jesus again, he had on a new fit.

He wasn't wearing the garments of death, he was wearing garments that represented life.

He wasn't wearing the garments that represented pain, he was wearing the garments that represented healing.

I I believe the idea of the of the of the grave clothes being left in the tomb in its proper place is meant to send a message to us and saying that that healing is available, but it may require us to change.

It may require us to change.

I I look at passages of scripture because we see that Jesus' ministry was one of healing.

It says that he went to villages and he healed all that they brought to him.

Micah chapter 4, chapter 5, excuse me, it says that he came with healing in his wings.

Micah 4 · chapter mention

Isaiah says that by his stripes we are healed.

He shared with his disciples that his body was broken for our healing.

Jesus was all about healing people.

But what I've noticed is that when he healed somebody, it required a change from them.

I I think about the woman with the issue of blood.

We hear about her a lot, but think about the fact that she is a woman who was known for her issues.

That's what she's known as.

But then she has this moment where her pain is exchanged for healing, and she had to change her name.

So she was no longer the woman with the issue of blood, but Jesus called her daughter.

A change had to take place.

There's a man named Blind Bartimaeus, and scripture says about him is that this was a man, it's in his name, he was blind.

And so he began to create a ability to function with his dysfunction.

What the blind men had to do is they had to memorize their steps.

When they woke up, okay, four steps to get to the restroom, three steps to get outside the door.

You had to know the surroundings because you didn't have vision.

They would position themselves at the gates of the city and they would have a cup in their hand and saying, Would you please give alms to the poor?

I can't work.

And as people would pass by, they would give them some resources.

But then there's a moment when Bartimaeus lifted up his voice.

Oh man, I wish you could grab a hold of that.

That he was blind, but he still lifted up his voice.

He heard that Jesus was in the vicinity and he lifted up his voice.

He had heard about Jesus.

It sounds like faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

He heard about Jesus and he lifted up his.

Hey, I know that Jesus is here.

I can't see him, I can't feel him, but but I know he's in the vicinity, so he lifted up his voice.

And what scripture says is when he lifted up his voice, that then Jesus descended upon him and that he received his sight.

And you know the thing about blind bar to manage is you can't call me blind anymore because I got my sight.

There was a change that had to take place.

It reminds me of the leprosy people, that whenever they had to have this condition, they lived in isolation from the city.

But what the Bible tells us is that when Jesus gave them an encounter and brought healing about them, they had to change where they were living and reintegrate back into community.

It reminds me of Lazarus and how the Bible says that he was in the tomb for four days.

He was wrapped in grave clothes, but when he came out, that Jesus said, remove the grave clothes.

There's a season when wearing those garments was appropriate, but you're in the season of life now, and you need to go into a new season where you're wearing what is a representation of the healing that is taking place.

What I believe is that sometimes we so identify with our seasons of pain that we don't know how to handle it when God is bringing us healing.

See, I believe that healing is available for all of us, but we but we have to be willing to make some changes in our lives.

We may have to change the voices that we listen to.

We may have to change the folks that we spend ourselves spend time with.

May have to make some changes, but but healing's available.

And sometimes the folks that you're listening to are the very ones who are instigating and activating the pain.

I believe that that Jesus is saying a message to us right now.

I I left that stuff in the tomb.

What are the things you need to leave in the tomb so you can walk in the healing that's truly available for you?

See, I believe that not only can we exchange our pain for his healing, but I believe the other thing is we can exchange our worry for his peace.

Our worry for his peace.

I want y'all to know worry is a real thing.

And we we all have seen things that that have obviously put us in a place where we can worry.

Here's what the definition of worry.

Worry means to give away to anxiety.

It's when our mind dwells on difficulty or trouble.

And there are moments when we we try to fight that because there's a difference between when we worry about something and when we have concerns and we care about something.

See, when you care about something, when you have concerns about something, that simply means it's on my radar, I'm processing through it through the lens of hope.

Worry means I'm trapped in the future and I don't have any resolve.

It's like jazz music that never ends, it just keeps going and going and going.

Like when is when is it gonna end?

That's what worry is.

It's just you're just your mind's just constantly processing and and you don't have any outcomes, you don't have any resolution, you don't have any peace, you're just you're just stuck there.

But what the Bible says is that it's this moment where we're able to exchange our worry for his peace.

His disciples, they were worried now.

Jesus is gone.

They're sitting in a room and they're worried because they're not sure if they're gonna be next.

They're not sure if if the people that crucify Christ was coming for them.

So they're sitting in the room and they're worried and they're shut in.

But then Jesus shows up and he speaks.

Peace.

The first thing that he says to them is peace.

Man, imagine that.

Sitting in a place of worry, feeling shut in, but peace is still present.

Man, when I when I think about this past year, how do I put this in in theological terms?

It was a doozy.

It's in Hebrew and Greek.

Um it was it was a doozy.

Because I mean, I mean, listen, listen, listen, listen, look at things.

We're dealing with with racial tension, we're dealing with political tension, we're we're dealing with with churches that are that are struggling.

See, when you when you pastor a church in Orlando, Florida, that is, uh, that is built in essence with folks who work in the tourist industry, and then a virus slash plague hits the very city that prevents people from going to work, it has a domino effect.

And as much as I wanted to be concerned, can I be honest?

There were times I began to worry.

I began to think of the people that I know that that worked in hotel industries or amusement park industries, people that I knew whose livelihood was based on this idea of folks coming here, and that's not happening now.

And I will see one by one by one people losing their jobs, being furloughed, and I began to start with concern.

I'm concerned, I'm praying, what can we do to help?

But there are moments that have shifted into worry where my mind just began to process without any resolve.

I began to see folks as they are in this place where they're evaluating their own mortality, wondering if they're even supposed to live in a city anymore, and folks just beginning to leave and flee because they're they're thinking there's maybe other opportunities, and I began to have concerns like, man, you're gonna uproot yourself.

Where are you gonna go?

Are you gonna be okay?

But there's times that it shifted into worry.

I began to even recognize as even some of our incredible staff members have begun to feel like God was calling them to go to different locations.

New staff members were coming in, and I was concerned about culture and how can we sustain it all.

But there are moments that have shifted into a little bit of worry.

Those those moments where I don't have any answers and I'm losing sleep and I'm processing, and if you haven't noticed, I have a lot more grays in my beard right now.

Like there's there's there's a lot of things that are that are going on.

But then it reminded me of the disciples being shut in, but Jesus wasn't shut out.

It brought me this revelation that even though the Bible says they were in a room and all the doors were closed, it didn't stop Jesus from showing up.

I've learned a valuable lesson that you may be shut in, but Jesus isn't shut out.

That peace is not the absence of problems, it's the presence of Christ.

God began to run my mind through all the different instances where it seemed like all chaos and hell was breaking loose, but God was still with me.

It reminded me of what the Bible says in Psalm 23, where it says, I may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but I fear no evil.

Why?

Because God is with me.

See, I may be in some situations, but God is with me.

It doesn't matter what I may be finding myself walking through, but but peace is available to us.

I want to encourage some of us right now that that the enemy, he doesn't do down payments on destruction, that his job description is to steal, to kill, and destroy.

That's his only assignment.

So the mere fact that you are here right now, it means that he was not successful in accomplishing the thing that he tried to do over you and in your family over the past year.

So your survival is evidence of revival.

You can rest and recognize, I can exchange my worry for peace.

I can recognize that God has been with me every step of the way.

He will not leave us nor forsake us.

It may be uncomfortable.

There may be some things that I care about, but you don't have to worry because I can still have peace.

See, I think about how the Bible says about Shabbat, Meshach, and Abednego, and they were thrown into a fiery furnace.

It seemed as if they were shut in the flames, but it means that God wasn't shut out because the Bible says there was one who looked like the Son of Man who was walking in it with them.

And by the time they came out, they didn't even smell like smoke.

You don't want the smoke, they didn't even smell like the smoke at all.

I believe that for some of us, this may be a season where we have been in the fiery furnace, but I prophesy right now that when you come out, you won't even smell like smoke.

You won't even smell like you've been in it.

People are gonna wonder, were you in the fire?

No, I came out as pure as gold.

I'm glad that this happened because God was developing and refining some things in my life.

That is the beauty of the God that we serve.

You may be worrying about some things, but you can exchange it for his peace because no matter where you are, God will meet you right there.

The third and final thing that I wanna that I want to encourage us and share with us, and I'm gonna invite the worship team to come back and join us, is that our sadness can be exchanged for his joy.

Our sadness can be exchanged for his joy.

See what scripture says is that that the disciples, after Jesus shows up and speaks his word of peace over them, that he does something that that that for us we may view that as a little bit odd, but but he literally breathes on them, like just and he says, receive the Holy Spirit.

Be at peace.

Receive the Holy Spirit.

There was this moment of impartation where where God was saying, even with all the craziness that's going on, I'm gonna show up and bring peace, and and I want to I want to deposit my very presence in your heart so you know that I'm with you going forward.

See, the fruit of the spirit, there's an expression of it that says we have joy.

That means that my joy is not dependent on external circumstances, but it's it's based on an internal hope.

It's it's based off of who I have, it's not predicated on what I have.

So so Jesus, he breathes on his disciples and he says, You can still have joy even in these crazy moments that you find yourself in.

They were they were grieving, they were sad.

But but Jesus shows up and he says, But you can still have joy because you have an eternal perspective.

See, when I when I think about my own testimony, man.

It's uh it's one that uh that gets me in my feels.

Maybe you've heard it, but for the sake of those who may be new to our community, I'll I'll give you the abbreviated version.

I I remember over two decades ago when my when my cousin was killed in a car accident.

It devastated me.

It it it it rocked me to my very core.

At the time I I had my relationship with God, I would call it, I was God adjacent.

You ever remember those moments where like I'm close to somebody who's close to God?

Like my my mom, my my parents, my my family, they they they were close to God, but I was God adjacent.

So so this rocked me at my core, and it really made me question my my mortality.

What what what was next for me?

I I remember going to the the funeral, and it was it was a powerful sermon that the pastor had preached, and the service had concluded, and and in our culture we have something we call a repast where we all get together and we we eat.

So we're at my aunt and my uncle's house, and as we're sitting there, we're we're we're having this this powerful conversation, and I'm but I'm noticing with my aunt, she's sad, she's grieving, but she still oddly has joy.

I I couldn't understand it.

I I literally it it made no sense to me how yes, she was sad, she was she was heartbroken, but that there was there was something different about her.

As I began to talk to her and just was I'm thinking she's compartmentalizing.

I'm I'm being like a psychologist with no degree.

Like, hey, tell me how you're really feeling.

Like, I'm trying, I'm trying to like show me some tears, show me something, like I'm trying to figure it out.

And she's like, hey, you know, we we we have our moments, but man, I'm so glad I'm gonna see them again.

It's a it's a statement that we would make in our culture.

Whenever you lose someone and you believe that they died in Christ, you're gonna see them again.

As we continue this this conversation, I said, Oh, really?

Now in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, my cousin, he had been in and out of jail.

I guess from the human criteria, he he didn't meet the the standard of what I would have defined as a person that you were confident was gonna make it on the other side.

So I was like, man, like, okay, great.

I'm you know, that's good shit.

Oh no, you you you didn't hear that he he gave his life to Christ.

I'm like, no, I I didn't know.

She said, Oh, you you've got to see this.

So she she pulls out the I'm gonna have to explain this to some of us.

She pulls out a VCR tape.

Um VCR for some of this young generation, that's kind of like what Netflix was without internet.

Like you had to put it in, and and that was how we stream stuff.

So it was this video tape that she had put into her VCR and she was playing the footage of this service.

My my cousin was my cousin was in the service.

I could see him sitting on the left side of the church, and the pastor's in the middle of preaching.

And he's he's standing on a stage kind of like I am, and it's probably about a hundred people in a room, and he's preaching his message, and as he's preaching, he kind of like he's talking and he looks over at my cousin one time and he keeps going.

Then he looks over my cousin again.

Dave, I'm gonna use you.

Stick with me for a minute.

He he looks over my cousin again and he he looks over again, and then he literally stops.

He's like, Hey, I'm sorry, church.

Like, I can't go any further.

And he looks at my cousin and he says, The Spirit of the Lord is telling me that you've been running from him your entire life, and this is your last chance to get it right.

You're gonna be in his presence in less than a week.

My cousin breaks down crying right there on a spot, gives his life to Christ right there on the spot, gets filled with the spirit right there on the spot, leaves church, calls my brother who's living in Atlanta, and says, Man, I I gotta get out of here.

This this environment's not good for me.

Can I come and live with you?

Yeah, absolutely.

Gets in his car to drive to Atlanta, gets killed in the car, accident on his way there.

It's like that chicken and egg scenario.

If you never said anything, would it have happened?

Like it's it's you just kind of find yourself in this space.

But when I when I saw that, oddly enough, I began to have joy because Paul says that we don't grieve like those who don't have hope, that we we look at things differently, that even when we're in seasons of sadness, we know that God somehow has this ability to use it.

That moment led me to my own moment where I surrendered my life to Christ, and God made it abundantly clear to me that my calling was to stand on platforms like this and compel people to come to Christ.

I was filled with joy.

I was filled with joy considering that that God would interrupt the service to send a message to my cousin to say, You can't leave here without getting it right because you're going to be standing in my presence and I don't want you to spend eternity without me.

I was filled with joy.

I'm filled with joy every opportunity that I get to stand on this platform and I ask if people want to accept Jesus and they lift their hands up and they say yes, because I can't help but to think over 20 years ago, if my cousin didn't lose his life, would God have used me in the way that He has been using me over these past two decades into something that becomes so real to me that God is able to take what the enemy meant for evil, and he's able to use it for good.

I don't know what you've walked through, I don't know what your suffering has been, but you can exchange your sadness for joy because there's no matter what you have walked through, God can redeem it.

No matter what your struggle is, God can use it.

No matter what your setback is, God has this ability of taking those things that the enemy thought was going to destroy you and using them for his purpose and for his glory.

And I often find myself thinking of how Jesus gave up his life, a sad moment, but it ultimately resulted in billions of people being able to spend their time in the presence of God.

I I I love the economy of the kingdom.

This idea of knowing that we can exchange our sadness for his joy.

We grieve, but we don't grieve like we don't have hope.

We suffer, but we don't suffer like those who don't have healing.

We may be sad, but joy is still available to us.

That's the beautiful thing about the gospel.

You know, just yesterday I got a I got a text message.

Um, and it wasn't that deep, it was from one of my favorite stores.

They were texting me and let me know they had a sale going on.

But but but here but but here's the thing, here's the thing.

So I I got this text message, and and whenever, like I'm such a sucker for mark for marketing and advertisement, because I honestly think that like somebody at the store is like, hey, let me text Keith.

But it's just it's but I got this text message and say, hey Keith, um, how are you?

We wanted to let you know that we have like this friends and family sale going on right now.

30% off everything in a store, but because it's you, we're gonna give you an additional 25% off.

Like, as far as I'm concerned, that's bad stewardship if I don't go.

So, so a a place that I had no intentions on going to, because they sent me a message letting me know what was available to me, it compelled me to get up so I can go and get the discount that was available to me.

I didn't intend on doing it, but who would have thought that that text message was an invitation for me to go and get an incredible deal on some dope jeans?

You know, I think that we have a 66-book text message.

Y'all see what I did there that God has sent to us to let us know how much He loves us.

And He's He's He's letting us know that hey, there's this thing called the cross, and the cross is the invitation for you to submit all the baggage that you've been carrying, and you can exchange a life of peace and wholeness.

First Peter chapter one, it says that that the God has redeemed us from the empty lives that we have been living, not with silver and gold.

Like that of our ancestors, but through the precious blood of Jesus.

It says the empty lives that we have been living.

In other words, it's saying that that somehow the empty tomb means we can have a full life.

Because the tomb is empty, that means we have been redeemed, we have been restored.

That's the invitation.

That's the simplicity, the complexity, but the beautiful thing about the gospel is that somehow the cross turns into the tree of life.

And what I suspect is for the season that many of us have walked through, we would probably say that there's some baggage and some things that we picked up.

Maybe we've picked up worry, maybe we've picked up pain, maybe we've picked up sadness, maybe we've picked up losing our identity.

And today is meant to remind us that the tomb is empty and it can handle all the baggage that you've been carrying so you can walk out with the life that God had intended for you to live.

See, Mary, even after all the things that she had saw, Jesus was right next to her and she couldn't even see him.

It says that she thought that he was the gardener.

Lord, they've moved, they moved my Lord's body, and if you could just tell me where they placed him.

And he called her by name, Mary.

And she looked, and then she recognized that the very thing she had been looking for the entire time was right in front of her.

I believe that we don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

When we are looking at things through the filter of pain, the filter of offense, the filter of brokenness, we can't even recognize that Jesus is right in front of us.

And I believe that Jesus wants to cleanse our view through the cross to unload the baggage so that we can see what He's been doing this entire time.

I want to pray for you.

Lord, I thank you so much.

I thank you, Father, for the empty tomb because it gives us a full life.

God, I pray for our community right now, both here, those who are watching online.

God, I pray that whatever baggage we've accumulated, that Lord, we can take it to the empty tomb and we can exchange it for a life and a life of abundance.

Lord, I pray that you bring to the surface the things that we have not seen that's right in front of us, so that we can have perfect clarity of what you've been doing this entire time, God.

You you work all things together for the good.

It doesn't mean that it's good, but it means that nothing is wasted when grace is involved.

So, Father, I pray over every one of us that we can that we can leave it in the empty tomb so we can walk away with a full life in Jesus' name.

I I as we prepare to go into worship, I want to pose this question, and and we really do need to wrap up, but but I want to pose this question because I would be remiss if we didn't.

As Peter said, like, man, some of us have been living empty lives.

But I believe that Jesus wants to fill that life with hope, purpose, value, identity.

So maybe you're with us right now and you know that you're away from God, similar to how I was God adjacent, God in proximity, God awareness, but you just know that you're away from God.

If that's you, the cross is an invitation for you to exchange this emptiness for the fullness that God really has for you.

With every head bowed and with every eye closed, I want to pose this question.

Today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day that you can come home.

Today is the day that you can leave it all in an empty tomb.

So if that's you, whether you're online or whether you're in this room with us, would you be so bold enough to lift your hand up on a count of three saying, I'm ready to come home.

I'm ready to exchange this baggage and get the life that God has for me.

One, two, three.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Yes, church.

Let's celebrate with everyone.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

I'm so proud of you guys.

Let's all stand on our feet.

We're gonna go into a quick time of worship, just really quick to seal it in.

I want to pray and I want you guys to pray this prayer with me, helping along those who are possibly praying it for the first time.

And then we're gonna wrap up.

Nate's gonna come up and give us some quick instructions.

But repeat 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 because of that, I am saved.

Say it with confidence.

I am saved.

Fill me with your spirit and order my steps in Jesus' name.

I believe if you prayed that, that you went from death to life, from darkness to light.

So let's celebrate together as Pastor Day comes up afterwards.

Thanks again for listening.

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