Rhythms of Rest | 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 to hear today's message.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you so much, uh, Pastor Mike, and for for sharing and leading us in this way.

Um I'm so excited and humbled to be with you guys.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to go ahead and join me in Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

Um and after that, you can if you want to, you can go ahead and flip over.

We're going to find ourselves in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

We're we're so so glad that you're here, and I hope that you can you can sense that, you can see that, that you can feel what God is doing here at Celebration Orlando and abroad.

Um I want to take a quick moment to pause and reflect on the season that we're in as well.

Many of you guys may be familiar with this idea of Lent.

Um not the type of Lent that's on your clothes, but Lent.

Um But what that Lent season really is, it's a season that's the basically the 40 days leading into Easter.

And in a lot of Christian tradition, they acknowledge that this is a time of sobriety, a time of repentance, a time of being very reflective, with an expectation that when Easter comes, that there's going to be a significant harvest of people that are going to get radically saved and baptized in that time.

And so as a church, I want to I want to encourage every one of us that in this time of Lent, that 40 days leading up to Easter, which started on Wednesday, um, begin to pray and think about the people in your family that's in your life, that you would love to see them come to faith.

That's ultimately what this season represents for us, is really believing that this season where people are open to receiving the gospel, people are open to possibly coming to church, that you begin to pray over the next couple of weeks about the folks that are in your lives that you would love to invite.

And I believe with prayer and with this season of really seeking after God, that maybe their hearts will be receptive to coming into the doors of a church or watching church at home with you and your family.

And that could be the moment that can radically change their lives.

It's typically around this time that people will give up something of some sort as a sign of a fast or sacrifice.

So just consider praying around what is that that God is asking you to do in this season in preparation for the people in your lives that God may radically save as a result of your prayer and sacrifice.

Uh, another thing I want to encourage you to do in this season while we're seeking after God in preparation for Easter, um, it's kind of like the Super Bowl for us as Christians.

Um, but as you're praying and prepping, consider reading the gospels.

Um, it's a great time to really reintroduce yourself to the to the narrative which we are going to be celebrating all together.

So pick a gospel, read through it, depending on what your preferences are.

I can certainly have conversations with you on what may be the best fit for you and your family in this season.

But pick a gospel, read through it in this season in preparation for Easter.

And I truly believe that God is gonna meet you exactly where you are.

Amen.

Amen.

We're in this series called Pursue.

Um, and and it's a it's a powerful series.

And over the past couple of weeks, we've been talking a little bit around this idea of the importance of pursuing the things of God.

We recognize that we don't have to work for it, but we have to position ourselves to receive everything that God has for us.

Over the past couple of weeks, we talked about what does it mean to really pursue your purpose through the lens of serving and watching God move in that.

Last week we talked about how to pursue healthy, God-focused relationships.

And I want to tell you that we've heard so much feedback.

So if you weren't here, it was it was Valentine's Day, I get it, you were out with your boo, that's fine.

Circle back and check out that message.

I really do believe that that it has the it has the potential of changing your life in regards to how you engage with relationships when you have the proper perspective.

So if you're one of the ones that didn't check it out, go back and check it out.

Send it to some family members, some friends, because I think it does help us to know how to pursue healthy, God-given relationships.

This week we're going to continue in the conversation.

As you guys know, we understand that this idea of pursuing simply means to chase it down, to seek after it.

That that word seek is a synonym for the word pursue.

We have to position ourselves, we have to look for it.

And some of our themed scriptures have been Matthew 6.33, literally our foundational scripture as a church.

We we believe that we are God's family that's called to pursue God's kingdom.

We're not going to passively wait to experience what God has for us, but we're going to pursue it.

And so Matthew 6.33 encapsulates that by saying, Seek first that word seek, you can switch in the word pursue.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

Matthew 7, verse 7 says this, ask and it shall be given.

Matthew 7:7

Seek and you shall find knock, and a door will be open.

But you see, the antithesis is the behavior of the person that is pursuing after it.

If you ask the question, then you're going to get the answer.

If you knock on the door, then it'll be open.

If you seek for it, then you'll find it.

We're not going to passively wait to receive it, we're going to passionately pursue it.

And then 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 11.

1 Timothy 6:11

It says, But you men of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love and endurance and gentleness.

We understand that God is calling us to pursue these things that they're available to us.

We don't have to work for it.

Jesus already paid the price on the cross, but we do need to position ourselves to receive it.

I believe this that our pursuit determines our experience.

Our pursuit, it truly does determine our experience.

If we pursue some things, then we will experience the things that we pursue.

This week I want to talk to us a little bit around a very important subject that I think we can often leave out of our guidelines of things to pursue.

Beginning at Genesis chapter number two, looking at verses one through three, the scripture says this, it says, So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed.

On the seventh day, God had completed his work and all that he had done, and he had rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.

God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all of his work.

God has been putting in some work and he got to the end of his work, and what it says is on day seven that he rested.

I always think that's really interesting that God who has infinite energy and abilities still had boundaries and he knew how to rest.

Even after each day when he finished his work, he ended it with this statement it's good.

I always thought that was so uh profound because God could have finished everything in the first day, he could have worked endlessly, but but the Bible says that he created boundaries and he said, It's good, it's almost like it's this is good enough.

And and I want to encourage some of us that we have a lot of things that are in front of us, a lot of tasks, a lot of things that we need to accomplish.

But even God got to the end of each day and said, This is good.

I think that that's a good indication of how we need to live our lives sometimes.

That while there's a lot of things that we need to get done, sometimes you just gotta say, you know what, it's good.

This is good enough for today, and I'll tackle some more tomorrow.

But on that seventh day, that designated day, that's gonna be a day that we're really going to experience rest.

Matthew 11, starting at verse number 28, it says, Come to me, all you are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

These are the words of Jesus.

He says, Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Jesus makes a series of powerful statements, but I love this one that we can sometimes overlook where it says, This, learn from me.

Jesus says, Listen, I need y'all to learn from me.

There's a lot of different resources and a lot of information that you can look to.

There's a lot of things that that can certainly inform you, but Jesus says, Learn from me, study me.

And what Jesus shows us in the life that He lived is that He modeled a life where He understood the importance of rest.

I believe one of the most overlooked things in our culture can be the importance of rest.

Because we we live in a world where productivity and multitasking are celebrated as a skill set.

We have devices that allow all of our worlds to converge into one, and I love every single one of them.

But there are moments when those notifications they invade our everyday life and we're just trying to rest.

There's moments when you're just trying to disconnect from work for just a little bit, but you see that one email come up and you're like, Oh, I'll I'll just reply really quick.

It's moments when we're just trying to mind our business and spend time with our family and our friends, but we see that one alert from the news and it seems to compel us and draw us in.

The world is set up to consistently feed us with information that keeps us from being able to fully engage with one another and engage in the presence of God.

But Jesus has learned from me and practice the importance of rest.

That's what I want to talk to us about today.

I want to talk to us about the importance of learning how to detach from the world system that that wants to keep us on this hamster wheel of being engaged in everything and learning how to truly rest in the presence of God.

And if you're taking notes, and of course at Celebration Orlando, we do that because we do know that when we get to heaven, God's going to check our notebook because we're taking notes.

But we're going to take notes, and the message title that I want you to write down for this is simply this Rhythms of Rest.

Let's pray and let's see what it is that God wants to speak to us.

Lord, we're so thankful for our opportunities where we can come together and gather in your name and worship you.

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

We create this as sacred space and we dedicate it to you.

Speak to us, challenge us, encourage us, inspire us in Jesus' name.

Amen and amen.

You know, I I I was raised around a very, very hard-working family.

Megan was as well.

I I think back to my my grandfather who who moved away from a very racist and oppressive South to move up to the Northeast to find a better way for his family.

And from the moment that he moved up to the Northeast, he he started his own business and began to experience a level of success.

That is the legacy that my mother was raised in.

My biological father, before he walked out of our lives when we were four, he was a businessman and he was fairly successful.

So I was constantly around just hard work and just seeing the benefits that come from people that work really, really hard.

Even after my father had left, I saw my mom take on that mantle and provide for my brother and I, taking on three and four jobs at a time in order to make sure that we could sustain some normalcy in our lifestyle.

It was just a very normal thing.

So I was raised understanding the importance of hard work and grinding and getting after it.

That was just a mentality that we had as we were coming up.

And I remember being in high school, I was I was juggling three different jobs at the same time.

Like saving up for school, saving up for my first car.

That's right, a 1984 Chevette.

Anybody know anything about a Chevy Chevet?

The door didn't close all the way, you had to lift it up in order to close it.

Some of y'all, some of y'all are too young to even understand the struggle of when you had to like roll your windows down like this, and then had to reach across and roll the windows down.

My car was so old, I didn't even have a mirror on the other side.

You had to learn how to drive without even using cameras.

Come on.

I'm trying to talk to somebody in here, the struggle of what it means to be in the age group that I'm in right now.

There was a little bit of a struggle there.

But I remember that, I remember that grind and hustle season and just understanding that yo, you gotta you gotta get after it, you gotta work hard and you gotta go for it.

I even remember that as a as a young man who was literally just graduating high school, that my youngest son, Keith Jr.

was born.

Needless to say, I knew that, man, I'm not gonna be able to go to college right now.

I gotta I gotta grind, I gotta provide, I gotta, I gotta take care of my family, and I was perfectly at peace with that.

The idea of rest was something that I was like saying, that's being lazy.

That is not something like you gotta get after it, man.

A closed mouth doesn't get fed.

You gotta grind, you gotta, you gotta make it happen.

And that was my mentality.

I even remember juggling three jobs and going back to school and working on my very short-lived, but in my opinion, very successful rap career.

Yes, indeed.

Like you didn't know that your pastor had bars.

Let me tell you something, man.

I used to I used to get after it.

Megan remembers, man.

I I used to I used to battle with the rest of them.

Well, you catch me out there on the balcony at the end of service, man.

I'll show you something.

But but I used to, I was, I was getting after it.

So I would be working and going to school and working another job, and then I would drive up to New York or Philly, and and I mean that was just what we did.

You just grinded, you had to make it happen.

I was channeling my my inner Rick Ross.

Every day I'm hustling vibes.

You just you gotta you gotta make it you gotta make it happen, and that was the life that we live.

And then I remember this moment where where I get radically saved and I and I I move down to Jacksonville and and I'm I'm successful, I'm I'm I'm working hard, but then there's this moment where I find myself working at my local church, celebration church located in Jacksonville, and I and I brought that same hustle, that same work after that same mentality.

But I noticed this rhythm that was amongst the people that I worked with that on Friday was our day off.

I was like, man, this is awesome, but man, I got some work to do, I got some things to get done.

So I was continuing to have this hustle mentality, but when I would reach out to certain staff members on Friday, I'm like, hey man, like, you know, I was thinking about this for this next thing that we should be working on.

Like, hey man, let's talk about it on Monday, man.

This is my this is my day off, this is my my Sabbath.

Sabbath?

I thought that was for the Jews.

I I didn't think we had to participate in that, man.

We got a lot of work to get done, man.

There's a lot of things we have to get after it.

But I began to recognize this peace that was on people that understood the importance that there's gonna always be a lot of work to get done.

There's gonna always be one more idea, there's gonna always be something else we can do, but we gotta find time to just relax.

That seemed very odd to a person who was raised understanding the importance of hard work and grinding like I was raised.

Then a couple of years ago, something very interesting happened.

I guess it's about three years ago, maybe almost four years.

I I'm I'm getting a little fuzzy on the math, but I remember there was this moment where where Megan and I we we moved up to Washington, D.C.

to serve as the executive pastors at our church up there, Celebration D.C.

And while we were there, we we knew that God was calling us to bring some stability and some structure and some systems to that church.

They had just experienced a significant leadership change, and the church was kind of really struggling with some things.

So I felt that I could bring some stability to this church.

So Megan and I move up there, sell our house and pack up everything to move up to the DC area, and I already have all these plans in my mind.

Let me tell you guys, like I've pulled out, I got diagrams, I got charts, I got all this stuff that I want to do to help unfold to really, really help this church move forward.

I spend about the first month getting to know people and listening to folks, and then I'm telling you guys, as God is my witness, just when I'm about to launch my full-on assault of launching all these different ministry initiatives, your boy breaks his ankle.

And let me tell you something.

You guys may have heard me tell this story, but we have some new faces in here.

I broke my ankle while checking the mail.

There is nothing that screams you're getting old more than you falling and losing your balance while you check the mail and you suffer a horrific broken ankle.

I fall and I break my ankle, I have to get surgery, and now this idea of me getting into this new city and hitting the ground running just resulted in me hitting the ground, but there wasn't a running.

I'm literally laid up in my house, and I have to depend on my family for everything.

I'm a go-getter.

I remember after coming out of surgery and having a couple of days after I come out of my fog, like I remember like getting out of bed and army crawling downstairs to get some water.

That's how prideful I was.

That's how much of a hustler I wanted to be.

My wife looked at me and said, What is wrong with you?

Like, like literally, what is wrong with you?

But I felt like I had something to prove, but but I didn't recognize that that I was put in this position so that I could learn how to sit still for a moment.

It was a very painful season.

I had to learn how to walk again.

I had there's a lot I had to walk through, but but here's the most interesting thing.

My marriage was stronger than it had ever been.

My family dynamics was as strong as it's ever been.

My impact in ministry was stronger than it's ever been.

I was having less meetings, I was doing a lot less output with my hands, but when I did do things that had maximum impact because I believe I was in a position where I was able to experience rest and reserve energy, and when my output really needed it, I had the energy to commit to it.

I began to recognize a rhythm here that if I can be fully rested, then when it's time for me to engage the things that God is calling me to engage in, then I actually can have the strength and stability to do it.

For all this time I thought that the work of my hand was going to determine the blessing, but I really realized that I do the work in my hand, I submit it to God, and then I take my hands off of it and allow God to breathe on it, and that is where the increase comes from.

I began to learn this very valuable lesson about the importance of the rhythm of rest.

I found myself visiting a passage of scripture that that I had visited literally hundreds of times before, but I got a different revelation on it.

Psalm 23, which is very familiar for many of us, but it says this, it says, That the Lord is my shepherd, I have what I need.

He lets me lay down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he renews my life, he leads me along the paths for his namesake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valleys, I fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they come for me.

You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, and my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

See, I had read this passage, and it's always been something that's been near and dear to my heart.

But when I really began to understand that this passage perfectly encapsulates the God's desire to pour out blessing and favor and rest on us, and he wants to fill our cup with oil and let it overflow.

But I realized how can we ever allow the cupping and the blessing of God to overflow in our lives if we don't sit still long enough to receive it.

This entire passage is speaking about the importance of allowing God to lead us to a place where we can receive what he wants to pour out in our lives.

My entire life, I thought that my definition was found in being busy, but I learned a very valuable lesson.

God never called us to be busy, he called us to be fruitful.

And there's a difference between the two.

We idolize being busy, but God said, I didn't call you to be busy, I called you to be fruitful.

And if you understand anything about being fruitful, when it comes to being fruitful, there's seasons, and that season always includes a season of rest.

There's a season where things are planted, there's a season when things are water, but there's a season where you rest and allow God to add the increase.

And my concern is that we live in a culture where we want to be so busy, we want to be so productive that we've not we stop taking our hands off of it and allowing God to move amongst it.

There's a season where we have to experience true God-given rest.

Rest is really simply defined as this: it's a restorative break from labor and worldly striving.

It's just a restorative break from labor and worldly striving.

It's to cease from activity.

It means to pause and give space to God so that he can begin to fill it.

When God created things in the very beginning, the Bible says that God rested on the seventh day.

And ultimately what that means is that God breathed and that he began to occupy every aspect of his creation.

It became sacred to him.

It almost became like that day became an altar unto God.

And from that moment forward, God had a desire for all of us to live lives where we create space for him to breathe on the work and the activity that we've done with our own hands.

On the seventh day, God rested.

But I think that sometimes we lose sight of the fact that this thing of rest, it's a gift from God.

Like you ever have like a gift, but you don't know how to use the gift, so now the gift becomes complicated and it doesn't accomplish the thing that it was actually set out to do.

I I read this article about this family and they had hit the lottery.

I'm not here to argue the theological implications of whether or not you should play the lottery or not.

What I'm saying is if you do play the lottery and you hit, just make sure you tithe.

Um that's all.

You know, I believe the grace is under all of that stuff.

But there was this family, and they they they saw, man, we're gonna we're gonna hit this number for a hundred million dollars.

They hit they hit this big number.

Life-changing type numbers.

That seems like, for the sake of this conversation, a blessing, like a significant overflow of all these resources, but they didn't know how to steward it.

So you know what happened?

It ended up causing confusion and chaos in our family.

What once was a strong family unit, it fell apart because now everybody wanted to grab their hold of it and they felt like they had the ideas on how to best manage it.

And what I really believe is that something that should be a blessing for God's people, this idea of rest, we've complicated it and now it's gotten a lot more messy.

We don't we don't know how to rest, and we argue whether or not if we should rest.

We under if whether or not if the death of Jesus means that we shouldn't rest anymore because we he's now our rest.

It becomes a lot more complicated.

Even the Pharisees became very legalistic with this idea of rest, and then rest became work, and it became a lot more complicated.

But God simply wants to help us to understand that rest isn't that complicated.

It's really us getting to a place where we recognize that he is our provider, that he is our source, and we're going to take time to pause and allow him to breathe on our work.

That's all it really means.

You know, I believe that sometimes in our busyness we can forget to pause and allow God to breathe on us so we can be fruitful.

What if the thing that we've been striving for to do with our own hands, that the answer was actually us submitting it to God and allowing him to breathe on it because we've experienced a moment of rest.

I have three things that I want to share with us that I think can help us to understand what rest does for us and why it's so important and why we need to implement it into our lives.

Remember, our pursuit determines our experience.

If we really want to experience wholeness, if we want to experience peace, if we want to experience what God has for us, we have to pursue it.

Here's the first thing that I believe.

If we're making the case on why rest is so important, rest gives us perspective.

Rest will give us perspective.

Matthew chapter 1, verse 20 through 24 says this, but after he considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:20–24

She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save the people from their sins.

Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken through the Lord's prophet.

See, a virgin will become pregnant and will give birth to a son.

And it will name him Emmanuel, which is translated, God is with us.

Verse 24.

This is the birth of Jesus, of course.

And then what I want you to understand is that Joseph is a regular man, and he's got dreams and aspirations of what he's going to do with his family.

He's found this beautiful girl named Mary, and they they're going to have dreams, they're going to accomplish so many things, and then he finds out that Mary is pregnant.

And he like, I ain't the daddy.

So something, something ain't adding up right here.

So what what it says that what it says that Joseph thinks is like, man, like, okay, it's it's not mine.

We don't need Maury Povers to take any tests.

I know it's not mine.

So I'm going to fall back.

I'm going to fall back.

I'll let her go on and live her life.

I'm going to live my life, and I'm going to go ahead and move forward.

But what it says here is that before he made the decision, before he followed through with it, that he went to sleep.

I don't know how restful that sleep was.

But the scripture says that while he was resting, then God spoke to him and gave him clarity about what was really happening.

I often wonder what would have happened if Joseph never slowed down enough to allow God to speak to him about what was going on in his life.

I wonder what it would have happened if Joseph would have seen what was going on and impulsively responded out of anger and out of his emotions.

But what scripture says is before he made his decision to depart from his wife, that he went to sleep and that he rested.

I believe that when we rest, it allows God to give us perspective about some of the things that we are seeing.

I believe that when we rest, it allows it to be the remedy for impulsiveness.

Because we know there are moments where we see things and we want to react to things.

There are moments where we hear things and we want to respond to things.

But I'm a firm believer that whenever you begin to collate information, make sure you rest on it before you react to it because maybe God has a perspective that you just haven't seen as of yet.

The scripture says that Joseph rested, and after he was resting, that God began to speak to him and provide clarity to him.

What is it that you're seeing right now that you feel like you need to react and respond to?

What if it's God's blessing in disguise and you just don't recognize it?

But the way that you will see it is because you'll take a moment to rest and allow God to bring some clarity and perspective.

It's not always bad things either.

Sometimes it could be good things.

Sometimes we could be so busy that we lose perspective.

Real story, whenever my family and I take a road trip, Megan knows this.

She and I are wired so differently.

So she's the type that whenever we're on a road trip, she she loves to count the miles as we're driving.

So when we're on a road trip, she's like, oh my gosh, like, man, we're just getting out of Florida.

That's awesome.

I'm like, how are we only just getting out of Florida?

We've been in the car for what it seems to be like eight hours.

Then when we get to South Carolina, oh my gosh, I can't believe we're in South Carolina.

I'm like, I can't believe we're only in South Carolina.

I'm not sure if you've ever been around somebody, you just look at things vastly different.

Real talk, you know when you're like driving on a highway and it tells you like how many miles before you get to Miami?

I promise you, I look away.

I don't even want to see what the number is because in my mind I'm thinking, I've been driving for eight days straight and we're still not there yet.

And the fact that you're telling me there's still another 300 miles, it makes me just want to pull over to the side and ask for someone to come pick us up.

But Megan on the other side, she she has this perspective of like, hey, we we may not be where we want to be, but look at how much progress we have made.

She has a different perspective when you're looking at the journey.

And what I think that rest can do for some of us, sometimes we're so focused on getting to our destination that we don't have perspective of how much further we actually have made it.

See, I believe that when we rest, it gives us the adequate perspective that you know what, I may not be where I want to be, but thank God I am not, I am, I am much further than where I used to be.

That's what perspective does for us, but I believe sometimes we have to rest to detach from the busyness of the world to recognize the progress that's in our lives.

Have your goals, have the things that you want to accomplish.

But make sure you take time to pause and get perspective about the journey that you've been on.

Sometimes comparison begins to grip our souls, and we find ourselves so consumed with where we're not that we don't recognize what God has done with us so far.

See, rest allows us to get perspective.

Here's the other thing that I think rest does: rest helps us to recover.

Rest helps us to recover.

The Gospel of Mark, chapter 6, verse 31, the words of Jesus, he says to them, Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.

Mark 6:31

For many people were coming and going and they did not even have time to eat.

Let me help unpack that for a moment.

Jesus lived a life of constant output.

Ever since his ministry was sparked, there was constant attention, constant people pulling and dragging and getting his attention, hoping that they could just touch him and that they can experience their healing.

But Jesus consistently modeled a life of rest.

Every time he had a massive ministry outreach of some sort, he was like, okay, guys, like I need to go and detach myself for a little bit.

I need to pray.

I need to I need to get some things in alignment with God.

Because a lot of times when we have an extensive amount of, when we have an extensive amount of output, if we're not balancing that with rest, it can lead to burnout.

And I think that one of the biggest crises that we see right now is the frequency in which people burn out.

People are burning out left and right, leaders are burning out left and right, and I think a lot of times it'd be because we haven't adequately worked a rhythm of rest into our lives.

Burnout is when we are physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally exhausted.

It's when we are drained.

And it's when we're exhausted, we are the most vulnerable.

I I've heard it said this way we are the most vulnerable when we're alone, when we're hungry, when we're bored, and when we're tired.

Those are the moments when you're the most vulnerable to make some very questionable and challenging decisions.

And I have seen leaders and people that have fallen into making significant mistakes because they haven't adequately worked a rhythm of rest into their lives.

You can even look at our bodies.

Whenever someone is sick, what do you tell them?

Hey man, drink plenty of fluids, get some chicken noodle soup and get some rest.

Because the body actually needs a moment where you're not moving all around for it to begin to bring recovery and restoration to all the output that is happening inside of your body.

For all of my folks that love going to the gym, I'm working on it.

Don't y'all judge me.

But but I but what I love is no matter how much you go to the gym, there are days where you still have to rest.

And it allows your muscles to recover from the stretching and the things that you're going through.

So our bodies are letting us know in order for you really to be healthy, in order for you really to grow, you have to have rest in it.

So, how much more do we need to have rest for our mental health?

How much more do we need to have rest for our souls and for our spirits?

Rest is so crucial to us as believers.

Many of us may be familiar with this man named Elijah from Scripture.

He was a prophet, that God had used to do some tremendous things, that he had actually battled against other false prophets and was successful.

His ministry was one of extensive output, but he got to a point where he was exhausted.

And what the Bible says is that this woman named Jezebel had seen the effectiveness of Elijah and said, I'm going to kill you.

And this fear begins to grip him.

This man that stood down and stared at death in his eye and never moved, but now when he gets a threat because he's exhausted, he's gripped with fear, he runs away and he literally asks God to kill him.

Imagine that when you get to a place where you're just running on fumes and so depleted that you think it's better for you not to even be here.

That's when you're at a place of being exhausted.

But it's while he was there, the Bible says that he rested.

And when he rested, an angel of the Lord appeared before him and gave him something to drink, gave him something to eat, and it's while he was resting, he was restored.

He was given vision and clarity, and he was able to finish the mission that God had had for him to accomplish.

I truly believe that when we work a rhythm of rest into our lives, it allows us to be restored from all the output and all the things that are pulling at us, which seems to be every single day.

We want our cups to overflow, but how can they overflow if we don't stand still long enough for God to pour in in the first place?

Rest is an important part of us being restored and being strengthened.

I think the third and final thing that rest does for us is that rest honors God.

Rest honors God.

On Exodus chapter 20, verses 8 through 11, it says, Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Exodus 20:8–11

You are to labor six days and do all your work, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath for your Lord God.

You were not to do any work, and your sons and your daughters and your servants and livestock and residents within the city gates.

Anyone that is there, they are not to rest.

Verse number 11.

For the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them in six days, and then he rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it as holy.

God literally modeled for us that after moments of extreme output, that there's a day that he wants us to just designate that we commit to him.

See, it honors God when we are able to pause and allow him to breathe on our work.

You see, in the book of Genesis, it talks about people who said, We're going to make a name for ourselves in Genesis chapter 11, and they built the Tower of Babel, and it was meant to be a monument to all of the successes of man.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

But then Abraham was called out.

And what Abraham's life's mission was is I'm not here to make a name for myself, I am called to make a name for God.

There was a distinction between what Babel was doing with trying to build something that was a reflection of all their skills versus what Abraham lived, which is the life that was honoring to God.

And I'm telling you, it is nothing more honoring to God than we can live lives where we've consecrated our time and we've given it to Him.

We talk about how we we worship God in the area of our giving.

When we create time on a Sabbath and give it to God, that is how like we are tithing our time back to God.

God, I've recognized that you are my source, that you are my provider, and there's a lot of things I can do with my hands.

There's a lot of work that still needs to be done, but I'm going to detach myself from a moment and recognize at the end of the day that you are my source.

It brings honor to God when we can disconnect from all the work of our hand and allow God to truly breathe on it.

It's a beautiful thing.

You see, for the children of Israel, they were enslaved for 400 years.

I want us to think for a moment, that has never been the plan of God.

When God created the heavens and earth in six days, it talks about how each day had a beginning and an end.

But on the seventh day, there was no end.

If you notice, it never talks about how the seventh day had a conclusion until sin entered the picture.

Chaos entered the picture.

And so God didn't want man to live forever in a state of chaos.

He began to put boundaries and patterns in place so that way we can begin to get out of this sinful condition we found ourselves in.

Then, when grace comes into the life of the believer, we can experience the rest that God truly has for us that is found in Jesus Christ.

But the key point is this God never intended for us to come to an end of the rest that He planned for us.

This is why at the end of days, when Jesus comes back and returns for His church, there will not be days anymore.

We will be resting forever in the presence of God because that is what his intended plan and purpose was.

But the beautiful thing is we can begin to experience that right now when we create space and allow God to breathe on our works and on our hands.

It brings honor to God when we can detach ourselves from the work of our hands and allow God to breathe on it.

For the children of Israel who were in bondage, remember, slaves didn't have any days off.

They were literally valued based off of the work that they did.

So when God pulled them out of Egypt, one of the first lessons he taught them was, You're in the wilderness right now, but I still want you to honor me with learning how to rest.

I know you want to make it to your destination right now, but I still want you to have a space where you can just relax and allow me to breathe in your life and be the source that can strengthen you.

It's a beautiful thing when we think about the idea that God doesn't want us to work endlessly, but he wants us to be able to experience the love that he has for us by connecting with him and with one another.

That is the beautiful thing about this ability for us to enter in and to experience rest.

What Sabbath does for us, it ensures that our ambitions don't outpace our obedience.

Because there are moments.

I want to invite the worship team to come back up as we prepare to close.

As I mentioned earlier, Megan and I, we were um on vacation this week.

And man, it was it was it was amazing.

It was.

I mean, it was uh it's it was it was truly good to just be able to relax.

But but the first day or so, I still had to I had to really orient myself with this idea of really resting.

Because I was there and I would look at emails and I'm like, okay, well let me just reply to this email really quick.

I read I emailed somebody in our DC family, I emailed somebody here in our Orlando family, and what I loved is that I had people around me that said, I'm not answering you because you're supposed to be on vacation, I'll catch you in a couple of days.

Sometimes you just need people that'll say to you, No, we're not gonna talk to you.

And it really put me in check.

I'm grateful.

I'm like, man, I'm the boss, I make the rules.

But nonetheless, it was all good.

They they they helped keep me in check.

But I was there and Megan and I were relaxing.

You ever have like those moments where it's just like guilt-free rest?

For some of my parents know what you know what I'm talking about, when you can just like, man, it's okay, I'm gonna sleep in my room all day long, and it's okay, like guilt-free rest.

We were just resting and relaxing and chilling.

But then there's this one night where they had this thing called a silent party.

If you've never seen a silent party, I want you to Google it, look it up, and if you ever go on vacation, go to a place that has it.

Here's what a silent party is.

Let me let me walk y'all through this thing real quick.

A silent party is when you go to a place where there's a party.

There's a bunch of people there.

There's a DJ in the back, kind of like how Vinny is right now, like looking like he's a DJ right now.

But everybody gets their own headphones.

And when you have your headphones on, you have three different frequencies that you can switch to at a moment's notice.

What that means is that if I have on green, that means that I'm dancing to one set of songs.

I can look around and see somebody have on red, and that means they're dancing to another set of songs.

And if someone has on blue, they're dancing to another set of songs.

Every headphone has its own different playlist.

And when you're looking around from the outside looking in, all you see is a bunch of people dancing around.

You don't hear it because you don't have the headphones on, but it's just chaotic because everybody's dancing at a different pace.

Some people are dancing fast, some people are jumping up and down, some people are dancing slow, but it all depends on the frequency that you're listening to.

So there's this moment where Megan and I we're dancing and we're we're having a good time, and I see that she has her frequency on blue.

So I put my frequency on blue, so her and I are dancing and step with one another.

But then I look over and I see somebody next to us, and they're very excited.

They got they got red on, they're jumping up and down, they're excited.

I'm like, well, man, what are what are they listening to?

So let me let me switch over to the red frequency.

They're listening to some songs, and I'm like, okay, let's get it, let's go.

Like, that's exactly what my dance step was.

I was let's go.

Like, I mean, I didn't know what to do with myself.

So so I'm getting after, but I look back over, I'm not dancing in step with my wife anymore because we're not on the same frequency.

So I'm looking at what other people's frequency is, and I'm dancing to their rhythm, but I'm completely out of step with my wife.

I need to get back on her frequency so we can be in tune with one another.

You know what I believe is that God has a frequency that He wants us to live and move by.

And if we're not careful, we'll be looking at other people's frequencies and we'll switch to whatever they're moving to because we feel like that's what defines success.

We feel like that's the thing that creates fulfillment, that's the thing that's going to give us hope and strength.

And we completely miss the fact that in me pursuing the frequency of the world, I've gotten completely out of sync with God.

And what God is saying, the rhythm that I move at is a rhythm of rest, it's a rhythm of wholeness, it's a rhythm of strength.

The word of God declares that his ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts.

The way that he functions and moves is different, and we are not to be conformed to the image of the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind that God gives us these instructions and saying to us, there's a rhythm and a cadence to your life that will allow you to experience wholeness and freedom and peace and shalom, but you've got to get in sync with me.

My question for us right now is what rhythm are you dancing to?

Are you dancing to the rhythm of the world where there's endless work, there's no rest, we find ourselves vulnerable and compromised and end up finding ourselves in a place of burnout.

Or are we willing to create space and say that I'm gonna move in the rhythm that God has for me?

And that rhythm and that frequency, it may not always make sense to the world.

The rhythm I'm gonna move at is gonna be one where I exhibit kindness to people, even if we don't look the same or think the same.

That's the rhythm that the kingdom of God moves to.

The rhythm that we move to where it says that I'm gonna take my resources and give to the kingdom, knowing that it's gonna impact eternity.

That's the rhythm that the kingdom moves to, that the rhythm of understanding that I'm gonna give my life as a sacrifice and serve to make a difference in the lives of others.

That's the that's the rhythm that I'm going to move to.

It's the rhythm of saying that I'm gonna live a life of rest and acknowledging that God is my source and my provider.

That's the rhythm I'm gonna move to.

The world has its own rhythm, but that rhythm leads to burnout.

Scripture says there's a way that seems right, but it ends in death and destruction and exhaustion.

But if we can pursue the things of God, that's how we experience godliness and strength and wholeness.

What rest is for the believer, it's a place where we create space for God and we invite Him to be the guest of honor in our homes.

It's very practical.

And for some of us, it's just as simple as taking a few moments and pausing and acknowledging that God is your source.

For others of us, it can look like having communion in your home with your family.

In the Pittman household, what we typically do about 80% of the time is on Friday.

We pause, we eat dinner together as a family, we I pray over my family, we spend some time talking, and then everybody kind of goes back to their separate quarters.

But it's a moment where we recognize that God is the is the head of our home.

And what I can tell you is I've seen people who've begin to put this practice into their lives, and it has radically changed their marriages, it has radically changed their families.

Imagine as a as a father, as a as a mother, when you're sitting with your children, a designated time, and you begin to speak life over your children.

It's not a space where we're where we're arguing or bickering or debating, because we live in a world that is constantly inundating our people with everything that they are not.

It's telling you that you're not good enough.

It's telling you what you need to do in order to be defined as successful.

But when the people of God create intentional space, invite God to be in their home and speak words of life instead of reflections of death over your children, it begins to change the way that your children will see themselves.

It will change the way that you see yourself because you're creating space and intentionally allowing God to breathe on you instead of allowing the world to put some things in your heart that's not a reflection of who God really is.

That's what these moments are really all about.

There's nothing weird about it, it's just pausing and acknowledging that God is our source and God is our provider.

We have resources that's going to be available for you on our website and through our app where you can download this prayer guide, and you don't have to use it, but it's just a great resource for folks that are not used to having these moments.

It's just a great tool to help us to understand how do I truly bring God into my home in a healthy way.

When you came in today, you were given um communion elements.

So I'm gonna ask you to go ahead and and take those out.

Can you bring me one of those things?

What I believe is what Sabbath is, is basically what communion is.

You know what the scriptures tell us is that this this moment, this sacred moment where we pause and we remember the Lord Jesus.

Do this in remembrance of me.

It's a it's a moment where they would pause and they would remember everything that Jesus had done for them.

And it was meant to serve as this you may be living in a moment of your life and your faith, they don't seem to be in concert with one another.

You're struggling with some things.

What the communion time represented was a moment for you to pause and be reminded, but Jesus died on the cross, which means that healing is available for me, that Jesus died on the cross, which means that grace is available for me.

So even if my life doesn't match scriptures yet, I'm remembering it and I'm beginning to build my faith and my hope in believing that what the Bible says is going to come to pass for me.

See what we're doing with us taking communion together as a family is literally what Sabbath is meant to be for our souls a moment where we pause, reflect, and remember that God is our provider.

As Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, he said, This is my body that is broken for you.

It's a symbol of letting you know that by my stripes, healing is available.

That I'm going to endorse some things that's going to let you know that healing is available as a result of it.

So as a family and as a community, as we prepare to take this bread, let's do this remembering that maybe there's some things that you're believing God to bring healing to.

Maybe there's some areas where you need to be healed mentally, spiritually, relationally.

Remember that Jesus took this to the cross, which means that it's available to you.

So as a family, let's take this bread together.

In addition to that, there is the shed blood.

And Jesus said that this blood is shed for the remission of sins.

It's literally the shedding of blood that allows us to have access to the presence of God.

Scripture tells us that there was this temple that separated man from God because a sinful man can never step foot into the presence of a perfect and holy God.

But when Jesus shed his blood, that meant that forgiveness was available, that restoration was available, and now we can come boldly into the presence of God without having to go through rituals or routines that Jesus allows us to have access to the presence of God.

Shame is removed, brokenness is removed, rejection is removed because through the shed blood of Jesus we have access.

That is what Sabbath is about.

That is what this communion moment is about.

I want to encourage us to be reminded that if you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have access to Him in the same way that I do.

So as a family and as a community, let us all take this juice together, remembering that we have access to Christ.

Lord, we're so thankful for these moments where we can gather together in your name.

And God, you see your people, we live in a world where the system is constantly bombarding us, invading our minds, invading our hearts, pulling us in every direction.

And this idea of rest can seem so out of frequency with the world.

But Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus that we can begin to operate and function with the recognition that you are our source, that you are our provider, that we don't have to strive for things because we can rest in you.

We can work hard, we can grind, we can hustle.

But allow us to be people that pause and create space that allows you to breathe on it and fill it, and we can experience the rest that you have for us.

I want to speak now to another group of people.

And some of you may be in this room and some may be watching online.

But if you're with us today and you recognize that right now, that there is a there's a separation between you and God.

That if you were to do an inventory of your soul, you would simply be able to say that I am not in relationship with God.

I'm not in right standing with God, is as we would put it.

Maybe you did at one point, but you know that you're just not walking in step with God, that you're not at the same frequency right now.

We want to create space where I can simply pray for you, believing that you can get in alignment with God and begin to function the way that He's called you to function.

So if you're in here with us today and you would say, Keith, I'm I'm ready to get on God's frequency and move at the rhythm that he's calling me to move to.

We want to give you resources and community that will walk with you on this journey, but we certainly don't want you to walk out here without giving you an opportunity to get on the frequency that God has called you and designed you to function in.

If that's you, with every head bowed and with every eye closed, we're gonna create this safe space for those in our community.

But you're ready to commit or recommit your life to Christ.

On account of three, I just want you to boldly lift your hands up.

One, two, three.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

I am blown away.

Church, can we put our hands together for every person in here that has just made that decision?

I'm not sure if y'all got the memo, but we are celebration church, so can we really celebrate with those who have made that decision to follow Christ?

What I want us to do is I want us all to stand on our feet.

We're gonna go back into a quick moment of worship to kind of seal this in.

And what I want to do is I want to pray with those who have just made the most crucial decision that I believe you ever can make.

I'm gonna ask us all to pray this prayer, helping along those who are possibly praying this prayer for the first time.

I don't believe that the prayer is the thing that changes you.

I believe it's our our faith and that somehow the prayer, the confession, is where the transformation begins to take place.

So as a family, as a community, let us all pray this prayer together, helping along those who may be praying it for the first time.

Repeat after me.

Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins.

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

And it's because of that belief I am now a part of the community of faith.

Fill me with your spirit and allow me to function in your rest.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Church, before we head out, we're gonna go back into worship, and then Pastor Michael's gonna come up and give us some instructions on some things that you can stay connected to throughout the course of the week.

But let's go back into worship, believing that God is with us in the midst and celebrating with those who we just made such a powerful decision.

Thanks again for listening.

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