HEART FOR THE HOUSE - Week 04

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.

With with every hand lifted up as a sign of surrender, Jesus, it's all about you.

We enter into this space and it's all about you.

Father, I pray that you speak to us today.

Lord, I pray for those who are watching from online.

God, I pray for those who are going to be listening on the podcast.

God, wherever they may find this, Lord, I pray that this song becomes the melody of all of our hearts, that you're the center of it all, and everything that we do is all about you.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen, amen, and amen.

Church, can we give it up for God and what he's doing in this place?

God bless you.

It is so, so good to see you.

You can go ahead and take your seats.

We're gonna we're gonna jump right into the message.

This is typically the spot where we would tell everybody to say hello to everyone and and and shake hands and hug, but we are being socially distant, so you can text the person next to you and tell them how good they look, how beautiful they look um this morning.

We're so, so glad that you're here.

I want to thank you all for coming to to worship with us today as we're preparing to conclude our our Heart for the House series, and and and this is probably why I'm I'm a little bit more excited um than other Sundays.

Every Sunday is a powerful Sunday, but but what we truly believe is that every time we come into the presence of God, that God shows up, He meets us where we are.

And so we begin to learn the sacredness of the people of God gathering together.

But today I celebrate it because as we recognize in the Bible, there's these moments in Scripture where the people of God come together and they're prepared to worship God together, they're prepared to give, and it's considered to be a very sacred moment.

And as we mentioned earlier, that this is our Heart for the House season as we prepare to conclude our Heart for the House series.

And if you're new to Celebration Church, I'll I'll briefly summarize what that is.

Heart for the House is simply our time of the year where we come together as a church, all of our locations all across the world, and we begin to pray and process and celebrate all that God has done, but we also begin to be expectant of what we believe God is calling us to do, and as of and we begin to pray about what is the part that God is calling and leading us to play and all of that.

And so that's what today symbolizes.

So at the end of today's message, we're gonna have some space where where Vinny and the team are gonna come up and they're gonna lead us in worship.

And in that time, we're gonna ask you to pray and consider what is it that God is putting on your heart.

One of the main things that we've been saying over the past couple of weeks, that when God begins to stir your heart, it's inevitable that it activates your hands.

It's just a byproduct of what happens here.

We see this heart for the house idea, this concept, this language is found all throughout the course of scripture.

I want to read a couple of verses to you really quick.

In Exodus 25, verses 1 and 2, the Bible says that the Lord says to Moses, speak to the people of Israel and take from me a contribution from every man whose heart moves him.

Exodus 25:1

You shall receive a contribution for me.

And 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each one must give as his heart has decided, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

And in Matthew 6, 21 it says that for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We're seeing these themes from Old Testament, the New Testament, this idea of having a heart for the things of God.

And the reminder that we see throughout the course of Scripture is that we understand that we're not owners of anything, we're stewards of everything.

And when we can live our lives understanding that God has blessed us to be a blessing to others, it is when we can live a life of true fulfillment and wholeness.

Today's passage of scripture I want to share with us is going to be in Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

For the past three weeks, we've been we've been unpacking and studying Nehemiah chapter, um, all of Nehemiah, but we're gonna conclude our series today looking at Nehemiah chapter eight.

Just as a quick recap, I want to remind us all that when we look at the life of Nehemiah, we remember that his life was a it was a prescription of how we are supposed to respond, not a description of how an individual responded.

Here's what I mean by that that when we see how he responded when he heard about the suffering of other people, that we see throughout the course of the Bible that that should be our response when we hear about the suffering of other people.

It's a prescription, not a description.

And so when Nehemiah hears about the suffering of the people of Israel that have no walls up, they have no security, they're very vulnerable.

The Bible says that Nehemiah's heart was stirred and it compelled him to act.

And over the past couple of weeks, we've been unpacking what does it look like when you when God stirs your heart.

We've been unpacking what does it look like when God begins to give you a vision to build some things.

We even began to talk about last week what do you do when you face opposition?

So if you've missed any of those, I want to encourage you to go back and listen to it because I do believe that every message builds on itself.

But today's passage I think is one that I think it brings it to its apex.

So looking at verse number one of Nehemiah 8, the Bible says this.

And all the people gathered as one man.

Let me hear you say one man into the square before the water gate.

And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.

So Ezra the priest brought the book of the law to the assembly, both women and men who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month.

And when he read it facing the square before the water gate, from early in the morning until midday, in the presence of men and women and all who could understand, and all of the people's ears were attentive to the book of the law.

It says that he was reading it from morning till midday.

That's like six hours, and y'all thought I was long-winded.

Come on.

Um, he he was reading the Bible, and the Bible says they were they were attentive to every word that he spoke.

But verse number four is probably one of my favorite.

It says, And Ezra, the scribe, stood on a wooden platform that they made for the purpose, and behind him, beside him stood Matthias, Shemai, Anani, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Messiah on his right hand, and Padiah, Meshel, Mekaijah, Hashem, Hashdaibah.

That sounds right.

Zachariah, Meshulim on his left hand.

I want to say this to anyone that's that's pregnant.

If you're considering any names, just come to Nehemiah chapter 8, highlight one of these things and let the Lord lead you.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

Let the Lord lead you.

We need to bring some of these names back into rotation.

I really believe we do.

Verse number five, it says, And Ezra opened the book in the sight of the people, for he was above the people, and as he opened the book, the people stood.

And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and the people answered, Amen, amen, lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

And also Jeshua, Benai, Shereh, Jabin, Akam, Shabbatai, Odiah, Maserai, Kalitah.

I just want to see it like a good John.

That's why I love the New Testament.

We just got John and Mark, Luke's.

Um, we see Josiah, Henan, Peliah, the Levites, I know that name, that helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their place.

Verse number eight.

Then they read the book of the law clearly, and they gave sense that the people understood the reading.

And Nehemiah, who was governor, and Ezra, who was the priest and scribe, and the Levites taught the people, saying to them, This is a holy day before the Lord your God.

Do not mourn or do not weep.

For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law.

And then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine.

Come on, somebody.

Drink the eat the fat and drink the sweet wine, and then send portions of anyone who is not able or who is not ready, for this day is holy before the Lord.

And do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Today I want to conclude our series, our messaging around Heart for the House, around this very simple idea of what does it look like when you need to re-establish your foundation?

And I've entitled today's message, Reintroduction.

It is time for a reintroduction.

Let's let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for every opportunity that we get to come into your presence and to lift up your name.

And so, God, I pray that I get out of the way.

I pray that I decrease.

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

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

Has anyone in here, this is including you who are online, ever like had a moment where you thought you were like going through identity theft?

Any anybody in here ever had like an identity theft moment?

Okay, we got a couple of folks in here, a couple in the back.

I feel you, I feel your pain.

I see you there.

I'm assuming that some of us online.

I I want to tell y'all, I had the biggest scare with identity theft just yesterday.

True, true story.

So I go to the gas station and I'm prepared to fill up the cars because what I do in my household is I make sure that all of our gas tanks are full, so my wife don't even have to get her hands dirty on such things.

That's how I take care of you, girl.

I'm gonna brag about myself in front of the community.

Um, I make sure that we have gas in the vehicle.

So I went to go get some gas and I ended up using a card that I don't typically use that often.

And when I got to the pump, I'm putting in my codes and everything is going well, but the card's not going through.

Like, and I'm thinking to myself, like, man, I could have sworn I put some money in there.

You ever been in that moment where the transactions take a little bit longer?

You little shook, you're looking in your account, making sure everything's good.

You don't want to be embarrassed in front of people, but I'm like, man, I I'm good.

I think we got enough to cover this transaction.

I I look and I see, and I'm like, yeah, we we should be good, but the transaction's not going through.

So I was about to just chalk it up and say, okay, it is what it is, and and move on and grab another one of my cars, but then I got a phone call, this 800 number.

Now, typically I avoid those like the plague, but I said, let me let me go ahead and answer something inside of me.

My my spiritual spidey sense began to tingle a little bit and says that Keith, you need to answer this call.

So I I answered the call and and it was this just just generous man named Charles calling from the fraud protection department of my bank.

And he says, Hey, is this Mr.

Pittman?

I said, Yes, it is.

He said, My name is Charles.

I said, Hey, Charles, how are you doing?

He said, I'm doing good, but but sir, I'm concerned that that that your card has been flagged.

There seems like there's be there's a little bit of fraud activity that we're seeing.

I was like, Charles, you better shut your mouth.

Are you are you telling me that someone is trying to steal my identity?

He said, sir, it happens all the time, but we're here, we're gonna walk you through it.

You're not gonna have to pay for any of these transactions.

So I stand there with Charles and I begin to unpack all the things that are happening.

So for the next five to ten minutes, I'm outside just talking with Charles, chatting.

I'm actually ministering to him, asking him where he's from, and if he knows where there's a good church in this community.

I'm I'm I'm doing my thing.

I'm looking like, man, God sent Charles to me for a reason.

But as we begin to continue the conversation, I he he says something that triggers it.

He said, Yeah, like you know, um a lot of these transactions take place at a gas station.

That's how we catch them.

And I said, Okay, say say more to that, Charles.

Where did you say this this fraud alert is taking place?

He said, It's at a gas station, it's it's happening right now.

We're actually about to send authorities there.

I said, like, what gas station where?

And he began to tell me where the transaction was taking place.

It turns out that I was the one who was triggering the whole fraud alert because watch this, I was putting in the wrong zip code.

So it flagged it, and now I was about to get arrested, and I was reporting myself.

Now here's the thing.

For the past five years, my life has been a little bit of a blur.

I went from five years ago building my dream house in Jacksonville to three years ago moving to DC to a year and a half ago moving to Orlando.

So I literally don't know where I live at sometimes.

So I was using the zip code of my previous address, which triggered the entire thing.

It's interesting how the code that used to work in the previous season is the code that doesn't work in a new season.

The things that I used to be able to do, the access that I used to have, I needed to upgrade it to reflect where I was at now.

You see, when I think about the children of Israel, what we have to understand is that they have been scattered for well over a generation.

They had lost sight of their very identity, they had lost sight of who God was, they had lost sight of who they were, they lost sight of how to worship, they lost sight of how to give, they lost sight of everything because they had been in a distant and foreign land.

And what the Bible says is that when Nehemiah's heart was stirred to begin to rebuild the walls to create security for the people, the problem was that they were still vulnerable because their foundation still wasn't sure.

I'm concerned that sometimes we can have the proper walls up and the proper structures up, but if we don't upgrade our foundation, we're going to still be vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy.

What they decide to do is when they gather the people of God together, they know that they need to bring them together to re-establish their identity, to re-establish what does it mean to really worship God, to re-establish what does it mean to have a heart for the things of God.

What I've learned in this season of quarantine and us being scattered is that distance magnifies gaps.

I think some of y'all understand that.

Some of you may even be in long-distance relationships, and it's not that it's impossible, it's just that it's a little bit more difficult because if there's even a seed of insecurity, if you add distance to that, it's going to magnify that insecurity.

If you have a seed of fear, distance is going to magnify that fear, distance magnifies gaps.

We see it all the time that wherever there's distance, there's opportunity for the enemy to come in and exploit it.

And for the children of Israel, they've been so distant from God for so long, they had lost the identity and the sense of who God was and who they were.

So when they began to assemble them back together, they said we need to re-establish, we need to reintroduce God into the equation.

You see, whatever you build your life on is what you're going to end up standing on.

Whatever you build on, you're going to end up standing on.

And I love how Jesus says it in Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

I love the message translation where it says this, he says, These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living, they are foundational words, words to build your life on.

If you put these words into your life, you're like a smart carpenter who built his house on a solid rock, and the rain poured, and the river flooded, the tornado hit, but nothing moved the house because it was fixed to the rock.

But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you're like a stupid carpenter.

That's my that's the Bible, that's not my words.

You're like a stupid carpenter who built his house on a sandy beach, and when a storm rolled in, the waves came up, it collapsed the house like a house of cards.

You see, what you build on is what you're going to stand on.

And for the people of God, as they were beginning to come back into community together, they had security with their walls.

They had some things in place, but the problem was they still didn't have Jesus at the center of it all.

They didn't have a foundation of the word of God, and so they knew that they had to reassemble themselves and reintroduce God into the equation.

There's a couple of things that stand out in this passage that I want to highlight for a moment.

The first thing that it says is at the very beginning it says, and they all gathered together as one man, as one person.

Now it's easy for us to overlook that.

It could be easy for us to kind of bypass that.

We typically don't highlight that part of the Bible, but I want to pause and talk about that for just a moment because you have to understand that there were people from different backgrounds, different tribes.

And we always know that the children of Israel, they moved in what they called a mixed multitude.

So there were different, um, different people with different ethnicities.

They were all together, but the Bible says they were gathered together as one man.

There was no division amongst them, there was no separation amongst them, regardless of where they came from.

The Bible says that they were together as one man.

I want us to understand that there is strength when we're unified, that there's power when we're unified.

We see throughout the course of the Bible this idea of the people of God not being divided.

This is why we even see when it talks about the things that God hates, the things that God hates, it's only a couple that he lists, but he says, I hate when a brother sows discord.

I hate when there's division amongst the people of God.

There's something about division that weakens the body that God is fully aware of.

I love what it says here in Ecclesiastes 4, verse number 12, it says, And though a one man may prevail against one who is alone, two can withstand him, but a threefold cord is not easily broken.

It's this idea of knowing that we're better together, that we're stronger together.

Jesus, even before he's about to ascend into heaven, before his crucifixion, he prays that his church can be unified.

Lord, I pray that they can be one, if they can all just be together.

You see, I want you to understand that we're living in a world where the enemy loves to exploit our differences and try to drive a wedge of division amongst us.

We have churches that are divided against one another.

We have believers who are divided against one another.

We have politics that have allowed itself to work its way into the way that we operate and we're divided against one another.

All of these things that the enemy is using to exploit to cause division.

But Revelation chapter 7, verse number nine, describes heaven a little bit differently than what maybe we've seen when we were coming up.

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

This is what the Bible says is as I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, all tribes of people in native tongues, they stood before the throne of the Lamb of God, clothed in white robes with branches.

That means that there was a whole bunch of different people that are all worshiping.

And what I know is that we have desired to have a church that looks like heaven.

That is why one of our values here at Celebration Church is that we are diverse, diversity of backgrounds, diversity of countries, diversity.

You see diversity all around us.

The idea is that we want to be a church that looks like heaven.

We don't want all of one thing versus all of another thing.

But God says that when you are all together, then you could be an example to a broken world.

That when you can see people who are separated in the world, that we could be kingdom people that says, I know that you're a Democrat and he may be a Republican, but in the kingdom of God, we are one.

I know you may be on one side of the aisle versus another, but in the kingdom we are one.

When we can demonstrate that to a world that is in desperate need of it, that is how we're able to advance the kingdom of God.

I want to encourage every one of us, please don't allow politics to convince you to draw lines around the things that Jesus tore down.

Don't allow those things to get worked into your belief system.

The Bible says they were all together and they functioned as one man.

We're called to be ministers of reconciliation, bringing us together in spite of the enemy trying to tear us apart.

But this other part that stands out to me is it talks about how Ezra was on this platform.

It said that there was a platform that was built for this purpose.

Now, I want to spend a couple of moments on this because this just got me excited when I saw this.

There was a platform that was built.

Now, if you guys can begin to look into this passage of scripture, I want to encourage you to do it because what we're watching here is we're literally watching like a worship service.

We're watching people come together.

In chapter 7, there's actually the moment where they're teaching the people how to give.

It even talks about how there were singers' worship service.

And now we're in chapter 8 where there's about to be a presentation of the word of God, and they said that a platform was built for that purpose.

It's the first time that we see a platform being presented in the context of the preaching of the word, and it says it's for that purpose.

What's interesting about this word platform is that it's also the same word that is used to designate the word tower.

So when you look at the Genesis chapter 11, there's mention of the Tower of Babel.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

And the thing that was described about the Tower of Babel is it was men when they said, I want to make a name for myself.

So it's interesting.

On one side of the spectrum, we have a platform that was built for self-exaltation of man, and then in the other context, we have a platform that was built to exalt God.

Are you seeing attention here?

I believe that God has given every single one of us a platform, a platform in which we are able to serve, a platform in which we lead our families.

But we have to ask ourselves, is this platform for me to exalt myself, or is this a platform for me to exalt Jesus?

God has given us all a platform, He's given us all influence, He's given us all resources.

But the question that we have to ask is, how am I using the resources that God has given me?

Is it all about me or is it all about Jesus?

What the Bible says is that Ezra was surrounded by a bunch of men, and those men were ultimately serving as a layer of accountability.

Those men were there to make sure that Ezra was explaining the word of God, that these men were there to help to make sure that the platform continued to stay about God.

What I want to make sure of is that you understand that here at Celebration Church, that our platform is not about our brand, that our platform is not about the preacher, but our platform is always going to be about Jesus.

That's why I love the song that we were singing, that because it's all about Jesus, it's not about you following an individual.

The greatest sign of great leadership is when people can follow Jesus without you.

Do you know what John the Baptist would happen with him?

He had a whole bunch of people, but when he stepped back and said, I must decrease, the people continued to stay with Jesus.

One of the weakest signs of leadership is I'm gonna step back so people step back with me.

The strongest form of leadership is I'm gonna continue to pursue God even if you don't.

Because the platform is all about Jesus.

It's never supposed to be about us.

And I want you to understand that one of our values as a church is that we are all about Jesus.

We're all about Jesus.

We like to have fun, but we're all about Jesus.

We're gonna come together, but we're all about Jesus.

We're gonna always preach Jesus because the Bible said there's no other name by which men shall be saved.

I can't save you, but Jesus can.

So every time you see someone get up on this platform and declare the goodness of God is always only going to be about Jesus.

That is who we are as a church.

The Bible said this was the reason that the platform was created in the first place.

It was to make sure that Jesus, that the name of God, was going to be exalted above all else.

You see, with this gathering all together, this first worship service, so to speak, they had to re-establish, they had to reintroduce the things of God to the people.

And so I think there's a couple of principles that I think we all can pull from this that can be encouragement for us.

Here's the first thing that should happen when we gather in the name of Jesus.

There should be an element where we understand.

Understanding, understanding the word of God.

Throughout the entire course of this passage, there's this idea of them being told that.

They were had people in place to help them understand the word of God.

See, because we know this with understanding, there is application, and with application, there is transformation.

Where there is no understanding, there is no transformation.

So they had people in place as the word of God was being communicated that were helping them to understand the word of God.

So that's so crucial.

Because I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that's ever sat in a church service and I didn't understand what was being said.

I'm not the only one that's been in a church service and I didn't have context of what was being taught.

And sometimes you walk away feeling a little bit more defeated than you were when you walked in.

But they had people in place to ensure that they understood the word of God as it was going forward.

Because without understanding, there is no application.

Without application, there can be no transformation.

But when you have understanding, you can begin to see transformation take place in people's lives.

Here's why I'm telling you that.

I'm reintroducing you to who Celebration Church is.

Celebration Church is a church that is dedicated to helping you understand who we are and how we function.

So let me let you know how dedicated we are to making sure that you understand the Word of God.

We've created a very robust Bible reading plan called The Whole Story to ensure that you understand the big picture of what the Bible says.

We even created a whole web show to help unpack it with commentary.

In addition to that, we've partnered with organizations such as Southeastern University to help people understand the Word of God in the context of their workplace environments.

In addition to that, we've also partnered with the Bible Project, one of the most prolific resources that I think is available to the body of Christ to help you understand what the Bible is saying about you and the part that you play in all of this.

We even partnered with Dr.

Heiser, the most sought-after scholar in America, who now is on our staff and we've launched our own school of theology.

I want you to understand that as a church, we believe it's important for you to understand the word of God and the part that it plays in your life because we understand that with understanding there is application, and where there's application, there's transformation.

The enemy loves to keep us confused and not knowing what God's word says about us, helping us to highlight certain passages of scripture out of context.

But our approach to the word of God is really this we're going to look at it in context.

That means that we understand that the Bible is written to us, but not for us.

We have to, I mean, we understand that, right?

We understand that that when Paul was writing, he wasn't thinking about America because America didn't exist.

Like we we get that, right?

I think we get that.

Like the context was when he was writing to the Roman church, he was writing to a church that was really in Rome.

He was addressing real issues.

So we have to interpret the Bible through context, understanding what motivated the very purpose of the writing in the first place.

And then from that, then we look at it through the proper principles that we can pull from it, and then we can apply it to our lives.

That is how we properly and rightfully divide the word of truth.

This is our approach to the way that we view scripture because we understand that with understanding there's application, and with application, there is transformation.

We've all seen a person take a scripture out of context and just butcher it.

I've seen people use scripture to justify just about anything.

But what we want to do is make sure that we have holistic, strong walks with God.

Here's the other thing that we see as they are all gathered together as a people.

The Bible says that they had to rejoice.

They literally had to teach them how to rejoice.

Because as they were hearing the word of God, the Bible says that they actually felt beat up and defeated because they began to recognize just how much they've fallen short of the things of God.

Like they're hearing it and they're like, Man, I'm not doing that.

I'm not doing that, definitely not doing that.

Missed the mark on that.

So they actually started to feel beat up.

So the Ezra and the priesthood had, no, listen, this isn't supposed to make you feel beat up.

This isn't supposed to make you feel terrible.

It's actually the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.

We should actually celebrate because even in spite of how short you've come, the grace of God is still with you, that He still wants you to be a part of His family.

This is why we we celebrate.

So they literally had to teach them how to have joy, even when you know that you fall short.

This is why we call ourselves celebration church.

We believe in celebrating those things.

See, when we come back in here together for our worship, we we we understand that it's not a concert.

We're not trying to impress anybody that we're actually worshiping the king of kings and the lord of lords.

So that's why when we're when we're preaching the word of God, we say amen.

We're celebrating.

That's why when we're preaching the word of God, we say amen.

That's why when we're in the middle of worship, we can actually clap our hands.

This is what it looks like when we're engaging.

It's supposed to be a place of celebration.

Watch, we're gonna take this one exercise.

Because I know this might this might freak some of y'all out.

Watch this, watch this.

Because I was I was watching y'all.

I didn't think I was watching, but I was watching during worship.

And some of y'all are like, man, I haven't been in church in like six months.

I don't even know how it's supposed to go.

Am I supposed to sing out loud?

I'm just gonna mouth the words, no one's gonna hear me.

But what here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna do this one little exercise.

I want everybody just take their hands and go like this.

You don't gotta go away up, just go like this.

See that?

See that?

Look at that, look at that.

This is us like this is a sign of surrender to God.

Now let's take it to the next level.

Let's go up a little bit higher.

Oh my goodness.

Look at look at I'm not gonna go up any higher because it's gonna exploit my stomach.

Um now let's let's give God a little bit of hand cap of praise in here.

You see what we're doing, what we're showing is that when the people of God gathered together, they celebrated one another.

They celebrated the goodness of God, and so God had given them these pre-built-in things to remind them that I know that life is tough, but don't forget to celebrate.

I know that you may have some struggles, but don't forget to celebrate.

He gave them a calendar to help them to know how to celebrate.

The whole idea is don't lose sight of the idea that God is so good, that God has saw you when you were in the midst of your brokenness.

Don't forget to celebrate.

I remember, you guys know this, I am a diehard, avid Eagles fan because that is God's team.

I believe that it's in scripture.

But I remember back in 2018 when they had won the Super Bowl, you could not keep me quiet.

I was jumping up and down.

I literally had shed a grown man tear.

Now, now my son Caleb, who's in the back, he probably didn't understand why I was having such an emotional reaction.

But here's what I knew.

I'm 45 years old.

At the time, I guess I was about 42, and I had waited my entire life to actually be a part of a championship team.

So even to this day, I celebrated.

You couldn't keep me quiet.

Now, how much more should the people of God celebrate when we think about all the things that God has delivered us from?

When we think about the time when we were in Egypt, when we were broken, that God came in and rescued us.

How much more should we celebrate when we're reminded of the time that when we were drinking and driving and we didn't get killed in that car accident?

It's only by the grace of God.

How much more should we celebrate?

How much more should we celebrate the seasons of brokenness where we've seen other people who didn't survive it, but somehow by the grace of God we did?

How much more should we celebrate?

It's understanding that we should celebrate the goodness of God because of everything that He's done and that He's brought us through.

This is why we celebrate who we are.

This is why we celebrate who Jesus is.

And here's the third and final point.

After they ended up walking through all this stuff, they just had to teach them how to obey.

We want you to understand the word.

We want you to celebrate and rejoice at where you are, but we also want you to put it into practice and obey.

You see, if we have a gym membership, but you never go to the gym, you can't expect to see the results.

In the same way that we have this word that gives us these profound instructions on how to walk out the lives that God is calling us to walk out, but if we don't ever put it into practice, we can't expect to see the results.

After they were all gathered together, they had people around them to help them put it into practice.

In other words, obey.

See, when we're obedient to the word of God, that's how we actually demonstrate our faith.

The Bible says that it is by the fruit they were going to know you.

So here's what it means the Bible says that we are to love one another.

So that can't be a concept, but we have to actually do it, and that's how people will know that we belong to the people of God.

I'm confident that there's many among us that have been in some places, and people say, Man, there's there's something different about you.

Man, like you have such a kind disposition.

That's people being able to recognize the God in you.

You're actually demonstrating your walk with God before people.

This is what it means to be in fellowship with God.

I'm gonna ask the worship team to come back up and to join us at this time.

This idea of when we gather together, understanding that we need to understand what God's Word says, and we're committed to doing that.

We need to rejoice.

We need to rejoice and celebrate the goodness of God and everything that He's done in our life, but then we also need to be obedient to what God is instructing us to do so we can walk it out and see the results that He's calling us to have.

This whole idea is really meant to be a reintroduction to the things of God for people who have been away from God.

And for all of us who have been scattered and we're now beginning to assemble and gather again.

I want to reintroduce you to the things of who we are as a church, everything we've highlighted of who we are.

Celebration Church started over 20 years ago, planted in Jacksonville, Florida.

Pastor Stovall and Pastor Kerry and a team of people came and just following God and obedience.

As a result of that, over the many years, we have locations literally all over the world, including here in Orlando, of course.

But then about two years ago, Pastor Stovall had this powerful encounter with God.

This encounter that was so life-transforming that it began to process, man, how how do what is God calling us to do in our next 20 years?

We've been a great church that's helping people to come in and feel welcome.

We're gonna always continue to be a church that helps people to come in and feel welcome.

We're gonna be a church that's all about Jesus, we're gonna be a church that's all about diversity.

All those we are statements that you're used to, we're gonna always be that.

But but what is it that God is calling us to do?

Because the truth of the matter is, as we get older, we all are supposed to mature a little bit.

There's a difference between aging and maturing.

But God has begun to challenge us to mature a little bit, and the very thing that He's begun to challenge us to mature with is making sure that we are doing a better job at discipling the people that call Celebration Church home.

We could no longer be content with having literally at the end of the year thousands of people saved but having no idea where they are.

We were no longer content with hearing testimonies about man, like this person came to church, but we don't know who's we don't know where people are going.

We we have no idea about all the marriages that are falling apart, and we couldn't just be content with seeing our church continue to grow while people's lives continue to shrink.

So we wanted to be a lot more intentional with how do we actually disciple and onboard people.

It's not this clear-cut system that makes everything so easy, but it's actually designating people that can walk alongside you, that can actually pray with you when you're struggling with something.

That's that's who we are as a church.

Allow me to reintroduce you to who we are.

We're the same church that celebrates, that loves people, but we love you so much that we want to make sure that you don't shrink back, but you actually are gonna continue to get stronger.

That's who we are as a church, and it's through that we know that we need to put some key people in place.

That's when we began to institute this scary word called deacons.

But in the Bible, they were meant to be pillars of the church that actually were in the community helping to strengthen the believers.

We began to do the things that the Bible actually says because you can't expect to get biblical results if you're not doing what the Bible says.

This is what we are called to do as a church.

This is who we are, and this is what we're inviting you to partner with.

It's not about hype.

Sometimes it's not going to be the most beautiful thing on Instagram.

But what I can tell you is life transformation very rarely is.

You ever see what happens after a woman gives birth?

It's messy.

There's afterbirth, there's stickiness attached to it, but there's also a newness of life and the idea of just incredible opportunities lays ahead of us.

God is shifting us into a new space.

So as we begin to prepare and pray about what it is that God will ask you to do in partnering with us as a church, our vision is clear.

We are called to be a people of God that reaches the loss and equips the found.

We've done a great job at it reaching the loss.

Our conviction now is to equip the ones that are found, to help them to understand who they are in the things of God, to take their rightful place.

Because if I can be honest with you guys, here's what the pandemic has revealed to all of us.

Kind of like the children of Israel, we're all very vulnerable.

That our faith is strong as long as we are able to come into the house of God.

But what happens when we can't?

Distance magnifies gaps.

What we want to be able to do is say that the church is a place where we celebrate big, but your home is stronger than even the church is because your home life is strong.

You're praying with your family, your marriages are strong, your kids are being rooted in the word of God.

Unfortunately, in our current culture, we have outsourced discipleship.

But God is asking us to be a people that pulls it back in and for us to equip you to walk this thing out.

So that's who we are as a church.

No smoke, no mirrors, no height.

It's just all about Jesus.

It's just all about Jesus.

And you taking your rightful place at the table as a follower of Jesus.

What you have in your hand and your seat is an opportunity for you to partner with us, to participate with us.

And what I want you to do is I want you to pray for a moment.

The band is going to play behind us for a few moments and just asking you to pray.

What is it that God is asking you to give towards participating and partnering with us as God is leading us into this next season?

After that's over, for those who are filling out the actual giving envelope, you'll be able to give those in a bucket at the end.

We're going to be dismissed road by row to kind of make sure that we're still being socially distanced, but you'll be able to give on your way out.

You're going to, of course, give through text 25101 give.

But I want you guys to see and hear all the incredible people that we've partnered with in an effort to bring wholeness.

People like Dr.

Cloud, people like Dr.

Heiser, people like the Bible Project, all these incredible organizations that you can see here.

And that's all so we can equip you to be strong believers in Christ, whether you're able to make it into the buildings or not.

That's who we are as a church.

And every time you give, everything that you do, it helps us to continue to move the name of Jesus beyond just the four walls of this church.

So as you prepare to pray, maybe your next step is simply to start tithing if you're not tithing yet.

Putting God first in your area of your finances.

We want to create space for that.

Maybe, maybe your next step is to really prayerfully consider being sensitive to what God has put on your heart and allowing it to activate your hands.

The thing that I loved about this whole story with Nehemiah is that it wasn't just an idea, but it actually compelled him to act on it.

So as you are praying about this, the band is going to lead us and they're going to give you some instructions afterwards.

But let me pray for us first.

Heavenly Father, we're so grateful.

We're grateful for every opportunity that we get to come into your presence.

We're grateful for every time we get a chance to share your word amongst your community.

And the prayer of our hearts is simply this, God, that as you're stirring our hearts, that as you're compelling us and leading us into what our next steps are going to be, that we can just be obedient, that we can understand your word, that we can celebrate what you've done for us, but we can be obedient to what it is you're calling us to do.

I pray for the person that is giving for the very first time.

I pray that you give them the boldness and the courage to know that you are their provider.

I pray for the people that are that are stepping out in faith and possibly tithing for the first time.

That Lord, you show that your word is true, that God, when we put you first in every area of our lives, that blessing will be released.

So in the name of Jesus, we create this space to be sacred.

Breathe on us, lead us, God, in a way that only you can.

In Jesus' name.

So I want to pray a prayer, and if you want to pray that prayer with me here or online, uh let's do that together as a family.

Lord Jesus, I believe that you died for me and that you rose again for my salvation.

I receive you as my Savior, and I'm in the family now.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Can we celebrate that for those that made the decision?

Hey, if you did make that decision, you can just text the word decide to 25101.

We just want to come alongside and help you walk that out.

If you're here in the building, we are gonna dismiss by row.

If you are at home, we love you guys, and we'll see you next week.

Thanks again for listening.

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

We'd love for you to subscribe to our podcast and review and share what you heard today.

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

We hope you join us next time.