WHAT DOES GOD WANT? - Week 02

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.

If you were here with us last week, we were in week two, week one of a series called What Does God Want?

And we talked about how God wants a family.

And this week we actually have something really special for week two of What Does God Want?

We're going to talk about freedom and wholeness, but we have none other than our global lead senior pastor, Pastor Summer Home names, him and Pastor Keith and they're actually going to have a conversation together right now for church at home on freedom and on wholeness.

And so listen, if you're wondering what God want, you're about to find out.

Listen, take out some notes, get ready, say a minute, and put some stuff in the chat because I'm telling you what we're about to talk about with freedom and wholeness, man.

It means so much because God doesn't just want a family.

He wants a family that is whole.

And so I encourage you right now to lean in and to hear the message from Pastor Keith and Pastor Stovall.

And we'll meet you right back here at the inn for communion all together.

Hey church, welcome to Church at Home, man.

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

Um, if this is your first time joining us, my name is Keith.

I happen to be the lead pastor here at Celebration Orlando, and today we have the incredible honor and privilege of having our global senior pastor, Pastor Stovall, with us today.

How you doing, Pastor?

I'm doing great, man.

Keith, it's really good to be be with you.

You know, we've been catching up the last couple of days, and it's great to be with our Orlando family down there.

And man, I'm really excited for you guys.

Well, the the is it October 4th?

Yeah, October 4th.

The big service in the balcony.

Yes, so so this is an exclusive.

So you guys lean on this.

We are we are coming back to our our live gathering starting October 4th at the balcony.

Oh man, did I break that news too stupid?

But it's good.

Who else to break that news than you?

I want you to come in and be a bearer of good news.

So we're excited about that.

We're we're going to be gathering.

You're going to be getting some more information about how you can register to participate with us.

We're excited to be taking this deck, this next step forward.

So it's a great thing.

Isn't that on like the it's like a hotel?

It's like a Yeah, it's it's it's this place called the balcony.

It's on the 11th floor, great views of the city, just an incredible vibe.

We did our we did our um our our Christmas party there for all of our serving team members last year.

So um it's a great familiar environment, amazing environment that we know that's going to be saturated with the presence of God, man.

So we're we're ready to go.

That's awesome, man.

And kind of a great place to kind of uh pray over the city and just kind of get that view of of Orlando and what God's doing.

And I was thinking, I'm I want to buy everybody lunch that well, there's ticket limitations.

There's ticket limitations, right?

But but but uh do I get to come to have an invitation to this service if I can make room for you.

It kind of my role now.

I get I get to sit in the back and worship and all that and just just be one of the crew.

Yes.

But uh, yeah, and and so we want to buy everyone lunch that uh can come to the service and all that.

You know, a big celebration, man.

That's a it's a big deal, you know, even if it's limited, yes, just the fact that you know the church can get together, it's a beautiful thing.

Yeah, so you heard that here.

Lunch on Pastor Stovall, first service.

We'll we'll we'll do some kind of raffling for the tickets.

Don't be scalping the tickets though.

Let's let's keep this thing holy.

But but um, but it's gonna be an exciting time.

So so Pastor, here's where we are.

We are we we kicked off our series called What Does God Want?

And I think it's a it's a powerful question that I think that many of us, especially in this season, probably have have asked because we're trying to figure out, God, do you hear me?

Where are you?

And so last week we talked about how we know that God wants family, and and we walked through that and that our responsibility is to be imagers of God, to reflect God's image in the very environments that He has us.

So if you missed it, please go back and check it out.

But this week, we we want to take it a step further because now that we know that God wants family and he wants us to be effective imagers of him, I think the next thing for us to talk about is that God wants his family to be whole.

He wants us to be, he wants us to experience freedom.

And and for me, when I when I first gave my life to Christ, like over two decades ago, giving away my age a little bit, um, but I remember sitting in services and constantly hearing this this this language about freedom.

God wants you to be free and and and and all that.

And honestly, I didn't quite understand what that meant.

So, so can you walk us through what what what do people need to get free from?

Like, what does freedom mean in the context of being a part of God's family?

That's that's a great question.

And and I think um, you know, I myself, you know, when I started following Jesus and I would, you know, be in church services and I would hear that same three thing, you know, the Lord, the Lord wants you free.

And what I saw that the the ministers what how that uh connected was they're talking about, you know, free from drugs or free from certain types of sin or you know, free from those type of sin things.

And and obviously freedom would include those things, but it's actually a much broader concept of that.

And it connects back to what you know we're talking about, that which is God wants family.

Yes.

And while that's so important to, you know, all of us that are, you know, just really committed to church and and and serving the church, you know, a lot of times we get caught, you know, we're we're doing messages and we're serving and you know, all the great outreaches that you guys do and in Orlando and all your teams, especially being mobile, set up and tear down.

And yeah, and so it's important to, okay, well, why are we doing all this?

Well, we're doing this to reach people.

Yeah, well, yes, but why do we why does the Lord want to reach people?

Well, because he wants people to be saved.

Okay, well, what does save mean?

You know, and then you can get into why did why did Jesus die on the cross?

In other words, what is all this for?

Come on.

And what all this is for is because God, he didn't need us, but he chose, yes, he chose to have a human family as part of his divine family.

Yes.

And uh, and so that's when we understand that, it's like, wow, man, family is so important to God.

And uh, so you know, you have a beautiful family.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah, and uh, and God's blessed uh Carrie and I with a with a wonderful family.

But you know, a lot of people come from broken families, and so their idea of family is is not a whole idea of a family.

And so when we're talking about family, and we're we're gonna talk about freedom and how that that looks, um, it's important to know that we're not talking about just the natural nucleus of a family, but you know, we're all allowed to be in God's adopted family, and that forms that covenant family.

And so one of the the ways you talked about imaging God, and one of the ways that we are created in God's likeness, and why and how we have the opportunity to really image him is because he gave us what really the just an amazing gift that is the foundation of freedom.

Yes, and that is he gave us free choice.

That's true.

If if if the Lord did not give us the freedom to choose ourselves, then we can't image him.

That's true.

Because at the core of who God is, God chooses to do good.

And so at the the this core concept of freedom, he allows every human being on the face of the earth the the freedom to choose their path, and that's what gives us dignity.

Yes.

This is a real big that's huge.

Talk about that.

Yeah, this is a and and and in the world that we're in right now and where we are culturally and and all of the race discussions, this is a big, big uh component, and that is dignity that every human being has the dignity, uh the God-given dignity to uh to to choose um, you know, to relate or not to relate.

And and when we take dignity from people, we are robbing them of their essence of God's image.

Wow.

It's a very destructive thing, and that's what a lot of times we see in oppression and a lot of things that we see in our society and around the world.

And so, kind of back to that question, we think of freedom.

Okay, get free from alcohol.

Yes, there is that, but it really starts at this core concept that you know what?

I have the awesome privilege that I the Lord wants me to image him.

That means to represent him to others, just like your wife, right?

Megan, right?

Megan represents the Pittman family.

That's right.

She's imaging the Pittman family in the same way.

We're imagers of Yahweh, we're imagers of Jesus, we represent God's family.

And so when we encounter people, right, the first unlocking freedom in someone else's life before they're free from drugs or sin or anything else, the first thing we have to do is to give them dignity, and that is relating to them as a true equal before God, regardless of uh social, economic status, what they can do or not do for us.

When we have the revelation that this person is created by God with gifts and calling, and they're they're precious in God's sight.

And no matter where we come from, we we it's the it's the relating to another human being as a precious imager of God and giving them that that dignity as as equals.

And and that's that's so crucial.

And and I've heard you talk about hierarchy and and how hierarchy was was birthed through sin through the fall, and how that that essentially can that that continues this idea of oppression, and so giving people dignity is trying to get out of that hierarchical structure that was created.

So can you talk a little bit more about that?

Because I've heard you explain that, and you have a really strong revelation about how hierarchy plays a role, but how we're trying to and how it's anti-kingdom, but but the table allows us to be equals at the table with all the racial tension and all that stuff, it's it's stripping away those things and restoring dignity.

So talk a little bit more about the hierarchy then, because I think that's powerful.

Yeah, so so think of what Paul, you know, what Paul talks about in the New Testament where he says, you know, in Christ, there's neither male nor female male, right?

You know, Jew, Greek, slave-free.

You know, he he goes through um just a beautiful statement that that in the Lord we are all equal, right?

Yeah.

However, we look around, well, there is male, female.

Yeah, there is black, white.

You know, there there are people who are more free in society than others, right?

And so what Paul is doing, he's doing two things.

He's pointing to the reality of the age to come, and he's also taking us back to original intent.

That's good.

Yeah.

And so what happened in original intent with Adam and Eve, right?

They're both created in the image of God, they're both equals, they're they're called to rule and and subdue the earth image Yahweh, right?

Um and then what happened, you know, with Genesis 3, um, compounded in Genesis 6, and and really what I would say perfected at Babel, which is the world system.

Yes.

Um, that's if you think of Babel, you know it's it's this tall tower where only a few can be at the top and a whole lot uh are at the bottom.

Yes.

So what happened to Adam and Eve, and if you look at the curses and things like that, what the Lord was saying was, okay, because you chose basically Satan's system, now you're gonna come under oppression.

Wow.

And the most weak and vulnerable amongst you are gonna be the most oppressed.

Yeah.

And societies, whether it's through technology or whatever else, um the it's there's always gonna be this system of hierarchy.

And that is there's one group, nation, it's it's the way of the world.

Yeah, people there's some at the top, there's a lot at the bottom.

And so what the Lord calls now, hierarchy is in the world.

We have it's a worldly thing.

We have to have some degrees of hierarchy, or it would be total anarchy.

Yeah, right?

We're in a fallen world, but in the kingdom there's not hierarchy, there's authority.

Yes, so we have authority, but we don't have hierarchy, and that is all how we truly relate and treat one another as equals.

And so Satan's system of oppression and hierarchy produces chaos, yes, it produces brokenness, it produces fragmentation, it produces bondage.

And that's that's what that's what I was that's what I was thinking about is how we see how this plays out in the biblical narrative.

And and you know, we're going through Genesis, we we have Babel, we have the dividing of nations, we and then we arrive at an Exodus.

And so for me, when I when I first like gave my life to Christ, and as I'm trying to understand like this language of freedom, the thing that helped me to understand like God's desire for his family to be free was looking at the Exodus narrative.

Yes and beginning to see like that that powerful statement that God says to Moses of the burning bush, like, I've heard the cries of my people, I've I've I see their oppression, and he says, and now I'm going to get involved.

Like it's it's almost like a prophetic statement of Jesus saying, like, I see what's going on, and now I'm personally about to get involved.

And of course he sends Moses to do this incredible work.

But what stood out to me when I when I look at the Exodus narrative and God hearing the cries of the people, getting involved, sending Moses and having these moments, I see these, I see these negotiations that Pharaoh would offer back.

He would offer back to Moses, like, hey, how many of y'all are going?

Well, okay, how about this?

How about some of y'all stay here and and then others I'll let go free?

And then it's like, well, what are you taking with you?

Well, you can go, but believe the cattle and all that stuff here, or how far you're gonna go.

And so I I think that when you look at the symbolism of that, it's like it's okay if you're free-ish.

Exactly.

It's okay if you it's okay if you start going to church a little bit, but but don't don't start getting involved in skin groups.

Don't don't go to that foundations class.

Please, by all means, don't start giving.

And so what I've what I've seen is that partial freedom is still total bondage.

It it is.

Because you have people that are there, they may be trying to do the kingdom, but their resources are still in the world.

They may be trying to pursue God, but but their family is still back in Egypt.

So, what have you seen where the enemy is trying to offer these negotiations?

And and how do you think people can overcome it and then actually still recognizing that I don't want to be partially free?

God has called us, called us to be whole, he's called us to be strong, and the enemy's trying to divide families.

The enemy's trying to to absorb our resources, he's trying to keep us from getting too far into the kingdom.

Like, what would you say to someone who's on this journey, but they're dealing with this negotiation that the enemy is suggesting to them, well, you don't have to do that.

Like you can fragment or you can separate, like your Sunday is one thing, but live your life the the other way, and then you can come back on Sunday.

It's it's it's almost segregating um our walk with God and living in a fragmented way.

Yes, yes.

So, so if if you think about, okay, so oppression and bondage, you know, great with the the children of Israel, they're they're in Egypt, they're under this severe oppression.

You know, once again, what we see in Egypt, it's it's Babel reborn.

And you know, you can call it um the world system, you could call it the beast system, you could call it uh um babel, the babel system.

There, there's a lot of things you could call it, but it's the it's the world system.

And so the first thing, the first key step to to freedom and not having this fragmentation like you've talked about, it comes back to what this series is about.

It's about family.

Yes.

So the first thing is this.

So you, so let's say I'm away from Jesus or I'm I'm a Christian, right?

You as a fellow believer, show me dignity.

You see what I'm saying?

I show you dignity, and we understand the Lord wants family.

So that means this.

That means we're we are in covenant relationship with God and with one another.

Yes.

So that's ministers of reconciliation.

Most people think it of it just one way.

Yep, it's not, it is as much this way as it is that way, and so we come into family, we are in covenant family, right?

And so think about before you met your wife, right?

Y'all weren't family.

That's correct.

How how did you, in the natural sense, how did you become family, even though you're not family?

Well, you came into covenant together, right?

And the the marriage, and so now you're family, and the same way we're not family.

Yeah.

So how do we become family?

We come into covenant together by the blood of Jesus.

And in the most real way, we are family.

So it's this interdependence, it's like this.

There's so many parts of our lives and the the body of Christ, it's like you're saying, Keith, there it's these fragments.

There's no way if I have a cut on my hand, if I cut my hand off from my wrist, not only will that cut never be healed, the whole hand's gonna eventually die.

But you know what?

If I have a cut on my hand, as long as it's joined to my wrist, it's it's gonna eventually get whole.

And so if you think about even things about, okay, the apostle Paul, right?

He has this amazing vision and and and all of these things.

What is the first thing that God tells him?

There's this guy named Ananias.

You got to go to his house, and guess what?

If you don't, you ain't gonna see.

Yeah.

Like, like here's just a regular believer, and immediately the lesson the Lord teaches Paul Paul is it doesn't matter your revelation, your encounter, your authority, you have to understand interdependence.

That's so good.

Without this guy, Ananias, praying for you, Paul, you're gonna stay blind.

Wow.

And so it's it's it's that is just so powerful, and that's why we get into family.

Well, it's all back to freedom.

People don't think of interdependence and family and being part really part of a community as freedom.

They think of let me get to the altar and Holy Ghost power, and that's part of it, but it's just one piece of the pie, and it's not the foundational component of the pie.

Uh and so that's the and and without that, now that leads into these other things that you're talking about.

Where I'm gonna kind of be half in and half out.

Yeah, that's just all fra brokenness.

Yeah, so remember, oppression leads to chaos that leads to brokenness and all that.

So, what happens when we get right with one another?

Now we've taken a part of brokenness and we placed it back in order.

That's what shalom.

Yes, bringing things back as they should be when we do good works, not for salvation, but a good work.

Uh I bless you, I help you.

Yes, it's taking a little bit of the broken piece and it puts it back into the hole.

And as we do that together, we start reversing the chaos.

We bring order where there's chaos, we bring shalom where there was brokenness, we bring um, we bring uh uh wholeness where there was fragmentation.

That's that's that's so powerful.

And here's what I here's what I think about, especially again looking through that lens of of the Exodus narrative.

I I used to wonder, you know, you you consider like children of Israel, they go through the plagues, God protects them.

Um they have this powerful Passover moment, they're they're ready, the blood protects them, all this, all of these things are are are pointing to Jesus, and it's it's kind of like uh a guidepost for us.

But then like they they they get out, they they're on the other side of the Red Sea, they they're dealing with a lot.

Then it's that moment where like one of the first lessons that God teaches them is about Sabbath.

Yes.

You know, like and and and I think that sometimes we can look at that as a complete separation.

Like, we don't look at Sabbath to have anything to do with freedom.

We don't think that has anything to do with wholeness.

We we think it's completely separate.

But I've often wondered, like, of all the things that God could have done with the children of Israel, they're set free, they're finally like, man, like we can breathe again.

God's like, okay, now I just need you guys to rest.

Let me let me teach you this this discipline.

And arrest.

And one of the things I thought about is that like when you're in bondage, there is no days off.

That's the world system.

It's bricks, and then it's bricks without mortar, and it's more and more.

And you got more, you got to do more.

Yes.

It's that is that is the world.

It's it's like nonstop.

So so as a church, like we we really believe and value the importance of Sabbath.

You you have such a profound revelation on that.

Can you can you walk us through the importance of Sabbath and how that really is connected to wholeness?

Yep, yep.

So so back to the Exodus, right?

This is really important.

So when the Lord delivered Israel, remember, it wasn't just Israel, it's a mixed multitude.

That's right.

So he's starting right, Yahweh's starting right off the bat.

Hey, look, it's gonna be a family, it's a mixed multitude.

And it's real interesting, you know, the Lord.

So so here's the blood.

You gotta be in the house.

You gotta be part of the family.

Here's the blood, right?

And so now they're being delivered.

Here's what God didn't say.

He didn't say, okay, hey, are y'all gonna obey me all the time and y'all gonna do this and y'all gonna do that?

It does.

I need you to sign this document here, and then if you do, I'll open up the Red Sea.

Yeah.

It was well, like we look at sometimes like some of these things in the Old Testament, it's like, well, that's the law.

It's like it's total grace.

They didn't do anything to get delivered to the Red Sea.

You know, all they all they had to do is apply the blood, and then they go through the Red Sea, right?

So that's like baptism, yeah, right?

So we think of here comes the blood, and now we demonstrate that through baptism.

Think of that as like uh your initiation ceremony, yes, you know, um, and a powerful act of spiritual warfare, we could talk about another time.

But so now they they they come into this place in the wilderness.

I know this is a long way of getting to Sabbath, but here's what the Lord's redoing.

What he's doing.

He's re-establishing the covenant.

So you can see a whole lot of parallels between the chaos that was in the earth and then creation brings order.

It's these ten um ordering commandments of creation.

You can see a whole lot of that and the chaos that's in Egypt.

Yes, right?

Here, remember the water cover there, the water they come through.

And now what is the Lord about to do?

The ten commandments to establish order and culture for his family, right?

That's right.

So when they come to Sinai, here's what God's doing: He's He's establishing a family.

That's right.

That's like, you know, we we uh we we really with the Bible Project and Dr.

Heiser understanding the the Hebrew meanings of these words, they're so relational.

Yes, and I'm getting to Sabbath like this because I think there's a real simple way for people to understand this in the context of family.

So here's what the Lord's doing.

He's like, You're my precious people.

This is all bridal marital language.

He mean I'm gonna mount you up on eagle's wings.

I chose you, you're my pre this is marriage, man.

Yeah, this is sacred.

And then the Lord will pray the priestly blessing.

He's gonna set his name.

It's just like you gave Megan your name.

Yes, yes, Pittman.

Yeah, that's a great last name.

Thank you.

Mine's like wings, like you know, but the the so it's this is wow, man, he's taking Israel's a bride and this mixed multitude, and they didn't do anything to deserve it.

And you know, just think of Jesus and us.

You know, so uh he he he brings them brings them in, and uh, and now the Lord's saying, okay, this is how our family, this is the here's our family.

It's like he's sitting down at the table with us.

He literally does with Moses and and the elders.

Yeah, you know, and remember, every time God appears at Sinai, that's the Son.

That's right.

The the same Jesus that wrote in the dirt, you know, with the woman caught in the act of adultery, that finger is the same finger that wrote the Ten Commandments.

That's the thing.

It's like, you know, it's like there's no separation or fragmentation uh with the Lord, one God, three persons.

But um, so then, you know, hey, just like you tell your wife, you you're not gonna be with any other men.

You you're gonna have no gods before me.

And he he goes through these things, and then and then here's here's how we're gonna live as a whole, yes, free community as a free family.

And so that's what these ten uh words, these ten commandments are about.

And when he gets to the Sabbath, right?

So everything's relationship, yeah.

No other gods before me, no grave.

And image, why?

You're the image, yes, you're the living image.

We image God, you know.

Um, and he and then it's not to take his name in vain, that doesn't really have anything to do with cussing or or what you're saying, it's bearing the name.

How do you how do how does your family bear the name of Pittman, carry the name into the community?

That's right.

It's that language.

Then when he talks about Sabbath, right?

And it's like compared to all the if you read the Sabbath command, it's more description than all the rest of the you know, five, six, seven combined, that's right, all the way down to ten.

When he talks about Sabbath, what people forget this.

When you when you okay, I don't want you to work, and so okay, here's freedom.

Yeah, guess what?

It's there's a free day.

But then he says, and I want you to remember this is the Lord who brought you from this terrible place of bondage and adopted you into this family and gave you is it's the act of remembrance of who God is and what He's what He's done for us.

And it will be the same way, Keith, uh, you know, um dad.

You know, if if if uh if all your you know, all your kids, everyone's busy, right?

Everyone's doing their own their own thing.

If if you were just like and I don't know our society and kids move and all that, but it wasn't like that back in Jesus' day.

Most people never went more than 10 miles or something like that.

But it's like, oh, everyone's doing all over the thing, and the dad's like, I only ask one thing.

Think of us like Sunday after church.

I I know I know it's frightened, but it's like once a week, I just want to have a meal.

I know everybody is busy.

One week, would you come to the father's house?

And I because I want to remind us the original intent and what it's gonna be like in the age to come.

All this is for relationship, all this is for family, all the creation and all the stuff that we do, it's great, it's fulfilling, but it means nothing without the family, without relationships.

And so the the Sabbath, it's so easy to honor the the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus in some way, even if it's uh texting your family and friends and and and and that if even starting there, that that meal and communion, yes, I understand we you know we live in Babel.

It doesn't honor that, but you know what?

We're different.

That's true.

We're we image Yahweh, we don't image the world, and even if you work and sports or all that, you can find a way to take time out and say, you know, Lord, I want to remember you.

Thank you for the freedom that you gave me.

And even if my job doesn't let me take off today and it's not a free day, I'm gonna have a meal, a breakfast, a dinner, friends and family wherever I can.

And I'm gonna take communion, Lord, and I'm gonna thank you that you are the Lord of the Sabbath of all this freedom, and that there's gonna be eternal rest one day.

And I plan on being there for that.

Amen.

Amen.

So okay, so before we wrap, because you you you hit on a lot and and a lot of the stuff you talked about, like it's been on our our whole story Bible reading plan and and where we're unpacking the scripture.

So you you you shared a lot around like bearing the image of God.

So I want to encourage everyone, if you if you hadn't had a chance to to go and check that out, go on our go on our our our website and you'll be able to find our whole story bible reading plan where there's actual like almost like commentary where where we're breaking down and explaining all this stuff.

And there's a great book.

Uh it's uh she is uh Carmen Ames, uh a Hebrew scholar, just brilliant woman, and she has a book out called Bearing the Name.

And boy, that has a lot of great stories.

Yeah, I I love it.

So so as we as we prepare the rap, you were you were talking about um like honoring God, like having that space where we kind of almost disconnect from from the world system for a moment and just having that space where we honor and remember God by coming together with our family and and and doing our best to image wholeness.

But then you brought up communion.

And and as a church, um ever since we kind of shifted into our our church at home mode, we typically end every service with us taking communion as a family as a way of remembering, remembering what Jesus has done.

Can you can you share with us for a few moments about how how community, I mean actually does contribute to bringing wholeness, like what that does for us as a family when we when we take time to honestly remember what Jesus did on the cross.

Yeah, these these acts of remembrance, they're just so so important.

You know, we talk about the whole story.

So if you know, Jesus, Jesus, uh you see him in Revelation, which we're where I think we need to start with who Jesus is, because there we have a picture of the risen Savior over the churches, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, who was right, who is and who is to come, right?

The Almighty.

So we're always looking back at Eden, original intent, freedom, wholeness is to come.

That's gonna be restored one day, right?

But we're in this space right now where the liminal space.

The kingdom's here, but it's not in full yet.

And so when we stop and do these acts of remembrance, they're they're threefold.

Lord, we remember your sacrifice on the cross that allows all this.

Lord, we look forward to the day when we're not at this earthly table, we're at the heavenly table, at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And by showing up to this table and doing communion, we're saying we plan on saying yes to the invitation of being at the heavenly table, right?

It's a prophetic act of freedom that makes a difference.

This is what I hope people can um prayerfully understand what I get excited about.

These prophetic acts of the age to come, sitting around as equals, sitting around as all equals with the Lord, partaking of the bread, his body was broke was was was given unto us that we may be what whole.

That's right, many parts, but it's one body.

It's you could say fragments out, but together is family, what we're whole that's right in the body of Christ.

And so these these acts of remembering, okay, here's where we come from.

Let's remember the story of the family, just like we kind of rolled through a lot of that today.

Okay, let's remember where we're going, because you know what?

There's pain in this world and there's injustice and there's oppression.

And as much as we fight and try to see justice in this world, it's never gonna really come ever until Jesus returns and establishes justice for all.

And so we we we we remember we're temporary, right?

And then, okay, so it is, you know, where are we today?

Keith, if I offended you, I want to make that right.

Yes, you know, like like how do we demonstrate equality?

It's coming.

Do we need to forgive one another?

Have we had um you know things in our hearts?

And I get it, it's it's yes, there's these personal sins, but if if we start here, what I found is those fragmenting sins are a lot easier to deal with when we're making sure that we're right.

That's true.

As as brothers.

Because some of those sins are like are like coping sins.

Like because things are fragmented between us as individuals, but we have other things that we can possibly run to to try to to try to fill that void that that honestly that only the fellowship with Lord and one another can satisfy.

So Dr.

Henry Cloud would say that if the church can ever truly, you know, we pray the the Shema, you know, if you're familiar with that, talking about the Lord our God as one, right?

If we can ever come into to one like more of an agreement, oneness, the body will heal itself.

Wow, it'll it'll heal itself.

And so people, it's always gonna stay a fragmented freedom.

Ooh, I came up with fragmented freedom.

Come on.

It's always gonna stay a fragmented freedom, Keith.

Yeah, if we're fragmented, if the church, so so is uh it's always interdependence.

And uh I need you, you need me.

That's right, right?

We're equals only the Lord uh is the is the high and lofty one that has a sacred space.

So so um, you know, that's that's my prayer for all of us as a church family that we see this interdependence as a crucial first step.

Dignity, interdependence, crucial first step to freedom.

That's the pattern we see in the Bible.

Man, I I know we could we could go on for an hour.

Especially you and me.

Yeah, for sure.

Like, I mean, you you know, so I'm I'm trying my best to use some restraint.

Yeah, um, so we're gonna have somebody on our team come in in just a moment to give us some next steps.

But but Pastor, what I think will really be a blessing for us is if you could just pray for us, pray for our church as as we're as we're walking through what does freedom look like practically, getting a big picture of it.

I think it'll be a blessing for you to pray for us.

Yeah, it's it's it's great to be with you guys, and you all have such a great team, you know, uh, and just just beautiful people.

And so uh, you know, right now, where wherever you are uh in your home or car or or watching, let's just dial in and let's let's pray together and let's just come in agreement with with John 17.

Jesus prayer that we would be one.

And that kind of connects to the Shema, it connects to the our Father, and it connects to the priestly blessing.

You can see all those there in John 17.

So let's pray, Lord, we thank you, Lord.

It is a privilege and an honor to be uh in your family, in your body.

And Lord, we agree with your prayer that we would be one.

Lord, we thank you, God, that uh that you've called us to be one body, to have one faith, one baptism into your covenant family, and you are our one Lord.

I pray, Lord, that we would always be a people, be a church that shows dignity, Lord, that really lives out that we are equal, and Lord, that wholeness, that we would be an environment or a habitat for wholeness for not only ourselves but the world around us.

So we give you all the thanks.

Lord, if anyone is far from God right now, just you just right now you just tell Jesus, Jesus, I'm following you, I'm following you, turn into you.

You need to forgive someone, um, and you know, if someone's offended you, just forgive them by faith in your heart.

I know it's a lot easier said than done, but if you just say the words I forgive and their name, there is power in those words that begin to break up the pain and the hurt and the disconnection.

So Lord, we just thank you for freedom and wholeness, and we thank you for all the great things that are coming to Orlando and for the church there in that city.

And we give you all the praise in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Great being with you guys, man.

I can't wait to have you come down and preach in one of our live services.

Or just hang out in the back.

That's my new role.

Yeah, just hang.

Just hang.

Just hang in.

Amen you from the back.

Yeah, let's let's get after it.

Church, we love you.

God bless you.

Uh, one of our team members is going to give you some next steps on some ways that you can put some practical steps um in your life on walking out freedom.

So I pray that you enjoy this, man.

We will see you next week.

Hey, well, that was such an amazing message from uh Pastor Keith and Pastor Stovall talking about freedom, talking about wholeness.

Um, and here's the thing that I love at the end.

Whenever we wrapped it all up, we give people a chance to meet Jesus because we will never be free and we will never be whole unless we accept Jesus into our heart and into our lives.

So if you made that decision, man, you just made the best decision.

Come on, can we cheer for the kids?

You just made the best decision that you will ever make.

And as a church, we are called to walk alongside you on this journey.

And so here's what we're gonna ask you to do is just text the word decide to the number 25101.

We want to walk with you on this journey.

We want to send you, uh I'm gonna send you a text with some material that you can actually download and you can actually find out what your next step is because here's the thing: you are part of our family, you're part of God's family, and there's always a next step for you.

And that no matter if you follow Jesus for 10 years, 20 years, or 10 seconds, there's always something more that God has for your life.

And so we believe that.

So again, just text the word decide to the number 25101.

And also during this message, Pastor Keith and Pastor Soval, they talked about the importance of communion, the importance of remembering what Jesus Christ did on the cross, the importance of how at communion everyone can come around.

So we're actually gonna take communion together today.

Um, you can pause this video.

Actually, no, it's live stream, so you can't pause it.

You hopefully have communion elements with you.

Um, if you're if you're here with us today, you can actually take your mask off.

It's okay to take communion, but here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna remember what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us.

I mean, one of my favorite verses in the Bible talks about how he who knew no sin, who was no sin at all, he became sin for us so that we could be righteous.

Jesus.

And he lived a life that we could not live, and he died a death that we should have died so that we could be righteous and we could be in his family.

And on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread and he broke it, and he said, This is my body that was broken for you.

Take now in remembrance of me.

So let's break the bread and let's take it together to remember Jesus' body that was broken for us.

In the same way, he took the cup and he said, This cup represents my blood, the blood of the new covenant that cleanses and covers the sins of all mankind.

And here's what I want to say Jesus' blood is stronger than anything.

No matter what you have done, no matter what you are currently doing, no matter what you do in the future, the blood of Jesus is stronger than all that.

And so, as we take this, I want us to remember that the blood of Jesus has cleansed our sins.

Let's take the cup together.

God, again, we thank you so much for your son Jesus, God.

Everything that we do is for him, it's all about him.

And so we ask that we would remember God what he did on the cross for us.

We remember it daily.

God, we remember his body that was broken and bruised for us, God, his blood that was shed for our sins.

And God, I thank you that it will be something that we never take for granted.

It will be something that we just know at the depths of our heart, that we remember at the depths of who we are, what Jesus did for us, and it would be something that fuels our life every single day.

In Jesus' name, everybody said amen.

Well, hey, listen, if you're watching today, we made an announcement.

Uh, we're going back to church on October 4th.

We're gonna be meeting at the balcony.

This is gonna be really weird, but I'm putting this down because I don't know what to do with it in my hands.

Hopefully, it doesn't get on that carpet.

Oh no, oh god.

Okay, we're good.

We're back.

Cool, this is live.

This is what happens.

Hey, we're going back to church on October 4th.

Also, if you're watching, um, this is news to everyone, but uh Pastor Stobov said he was gonna play for lunch for everyone who registers, so it's gonna be awesome.

But we're gonna give you a free lunch and church y'all should cheer for that, but um we're actually gonna be sending out some more information over the next couple of weeks.

So, this is a reason not to ignore your emails from church or text messages or Instagram or Facebook because we're gonna give you a link to register for that service.

It's going to be amazing.

Also, right now, immediately following the service, we have content.

For your kids and for your youth, all those links are gonna be in the link uh in the bio or in the description of this video.

And so listen, I want to encourage you if you can't watch it now, you can watch it later.

But please interact with what we're doing as a church.

And then last but certainly certainly not least, we talked about taking next steps.

And for us as a church, we have a new class that we're doing called Foundations.

So it's a four-part class, all about what we talked about today, setting our foundations, freedom, all these things of being a part of the family of God.

What does God want?

He wants a family, and so that's what this class is going to teach you.

So I encourage you, even if you've done our next steps or back old school, God first life, whatever it may be, I want to encourage you to take this class.

I believe it's gonna help you.

And all you have to do, again, is text the word connect to the number 25101.

And that's how you can interact with everything that we do as a church.

But hey, we love you.

Thank you for joining us for church at home, and we will 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 celebration at orl.org.

We hope you join us next time.