UNSPOKEN: Justin Todd

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

We are so glad you've joined us, and we hope you are encouraged by today's message.

Awesome.

Hey, it's so good to see everyone in their serve day t-shirts.

I got mine on, you got yours on.

If you don't got one on, I'm sure you have crazy FOMO right now, which means fear of missing out.

If you want one of these awesome shirts, man, we'd love to see you guys serve with us this coming up Saturday for Serve Day.

Just text serve the 25101.

But hey, for those of you who don't know uh who I am, my name is Justin Todd.

I'm the downtown campus pastor and one of the pastors on staff here at Celebration Church.

Love preaching out here at College Park because I live just a few blocks down.

This is my community.

This is the neighborhood I live in.

And so really excited to be here this morning.

Just to let you guys know, Pastor Keith, our lead pastor here in Orlando, is actually in Jacksonville this morning.

He's preaching at our main location, uh, the arena in Jacksonville.

He's preaching at all of their services there.

And so he will be back here next Sunday preaching at all services, and he's just gonna crush it as he normally does because he's an amazing pastor and an amazing uh preacher.

But hey, I'm excited to preach this morning because the message that uh I'm gonna talk about this morning is something that's really personal for me.

It's something that I'm gonna be really honest uh with you guys on.

It's like cool if I'm honest uh, you know, when I preach.

Awesome, thank you.

Uh but hey, before we uh get further into it, I want to give you guys some insight, let you in on a little bit of behind the scenes stuff.

Did you know, uh, College Park 11 o'clock service, that preachers, pastors, staff members on church staff, uh, that we don't always have it all together?

Did you did you know that?

It's crazy.

It's crazy to believe it or not.

We don't always have it all together.

Yeah, I know.

For me, to be honest with you, the truth of the matter is this is oftentimes when I speak, when I when I preach a message, whether it be to you guys or sub 30, so many of the messages that I preach, as much as I'm preaching it to you guys, I'm preaching it to myself as well.

There's so many times as I'm writing a message, and I know Pastor Josh can attest to this, that as I'm writing, I'm like, oh man, this this is this is for me too.

This is convicting to me.

I don't do a good job at this, and I need to do a better job at this.

And today, this morning, this is one of those messages for me.

This is a message that as I was writing, as I was preaching, I was like, this is real for me.

And as much as I'm preaching it to you guys, I'm preaching it to me as well.

And so this morning I want to speak on the subject of what do you do when you're not okay?

What do you do when you're not okay?

And uh this phrase, I'm not okay, is something that you don't really hear a lot of preachers say, especially from the stage.

But as a matter of fact, you don't really hear a lot of Christians say that they're not okay.

So today I want to spend a little bit of time talking about what do you do when you find yourself in this place where on the outside everything of who you are looks cool and calm and collected, like you got everything together, but on the inside, it's anything but.

If you have your Bibles this morning, we're gonna be looking at Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

Does anyone actually have a physical Bible?

A leather-bound pages in it?

We got one, we got two, and do a little Joel Osteen.

This is my Bible.

Some of you are like, yeah, there it is, there it is.

We got some real Christians in the house.

But if you don't have your Bibles, maybe you have the Lord's phone, which is an iPhone.

You can open up the Bible app.

We're gonna be looking at Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

Uh, but if you don't have either of those, it's gonna be on the screen behind me as well.

So, Matthew chapter 26, we're gonna start in verse 36 and to lay some groundwork to give you some context, where we're gonna start reading.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

We're picking up this story.

Jesus is finding himself um hours before he's about to be crucified, and he goes to a garden to pray and and and to ask God to ask God to take this from him, that maybe he doesn't have to do it, and he brings his friends into the garden with them to be with him in this moment where Jesus is not okay.

This is a moment where Jesus is not okay, and we're picking it up in verse 36.

It says this Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray.

And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

Then he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful even to death.

Remain here and watch with me.

And going a little further, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

But nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.

And he said to Peter, So could you not watch with me one hour?

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Again for the second time he went away and prayed, My father, this cannot pass, unless I drink it, your will be done.

And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Sleep and take your rest later on.

See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinner.

Rise, let us go.

See, my betrayer is at hand.

If you're taking notes this morning, the title of today's message is called Unspoken.

Title today's message is called Unspoken.

And what I want to talk about is what do you do when you're not okay, and how it's completely acceptable to be not okay.

But it's what you do when you're not okay that matters.

That's what I want to talk about this morning.

But before we continue, let's go ahead and pray.

God, we thank you so much for what you've done in your house over these last several services, God, and what you're gonna continue to do throughout this service to the 12 o'clock.

Father, we pray over these next few moments, Lord, that you would inhabit this room with your Holy Spirit, speak to every single one of us, God, and I pray that every word that comes out of my mouth, that it's not me, that it's only you.

And God, I pray that you would soften all of our hearts, open all of our ears.

Father, Lord, let us be honest with ourselves and be real with ourselves.

And I pray that every single one of us in this room would leave better than the way that we came in.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Church, let me ask you a question.

Is there anyone in this room who grew up a church kid?

Any church kids in here?

Okay.

What about OG church kids?

Where like you were at the church every time the stinking doors were open.

That kind of church kid.

Where are you at in here?

What up?

We're family.

We're family right now, okay?

I got you.

Listen, so when you're a church kid and you grow up a church kid, you do things that church kids do.

Uh, and anyone remember uh summertimes being a church kid, uh VBS's, vacation Bible school.

Remember vacation Bible school?

Come on, they were awful.

They're off, at least, at least for me in the 90s.

They were awful.

Uh, you know, uh I look around on Instagram and Facebook and stuff like that, and I see um I see a bunch of my friends who do VBS at their church, and I'm like, dude, that that looks that looks incredible.

Like I would go to that as an adult.

Like, that looks awesome.

When I went to VBS, it was just like puppet shows, and like you put a bunch of like pennies and nickels and dimes into a big jar, and at the end of VBS, you try to guess how much money's in there.

That was the highlight of the week.

Uh what about um anyone anyone ever have to be in choir, like youth choir growing up in church?

I was in Southern Baptist Church, so youth choir was definitely a part of it.

Um that was awful as well.

Um I feel like I got to an age when I got in high school and I'm like, mom, I'm 16 now.

I don't want to be in youth choir anymore.

Like I drive.

I don't want to be, I play football, baseball, like I don't be in youth choir.

I'm done with the hand movements.

Like, it's I don't have I can't get a girlfriend because of youth choir.

Mom's like, that's not why.

And I'm like, whatever, mom.

You know, whatever.

Uh youth choir, what else?

Um grew up Southern Baptist, so we had things called um Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames.

Uh Judgment House.

If you don't know what those things are, consider yourself blessed.

Um still recovering it, recovering, I'm I'm recovering Judgment House participator.

Uh my name's Justin.

And uh I got saved at like every single one of them because I was so scared to go to hell.

Um what else?

We had um we had things called discipleship groups that took place on Sunday afternoons.

So you'd spend all day in church, you would go home for like an hour, and you had to be back by 2:30 to start discipleship groups so you could finish in time for the evening service.

Yeah.

So discipleship groups, what they looked like for a middle school or a high schooler was you met in this um in this kind of Sunday school room and you sat around in a circle in these metal chairs, these metal fold-out chairs, and you just went around in a circle and you asked each other, like, Did you, did you read your Bible every day this week?

Did you miss any days?

Did you, yeah?

Did you do anything that you weren't supposed to do this week?

Basically, as middle schoolers, you're asking in a roundabout way, did did any of anyone look at porn?

I don't know.

You know.

The first service had no idea to do with that comment.

But it's real.

As a middle schooler, as a high schooler, you ask yourself, you know, you ask each other these questions, and like that's what discipleship group was.

Like, did you do everything you were supposed to do?

Did you do anything that you weren't supposed to do?

That was discipleship group for me.

And then at the end of the end of discipleship group, you had prayer time where you went around a circle and said, Does anyone have anything we can pray for?

There's always like one kid who's like, I got a math test coming up this week.

I don't know any of it.

I pray that Jesus intervenes and gives me all the knowledge because I don't understand the Pythagorean theorem at all.

I don't even know what that is.

Is that even real?

Then there's always a kid who's like, Yeah, I have the same math test.

Pray for me too, because I don't know it as well.

And I also have an unspoken.

Okay, do you want to go any any further about that?

Nope, just unspoken.

All right.

Okay, so Kevin's got one unspoken math test.

Anyone else uh uh uh uh Tanner, what about you?

You got anything?

Yeah, I have uh I have three unspokens.

I have three unspokens, and then I have an unspoken for Kevin as well.

I have an unspoken for Kevin.

Kevin's across, like, what are you what are you doing, dude?

I haven't spoken for Kevin.

Y'all pray for him.

He's doing stuff he shouldn't be doing.

Basically, uh he just sold Kevin out for doing something he shouldn't be doing, looking at something he shouldn't be looking at.

But that was a discipleship group for me.

You know, and it's it's it's funny to laugh about unspokens and things like that.

And they were kind of, at least mine were my unspokens as a kid, were pretty insignificant.

Like my unspoken was, I pray Jennifer likes me back, like God, intervene, make her like me.

That's that's what I want, that's how I want, that's how I wanted Jesus to move when I was a middle schooler to make girls like me.

Because I couldn't do it myself, my own strength, you know what I'm saying?

Uh but it's funny to laugh at those insignificant things when we're kids, but now we're all adults and we all still have unspokens.

We all still have things in our life that are going on that we don't necessarily want to tell people because we don't want to be real with them.

We have things that we don't want to tell other people, like I'm not okay.

Like I'm not doing good.

And church, I'll be honest with you, for me, the last three months now, I've been kind of going through a phase in my life, a stage in my life where I haven't been okay.

I haven't been okay, I've been going through it a little bit.

Uh this last year, there's been a lot of changes in my life.

I had a lot going on uh before a year ago, but you know, in this last year I've stepped more into leadership, I've begun to speak more, I'm I've stepped more into campus pastor roles.

Uh, there's been transitions at that at this church alone that just things change and things whatever.

And in the last almost a year ago, I had a son on top of all of that.

I had a baby.

I haven't slept in like 11 and a half months.

It's enough to make anyone go insane.

I have constantly have poop on my fingers.

There's a lot going on in my life, and I just got to this place where I just, you know, I wasn't doing good, but there was a thing inside of me I was afraid to admit it.

I was afraid to tell anyone, especially from this stage.

This wasn't anything that you guys put on me.

This is something I put on myself.

Like I thought to myself, I can't stand up here and preach a message and tell people I'm not okay because people expect me to have it all together, because if they're not okay and I'm not okay, then we're all not okay.

And it's just a big pity party, like I can't tell anyone because then no one will listen to me.

That wasn't anything you guys put on me.

That was something I put on myself.

But the thing is, is even if you're not a preacher, maybe you're just a follower of Jesus, maybe you feel like you can't say, I'm not okay either.

And maybe it's for a number of reasons.

Maybe one of those reasons is you look at everything that Jesus did on the cross, right?

You look at everything that he did and everything that he did for us, and you read the Bible and you're like, man, Jesus did all those things.

Like, I don't really have a place to say I'm not doing good because Jesus did all that, like he carried the cross for me.

I shouldn't, I shouldn't even, whatever.

Maybe the reason that you feel you can't say I'm not okay is you feel like your reasons are artificial.

Maybe you were promised a raise at your job, and you planned your next year out because of this raise that's gonna come at the end of the year.

You you planned your future budget, you were so excited.

I mean, I can finally move into something nicer, you know, we can finally get out of this beater car, we can, we can maybe, we can finally have a savings account, whatever that is.

We can finally have a savings account if I get this, if I get this, you know, things will be so much better.

And the the end of the year came and it went and nothing happened, and you didn't get it.

And honestly, you're discouraged.

It messed with you a little bit.

But you think to yourself, like, man, why do I feel so like down and discouraged about this?

Like, I know there's people in the world who don't even have jobs, they don't even have an income.

Like, I should be thankful, you know, I am so blessed, but to be honest, you're super discouraged about it.

Maybe you're not okay, and you're afraid to tell people you're not okay because the reasons are temporary.

Hey man, how are you doing?

Uh, I'm not I'm not doing too good to be honest.

Oh, wow, what's going on?

It's my son, he's he's he's 16 now, and he's kind of going through this like rebellious, this rebellious stage.

Like, I don't know, I don't know what happened.

It seemed like it happened overnight.

Like, we caught him drinking with his friends the other day.

Like, I don't, I don't know what's going on.

I'm I'm really worried, I'm really stressed out about it.

Oh man, don't, hey, hey, everything's gonna be alright.

Listen, every teenager goes through that.

It's a phase, he'll give it.

Don't worry, just be fine.

Every kid goes through that.

But for you, that doesn't help anything.

It's just like, but I am.

I am worried.

I am worried about him.

I'm not okay because of this.

Or maybe it's hey man, how are you doing?

I'm not doing good.

Why not?

Oh, me and my girlfriend, we just broke up.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Um how long were you guys dating?

Oh, about three months.

Three months?

Oh, that ain't nothing, man.

You had no time to even connect.

Like you barely know the person.

Like, don't even worry.

Hey, how old are you?

22?

Oh man, there's plenty of fish in the seas.

You, you, you got you got so much time.

You know how people I dated after I was 22?

Yeah, but you're still not married.

That's besides the point, man.

That's besides the point.

You'll be fine.

You'll be fine.

Don't worry about it.

But on the inside, you're like, man, it stinks so.

Like, I really I felt good about this one.

I thought it was gonna work out and it didn't.

Note to self, don't tell anyone how you're doing, especially if it's temporary.

Don't tell anyone how you're doing, especially if it's temporary.

The fact of the matter is this at some point in life, everyone will experience this time where everything isn't fine, where everything isn't okay.

And for me, like I said earlier, that this started about three months ago.

And I'm someone who I've always prided myself on being someone who can handle my junk.

Like, whatever stress, whatever, what whatever thing came my way, I was always someone like, I got this, I thought logically about it.

I'm like, hey, this is just a part of life, you know, it's just whatever, we'll just handle it as it comes, and that's something that that I that I felt secure about myself.

But then about three months ago, everything started to change.

I began to feel a little bit of anxiety, more anxiety than normal, more stress than normal.

Things were happening very quickly, and I didn't know how to cope with it.

For the first time in my life, I felt like something was happening to me that I didn't understand, and I couldn't necessarily put a reason around it.

I couldn't put logic around it.

And uh I had a hard time coming to terms with that.

If you'd asked me how I was doing, though, I would have told you, man, hey, I'm I'm good.

I'm good, I'm a little stressed out.

Life's a little busy because who isn't busy?

Who isn't stressed out?

Everyone is.

So if I say that, I'm kind of being honest with people, but I'm I'm saving the nitty-gritty stuff for myself.

But the thing is, the more I told people I was good, the more I told people I was just stressed out, the more I believed that that's just what it was.

That I am good, that it's just stress, that it's just, you know, it's just whatever.

And I began to believe it myself.

Until one day I had a day off.

I stopped by Burger King on the way home, grabbed Big King, you know, as my day off, and uh went home.

Uh Becca was out with my son Cole.

I don't know where they were, like Target or something.

And uh I was watching, started watching friends on Netflix, like this is cool, you know, whatever, it's my day off.

And I began to have this all of a sudden out of nowhere, this like nervous, this nervous like energy like came over me, kind of whatever, and I began to, I felt like I broke out in a cold sweat.

I was like, what is this?

Is this the Baking King?

What is this, the Burger King?

I don't I don't know what's happening to me right now.

And then all of a sudden, this nervous energy went to went to full-on panic.

If you've ever had a panic attack, it feels like everything bad that can happen in your life is about to happen in a moment.

You begin to think about everyone, at least I did, that everyone I love, that something bad's gonna happen to.

I felt like my house is about to explode.

I don't know.

So I sat on the couch for like 10 minutes and went through my first ever panic attack.

As soon as it was over, I grabbed my computer, opened it up, typed in my counselor's email, was like, yo, hey man, what uh do you do house calls?

Do you can I come in now?

What about Monday?

When's your next availability?

I didn't understand what was happening.

Did not understand what was happening.

And man, for for about the next month and a half, honestly, like I kind of stayed in this, in this place of just like, I'm not good.

I'm not okay.

And then Pastor Josh Della Cruz, our riot and sub-30 pastor, asked me if I would be willing to preach the upcoming sub-30.

And I thought about it for a split second, and I just he was in my office, I just looked at him and I was like, hey man, I don't, I don't, I don't think I can.

I don't think I can preach.

I don't I think I'm at my limit right now.

I don't, you gotta find someone else.

And he was like, all right, man, like I I can, that's fine.

Are you okay?

And with with Pastor Josh Della Cruz, I've known him since seventh grade, we've been friends since seventh grade.

Like I just was like, dude, I'm not, like, I'm going through whatever.

And uh he sat and talked to me for a while, and then he got up and he was like, all right, hey man, don't worry about sub 30, I'll find someone.

I was like, all right, and he left.

As soon as he left and the door shut, I began to feel immediate conviction.

I didn't understand why I felt convicted, like I'm not good.

Like I should be able to say, like, no, I can't, I can't preach because I'm at my limit.

I should be able to say that, right?

And I should, and you know, looking at it, it shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but for me it was.

And for about a week, I processed why I was feeling so convicted about this.

And what I feel like God showed me is this is when he asked me to preach sub 30, and I said no because I was at my limit.

I said no to something that I had prayed to God for for a really long time.

I said no to something that I feel like God had called me to.

I said no to it because I was at my limit.

Yes.

I was at my limit.

And then a couple weeks later, maybe a week or two later, I was in a PDQ drive-thru.

I realized I ate a lot of fast food.

I'm always on the go, you know.

I was in a PDQ drive-thru and I was listening to an audio book by the by a pastor named Nathan Finocchio.

He's a pastor at Hillsong, and he said this, he said this quote in his new book, Hearing God.

He said this quote, he said, Man, oftentimes in life we view people, situations, and circumstances as limits.

But what if God is actually the one who sent those people, circumstances, and situations into our life to, in fact, raise our limits?

And I was like, oh my gosh, this, that, yes, that's me.

I said I'm at my limit, and I said no.

What if that is God trying to take me past what I think I'm capable of and to bring me past that?

Because where I stop is oftentimes where God starts.

What if God is trying to raise my limit in my calling, in my life?

Thank you.

But my question for you in here is is what is it in your life that you feel like you're at your limit at right now?

You're about ready to give up?

Maybe for some of you it's your marriage.

That marriage that you prayed for that husband or wife to come along for many years ago.

And you're at your limit right now and you're ready to give up.

Maybe you're at your limit right now.

Maybe you have teenagers and they're about to drive you sinking crazy.

Maybe you do, and you're at your limit.

And you just don't know what to do, and you just feel like you're ready to just give in and let them do whatever they want.

That little boy, that little girl that you prayed for to have.

Maybe it's your job you're at your limit of.

That promotion that you prayed for, it's getting too much, and you're just ready to just whatever.

Whatever.

Ever.

You see, it's okay to not be okay, but it's never a license to give up.

It's okay to not be okay, but it's never a license to give up.

And this morning I want to talk to you and speak to those of you who find yourself in this place of not being okay.

If you're in here this morning, you're like, man, I'm actually good.

My life's like really good right now.

I feel like I'm on a mountaintop.

Man, awesome.

We're all trying to get to that level, and all of us will get to that level soon.

But I can tell you this if you feel like you're in a mountaintop, oftentimes, in order for you to get to another mountaintop, what do you got to do?

You gotta come down and walk through the valley to get to another mountaintop.

All of us will go through these stages and phases of life.

If you're not in it now, save this for a rainy day.

So this morning I want to share with you three questions to ask yourself when you find yourself in a place of not being okay.

Three questions that I had to ask myself during this season of my life.

The first question, if you're taking notes, is this to ask yourself is where am I escaping to?

Where am I escaping to?

One of the sure signs of not being okay is escapism.

And escape is it's honestly it's a real part of dealing with pressure and anxiety.

It's a real part of it.

And there's nothing wrong with escaping.

You just have to escape well.

You just have to escape well.

You see, pressure and anxiety and stress, if not dealt with, it can build up and eventually maybe cause somebody to snap and make a decision that they regret.

Has anyone ever heard of the TV show uh called Snapped?

Anyone ever heard of that show?

It's called Snapped.

Uh my wife watches it religiously.

Uh it's a show that comes on women's entertainment and comes on A E.

And uh it's super weird that she watches this show a lot, uh, because if you don't know the premise to this show called Snapped, it's all about women uh who snapped and kill their boyfriend or husband or whatever it is.

They kill the one they love.

It's story after story after story.

At first when she started watching it, I was like, oh, you know, that's cool, that's crazy, you know.

Wow.

You know, and then like years later, I still walk in the door and I hear this, I hear then, I hear the narration voice of it.

And I'm like, babe, why are you watching this?

It's interesting.

Oh my god, the narration's voice is always like Kevin went to bed that night feeling like his life was a fairy tale.

But what he didn't know is he was actually falling asleep in the middle of a nightmare.

It's just like it's all about I'm like, what are you taking notes, babe?

Like, what is this?

What is this?

You've watched this for years now.

She didn't think it was very funny in the last service when she was sitting here.

Uh but it's all about these women who that one time they loved their boyfriend or they loved their husband, and things were great, but things started to happen and they didn't deal with it.

They didn't deal with it.

Then one night they just snapped and they made a decision that they regretted.

Now I'm not saying if you're in this room right now and you're not dealing with it in the appropriate way that you're gonna snap and kill the one you love.

I don't know you.

Maybe, I don't know.

We'll pray for you.

I don't know where you're at, I don't know where you're at in this place right now.

But what I'm trying to make the point is, is that escapism is actually it's healthy.

It's healthy to acknowledge that, hey, I'm going through something.

I need I need it I need a release.

You see, the thing is, oftentimes when we escape, we escape to everywhere but the place we actually need to escape to.

For some of us, man, we start we man, we just binge watch Netflix at night.

We we we watch the office through every single night, like for like the ninth time in a row.

Maybe we pick up a really weird hobby.

Maybe some of you get into like cycling all of a sudden.

You go purchase a$2,000 road bike, you buy all the spandex, you buy the helmets, you buy all this, and you're just like biking everywhere, and your friends are like, Hey, are you okay?

Yeah, I'm good, man.

Have you ever tried cycling?

It's great.

This is so aerodynamic.

You know the reason we wear this is because the draft of the wind, hey, dude, that's fine, that's fine.

You you do you.

I just make sure you're okay.

That's fine.

But man, maybe it's more serious escapes.

Maybe you're gonna drink more, maybe you're gonna go out more.

And you feel like these things you're doing are relaxing.

But the thing is, they're not actually giving you rest.

In fact, what those things are are just distractions.

When I was in middle school and high school, man, my escape, to be honest, was I could not wait till my dad got home from work.

If I was stressed out as much as a middle schooler or high schooler can be stressed out in life, uh, I couldn't wait for my dad to get home.

I knew at some point during the night he would be in our den of the house.

If you don't know what a den is, a lot of houses in the 80s and 90s had dens.

Uh that was his room, that was his lair.

I knew he'd be in there on the couch watching WWE, watch wrestling every single night.

And uh I knew I could go in there and talk to my dad about life.

Go in there and be like, Dad, I I thought Jennifer liked me.

All her friends told me she did, but they were just lying to make some big joke.

It's it sucks, super bad.

I don't know, you know what to do.

I'm really stressed out about the game on Friday.

I don't think I'm gonna start, you know, whatever it is.

I'm gonna just I would just pour out my heart to my dad, and my dad would listen, and when I get done, he'd be like, Come here, buddy.

And he'd call me up on the couch, and I would just lay there with my dad, his arm around me.

We would watch wrestling, and he would just tell me, like, hey, bud, everything's gonna be alright, man.

You're gonna get through this.

I love you, and hey, I'm so proud of you.

I'm so proud of you, whether you start or whether you don't start, whether Jennifer likes you or not.

I don't even know Jennifer, but I don't like her.

Okay?

Like, she's an idiot.

Like, I love you, I'm proud of you.

That for me was the world for me as a kid.

It was the world for me.

And some of us in this room, we've been trying to escape to all these distractions, and we're not finding any rest, but I can tell you this where you actually find rest is in the arms of the Heavenly Father.

He is the only person who can give you the type of rest that you need.

But we fill our lives so much with so many distractions, thinking this is gonna distract me or this is gonna give me rest.

I don't have time to stop and spend all this time with God.

I don't have time to pray.

Pastor Josh Nazelle last week spoke a message said, Anytime is the right time if you just make time to pray.

If you want to find rest, if you want to find true escape, be intentional about finding time during your day to spin with God and to just rest and listen for his voice.

Open the Bible.

You'd be amazed at what you can find in there, of how much it can fill you and how much it can actually give you rest, because those are his words on paper.

Man, we spend so much time trying to find escape and rest in all the wrong places, and God is like, just come to me.

Just come to me, those of you who are weary.

So the first question to ask yourself when you find yourself in this place is, man, where am I escaping to?

The second question to ask yourself is, what am I trying to control?

What am I trying to control?

You see a lot of anxiety and pressure that can come from you and me trying to control things that we have no business trying to control.

We actually have no power to control them.

And if I found anything in counseling over the last few months is that I apparently have an issue with control.

I hate not being in control, drives me crazy.

As I'm sitting in counseling, I'm like telling my counselor about this like situation.

He's like, man, that must, you know, that must have not felt good.

I'm like, it didn't.

He's like, why?

I'm like, because I couldn't do anything about it.

He's like, why did it upset you so bad?

I'm like, because I couldn't do anything about it.

He's like, that right there.

That's we need to work on that.

Like, there is nothing you can do about it.

I'm like, I know, that's what I'm telling you.

There's nothing I can do about it.

And he's like, man, that must stink.

I'm like, it does, dude.

Like, why am I paying you?

I don't even know.

Like, I can talk to myself in the mirror.

Like, I know it, I know it sucks.

I know it doesn't, it doesn't feel good.

Like, you know, whatever.

And it's always, if you've been in counseling before, it's on the drive home where you're like, we need to talk about stings.

Of course it doesn't feel good.

Paying him, you know, whatever.

And you just talking.

I talk to myself a lot in my car.

And it was like, what are you doing?

Like, of course it stinks.

Like, I know I can't do anything about it, but it's still I can't do anything about it.

Why did I why am I so worked up about this?

I can't do anything about that.

And for me, and for you, man, I became consumed with trying to control things that I couldn't control.

I I invested so much of who I was into things that I can't control that I didn't invest anything in things that I actually could control.

And it caused stress and anxiety and pressure in me.

Pastor Keith said this a few weeks ago.

He said, What you invest in will invest in you.

What are you investing your emotion and your time and your energy into?

Can you control it?

If you can't, man, if you are a follower of Jesus, at the end of the day, the things that you can't control, that's where you stop and he begins.

God, this is in your hands.

I've done everything I can do, I've done everything I know to do.

At the end of the day, this is yours.

I can put my head on the pillow at night knowing I did everything I could do.

I did everything I felt like you told me to do.

And whatever happens, not my will, but your will.

Not my will, but your will.

So the first question to ask yourself is where am I escaping to?

The second question to ask is, what am I trying to control?

And the third and final question to ask yourself, and the keys can come back up, is who am I surrounding myself with?

Who am I surrounding myself with during the time when you're not good, when you're not okay?

The people you choose to surround yourself with during that time will be the makers or breakers of that time in your life.

And Jesus understood this so well.

At this moment in Jesus' life where he's stressed out, his soul is sorrowful.

He takes his disciples into the garden.

He doesn't bring, he brings all of them with him, but he only takes three with him to go pray.

He only takes three of the closest people with him to go pray.

And Jesus says this in adult male, he says this to another adult male.

Hey, I'm not good.

My soul is sorrowful.

I'm not okay.

Stay here with me.

Please stay here with me.

Who is that person in your life that you can text or call up and be like, yo, I'm not, I'm not doing good.

I'm not doing good right now.

And to be honest, I don't have a good reason.

It may seem petty to you, but it's messing with me.

I didn't get that race.

I didn't get that house that we worked so hard to get the contract fell through.

That was our dream house, and now it's gone, and now I just feel like I'm at rock bottom again.

It may not seem like a big deal, but it's a big deal to me, and I'm going through it right now.

Who is that person that you can call that is not gonna give you some cliche Christianese answer?

You know I'm talking about the answer of, hey, I'm not good.

And you know what, man?

God is good though.

God is good, and he's got you.

I'm in praying for you, brother.

I gotta get in service.

Who are those people you can call?

For me, Pastor Josh Dela Cruz is one of those men that I can call and be like, hey man, I'm not good.

I'm really bothered by this right now, and I'm not even sure why.

And he's gonna talk, we're gonna talk about it.

We may not come to a conclusion, it may not be fixed in that moment, but I know the next day he's gonna text me.

Hey, brother, pray for you this morning, just checking in on you.

How you doing?

How you doing?

Someone who's gonna let you be not okay, someone who's not gonna try to fix you, who's just gonna be there for you.

What if Celebration Church was that kind of community that we were the church that was known here in Orlando as a church that anyone and everyone could walk in to be real, to be 100% real and say, hey, I don't have it all together, I'm not good, I'm going through it right now, but I'm here in church and I feel like I took the step I needed to.

God, you take the rest, and how about the community?

Take the rest as well.

We need to be able to be a people who can be willing to admit when we're not good.

I believe there's so many people who have walked through church doors coming in, expecting to be able to lay it all down, to be honest about where they're at, because they've heard about this man named Jesus.

But when they've met the followers of Jesus, they've walked back out those doors, saying to themselves, Nah, I can't be real here.

This isn't in place for me.

I'll go find it out in the world.

I thought I would find it here.

I don't want to be known as that church.

I don't want to be known as that kind of community.

Because that's not the example that Jesus set.

Man, maybe in here like Justin, I don't have those kind of friends.

Like, I don't know who those people would be in my life.

Where do I find them?

Being here at church.

Another great step is Man, we are a church that believes life change happens in the context of community.

We say it all the time.

We do groups here at Celebration Church, and there's a reason for that.

I know I made a joke about discipleship groups earlier, but they've came a long way in in 25 years.

They've come a long way.

You know, it's 2019.

You know, it's they're great now.

If you want to ask yourself super awkward questions in your group, you do you.

Whatever, if it makes you feel good.

But I can tell you this a group is someplace that you can go.

I've met some of my best friends.

Me and Pastor Josh Delacruz have known since seventh grade.

We became super close when we got a community group, and when we were done with high school, we were done with college.

You can find it there too.

Another way to find those people to plug into community, join a sneak and serving team.

Join a serving team.

I know it sounds like whatever with a serving team is, you know, whatever.

Life is so much better.

Community is so much better when you just stop coming to church and you become a part of the church on Sunday mornings.

If you can't if you can't serve on a Sunday, this is your only day off with your family.

Awesome.

Spin it with your family because that's most important.

But you know what?

We got serve day coming up on Saturday.

That's a great place to go and to serve Jesus and also be around community and meet people who you may have never otherwise met.

Find those people, they are available to you.

Listen, Jesus had every reason to escape and to give up.

But he didn't, and he changed the world because of it.

What in your life do you feel like you are at your limit right now?

And imagine what can happen if you just didn't give up.

You didn't give up in your marriage.

You didn't give up in your parenting, you didn't give up in your job, you didn't give up in your life, but you stuck it out.

And you told yourself, man, this is God trying to raise my limits that he wants to do something greater than what he's already done.

So because of that, I'm gonna stick to it.

I prayed for this.

This is God's blessing on my life, and I'm gonna stick it out.

Even if I feel like I can't do it, I know he can't.

I know he can't.

Church, it's okay to not be okay, but it's never a license to give up.

With every head bowed and every eye closed.

Maybe you're in this room and you say, Man, Justin, like, that's really good, and I know Jesus didn't give up, but that's Jesus.

I'm not, I'm not Jesus.

You know what?

Jesus was all God, but he was also a hundred percent man.

He felt every bit of anxiety, every bit of pressure, every bit of stress that you and I feel.

He knows what those emotions are like.

But you know how he made it through?

The same spirit that lived in him lives inside of you and me if we are followers of Jesus.

And that same Jesus walks with you and is working with you here this morning.

That same Jesus we just read about, who got through that pressure and that pain, is the same Jesus who wants to help you here this morning.

Jesus said when he was here on this earth that he came for the broken and he came for the hurting.

He came for the okay, and he came for the definitely not okay.

He came for you and he came for me.

And he wants a relationship with us more than anything.

He wants to take those burdens off of you and place them on himself, and he's just waiting for you to take that step towards him, to take those burdens off of yourself and lay it at his feet.

This morning I want to give you an opportunity to do that.

There's some of you in this room, I want to give you an opportunity to commit or recommit your life to Jesus.

Maybe there's some of you in this room, you've been hearing about this man named Jesus who wants to take all your burdens, all your anxiety, all of your pressure off of you, and that he wants to walk with you through this, that you're not alone in this, but you don't know that man named Jesus.

You've never had a moment in your life where you said, Jesus, I want to make you my Lord and my Savior.

Here is my life.

This morning I want to give you an opportunity to make that decision.

There's those of you in this room who also just need to recommit your life to Jesus.

Maybe you found yourself at one point you were following very well after Jesus.

You were walking very closely with him, but you began to escape to all the wrong places.

You begin trying to control your life and the things in your life.

And maybe you surrounded yourself with the wrong people.

You found yourself far away from Jesus here this morning.

Today, you said, I'm gonna make today a marker where this is a fresh start between me and Jesus.

You need to recommit your life to Him.

If that's you in this place, I'm just gonna count to three.

And if you want to commit or recommit your life, I just want to ask that you raise your hands.

If you want to commit or recommit your life to Jesus, I just want to ask that you raise your hands in one, two, three.

Raise them.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Your hand is raised in this room.

I just want to lead you in a prayer of salvation.

I just want to repeat this prayer out loud after me.

I want to ask everyone else in the room to repeat the prayer out loud after me as well.

Jesus, I stand before you today, asking you to forgive me of all my sins and all my mistakes.

Today I choose to live for you.

Today I choose to make you my Lord and my Savior.

From this point forward, I'm gonna live my life, the rest of my life, for you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Come on, church, can we stand to our feet all over this room?

Hey, listen, we are not done with service yet.

We're about to go back into one more song of worship video to encourage you to do.

I know I can't be the only one in this room who's gonna do this who's in this age or phase in my life.

You're the I'm not okay.

Jesus in the scoring.

Jesus, we love you in the twice.

We praise you in the twice, we left our voices.

We give you our harness, we give you our hardness.

We know it's okay for us to not be okay, but we know you are there with us.

In the midst of the cut, we love you, and we praise you.

Come on, church, let's see.

Thank you for tuning in to today's podcast.

For more information about Celebration Orlando, or to get in touch with us, please visit celebration orlando.org.