WILD STANDARD: No Shortcuts

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.

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How you guys doing?

You guys doing good?

Alright, man.

I'm so so excited to be with you guys.

So glad that you all created some space to come and worship with us today.

The worship experience has been incredible all day, and I believe that this service is going to be the best one yet.

So I need that energy from you guys.

I need that energy from you.

It's gonna be it's gonna be powerful.

Um I'm we're we're excited to be to be closing out our series Wild Standard.

It's been absolutely amazing over the past couple of weeks, and we've been looking at the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew's 5, 6, and now going into 7, and just understanding what the what it means to be a part of the kingdom of God.

Such a powerful thought, and understanding that the wild standard is not something that we're supposed to live up to, but it's something that we're invited to live in.

Understanding that Jesus is our standard and recognize that he is going to be the template by which we we build our lives, that it's through him that we're able to function, and it's through him that we receive our blessing, and it's through him that we get our freedom from anxiety.

It's just understanding that Jesus is our standard.

And as we prepare to conclude going into this week, I'm I'm excited and reminded by what Jesus was showing us last week, that that perfection is not a fruit of the spirit, but goodness is.

Understanding that we can just find ourselves in the goodness of God, that is all that we need.

So as Jesus has unfolded all these things, and if you haven't heard some of our messages, go back over the past three weeks, and because they all do build on them, they're all one journey, it was all one message for Jesus that we have the advantage of breaking down week by week.

But if go back and listen to some of them, as you can see where the momentum has been taking us.

But looking here at Matthew chapter 7, starting at verse 1, here's here's what the text says it says, Judge not that you be not judged, for the judgment that you pronounce, you will also be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Do not give to dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, least they trample them underfoot and turn and attack you.

Let me let me pause and explain what what verse six is saying, because there's there's a little bit of like misunderstanding with that.

He's not reducing people down to dogs and things along that line.

What he's saying is that the word of God is holy, it's sacred, so don't reduce it in order to appease people.

He's saying that the word of God is the standard.

That's what he's saying by don't throw it before the swine.

Then he goes into verse seven Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you.

For everyone who asks, receives, and for everyone who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be open.

Or which of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone.

Or if you, if he asks for fish, we'll give him a serpent.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?

So whatever you wish others to do to you, do also to them.

For this is the law and the prophets, enter by the narrow gate.

For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those that enter it are many.

Verse 14 for the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those that find it are few.

Now we're gonna skip down a couple of verses and literally conclude our series with the verse that we started our series with in Matthew 7, looking at verse 24 and 25.

So understanding the framework of this, everything that Jesus has said over the past couple of weeks, what he says in Matthew 5, 6, and now at the conclusion of 7, is all hinged on what we're about to read right now.

So everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And when the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.

I want to emphasize that again that when storms came, it did not fall because it was founded on the rock.

Such a powerful thought.

Jesus is saying, if you can just simply do what I'm telling you to do, you will not fall no matter what comes your way.

Today, what I want to do is I want to conclude this series with this idea of what does it mean to have longevity in the kingdom of God.

And I've simply entitled this message, No Shortcuts.

Let's pray.

God, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for this amazing church, this amazing community, God, and what you allow us to be a part of.

Father, I'm praying over the next few moments that you give us open eyes that we can see you.

Lord, I'm praying for open ears that we can hear you, God, and I'm praying for open hearts that we can receive the truth of your word.

Father, we pray and declare that you do what only you can do in Jesus' name.

Amen and amen.

In preparation for this message, and and even beyond that, I would say for this series, I'd been doing some preliminary uh research, and I came across this which I thought was completely fascinating.

I learned that 70 years ago that the microwave was created, and it wasn't even on purpose, it was actually by mistake.

Like it wasn't like somebody was back in 70 years ago saying, like, hey, what's the quickest way we can get food ready?

They were actually working on a completely different project, but as a result of that person being in proximity of these radioactive waves, they saw that the chocolate bar that was in their pocket had begun to melt.

Then it dawned on them, like, wow, like maybe there's something to this, and that spawned what we now know as the microwave.

You can imagine that over the next 20 years after that, they tried to find ways to perfect it, to make it more of a household unit that is as common as it is now.

But now today we have the advantage of the microwave.

And here's the thing: it's hard for us even to imagine a world where we don't have it.

But let's back up for a moment and just think about what it accomplishes.

What used to take hours with taking food out of the freezer, allowing it to fall out, seasoning it, then putting it inside the microwave so it can heat up and be cooked.

We're able to reduce all that into a matter of minutes sometimes because of a failed experiment.

But since then, we love to be able to get to results as quickly as possible.

We like to microwave results.

That's just kind of the culture we're in.

And we live in a world there are so many things at our fingertips that it makes it so easy for us to get into that space.

Here, let me let me give you a couple of quick examples.

Anyone that lives in the Orlando area can ride with me on this.

We will pay extra money to ride on the toll roads just so we can avoid I-4.

Give me that easy pass all day.

Like this is decisions that we make.

Why?

Because we don't want to be in the congestion.

We just we just want to get to our destination as quickly as possible without losing our salvation in the process.

That's that's what avoiding I-4 does for you.

It's these small things that we love to get quick results.

Imagine this: we go to the grocery store and we have the self-checkout line, but then we also have the 10 items or less line because nobody wants to get stuck behind a person with a hundred items when you only got two.

So we get into the we get into the quick checkout line, and here's what it allows us to do it allows us to take our stuff and get through fast.

Now here's the thing.

I I don't know if when it says 10 items or less, if that means 10 of the same items, but if I have a couple more, it's all covered under grace, or if it is a 10 literal items, but I don't know.

I tend to lean on the side of like, hey, if I have eight sodas, that counts as one item as far as I'm concerned.

Just hit the eight and slide it through.

But I'm not here to judge anybody.

But if you have 15 items, I'm judging you, you should get in the other line.

But we love the convenience that is made available to us.

And don't even let me begin to talk about all of the fitness trends that exist right now.

Now, we all know that hey, it's the summertime or it's the it's the winter time, and maybe you put on an extra few, but it's summertime now, and we got to find the quickest way possible for me to drop these extra 20 pounds because I'm going to the beach, and in two weeks I got to get this six-pack popping again.

So, what is the quickest way for me to get these results going on?

Okay, what what diet can I use that's gonna allow me to get these results really, really fast?

I just want to get to the end result.

And now when I'm starting to go to the gym, I'm gonna change my diet a little bit.

I'm gonna go to the gym three days straight.

Make sure I post a picture of me going to the gym three days straight.

Hashtag gains, let you see me with my protein shake, and then after I leave the gym, I'm gonna stop and get some ice cream to celebrate that I went to the gym and nullify everything that I just did.

This is kind of like I'm just walking you through my process.

I'm not trying to project it, but what I'm saying is we all have these ways in which we just want to get to the end result as quickly as possible.

And now there is this new phenomenon that my my family and I recently began to engage in, and it is the Instapot.

Anybody know anything about Instapot?

About six of us.

It's cool.

Let me pastor you guys and help you to understand what Instapot is.

Let me let me walk you through it.

You can look at the name and you can kind of see where I'm going with this.

You can instantaneously get what you would typically get in a crock pot.

Instapot.

Boom.

Look at that.

So that means when you think about what a crock pot typically is able to accomplish, you take the food, you put it inside of this pot, you season it appropriately, and then there's just time.

And in that time, it's slowly cooking, it comes out tender, it comes out great, it's supposed to be absolutely amazing.

So, my family and I, we wanted to give it a shot.

We heard all these people talking about it.

It says that you could take your food, not even take it out, not let it thaw out, but you could take something frozen immediately from the freezer, put it in the Instapot, and what normally would take like an eight-hour process, you can have it done in eight minutes.

It's like witchcraft.

Like, I mean, like how how how can we get to the end result of something that typically would take eight hours and get it in eight minutes?

It's because of the pressure.

And so we wanted to give it a shot.

You mean to tell me that the food is going to come out as as savory and as tender as it would in a crock pot?

And guess what, guys?

It does.

Like it actually gets done in eight minutes.

It's kind of weird.

Go and check it out.

It's it's fascinating.

But there's one caveat.

Here's one of the things that I learned in trying to go into this endeavor of accelerating the rate in which I enjoy my food.

It comes out good, it comes out tender, but it just doesn't come out flavored.

Because unfortunately, what ends up happening is I can accelerate the pace at which the food is cooked, but I can't accelerate the flavoring that takes place when it emarinates for a while.

So unfortunately, we have a tendency that we want to get the microwave results, but we got crockpot problems.

I'll walk over here if they're gonna amen me more than that.

We we often we often want to get the quick results when we got some problems that accumulated over years, and we think sometimes we can come to church and hear one message and it's gonna change everything when one night, but but God is saying those who wait on the Lord, they shall get their strength renewed.

In other words, sometimes you just gotta marinate in the presence of God.

You gotta allow the grace of God to marinate to go deeper.

Because unfortunately, we can have surface-level faith, surface level Christianity, and on the surface it looks real good, but the moment that something shakes, that flavoring is off, and now we just have dull, bland spirituality.

What Jesus is trying to help us to do is understand that when we when we marinate in the presence of God, the grace and fragrance of God goes with us.

That means that we can walk into environments and shift the atmosphere with just us being there.

That when you walk into a room, that people can say joy has just entered the room because you've marinated in the grace of God.

That when you walk into some environments that love has entered the room because you have been marinating in the presence of God, God wants to make sure that we're not so anxious to get to the end result that we forget that the best thing that we can do in our walk with God is to be steady and consistent and recognize that it's not a destination, but it's a journey that we never graduate from.

Jesus is helping us to understand this as he's talking to his people and saying, Listen, I know that you are looking for results.

I know that you've been in bondage, I know that you've been through some things that have been challenging, but the best thing you can do is allow this to get deep into your spirit.

The best thing you can do is allow this to become the core of who you are.

Maybe, just maybe, that the kingdom of God is not going to happen to you, but it's going to happen through you.

And it's through your obedience, and it's through your submission, and it's through your allowing God to flow through you, we will begin to see the things of this world begin to radically change.

Jesus is talking to a group of people that he's trying to get this deep into their souls, and that's now my assignment to help us to see it.

As he's talking with them, he wants to make sure that they walk away with some principles that helps them to put it into practice.

I have three thoughts that I want to share with us that I believe can empower us as we move forward as it relates to what does it mean to have this amazing wild standard that Jesus has invited us to be a part of.

Here's the first thing I want us to write down as we move forward.

Don't be so critical.

Don't be so critical.

Jesus introduces this thought about being negative, about being critical, about being judgmental.

And then he shifts into this space where he says, Don't be such a hypocrite.

Here's what a hypocrite is: a person who hides behind a mask while pointing out the very flaws that they have, but in other people without acknowledging that they have their own struggles.

In other words, what Jesus is saying, don't for a second think that you have graduated from needing my grace.

Don't think that somehow, because your struggle is not somebody else's struggle, that now you don't have to depend on the same grace of God.

The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short.

We all are in need of the grace of God every day.

He says, don't lose sight of it.

You know, there's a recent study that shows that there are people that are hurting in our community, in our world.

And for many of those people, they cognitively understand that Jesus is the answer.

When those folks were surveyed about why they aren't engaged in church, their resounding response was, because I don't want to be judged by the Christian.

I want us to let that settle for a moment.

And let's personify that for a second.

That means that there may be people that are in your very world that you know, that are sitting at home as we speak, not tapping into the hope that is found in Christ, not because they don't believe that Jesus is real, but because every time they extend a hand, hoping they can have an experience with God, the Christian gets in the way and tells them why they're not good enough.

Jesus is saying, don't lose sight of the fact that just because you're standing at a different posture, that you're not still extending your hand to receive the same grace that you're trying to limit somebody else from having.

He says, don't lose sight.

He said, Don't lose your vision in recognizing that we don't call people out, we call them up.

We call them up.

We're not growing up, I'm not here to make a point by saying that, hey, this is your flaw.

My job and my responsibility is to call us up to what God is calling us to be.

Now, here's another thing.

I want to make sure that we make a distinction here.

I'm not talking about us ignoring sin.

I'm not talking about us justifying and affirming sin.

There's a clear distinction that I feel like God is making sure that I give you some clarity on.

What the Bible is instructing us to do is to make sure that we do it the right way.

Here's some things that I've put into practice in my life that I think that can help us when it comes to addressing the sin issue that may exist not only within ourselves, but with people that are connected to our community.

Here's some things that'll help you.

We are to discern things scripturally, spiritually, and morally.

That means that Jesus is the standard.

We allow Jesus' words, we allow the life of Jesus to become the standard that allows us to measure where we are.

The next thing we do is we evaluate ourselves.

Before I go speaking into somebody else, I evaluate where am I?

Are there any hidden areas in my life that I'm trying to point fingers at somebody else while I got some struggles of my own?

The next thing we do is we build relational bridges that can bear the weight of the truth that we want to speak.

Build relational bridges that can bear the weight of the truth that God is calling me to speak.

That means that it's not my responsibility to bypass where I'm at in the process, to bypass whether we have a relationship or not, and I'm just gonna start speaking into people's lives because I'm the ultimate authority as if I don't have flaws.

That is not the way that the kingdom of God operates.

It is calling me to recognize that Jesus is the standard.

I am to discern what God's word says about it.

I'm to evaluate myself to see how I am.

Is my heart pure?

Am I in a good place?

And then I am to build a relational bridge that can bear the weight of what I want to speak into their lives.

That way people know that when you're speaking to them, you're speaking to them from a place of love and not simply behavior modification.

This is what Jesus is challenging us to do.

He says, Don't lose sight of the fact that the same grace that saves you is the grace that sustains you.

Now I want to go ahead and have a little side note.

Maybe you're in here today and you're on the other side of that.

Maybe you've been the recipient of these harsh words, these mean criticisms, these things that have that have sometimes been really hard for you to hear and have often even put you in a place where you are away from God.

I wanna I want to help you.

I want to first commend you for even in spite of all that, still showing up at church today.

I pray that we never create an environment here that makes a person not feel welcome for who they are and what the way that God has wired them.

I pray that we never do that.

That's not who we are.

We are welcoming, we are all about Jesus because that's who he was.

But here's the next thing.

Maybe you've been in that space and maybe you're in that space right now.

Here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.

I'm gonna challenge you to do as your pastor.

The first thing I want you to do is ask yourself, is there any truth in this?

I know it doesn't feel good.

And I know that there are moments when we don't like the delivery, but just because I don't like the delivery doesn't mean that I don't need to hear what's being spoken.

Is there any truth in this?

But then after I move on from is there any truth in this, give it to God and then move on.

Is there any truth in this, give it to God and then move on?

All three are equally important.

Is there any truth in this, give it to God and move on?

The reason why I'm repeating this is because that sequence is critical.

Once I acknowledge that there's some shortcomings in my life, I give it to God and then I'm moving on.

Unfortunately, we can find ourselves hostage to is there truth in this and we never move forward in our lives.

But when I recognize my shortcomings, I give it to God and then I'm moving forward.

What we're not going to do is I'm not going to be held hostage to my past because Jesus isn't there anymore.

He's moving me forward.

So I can't help it if there's somebody in my life that can't move on from the things that God has moved me on from.

You can live in my past if you want to, but I'm moving forward into the destiny and the calling that God has for my life.

So I gave it to God and I'm moving forward.

I want to encourage you that if that's you in here, ask yourself, is there any truth?

Give it to God and move on.

God has so much more for your life.

And unfortunately, I've seen people held hostage, not willing to move forward because they thought that maybe me having some joy in my life is somehow disrespectful for the person that wants to keep me in bondage.

That is not the kingdom of God.

God is saying, give it to him so you can move forward because he's not done with you yet.

Jesus is saying, I want us to be prepared to move forward.

Here's the next thing that I believe that he wants us to walk away with with this series.

Don't give up.

Don't give up.

Don't be so critical of yourself or others, but also don't give up.

Jesus shifts his attention and begins to talk about this idea of being persistent.

What does it mean to be consistent, to be persistent and to not give up?

He lays out this pattern.

He says, keep asking and it will be given.

Keep searching and you'll find it.

Keep knocking and it will be open.

The word that we see that pops up over and over again in that sequence is to keep.

That means to persist, to keep moving forward.

Don't find yourself at a standstill.

I know that there are seasons that'll come, but just keep moving forward.

Ultimately, what Jesus is talking about are those times in our lives where we seem like we are losing momentum.

Because we all have been there and we know what it feels like to feel like things are going well, but then it seems as if we come to a screeching halt, and it seems as if we're losing momentum.

We have greatness and acceleration at our job, but then it seems to come to a stop.

Our relationship seems to be going well, but then it seems to come to a stop.

Jesus is saying, like, we're gonna have moments where it seems as if things are gonna come to a halt, but keep moving forward.

I can personally identify with this in my own life just a couple of years ago.

As my family and I moved to the DC area, everything that I had envisioned had radically shifted in what seemed to be one moment.

I I thought that my entire family would always be together.

And because I'm old enough that I have children who are adults, you try to get to a place where you feel like the calling of God that's on your life immediately transfers to everyone else.

So I'm thinking we're all gonna do ministry every single season of our lives all together.

My daughter starts hearing from God, and God is calling her to go to be a part of a church in Atlanta.

That wasn't part of my plan.

My son ends up staying in Jacksonville and doesn't move to DC like I'd anticipated.

That wasn't part of my plan.

So now I'm in DC with my son, my youngest son, Caleb, my wife, and that's it, just the three of us.

And what once was this strong family unit of ministry had radically shifted, and I thought I was losing momentum.

And to make matters worse, it's in that exact same season I broke my ankle.

Now I would I would love to tell you guys that when I broke my ankle, that I broke my ankle because there was some puppies out in the road, and I ran out to go scoop them up and I lost my balance, and somehow I twisted my ankle, and that would make a lot of sense.

I would I would even love to say that there was some baby bald eagles out in the streets.

I'm up in DC, go America, and I wanted to go out there and and save them.

I lost my balance and broke my ball.

I would love to say that that was the case.

I would even love to say that I was out on the court and I crossed somebody up and just didn't do it the right way.

My foot slipped and then I broke my ankle.

I would love to say that, but we're in church and that's just not the truth.

Let me tell you how I broke my ankle.

I broke my ankle checking the mail.

I am literally at my mailbox, and for some ridiculous reason, I lose my balance, my foot is stuck, and I break my ankle in half.

There is nothing that screams you are getting old more than falling while you're checking the mail.

I'm like one week away from getting a hip replacement.

Like this is this is kind of where I'm at.

So I And at this point, I'm sitting I get surgery.

I'm sitting in my bedroom.

And I have to wait.

I didn't get any answers.

I get into weakness and I'm preparing to go to physical therapy.

And I felt this problem in my spirit one night when I couldn't sleep.

And I said, God, like I'm not hearing from you, and I'm spiritually mature enough to not have a crisis of faith.

I know you're doing something, but I just don't understand why I'm not seeing it in your word.

I don't know what prayer to pray.

I don't know what scripture to look up.

This is two years ago.

And God said, Because you're asking the wrong question.

You're so fixated on why, thinking that's gonna bring you closure, but actually all that's gonna do is dig you deeper into this place where you can't move forward.

My grace isn't in why, my favor is in you moving forward.

So instead of asking why, how about you start asking me what?

Instead of asking me why are you in this season, start asking me what am I going to do in the season that you are in?

It's when I be went from the place of saying, Why am I here?

Why am I disappointed?

Why am I dealing with brokenness?

And I shifted to, but God, what are you going to do with it?

That I began to hear from heaven.

And when God began to speak to me with the what, he said, This is what I want you to do in the midst of your brokenness.

I want you to declare my goodness everywhere you go, even amongst your broken ankle, when you're going to the doctors, declare how good I am.

Even when you're going to the physical therapist, I want them to know that God is still flowing through you.

So you know what I did?

Everywhere I went, I talked about the goodness of God.

I started going to physical therapy, and I would say, I would look at the references to how they were literally teaching me how to walk again, how to put weight on my foot again.

God said, I need you to tell them that's exactly what I'm doing with them in the midst of their brokenness.

I'm walking alongside of them and I'm going to show them how they can put their weight on me.

I need your life to become a message, Keith.

Are you willing to do that for me?

So everywhere I went, I began to talk about the goodness of God.

It got to a point where they were excited to see the preacher man show up at physical therapy.

People began to rearrange their schedule because they knew that at least once a week there would be somebody in there talking about the goodness of God, even a bunch amongst a bunch of broken people.

It got to a place where three people that were going to physical therapy gave their life to Christ, even in the waiting room while we were talking about Jesus.

And got to a place where five of my physical therapists, three of them came to the church, two of them became a member of the church because I allowed the broken season I was in.

And I said, God, but what do you want to do with it?

And I saw grace flow through it.

I'm not sure who I'm talking to, but maybe you are metaphorically in a season where you've been stuck at why, and God is saying, My grace isn't at why anymore, it's in what?

And if you can move forward to what, you will see what I am going to do amongst your pain, and you will see that I work all things together for the good.

Not all things are good, but my grace is involved in all of it.

But you gotta move from why to what?

Are you willing to move from what I firmly believe that there are there are certain rooms that God is calling us to walk into, and we're waiting for the doors to magically open, but they're only activated when we step on a pressure plate in the Bible.

What are the rooms that we're waiting for to show what we're waiting for to open?

But God's saying, Stephen and watch me open that door for you.

I need you to stop asking me why.

He says, Okay, now that we've got this clear, don't be so critical.

Don't give up, be persistent.

But then he gets to this place where he says, I just want you to do the right thing.

I just want you to do the right thing.

I don't want you to build your life on doing the right thing.

He uses what we in our church world when you look at even the heterogeneous Bible, maybe it says the golden rule.

The golden rule is simply this do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Whatever you want someone to do for you, you do that to others.

It's like the law of sowing and reaping.

I'm going to I'm going to invest this.

I'm going to do this in hopes that someone is going to do it for me as well.

It's a it's a basic principle, but it's literally like the Christian standard.

Just do the golden rule.

Recently I've I've I've made that a little bit more personal for me.

I began to evaluate my family.

I evaluate my life.

And I literally have just said, I have a daughter who's 22 years old.

There's a lot of other people that are young ladies that are looking for father figures.

And so what I've decided to do is I'm going to treat them like daughters because I would want someone to treat my daughter like a daughter and do unto others as you will have them do unto you.

I have a son who's 25 years old, he's married with two precious daughters, my granddaughters.

When he's out and about, I'm hoping that when people see him, they will treat him and recognize that he is somebody's son, that he is somebody who has value, that he has a family at home.

So when I'm out and about and I see young 25-year-old men that are doing the best they can to survive, you know what I do?

I treat them like they're my sons.

I do unto others as I would have them to do unto me.

That's the that's the Christian standard.

You know, we went out to dinner just a couple of nights ago, my family and I, and when we were out, the service wasn't that good.

The food was mediocre, but the service wasn't that good.

There was an older lady who was who was taking care of us.

You could tell she was flustered, she was probably relatively new at the job, just overwhelmed with all the busyness.

And so the food got out cold, the order was wrong, and there was a lot of opportunities for us to be frustrated, and there were moments where I'm like, oh man, like I try my best to be to be positive, but I'm like, man, like this just is not what I was looking forward to.

Well, that fateful moment comes where you then have to now pay the bill.

So I'm looking at the bill, and there's that section that we all are familiar with, the tip.

So typically, my my my my standard is this regardless of any of the other stuff, unless someone is flat out rude to me, I'm always going to give you what the standard tip should be.

And then above beyond that is where I typically am giving people what I feel like they are supposed to get based off of how they treat me.

So I'm looking and I'm expecting to just give the typical tip the typical, I normally do 18% of what I feel like God's asking me to do.

But God said, No, I want you to give double.

I said, I didn't get double.

I didn't get double waters, I didn't get double food.

Like I mean, like I didn't, I didn't I didn't get that, so I don't know why I gotta give that.

And he said, Don't lose sight of the fact that that older woman, that's somebody's mom, that's probably somebody's grandmom.

And she's working here, and and I don't want to judge, but but maybe she's she's working here because she's trying to pay for some medicine for a family member.

Maybe, maybe her retirement didn't work out.

There's a lot of things that could have led her to the point that she's here right now, but it's not for you to process that.

But that's somebody's mother, and that's somebody's grandmother.

How would you want somebody to treat your mom if she was in that exact situation?

It changed, it changed the way that I looked at this woman and judging her based off of the service that she provided for me, and I saw her as a daughter of God, and that's a woman, and I wanted her to be treated the same way I would want someone to treat my mother if she was in the exact same situation.

I'm not talking about us being reckless with tips and giving like that's not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is we want to be in a space where we're sensitive and we're not judging people exclusively off of their behavior, we're sowing what we would like to receive.

God also called me out and said, Hey, I don't want you to judge her business off of her behavior any more than I judge you off of yours.

He said, Keith, don't get it twisted.

You have not earned anything that I've given you.

It's your responsibility to be a conduit of generosity, even in people that you quote unquote don't feel like they deserve it.

As I've been riding through our community and learning to get more acclimated to the area, there's been many instances where I'm out and about and I'll see somebody that may be homeless or someone who may be down on their luck.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that when we respond in kindness to people that are in those conditions, that we're doing it as if it was Him personally.

It's not exclusively just doing unto others what I would have them do unto me, but I'm literally doing unto others as if they were Jesus.

That that changes the way that we enter into this wild standard.

And when I see somebody who's struggling, I don't I don't have to entertain why they are they in that position they're in, how did they get there?

I'm not there to cast judgment about their decision making.

Jesus is simply saying, I need you to be able to respond to it.

So for me, I would often walk by people and see them, and I would say, Man, like I don't have any, I don't have any cash on me, because who who carries cash anymore?

At the conveniences of all the things that's at our fingertips, it's now inconvenient to be generous.

So I would say, like, Lord, if I if I had it on me, I would go and I would give it to them.

And by the time I go to an ATM, all that type of stuff, man, they only distribute 20s, and I'm definitely not doing that.

Like, so like, what do you what do you want me to do, God?

And I felt like God said to me, How long are you gonna use as an excuse?

You know that there are people out there that are in desperate need of my love.

So how about you start planning for them instead of reacting to them when you see them?

So what I do now is every time I get paid, I take a certain amount of money out of my bank, I have it broken down into denominations that I'm comfortable with, and then as God prompts me, I'm able to sew into them and I can no longer use convenience as an excuse on why I can't move and step into someone's life and be a blessing to them.

I believe that God is challenging all of us to sow and to do unto others as you would have them do unto us, but more importantly, the same way we would treat them as if they were Jesus Himself.

If we walk by the homeless guy and we literally thought he was Jesus, will we judge where he was at, or will we find a way to, hey Lord, how can I how can I serve?

That's the wild standard that Jesus is inviting us to step into.

You know, for me, um, getting acclimated to another city within two years, you gotta find your new normal.

I'm pretty sure many of you can identify with that, where you're moving to a new area and you're just trying to find your your normal.

Like, okay, what's the gas station that's gonna be my gas station?

That's the one that's the closest to my home or my rhythm in which I go to work.

What's the what's the restaurant that's right around a corner from my house that on those days when we don't feel like cooking, we can just run to and know we're gonna get a quick and easy good meal.

Just trying to find those new normals or kind of where we are right now as a as a family.

And there's a couple of things that's really important for me that I'm gonna go ahead and invite you into my world.

First thing is this I gotta make sure that I have a great school for my son.

He's he's going into 10th grade, just want to make sure that he has a great school, great community.

So that's that's number one.

But number two, and possibly as equally as important as number one, is where am I gonna get my hair cut?

It takes work to look this good, guys.

It doesn't happen by accident, like it's intentionality with it.

So here's the thing if you know any good barbers, get at me, DM me, send me some pictures, and then maybe we can work it out.

Let them know that I'm a pastor, I'll pray for them, and maybe the blessing of God will add increase to all that they are putting their hand to.

But looking for a barber is a thing for me.

It's it's one of those things that just helps me.

Here's the third thing it's finding where am I going to get my car washed.

Small things, I get it.

I get it.

But for me, it helps me to know there's quick places I can go because I spend so much time in my car because the traffic here is insane that I know that at least the vehicle is clean.

Well, I'm happy to announce that I found the car wash that's right around the corner from my house.

It has filled me with joy.

In fact, it was recommended to me by one of our people that's in our community, and so when I found out how good it was, I'm like, okay, cool, I'm gonna go ahead and sign up for the monthly plan.

I wanna let them know that I'm doubling down, I'm invested, I'm in this thing.

So I show up for the first time yesterday.

It's Saturday, it's sunny outside, it's not projected to rain.

So because of that, everybody else got the same memo, and the line is long.

I show up and immediately the leadership in me is thinking, okay, well, there's there's gotta be a line for the people with FastPass.

I mean, there's gotta be a line for people with the monthly, with the monthly membership.

So I say to I say to the the manager, I say, hey man, um, where's the line for the monthly members?

He's like, oh sir, like there's there's only one way, there's only one line.

I'm like, man, I don't think you heard me.

Um let me lean in.

I don't want to offend anybody, but but where's the line for the people that are monthly?

I'm talking about the people that I'm invested.

I'm here, I'm I'm gonna be here, man.

You're gonna see me once, twice a week, man.

I'm helping to pay your salary.

I'm here.

Like, where's the where's the line for guys like me?

There's gotta be a a quicker way.

No, sir, like there's there's there's only there's only one way.

Okay, like fine.

I don't have time to wait.

So here's my question.

Do you see this dirt on the inside?

Can I just get to the vacuums?

Where's the where's the quickest way for me to get to the vacuum cleaners and I can start cleaning some things out on my own?

He said, Well, sir, the way that our the way that our car wash is set up is that you have to go through this line, and when you're on the other side of that line, that's where the vacuums are.

I'm like, sir, I don't I don't I don't understand what you're telling me right now.

There's got there's gotta be a shortcut.

You're telling me that I have to go this way, and even in order to even have my car vacuumed out, yes, sir, there's there's literally only one way you can go.

Let me let me okay, let me just show you something.

Look inside of my car.

This this is DC dirt, this isn't even Orlando dirt.

Like I literally brought this dirt with me from DC.

Are you telling me there's no way I can deal with the dirt of the past places I've been except going just this way?

I'm sorry, sir.

There's only one way you can go that you can be cleaned and that you can have your insides vacuumed out where it can be as good as new.

He didn't realize it in that moment that he was preaching to me because I was looking for a shortcut to get to the quickest end result.

But what he was showing me is that there is only one way that you can truly be cleaned up.

He was talking about my car, but I began to recognize the goodness of God in that moment, and I realized there is only one way that we can be saved, and that way is Jesus.

There's only one way that we can have our insides cleaned out, and that is Jesus.

There's only one way that my marriage can be made whole, and that's Jesus.

There's only one way that my family can be strengthened, and that's Jesus.

There's only one way that I can get off of the addiction, and that's Jesus.

There's only one way that I can ever see peace on earth, and that is through Jesus.

There's only one way that I can begin to see the miracles that are in heaven begin manifested on earth, and that is in Jesus.

There's only one way, there's a lot of options, and we live our lives like it's multiple choice.

But Jesus says it is fill in the blank, and the answer is Jesus.

He is the only way.

Stop looking for options, stop looking for relief and recognize that Jesus is the only way.

Jesus is the only way.

This series has been showing us that that Jesus is the only way.

He's not He's not asking us for behavioral modifications, but He's asking us if we will go on this journey with Him, we will begin to see the fruit in our lives that not only impact us, but impact everything that's a part of us.

With every head bowed and with every eye closed, I said everybody want to ask you this question.

Maybe you're in here with us today.

And there's some areas of your life that maybe Jesus is not the only way.

Maybe there's some resources that you've been tapping into in an effort to try to accelerate you getting to where you feel like God is calling you to be.

But Jesus is the only way.

I want to pray for you.

If that's you and you're in here today, and you simply want to say this, I need more of Jesus in a specific area of my life, and that's between you and him when what that is.

I want to pray for you.

On the count of three, I want you to boldly lift your hands up by saying, I'm inviting Jesus as the source in this area of my life.

One, two, three, lift your hands up.

Amen.

Hands up everywhere.

God bless you.

I appreciate your boldness.

I appreciate your boldness.

You can go ahead and put those hands down.

Here's my here's my second question as we prepare to go back into worship in just a few moments.

If you're in here today and you know that you're away from God, that even as it relates to your soul, that Jesus is not the source of your life.

Maybe you've had a relationship in the past, but right now you know that you need to commit or recommit your life to Christ.

We want to create the space for you to do that.

If that's you, to say yes to Jesus, to commit or recommit your life to Christ.

On account of three, I want you to boldly lift your hands up and declare that Jesus is Lord.

One, two, three.

You can go ahead and put those hands up with boldness.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

I see those hands to my right, to the back.

Amen.

I see the hand in the back in the middle.

I see those hands all the way in the back.

My God, amen.

Church, we can dig deeper than that and celebrate with those who are saying yes to Jesus, possibly for the very first time.

God bless you.

We celebrate with you.

What I want us to do now is want us all to stand on our feet as we prepare to go back into worship.

You know, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 10 that if we confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts that Jesus is Lord, that that is the thing that brings about salvation.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

It's not the words that do it, but it's our coming into alignment with that and allowing our faith to be the thing that shapes us.

As a community, I'm gonna ask us all to pray this prayer, helping along those that are praying it for the first time.

After that, I'm gonna pray for us.

We're gonna go back into worship.

It's gonna be a real spiritual moment, and then we're gonna go out and go and participate in the rest of our week.

I'm gonna ask us all to do our best to stay in here with us.

We only have another couple of minutes.

Let's just keep this space as sacred.

But help me pray along those who are praying this for the first time.

Repeat after me, Lord Jesus, I give you my life.

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

And it's because of that belief I am saved.

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

Let me pray for the rest of you.

God, I thank you so much for what you've done in this place and what you've spoken over this series.

God, I pray in the name of Jesus that we come to the place where we've resolved that you are the standard and that you are the only way.

I declare by the power of your word and by the power of your blood, God, that we are getting our fresh start right now.

So, Father, I pray that in Jesus' name, that chains be broken.

I pray for addictions to be broken, God, that you give us the boldness and the strength and the endurance to walk this thing out the way that you've told us to, God, that we can put it into practice, that even when the storms come and even after the obstacles arise, that we will not fall because we built our lives on your word.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, we invite you into every era of our lives to do what only you can do in Jesus' name.

Thank you for tuning in to today's podcast.

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