For Heaven’s Sake – Carry His Presence

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Access Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

We are in a series today.

We're in part two of a series called For Heaven's Sake.

Maybe you had a family member that when they would get frustrated, they say, Oh, for heaven's sake, that's not what we're talking about.

We're wrestling with this question for three weeks.

How do we care about what heaven cares about?

Like, how can we care about the stuff that seems to really matter to God?

If you missed last week, here is what we said.

Jesus, over and over and over again, over 130 times in the four gospels, he really revealed what he cares about the most, which is the kingdom of God.

We defined this last week, and here's what we said last week.

There is a kingdom of God, and then there is what we live in called the kingdom of earth.

And our responsibility as followers of Jesus is to bring up there, down here.

I love how God works.

Our speaker from Man Knight, he literally referenced this.

He didn't know that we had talked about this Sunday.

He said we need to reach up into heaven and pull heaven down to earth.

Today I want to talk about how we can do that even more as we continue the series for heaven's sake.

How can we do that?

In the early 1990s, ATT had a series of commercials that they were really interesting.

And if you were old enough to remember these, I actually remember these commercials.

They would say, someday in the future, and then they would show pictures or video of what the future would look like.

Now, this is the early 1990s, and they said things like, Someday when you travel, you'll be able to put your baby to bed no matter where in the world you are.

And they showed a person sitting on the on the other side of a screen talking to their baby saying goodnight.

They said, someday your car will be able to give you the directions that you need, and they showed a very primitive version of a GPS.

This is a funny one to me.

They said, someday you'll be able to send a fax.

And a person had like a pad and they were writing on it and they pushed a button on it, you'll be able to send a fax from the beach.

Anybody send a fax from the beach lately?

Anybody?

And then they said this, they said, you will.

And I remember watching these commercials in the early 1990s and thinking, like, that doesn't make any sense at all.

How how was that even really a thing?

And now what's funny is all the stuff they predicted is stuff that we do easy and we take it for granted.

I was thinking about this recently.

My grandfather was born at a really interesting time.

He was born in 1925.

He was born before homes had air conditioning.

Come on, anybody thankful you weren't born in 1925 on that one?

Born before homes had air conditioning, born before televisions were common in homes.

He was born before hot water heaters were normal.

A lot of conveniences we take for granted he had.

But what was interesting is he lived through a technological revolution in his lifetime.

Think about all the things that change.

And something that was funny to me is as he was nearing the end of his life, when he would see some sort of new technology, a new computer, the first time he was ever able to FaceTime.

I remember FaceTiming my grandparents, and instead of holding the phone or the iPad out here, they held it down here, so you saw their nostrils.

Anybody else have this person in your life?

Okay.

Anytime this would happen, the first time he would see the new technology that we now take for granted, he would literally go, and he would shake his head and he would say these three words.

He would say, That's not possible.

It's not possible.

And it's funny because he's saying it's not possible, but he's holding in his hand the actual evidence that it is possible.

I don't know if you've ever had a moment in your life when you felt like something wasn't possible, but but it almost felt like God came alongside you, gave you the strength, the ability, the moment, the words.

He gave you what you needed in the moment to do the thing that seemed impossible.

Today, I want to talk to you about how we grab heaven and bring it down to earth a little bit.

And I just want to say this it's not possible in your own strength.

But I've got good news.

You don't have to do it in your own strength.

Today I want to talk to you about something I don't think I've ever preached about.

In 18 years of preaching, I don't think I've ever preached this.

I've taught this to our church staff.

I've never taught this to our church.

Today I want to talk to you about something a little old school, something I would have heard growing up, called the anointing.

But what is the anointing?

It is the supernatural imprint of God on your life to do what you can't do in your own strength, your own intellect, and your own ability.

That the anointing is the difference between what you can do and all that God can do.

The anointing is a gift of God for you that you can walk in.

And here's the thing: a lot of Christians think the anointing is something that is reserved for pastors.

Oh, Pastor, that was an anointed sermon today.

Oh, Pastor, I could feel the anointing of God in that place.

And I just want to show you from scripture today that the anointing or the supernatural power of God is available to you in every stage, every season, and every moment of your life.

You can be a dad with the anointing of God, you can be a mom with the anointing of God, you can be a son or a daughter in the anointing of God, you can be a worker in the anointing of God, you can be an employee or a boss in the anointing of God, you can be a good neighbor in the anointing of God.

It is available to us to do the things God's called us to do.

Let me show it to you like this.

In the book of 2 John, John, who wrote like the book of you know, John, says it like this.

1 John, I'm sorry, 1 John 2.20.

He says, But you have an anointing, you have that strength from God from the Holy One, and who all of you know the truth.

Several verses down, he says this.

He says, As for you, the anointing you receive from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you.

Why?

Because it's God's strength, not yours.

But I want you to see this.

But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit, and I'm gonna explain this in a moment.

Just as it has taught you, here's your responsibility.

Remain in him.

And a lot of people, if we could just be honest, we have seen or experienced what I what I might call the counterfeit anointing.

This is people that like try to trick you or manipulate you.

And today I want to teach you about the anointing of God because I want you to walk into this, our church is one way, but I want you to walk out a different way.

Maybe you walked in today in your own strength, your own intellect, and your own ability, but I want you to walk out today with your shoulders back a little bit, walking out in the anointing of God, the real, genuine anointing of God.

Now, here's one of the things I want you to understand about it.

When it comes to the anointing of God, we all can carry and cultivate the anointing.

It's all something that can be on us all, but we can also grow in it.

So here's the question I want you to wrestle with today.

How much of the presence of God do I carry in my life?

How much of the presence of God is with me every single day?

Before I walk into that meeting, before I have that difficult conversation, how much of the presence of God is physically, tangibly with me?

And here's a way you can know.

Do you lean on your ability or his?

And this is challenging and this is tough, but do you lean on your own strength or his?

And let me make it personal for me for just a moment.

There are a lot of times in my job where I have conversations that I don't know the answers to.

I have people come sit across the table from me and they'll pour their heart out about something that happened in their life.

And I'll get real with you for a moment and say, I'm not that smart.

I don't know the answer to their problems.

There are things that people have brought me that I've literally sat across the table and I've choked back tears, and I've literally whispered to God, God, you got to take this one because your boy don't know nothing.

I got nothing.

To do this and to help you, to give you some practical handles on this, I want to take you to a really interesting passage in Scripture.

It's Exodus chapter 28.

Exodus 28 · chapter mention

If you brought your Bible or your phone, you can turn there.

If not, we'll have it on the screens for you.

Exodus 28, here's what's happening.

God has led the people of Israel that were in slavery for hundreds of years in Egypt out of slavery.

He's taking them towards this land that is the promised land.

He's given them the Ten Commandments, and He's soon going to give them the instructions for how to build the tabernacle and the temple.

But God's giving instructions to a guy through Moses to a guy named Aaron, who is the priest.

He is the leader.

And I need you to remember this.

In the book of 1 Peter, chapter 2, it says that we are all priests.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.

So this applies to all of us here and now today.

And what the instructions are is how Aaron, the high priest, is to dress himself.

It was a sacred and holy act.

And what I want to do is I want to take you through all the ways that he clothed and dressed himself.

And I want to just I want to highlight four of them because these four things, if we'll get them, can be stuff that we do for ourselves every single day so that we can walk in God's strength and God's ability or the anointing in our lives.

Now, there are no pictures from the book of Exodus chapter 28.

Exodus 28 · chapter mention

Cameras didn't exist yet.

But this week I went to some AI software and I said, show me a picture of what Aaron would have looked like in Exodus chapter 28, because as I talk about these things, I want you to see them.

Exodus 28 · chapter mention

So here is AI's interpretation of what our boy Aaron would have looked like.

Beautiful, just beautiful.

AI is a lot of fun.

I'm gonna be honest, it scares me a little bit, but I do want to show you something fun.

I also uploaded a picture of me and Liz, and I said, turn us into Muppets, and this is what it looked like too.

Alright, let's go back to Santa.

I mean Aaron.

Okay, so here is here is uh the priest Aaron, and I want you to pay attention to everything that he's got on, because I'm gonna show you this turban.

I want to show you this breast piece is what it's called.

I'm gonna show you this tunic or this cloak that he's wearing, and I'm even gonna show you this linen undergarment.

Today's gonna be kind of weird.

We're gonna talk about gold, we're gonna talk about underwear, everybody, and we're gonna talk about all kinds of bells.

It'll be fun, all right?

Here we go.

Exodus chapter 28, verse 2 says this.

Exodus 28:2

God says to Moses, next verse for me, please.

He says, Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him two things dignity and honor.

Dignity and honor, I want you to see this, are things that according to God, you can put on.

Dignity and honor are things that you can put on.

You don't you don't have to do this in your own strength.

You can literally make the decision every day to say, God, with your help, I'm clothing myself in the stuff that matters to you.

Let me give you a quick story.

Talk about the anointing and the blessing of God.

If you follow me on Instagram or or Facebook or any sort of social media, a couple weeks ago I posted a video that was really special to me.

If you don't know the story of how God brought our church and Bartow First Assembly of God together, it's a really cool story.

And it's it's a miracle story.

And I've been careful the whole time I've talked about it never to use the words mergers or acquisitions or corporate language.

I've always used the word miracle because it was a miracle.

Bartow First Assembly of God is and was an incredible church for literally 90 years.

And there were these faithful people who had stuck by it through a bunch of good seasons and bad seasons, and they had reached a point financially where it was just gonna go under financially.

And I reached out to the pastor just to encourage him.

That led to a lunch, and at lunch he said, Here's the deal, we're literally going to have to close the doors.

And in that moment, I literally whispered this prayer to God, God, would you help me?

I had no plan.

I didn't go to this lunch thinking this is it, we're gonna take over, we're gonna change.

I didn't do any of that stuff.

I literally said, God, would you help me?

And out of my mouth came words that I'll be honest and tell you, I don't know that I'm smart enough to say in my own intellect.

And I just said, Would you ever consider instead of closing it down, just doing it together?

And he said, What do you mean?

And I said, instead of like writing the last chapter and closing the book of Bartow First Assembly of God, what if we just turned the page and wrote a new chapter together?

And that set off a whole series of miracles of our churches merging, of their church unanimously voting.

Getting a room full of Christians to unanimously vote.

I can't get my family of five to unanimously decide on dinner, everybody.

And and Bartow people, we honor you so much.

You are the best of the best.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Best of the best, thank you.

But it happens when you make this decision.

I'm going to step in with dignity and honor, and I'm gonna trust that God's gonna give me the words to say.

So here's what I want to do.

I want to I want to show you four of the things that Aaron were to put on, and I'm gonna do them a little out of order, but I'm gonna kind of help him and help you dress from head to toe.

Okay?

Let's start with this.

Exodus chapter 28, again, verse 36.

Exodus 28 · chapter mention

God said, Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as as on a seal all caps holy to the Lord.

So, like on the turban, take some some gold and put it and engrave in it holy to the Lord.

Then he goes on to say, fasten.

Next slide for me, please.

Fasten a blue cord to it and attach it to the turban.

It is to be on the front of the turban.

So here's what God says.

When you dress yourself and you put stuff on your head, I want you to pull this turban over your head, and then I want you to take over it a plate of gold and inscribe in it, holy to the Lord.

If we're gonna be people who carry the anointing of God, we're gonna have to, number one, put on what I'm calling the crown of holiness over my mind, over my mind.

So here's what I want you to do.

Now, this is um aluminum foil, this is kind of some Polk County realness right here.

He says, I want you to, oh man, here's what I want you to do.

Take it and write holy to the Lord and put it over your forehead.

In fact, put this on the screen for me.

Holy to the Lord, and I want you to wear this over your head.

Why?

Because think of all that happens right here.

This holy to the Lord is to be over your eyes to protect what you see, over your ears to protect what you hear, over your mouth to protect what you say, because all of these things are inroads that have a way of corrupting your mind.

Okay.

If we're gonna be people who carry the presence of God in every situation, circumstance, and season of our life, we are going to be people who live with integrity.

What is integrity?

It's what you do when no one's watching, it's what you think you can get away with and no one will even know.

It's what you feed on, it's what you listen to, it's what you watch, it's the movies you will allow yourself to watch.

And this is kind of old school because this is talking about holiness, but if you're gonna be a carrier of the presence of God, a carrier of the anointing, God's presence won't dwell in a place that is unholy.

Consecrate yourselves.

In one of the letters uh that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he said there's there's three types of people in the world.

In fact, here's what they are there's what we call the natural man, that's the person who lives their life entirely without God.

Then there's the spiritual man, this is the person who lives constantly thinking about God, but there is this third one.

It's what we call the carnal man.

The word carnal, the root of carnal is the word carne, which means like with meat, you know, like chile con carne is chili with meat.

And this is a person who's kind of the mixture between the two, and this is dangerous.

This is the person who like acts spiritual, but they don't live with integrity.

This is the person who comes to church and lifts their hands and then goes home and watches like the most disgusting, filthy movie and lies to themselves and says, it's not really affecting me.

This is the person who acts holy, they put on a show for people, but what they feed on, listen to doesn't reflect the things of God.

There was a point several years ago with our church staff where we had one of our all-staff meetings, and I said, guys, I'm gonna get real with you for just a moment.

You need to cut it out.

And I asked this question, I said, if our whole church modeled your relationship with God, if our whole church had exactly what you have when it comes to your relationship with God, would we get better as a church or would we get worse as a church?

And I said, let me tell you the reason I'm asking you this.

Because I overhear conversations where you're talking about TV shows that I would never, ever, ever stand up on a Sunday and say, I watch that.

They're filthy, they're disgusting, they're sexual and nasty and you name it.

And if we're gonna change the world, if we're gonna grab heaven and bring it down here, here let me tell it to you from the first step.

It means that my thoughts have to be holy on God.

Here's another way to say it to make a difference, we have to be different.

You want to be different in the world?

Like reject what the world has to offer.

You want to make a difference in the world?

You want to turn some heads and get some attention in your life.

Don't live your life the way the world lives their life.

Live your life full of integrity, paying attention to what matters to God.

Holy to the Lord over your mind.

Are you with me on this?

Then he goes on.

Let's go to the second piece of clothing he would wear.

Verse 29 and 30.

It says, Whenever Aaron enters the holy place, this is the place reserved for the priest where the presence of God was so strong that a person with sin in their heart would fall over dead.

He says, He will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breast piece of decision as continuing as a continuing memorial before the Lord.

He's saying that you're gonna put on this thing.

It's kind of like this square piece, could have been made out of wood or some different type of metal, and you're gonna literally lay it over your chest, and it's to bear the name.

So here's what I would write in your notes.

You are to put on what I would call the breast piece of relationships over my heart.

Here's the truth.

All of us have names written on our heart.

We do.

And hopefully your names are beautiful and good.

I hope for your sake that you had a mom and dad who loved you and who showed it to you and their names are written on your heart.

I hope you had teachers who believed in you whose names are on your heart.

I hope you had relationships, friends, mentors, grandparents whose names are written on your heart.

But the real truth is that many of us have names written over our heart that have wounded us and who have hurt us.

And here's the thought for you I want you to see this.

You are where you are, and I could add, you are who you are because of the people in your life.

And all the good that comes from this is true.

And I hope my name and my wife's name and our church's name, I hope it's written over your heart, and I hope it's been a wonderful, positive, growing name for you.

And all the good that comes from that, but there's also people in our life who have wounded us, hurt us.

And we carry their names over our heart as well.

Some of you, the breast piece of relationship over your heart is missing a name.

It's missing dad.

It's missing a friend.

Someone who left you, hurt you, betrayed you, and devastated you.

I don't want you to hear this.

We must have a pure heart to carry the anointing of God.

Let me say it to you like this.

Few things affect the anointing in my life more than my feelings about other people.

And the thing is, a lot of us, we live out of our wounds.

We live out of the pain in our life.

And so every relationship we have, before we even say a first word to someone, it goes through the filter of the breast piece of relationship over our heart.

So here's the question if you're gonna be a carrier of the presence of God and the anointing of God, who do you need to forgive?

Who in your life have you carried the pain and it's devastating and having detrimental effects on all of your relationships?

Who do you need to forgive?

So I have a crown of holiness over my mind, a breast piece of relationship over my heart.

And then it's gonna get a little weird, everybody.

Let's talk about underwear for a second.

Welcome to Access Church.

All right, here's what it says Weave the tunic of fine linen and make the turban of fine linen.

Now, this doesn't implicitly imply underwear.

The book of Ezekiel talks about the priest and what he would wear actually as well, and it talks about this with better, more graphic terms, calling it underwear.

But I want you to notice something.

It says, make the tunic of fine linen.

Now, why does this matter?

It's because linen is made with a much looser, wider weave, which means it I want you to see this word, it breathes.

It breathes.

The part of your life that no one sees, is it exhausted?

Is it depleted?

Or is there room for you to breathe?

One of the things you have to put on if you're gonna carry the presence of God in your life is the undergarment of rest over my life.

I preached on rest a few weeks ago, and I'm the first one to admit to you I messed this up.

Here's the truth.

Uh, a lot of Sundays when I come to preach, I've got a lot of thoughts and ideas in my mind, but I have no notes in front of me.

And so sometimes I say things or I miss things.

I miss the story in that message that is completely true, but I messed this up.

I admit that very freely.

Many, many years ago, when I was starting my company and it was kind of catching traction, blowing up, I was working around the clock.

Like as an employer of now our church and another company, I have to tell people all the time, Oh, I'm just so busy, so busy, but every time you pass.

By they're like on social media, you know what I mean?

Like, I was literally clocking 100 plus hour work weeks of like actual work.

I was working around the clock, killing myself.

And I started noticing that when I would lay down, my heart would start racing.

And for no reason, I'd be talking and I'd go.

And I was just, I was fine, and I was talking, and just this that kind of cough would just come out of me.

So I went to the doctor and told the doctor about it, and she referred me to a cardiologist.

And the cardiologist said that I needed to take a nuclear stress test.

And I was like, let's go.

Come on, hook me up.

I didn't know what that was, and so I had to drink this drink, and then I had to exercise, and nobody told me that, everybody.

And this is before, like, this is a long time ago.

I wasn't like exercising and not into CrossFit.

So I get on this on this treadmill and they crank it up, and I am like so out of breath.

I'm like, if my heart wasn't broken before, it's messed up now.

Come on, turn this thing down.

And so there's this young doctor, and as I'm exercising and dying on this machine, it's spitting out this paper, and he's reading it, reading it, and he goes, Hey, when did you have a heart attack?

And I was like, What?

He goes, when did you have a heart attack?

It's like I didn't I didn't know.

He goes, it looks like you did.

I said, I mean, I'm strong, I might have powered through one, but I don't know what you're talking about.

Long story short, there was an arrhythmia in my heart that really is usually only caused by having a heart attack.

I then went and met with my cardiologist, who's an older man who's seen lots of people, and he goes, Maybe a few doctors would say this is a heart attack.

I actually think that this is just the result of unrested stress in your life.

How are you resting?

We're gonna carry the anointing in the presence of God in our life.

I want you to see this.

I must have a schedule that produces rest in my soul.

This is one of the reasons I love God so much because he literally built it into his ways.

A lot of people are like, I don't want to follow a God who has so many rules.

Here's one of God's rules.

Every seven days, I want you to take a day off that I'm gonna call a Sabbath.

What is a Sabbath?

It is a day holy and set apart for the Lord.

It's one day, 24 hours, where you don't work and you realize that God is always at work.

It's one day when you realize that your work matters, but it's not all that matters.

I think so many people fly through this life just exhausted and burned out because they never take God at his word and truly rest and have a Sabbath.

When do you?

I said this earlier.

That undergarment, that underwear is the part of you that no one sees.

Or come on, somebody, hopefully nobody sees.

2025 is weird.

Sometimes we see people's underwear, but we shouldn't see it.

It's the part we shouldn't see, okay?

But as the part that no one can see does it rest?

For me, I work Sunday through Thursday, and Friday is my Sabbath.

Friday's the day that no one else sees.

But my wife and I, we go on a date every Friday.

And we rest on Friday.

Why?

Because if God instructed it, I trust that he knows better than me.

The final one.

He says this.

Exodus chapter 28, verse 31.

Exodus 28:31

Make the robe of the ephod, which was kind of this like sleeveless, loose, kind of like think about like a Santa Claus type robe.

Make the robe of the ephod entirely out of blue cloth.

So imagine Santa Claus, but instead of being red, it's got a blue.

And he says, make the pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe with gold bells between them.

So literally, like along the hem of it, alternate between gold bells and pomegranates.

Uh, this isn't in the Bible, but an extra biblical writer named Josephus said that it was to have 72 gold bells around it.

So everywhere you go, you're jingling all the way, everybody.

He goes on.

Next slide.

He says the gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe.

Aaron must wear it when he ministers, and the sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out.

Literally, everywhere he's going, he's probably not going to be able to help himself, but he's going to smile and have joy because he's jingling all the way.

What is God instructing Aaron to do that we are to do as well?

We are to wear the garment of praise in my spirit.

We are to be people who are characterized by joy and the presence of God.

In the book of Isaiah, I love this verse so much.

I teach this to our staff and to church leaders all the time when it comes to worship.

Look at this prophecy in the book of Isaiah, chapter 61.

Isaiah 61 · chapter mention

It says, The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has what?

Say this word, anointed.

He's anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and to release them from the darkness of the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and to provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them, and I want you to see this, a crown of beauty instead of ashes.

This is the reason we want to help every person discover their unique design, the purpose that God has for them.

And then he goes on to say, next slide for me.

And the oil of joy instead of mourning, and I want you to see this.

And he says, a garment, something you put on of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Other translations say, put on a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness.

Then it goes on to say, They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Pause here for just a moment.

I want you to see this.

God instructs us when you feel heavy, what do you do?

You put on a garment of praise and thanksgiving and gratitude.

Like this is the reason we start with upbeat, celebratory, happy music.

This is the reason we get you clapping at the start of the service.

Why?

Because we know people walk in with heaviness, facing despair.

And it is only the joy of the Lord that can lift all of this for us.

So what if you walked into work tomorrow, and when everyone's like, Well, I got a case of the Mondays?

You're like, Monday?

I got the joy of the Lord inside of me.

What if you don't like I'm not saying do this, don't sew bells onto your clothes for tomorrow.

But what if your heart jingled all the way into work?

It would change things, it lights up the room.

So let me say this to you the key to joy is living a life characterized by gratitude.

Let me end with this verse.

In the book of Psalm, chapter 100, David says, Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

Psalms 100 · chapter mention

The Hebrew word for this word praise is the word tehila, which means to sing with joy in your heart.

So here's how we're gonna end today.

I'm gonna challenge you as you leave to make this decision that every day I'm gonna put on the crown of holiness over my mind.

The breast piece of relationship, I'm gonna care for the names that are on my heart.

If I need to forgive, I'm gonna forgive, I'm gonna let go of some yesterdays so I can take hold of all of God's promises for my tomorrow.

The undergarment, what really the part of me that nobody can see needs to breathe.

I'm gonna learn to rest in God's presence.

And I'm gonna be a person characterized by praise.

So here's how we're gonna end today.

Last week I loved that for the first time ever, our church in three locations linked up, and we're gonna worship together.

Today, it's not enough to talk about it.

Today we're gonna do it and we're gonna celebrate it.

And I want you to listen to me.

If you're a person who likes to sneak out when I pray, two things.

Number one, cut it out.

Number two, you might miss a moment or distract someone else from a moment.

So here's how we're gonna end today.

I want to invite you everywhere we are.

Would you stand up with me?

And I'm gonna pray for you.

And as we do this, I want you to figuratively put on these pieces in your heart.

And let's do this together.

So, God, in this place, may we be carriers of your anointing and carriers of your presence.

God, we put on the crown of holiness over our minds.

May we think on the things above.

God, we put on the breast piece of relationship.

God, I pray that we will have the courage to forgive those who have hurt us, that we will forgive relationships that maybe have devastated us and we'll stop living from our wounds and we'll start living from healing.

God, we choose to undergard ourselves with rest.

May we have the courage to trust that you and you alone will take care of us.

And God, finally, finally, finally, may we put on a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness.

God, may joy be our characteristic and may we be known for the way we celebrate and we thank you for that, God.

With your head still bowed and eyes still closed, if you're with us today and you're not right with God, but you want to make your relationship with Him right or to start a relationship with God, you don't even have to raise your hand.

If you know this is for you, would you pray this with me?

Say, Jesus, today I give you my life.

Would you be my Lord and my Savior?

Would you change me, make me new?

Jesus, from this day forward, I choose to follow you.

I give you my life for the rest of my life, and it's in your name I pray, Jesus.

Amen.

I want you to look up at me.

We ended with this thought a moment ago that when we have a spirit of heaviness, what is the response?

Jingle all the way, show the joy, or watch this, or we throw up our hands.

Can we do this for just a moment at everywhere, all of our locations?

Can we throw up our hands?

So, God, in this place, we lift our hands towards heaven and we worship you and we pray in Jesus' name.