It's Heavier Than It Looks - Pastor Keion Henderson

Welcome to the house. We're so glad you joined us today. Choosing to tune in to this sermon was not by accident. And I believe God has a word just for you.

That's right. God is always using the people of this house to speak his word. So whether you're watching from across the street or maybe you are across the world, you are not just a viewer. You are our family, and we believe that worship doesn't have walls and experiencing the goodness of God's spirit doesn't always require a commute.

So, are you ready to join us as we fellowship and unite in spirit and in truth? I want your hearts to be open because we are going to encounter God together. Amen. We see you. We love you. And we believe this word is going to change your life.

I, I, I've been changing my sermon so many times, y'all. Oh my god. I have I wrote it and threw it away. Preached it and didn't like it. Said it in the mirror. It didn't work. And the one that I'm getting ready to preach today is the one I gave up on. So I know the Lord must want me to preach this word today. I have three passages of scripture. They are not long, so don't allow that to deter you. I want to go to First Kings 19, 2 Kings 2, and John 14, because I, I think that it's my assignment today to reveal to you what actually happened when Bishop turned the church over to Pastor Ter and Pastor Sarah. And sometimes you can watch a movie and not recognize the parts you missed. So touch it and say, "Let's watch it again."

First Kings 19, verse 19-21. If you got it, say, "I got it." If you're still looking, say, "Hold up." First Kings 19 and 19. The part that I want to bring out of that, this is talking about the transfer between Elijah and Elisha. Uh, the middle part of the verse says that as Elijah was looking for who he would place the mantle on, the Bible said that he found a man. Listen, that was near the 12 yoke of oxen. That's, that's, that's so important. And Elijah passed by him and threw his robe over him. Let's go to verse 20. The Bible says, "He left the ox and ran after Elijah and said, 'Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye. Then I will follow you.'" Elijah said to him, "Go back, indeed. What have I done to you?" Let's go to verse 21. Elijah went back and took his pair of oxen and slaughtered them. And he cooked the meat over fire that he made by burning, this is important, by burning the harnesses and the yoke. And he gave the people meat and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and became his assistant. Look at how he fed his past so he couldn't go back to it. Had he left it unburned, had he left it uncooked, he probably could have got disassociated or discouraged and had something to go back to. He, he, he made sure it was digested so it can be revisited.

Let's go to Second Kings chapter 2. Then they had crossed over. Elijah said to Elisha, "What can I do for you before I am taken away from you?" Elijah answered, "I just want your energy. I want your spirit. I don't want what you drove. I want what drove you." Let's, let's, let's keep going. And I'm not going to read all of this. Um, Elijah replied, "That's a difficult request. If you may, if you see me taken from you, may it be so. But if you don't, it will not happen." As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses appeared. And you know the rest of the story. That was a, a whirlwind. You know the rest of the story. So, so now Elijah is taken from Elisha.

Right now, I'm not going to uh harp on John 14, but I want you to see in John 14 that we're actually looking at a shadow and a type because at Calvary, we also so saw a transfer. We also saw a mantle exchange. I tell you the solemn truth. The person who believes in me will perform miraculous deeds that I am doing and will perform greater deeds than those or these because I am going to the Father. You see how Jesus is going back to the Father. You see how Elijah is going back to the Father. We, we're seeing something happening here. A lot of people, especially uh, us as uh, young people, I guess, if you would, or those of us who are aging out of youth and into, um, uh, middle age. I, I think that we look at what the folks before us have built and I think that we're looking for them to give it to us. But if you read Second Kings, you will discover that Elijah actually threw the mantle on the ground, and Elisha had to pick it up. And Elisha did not know all that the mantle had cost Elijah. So you got to be careful when you look at what somebody has and think you can handle it. You can drive past a big house and say, "I want that house." But when you figure out how much it costs to cut the grass and pay the water bill and get the roof replaced and get it painted, you, you might want to stay in your apartment. Touch your neighbor. Say, "You might want to stay there a while." Everybody wants a business until you find out what it takes to get the oil change. That's a whole another car note. I say this for people who are aspiring, cuz as pastor, you, you make it look so easy and, and there are a lot of young people in here looking at you. You got all the businesses and you got the family and all of that stuff, and, and they, they want what you want, and there's nothing wrong with that. But my word for you is, it's heavier than it looks. Just touch three people and tell them, "It's heavier than it looks." You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.

Any 80 babies in here? I was born in the 80s. Oh, we about to have some fun. Because when I grew up, my most fondest memories were curated and created around Saturdays. And the reason is, is because there was a rule in our home. You could not walk out of the house until you cleaned it. Oh, y'all mama knew my mama. It was in these days cleaning up that two-bedroom apartment that I fell in love with the Temptations. Oh, we played old school music. I was listening to Sam Cook sing "Little Red Rooster" when I was five. I, I knew words to songs by the Dells and the Originals. I ain't going to sing it because we online. We used to listen to music. Al Green and Marvin Gaye and Luther Vandros, and you know when Luther? How many of y'all know exactly what I'm talking about? It wasn't until I grew up that he, I found out that he actually walked past the mic. I thought he was holding it the whole time. Not only did we do that, we watched cartoons, and, um, Tom and Jerry was on my list. I'm about to find out if y'all are anointed or not. The best cartoon that has ever been made was the Thundercats. Now, if you don't say amen, we going to have another altar call. Thundercats. Thundercats. Woo! I love y'all. For the purposes of this discussion, the cartoon that I want to illustrate my point was a cartoon called the Jetsons. The Jetsons had FaceTime before we had FaceTime. The Jetsons had robots cleaning their house before we had robots cleaning our houses. Their past is still yet not our future because their cars were flying. It's coming. That, that, that cartoon at the time seemed like insurmountable science fiction. And now everything that they showed us is now a part of our reality. I, I want to, I want to bring that up because do you recognize that now in 2026, you carry a phone in your pocket or in your purse that is more powerful than the first computer that sent men to the moon? Siri's talking. Alexa's answering. Claude is creating. All these advancements are a long way from rotary phones. I remember in my grandfather's house, we had a yellow rotary phone in his kitchen on the wall. It took seven years to dial a number. This. And the cord was so long that one time I forgot I was on the phone and made it to school and didn't even know. Walked in, the principal said, "You brought the cord." I just We've come a long way. We've come a long way from rotary phones. We've come a long way from beepers. Come a long way from having to type certain words and turn it upside down, so you'll know exactly what you're talking about. Um, I saw online the other day a robot kicked a kid in the stomach. Did you all see that? A robot was dancing. It kicked a kid in the stomach. And instead of being amazed like I should have been, the first thing I asked myself is, "Is this AI?" Because advancements have become so prolific that we're no longer amazed. Do you really realize where we live? To me, though, with all of the grandeur and the pageantry amidst the developments of our society, I think that we have missed the mark because we are celebrating the developments more than we celebrate the developer. Are you listening to me? I believe that you cannot truly admire construction without seeking the engineer. You cannot really appreciate art without trying to find out and appreciate the artist. That things come second to the creator. Help me, Holy Spirit. Um, I, I think that that things, everybody say, "Things." I think that the things that change our lives are overshadowed by the people God used to create the things that changed our lives. And that is not just true in technology. I believe it is also true spiritually because every great move of God cost somebody something. Did you hear what I said? Every great move of God. Cost somebody something. Abraham had to leave his family. Joseph had to survive exile. Peter lost his boat. Because every time that God needs you, it's going to cost you something. And listen to me, God has never asked a person to change the world without first asking them to change their plans. Did y'all hear what I just said? God has never asked anyone to change the world without first asking them to change their plans. And I want to tell you today what I did not come to do. I did not come today and stand in this generation shaping house just to tell a great man happy birthday. You already know he's great. The nations know it, and heaven has recorded it. Are you listening to me? You've read the 40 plus books. You've seen the movies. You've been to the conferences. But if all we do is see the article and overlook the author, I wish I had some help in here today. Then what we will do is we will we will admire the manifestation and forget the mind. I'm talking to young people in here today because what you need to understand is that glory has a weight to it. I'm, I'm going to help you. Please, please stay with me. Yeah. Because the conference is heavier for the host than it is the attender. Yeah. People come to your house and they eat your food and they're done in 20 minutes, but they don't know that you have to go to the grocery store and you have to pick the right food and, and, and you made sure that you didn't pick meat that looked like it was old, and you, you made sure that you checked the date on the milk. See, people come and they enjoy in an instant what it took you an eternity to build. The book you read in two weeks took the author two years to write. And so I am afraid that, uh, in this, this zap it, uh, uh, this, this quick, uh, to it generation where everything happens for us so fast, where you can type in a prompt and get an entire prolific essay in, in chat or Claude. I'm afraid that we are excited about outcomes but forget about process. Are y'all going to talk to me here today? Just touch somebody, say, "It's going to make sense in a minute." I, I'm just trying to show you that it's heavier than it looks. You don't build a house like this in chat. You don't build a ministry like this with AI. It takes blood. It takes tears. It takes crying. It takes wanting to give up. It, it takes being misunderstood. It takes being rejected. And by the time we find ourselves in the business of Elisha in First Kings chapter 19, I want to tell you something that you need to understand about all great people. There is a time where they still have strength to do it, but they're exhausted. I'm talking to parents in here. You, you, you, you still got strength to be a mama, but you're tired. You, you still got strength to be an entrepreneur, but you're tired. You still, you still have the strength to, those watching online, you still have the strength to pastor, but you're exhausted. We meet Elijah and he is exhausted. He has called down fire from heaven. He has defeated the prophets of Baal. He has survived the attacks of Jezebel. He has run away from it all. And now we find him sitting under a juniper tree asking God to take his life. IT'S HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS. Preached on Sunday, wanted to die on Monday. And I, I just want to find out, is there any honest people in here today? I know you dressed up, you got your lashes on, you got your makeup on, your hair is pride, dyed, and laid to the side. You drove up here in a nice car, but is there anybody in here that would just admit it to your neighbor just for their sake? Just tell them, "I'm tired. Sometimes I feel like giving up. Sometimes I just want to drive past home. Sometimes I just want to go somewhere and be at rest. Sometimes I want to say, 'You can have it all.' Sometimes I just want to say, 'You know what? It was a nice try. I gave it all I could, but I want to be left.'" Is there anybody? I don't want to talk to the holy. I want to talk to the exhausted. I don't want to talk to y'all who came to church who want to pretend like it's all. I want to talk to somebody who says, "If another thing happens to me, I don't know what I'm going to do." To who and what? Just, just look at your neighbor. Tell them, "Neighbor, I look fly now. I look good." Touch my swag. But it's heavier. Tell them it's hard work being this good. It's hard work. It's hard work. I got these kids. I got this husband. I got this wife. I got this job. I got this vision. I got this trauma. I got I'm trying to figure out how to. It ain't easy, y'all. It ain't easy. This is an anointed man of God, and we find him under a tree saying, "God, I help them with their life. But I want you to take mine." I want to talk to real people today.

To which God responds in a way that is counterintuitive to how we see him. Elijah did all of that complaining, and God, with his compassionate, holy, loving, meek, lavish self, looks at the prophet and says, "You finished? Get up. I want to talk to somebody who's been throwing yourself a pity party and having a sympathy session. I came to look you in your face today and tell you to get up." Slap your neighbor and say, "Get up." Or you got the wrong neighbor. Find somebody else and tell them, "Get up." See, look at how hard your head you are. You're still sitting down. I said, "Get up." That's your problem. You listen to how you feel and you don't listen to the declaration of the Lord. Get up out of your sleep. Get up out of your depression. Get up out of your frustration. Get up out of yourself. You have more work to do. Am I talking to anybody in the Potter's House today? Somebody shout, "Get up!" Your mama didn't work two jobs for you to stay under that tree. You did not go back to school as an adult to stay under that tree. You did not take out another loan to increase your aptitude to stay under that tree. It is time for somebody to get up. You better come on. Y'all heard what it said. You better come on. You got more. You got more to do. He's tired. Y'all writing? You better write down what I'm about to say. He's tired and God says, "Get up." Because sometimes God's answer to your discouragement is another assignment. I wish I had somebody. Sometimes God's answer to your frustration is something else to frustrate you. God, I'm tired. God says, "I know. Now get up and go do something else." Touch three people. Tell them, "Get up and do something else." I know you've been divorced, but you got to go on another date. You cannot. I, I, I know Earl broke your heart, but you got to give Jimmy a chance. Talk to me, somebody. I, I, I know. I know. I know it broke you, but you got God said, "Get up." And you ain't the only one. God told Noah to get up. God told Moses to get up. You remember when Moses died? Joshua called himself being depressed. God says, "Joshua, Moses, my servant, is dead. Get up." Right after the funeral, go and start the movement. God told him to get up. God told Joshua to get up. He told Ezekiel to get up. And I'm telling you, somebody shouted in the balcony, "Get up." Somebody shouted on the front row, "Get up." Somebody shouted on the back row, "Get up." You're too smart to lay down. You're too, you're too wonderfully made to lay down. You, you're too blessed to roll over. You got to get up. And I'm only talking to a few of y'all because there are some people that no matter how many times you tell them to get up, they're looking for somebody to pick them up. But the problem with being picked up is they'll remind you that they picked you up. I want you to get up out of your seat in your own power and shout, "This is the day that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice." Somebody say, "Get up."

Now, now for those of y'all who's standing, the Bible says, "As soon as he got up, he stumbled upon his succession." See, you ain't never going to run into neck sitting down. God send me my husband. You don't go nowhere. How you going to find him? And you in the house in rollers all day long. Where you going to find him at? You going to marry the gardener? You got to get up. James Brown been trying to tell you, get on. Get up. Soon as he got up, he ran into next. Soon as he got up, what he was praying for was in up. He's still depressed. He's still exhausted. He's still frustrated. He's still scared. But he got up. That means you can be broke and get up. That means you can be in a bad breakup and get up. It means that you can be in divorce court and get up. It means that you could lose the business and get up. It means that you can lose the house and get up. That there ain't nothing you can't get up from. Somebody shout it again. Get up. Get up.

Now watch. He gets up and watch where God sends him. He does not send him to a temple. He does not send him to a prayer meeting. He does not send him to Woman Evolve. He sends him to a field. And when he gets to the field, he finds a man who's working his job. Y'all better hear what I'm saying, 'cause I'm about to help somebody. I'm about to help somebody. I'm about to help somebody 'cause you asking God to call you from nothing to something. Listen to me. Look at me. Listen. He found a man working his oxen because God never interrupts nothing. You missed. Y'all missed what I just said. You missed what I just said. So you sitting out there talking about, "I'm waiting on the Lord," and, and I'm just going to wait my time. God don't interrupt nothing. He finds a man who's already working. Are you missing what I'm saying? He's working what he got. It ain't what he want, but he's working what he got. He's tending his 12 oxen. He ain't got what somebody else got, but he's working what he got. Slap somebody and say, "You got to work what you got, baby." He's working what he has. Watch this. Because the mantle only falls on motion. The mantle only falls on motion. Can I just be messy? I'm looking at some of y'all. You ain't moved since we started church. And if you ain't moved since we started church, I need you to rebuke him and tell them, "Ain't no need of you looking for no mantle." If you can't move in church, you can't move in the business area. If you can't move in church, you can't move in the stock market. I need you to tell somebody, "I tried to tell you. Now I'm going to remind you. Get up. Get up. Mentally get up. Physically get up. Psychologically get up. Emotionally get up." Elijah was tending his oxen because the mantle is looking for movement. Just sitting here waiting on the Lord. Well, you can work while you wait. Young people, holler at your boy. Ain't no need of you talking about you 30 years old talking about, "I'm adulting." You late. You supposed to have been grown 10 years ago. You can't wait till 30 to get grown. You got to get grown right now. You got to open the business right now. You got to write the book right now. You got to, you got to open it right now. Young people, make some noise. You got to go now. You can't wait on nobody to give you anything. It's heavier than it looks. Yes, it's going to depress you. Yes, you going to be under a tree. But you got to get up because you're not next. You are now. I can only imagine when Bishop Jake built this church. I'm going to say names you don't know like the Holloway Grays and, and the Beverly Robinsons who were picking it up. Now God has placed Elijah in the seat, and now his Holloway has to stand up, and his Beverly has to stand up. You can't just be young and cute and have an Instagram and have a podcast. You got to serve. Slap your neighbor and say, "Pick it up." You got to evangelize. You got to bring somebody to church with you. You got to share your faith. This is not a place where you come to be cute. This is a place where you come to be curious so you can share your faith and fill the house.

Watch this. God did not call Elisha to succeed. He called him from success. If you got 12 yoke of oxen, you balling. This man was an entrepreneur. This man had an enterprise. God never calls you from nothing to something. He never interrupts nothing. What are you going to do with what you have? I'm just waiting on the Lord to bless me. And God is looking for motion. Even if you're failing, at least it's working. Let me prove it to you. Yes, he did tell Noah and Jonah to get up. But here's one I want you to look at. He also interrupted Paul on the road to Damascus where he was going to kill Christians because even wrong motion got God's attention. You got to do something. This ain't the time to be cute. You can be cute when you get rich. Am I talking to anybody? I know you want to be an influencer, but I'm talking about being influential. I'm talking about when you walk into the halls of Congress. I'm talking about when leaders call you to get things done. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being an influencer because it has its place. But you do have to transpose influence into being influential. Trying to inspire you. I'm trying to figure out. Do you realize that this mantle was not just placed on the Roberts? It was placed on you. You can't just sit back and find out what they going to do. God sent me here to say what he can't say. What are you going to do? What are you going to do to lift the weight of this glory? What are you going to do to make sure that next week somebody's sitting next to you? Oh, talk to me, somebody. What are you going to do to take this historical house into the next generation? When Elijah saw Elisha, he didn't just see a man, he saw motion. And the glory always sits on movement. That's why it's called a whirlwind, because it moves. Tell your neighbor, "You ain't moved since just you, you ain't you ain't moved since 9:00. You and you talking about you on a mantle." The mantle is looking for motion. I'm going to give everybody here 30 seconds to create some friction, to create some motion. I just want you to say, "Lord, I'll move because I know I got a mantle that's assigned to me." I'm going to give you 13 more seconds. Open up your mouth and tear a roof off of this place so they can hear you on Keith Boulevard. Let everything that has breath. Come on, Potter House. I can't hear you. I said, "Open up your mouth and give God the glory."

Y'all doing all right? Y'all got a couple more minutes? Some people believe that Elijah wore the mantle. Now the Bible doesn't say this explicitly, but pastor, it is suggested that Elijah wore the mantle 20 to 25 years before he passed it to Elisha, which means that when he passed the mantle over, it wasn't new. It was worn. It was worn. Oh, come on. Come on. I want you to smell the mantle that still has the pollen on it from the wilderness. Smell it. Can you smell the urine from the times he fell on the ground and laid there and slept in the wilderness because he was afraid that Jezebel was going to kill him? And you would have to get very close to pick out the bark pieces that are still in it from underneath the juniper tree. Because the mantle is not glory, it's survival. Most people look at the mantle looking for something glorious. This is not a Versace coat. This is a bulletproof vest. This is something that I had on to protect me while my mother and father forsook me. When you're asking for a mantle, you're not asking for a promotion. You're asking for pain. I remember, I remember, oh, I'm getting emotional. Think about it. I remember telling Bishop J, "Bishop, I want to be just like you. I want to be just like you. I want a church just like yours." No, I don't. I did not know what it cost to build a 50, 60, 70, 80, $100 million building and then pay it off. I did not know what it cost to write a book. I did not know what it cost to do interviews, to have every word spared, to have every thought critiqued. I had no idea what it would do to your children, what it would do to your wife, what it would do to your body. I had no idea. So now I say, "Lord, whatever you want me to have." Y'all not hear me? Y'all not here with me today. I don't want another one of y'all looking at what somebody else has and asking God to give you that. What you need to ask God for is what you can handle. Remember one time, I know, I know I frustrated him. I know I frustrated him because I kept asking and I kept asking, and then, and then I was trying to show him that I was doing good, and, and I would watch him 'cause he got this look when he looked at you like this, you in trouble, trouble. I knew it. He looked at me like, and one day he looked at me. He said, "Listen to me. I'm about to say something to y'all." And this is for the young people who are looking up to Pastor Ter and, and Pastor Sarah because just 'cause Sarah got a big conference on me, you need to start one. So, I want, I want to show you how to support them. Here's what he said to me, and I want to say it to you. He said, "Son, learn to enjoy the distance." I didn't know what it meant at the time. Now, I know. Let me stay in front of you so I can tell you what's coming while you're on your way. But if you ever catch up with me, we going to both be in the same pit at the same time. You have to keep Pastor Roberts and Pastor Sarah ahead. Enjoy the distance. Because can I tell you something? Because it's heavier than it looks. Do you know how much attention to detail you have to pay to make sure that when you come in here on Sunday morning, that it ain't paper all on the ground and that the carpet is shampooed and that the ceiling doesn't have brown stains in it from a leak? You don't have enough attention to detail to lead something like this. You got to make sure that the parking lot is paid. You got to make sure the grass is cut. You got to make sure that things are not rusting out. You got to make sure that the water stays hot. You got to make sure every toilet is fixed. You got to make sure that the staff is paid. You got to make sure that the volunteers are appreciated. You got to make it's so much that it's heavier. We got people looking, "I can do that." Try it. They said, "I got to get back focused. I lost. I'm sorry, Bishop. I went too far." No, this is my pastor. I came to help him. I told him when he got the job, I came to help him. And sometimes God will bring in somebody else to say what he can't say, but I can say it. And if you don't like me, I got a church to go back to, so it's fine with me. I'd go right back to Houston. There are consequences if he said it's revelation when I say it. Y'all still here with me? He puts that mantle. How heavy? How heavy is a mantle that is not just cloth but has mud and urine and tree bark on it? It's heavy. This is not a blessing. This is a weight. Now, he's already weighed down with his own emotions. Now he's got this responsibility that's even heavier. Talk about it. And then the Lord revealed something to me. You can handle it because I never put adult destiny on infant shoulders. I gave it to him 'cause he could handle it. And for every person that thought they could, the mantle didn't fall on them because it was not theirs to put on. Elijah picked Elijah, not Israel. The mantle was placed on him and it was heavy. And I'm sure he thought, "This is too much for me. I'd rather just do my businesses. Oh, I just LA is a nice place." Oh, you, you have to understand that Bishop didn't call him from nothing. Yes, sir. Don't y'all get it twisted. He wasn't called to success. He was called. And he came. And who knew that the way God would do it is he would put the magnet in the womb of mother. Draw the next Elijah to the seed. Give them a call in eternity's past that will be relevant in eternity's present. And draw them to Dallas with a dog whistle that only they would hear because God knows what he's doing. And if you'll let God do the same thing in your life, he'll take yesterday and tomorrow and interweave it together to put together a destiny that will set you up for success. I don't know who this word is for, but just touch somebody. Say, "I feel a little better." I feel a little better. I understand now that all things do work together for the good of them that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. If you believe that there is a mantle coming your way, I want you to make some noise in this room today. Watch this, pastor. So now he's, he's there, and now the sons of the prophets start saying, "Oh, 'cause people always try to discourage you after the mantle." So say, "Um, I don't know if you had heard, but, uh, you know that the Lord is coming to get Elijah today." Now, they know exactly what they're doing, trying to get him discouraged. You know, he's coming to get him. He's coming to get him. And, and, and, and I want you to know that we're human. So although we have become strong to what is said, we are not immune, absolutely, to what is said. So, so he's human. So, so some of the things that are said, he hears even if he doesn't respond. See, that's the thing that Elisha has to do. Elisha has to hug people who don't want you to have the mantle. Unfold your arms. You ain't, I ain't scared of you. Unfold y'all. Who you think you scaring? I'm here today. What you going to do? So it says, you know, it ain't going to last today. He, he's about to get caught up. And Elijah put two of the best words together that I think that the English language and at that time the Hebrew have to offer, transliterated. Here is what he told him after they tried to discourage him. He said, "I know. Shut up." Can you just tell your neighbor, "Shut up"? Or you'll feel better. It's therapy. I just want you. You don't say, "You ain't do nothing to me," but I want to say to you what I want to say to somebody who ain't here today. Shut up. You know, some people just need to shut up. Elijah said, "You think you know something about my father?" "I don't know." Shut up. He said, "I know." And then after he is displayed as a man, watch. Let me show you the dichotomy. Now he goes back to being a boy. "Please, Daddy, don't leave me." Three times he asked him not to leave. Three times Elijah said, "I got to go. You stay." He said, "But don't leave me." He said, "I got to go." But I tell you before I leave. He says, he says, well, well, let me say this before I say that. He says, "I got to go." He says, "Please, as, as the Lord liveth and as, as the soul liveth, he says, 'I will not leave thee.'" Elijah, watch this. He shows us something. He actually wants to stay close because, and here is the problem, uh, with some of, uh, the sons of people like Bishop and others who lead in the nation. See, you cannot inherit from something you're trying to outgrow. See, the problem is, is that some got close to Bishop to try to get the mantle or a piece of it, and when they didn't get it, then all of a sudden they found another father. But you have to understand, some people come into your life for seasons, and other people come in your life for reasons, and if you don't give them a reason, they'll leave in a soon season. So he says, "You can't, you can't learn from somebody while simultaneously trying to outdo them." That's the problem with the body of Christ. Too much competition, not enough cooperation. Touch your neighbor. Say, "There are many mantles." No, I, I say this 'cause I've been around long enough. I've seen them come and they go. And the reason why some people haven't gotten a mantle is because they left when they should have lingered. They stayed, and then they thought, "Oh, all right. All right, I'm going to get it, and I'm going to get it. I'm going to get it." And when they didn't get it, pardon my Ebonics, then they left, only to find themselves disconnected from the root. Now trying to find a back door into the anointing they had a key to. If you can't tell now, I ain't never scared. I'm telling you, there's a transfer coming, Potter House. I just want you, I want to whisper to you because you don't want to miss it. You got to stay close. God has assured us. Watch what he said. He says, "Upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell," you know it, "won't overcome it." So what that means is that God is in control even when you don't understand. Let me finish this up. Somewhere on the journey, they get to the Jordan River. And when they get to the Jordan, this urine-infested, bark-lined, mud-encrusted mantle is now at the Jordan. And the reason we know the mantle is Elisha's is because when he struck the waters, they parted. Somebody else's mantle in your hand leaves the mantle wet. But when it's yours, I don't know who I'm talking to, but God told me to tell some of y'all, "Take one more step because the waters are about to part." I don't know who I'm talking to. I want you to find a Bible. I want you to find a handkerchief. I want you to find something. And I just want you to strike it. Come on, just strike it. Strike. I don't know who I'm talking to in here today, but just touch your neighbor and say, "Strike it. Strike." I want you to strike it. I don't know what it is, but I want you to strike it. I don't know where it is, but I want you to strike it. I don't know how hard it's been, but I want you to strike it. Come on, somebody, strike it. Because when you strike it, it will part. When you strike it, it will move. When you strike it, you are saying to the thing in front of you, "I have the mantle. I have the anointing." And you've got a part. I want somebody to shout, "It's about to cut itself in half." Come on, somebody, strike it. Come on, somebody, strike it. I said, "Come on, somebody, strike it." If a match is going to work, it has to be struck. If a nail is going to work, it has to be struck. If a piano is going to make music, the keys have to be struck. If a drum is going to make noise, it has to be struck. What I'm telling you today is sometime in your life, you're going to have to strike out. Touch somebody and say, "Strike it." I don't care how much you cry, strike it. I don't care how confused you are, strike it. I don't care how depressed you are, strike it. I don't care how miserable you are, strike it. I don't care how much pain you're in, strike it. I need somebody in here to strike it. Watch what he does next. After he does that, he takes the harness and the yolks, the tools of his old job, and he burns them because he's saying that I'm committed to this mantle. And even if I get depressed, I'm not going back. So he burns it. So he has nothing to go back to. I wish I had about 500 people that'll look a neighbor in the eye and say, "Neighbor, I make a promise to you. Come hell or high water, I'm not going back." You got the wrong neighbor. Turn and find somebody else and say, "Neighbor, come hell or high water. I promise you one thing. As the Lord liveth, I'm not going back." Did they say anything? You got the wrong neighbor. Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn, and find somebody else and say, "Neighbor, God told me to tell you, ain't going just a little while. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Give him a high five and shout, "Neighbor, I know it's heavier than it looks, but I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky. Think about it every night and day. Spread my wings and fly away. I believe in the impossible. I believe in the unimaginable." Have I got about 500 people who will grab a neighbor by the hand and we about to get out of here? Look them in the eye and say, "Neighbor, God told me to tell you, one can chase a thousand, but two can put 10,000 to flight. So I got instructions for you. When I move, you move. Just like that." You got the wrong neighbor. If I jump, you jump. Just like that. If I run. Oh, I got you. Come on. Come on. You run just like that. Shout yes. Shout yes. Yeah. Tell somebody, "Pick it up. It's your mantle. It's your season. It's your time. This your church." Oh, y'all missed what I said? Somebody shout, "This my church." So, since it's your church, do I have any help in here? Is this your church? Is this so passive? Pick it up. Pick it up. Pick it up. Can I tell you, if God wanted somebody else to have it, he would have put it on them. It's going to be heavy. It's going to be hard. But can't nobody carry it but you. Give your neighbor a high five and say, "It's you. It's you. It's you. It's you. It's you. It's you. It's you. It's you. It's you." The Bible says the mantle fell. Elijah had to. This church ain't going to just grow 'cause it's called the Potter's House. You got to pick it up. Yes, sir. That's good. This is your mantle. Hallelujah. This is your destiny. This is history in the making. Yes, sir. You get a chance to take a mantle that has cost a man everything and say, "Bishop, we got it from here." This, this young man here, I wouldn't say if it were not true. He's brilliant. He's brilliant. And churches have the propensity to lose momentum in between mantels because you're trying to figure out who you would pick. You're not Elijah. Your name Mary. You're not Elijah. You're John. You're Calvin. You're Kevon. You're Deonte. You're Willie Earl. You ain't. You ain't Elisha. This is. It's too important to miss the part of the movie you nodded off in. Let's rewind. Press play. A mantle was shifted, not to just him, but to you. Repeat after me. We are the Potter's House. We are the house. Come on. Say it again. We are the Potter's House. We are the house. Say it one more time. We are the Potter's House. We are the Potter's House. You better ask somebody. One man stood right here with one mic and gave it everything he had and sat right in this chair. And the devil tried to take him out, and he didn't even drop the mic that day 'cause you don't have to pick it up if you never drop it. I want everybody here to shout, "Pick it up." Pick it up. Pick up your giving. Pick up your pace. Pick up your evangelism. Pick it up. Pastors don't build church. Sheep beget sheep. Talk about it like you love it. Show up like you love it. Serve like you love it. If you love that man there, you don't show him you love him by your absence when he's not present. You show him you love him by your presence when he's absent. If you love him, give him some birthday love. Or you can do better than that. That's what 50 years. 50 years. Now I see why God kept changing my sermon. Because it was my job to be a voice crying out in the wilderness. To wake you up. You have forgotten who you are. You are the Potter's House. Pastor Ter, I'm not you, but I have an imagination. You don't complain to me. We talk all the time. You never complain to me. But I can only imagine what the nights have been like for you. I can only imagine how many times you've cried and nobody knew it. And I know without you telling me that even in a short amount of time, you want to give up. But I came to tell you that the mantle with the urine and the bark and the pollen is still yours. It was yours. And whenever you wonder why, it's because it was yours to pick up, and others had a chance, but they walked over it. It's yours. We got you. You're not in it by yourself. Come on and praise God for your pastor. Come on, let them hear.

It. Come on, let them hear it. Let them hear it. This was a hard job. Let them hear it.

I want y'all to look around. Just look around. Do you? Do you know what you're looking at? This is history. This is. Could you imagine how much it would cost to build a church in 2026? It was $8 trillion when he built it. Now imagine what it is in 2026. Y'all remember he was screaming, "Hand me another brick."

But I want to tell you something. I want you to hear my heart. We're going to give and we're going to go home. I want you to hear my heart. I know the Lord sent me today. Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much. I know he sent me. I know he sent me.

I want you to look around and I, I mean this from the bottom of my heart, and Bishop and Lady Serita and Pastor Té and Pastor Sarah, they will agree with this. I want you to look around because all over America right now, there are great coliseums and basketball arenas that were built 20, 30 years ago, and they're trying to figure out what to do with them.

I'm, I'm, I'm from Gary, Indiana. If y'all heard the news, the Chicago Bears moving to Hammond, Indiana, which is 10 minutes from where I grew up because there is no room to build in the city of Chicago. Um, but we were in Nashville. I preached in Nashville yesterday. They're building a new stadium right next to the old one because visions changed.

See, Bishop Jake picked these pews, not Pastor Ter. Bishop Jake picked this stage, but there was another vision in that man. And one day, he's going to have to figure out with you how to get out what's in him in here. So, you got to pick up that mantle because it's going to cost you again. It's going to cost you again. It's going to cost you to make sure that this looks like the land flowing with milk and honey. That's why you got to open up the businesses. That's why you got to make sure that you're being a steward. That's why you got to find your fit. That's why you got to. That's why you got to grow because because it, there's a shift coming. You can't see it. It's in his heart. He ain't told it to me, but I know he's planning for it. He's trying to figure it out. He's thinking about it. He's, he's rearranging things. It's coming. And you got to get ready for it.

The parking lot, it's going to crumble soon. The roof is going to have to be replaced. The air conditioners go out. I'm just trying to tell y'all. You came when it was built, but it's heavier than it looks. And eventually, like the temple in Jerusalem, you going to have to rebuild it. Are y'all listening to me?

If you're in this place today and you know for sure that God has called you to this house, I want you to acknowledge it by standing on your feet. Just stand up wherever you are. Give yourselves a hand. I'm not going to tell you exactly what to give because I know that he has a plan to do that in a later date. But every tree starts with a seed. It takes a banana about 9 months from seed to maturation. Did you know it takes about 10 years for a seed to produce an apple orchard or tree that produces 10,000 apples after the initial seed is planted? For an avocado, it takes 13 to 20 years. What am I trying to say? I don't know what kind of seeds you got, but you better hurry up and sew because the day you sew, that's when the clock starts ticking. That's when the clock starts ticking.

I want everybody in this place to ask God, "What seed must I show?" And sew in the initiation of a mantle shift. Cuz it's here. Everybody say, "It's here." And the reason why you shouldn't feel any pressure is because I'm not going to tell you what to do. Here's what my brother always says. He says, "If you, if you have it, don't lie. If you don't have it, don't try."

So, this is, this is for only the people who will and who can. I want you to get a tangible seed in your hand and I want you to bring it to this altar as a way of saying, "I am bought in. I am committed to making this heavy thing lighter." You have no idea what it takes to run an operation of this magnitude. As you get that seed, just bring it to the altar. Come. Come. No order. Just come where you are. Just come from where you are. Just come from where you are.

Now, God knows if what you're bringing is a sacrifice or not. I asked pastor, let me tell you how much he loves you. Stay with me. Don't leave. Don't leave. Just bring it cuz I'm going to pray for you. I asked pastor, "Did he want me to do it?" He says, "Feel no pressure. I want us to have an experience." That's how much he loves you. He didn't set you up for this. He told me, "Don't worry about it." But the Lord put it on my heart. Come closer. Bring it. Bring it. Bring it. Lay it on the altar if you can. If even if you have it electronically, I'm about to release. I'm about to release something over you. I believe in you.

That was straight from the throne room from start to finish. Thank you so much, pastor, apostle, bishop, prophet, and everything else. Can we give it up one more time for a servant of God, Keon Henderson? This was a, a destiny establishing, defining word and moment. So much wisdom, so much revelation. And how appropriate that it happened as we honor and celebrate our bishop's birthday. Thank you both. A true son.

We're getting ready to go. I want to invite you out Wednesday night for Walk It Out Wednesday. We're going to continue to walk out this word with our incredible pastors. Thank you for joining us on three days of fasting of your choice. Three days of believing God that it's already done. I love and appreciate you so much. May the Lord bless and keep you. May he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious toward you. May he lift up his countenance over you and grant you shalom. Shalom in Jesus' name. Love you. God bless you.

At the Potter's House, we are invested in you. Not just what you do, but who you're becoming. We believe that in this house, we are better together. We need one another to be holy, to hold each other accountable, and to keep growing. As God positions us to serve every soul, we believe that an act of sewing is an act of faith and agreement right where God is speeding up. And we're honored that we get to partner with you in reaching lives near and far. This is your official invitation to not just be a spectator, but to be a partner. Be a member of our family that seeks kingdom solutions during the challenges of every season. Amen. Your giving, your service, and your love to this house isn't just generosity, it's ministry.

If this message spoke to you, and you believe what God is doing in this house, we invite you to become a member today. We want to do life with you and share this message with someone you care about, someone who needs it the most. I believe that it could be the catalyst for the breakthrough that they're seeking. No matter where you are, remember God sees you. He loves you. And so do we.