How to Find Your Calling? Finding Your Place!

Answering the call of God. Mark Twain said, "Two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." Now, a biblical way of saying this is the two most important days of your life are the day you're born again and the day you find out why God placed you on this earth.

I want to use the story of Moses as a backdrop for sharing about his calling. This will apply to us who are in business, to us who are in small groups, to us who are honestly leading our family, to us who are leading our churches maybe, or to us who are leading our ministries that are not connected to, or even perhaps directly to, a local church. The principles in the Bible, they apply to every single sphere of life. I'm going to try to interject some of my personal stories into that, but mainly, that we learned from, I believe, one of the greatest leaders that ever lived was Moses and how God used him in that.

If you're taking notes, I'm going to give just some notes. First point I want to write down is this: God's purpose is found in God's presence. God's purpose is found in God's presence. As we get into God's presence, we begin to discover God's purpose. Moses was spared supernaturally. God really saved his life. It was the faith of his parents that set the foundation for his future. You know, most of us know Moses, and we're like, Moses was this great guy, had an encounter with God. But the Bible in Hebrews says, "By faith Moses's parents." So the real reason why God really chose Moses was the faith of his mom, and there are some of you, you are in ministry, even though you credited it to an encounter with God, but it's really your mama's prayers, it's really your grandma's prayers. And I believe that ministry can be generational. We need to stop apologizing. "Oh, like this, the whole family is in the ministry." Why not? Why wouldn't you want your kids, who are being discipled and have the front-row seat to what God is doing in your ministry or even business, to actually follow your footsteps? Amen.

And so we see that Moses saw the faith of his parents, and then eventually the call of God came upon his life. I'm a fourth-generation Christian, and not everyone in my generation was a pastor, but they were in ministry. My grandfather was a pastor. Great-grandfather before him was a minister. From my mother's side, great-grandfather was suffering for Jesus Christ and eventually he was killed for Jesus Christ. My uncle is a pastor, and so some of that runs in the family. And though some of you come from a family where what runs in the family is drugs and alcohol, but you are the curse-breaker. Bloodline curses will be broken with you, and what's going to start running in your family is success. What's going to start running in your family is ministry. What's going to start running in your family is good health. What's going to start running in your family is prosperity. What's going to start running in your family is launching nonprofits. That is going to be your legacy. Your parents decided your history, but your decisions decide your destiny. Do not blame your parents, if you maybe got the short end of the stick, born on the wrong side of the tracks. You might have a reason for why you are doing what you're doing today, but you don't have an excuse to be miserable. Because through Christ Jesus we can break the cycles and begin new generational blessings. Pastor Marco highlighted that yesterday.

But I want you to notice this about Moses: when he is 80 years of age, and this is when most people are, you know, cashing out the retirement checks, but Moses has an encounter with God. And at this encounter with God, God calls him. For those of us who really want to know our calling, first of all, we are all called to love Jesus, be planted in the local church, win souls and make disciples, read the Bible, stay away from sin, and all of us are called that. So nobody needs to ask God, "What am I called to do?" It's very clear. But when it comes to the specific calling, and a lot of people, what they do is they sweat over what did God ask me to do specifically. I usually tell people this: do what you know to do, and God will reveal to you what you don't know to do in time. Serve at every capacity that is available to you, and then you will see how the teams in the church will start kicking you out. They say, "Hey, worshiping isn't for you," so now you can cross that off the list. God didn't call me to lead worship. The other kids, maybe kids' ministry say, "Yeah, you're too rough with kids. Okay, you're out." Okay, kids' ministry is not in my future, and go down the list. And because this church has a lot of ministries, you have a lot of time. You know how I found my calling? When you honor the people God placed you under, you don't have to chase your destiny. It will find you. It will find you. Moses was doing Jethro's bidding, and the calling found him. David went to deliver cheese to his brothers on the field and destiny found him. Saul was looking for donkeys for his dad, and Samuel found him. Too many people are seeking their calling. All you got to do is this: find a place where you can be under a covering, submit yourself to the local church, submit yourself to your mom and dad if you're still living with them or under them. Something is going to happen. Destiny looks for people who are submissive and honoring to the authority God placed in their life.

I didn't find my calling first. My pastor directed me toward things. He told me first. You know, I was volun-told. You know, it's when you are volunteering under command. I was volun-told. My pastor told me first, say hey, I want you to get involved in here. And when I first started preaching, I was 13 years of age. When I became a youth pastor, I was 16. Because a lot of times, the way the Lord will lead you until you mature in faith will be through people that He placed in your life, like your parents or your spiritual mentors in your life. And only later on did the call of God come into my life. But in the beginning I was doing what my uncle asked me to do. Moses simply was doing what Jethro was telling him to do, which is be a shepherd, and then we see the call of God come into his life. He hears the call of God.

As you seek the presence of God, where God's call came personally for me was because of my insecurities; some of you probably have noticed one of my eyes does not look like the other one, and so it's a factory defect. I was born that way. And I struggled as a teenager for some time about, you know, fitting in, and I kind of even embraced a lie that I was an accident, God had no purpose for my life. And so when I was about 13 and 14, we just immigrated to the United States. And it was a culture shock for me because I didn't speak the language, I lost all of my best friends that I grew up with on the street, you know, and then on top of that my uncle starts a church that's kind of charismatic. I grew up in a very, it's more like a, like a traditional Apostolic, like head coverings, men and women separated, no makeup, no earrings, long skirts, no music on the stage. So that's how I grew up for 13 years. That was my version of Christianity. Here's my uncle starts a church where people are clapping, you know, you can wear jeans to church, you have drums, you have like all this stuff. So to me, not only is it a culture shock, it's a religious shock because I'm a part of a cult. So culture and cult, and that really, and not only am I part of a cult, I'm on a stage in this cult. So it was very, very, very painful. And on top of that I had chronic insecurities. I was put into the worship team at about 13 and a half years of age when we were very young, it was just our worship team on the stage, and then I got kicked out of this worship team. They said that an elephant stepped on my ear. I said, "I've never seen an elephant." They said, "What that simply means is you don't have a good hearing and you don't have a good voice." And I said, "Well, there's an easy solution, turn off my microphone." They're like, "Well your microphone has been off. You still sing louder than others, so we just asked you to step down." I said, "Okay, I don't mind stepping down. Could you put me in the sound booth?" They said, "Well actually you have to have a better hearing in the sound booth than on the stage. You don't qualify there." And when the church is really five families, and the only place where you can serve is on the stage, and you get kicked out of that, insecurity really begins to come in. And you're young, culture shock, and then you're like, you're not sure where you belong. And it was a lot of, a lot of insecurities.

What I started to do at that age is I started to lock myself in the room in prayer every single day as a teenager. Not because I was spiritual, it's because I was in pain. I drew near to God not because I wanted God. Life forced me. My options were either drugs, alcohol, which something I've never explored. My family never did so that was not even, didn't feel like it was a viable option. It was just really pressing into God. And so when I was in one of those moments, I remember praying a prayer, and this is what I said. I said, "Lord, if you heal me of my insecurities and help me to get through this," and on top of that, I had migraine headaches all the time during the summer because of the optical nerve damage they said because of the birth stuff that happened to me. And so I said to the Lord, "If You heal me of my insecurities, and You take away these headaches, I give you a promise. The rest of my life, I will dedicate to You." Now I knew what I meant, meaning my whole life will be dedicated to ministry. God knew what I meant. And then the Lord healed me. He healed my heart. It happened slowly. My headaches were gone, and then I decided to become a businessman because I was like, and then I decided to become a businessman, because I was like, man I'm successful, my grades are 4.0, in high school I'm actually started to become a little bit popular. And I was like, and I'll do ministry on the side, and I'll tithe like a Mormon, 20% to the church. The church will be happy, I be happy, everybody happy. And then I would come to church and then the Holy Spirit will convict me and He says, "You made a promise". And I said, "God you know I was a teenager. You can't trust everything a teenager promises." And I remember the Holy Spirit say, "You want the headaches back?" I said, "No, no, no. No, no, no, no," and that's how I joined ministry. I made a promise, and the call of God, eventually I felt that call of God hit me on one Wednesday during a fasting where I felt Jesus came into the room, and He, I was about 16 years of age and He like stamped me. And it's in His presence that I found my purpose. Now it's not, what I do today is not what I was going into. I knew that this is not going to be perks. It's going to be a price. It's going to be, it's going to be paying a price.

The second thing I want you to write down is this, and we learned this from Moses: our calling is discovered, our consecration is decided. You don’t decide your calling. You can decide your career. Now let me give you the difference between career and calling. Career is decided; calling is discovered. Career is natural; calling is supernatural. Career can change; calling does not. Career requires a degree; calling needs anointing. Career is for money; calling is for eternity. The Bible says, "By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter." Career is something you can decide. You don’t decide your calling. You don’t in high school choose, "What do you want to be? You want to be a teacher, a firefighter, a police officer, or you want to be a pastor?" "Yeah, I want to be a pastor." You don’t choose to be a pastor. That’s why every pastor I meet, they say, "I didn’t want to be a pastor." When somebody comes to me and says, "I want to be a pastor," that's rush, that kind of warns me a little bit, because the Bible says, "He called them." You can choose to be in ministry. All of us are called to be in ministry. But when it comes to being in full-time ministry, I want to encourage you, if you're seeing it as a career and you're asking, "What are my benefits? What’s going to be my pay? How am I going to be able to balance my family and my work?" If you're asking these questions, you're looking for a career. Please save your family a headache. Get something else. Do not do full-time ministry unless you cannot not do it. You don't decide it, you have to discover it, something that God has called you for. This is not, does not mean that you're more spiritual than if you're in full-time ministry. Absolutely not. Joseph was not in a full-time ministry, but he was a full-time Christian, he was a full-time follower of God. Esther was not in a full-time ministry, but she was used in the government. Moses was not technically in the ministry. He was a civil leader. So God can use you in whatever field, but don't play games with the call of God of full-time ministry thinking it's something you could choose. If you choose, you'll quit. You'll quit. If it's chosen on you, quitting your calling will be a sin against God and you will know it. And after you quit your calling, you will be living as a sinner, because you're disobeying God, and everything else in life starts going wrong. The call of God is a very dangerous thing. It's not a career.

Now when it comes to a career, career you can choose. This is the amazing part about career. Career, you can choose. Careers can change. Now, how do I find my career? It's very simple. Paul says, "Whatever you do, do as unto the Lord." I always tell young people, God's answer for you on what you should do with a career is whatever, as long as it's not illegal. Selling dope is not a good career choice. As long as it's not immoral, and as long as it pays good. 'Cause you kids like, "Yeah, but I like this." But does it pay your bills? So when it comes to the career, it's, it's within your field. God says, "Whatever you do." You can be a teacher. "But I'm going to fast. Does God want me to be a police officer or a firefighter?" Whatever. Whatever you do, God's like, it's up to you. Whatever you want. "Oh, but God, I want to do Your will." God says, whatever you do, make sure you do it for My glory and with your whole heart. And then you can switch the career down the road if you don't like it. There's no sweat about it. So we shouldn't, a lot of people are like, "Man I'm going to go fast. I want to know what major I should take in college." Why? Just choose whatever you like. When it comes to a calling, it's different. You don't choose it. You discover it. Where? How? By seeking His presence. In His presence and serving the local church is where qualities begin to surface, where people begin to say, "Man, you're good at that. When you sung that song. Hey, when you read that thing. When I read that blog. Hey, when I saw that project that you did. That, that was some, that was some..." You have that "it" factor. And the moment people begin to highlight that "it" factor that you have in that area, that could be a sign. Just add more value, add more passion to that because you're most likely stepping into what you're called, gifted, and anointed to do, amen.

You can have a powerful calling. If you have a weak consecration, your calling will be limited. You can have a great career. Some people say, "Well, my consecration to God has absolutely no bearing on my success as a businessman." I would disagree with you, because while your gifting and while your education can get you far, lack of integrity undermines every single thing. Lack of integrity lands you in the court systems. Lack of integrity causes you to pay child support because you became father of many nations, and you couldn't keep it in your pants. And now all of the prosperity you have has holes in it, and now you're beginning to literally, you're going from one thing to another. And though you're prosperous, you're also foolish. Integrity protects prosperity. Integrity protects influence. Integrity protects your impact. Integrity protects the longevity of your impact. Like we see what's happening right now even with preachers. Somebody can build something super great and so good and consistent, but because they lacked integrity at some point of their life and covered it, it comes back to bite and attack every single thing. It's something that doesn't give us reward, but it's a shield. It's an insurance that protects everything else.

Now I want you to notice Moses. Moses, he walks away from the pleasures of Egypt, and Moses dedicates his whole life to begin to serve God. And that's the cost really of a calling of God: you have to walk away from the pleasures of sin. You have to walk away from doing what you want to do and do God's will. But Moses had one issue. Moses had an anger problem. Remember the first time we meet Moses really as an adult? He punches this guy too hard. He murders him. Now he covers it up, runs for his life. Moses one day goes to God, and God gives him a tablet. Not like the one that's made by Apple, but like an actual tablet where it wasn't made in China. It was made by the finger of God. God puts stuff on it with His finger, and God created the tablet. Did you know what Moses did in anger? Broke God's tablets. Next time he went up and God's like, you make your own tablet. He says, I'm making it anymore for you. You break stuff. God wrote on it, but God didn't make a tablet again. God's like, I'm not going to be doing this stuff. You got anger problem, bro. One time the Bible says Moses, he speaks to the rock. And then the other time hits the rock, and the other time God says, "I want you to speak to the rock." Now Moses in his anger, and this cost him the promised land. This one thing. Now keep in mind, Moses was so close to God, they FaceTimed. The Bible says Moses spoke to God face to face. This was before FaceTime. Moses had a FaceTime relationship to God. The Bible says things about Moses, God was so close to Moses, but this thing caused even God to look at Moses and say, I know we're close, but you crossed the line. You can't go very far. Why? Because you got character flaws. You didn't show honor. You didn't show holiness on this one thing; Moses, he hits the rock instead of speaking to it.

I want you to notice this thing, this common outburst of wrath. Now, he always justified it, and I'll show it to you. He had very good reasons. In Deuteronomy 1:37, I want you to see how Moses viewed this incident that I just explained. He said, "The Lord was angry with me for your sakes." Meaning, you guys made me do it. It wasn't my fault. You know, you guys provoked me. Can I have a cup of water or that bottle of water that I was being reserved for the end of the sermon? And can I borrow somebody that is preferably not, not… Somebody that I could also embarrass? Okay, come with me, come with me, yeah. I warned you. All right. He was warned, right? All right. I want you to hold it, yeah. So I want you to notice something. So Moses looks at the incident where he hit the rock and look how he interprets that in his mind. He says, guys, God was angry with me for your sake. This is kind of how it sounds. Have you ever done something and you're like, you made me do it? You know, flew off the handle. I cursed. Maybe hit something, slammed something. "You made me do it. You made me do it." And so you're holding this strong? Uh-huh. So… Now this, so don't, don't hold it like too tight. Yeah, but hold it tight. But I want you to…

Notice, now, of course he's not happy with me, because "I" made him spill. But I didn't put the water there. That's not my problem that he has water.

What begins to happen is this. What happens with us, why our character doesn't change many times as leaders, is this: God cannot change your character if you blame people who cause you to act out of character. As long… God allows people in your life, and husbands, this is your wife. She knows how to find the last nerve that nobody else can touch. You already submitted all of your character under the altar, and like your character, you crucified. And then your wife comes. She knows exactly when to hit it, and you're like, and you're manifesting. That thing comes out. And of course, you're like, "You make me angry." But does she? No. She only exposes the fact you are an angry person. She's simply triggering what you're carrying. She didn't put it in there. Now guess what happens? And I apologize to the team. When you do this at the altar, you bring it to God, you pour it out. I want you to hold it now. You hear a sound but not a splash. God will allow your employees, your co-workers, your parents and others to cause them to trigger things, provoke things for them to come out. Why? Because God sees you're filled with a, b, c, d. You and I do not know that. We will not know that until God puts somebody in our life to do this to us, and it's usually people you're closest to, living with or working with. As long as what comes out, you blame on who hits you, God can never get it out of you.

As long as you play the victim game like Moses, say "Yeah, the reason why I hit the rock is because you guys made me. It's for your sakes that I hit that. It's just that you provoked me. You drove me crazy." No, Moses, you killed an Egyptian. No, Moses, you broke the tablet. No, Moses, you have an anger problem. No, Moses, you sin in your anger. And until you take ownership for what comes out of your mouth, what comes out of your attitude, what comes out of your behavior, how you react, and how you respond, God can never change your character. If God does not change your character, your character will change your calling. Can you give him a round of applause? [Applause] Write that down. If God does not change my character, my character will change my calling or my character will change my career. Blaming your circumstances for your character is like blaming your mirror for your bad looks. Waking up in the morning and you saw, you know like you're looking in the mirror, you don't recognize this, this spirit that's looking at you like, whoa. Nobody in the right mind grabs a hammer and breaks a mirror. No, we grab a brush. Your spouse is your mirror. Your employees are your mirror. Stuff that comes out, if you don't take responsibility for what comes out, but you shift blame, God can never change you. If God cannot change you, He will restrict how far you go, and that's going to be His mercy. Sometimes He'll allow us to go very far, only to make a fool of ourselves and embarrass ourselves and humiliate ourselves publicly. Moses was limited not by his anointing but by his character.

Character, while it doesn't determine the speed of our ministry, while it doesn't determine the height of our influence, it will be the only insurance we have, to last, not embarrass ourselves, Jesus's name and our life. And if you have a bad character, you're a terrible person to live with. That's why the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is all these nine characteristics. Have you noticed it doesn't say the gift of the Spirit? This is a gift. It's a tool. I can't eat this for lunch. A fruit is something that I eat. An Apple Watch is something that I wear. An apple fruit is something that I eat. Who does the apple tree feed? Apple trees feed people that live on their property. Your fruit, your character. While your gifts and your education, your talents, and your anointing impact masses, if you don't have a character, your employees are not fed by you. They're fed up by you. Now the reason they're still working is because they can't find a different job. When you have a character, when you take responsibility for your sins, when you take responsibility for your stuff, when something comes out and you own to it. You're not perfect, but you own to it and you're willing to be sanctified, you're willing to acknowledge the wrongs, you're willing to take responsibility and do whatever it takes so that you can empty that cup with all of that stuff. When you take responsibility for that, God develops a fruit inside of you. What begins to happen is while it does not advance your career, it improves your happiness. And what it does is it causes your family to love being around you because you feed them by your presence. You feed them by your attitude. You feed them by your words. You feed them by your character. You are an apple tree. Now to the world you are an Apple Watch. To your family, you are an apple fruit. That's why we have pastors and leaders, businessmen who are incredible in the spotlight, and their kids do not want to do anything with them. Why? How could somebody be so gifted? They have the gift, oh yes, they do, but no fruit, cuz kids… My wife doesn't care how fast I speak in tongues. She cares how I speak to her in English. It's English that's the problem, not tongues. She doesn't care how my hands move on the stage. It's how my hands move when we walk together in the park. It's what happens. It's the fruit that feeds your family. The fruit might not feed your ministry, but it will feed your staff, it will feed your family and it will feed people that are closest to you. You can fool the world, but you can never fool your family.

And that's why what Moses made a mistake with is this: First of all, he didn't circumcise his son. He had trouble in his family. And then you see that he blames the Israelites for his character flaws. If we want to be successful in our calling, yes, consecration is important. But part of that consecration is paying attention to our character flaws. Which ones? The ones your wife complains about. The ones your husband complains about. The ones your staff complains about. You're like, "but, but, but, but I paid their checks." But do you want to change your character? Amen.

Number three, embrace suffering if you want to be effective in God's service, Hebrews 11:25, "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin." Dr. Sam Chan is a leadership expert. He said: Now suffering in leadership or suffering in church or in business comes from four places, especially more in church. Number one is pressure from your position. Nobody knows that until you have the position. People judge pastors, people judge somebody who's a CEO. They're like, "Yeah, it's so easy for you. I see what you're driving." You have no idea the pressure you live with. It's not an off and on button. It stays with you, goes on vacation with you. It goes with you in the shower. It goes with you in the hospital. It goes everywhere. That pressure is from the position. The second thing we're suffering comes from is pain from people. People, while they're a great blessing, they can also be one of the greatest sources of pain. Three, for Christians, where we experience suffering is also pushed back from the enemy. When you start doing ministry, you're not only, you're not doing social ministry only. You're provoking the kingdom of darkness, and you're going to get some push back. The devil is not going to be happy, and he's going to make sure you know he's not happy. And then you're not a perfect angel. You got problems inside like we just mentioned. So put all of these four things together and you have a recipe for disaster. And you know when it rains, it pours. It's like this comes out, the Devil comes out, people come out, and then like your job becomes just overwhelmingly stressful. And this is where most of us like, "I quit." And some of us, we're like, "I don't have what it takes." Of course you don't. You do have what He takes. God will always give you more than you can handle. Why? Because He wants to be there to help you. If He gives you what you can handle, His help will be unnecessary. God will always put you in positions bigger than you that will require you to depend on His strength.

When I was younger and the idea of leadership and ministry, you know I loved the anointing, where people are going to experience the God stories, all of that. I didn't like the management. I didn't like the stress that gets involved. I didn't like the board meetings. I didn't like the decisions. I didn't like to live with the consequences of my decisions, and all of that stuff. And then as Ministry started to grow just a little bit, I started to experience more stress. So as a Deliverance Minister, I declared war on stress. I bind the spirit of stress, and I remember the Holy Spirit came and He's like, He's like, "First of all, that's not a demon. This is part of your calling." I say, "But I don't like this stress." I say, "God, can You remove it?" God says, "If I remove the stress, I have to remove your wife. I have to remove your family. I have to remove every member in your church. I have to remove your house because bills come with it. I have to remove your car. Technically, I actually have to remove you as well." And I said, "God, can You help me to do my responsibilities without the stress?" God says, "I never said that's possible. That's why the Bible doesn't say those who wait upon the Lord, He removes stress. He increases strength." Stress for many of us comes simply from the fact that your strength is on the same level, but your success is bigger, your responsibility is bigger. And there is a gap between the strength and the responsibility, and that gap is called stress. And so either we have to lower the responsibility or increase the strength. And when God starts using you, that will increase your stress. Yes, there will be success stories. Yes, there will be financial blessings. Yes, there will be influence. But with it will come a dark side, and that's going to be a stress, a pressure that you live with. And if you don't learn, you don't fight that. You go on your knees, and you say, "God, increase the strength to match the demands of my season." Because if you always pray, "Remove the stress," God's going to keep you on the same level or get you back. But if you say, "God, take me further," please understand there's a pressure in where God is taking you, and you cannot pray out the stress. You have to pray in the strength, and that's called suffering, because until that strength comes, you're suffering. It's hard.

Number four, go far to find fire. Exodus 3:1, "One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness." Say this with me, far into the wilderness. See, he led the flock regularly for 40 years, but something happened on this day. The Bible says he went far, and it's where he saw fire. If you want, as a leader, to experience fresh fire, go further than what you're familiar with. Yesterday's revival becomes today's routine, and it becomes tomorrow's rut. And sometimes the way we get out of that is we go a little bit further. I'm not saying we do something radical for the sake of being radical. What I'm saying is we follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and when He beckons us and invites us to go far, we don't freak out, but we go far. I remember when that happened to me about three years ago when the Lord first, ten years ago when the Lord first put on my heart and my wife's heart to give our savings away. And I said, whoa. This is, this is, this is definitely not God. I rebuked it. The whole nine yards. And then after three months. After three days. I'm sorry, after three days, I realized this probably not the devil because the devil doesn't, you know, give you a desire to give to the missions. I was like, unless the devil really got changed, but otherwise the devil I know does not like missions. And I knew it wasn't me because I'm not that generous. So I was like, there's only one Person. It has to be God. So we took a risk. There was an element of faith. I knew it was from God, but there was an element of faith. We went far because up to that point, I was a tither like a Pharisee. I never gave a dollar above the tithing. So to go far in that, our finances changed in six months. Our ministry, because I was in Youth Ministry for already about ten years. I didn't see any growth. I prayed more. I fasted more. But this is not about praying more. This isn't about fasting more. This is about obedience because God knows how to highlight the area that's most sacrificial to you in that season. If God would have asked in that season to fast for 40 days, gladly I would do it. It wouldn't be a sacrifice. But that part, the money part, was the most painful, the most excruciating pain that I've ever went through up to that point of my life. Three years ago, three or four years ago. It was right during COVID. Four years ago now. It was 2020 of January where we went on a fast. It was a 21-day fast. Now mind you, I tried the 21-day fast as a young person when I was 24, and I collapsed on the day 18. Now the reason why I collapsed is because I took a hot shower way too long. So they had to get me out of the shower, and then you know like I still lived with my parents at the time, I wasn't married. So my mom was like, "You stopping fast!" I'm like, "Mom, I submit to you. The Bible says honor your father and your mother. I honor you. Where's the soup? I'm coming out of the fast," and out of the fast, I came out. But something happened to my mind. I developed an electric fence around my mind concerning a prolonged fast. I developed fear, and the fear is this, if I go fasting more than a few days, I'm going to die. For over ten years, never went one time more than three days because I'm like, I did that, I almost die. So 2020, the Holy Spirit prompts me and He says, "I want you to go far." I said, "Yes, Lord, anything." And He said, "I want you to go and do a 21-day fast." I said, "God, we did it. You were there. I'm going to die." And He said, "That's exactly what I want." He's like, "You're not going to die. You have way more weight than you had 10 years ago this." He's like, "You're going to be okay." I said, "Okay." So I was like, okay, mentally something just broke when I, the moment I said okay. On the day six, the Holy Spirit, this was in California. I was doing an event with my friend David Diga Hernandez and it was in California. On day six I am in a service and the Holy Spirit says, "I want you to go for 40 days." I said, "Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord. I just got my mind to get to the 21. We're on day 6. 40? This is, first of all I'm not some crazy prophet or apostle. I'm just an average Joe. I'm not trying to walk and talk to angels every day. I just, just… God, You picked the wrong guy. My dreams are not that. That's for those crazy guys. Why? I will die! That's not a fence I want to cross over. Behind that is death." But see, there's a difference between you wanting it and God calling it. See, it's different. I, it's not something I wanted. It's something God called. He gave me the strength, right in the middle of that fast which was 21 days, and if anybody ever did a water fast, you know one thing, it's, it's not easy. I actually flew to Ukraine, preached there, flew back. No problem. And on the 40th day, on 39th day, I preached in Florida. Now I did look like a cancer survivor, no offense. But a lot of people came, they're like, "Hey, is everything okay with you," and stuff. So I was like, "Yeah, everything's fine. Don't worry. It's not a health crisis. I'm, I'm okay." And so but God gave me the strength. The moment that fast was over, my personal ministry literally doubled the next week, in finances, with donations came in, the impact that came in. Just, just literally, just like poof. I didn't do it for that. I didn't do it to get a breakthrough. I did it out of obedience. What I want to let you know is this is that if you want to get fresh fire, I'm not saying do something crazy. What I'm saying is when God calls you to do something ridiculous, do not excuse it, because behind ridiculous obedience is usually radical miracles. When Jesus says, "Put water in the cleaning vessels." Don't say, "That's, that's not going to be wine. The water never turns into wine in those vessels." Do not argue with the Lord. You simply put water in that and then you take it to the master of the feast and you say, "Yeah, this is wine." Like even though you know that water has no capabilities to become wine with time. Grapes can become wine. Grape juice can become wine, not water. Water doesn't have what it takes to become wine. But if you do what He says, you will become what you cannot become because God will add a supernatural part to your obedience, He will add a supernatural part to your life. I want to challenge you as a leader, be obedient. Don't be sacrificial, be obedient because obedience leads to sacrifice. Go far, and you will find fresh fire. And I'm going to wrap this up with the last thing. Media team, I just want to apologize right away. I see the clock, I acknowledge what you are seeing as well. I'm not obedient, but I acknowledge my fault. I see what you see, yeah.

Number five, the last thing: God's call on your life is an answer to the cry of your generation. God's call on your life is an answer to the cry of your generation. Exodus 3:9-10, "Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." The call of God upon your life isn't to make you rich, isn't to make you poor, isn't to make you miserable. The call of God upon your life isn't to make you famous. The call of God upon your life isn't because you're special. The call of God upon your life is also not because you're unique. None of these things are really the major factors. What I'm about to share with you turned my world upside down. We bought a house close to church and we had this gentleman that was our neighbor, a retired, black, older gentleman, great smile. And we would talk with him, just, just in passing. As we were settling in, the Lord put on my heart to tell this man about the Lord and invite him to church. We lived three streets from the church, so literally we had absolutely he had no excuse. Plus, from my understanding he was retired. But you know when you're moving in and you're just so busy with this and the landscaping and everything. And so, and we finally settled. I think we were like a month and a half living into our house, and I'm like okay I need to, now I need to either go knock on this door and I need to evangelize to him. We went rollerblading with my wife that night where we lived very close to the river and he lived close to us next door. And my wife gets this heavy feeling, and she says, "I get this heavy feeling about our neighbor." And so I did what every Millennial does. We came back home and I googled my neighbor's parcel, his financials, everything. Found his name, put his name in Google and interestingly no social media presence. But the first article that showed up, it's our local newspaper obituary. Meaning, his death. So I read, the guy died. The next day FBI comes to his house, turns the whole house upside down. They put his house for sale. A lady that's selling his house comes to me as I'm washing my car on Friday, and she says, "I want you to go see his house." And I was like, "Lady, first of all this house is old, my house was brand new." And I was like, "I'm not interested. I just moved. I'm kinda, kinda busy." But I'm a pastor so I'm like, I'm going to behave, stopped washing.

My car. I said, "Yeah, of course, I would love to go see the house." Yeah, let's me go, let's go. And it's just literally so that she just leaves me alone.

We're walking in the house and in the middle of the living room, just to make a conversation with her, in the middle of the living room I see a carpet that's cut out. And I said, "Oh wow, that's really cool. He probably has some pretty interesting furniture here." She said, "Furniture?" I said, "I mean, who cuts a carpet in the middle of the living room?" She said, "You don’t know how he died?" I said, "Well, he was old." She said, "He blew his brains out." She said, "He killed himself here, and that’s why they cut the carpet." And so we finished the tour. I went back; I didn’t finish washing my car. I went back to my room.

And the Holy Spirit spoke something to me, and He said, "When I was calling you to tell him about Me, it’s because he was crying to Me. You were My attempt to answer his cry. You just never picked up." He says, "You were in such a perfect position. You were his neighbor and you were a pastor. He says, "When I call, it’s because somebody’s crying.'" And of course, I, you know, repented. I said, God, I said, I promise I'll never do that.

And then the Lord took me back when I was 16, in that office at noon when the Holy Spirit marked me, and He says, when I called you then, He said it's not because you're special. He says, I know, He said yes, you're My masterpiece, all of that. That doesn't cancel that. But He says, My call on your life is My attempt to answer the cry of your generation. My call on your life, it's not because you fasted a lot, prayed a lot. It's not because you're holier than other people. It's not because you're a better communicator. It's not you because you're better looking. It's not because you're better this and you're better that. It's because there is a cry that's coming from your generation and I'm willing to take anybody. I'm willing to give them the power they need. I'm willing to empower them. I'm willing to anoint them. I'm willing to give them whatever they need to fulfill that call, but My call on your life is My attempt to answer the cry of your generation.

You know, at 16 when I gave yes to God, when I said yes to full-time ministry, you know what happened? I really thought I'm just going to throw away my whole life. I really thought, you know what? There goes my prosperity, there goes my dreams, there goes me making a difference in this world. Now I'm going to spend the rest of my life in my uncle's shadow. Now I'm going to live in some kind of a forgotten, small, little town and just serve, go to jails every week, and preach at homeless shelters every week, and preach and pastor 25 cousins who are half crazy, the other half are demon-possessed and they're just not knuckleheads. They're not going to ever change, and that's going to be the rest of my life. Probably never going to get married, and really I settled. I'm like, man, God is really punishing me for somebody's sins by making me do that.

But I never heard voice messages that came to heaven's phone calls. I never heard that there would be a Brian who overdosed four times in one month. An atheist who will eventually get saved, and it's his cry God was answering. And when he got saved, and today he is married, has a master's degree and has a kid. And his mom got saved, and when his mom got saved, she came and cried on my shoulder and said, thank you for saving my son. I didn't hear those conversations in heaven's courts. I didn't hear the cries, but see God hears the cries. And when God calls you, it's not because of you. It's because God is trying to answer the cry of your generation.

So when God came to Moses and say, Moses, I heard the cry of My people. He didn't say, I heard the cry of a bunch of losers, bunch of homosexual, lesbian, addicted, weirdos. He says they're My people. Not in the sense that they're going to heaven, but in the sense that I love them, in the sense that I gave My Son for them, in the sense that I set My Spirit for them, in the sense that I created a local church to reach them. I heard the cry of My people. And God tells Moses, I'll give you the power that you need, I'll give you the resources that you need, I'll give you Aaron that you need, I'll break the grip of the most powerful Empire in the world. I'll split the Red Sea, I'll bring the 10 plagues. I will show My glory but Moses! Moses! I heard the cry of My people! I have seen their oppression, that's why I'm sending you. God didn't say I sending you because you prayed. God didn't say I'm sending you because you fasted. God didn't say I'm sending you because your mama had faith. All of these are important ingredients to your calling, but they're not the real motive. The real motive is the heart of God breaks over the plight of people.

There are people that are going to hell in a handbasket every single day. There are people who never heard about Jesus's first coming, while most of us debate His second coming. There are people who do not know the Lord and God hears them, God sees them, His heart breaks over them. See, most of us look in our city and we think in the percentages. We're like, yeah, 10% go to church. Praise God, we have revival. We just want to bump the number to 20%. You know, imagine you have five kids, and you go on a vacation and on the way back from a vacation you notice, one of them is missing. Do you pull out a calculator and say, honey, what's the percentage? So if we're missing one kid, four we still have. What's the percentage? Do the math. We, we're still pretty good. It's a passing grade. One of them, plus we kind of never really like him anyway. No parent ever does math on their kids. The only people who do math, who don't have kids, on somebody else's children. God cannot afford to think of our city in percentages. For all of them He died. Every one of them is so dear to His heart. So when He looks at them, He doesn't rejoice when He sees 99. He, He goes for the one? Why? Because His heart is the heart of a Father, His heart is the heart of a Savior, His heart is the heart that hears the cry of this creation. You see, He hears the cry of a drug addict that is shooting up drugs and says, if there is a God. If there is somebody there, Buddha, Allah, Krishna. Somebody help me! God, He hears the cry!

And then God calls you, God calls you and then God calls you. You're thinking, oh, it's so burdening to serve God. It's so burdening to give another thing. But you don't understand, you don't understand that heaven is trying to answer the cry of your generation. The call on your life is God answering the cry. And some of you here today, there is a call in your life that you're running away from, and you're like Jonah. You booked the ticket the opposite way. You're like, well, I'm going to do anything about that. I'll support those who have the call of God. And even as I'm speaking, your heart is beating out of your chest because you're recognizing your life is not what it's supposed to be. You're supposed to dedicate your life toward that call and we're going to pray for that right now.

There's some of you here today, and maybe you've been doing the ministry but you're burned out like Moses. You tried in your own strength, killed a few Egyptians. You're like, man, this is not for me. Ah yeah, I'm just going to go take care of the sheep of the father Jethro and that's it. And I'm just going to, and your spiritual life is on a cruise, your spiritual life is just you're just simply cruising. And the passion, the vision, the fervency is gone, and today the Lord is calling you to go far. Maybe you are here today and you're, you're a great leader but you're a terrible father, but you're a mean, mean manager. And the Holy Spirit wants you to acknowledge your sins. Your wife is constantly nagging about this and about that. And you always, you always shut her down because you emotionally can manipulate way better and dominate. But the Holy Spirit is saying, listen, you got water in your cup, and I'm using your wife to show you you need change. And just because somebody got healed of cancer when you pray for them, it doesn't change the fact that you're a jerk. And that part needs to change, that part needs to be repented, that part needs to be, you cannot be deleting your browsing history. You got to bring that to the cross. You got to be delivered from that, you got to be cleansed from that. You can't be living in the secret sin and in the secret place at the same time. You got to choose one. You got to bring that to the Lord right now.

But maybe you are here and you don't know your calling. You're one of those people who you have so much pain in your life right now. And you're here, you're booked into this so you can kind of learn about how to advance in career and other stuff and you're hungry. You're like, man, I, I'm kind of where you are at Vlad. Everything is kind of falling apart. I'm, I'm there right now. This is going to be a good moment to respond to God. Holy Spirit, we welcome You in this place. Holy Spirit, we welcome You in this place right now. Holy Spirit, we welcome You in this place. We welcome your presence right now. Jesus, we say yes to You. Right there where you are standing, I want you to open up your mouth. If you speak in tongues, just begin to pray in the Holy Ghost right now. Just close your eyes. Just begin to pray in the Holy Ghost. I'm going to give a call in just a moment but before we do that, the Holy Spirit wants to renew some people, He wants to refresh some people, He wants to heal some people right now, He wants to deliver some people, He wants to cleanse some people in this room. Holy Spirit, we welcome Your presence right now, we welcome Your fire right now. Holy Spirit, we welcome Your anointing right now. Holy Spirit, we welcome Your Spirit, Your presence in this room right now. Holy Spirit, let Your glory come, let Your glory come into our life, let Your glory come into our future, Lord. We thank You Jesus for the calling that You've given us. We thank You for the purpose that You have given us God. We thank you for the righteousness that You are developing in us God. That You're making us more and more like You, You're making us more and more like You. Jesus.

Maybe you are here right now and you're noticing the illustration that I gave on the stage as it described your marriage or maybe I described your situation. You say, man, Holy Spirit is dealing with that right now, that specific issue. I want you to quickly come out of your seat right now. We're going to begin to bring it to the Lord. This is going to be your way of saying, God, I'm not going to make excuses for my behavior, I'm going to make progress. I'm going to repent. But maybe you're here right now and you're realizing that you have been, you have been at the shallow waters and God is inviting you to go far to find fire. You, in fact, you lost that fire. You're not burning anymore, you're just kind of burned out. You, you're burned out. You're not burning, you're burned out. I want you to come out of your seat right now, and I want you to come forward. This is going to be your way saying, God, light me on fire again. God, light me on fire again. I don't want to live like this. I don't want to be buried at 70 and die at 40. I want to live at 40. I want to burn all the days of my life for You. Light a fire inside of me, light a fire inside of me. Maybe you are here and you are under an overwhelming amount of stress. You barely can make it anymore, you're like, I'm so tired. I can't do it anymore. I want you to just come out of your seat, get in somewhere in the aisle, get on your knees and say, God increase your strength. God give me the power to meet the demands of what you placed upon my life. But maybe you are here and you've been running from the call of God, and you're like Jonah, you're doing anything and everything but just, just so you don't do the call of God. Right now wants to come out as well and you say, Lord, I want to change. Lord, I want to say yes to your call. Those of you that came out of your seat and you're in the aisle or you're in the front, stretch your hands forward right now. Father, in the name of Jesus, Holy Spirit, I ask You right now that Your presence will come. Holy Spirit, I ask You right now that Your fire will come. Holy Spirit, I ask You right now that You will bring the fire to those that lost the flame, that You will begin to rekindle the fire inside of their hearts right now. In the name of Jesus Christ, Lord, I pray for those that burned out, I pray for those who are tired, I pray for those who are giving up, I pray for those who are throwing in the towel, right now, let strength come. Holy Ghost, bring Your fire right now. Holy Spirit, bring Your power right. Burn every disappointment, burn every burnout, Lord. Burn every hurt, burn every lie of the enemy, burn every self-pity, burn every excuse making. Burn every fear, every fear of man, burn every fear of man, burn every fear of disappointment. I break every spirit of laziness. I break every spirit of lying. I break every generational curse that says that you will not make it, that says that you will not break through. In the name of Jesus Christ, every distress, every spirit of fear, in the name of Jesus every spirit of heaviness be broken off of you. Receive the strength of God right now, receive the power of God right now, receive the fire of God right now. [Speaking in tongues] I see fire of God falling, I see fire of God falling. Fire of God falling on the altar. Fire of God falling on the sacrifice. [Speaking in tongues] Rekindle Your flame right now, Lord. Rekindle your fire right now, Lord, in Jesus' name.

I want you to place your hand upon your heart, and I want you to pray for your character. Say, God, give me humility to acknowledge my wrongs. Come on, begin to talk to the Lord. Some of you, you will have things that are surfacing right now. The things that you know that they're just not right. God give me a baby skin in heart. God help me to live in integrity in small things, help me to sweat small things. God, stuff that comes out of my mouth, the exaggeration, the lies, the prideful speech, Lord. The harsh speech that comes out when I give people the raw and real truth, but in reality I don't season it with grace, Lord. I ask You right now Holy Spirit that You will soften my heart. Lord, I pray that You will soften how I speak to my children, soften how I speak to my spouse, soften my heart on how I treat my staff, soften my heart on how I treat my elders and my and my pastors, God. I renounce every excuse making, I renounce every blame shifting, I renounce constantly pointing finger at somebody else. I take responsibility. I'll receive correction. I will heed correction, God. I will walk in brokenness. I will walk in integrity. I will walk in brokenness. I will walk in integrity. I will walk in righteousness. I want you to get on your knees, those of you who came to the front or on the aisle, I want you to get on your knees right now. And I want to say, Lord, break my heart over the things that break Yours. Come on. For those of you that are especially in ministry, I want you to say, Lord help me never to forget why, why You called me. God, I say yes to Your call. I say yes to Your call. Use my ministry, use my life to answer the cry of my generation. May I serve my generation like David served God in his generation. Come on, right there where you are right now on your knees, just ask the Lord, say God, expand my heart, give a bigger heart for souls. Expand my vision that my vision will not be fueled by my ambition and my ego, but my vision will be expanded by the heart of God to see my region change, to see my ministry grow. Not so that I can have a big ministry, but so that God can have, so that the Lamb can receive the reward of His suffering. So that the hell can be emptied and heaven can be populated. So that the Father's heart that's broken over His creation will be relieved from pain. It will be relieved from that suffering that God experiences when He sees a broken people. Lord, I pray that our altars will never be barren. I pray that our altars will never be empty. I pray that our small group will never be barren, Lord. I pray that our ministries will bear fruit, fruit of salvation of people. Lord, we repent of pride. We repent of arrogance. We repent of small thinking. We repent of small thinking, God. Give us Your burden, give us Your burden, give us Your heart, God. We cannot hear the cry of the people but you do. God break our heart over what breaks yours. Use our church as an answer. [Speaking in tongues] Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit expand our vision. Holy Spirit, expand our vision. Holy Spirit enlarge our heart, break our hearts for what breaks Yours, use us to answer the cry of our generation. I pray for those that are tired or burned out. Lord, I pray that their heart will catch on fire. That they will catch on fire in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Lord, as we answer the call, would you answer their cry? As we answer the call would you answer their cry, in Jesus' name.

I want you to stretch your hands, put your hand on somebody next to you right now. Just pray for them right now. Just pray for them. Say, Holy Spirit, release a freshness. Reset them right now, Lord renew them. They started well in January, but now it's July and they need to be reset. Reset them Lord. Reset them in their spirit, reset them in their, give them a new strategy, give them Lord God a new depth. Lord call them. Lord anoint them. Lord empower them. Lord in the name of Jesus Christ I pray for the person next to me right now, break anything that they came with that is holding them back. Break anything that is holding them back right now in the name of Jesus. Fill their horn with oil. Lord, I pray that You will begin to bring the right people to this person. Father, I pray that You begin to bring a shift in their season, shift in their season. Sanctify them, Lord. Sanctify them, Lord. Light a fire inside of them, Lord. Father, I speak over every person in this room, fresh visitation of the Holy Spirit. I speak over every pastor, every leader, every business leader, every small group leader, that even this conference you will light a fire inside of their heart. A greater fire than they had in the beginning. In Jesus' name I speak over every person, God that we will become more and more like Jesus, every week and every day. And I pray right now Lord, that you will help us to endure suffering. To embrace suffering that comes with following you and not run from things that simply are results of having responsibility and weight in your kingdom. In the name of Jesus, Lord I pray for those that You prompt their heart to go far. May You give them the strength to obey, the grace to obey in Jesus' name. That even if we don't see our ministry grow, that we grow first and our ministry will grow in Jesus' name. Hallelujah, let's give the Lord a clap offering.