Transcription
Acts chapter 14, verse 20. Acts chapter 14, verse 20. I want to read from the NLT version. Paul has just been stoned and left for dead. And we pick up at Acts 14:20.
But as the believers gathered around him, he got up, went back into town. I'mma read that again. As the believers gathered around him, he got up. I think I might read that a third time. As the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into town.
If you're not too mean, look at your neighbor and say, "Do me one favor. Don't leave me down. Don't leave me down. Don't leave me down."
We've been in the midst of a series that I think is so special for this moment entitled Forced. We've been in the midst of a series entitled Forced. I was on a recruiting visit with my son. I've said it once. I said for the third time, Middle Tennessee and Coach Mason looked at him and said, "In life, you will have to deal with force multipliers." When he said it, it was like my spiritual senses went off as if God was speaking directly to me. The whole ride home, I'm taking notes like, "God, that phrase has arrested my attention." And I began to come up with definitions and study the phrase force multipliers.
Force multipliers is on the screen are God-used pressures that accelerate development, reveal capacity, and push you into levels you would not have reached through comfort alone. That's still good to me. This my fourth Sunday reading that force multipliers are God-used pressure. I'm gonna see who's been rocking with me, who can finish this statement. Notice I didn't say God caused pressures because everything that happens in your life, God did not cause, but everything that has happened in your life, God can use. That's why the devil don't know what to do with you. Because the enemy is always up to tricks, but he don't realize what the devil meant for evil. God will turn it for your good. God may not have caused your breakup, but he'll use it. God may not have caused your pain, but he will use it. I am so grateful that I serve a God that no matter what it is that happens in my life, God is able to do exceeding and abundant above all I could ever act, think, dream or imagine.
The second definition of force multipliers are force multipliers are pressures, systems or decisions that make growth happen faster than comfort would allow. That can preach. Force multipliers are pressures, systems, or decisions that make growth happen faster than comfort would allow. I just saw that in that definition. I want to speak this over your life cuz many of you are complaining about your pressure, complaining about your problem or complaining about what's going on and don't realize sometimes God allows things to happen in your life cuz he's trying to speed you up. I think you missed what I just said right there. God is like, "Where I'm trying to get you, I can't take another three years developing you. So I might make this summer crazy cuz 2027 about to be everything you prayed for." So instead of crying about my trouble, I've learned to rejoice about my trouble. Cuz God, you must be up to something. And I'm preaching to three of y'all in the balcony and two people online who can live long enough that you can look back over your life retrospectively. Retrospective. Put this in your notes. Sometimes pressure calls for retrospective reflection. Retrospective reflection. What that mean, PMJ? It's when I take a look back at my yesterday in order to determine what God is getting ready to do today. Preach Mike. It's when I look back at my yesterday to determine what God is about to do today. Please make that make sense. If I was having good church, I would say, "I look back to see what he did last time." And if he did it before, who going to help me preach today? He can do it again.
So number three, force multipliers. Are you taking good notes? Force multiplier is any pressure, disruption or responsibility that removes the option to stay the same. Any pressure, disruption or responsibility that removes the option to stay the same. That's critical. So on last week we brought up this idea. So if a force multiplier removes the option to stay the same, that's indicative of the fact that there once was what? An option. So in other words, this is real good. God is saying, "Since you won't pick growth, I'll force growth. Since you won't pick prayer, I'll force you to pray. Since you won't pick to live right, I will let stuff jump off in your life that'll make you live right." See, I know you don't want to say amen, cuz the first thing you learn when you got in church is that you had to appear perfect. See, I don't want to appear to be something I'm not. Because if I appear to be something I'm not, then people going to be blessing a lot. Which is why every now and again, I need to make it very clear. I am not all that I'm supposed to be right now. But God, this is for three of y'all, is working on me. And the thing that I love about God is that if you won't pick it, God will pick on you long enough to where his preference becomes your preference. Hear me when I say this. So force multipliers are any pressure and disruption and responsibility that removes the option to stay the same. That's important.
So this week I would like to introduce a new force multiplier. And the force multiplier that I want to introduce today, I showed you disruption. I showed you interruption. Last week we discovered clarity is a force multiplier. Today I want to introduce a force multiplier called community. Yeah. Community. Community. Growing up, I would hear people say stuff like, "I need backup." That was somebody's way of saying they needed help or support. But in my culture, I don't say I need backup. I'mma see who can finish this statement. At Rock City, we say you cannot rock alone. In other words, we're saying God did not call you to do life by yourself. This is not just a saying here at Rock City. It's a biblical truth. Put this in your notes if you don't mind. The first thing that God said was not good in the Bible was not a sin. Yes. The first thing that God said was not good was when Adam was alone. Please notice that the first thing that God called not good was the fact that man was alone. In the book of Genesis, God begins to create the heavens and the earth and the heavens were void. He said, "Let let there be light and it was good." He separated flying things from crawling things and it was good. And he made vegetation. He made plants and it was good. Then he made Adam. He was like, and it was good. Then he said it's not good for man to be alone.
So in your notes I want you to write Genesis 1. Genesis 1. That is the creation narrative. Genesis 1 is the creation narrative. This is enough to tell the whole church up right here. He creates the world but never lifts a finger. Preach Mike. I'mma talk to y'all. He creates the world but never lifts a finger. Well, PMJ, how does he create the world? He spoke it, Michael, into existence. I don't need people in my life who got stuff. I just need some people who can say some stuff. That's why the Bible say you can speak those things that are not as though they so. Genesis 1, are you taking notes? Is the creation narrative. He he puts a command in place when he starts it by saying, "Let there be." And it was Jesus. Let there be and it was. So what happens is he gets to the point where he creates man and he finally says, "This ain't good." He says, "This ain't good." So in your notes in Genesis 1, good is equivalent to functional. When he made light, he said that's functional. When he made flying things, he said that's functional. When he made crawling and swimming things, he said that's functional. When he made man and saw him by himself, he said that's dysfunctional. I got to put something in his life that is suitable. Watch this. Cuz if I don't send him what he need, he'll lay with what's around him. Michael, if I don't send him what he need, he will lay with what's around him. If I don't make him a wife, he going to call one of these animals wife. Which explains the last six people you dated. Cuz when you are not in his will, you will settle for what's around you instead of waiting on what God called you to. I'm preaching to three of y'all. That's why you need to wake up in the morning and get over what you used to be under is because what God has for you, the moment you settle, you are living beneath what God called you. He says this is dysfunctional and I know I know many of you have been raised with this ideology. I don't need nobody. I don't need nothing. But God says the moment he saw man roaming by himself, he says that's dysfunctional.
Now notice that the devil, the snake in the garden, the devil does not show up when Adam is alone. I'm talking heavy today. The snake never showed up when Adam was by himself. The snake didn't show up till he got somebody who could help him carry his vision because the devil understands. Put this in your notes. The power of partnership. Michael, the power of partnership. I'm going to say that again. There is power in our partnership. The enemy does not fear you having relationships. He's afraid of you having strong relationships. He's afraid of you having strong relationships. That means loneliness is not always proof that something is wrong with your character. Most people assume that if you're lonely, something must be wrong with you. Loneliness is not proof that there is something wrong with my character. Sometimes it's proof that something is missing in my community. That's good, Pastor Mike. What do you mean? Can I help you real quickly? Cuz just because I feel lonely don't mean I'm alone. [laughter] I'mma say that again. Just because I feel lonely does not mean I'm alone. Why, PMJ? Because you can be surrounded by purpose and still suffer from isolation. Somebody gonna help me preach today. You can be surrounded by purpose and still suffer from isolation. The first not good in the Bible is a Say that better. The first not good in the Bible is not about sin. It's about solitude. You would think the first not good in the Bible was Cain killing Abel. But God says no. The first not good had nothing to do with sin. It was the fact that he was alone. God did not call Adam weak for needing help. He called his isolation dysfunctional.
Now, I know many of you are saying, "Pastor Mike, I don't need nobody. I tried it." Let me free you real quickly. Being alone may be manageable, but it's not sustainable. Being alone may be manageable, but it's not sustainable. Why is that, PMJ? I'm going to say this for the 40some club. Live long enough. Some going to jump off where you need somebody in your life. Cuz God, put this in your notes, never designed assignment to be carried in isolation. That's good. God never designed assignment to be carried in isolation. No, he never designed assignment to be carried in isolation. So what does he give you? He knows function requires connection. Woo. If it's going to be functional, it requires connection. We make stuff so deep, but it's so simplistic. Everything in your life requires community and you think you don't. Yep. So you think when you go home and turn your water on, your water on cuz you turned it on. If your water ain't in good standings with the company. So the company makes sure it's on. Make sure it's clean. They get it to you. So now it becomes functional because you're in good standing. Even when God began to create, he made stuff that needed each other. He says, "I'mma make day, but the problem is day may get tired. So in order to give day a break, I'mma give him a partner called night. I'mma have flying things and crawling things." He looks at Adam and says, "Adam, I want you to rule and multi. You can't even rule and multiply and reproduce cuz I need to give you something that you can connect with to produce." So he says, "I'mma give you Adam, but Adam, you going to be so cold that you got what's in you to make a baby, but I'm not going to give you what it takes to develop one. So then I'm going to make this sister who got what it takes to develop a baby, but I'm not going to give her the ability to produce one. Y'all can only produce when y'all come together. This is why the devil got your family at odds and your friends hating you, cuz he knows if y'all ever get on one accord. [cheering] It ain't nothing the devil can do with you. This is why every brother in here needs a good woman. Because whatever you give a woman, she multiplies. I'mma preach the three sisters online. Whatever you give a good woman, she multiplies. You give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. You give her a little love, she'll card your heart. You give her a little peace and she'll fight your battles for you. And see, the reason you can tell you don't have a good woman is because the one you got only divide and subtract. God, give me one that multiply. I'm preaching whether y'all receive it or not. I wish I had seven sisters at this service who can say, "It ain't my looks. It ain't my mind. Baby, I can multiply some stuff. You give me a little paycheck, I make sure every bill paid, every way is made. I am what God called me to be. I am a multiply." Conversely, if you give her pain, she'll give you more problems. If you give her lies, she'll give you more headaches. Because a real woman is not built to subtract and divide. A real woman is constructed to multiply whatever you get. So if you mad at who she became, you got to realize what you put in her because she's only the result of what you put in her because function, uh, function requires connection. And the reason, preach Michael McClure, the reason the attack on our lives are so crazy is because God looked over your circle and realized you, preach Mike, are the multiplier. You want to know what I should have preached? When God multiplies, cuz God said, "I am so God, I can take two fish, five loaves, and everybody around me going to eat." Cuz when you put the right stuff in the right hands, some of you, this is going to be the most focused year of your life. I'm going to say it again. This is going to be the most focused year of your life. I'm going to say it again. This is going to be the most focused year of your life. And if you're not careful, am I doing okay? If you're not careful, people assume, cuz I do it. So when you get focused, if I'm talking to you, throw your hand up. The first thing you do is say, "I got to cut some distractions out. I got to get some of these people out of my life." Put this in your notes. The right relationship is not a distraction from purpose. It's a multiplier of purpose. Preach Mike McClure. The right relationship is not a distraction of purpose. It is a multiplier of purpose. See, the problem ain't the relationship. It might just mean it's not the right one. But the devil tricks you into believing you need to cut everything off to get where you're trying to go. So, you penalize who could multiply cuz you infatuated who would Say that better, Michael. You penalize who could multiply because you're infatuated with who been dividing. Which is why we spend more time dealing with the people who trying to leave us than celebrating the people who staying with me. Just bump somebody and say, "I ain't chasing nobody else this year." Tell them that's the wrong neighbor. Bump another and tell them, "I ain't chasing nobody else this year." If you want to leave, leave. Get some of that subtraction. Trust me, you'll be back. I am a multiplier. God answer, look at this now. God's answer to isolation was not more work. It was meaningful connection. I want to say this and I want you to really hear your pastor when I say it. No matter what advantages you have, you're brilliant, you're smart, you got money, you got credit, you got background, you got experience, you got connections. No matter what you got, listen clearly to me. At some point, life is going to test you in an area that you cannot fix by yourself. And some people would rather die alone than ask people for help because their pride will not allow them to admit. Here it is. This is too big for me. I'mma say this and seven of y'all gonna receive this. What God is about to do in your life, you going to need a whole team to handle this next season. I don't think you heard what I just said. What God is about to do in your life, you're going to need a whole team to handle this next season. Six of y'all should have just said, "I receive that right there." That God's about to send me good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. So, hear me when I say this. Support, put this in your notes. Support is subjective to the one being supported. That's on me. Support is subjective to the one that's being supported. It's going to make sense in a minute. Okay? Support is subjective to the one being supported. Okay. Um, uh, Pete, Pete, we're so proud of you, boy. My boy Peter Wood right there. Just got drafted, man. We proud of you, boy. We so proud of you. Pete, you know this cuz you play football at a high level. You got Bellichic or you got Coach Prime. All right. So, so if if you make a good play, a coach Bellich, who's a nonsense old school guy, going to look at you run off the field goal like this. He gave you a nod of support. Prom gonna look at you and say, "Boy, ain't nobody like you, boy. You're the baddest boy I ever seen in my life, boy. You killing them things, boy." Both of them are supporting me. But based off of my love language is what I do. Based off of my love language, it determines what I think is actually support. So if I'm a person who needs words of affirmation, if I do good and you look at me and say, "Good job," and keep moving, you in your head you supported me, but to me you didn't think my effort was worth much and you disregarded it. But yet if you look at me and say, "Baby, you killed that." Now I'm walking around with my chest out. Because support is subjective. Many of you are frustrated and wrestling with depression. You feel drained and empty because you feel like you're surrounded but not supported. Michael, you feel surrounded. Put this in your notes. It's one thing to be surrounded. It's another thing to be supported. It's one thing to have people Say that better in attendance. I need people in agreement. I don't just need to be surrounded. I want to be supported. Why, PMJ? Because function requires connection. I'm going to make myself feel so old right here. Okay. So old. I pray y'all don't leave me hanging. Please don't leave me hanging and let these young people think that I'm washed and I'm old right here. All right. But but you remember when the iPhone first dropped? Who remember when the iPhone first dropped? Okay. I'm I'm going finish this sentence. If you had an iPhone, that meant you had some what? Oh my god. The people with an iPhone put if you pulled out an iPhone back then. We would look at you and be like, "Oh my god." If you went to the club, you could be ugly. If you just went and stood on the wall and pulled out your iPhone, they like, "Girl, he got an iPhone." Because most of us had Nokias. We was playing Snake. Who remember Snake? We had a digital screen. The little snake would do this right here. Five of y'all couldn't even talk to after 9 who I'm preaching to. People would call you like I call them at 9:01. You had to get your minutes on your phone. You remember when the iPhone first came out? You would go to the store, get an iPhone, right, baby? You don't know what this meant. You're too young. Okay. You would go to the store, get your iPhone. It was a whole production. They would walk in the back and they would leave somebody standing there talking to you. They'll say, "Yeah, it's on the way. It's getting ready to happen. Are you ready?" Then the guy would come out the back and they would put it on the table. They boom, big old box. They would open that box and open the box. Then all of a sudden that silver iPhone, they would peel the thing off the screen and then all of a sudden in that box was a charger, them string headphones. They gave you multiple earbuds in case them didn't fit your ear. Let you go buy an iPhone today. All you get is the phone. They don't even care if it work when it get home. There go the phone. Well, how I'm supposed to charge it? The charger $59.99, but the good charger $79.99. It's called a lightning charger. All right, cool. Where my headphones at? Oh, the headphones $2.99. The $299. Oh, you can get the $3.99. And I'm sitting here like, time out. Why am I have to pay for community? iPhone discovered that the phone isn't worth anything by itself. If you remove the charger and you remove the headphones, this becomes less valuable. Which is why you need to do an inventory. Because if you ain't a charger or a headphone, what purpose do you serve in my life? Many of you feel alone because you got a whole lot of company, but ain't nobody bringing any benefit to who you are. This is why, am I doing okay? This is why Ecclesiastes 4:9 says, "Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Two people are better off than one, cuz they can help each other succeed." Look at that C clause. But if one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Can I be honest? And you don't have to say amen. A lot of your pain right now is cuz you're dealing with the reality that you got all these people in your life, but when life happened, you alone. How is it when you need something, I drop what I'm doing to come to you. You have to stop making people an emergency who make you an option. Michael. So hear me. Look at what Ecclesiastes says. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. Put this in your notes. Falling is inevitable. Falling is inevitable, but staying down is optional when you have the right support. I don't want you to think I'm being negative right here. Please, Pastor Mike ain't being negative. I'm far from negative. I just want to say something that people won't tell you. Live long enough, you going to fall. Pastor Mike, I've been good with my money. God bless you. You don't think God can let the bank system crash? Live long enough, money may fall off. Okay, y'all are looking at me. Somebody say the devil is a lie. Okay, I'm going to say this. If you've ever experienced, just just talk back to me. People fall off, your health can fall off, finances can fall off. Where you work, career can fall off. Falling is inevitable. Falling is inevitable. I am who I am, not because I'm just some this incredible guy that y'all think I am. I have community that when I fall, they lift me. That when depression hits me in certain seasons, I've been doing so well over the last 6 to 12 months. I've been speaking life over my mind, but I have moments with one negative comment. I can dwell on it too long and I sink. Lately, sometimes my depression is not even negative stuff no more. The last bout of depression I dealt with was that I got overwhelmed cuz it was so much I wanted to do for the people who mattered to me and I didn't have the ability to do it for everybody. So now I'm up all night wondering, okay, if I do it for this person, don't do it for this person, what they going to think. So now I'm killing myself and doing 16 shows and flying back at 4 in the morning just to be at church and doing all this stuff. And now my health, now my weight up, now my mind, now my body hurting cuz I'm over here trying my best to be everything to everybody. Because for me often, remember this, you give people what matters to you, not what matters to them. So for me, I am a words of affection. I'm a giftgiver. I I want to I want I want you to see that I'm there for you. And sometimes I do that at the detriment of myself. So when I finally run out of gas and I fall, I don't have people who say, "Well, he'll get back up." I got folk who say, "No, we can't. If he went that hard for us, we going to have to sit here till he get back up." Because falling is inevitable. It's only one thing. God God guaranteed. He said, "Lo, problems and troubles will be with you always." Whether you live right, whether you pay your tithe, whether you go to church, some going to jump off. Heaven cannot be bribed into believing that something won't happen for you. But staying down is optional when you have the right support. My my question for you today is, do you have the right support? Woo. Proverbs 27:17, as iron sharpens iron. So a friend sharpens a friend. Put this in your notes. The right people don't just stand beside you, they sharpen you. It's good. The right people don't just stand beside you, they sharpen you. I'mma say this. I hope y'all don't leave me hanging. If somebody ever tell you, "I know Pastor Mike Jr., he's not as nice as y'all think he is." They probably telling you the truth. That is the testimony of people who couldn't hang around me. Yeah. So stop trying to be my friend. Somebody inbox me yesterday, "I think we would be so cool." No, we wouldn't. In 6 months, you're going to hate me just like the other people hate me. Cuz I'm the type of person that when you tell me you want something, your won't become my want. So the first thing I'm going to do is encourage you. Come on now. Let's go get it. You said you starting a business here. What we doing? You better ask Cordell. Come on. You getting it? You going to drop that music? What we doing? What we doing? What we doing? Then you go to phase two. All right. Now I'm going to give you three months to get your mind right. Come on. The world waiting on you, Cadel. World waiting on you. By the third one, you trash. Pastor Mike, why you ain't tell me was in the studio? You ain't going to do nothing. Why you need to be there? And so now I almost sort of become aggressive and angry because I didn't just want it for you. I'm now spending time, Father, in Jesus name I speak by faith. I'm calling resources from the north, the south, the east, and the west. But I'm trying to get you to realize that you don't need people who stand next to you. These are the things we've been saying out of our mouth that I don't believe. We realize we're speaking our own divides into existence. I just need somebody who going to stand with me. Who? I don't need nobody going to stand with me. I need somebody who going to shake me that when I lean too far to the right, they make me straighten back up. That when I'm not praying like I should, they can say, "Hey, you need to get your mind together." I need somebody who going to love me enough to offend me at the point of me leaving them. But trust and believe at some point I'mma think back and say they only wanted the best for me. Am I preaching to anybody? They shape you. So So right now, can you tell I've been working out a little bit? Can you tell? It ain't sticking out too much, is it? Well, well, well. Oh, God. I'm caught. I'm at this point in the message where I got a good point I can prove, but it comes at my embarrassment. Oh, God. Do I preach it or do I just keep it moving? Which one? Okay. All right. All right. All right. See, the reason I can preach and it looks as if all of this is in the right place. I got this girdle thing on right now. Right. Oh God, I can't believe I said it. It's like a little muscle shirt. It ain't a girdle. It's a muscle shirt. You wear a girdle. I wear a muscle shirt. I got this muscle shirt on. And the muscle shirt makes sure everything is shaped right. Even though I ain't put the work in yet, it gives the illusion that the work is being put in. A good person in your life, even when you wow, will keep you covered in such a way that when the devil tries to take you out, there shall no weapon. I just need you to reach over that nater cuz they a hater and say, "I'm a shaper. Stick around me long enough. I'mma make sure your mind right, make sure your money right, make sure your career growing, make sure your life on track." Matter of fact, look at your neighbor and say, "You don't even have to praise God." Tell them, "I brought enough praise for everybody on my row that God, whatever you're doing in this season, don't do it without."
So that sets the blueprint. Give me 10 minutes. I'm going to get you home. That sets the blueprint for Acts 14:8. In Acts 14:8, we meet Paul. Paul used to be who? Saul. So remember last week I told you he had all this stuff wrong. He gets a force multiplier. And what happens? He shifts. Now he's Paul. Paul, that talented tent maker from Tarsus who tintilates us with tough theology. It is Paul who wrote be passages in the Bible that are tear any church up. It is Paul who is going from city to city making sure people learn about a man named Jesus. Paul arrived with Barnabas in Lystra. This is critical. Look at verse eight. At Lystra, I think I just felt my second wind kick in. I was tired a minute ago. I might preach now. I feel something. At Lystra, a man had no strength in his feet. Please put that in your notes and do me a favor. In seven minutes, we going to shout about this. There was a man who had no strength in his feet. Please put that in your notes. There was a man who had no strength in his feet. Lame. Miss Minnie couldn't walk from his mother's womb. Look at this. Who had never walked? Look at this. There's a man who has no strength in his what? Come on, class. No strength in his what? His leg, his arms work, his hands work, his head work, his legs work, but his feet don't work. His eyes work, his ears work, his mouth work, but his feet don't work. Are you taking notes? Feet represent foundation. I don't care how strong you are. If your feet don't work, there is no stability in your life. And many of you are frustrated cuz you done finally got your money right, your looks right, your credit right, and your job right. But it still ain't standing on nothing. It's because anything you build on the wrong foundation will not last. Keep your paycheck. I'm built on Jesus. It is foundation. So feet represent foundation. So the scripture, put the scripture on the screen. There is a man in Lystra who is sitting who had no strength and it's what? Take feet, take strength out. There is a man sitting who has no foundation. You'll be surprised who's sitting in church with no foundation. Pastor Mike, what that look like? Know every church song but no scripture. Know all the church cliches but can't pray. Got on church clothes but a black heart. This brother got no strength in his feet. Watch this. Lame from his mother's womb. From the moment he got here, his feet ain't work. He had preach Mike never walked. This is so important. But he hears verse N. He hears Paul preaching. The scripture says this man listening to Paul as he spoke. This man listening to Paul as he spoke. You missed it. This man listening to Paul as he spoke. Who's this man? The brother with no feet who feed is weak. Let me real quickly. I did the research and this blew my mind. There is no synagogue recorded in Lystra. Where this is taking place in Lystra, there is no synagogue. Stop being DPMJ. Ain't no church in Lystra. Yeah. How is Paul preaching and it ain't no church? My professors at Yale Divinity argue that this is what they call open air preaching. So Paul ain't preaching. Paul is just speaking. Which means he talking to them. "Hey man, I want you to know there's a man named Jesus who died for your sins, man. And whoever would listen. Hey, what's up brother man? No, my name's Paul, man. Came from the other city. There's a man named Jesus who died for your sins." But look at verse 9. I'm I'm going to make you see it. He's preaching. He's just teaching. "Hey, hey, man. Paul." And the brother whose legs don't work, feet don't work is looking. He's eavesdropping on a blessing. Faith, put the scripture on the screen. Comes by hearing. Yeah. And hearing. Give me another translation of that same scripture. NLT. So faith comes from hearing. That is hearing the good news about Christ. Give me another translation. Look at the Message version. The point is before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ's word is preached, listen to this last line. There is nothing to listen to. Get ready for them to call you arrogant all summer, but it's certain conversations I ain't listening to no more. It's certain group threads I'm going to exit myself because if faith comes by hearing, that means depression can come by hearing. If faith comes by hearing, that means doubt can come by hearing. Be careful cuz when the devil can't get your heart, he gets your ear. Michael, when the devil can't get your heart, he gets your ear. Because the ear is the birth canal to your spirit. Why do you think the inside of your ear almost looks like a baby in a fetal position? It's because whatever goes in it impregnates. I've been calling my baby stuff since they've been born. What's up, superstar? What's up, money? What's up, big man? Hey, queen. Cuz I'm trying to get them to realize if I say it long enough, [laughter] this man is listening to Paul as he spoke. But look at verse N. Who when he had fixed his gaze on him had seen, try not to shout, he had faith to be made well. I'mma read it again cuz you missed it. This man listening to Paul as he spoke who when he fixed his gaze on him, he had seen he had faith to be made well. Pastor Mike, I want to shout. I just don't get it yet. This man, the one whose feet don't work. This man, the only one out there with a real issue. This man who had to spend his life watching people do what he could never do. This man is listening to Paul. When Paul, Paul is the who, fixed his eyes on that man, he saw that man, had enough faith to be made well. I'm going to run. Forget y'all. I'm going to have church by myself. Imagine me preaching and God's going to do so and so, and you better believe this is your season. And get ready. Get get ready. Get get ready for um Get ready for Paul. Get get ready everybody looking at me what I can see in your eye. Help me God. You got enough faith to get it done. And see it's it's a couple people sitting on your row. Put this on your notes. I'm shooting from the hip. You got people uh who got a desire for it. You got people who are hungry for it. You got people who are determined to get it. Yeah. Then you got people who feel convicted that it's theirs. Preach, Pastor Mike. And I came to submit and suggest to you something about his spirit. Say, if you're looking for God to do a miracle, here I go. I don't know who I'm preaching to right here. I would tell you to ask your neighbor, but you can shout for him. You can't want it for him. So, you ought to just slap yourself a high five and shout, "I want it this year." I don't know who in here can shout, "I got the faith to go get it this year." Put this in your notes. There are people I'mma clean it up who are interested in it. Interest means I think it would be nice. So, so, so this where we could go to church right here. I could have literally said, "Who want it?" And because you want something, you would have shouted. But everybody want ain't the same. So, number one, interest. Go back one. I want them to see this interest. Interest means I think it would be nice. Go forward. Interest means interest shows up when it's convenient. The next level after interest is desire. Desire says, "I really want this." What's the problem with desire? Look at this now. Desire feels good until discipline is required. Everybody want it till it got to cost you something. I'm preaching whether you receive it or not. Don't it make you mad when people want what you got but don't want to risk what you risk to get what you got. [cheering] After desire level three, you get hunger. This is too good. Hunger says, "I need this." See, but the difference between hunger is hunger says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be." See, whenever hunger shows up biblically, there is a direct command. Understand that it will happen. I ain't asking if you interested in it. I'm not asking if you desire it. I'm asking, are you in a season where you're hungry for it? But after hunger, you get obsession. Obsession says, "I can't stop thinking about it." See, but what comes with obsession, I hope you can receive this, is obsession says, "I can't stop thinking about it." And for many of us, we slipped into this room called obsession where every time we pass by a building, you like, "That's my business." That now every time you swipe, you see what God trying to do. But then there's another level, help me God, called conviction. [music] Conviction says, "This is who I'm called to be." And what I'm trying to tell you is wanting it ain't enough. You got to wake up and say, "God, I know this is who you call me to be." So even though my present don't look like my future, I will still bless the Lord. I wish I had somebody who [music] can prophesy over your own life and say, "I am what God says I am. I may not look like [music] it now. I may not have it now, but God didn't bring me this far just to bring me [music] this far." And the next level is discipline. Discipline says, "I will do it whether I feel like it or not." Oh my god. Whether I feel like it or not. Oh my god. Whether I feel like it [music] or not. Oh my god. Whether I feel like it [music] or not. Then there's another level called, are you taking notes? Desperation. [music] Desperation says, "If God doesn't move, I don't know what happens next. Lord." I would argue that this man is laying on the ground looking at Paul like, "If it don't happen today, it ain't never going to happen. If he don't do it now, come here Cordell, it's never going to happen." And this brother, this brother feet don't work, but he's living in the word and he looks and verse eight, put the scripture on the screen. I want them to see this. Flow with me. Verse eight, put verse eight on the screen quickly. Put verse eight on the screen. It literally says, "There was a man who had no strength in his feet. He had never walked." Verse nine, he hears Paul speaking. Paul looks at him and says his faith can get him made well. [music] Verse 10. He said with a loud voice, "Stand up on your feet." No, that ain't what he did. You got to go back down. That ain't what he did. Stand up on your feet. Yeah, that ain't what he did. That ain't what he did. Go back to verse eight. A man who had no strength in his feet had never walked. Verse 10, Paul says, "Get up on your feet." The scripture says he leaped up, which means you trying to figure out how do I leap when I ain't never used my feet. But God is saying how it should look, how it should look is, you ready? Let me show you how to leap. Get on your knees. Uh, knees. Level one up. Balance. You ain't never used your feet. Level two, baby step. Number [music] three, walk. Number four, run. Level five, leap. Level [music] six. But God says because of your faith, you going to skip the knees and skip the baby steps and just start leaping. I wish I had a thousand [music] people who had a leap in your spirit that this is going to be the [music] year that I skip some steps. Leap like your family's [music] blessed. Leap like your career just took. Ready? He leaped up and began to walk. You missed it. He leaped up and began to [music] walk. Okay, go back down. You missed your shout. I got to go. I started to preach when being disobedient is a blessing. Pastor Mike, I ain't never heard a preacher say being disobedient can be a blessing. I see disobedience in the text. Put verse 10 up there. He told him, "Stand upright on your feet." What did he do? He leaped up [music] and started walking. I'm sorry. I ain't tell you to walk. I told you to just stand up. But when you've been thinking about something for so long, when you done took your mental reps and said, "If I ever get the chance," that's why I prophesy your first business going [music] to take off. That the next thing you do, even if you ain't got experience, God going to let you [music] leap into your next season. [music] Hear me. Text says he leaps up, starts walking. Church, [music] stop being shocked when stuff you've never done become so easy to you because of your obedience, because of your faithfulness. Thank you, Lord. You f to experience a divine leap year. I just miss you. I doubt that my my Hear [music] me. Hear me. I got a friend who was born like on the leap day. Like it's like the 29th or something like that. So I was laughing cuz he said it don't come around a long time. I said, "So how you determine what your birthday is?" He said, "Every year I just pick." I like, "What you mean?" He said, "If it's on a Thursday," I be like, "No, my birthday on the 1st, on a Friday." I'm like, "That ain't fair." He said, "But my birthday don't I I I get to pick." So when you stuck in a leap season, you determine. You determine. See, Paul never told him to leap. Paul never told him to walk. All he needed was a word. Once he found out that his feet worked, I can take it from here. I need you to touch five people and tell them, I can
Take it from here. All I needed was one person with prayer, one person with [music] faith. Hear me. This is called, let's go home. This is what scholars call divine urgency.
Divine urgency.
Divine urgency is when your spirit says it's time, but your mind don't know it yet. Divine urgency is when something, 'cause think about this. This man gets healed, right? Come on, class. This man gets healed, right? [music] I'm gonna show you something. Can you do me a favor? I'mma stop right here because I know we got to go. Put verse nine on the screen. Verse nine. I just want to make sure we not crazy. This man was listening. He looked at him. Verse 10. He said with a loud voice, stand up. Yeah, I ain't tripping. Put verse nine on the screen. [music] This man, put verse eight on the screen. Nowhere in the scripture do this man speak. This man don't say nothing. He ain't Bardameus who said, "Help me."
This man don't ever talk. He never verbally requested a miracle. His spirit demanded a miracle.
This is proof that the way you carry yourself speaks for you.
That's why they call it body language. Something about his body language says, "Do it for me." Come on. Come on.
And when your spirit is demanding something, it's not pressure. It's your spirit pulling you.
And I came to tell somebody today that you are standing in a divine urgency.
That this is your moment.
I wish I could leave here on a good note today. Baby girl, I wish I could tell you he got his feet and he went on about his way. That ain't how the story end. That's incomplete preaching. An incomplete preaching, an or incomplete gospel produces inaccurate, sorry, an inaccurate gospel produces incomplete Christians. So Paul heals him and guess what happens? All the people watching said, "Oh, this boy crazy." The scripture says, they said, "Paul must be a god the way he working." Paul looks at him and says, "It ain't me." He says in verse 15, "I'm human just like y'all. Maybe the reason God has your breakthrough on Paul's is because you want the credit." God says, "I'm looking for somebody who I can promote but still give me the praise."
Paul says, "I'm just human like y'all." But guess what? The city he had just left found out where he was. They roll up to the new city and start hating on Paul. So much so, it literally says some of the Jews arrived from Antioch and convinced the people to get on their side. Look at verse 19. So they stoned Paul. Hear your boy. The same folk who just said he was a god, kill him. That's why you're not gonna find me in my comment section. That's why I'm not going to let people's praise go to my head. 'Cause the same people who shout hosanna
will crucify you.
There are certain people who like you when you prophesied, who can't handle you when you manifest. That's why it breaks my heart that people like startup businesses but then hate on big businesses.
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT ME TO BECOME?
NO. NO. They they stone Paul. Not only do they stone him, this the worst part. Then they drag him out the city. But look at the next verse. But then they gathered around him. And after the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. Let me free you. Who who tried to kill Paul? The crowd. Who resurrected Paul? This community. I said in an interview about two days ago, they said, "Pastor Mike, how you handle all this stuff?" yada yada. I said, "Oh, Rock City." Like what you mean? I said no matter what the world say about me, how I feel, I said every time I get around them people, I just come alive. I want ask you a question. What's dead in you that your current circle can't resurrect? I ain't saying get rid of them. I'm just saying maybe you got to examine if you just need another one. See, 'cause there should be a circle you pour into, then there should be a circle that pours into you. The crowd equals quantity of people. Your crew or your community means the quality of people. And I speak over your life that God is putting the right people in your life.
That when you feel down, he's giving you proof that you are what I called you. That that that that when you feel like your mind, your body, and your spirit, God, I'm going to put some people around you who just resurrect you. Can you just lift your hands right where you are? I speak by faith. Something in you is coming alive right now. I speak by faith that it's already done. There's never been a problem God could solve. And if you ask David, he'll tell you giants fall.
I met a woman in a hospital. The doctors did all they could do. She's still alive to tell you that he does miracles. And I'm proof.
Hallelujah. of what God can do. He still does miracles and I'm [music] proof Jesus of what God can do. He's the God of miracles, [music] God [singing] of impossible. He speaks and mountains have [singing and music] to move. There's no limit to his power. He's faithful [music] every hour. So if you need to see a miracle,
God, let us be walking evidence that you're still in the blessing business.
God, let somebody look at us and see proof of what God can do. He's still healing bodies. He's still saving families. [music] He's still changing minds. He's still restoring joy and peace. He's still making dreams come to pass. He's healing broken hearts. God, I speak by faith [music] that you are still doing miracles.
It's in the mighty name of Jesus [music] we pray. And everybody said,