How do you measure success? It's critical. How do you measure success? Most of us are at a point where we're about to give in because you feel like you're losing and the only reason you feel like you're losing is because you never properly define what is success. Ooh.
Might I submit to you that among them are wealth, power, position, prestige. These are... are all indicators of worldly success. However, when I asked you how do you measure success, if the first thing you went to was something natural, you, my friend, don't get it.
Success ain't a number in the bank. Success ain't an area code that you live in that you now free to fill is crime free. That's why I'm praying for all of us because if the 35242 don't wake up to what's happening in the 35208. What's happening in the 35208 gonna start bleeding over into the 35242. It was Dr. King who says we will not remember the stark hate of our enemies but the silence of our friends. Success ain't what you drive.
Success ain't who on your side. Success ain't what school you graduated from. Although all of that can be successful when it comes to being a child of God. Please put this in your notes.
We measure spiritual success. And your success as a Christian is a little more difficult. Often, there is little tangible, visible evidence. which you can put your hands on to prove you are living a successful Christian life.
That's why success for the believer always feels like we don't have it because as a Christian, most of our measures of success aren't tangible. Put this in your notes. Success for the believer is more internal than external. What do you mean by that, PMJ?
The small amount of external evidence we produce is the result of much internal activity in our hearts and lives. That sounds too deep, Pastor Mike. Make that make sense.
The small amount of external evidence, all right? So in your notes, you're going to write external evidence. Just put equal stuff.
It's real easy. Equal stuff. External evidence.
What you drive is cool. That's just something small. All right? You got a couple thousand, couple millions in the bank. That's small.
Pastor Mike that ain't small you can't take it with you hear me hear me when I say this so the small external evidence we produce is the result this is heavy of much internal activity meaning what you see Didn't come from something you saw. What you see comes from all the work I put in when nobody was looking. Watch, this is critical.
Why? Because the much internal activity in our hearts and our lives, that is why it's difficult for God's children who live in a materialistic world to gauge their success in their walk with God. Why, PMJ, this may be worth writing.
Because God's not impressed with your resume. Let me say this again. God is not impressed with your resume.
Put this in your notes. God prefers resume. versus regiment.
God says I see a resume that's cool but what's your regiment? Make that make sense PMJ. How often you come to me? Are you consistent? Do you talk to me daily?
I had somebody come at me one time it was like Pastor Mike When I pray, I pray for hours. I go in with God. I said, that's cool.
That's how long you pray. I said, I may give God 20 minutes, 20, 20, a strong 20, strong 25. There's a lot going on. I can go, but you know, normally I get down and I give God a whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop. And I get up feeling empowered. I said, well, how often you pray?
They say when I'm going through. I said, well, I don't have to talk long. I talk often.
Y'all missed what I just said. Now, I don't have to talk for two hours a week when I'm talking for 20 minutes a day. And so what I'm trying to get you to realize is if we're not careful, you're gonna start deeming your... life of failure because you don't have stuff that you think is successful when God is saying I will take more peace over more cash I will take joy over a big old house See, what's the use of having a mansion if you're miserable in it? What's the use of being a millionaire when you can't trust nobody?
See, I'm going for stuff you can't put your hands on. Peace, loyalty, love, spiritual discernment. Knowing that I'm tapped into the Holy Spirit.
This is critical because the major question I would like to ask is, what is success to you? Let's make that spiritual. Please write.
write this or what makes you blessed it's important to understand who the author of this particular passage is because here in this book of psalms david has gone through a great transformation in nearly every area of his life david was a commoner not raised in royalty he's the least favorite son of his father he worked on a farm as a shepherd then all of a sudden god picked him to be the king of israel you missed your shout i'm gonna say it again david has gone through a transformation in every area of his life he was a commoner he was never raised for royalty his own daddy didn't think he was good enough he worked on the farm and never had no experience fighting people pastor Mike how do You know you blessed. Here it is. When you've been picked, processed, and positioned.
Michael, when you've been picked, processed, and positioned. Blessed ain't what you drive. Can somebody with a Mercedes in this room please tell everybody how much it costs to get that Mercedes fixed?
Will somebody with a big body truck please stand up and tell them, yeah the truck look good on what it's sitting on, but it take me $375 to put it in. half a tank and will somebody with a ring on your finger tell them that yes the pictures look good but it take everything you got to make this happen blessed ain't what you see I am blessed because God picked me And he didn't just pick me, he picked me in spite of me. See, you can't shout because you see your perfect self in here like he should have picked me.
But if it's three of y'all who know you tore up from the floor up, and if it was up to you, you wouldn't have picked you. Thank you, grandmama, but he looks beyond my fault. I don't know who I'm preaching to in here.
Will you just look down your row and say, stay close to me because he picked me. Folks might not have picked me, but God picked me. God picked me.
Folk may not want me, but God chose me. If it was up to my family, they would have picked somebody else. But God had a plan for my life. How do I know I'm blessed?
Because I've been picked. Did you put that in your notes? Is it in your notes?
I've been picked, processed, positioned. Oh, my God. I've been picked.
What does it mean to be picked? be picked all my fellas give me a what what you remember back in the day they don't do this no more all my young people y'all don't know what this is okay what i'm gonna say right here y'all don't have a clue about okay i know y'all got all these iphones y'all cute look at y'all just cute handsome gold chains y'all got tick tocks y'all got all that when we was growing up we went to a place called outside Y'all don't know what that is. They looking like, no, I'm outside. No, not I'm outside.
We actually went out. You would wake up in the morning, put some clothes on, eat some cereal. Now let me help y'all. Our cereal wasn't y'all cereal. Y'all had Captain Crunch.
We had Crunch. Yes It's called great value cereal. Okay, we were either a cereal. We would go outside We would get outside and you would stay there all day We didn't go to Starbucks. There was something on the side of a house called a hose pipe I'm preaching today And they will hold it then you put your mouth up Alright, we didn't go outside.
Then you would play either basketball or football and they would put you in the line. They'd be like, who the captain? I'm the captain, you're the captain. Then they would put everybody in the line and say pitch.
Depending on who showed up Determine when you got picked So if certain people showed up I was like the next to last person But I always wanted to play right But I never forget one summer I came into my own I didn't come into my own I'm lying I was the only one with a basketball goal And I made it very clear If I don't get picked Me and my ball Going in the house So when it came time to pick I wasn't over there stressing Because the odds had shifted In my favor Y'all miss what I just said The only time I didn't get picked It's when we used to go to another neighborhood and play. Until the one time I went to Green Acres and we had to play. And I didn't think I was going to play. But it was this dude they were scared of named Scoop. Scoop said, give me Mike.
Everybody looked like him. I'm like, me? They say him? I'm like me? He said, give me him.
He picked me not because I could play. He picked me because I was the only one that he knew. Sometimes God calls you, not because you qualify, but because he knows you.
And you may not be ready now. but I know if it get thick I can trust you am I preaching to anybody and sometimes you go through what you're going through not because there's something wrong with you but the devil got discernment and the devil like I got a today life up why they ain't got no money I got to tear a life up why they ain't got a good job you don't realize it God by October is about to pick them and if I don't get them before God picked them it ain't nothing I'm gonna be able to do with them but silly rabbit tricks up for kids this year I'm on one that God will not waste His pick on me. I'm blessed because I'm picked. Number two, I'm blessed because I'm processed.
That's rich. What does it mean, church? I like my church. It's like church and school. What does it mean to be processed?
Huh? Huh? What does processed mean, class?
Okay, what about you? Processed? Girl, you talking out loud till I actually... Anybody?
Processed? Say it again. Say it again.
Going through a series... Okay. Okay, boy.
Going through a series of steps. Anybody over here? Processed?
To be tried? To be tested? Watch this. To be approved? See, trials are processing.
God says, before I position you, I got to process you. In other words, like a... strainer. It's some stuff in you that I got to get out of you because what I'm taking you, that's going to make you go backwards. Oh my God.
That's why instead of crying about what you've been through every now and then, you got to thank God for what you've been through because God don't take me through to take me out. He take me through to take it out of me. Am I preaching to anybody on this side over here?
I've been processed. Ooh, that's what you're going to tell somebody this week. week when they try you and the old you in the back of your mind like oh it's my turn you're gonna be like nah you got processed you better be thankful I'm processed because the unprocessed me would have been untold his whole building up but the process me see God is still working so what does it mean to be blessed it means I've been picked and being picked ain't fun Being picked ain't glamorous.
The church has glamorized favor in such a way, bro, that we limited to getting stuff. God don't give you favor. so you can go to a dealership and get a car you ain't got the credit for. God don't give you favor so you can go to a job and get a job you ain't qualified for.
God gives you favor because he knows once a fight happens you ain't gonna run your favor ain't for a house your favor is when the devil comes picking on you you can show him you've been picked by him I'm preaching today to myself so I've been picked that's what you gotta tell yourself I've been picked don't feel like it but it is I've been picked I've been processed help me God I've been positioned why is that that important, PMJ, because what does it mean to be blessed? That's critical. That's why Psalms 1, 1a says, how blessed?
That's enough to tear the church up right there. How blessed is the man? That one line, we got to get old school. How blessed?
Y'all don't get it? That ain't just blessed is the man. I got a little hang time now too.
How blessed? Did you see that? How blessed? That's a good shout here. right there ain't it?
How blessed is the man? See you shoutin'over blessed. I'm shouting over the how. In other words the writer is saying you can't even count or phantom how blessed.
This is critical. Get this. The note of the text says how blessed, the singing notes, is the man. That's rich.
That's rich. Now I don't Much of the Bible is patriarchal. Most of our preaching is patriarchal.
What does that mean? Geared toward men. You know what I'm saying? So you don't really see she blessed.
That's because whenever you see he or it's sometimes interchangeable in this text. So I need you to catch this. How blessed is the man slash woman? How blessed is the man slash woman?
Note that the text don't say how blessed is the president. How blessed is a scholar? How blessed is a blue blood or a millionaire?
The text says how blessed is the man, meaning whoever. you are and wherever you come from. If you want it, it's yours, which means your conversation should shift that every time you look in the mirror, you should address yourself as blessed. I don't know who I'm preaching to in here. You ought to just lean on somebody and tell them, be thankful you sat next to a blessed person.
I got to stop. I better have church by myself. That's why you irritated with the way people treat you.
How? are you treating somebody as blessed as me? The way you treat me, I am blessed.
Can you just let your own ears hear you say that? Say, I'm blessed. How you don't get excited?
I'm blessed. I'm blessed. With bills behind, I'm still blessed. See, when you understand you're blessed, you realize that what's going on around you don't change who God called you. Am I talking to anybody in here?
From a biblical point of view, you, put this in your notes, a blessed person is first and foremost a man or woman who is in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ who no longer submits to the world and now submits to the word. Okay, put that in your notes. I want to give you a definition. I got to give you a definition.
It's critical. It's critical. A biblical point of view, a blessed person is first and foremost, a man or woman who is in relationship with God.
This is very careful. All my young people, I'm loving what y'all are doing. All my parents, every Tuesday night, 7 p.m., they're doing something like small groups and little community groups. When I tell you my boys love it, they come home talking about it.
It's way more powerful than the church service to me because they get a chance to talk and hear each other and kick it. Every Tuesday night at 7, if you want to bring your teens, it's powerful. I want y'all to see this because y'all living in an age now where y'all Y'all see more than we saw quicker.
Yeah. Y'all see it sooner. We didn't care about gold chains and all that growing up.
We just wanted one nice pair of jades. Y'all are seeing change. Y'all seeing relationships. Y'all seeing money. Y'all seeing big lifestyles.
And there's nothing wrong with one net. I believe God wants you to be blessed. Not with worldly stuff only. So go back for me lastly, let's break this definition down. What does it mean from a biblical point of view?
Biblically blessed, okay? Biblical point of view, first and foremost, it is a man or woman who is in relationship with God. That's the first thing, relationship with God.
Through Jesus, that's important. Because this whole wave we go into, where you know, I know God, but I don't do Jesus, I don't do church. Then you don't know God.
Like, I ain't trying to be funny. You can't not like my boys, then think you're going to kick it with their daddy. it don't work like that no no you got problems with them you got problems with me matter of fact you don't even get to me unless you no man knows the father i am the way the truth and the life no man coming to the father but by jesus so i'm blessed it's critical because i'm in relationship with god who through jesus christ who no longer sub to the world but to the word not that's beautiful notice I didn't say no longer hangs or no longer falls because no matter how saved you are you're gonna slip that ain't something to be proud of that's called life life in my flesh dwell of no good thing so in other words it means i no longer submit to the world i'm not at a point where i have given up my authority so this is how it is this is good i wrestle with it oh that's good right there are y'all good up there that's good i rasp your point at me that i wrestle with it i wrestle with it see some of y'all keep beating y'all self up when you need to thank god God for your struggle because you used to didn't struggle you used to just do it the struggle is proof that you are no longer submitted to it am I preaching to anybody the struggle pastor might pray for me I'm trying my best not to go out here and blow one pastor might pray for me oh I'm gonna go over here and do xyz oh i made a mistake and i slipped i was trying my best see the struggle see you used it in struggle when you wanted to get high you just got high when you wanted to sleep with somebody you just slept with him what do you want to ask a fool you after the fool but Since you got a hold of God and God finally got a good hold of you, it's not that you don't do everything you used to do.
Now something in you is pulling you. I'm preaching to somebody in here. So from a biblical point of view, a blessed person, go to the next slide.
I want them to see this. Having a relationship with God means, do they have this? There it is. Here it is. Having a relationship with God means cultivating.
A deep, personal connection with the divine where you experience love, guidance, and purpose through trust, communication, spiritual intimacy. Pastor Mike, that's a lot. Take a picture then.
Take a picture. You need this. Take a picture then. See, I'm at a season in my life where I got to give you real definitions. Because this generation want to know.
so look at this having a relationship with God means cultivating a deep what does cultivating mean growing a deep personal connection with the divine who's the divine God where you experience love you feel loved by him you experience guidance gotta do I take this job do I not take this job do I date this person do I not date this person all right uh purpose through trust communication and spiritual intimacy That's worship. Don't be afraid of spiritual intimacy. That's worship.
So let's make this make sense. How you fall in love with somebody you don't talk to? I got to talk to you? I need you to text me?
I want to be working? Then out of nowhere, what you doing? You can what you doing me 50 times a day. Am I preaching to anybody in here?
Ask me if I ate. I want to be on the phone. That's why I'm praying for this generation. Y'all relationships are so funny to me because y'all just talk through inboxes and DMs. We used to fall asleep on the phone.
Are you sleeping? No, I ain't sleep. You sleep? No, I ain't sleep. You hang up?
No, you hang up. You hang up. No, you hang up.
I love you. I love you too. You don't love me.
Yes, I do. How much? A whole much.
We was in love, weren't we? We hold hands. We used to take flowers to school because when the relationship is intimate. to men.
I got to get to know you. So what am I telling you right now? You are blessed. This is good. When you desire spiritual intimacy, I want to know God.
Oh, I'm jonesing. Oh, if you pick that Bible up. and start really dissecting proverbs i'm gonna mess you up this week just go read matthew mark luke and john like you ain't never just go pick up john and read it like you never read it you're gonna be like this a cold cat god is so freaking in love with you that you were missing separated from his presence and God came to find you think about how dope that is God is in heaven having a staff meeting and the angels rejoice And God like, hold up, where's Sarah? Hold up, where's Mason? Hold up, where's Brandon?
And you ain't even famous. You ain't got nothing. But God says, I don't care about how famous or wealthy you are. You're mine. And I want you to know, put scripture on it, I will leave the 99 just to come get you.
See, you think him dying on the cross is an Easter speech. He didn't die. for us he died for you and he died for you and he died for you so by default he died for us but when he was on that cross he was speaking about you and so I have to then desire an intimate relationship with him.
It's a dynamic journey of faith where you surrender and growth that transforms how you see yourself. This is good. And how you see the world.
Oh, that was good. So hear me when I say this, why is this important? I need you to catch this, because it says, how blessed is the man, here it is, who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or like old school, of the ungodly.
Godly. Wicked, New King James, ungodly. I wanted to go NASB. Wicked.
All right, put this thing on. The first thing we notice is the blessed man's separation. This is rich. This is rich. The first thing...
we notice, he says, if you're going to be blessed, separate. That's heavy. That's heavy. How important is it to know that the first characteristic of a blessed man to which the spirit calls our attention to is his walk.
He does not walk amongst the counsel of the wicked. In your notes, write walk. You can just put way of life, live, frequent, fellowship.
Like your walk with God, it's like a fellowship. Like what he says. blesses the man who does not fellowship walk with the counsel of the wicked it's critical a separation from wicked or in other words he's saying God will not bless you as long as you're listening to ungodly wicked worldly advice it's critical you can't be blessed listening to wicked people have your relationship problems pain because your advice went godly Have your financial problems came because your advice wasn't godly?
Girl, if I was you, I would do so-and-so, so-and-so, so-and-so. That ain't what the text say. That ain't what the text say. The text says love is patient. You ought to be tired of him.
But love is patient. Love is kind. Love keeps no report.
Ain't no score. You can't be with him and then every time he do right, but then when he mess up, you say, well, no, but remember last time? No, then you don't love me.
Your love is conditional. And if you're going to be my parole officer, that ain't love. Y'all don't like me today.
It's cool. Y'all don't like me. Put this in your notes. Because the blessed don't believe, behave, or belong to the world.
That's critical. finish. I'll finish next week on Vision Sunday, next Sunday. Please don't miss next Sunday. I'm dropping the Vision for 2025. I'm setting it up today.
The blessed don't believe, behave, or belong to the world. Put this in your notes. Believe who I listen The days of me whooping my boys, they too big now, got too many muscles, they probably wouldn't even work.
I don't do that. I'm more of a coach in they life now. They 17, 16, 15, the big three. So ain't no more whooping them. They gonna get yelled at, probably hollered at, may get a punch in the chest every now and then.
That's just man stuff. You know what I'm saying? It's just like, come on now. Come on. But hear me.
The number one thing I do to my boys that I don't even think they realize is I always want to be the first to their ear. That's all I want. That's all.
All I want, all I want, my son didn't have the greatest game, one of my sons didn't have the greatest game he could have last Monday, probably his worst ever, basically, he balled most times, it's probably his worst game ever. I came out the stands and before his foot hit the sideline and the clock strikes zero, I was standing on the field. I didn't want him to walk up to a friend like, man, that was hard.
I didn't want nobody to say, I needed his ear first. Because whoever controls your ear controls your heart. As a man thinketh in his heart. So is he.
Hey, come here. You all right? No, it's cool, it's cool. It be like that sometime. It be like that sometime.
One time that happened to Uncle D. D went to Florida State. He was the best player, but his 10th grade year against Huffman, he was ugly. I said, he bounced back. I had to sell you out.
I'm sorry. I had to sell you out. I needed an example. I said, it was rough.
I said, it was rough. I said, what you don't know? what? Every game after that, interceptions, touchdowns, he balled out, yada, yada.
Stay part of it. Stay tight. How you bounce back?
You got this. Head up. Let's walk. You got it? Then I just back off and let him process.
See, but this is cold-blooded. Many of us sink, quit, or give in because of who got your ear. So when life happened, now they on the phone, yeah, none of us, I don't know how you do it.
They ain't empowering you. So anything that don't inflate, deflates. Alright, so I bought miles, that was a good one.
Anything that doesn't inflate, deflates. Inflate, deflate. I bought miles. TikTok shop got me. I'd be just ordering all type of stuff.
TikTok shop got me. I'd be buying all type. I got a whole brush that got a heater on it before your beer. TikTok shop got me, right?
I'd be ordering all type of stuff. It was this gaming chair that I was like, oh, I'm going to get that for Miles. When he playing this game, he could sit in the little gaming chair. I didn't know it was an inflatable.
They'd be tricking you sometimes. To the picture, it looked real good. I order it, it's an inflatable. So I'm going to... And the only problem was, it was taking so much air that before I could close it, it was...
So then I got a machine. I'm going to... Now, I'm going to take the thing. This thing done kicked my butt.
but it preached to me. See, I had to put more air than was required because I had to calculate how much time it would take me to seal it. Whenever I'm with people who give me just enough.
They don't leave me with enough reserve when life starts taking from me. And what I need you to understand is you tend to listen at the level you live. That's heavy.
That's heavy. You tend to listen at the level you live at. That's crazy. What does that mean, Pastor Mike? The cost of living low is the access to quality.
Yeah, so if you living low, you gonna listen low. And if you listen low, you lack quality. Y'all miss what I just said right there.
No, which means every now and again, I gotta pray that God put... me in communication with new people who may not live like I live, but they raise my standard of listening. Y'all miss what I just said right there.
Put this in your notes. Low living will get you access to a lot, but not the right stuff. That's one of my gripes. That's why I'm so I'm pressing so hard on certain administrations and certain governments.
Like we got food deserts, we got so-and-so. So I'm so proud of how they're trying to transform our cities because in certain neighborhoods I grew up in, there weren't healthy options. Yeah, wing stops, greasy food, no grocery stores, check cashing, alcohol.
Then you come over a mountain, healthy options, vegans, whole food, Publix, Winn-Dixie, quality. Some of our slothfulness. It's because of what we're intaking.
It's like eating heavy. It's hard to move light when you're filled with greasy stuff. Stuff that lacks substance. I'm teaching today, if you will receive what I'm talking about. In certain circles, certain places, I need you to catch this now, I don't believe.
What does believe mean? who I listen to. I don't behave.
What does that mean? How I act. And do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. So if you're going to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, understand that your mind becomes what it eats.
I done ran out of time, but this is good today. Your mind becomes what it eats. Show me your music.
Show me your playlist. Show me your Netflix. Show me your Fave Five. Show me your...
reading list, I can point to the problems in your life. You are looking at your appetite. Y'all miss what I just said right there.
The word has captured his full affection. What are you talking about, PMJ? I need you to catch that this says transformation means that you have to start feeding your mind where you're going, not where you've been.
Did you hear what I just said? Transformation means feeding your mind where you're going, not where you've been. I'm going to see who caught what I just said.
Some of you need to start reading about how... manage millions in portfolios you didn't catch it that's right what I need to read that book cuz you're not feeding your mind for where you are you're feeding it from where you going Show me what you're looking toward, I'll show you what you're aiming for. I need you to catch this overflow.
Hear me when I say this. This is critical wide, PMJ, because I came to submit and suggest to somebody that the difference between you and I might be our hunger. I just need you to bump somebody and say, I'm hungry. I'm hungry.
And I don't want just anything. I want the right thing. I'm hungry for more of God.
I'm hungry for his presence. No, what you eating? What you eating? When the last time you binged watch a sermon series?
When the last time you said, you know what, I'm going to go to the oldest sermon. I'm going to binge watch that series from earlier this year because it blessed me. I need that in my spirit.
Who ain't so mad? Why you didn't go listen to Don't Crash Out? If you go on the YouTube page, whatever you're going through, it's something for it. It's a buffet.
What you dealing with? Let me get two of them and one of them. But no, every time you get emotional, you pull on something that's speaks to how you feel, not how you want to feel.
Ooh, that was good. When you're depressed, you listen to depressing music. Instead of while you're depressed, listen to something empowering. So I need to listen to something that's going to pull me out of where I am. affirm what I feel.
I gotta stop. I'm running out of time. I've been running out of time. He says, I need you to catch this. Now, I need you to catch this.
The Word of God isn't a book of fables, myths, and legends. To the child of God, the very Word of truth, it is God-breathed and an infallible, inerrant, and absolutely perfect. He loves it, and he lives it.
Find it in the pages. All you need to grow and process from God. I'm gonna give you this, and I'm gonna finish this week. Look at this.
The Word of God is food. If you don't get nothing else, I'll finish most of this next week on Bethesda. the word is food you got to catch that so so maybe the bible is spiritual food every time you read the word you eat with that said who's starving no i'm gonna free you Oh, that's good.
It's food. I need you to catch this. Let's make it make sense.
Matthew 4 and 4. But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live. Overflow. I can't hear y'all. Man shall not live by what? Bread alone.
But by every word that proceeds out of the what? All right. So the word is bread.
So number two, watch this. It is milk. Go to 1st Peter 2 and 2. All this is in the word but nobody ever read it. Like newborn babies long for pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow and respect the salvation. In the word he says I want you to be like a newborn baby that if you don't get this milk you're not gonna grow.
So hear me when I say this it gives the baby Christian everything it needs to grow strong and healthy. It's critical, but it's important, which is why you need a good pastor, a good church, because it got to be prepared right. Who done never had a small baby throw your hand up? Who done never had a small baby you had to get the milk bottle right throw your hand up?
Whoever remember you had to put the milk bottle like in the microwave or something or in the water then you didn't just hand it to the baby did it? What you used to do? Put it on your wrist. And if it was too hot for your wrist what you did?
Let it wait. But if it was just right you did what? Some of y'all threw it with God in church cause didn't nobody check the milk? Or in other words, the word wasn't prepared right. Who listening to me right now can honestly say, you want to know the best compliment I get?
Ain't that I'm a good preacher. They be like, I understand him when he preach. You and your brother make me understand. For years, I was sitting in church, and I would hear people say, ooh, ooh, ooh, and didn't have a clue.
But it's like I can see. I comprehend. Watch this. look at this, look at this. It is also meat for growing.
Look at Hebrews 5, 12 and 14. You have been believers so long that now that you ought to be teaching others. Let's pause. Milk is for new saints. For some of you, you should be on the meat now.
What am I talking about? Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God. You are like babies who need milk.
and cannot eat solid food for someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. How are you still on milk in your walk with God, but then complaining because he ain't gave you big blessings?
Sometimes he blesses you based off of what you prove you can digest. I'm preaching to somebody whether you receive it or not. If you go deeper in your word, God will take you higher.
He can't take you high. You're going to be malnutritioned when you get there. So milk, I'm finna stop, milk is for who?
Newborns, fresh Christians, our babies, the meat of the word for those who are maturing. Bread is for everyone. one. Here it is. Here it is.
I am. I'm going to run. John, the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone, Michael, eats of this bread, he or she will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of this world.
But here go one you didn't even know. Psalms 19 and 10. It is also honey. Watch this.
Honey is for those in need. They are more desirable than gold. Yes, they're much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of a honeycomb. Nothing has the power to encourage.
as does the word of God. So when I see honey, honey most often symbolizes, get ready, abundance and prosperity. God says whatever you need is in his word.
So if you don't feel blessed, it's because you ain't went and found it. Hear me, I gotta stop, it's too much. It is also light.
Thy word is a lamp to my feet. Light. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. The word, y'all missed it, is a lamp.
I didn't get this to just now. He didn't say my word is just a light, D. He says the lamp unto my feet.
Meaning when I'm in darkness, the only thing the word is going to show is the path. Y'all miss what I just said right there. Dre, I wish it was a way you can turn that screen off.
It's a light to my path, meaning that God does not always light the room. God lights your path. B, can you black this out for me up top, B?
He doesn't Light the room, he lights the path. He does not light the room, he lights the path. What does that mean, Pastor Mike?
He does not always do what you feel he should do. Because God is not concerned. Quickly, y'all. God is not concerned with you seeing you.
Let's keep moving. Look what he says. It is the truth. Sanctify them in the truth.
Your word is truth. It is, number four, a mirror. For anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer.
he is like a man who looks in a natural face in a mirror but once he has looked at himself and gone away he has immediately forgotten what is kind what kind of person he was but one who looks intently at the perfect law the law of liberty and abides by not having become forgetful here but effectual doer this man will be blessed and what he does so so look at the message version of it and i'm sending you home on this those who hear and don't act are like those who look in the mirror walk away and two minutes later have no idea who they are what they look like. But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God, Jesus, the free life, even out the corner of his eye and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain, but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight in the affection. Number five, it is water.
It cleanses. It quenches. It's critical. It refreshes.
It is seed, according to 1 Peter 1 and 23. For you have been born again, not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and enduring word of God. It is a sword. For the word of God is living, active, sharper than any two-edged sword. Look at the message version.
God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel.
cutting through everything, whether doubt, Jesus, or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Here's something else the word is, you didn't know, it is a hammer. Jeremiah 23 and 29, is not my word like a fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
It can build kind words. It can tear down. Last one, number nine, it's fire. Then I said, I will not make mention of him nor speak anymore in his name but his word was in my heart like a burning fire Jesus shut up in my bones I was weary of holding it back and I could not I said all that to tell you that in this part of your life in this phase in this season of your life you not gonna find the strength you need on Instagram A quote ain't gonna get it.
It's gonna require you getting in your word. Oh, this is good. This is my favorite part.
Pass the mic. Bro, you feel me? Bro, because you're gonna say to yourself, I want to get in my word, but I don't know where to start. All right, I'm going to tell you how to start. You ready?
G-O-O-G-L-E. You google everything else When you're looking for tickets you google that When you're trying to find out where to go you google that right? Well, I feel depressed scriptures for my depression I just feel alone scriptures for when I feel lonely See what I'm telling you is in alignment with my brother keep that same energy That when you really need something you do what you got to do somebody be messing around on you you're gonna be all in their stories ain't you you're gonna press thumb on the story you're gonna screenshot it you're gonna do this and make it big you'll be looking in the background you're gonna be school searching trying to see what city that is what state because when you really want something you find it God is the only area of your life where you make an excuse What I'm telling you is there's so much more God desires for you. So much more.
So much more. So much more. But you got to get in his word. And I'm not telling you this from a point of I've obtained it. See, I don't preach from perfection.
I preach from transparency. That even in my life, there are moments where I feel low. Don't like my weight, don't like my size, don't feel good enough, I feel insecure.
My mind be having me all over the place. I put myself in a proverbial mental prison at times, overthinking. You get what I'm saying?
And I have to kind of live in my word. I ain't going to make it. Because comparison is a cancer.
Insecurity is a prison. Anxiety is a death sentence if you let it. And so I stay in my word.
word so I can stay with God. Father, I pray right now in the name of Jesus that you will grant us everything we need to be what you called us to be. I speak by faith that we will learn to lean on the word. God, the same way we roll over and pick up that phone, I pray we'll have the same habit to pick up that word.
God, I pray right now, God, that somebody... leaves here today saying you know what i'm gonna get in my word that i'm gonna go deeper in my word i gotta get my mind right because if not i'm just gonna i know me i'm gonna go backwards so god i'm taking these next three months setting up my 2025 i'm not even gonna put my list of stuff i'm accomplished till i get in my word and hear what he wants from me i thank you right now god for your manifested presence and i ask that you give us everything we need to be with you what you called us to be. It is in Jesus'name we pray. And everybody said, jump on your feet, clap your hands right there. Did you get anything out of that?
Amen. I'm so excited about all God is doing in your life. Listen, you may be here and you don't know Jesus.
This is so important to me. Every head bowed, every eye closed. If you're in this room and you don't know God and you want to give your life to him, this is a real thing.
I mean this. Falling in love with Jesus, the best thing I've ever seen. ever done right where you are you can just repeat after me you can say Lord come into my heart make me over again I confess with my mouth I believe with my heart you were raised from the dead with all power in your hand and right now by faith Clap your hands, church. I mean, listen to your pastor before you leave, before you log out.
I want us to really be in prayer. God did something very special at our 9 a.m. service where I really feel God is calling us to spiritual warfare concerning the things that are happening.
not just in our city but in this world. Hear me when I say this. I know it may sound funny. I know you may be sitting there like Pastor Mikey being deep. But the devil will play in your face if you let him.
I'm going to say that again. The devil will play in your face if you let him. Make that make sense.
Pastor Mike, with all the things we have happening, open your eyes. Spiritual warfare is a deep practice, but it's very easy to spot. You got me?
It's very easy to spot. It's very easy to spot. So when you see something like a 9-11 happen, where did they attack? The trade towers.
What was that? Our economics. They attacked the Pentagon.
What's that? Our defense. So when you look at that in a spiritual realm, he tries to stop your currency and your spiritual. protection. The devil plays in your face.
Even with the shootings that happened about a couple weeks ago, I was in deep prayer like, God, what's going on? What's going on? And it blew my mind that it happened not in, but it happened around a place called Hush.
It happens around a place called Hush. Then a particular rapper gets arrested and it goes viral. And the only thing that goes viral is not his counts, not how many people he hurt, not how much wrong he did.
The world was blown away. away at how much oil he had. Now that might sound funny and like a meme, but the two most significant things that happened were in front of a place called Hush and concerning stuff that has oil.
And when you look at that from a spiritual standpoint, the devil had, the reason the devil runs as rough as he does is because we've been too quiet. See, comfort will have you silent about stuff you should be interceding about. Y'all don't hear what I'm talking about.
And the devil is after your anointing. That's why I hear me when I say this for many of my entrepreneurs. entrepreneurs and my creatives, you're about to walk into a season where God's about to be putting you in rooms that are going to blow your mind. Watch this.
And it's not going to be your intellect that secure it. It's going to be your anointing. See, God says, I'm double arming you.
You're going to be gifted and intellectual. You're going to be saved and paid. You're going to have enough spiritual discernment to know what deals to take and what deals not to take. But God is in a season right now where he's calling for the people of God to open up. their mouths and pray and i'm pushing each and every one of you hear me My week has been consumed with taking care of families, loving families.
We've been paying for funerals all week. Because you'll be surprised how many people are having to bury children, bury loved ones, and don't even know how they're going to do it. That's what God called me to do. you know and that stuff you'll never see on Instagram you'll never see me post that on Twitter why Pastor Mike ain't no reason for that I'm telling you because I want you to realize that if you're connected to a pastor who has a heart for that I am now telling you lift us up in prayer lift people up in prayer there was a student at Spain Park last night in the middle of a night his mother passed and so even before I came out to preach been on the phone with him their family just praying with them if we ever needed God we need them right now man and so hear me when I say this I am calling I am almost challenging each and every one of you for the Bible declares stir up the gift what am I saying in each place that you go in life take God with you hear me when I say this take God with you I sit in rooms sometimes with secular artists and mainstream artists I write for people that y'all never know about do a lot of different things and the thing I'm most proud of is that every time I walk in a room I take God with me I'm able to sit there sometimes all right let's pray before we get started all right you're right you're right you're right and we pray because I'm learning and I hope you can receive this even the most gangstas person when life get thick they're gonna say pray for me and so what I'm telling each and every one of us, especially my men, especially my men, God's calling us, bro. It's places Pastor Mike can't go that OGs can go.
God is calling us to be what God called us to be, and I just refuse to cave in and capitulate to this narrative that this generation is just gone. The devil is a liar. I'm gonna say it again.
The devil is a liar. I plead the blood over every boy, every girl. over all the whynesses or whatever they is.
I speak by faith that God is going to come into their heart. I believe we serve a God. Why do I need you praying? The most powerful scene in Boyz II Hood to me is when he said, let me out the car.
He's filled with rage. He's filled with pain. But if you ever get a chance to go back and look at it, his daddy not with him. But his daddy don't even leave the house to go chase him.
His dad is at a place where he says, hopefully, by now, everything I put in him is going to come back to him. And literally, he just says, let me out. They look at him and say, no, he's nobody in the car. Even speak to him. They open the door.
He get out. He walked back in the house. Him and his daddy never speak.
He look at him. His dad deserves his spirit. They go to bed.
And I'm speaking by faith that when it comes to our young men, our young women, young men who are doing shootings, crimes, all this stuff, that we, God, I'm saying, Lord, every word that's been put in them from childhood, let that start coming back now. I speak peace over our lives. I come against crime. I come against everything that the enemy is doing to come at our way of life.
God, I ask that you cover, keep, bless, and protect each and every one of us. No weapon formed against us. No weapon formed against this generation. No weapon formed against our community shall be able to prosper.
We are more than conquerors. God, I thank you in Jesus'name. Amen.
I love you guys. I'll see you Sunday. If you live anywhere near Huntsville, I'll be in Huntsville.
I'm kicking off Alabama A&M's homecoming next Sunday evening. So if y'all ain't doing nothing, y'all come to A&M and roll with me. I love y'all so much.
God bless you. I'll see y'all next Sunday. God bless you. An incredible message. What an incredible message.
Pastor Mike, he said that God isn't concerned with our resume, but he's concerned with our regimen. Absolutely. Meaning, are we prioritizing God and the things of God?
And I know even just being in the space, I'm like, okay, I got to get back to a place where I'm being more intentional about my personal devotion every single day, Michael. because we are in a fight. But the beautiful thing, it's a fixed fight.
It's the fixed fight. Because the battle was already won when God sent his son, Jesus, to die for our sins. Was there anything that stood out to you from today's message?
Yeah, I really just enjoyed the fact of just harping on the word, getting that spiritual word so we can take that next step in our daily walk with Christ. Absolutely. And that's a great segue because maybe you are home and you're watching and you're ready to take the next step.
the Bible declares the day you hear my voice harden. not your heart and so that knocking that pull that tug that you're feeling that is the holy spirit and i will tell you being able to tell god yes was the best decision i have ever made and i know that it'll be the best decision that you can make as well so we're gonna ask you to text home to 28950 that's home to 28950 our elders and ministers they are on standby and we want to be able to take this journey with you. Yeah, absolutely.
And so we know that maybe you're like, look, I've already taken the next step. I'm a part of this ministry and I want to be able to get seed in the ground. I was nearly moved to tears as PMJ was just talking about the impact that Rock City is having on the lives of so many families.
And this may not be something that you'll ever see on social media, but it'll be generational impact in moments of chaos. calamity, people will remember not what you said, but what you did. And so it's important to know that when you give to Rock City, you actually give through Rock City. And so you can do so by texting to give.
Do you have that information? Yes, you can text IROCK with the dollar sign amount to 28950. And after you've joined the Rock, if you want to take that next step, as we talked, as Mike talked earlier, you can text P2P to 28950. We have Pathway to Purpose tonight at 6 o'clock. It's back in action.
So if you want to get involved, you definitely won't want to miss it. Absolutely. Well, listen, you don't want to miss Devo Energy 721 Monday through Friday.
You want to be locked in because it'll serve as an opportunity for you to unpack this word with so many members and faces and folks who are planted here. Last thing that I'll mention, PMJ has said, listen, you want to get locked in. And so be sure that you are locked in.
what God is doing and you can do so by listening to that 9 a.m. service. He said be sure that you play it at some point this week and let it just resonate, let it permeate, and let it do what it did here. Do what it did.
Listen, we're in great expectation of what God is getting ready to do next. So on behalf of PMJ, Lady J, and the entire First Family, we love you. Be blessed, keep rocking, and we'll see you soon.
We'll see you. Peace.