hey YouTube family listen hope you're doing incredible so excited about man we're finishing the year strong and I want you to receive that for your life I hope this message helps you do just that you're about to hear a really important message I need you to be tapped in with this one you're probably going to need to do some reflection you need to be sitting down I don't know if you want to watch this one on a treadmill it's called I don't know what's going on with me I believe this is going to be a game changer for you I got one request if it helps you in any way would you please share it with somebody else enjoy the message and everybody win this series called greater man when this series caught greater and um I want to read a few verses of scripture found in the Book of Matthew chapter number one beginning at verse number 18 Matthew chapter one beginning at verse number 18 and uh I feel like it's it's a little chilly here a little chilly in New Jersey uh might be chilly online but um but I just feel like I feel like it's gonna be a talk back Sunday I I just I just feel that I feel like I'm gonna hear New Jersey all the way here I feel like ATL I'm gonna hear you and I feel like online you're about to set the chat on fire we don't watch the preacher preach here we help the preacher preach amen Matthew chapter 1 verse number 18 says now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit and her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame resolve to divorce her quickly but as he considered these things behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit she will bear a son you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins and all this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which means god with us when Joseph woke up from sleep he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him he took his wife but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name Jesus I want to talk from this subject and our time together today family I don't know what's going on with me I don't know what's going clap your hands if you're ready for the word laughs family there are a number of words that are often used to describe the nature and the character of God but for the purpose of this presentation a day I want to lift up one that I think is extremely important yet often Overlook here it is for all my notetakers God is a teacher as a matter of fact he is one of the most interesting teachers you will ever experience he is the only teacher that will take you to school and not tell you you in class you don't even know you learning something when you learned it all of a sudden you see yourself in a different chapter in the story of your life and you realize and recognize you learn some things in the previous chapter that you didn't know you were learning when you learned it is there anybody here that can honestly admit God was teaching me some things in some circumstances where I didn't even know that's not a circumstance that's a classroom that wasn't a trial that was a classroom that wasn't a breakup that was a classroom [Applause] he is obsessed with our learning because God understands the impact of ignorance ignorance is expensive did you hear what I just said I said ignorance is expensive it costs you to be ignorant whatever area we ignorant in we suffer in here's the way the Bible puts it my people are destroyed because they may lack of knowledge do you understand then why God is so obsessed with teaching us because if we are destroyed by a lack of knowledge then spiritual learning is actually an act of spiritual warfare I'ma say that one more time if we are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge then spiritual learning is actually spiritual warfare see the enemy the evil one is called the Prince of Darkness and darkness is not just a metaphor for evil darkness is a metaphor for ignorance the enemy operates in the area of ignorance he wants to keep us uninformed he wants to keep the war pulled over our eyes he is a deceiver that wants us to operate in deception therefore when we start learning spiritually it's an act of spiritual warfare because it disarms the enemy of the weapon of ignorance and that's why the enemy is upset with you in this season because you want to be more than excited you want to be informed you want to be equipped there are some things you've been called to do some places you've been called to go a person you've been created to be and you need to be informed so that you can evolve into all that God has called you to be I want to know is there anybody here that refuses to let the devil keep you in the dark thank you yeah the enemy doesn't mind excitement as long as we're not informed [Applause] because he understands something y'all okay this morning he understands something called The Law of exposure and the law of exposure says once you've been exposed you can't be unexposed see once I've been excited I can I can move out of that excitement but once I've been exposed I can't be unexposed exposure awakens in you an appetite for something that you didn't want before because you didn't know it was possible but once you got exposed to possibility it created an appetite on the inside of you for something that God wants to give you but he couldn't give you if you didn't have the want to did you hear what I just said and some people don't understand this so they become jealous of what God's trying to use to inspire them God's like I'm not exposing you to what I'm exposing you to so that you can be jealous of it I'm exposing you to what I'm exposing you to because I'm trying to give you a picture of what's possible when you step into all that I've called you to be yeah I was I was recently doing a podcast I was I was on someone's podcast it was promoting my book and um the person made a statement because the person made an assumption that I like to read right he was like he made an assumption he's like so man I'm trying to be like you because I know you love to read I say wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait I love to play video games [Applause] I say now I read but that doesn't mean I love to read I say so if you give me a book and a game the game went every time I say but the reason I do read is not because I love to read the reason I do read is because I hate to lose I want to talk to some people in the place today that's willing to be honest enough to admit I don't love everything that I do but there are some things I'm willing to endure on this side because I refuse to endure that on the other side so that's why I'll get up on a cold Sunday morning and press my way through four different parking lots to get into the house of God cause I need to learn something [Applause] two feet I hate to lose I hate to lose I hate to lose I lost enough already I don't want to lose anymore I know we're losing feel like I feel like I've been losing most of my life I had enough of losing when my Bible tells me no weapon formed against me shall prosper it's my winning season everybody but winning requires more than excitement [Applause] winning requires more than determination winning requires Direction [Applause] this is what God is a teacher he's a teacher teacher and he uses a myriad of methods to teach us he uses Saints to teach us what does that mean he means he uses other people to teach us it means that somebody can sit with you and teach you something in one day that it took them a decade to learn ha I'm just let me pray that over somebody's life see see you don't you don't know when to receive it you got to understand when it just shifted from a preaching presentation to a prophetic moment imma say that one more time I'm getting ready to pray this over somebody's life that God would condense decades in the days it took them 30 years some more we talked about favor two weeks ago it took them 30 years to learn it I'm praying that they give it to you in a 30-minute conversation I'm praying that you don't have to learn the lessons that everybody had to learn the hard way it took them years to learn it I'm praying that God would favor you with people who are generous with information and who are willing to pull back the curtain and say no you ain't got to experiment I'm getting ready to show you how to oh my God your experimenting days are getting ready to come to an end foreign [Applause] don't want to learn everything by experimentation don't want to have to mess up and have to clean up and fix up to learn every lesson the same God that can teach me on the back end is the same God that can show me on the the Lord is my shepherd [Applause] he uses Saints to teach us he uses I don't know if y'all ready for this one he uses suffering to teach us [Applause] I didn't say he causes it but I did say he uses it [Applause] he uses what he didn't cause [Applause] he he he he uses it the Bible says uh Records David saying he didn't say Affliction was good but this is what David said he said it was good that I was afflicted he didn't say Affliction was good he said but I know me and he said it was some stuff when it come to me I wasn't gonna learn any other way but the way God took me through it and I believe Dave is not the only one that knows him you know you and I know me yeah he uses Saints he uses suffering but he also uses seasons to teach us and we're in a specific season on the Christian liturgical calendar that's called the Advent season right this is an advent series you're studying an advent devotional that we've given you because Advent comes from the Latin word Adventist and it means coming so the Advent season or the Christmas season is the season where people of Faith celebrate and appreciate the coming of Jesus but but it's not just a time of Celebration and appreciation because God is a teacher it's also a time of Education he wants us to learn something and each week in this greater series we've been exploring lessons that we can learn from the Advent season and on today I want to lift up one more if you're not tired of it here it is I want to lift up one more here it is for my Note takers the Advent season is an indication of God's ability to orchestrate anomalies okay an anomaly family is when something happens that couldn't happen shouldn't happen wouldn't happen unless God made it happen I'm gonna say that one more time I said an anomaly is when something happens that couldn't happen shouldn't happen and wouldn't happen unless God made it happen the Bible doesn't use the word anomaly the Bible uses the word miracle I want somebody that want one of them say to say I want it I want I want only 30 of the room wanted New Jersey you don't want it online don't want I said the Bible doesn't use the word anomaly but the Bible uses the word miracle and miracles aren't just Miracles Miracles are messages Miracles are God's way of saying I'm Sovereign Miracles are God's way of saying I am not bound by the laws of nature because I created the laws of nature and when the laws of nature inhibit me from doing what I want to do in the life of my people I will temporarily suspend the law of nature accomplish what I want to accomplish and then set the law back in place see the laws of nature should say if I go in a fiery furnace then the fire should consume me but when the Hebrew boys went in there God temporarily suspended the laws of nature got the Hebrew boys out and then set it back in place the laws of nature say that if I go into a den filled with lions I should be lunch meat but with Daniel God temporarily suspended the laws of nature and made the lion sit there and leave Daniel alone and if I look back over your life I don't have to use Daniel's testimony I don't have to use the Hebrew voice testimony because you can look at times in your life where God suspended the laws of nature and put you where you shouldn't have been and protected you when you shouldn't have been predicted and if God has given you a radical blessing even at the nine o'clock give him a Radical Praise thank you they say I'm not bound by the laws of nature I created them and when I need to temporarily suspend them to do something I need to do I'll do it yep all throughout the Bible you see this you see if it's in the Bible with birds feeding a man named Elijah now you've never seen birds feeding people you only see people feed birds but when God gets ready to get something to you he will make something act contrary to its nature he will make a taker become a giver [Applause] he will make a hater become an elevator he will make an agitator become an usher yeah don't don't get too excited some people in your life hadn't changed God has just temporarily suspended the laws of nature to get to you what he's going to get to you and by the time they recognize what they did they're gonna be like Pharaoh you got the goal and you're out of Egypt it's too late now [Applause] anomalies miracles and listen to me Charles Spurgeon says something super significant about miracles he says that natural miracles in the Bible are actually not just literal Miracles they are but he says they are metaphors metaphors for Spiritual miracles so it says so when you see a natural miracle in the Bible and you see okay a person got healed that's good for them but what are the implications for me it's a metaphor for a spiritual miracle that can take place in my life so if you see somebody in the Bible who can't walk they're lame and Jesus heals them well naturally they can physically move now but what does that mean for us metaphorically it means that if you've ever been in a season where you felt like time was moving but you weren't that spiritual paralysis [Applause] time was moving but my career isn't that's professional paralysis time is moving but my relationship is in the same place that's relational paralysis and Jesus healing laying people in the Bible is a message to you and me y'all better come get me this morning that no matter what kind of paralysis you have he says if you let me get a hold of it that thing that has been stuck and starting it and unmovable has got to move when I put my hands on it I want somebody with some prophetic unction to speak to whatever's stuck in your life and say news come on y'all didn't do it I said speak to whatever's not moving into your life move marriage move career move foreign [Applause] so when you see like the resurrection of the Dead in the Bible it's a metaphor for how God can bring life back to that which was lifeless lifeless departments lifeless careers lifeless watch this you can be living a lifeless life [Applause] when Jesus told Jesus in John 10 when Jesus says the thief comes to steal kill destroy I've come to you might have life in heaven more abundantly he said I've come to you might have life he said that the people that's already alive [Applause] he says you're alive but without life something has stolen your life Your vitality and your your zest you had it in your innocence and in your adolescence but there's something about adulthood that has transformed you in such a way that you've lost your childlike face and you you believe your past more than your future imma say that one more time you believe your past more than your future and so because it hasn't happened yet you don't think it can happen and because it hasn't happened at a certain timeline you don't believe it's possible [Applause] so he says Spurgeon says that literal miracles in the Bible are metaphors for Spiritual ones and there are several miracles in the Bibles that we could explore to articulate a point I'm trying to make but but I think there's one type of Miracle this this that's Salient to this sermon it's that's relevant to the Revelation I believe God wants to give us today uh and this is when Jesus opens blind eyes so literally he's opening blind eyes right but watch this Jesus healing blindness is an indication of his ability to enable you and me to see what we couldn't see before come on now you can have sight and not vision I'm not bothering this but I'm teaching a series in March uh yeah in March I'm teaching a series called red flags developing your discernment because a lot of people blind but they don't know it because they can see [Applause] here it is here it is here it is blindness when Jesus heals blindness it enables us to see what we couldn't see before Jesus healing blindness gives us one of the greatest gifts we could ever receive Jesus healing blindness is him addressing a root issue that keeps many of us stuck sad and struggling Jesus healing blindness is an indication of his commitment to give you what you need to be all he's called you to be physically when he healed blindness we get psyched spiritually when he heals blindness we get self-awareness ah did you hear what I just said change family physically in the Bible when he healed blindness people got sight but spiritually when he heals blindness we get self-awareness come on and in this series called greater where we're recognizing that God has called us to Greatness I need you to know that greatness requires self-awareness and some people cannot Advance because they're not aware and some people cannot evolve because they're not aware here it is for my notetakers here it is you will be unable to get to where you want to go if you are unwilling to locate where you actually are and many people cannot get to their desired destination because they have misdiagnosed the location they can't soar because they can't see their people pleasing it's keeping them stuck and they can't see it they're codependency is keeping them stuck and they can't see it they're hyper aggressiveness is keeping them stuck and they can't see it they're indecisiveness is keeping them stuck and they can't see it their imposter syndrome is keeping them stuck and they can't see it but when God opens your eyes and gives you awareness he's not just giving you awareness to give you awareness he's giving you awareness to give you ownership because whoever has ownership has power imma say that one more time I said he's not trying to just give us awareness just so we have awareness because when we have awareness then we can take ownership and when when you take ownership you can have power is this not what happened come on law first mentioned is this not what happened in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve ate the fruit God who's a master coach comes and asks a coaching question he knows the answer he already knows the answer but he asks the question that he knows the answer to because he's trying to see Adam I know where you are but I'm getting ready to ask you where you are cause I need to know if you know where you are the question he asked Adam is where are you it's the question of awareness he said Adam it's not enough for me to know where you are [Applause] Adam nothing changes if I know where you are things only change [Applause] when you know where you are and we accidentally where are you Adam and Eve did not have awareness so they didn't take ownership Adam did you eat well the woman you gave me [Applause] so I want you to see I'm not bothering this I want you to see the passive aggressiveness I want you to see this subliminal shade he just threw at Eid and God he say Eve he said the woman you gave me let me let me go see no no no no no no no because self-awareness will have you blaming God for something you responsible for I want somebody to talk back to me I said a lack of self-awareness will have us blaming God for something we responsible for I God why you ain't giving me this opportunity what you know he said no I gotta fix your attitude I gotta I gotta fix your generosity I gotta deal with your greed I gotta come on [Applause] the woman you gave me [Music] what are we blaming God for that he's not responsible for you never see greatness where you see blaming [Applause] did you hear what I just said wherever you see constant blaming you don't see greatness and I know you don't know anybody like this but there are people who always have a reason for why they not winning [Applause] [Applause] awareness brings me into ownership and ownership gives me power the enemy doesn't want me aware because he don't want me to own you well I am because he knows if I get a revelation that I had the power to break it that also means I get another Revelation and that is I got the power to fix it imma say that one more time cause you didn't get in New Jersey I said the enemy doesn't want me to get ownership to take ownership because he knows if I get a revelation that I'm the one that broke it it also means I get a revelation I got the power to fix it I got two words for you and I'm getting ready to close out fix it you've been anointed to fix it you've been created to fix it you've been built to fix it you've been called to fix it you got the power to fix it you let them complain you fix it you let them tweet you fix it you let them go live about it you fix it move in silence because that which you do in secret will eventually be rewarded openly fix it I got three minutes can I have two more here it is [Music] there are things about me that I can't see that are hurting me Lord I need you to show me [Applause] there are things about me that I can't see that are hurting me Lord I need you to show me now here's a challenge we need God to heal our blindness let me tell you why here's one of the reasons because the more successful you become the fewer people that will speak truth to you have to go you're not sad [Applause] the most successful you become the fewer people that will speak true to you they will be so enamored by your accomplishments [Applause] or so intent on using you in some way [Applause] they will be reticent and hesitant I tell the truth Lord give me the miracle of self-awareness here's what the Apostle Paul says if we would judge ourselves is that what he said we would have no need to be judged and our foundational text y'all told me I could have three more minutes a foundational text our foundational text exposes us to the power of awareness with a person named Joseph I'm not gonna bother this because maybe I'll Circle back around Father's Day because maybe I'll be more receptive then but we we don't give Joseph enough credit [Applause] [Music] it took teamwork to make this dream work come on now I I I I I want you to say this remember Mary is experiencing we told you this the other week Immaculate Conception right pregnancy without intimacy Immaculate Conception where God reveals to her and to us that I can get you the same results without taking you the same route [Applause] that I'm so much God yeah I'm so much God I can get you the same result without you having to do the thing everybody else got to do to get it I came to tell somebody don't be overwhelmed with anxiety because it's not happening a certain way I want you to know God's got another way [Applause] so I want you to catch what's happening now she's pregnant but we just read the text we read it together come on we we read it together let's be honest now we read together Joseph uh Joseph said okay you you prayed [Applause] and uh God did it God did [Applause] God [Applause] he didn't believe her he didn't believe her or or he's so overwhelmed by everything that comes with the assignment that he says I ain't signing up for this [Applause] when I said yes to you Mary I didn't know I was saying yes to everything I don't feel like explaining this to my parents [Music] I don't feel like having to go back to my friends and they side-eyed me when I tell them you pregnant and God did it now y'all okay are y'all okay [Applause] so the Bible says this this is why I know the Bible clearly says he in his heart he was going to put her away come on family is that right no no no it says it says it says right here verse 19 it says he's a just man and and so he didn't want to put her to shame I'm not even gonna bother that I pray those kind of relationships and everybody like your friendships your business Partnerships your romantic relationships your platonic relationships yep he was hurt but he didn't hurt her come on come on come on the average person it would have been some shady IG post on that people not all they say they supposed to be [Applause] he's a just man so I don't want to put it a shame so it says he resolved to divorce her quietly wait a minute Pastor Darius they not married they engaged but engagement these days betrothal was treated in a manner that's similar to marriage it was really marriage without consummation and cohabitation [Applause] that's literally what it was you still lived with your parents and you could not consummate but once you are engaged or betrothed the marriage was set a year from the patrol the day this was to ensure the Purity and the Fidelity of the Bride if during the waiting period the bride was found to be pregnant you could be free from the marriage but it's still required a divorce so Joseph had decided he divorcing her he said I ain't signing up for this he was under the illusion that he had an alternative option [Applause] God doesn't change our calling just because a component of it makes us uncomfortable just because we changed our mind about it doesn't mean God does dear Joseph you can't abandon what you were born for [Applause] it takes Angelic intervention with an angel appearing to Joseph and says to him no will she carrying come from God and the Bible says this I got to go the Bible says this Matthew 1 24. when Joseph woke up he did with the angel of the Lord commanded him to do when Joseph woke up the angel comes to Joseph in a dream he sleep but when he wakes up when he comes to himself when he sleep he's not aware but when he wakes up he steps into awareness and when he wakes up the Bible says he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do I came to tell somebody two words as we dismiss wake up you've been sleeping on you wake up you've been sleeping on your gifts wake up you've been sleeping on how big you are he felt like the task was bigger than him but when he woke up he realized I was built for the task wake up you got a family to raise I'm done tario you got a calling to fulfill you got people to help you gotta wake up because often specifically in the emotional intelligence face when self-awareness is talked about it's only talked about and to or often talked about in terms of your ability to identify the things about you that need to be fixed the focus is all on vices I am telling you to do what God's calling you to do you need to be more than aware of your vices you also got to be aware of your value because if you are not you will assume things are bigger than you when you've been built for them [Applause] God Joseph thought I mean I can't take this I can't do this by myself God you gotta help me but he woke up I say if God assigned me to it he built me for it [Music] and I'm praying today that God wakes you up because if you haven't stepped into it yet you're going to step into a season where you feel like what you're responsible for is way bigger than you and you're going to question your ability to carry it out can I do this at all can I do this in this season of My Life foreign Joseph I gotta go let me just show you one more thing when the angel speaks to Joseph in verse 20 the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David Matthew 1 20. follow me in the back Joseph son of David that's not David who defeated Goliath's son [Music] but Joseph comes from the genealogical lineage of David so the angel could have just said Joseph but he said Joseph son of David because he was reminding Joseph did you hear me he was reminding him that you've been born for this you come from a generational lineage that has prepared you for this this has been pre-ordained and prophesied Angels reminded him you not just Joseph you David's son you're not just Who You Are you God's daughter you God's son you've been built for for this I don't know what's going on with me God is introducing you to who you are we're going to prepare to go everyone standing [Music] ATL I want to pray a benediction over you that's a final blessing whatever you're receiving posture is I want you to get in that posture if it's standing if it's hands raised if it's hands open whatever that posture is for you I want you to receive this benediction I look forward to seeing you this Saturday at 6 PM for our Christmas Eve service we're doing Sunday on Saturday this week and look forward to seeing you may the Lord bless you and keep you may he cause his face a favor to shine upon you may he be gracious to you may he protect you may he provide for you and above all else may he Grant you peace this is my prayer for your life in Jesus name amen hey I want to thank you for watching and I want to encourage you to subscribe to this channel so that you don't miss any of our streams and any of our videos all right if this message bless you do me a favor share it with somebody else I'll see you next time