The Mystery of Grace - Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts
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00:00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:10 Something happened last year when I had my final Woman
00:00:18 Dowered Loose.
00:00:21 And I passed the baton to my daughter for Woman Evolve.
00:00:29 [APPLAUSE]
00:00:48 So I did this ceremony.
00:00:50 She didn't know what was going to go on,
00:00:51 and she got control issues.
00:00:55 I don't know where she got them from,
00:00:56 but she got control issues.
00:00:58 And she kept hitting me, I don't know
00:00:59 exactly what's going to go on.
00:01:03 And the people in the back were asking me,
00:01:05 exactly how you going to do this?
00:01:07 And I said, I want a prayer bench, and I want this,
00:01:09 and I want that, and I want some oil, and this and that,
00:01:12 and the other.
00:01:12 And they said, well, when do you want this?
00:01:14 I said, just follow my lead.
00:01:16 I'm going to just follow my lead.
00:01:19 It's going to be all right.
00:01:20 Because I'm following the lead of the Holy Spirit.
00:01:22 [APPLAUSE]
00:01:26 It is not just wisdom to know when to start.
00:01:32 It is wisdom to know when to finish.
00:01:34 [APPLAUSE]
00:01:37 It takes just as much wisdom to know when to walk away
00:01:41 as it does to walk forward.
00:01:44 And so we had this moment, this powerful moment
00:01:49 that of exchange.
00:01:52 And she had already been doing Woman Evolve.
00:01:55 It had already started picking up huge momentum.
00:01:58 And I could see it was the coming
00:02:01 of the future radical, militant, anointed, gifted women of God
00:02:10 who were rising up to face the giants of their generation.
00:02:15 And I had been used of God to minister
00:02:20 to hurting, broken, wounded women of my generation
00:02:24 and to tell them that you could be loosed
00:02:26 from the bondages and the shackles that held you.
00:02:30 And I suddenly realized that neither one of them
00:02:32 would be complete without the other,
00:02:36 because success is not success without a successor.
00:02:40 And for the times we're living in today
00:02:42 and the contemporary woman and what she faces today,
00:02:46 it's not enough for her to be loosed.
00:02:48 She has to evolve into the next dimension.
00:02:51 [APPLAUSE]
00:02:53 Not just of how the world sees you, but how you see yourself.
00:02:58 How you see yourself, because if you don't see yourself
00:03:01 correctly, it's hard to convince other people of something
00:03:05 that you don't believe because of the nagging voices
00:03:09 of your history devouring your destiny.
00:03:13 And so I took my coat off.
00:03:16 I didn't know I was going to take my coat off.
00:03:18 I took my coat off and wrapped it in my coat,
00:03:21 because that's what I did when she was a little girl.
00:03:23 She'd say, I'm cold, Daddy.
00:03:25 She always knew how to work me, you know?
00:03:29 And I would stop Michael.
00:03:30 I'd pull over to the side of the road on the interstate
00:03:33 and take my coat off and cover her up.
00:03:35 So symbolic of that covering, I took my coat off, my new coat.
00:03:41 [LAUGHTER]
00:03:44 No, no.
00:03:45 My new coat.
00:03:48 My one-time, only-got-to-wear-once coat
00:03:53 and covered her up.
00:03:54 I thought it would be symbolic.
00:03:56 I thought when we get behind the stage, you--
00:03:59 [LAUGHTER]
00:04:04 It wasn't even cold or nothing that she kept my coat.
00:04:09 Do you not know from around the world,
00:04:15 in every language and tongue you can think of,
00:04:19 women have registered to converge here in Arlington
00:04:25 for Woman Evolved?
00:04:28 No, you don't get this.
00:04:31 I'm talking about white women.
00:04:33 I'm talking about black women.
00:04:35 I'm talking about brown women.
00:04:37 I'm talking about Jamaican women.
00:04:39 I'm talking about Caribbean women.
00:04:41 I'm talking about Hawaiian women.
00:04:43 I'm talking about women from Africa, from Saudi Arabia,
00:04:48 from Japan, from all walks of life
00:04:50 are coming to Arlington, Texas to explode.
00:04:57 We are hearing from corporate women, business women,
00:05:01 entrepreneurial women, housewives
00:05:04 who are going to bask in the glory
00:05:06 and the anointing of the Lord.
00:05:08 They're going to have a session called Mind Your Business.
00:05:11 They're going to have all kinds of stuff for you
00:05:14 to grow in every area, because it's not enough for you
00:05:16 to evolve spiritually if you don't evolve economically
00:05:20 and socially and in every area of your life.
00:05:24 And I'm so amazed, because when we got back home,
00:05:27 we had said we had the first one at the church.
00:05:31 By the time we got back from Woman Hour,
00:05:33 at least 10,000 women had already registered.
00:05:36 I said, oops, that won't work.
00:05:39 So we're running all over town, and we finally
00:05:42 found a stadium that would accommodate the women.
00:05:45 And even at that, listen, we are almost completely--
00:05:50 [APPLAUSE]
00:05:54 No, y'all don't hear me.
00:05:55 [APPLAUSE]
00:05:59 This is not an organization.
00:06:02 This is not a movement.
00:06:03 This is not a sorority.
00:06:05 This is not the NAACP.
00:06:07 Just two country folks from the hills of West Virginia,
00:06:11 we are almost completely sold out for women to evolve.
00:06:19 Almost completely sold out.
00:06:21 There is an urgency.
00:06:23 Now, I know how we do.
00:06:25 I know how we do.
00:06:27 I know how we do.
00:06:28 [AUDIENCE RESPONDS]
00:06:31 I know how we do.
00:06:32 I'm not talking about Christians right now.
00:06:33 I'm talking about the other we.
00:06:35 I know how we do.
00:06:38 We are last minute people.
00:06:41 We got to fleece the Lord and ask the sun to go backwards.
00:06:46 And then if my shoes turn blue, and then I
00:06:52 got to wait on my check to come at the first of the month.
00:06:55 Listen, if my sister ain't made up her mind yet,
00:06:59 but if Nene and Nuki come down from Chicago,
00:07:03 I'm going to register and go to the car-- call Nene right now.
00:07:08 Tell Nene, come or not, I'm registering
00:07:11 for this conference.
00:07:12 I'm not going to be seatless at this meeting.
00:07:16 I want you to register right now.
00:07:17 Put the information-- oh, it's on the screen now--
00:07:20 how you can do it right.
00:07:21 I would do it right now.
00:07:23 I would do it while I was brushing my teeth.
00:07:26 I would do it while I was scrambling my eggs.
00:07:28 I would do it-- hallelujah-- while flipping pancakes,
00:07:32 so you don't get caught with no seats.
00:07:35 You need to do it right now.
00:07:37 I want to commend my daughter on a job well done
00:07:42 in leading this new revolution.
00:07:46 Come on, let's celebrate.
00:07:48 Let's celebrate her.
00:07:50 Let's celebrate her.
00:07:51 [APPLAUSE]
00:07:54 And don't you let anybody tell you that God can't use a woman.
00:07:59 And don't you let anybody tell you
00:08:00 that a woman can't be anointed.
00:08:02 And don't you let anybody tell you that a woman can't preach,
00:08:05 because the people who are saying that are not filling up
00:08:08 no stadium with no 40,000 people.
00:08:12 The Bible said you should know the tree by the fruit it bears.
00:08:15 Don't argue with them.
00:08:16 Just start throwing apples at them,
00:08:18 and let them see the fruit of what God--
00:08:21 I want every woman in the house and every--
00:08:23 come on, women.
00:08:24 Come on, women, make some noise in the house.
00:08:27 Women online want you to blow this line up.
00:08:31 Hallelujah, hallelujah.
00:08:33 Whatever oil is on her is about to fall on you.
00:08:37 Your business is about to explode.
00:08:39 Your company is about to explode.
00:08:41 Your career is about to explode.
00:08:43 Don't let anybody on your job tell you God can't use you.
00:08:47 The devil is alive.
00:08:48 It didn't just start with Sarah.
00:08:50 It goes back to Ruth in the Bible.
00:08:53 It goes back to Esther in the Bible.
00:08:55 All over the Bible is covered with women.
00:08:58 When Jesus got ready to come, he didn't pick a man.
00:09:01 He picked a woman.
00:09:02 Come on, somebody.
00:09:04 Come on, somebody.
00:09:05 Come on, somebody.
00:09:06 Come on, somebody.
00:09:08 You don't have to apologize.
00:09:10 You don't have to sit back, and you don't have to feel bad.
00:09:13 And that doesn't mean that you replace the men,
00:09:16 but I want a strong woman by my side.
00:09:18 I want a woman who can carry her weight by my side.
00:09:22 I'm not intimidated by a strong woman
00:09:24 because I'm a strong man.
00:09:26 And that's why I want all the men to get up and give God
00:09:29 a praise for this revolution of women evolving.
00:09:33 [APPLAUSE]
00:09:36 Amen.
00:09:37 I went back and forth about the title.
00:09:44 For me, picking a title is the hardest part of a message
00:09:48 because you don't really know what the message is about
00:09:50 until you're standing in the moment.
00:09:53 So I did get lazy.
00:09:55 I'll be honest.
00:09:56 I told them, I'm going to just call it Amazing Grace,
00:09:58 because who can argue with that?
00:10:01 But God gave me the mystery of grace last night.
00:10:06 So that is my subject, the mystery of grace.
00:10:12 I have to tell you, preaching after Bishop
00:10:14 has mopped the floor with us the last two weeks about faith,
00:10:19 you wrong for this, and you know it.
00:10:22 And you know you know it.
00:10:24 I mean, he's been so deep in his back.
00:10:25 Can we thank God for the bishop of this house?
00:10:30 Truly, the greatest to ever do it.
00:10:36 And I'm going to talk bad about you putting me up here
00:10:38 after you preach that series.
00:10:40 And then you had Pastor Kion up here on Wednesday.
00:10:42 [APPLAUSE]
00:10:44 Ladies, I need some backup in the spirit.
00:10:46 The fella's trying to pick a fight with us.
00:10:48 [APPLAUSE]
00:10:51 It's all one kingdom.
00:10:53 OK, here we go.
00:10:53 Second Kings, chapter 2, verse 8 through 15.
00:11:01 I'm reading from the New King James Version.
00:11:03 And my text begins.
00:11:05 It says, "Now Elijah took his mantle,
00:11:10 rolled it up, and struck the water.
00:11:13 And it was divided this way and that,
00:11:16 so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground."
00:11:20 The two of them being Elijah and Elisha.
00:11:23 Sometimes we take for granted the fact that some of us
00:11:26 have heard these stories so many times
00:11:28 that I want to take a minute, for those of us who are still
00:11:31 new in the faith or new in the word,
00:11:33 that Elijah is a prophet.
00:11:35 And he has a successor.
00:11:36 That successor's name is Elisha.
00:11:39 And at this point in the text, Elijah
00:11:42 is getting ready to what they think has died.
00:11:45 They think that his ministry is coming to an end.
00:11:48 And therefore, his death is taking place in this moment.
00:11:53 And Elisha, his servant, is trying
00:11:55 to navigate what this transition looks like.
00:11:58 And so the circumstances surrounding this moment
00:12:01 in the text is very delicate, as they're
00:12:04 watching to see how he will transition,
00:12:07 and also trying to determine what
00:12:09 will happen to the grace that was on his life.
00:12:14 Verse 9 continues, and it says, "So it
00:12:16 was when they had crossed over that Elijah said to Elisha,
00:12:21 'Ask what I may do for you before I
00:12:25 am taken away from you.'
00:12:27 Elisha said, 'Please let a double portion of your spirit
00:12:34 be upon me.'"
00:12:36 So he said, "You have asked a hard thing.
00:12:41 Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you,
00:12:44 it shall be so for you.
00:12:47 But if not, it shall not be so."
00:12:51 He's hanging in the balance.
00:12:53 "Then it happened, as they continued on and talked,
00:12:56 that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire
00:13:02 and separated the two of them.
00:13:05 And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven,
00:13:09 and Elisha saw it.
00:13:11 And he cried out, 'My father, my father, the chariot of Israel
00:13:18 and its horsemen.'
00:13:20 So he saw him no more.
00:13:23 And he took hold of his own clothes
00:13:25 and tore them into two pieces.
00:13:28 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him
00:13:33 and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
00:13:39 Then he took the mantle of Elijah
00:13:41 that had fallen from him and struck the water and said,
00:13:47 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?'
00:13:49 And when he also had struck the water,
00:13:54 it was divided this way and that, and Elisha crossed over.
00:14:01 Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho
00:14:04 saw him, they said, 'The spirit of Elijah rest on Elisha.'
00:14:11 And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him."
00:14:15 Spirit of the living God, this is your word.
00:14:21 God, you gave it to me, and I've done the best
00:14:24 that I can with it.
00:14:26 So what I need now more than anything
00:14:28 is your spirit to help me convey the truth
00:14:31 that you have given me.
00:14:33 God, I pray that you would open hearts in this room,
00:14:37 that they would receive the part of this word
00:14:39 that you have picked out for them.
00:14:41 God, I thank you that only you can take a room this side,
00:14:44 take an internet this wide, and make a personal message that
00:14:48 meets people right where they need it the most.
00:14:50 God, the only way that happens is
00:14:52 if you would give me the spirit of revelation, prophecy,
00:14:56 insight, wisdom, discernment, God,
00:14:58 that you would unlock your spirit
00:15:00 and allow it to flow through me in such a way
00:15:03 that there is none of me, God, and only you.
00:15:07 So great God, I ask that you fall as only you can do.
00:15:10 Make room in this space.
00:15:12 Make room in our hearts.
00:15:14 Give us our marching orders that we may establish your kingdom
00:15:18 on earth.
00:15:19 In Jesus' name I pray.
00:15:21 Amen.
00:15:22 Amen, amen.
00:15:23 Amen.
00:15:25 One of the things that I have heard almost my entire life,
00:15:30 as it relates to my mother, is that she
00:15:33 is the embodiment of grace.
00:15:36 Everyone says if they've had an opportunity to meet her
00:15:39 or just watch her for any amount of time,
00:15:42 that she just embodies what it means to have grace,
00:15:45 because she's so classy, and she's so petite,
00:15:50 and she's just so-- she whispers everything.
00:15:52 And grace feels like a whisper, and that's why she--
00:15:58 I think that's why she does it.
00:15:59 I think that grace is just a whisper down in her spirit.
00:16:05 I recognize that when most of the people
00:16:07 say that she is the embodiment of grace,
00:16:10 that they're not necessarily talking about grace
00:16:12 as we know it in the Bible.
00:16:14 There is a definition of grace that is more,
00:16:18 I'll say, westernized, something that doesn't have much
00:16:21 to do with faith at all.
00:16:23 And this definition of grace relies on us
00:16:26 to really lean into a person's elegance, their beauty.
00:16:30 They say that when a person has grace,
00:16:33 they're not always talking about her embodying
00:16:35 the attributes of being in relationship with Jesus,
00:16:38 but rather someone who just has elegance and grace.
00:16:41 And certainly my mother fits that bill.
00:16:45 As I was defining what grace is, I
00:16:47 couldn't help but start at that surface level
00:16:50 definition of grace.
00:16:52 However, when we dig deeper into grace,
00:16:55 we recognize that there are so many other definitions, many
00:16:58 of them that we have become familiar with,
00:17:01 especially if you've been in church or around church
00:17:03 for any number of time.
00:17:06 And that is the unmerited favor of God.
00:17:10 When we define grace theologically
00:17:13 or in the context of church, we see it
00:17:15 as the unmerited favor of God or something
00:17:18 that you may have heard, a divine influence of the heart.
00:17:24 So when we say that God's grace is with us
00:17:26 or God's grace is what empowered us,
00:17:28 we're talking about God doing something in our heart that
00:17:32 allowed our heart to turn, even when we didn't realize
00:17:35 that we needed it to turn or that God turned his heart to us
00:17:38 in ways that we didn't deserve or could not have earned.
00:17:41 That is what grace is when we talk about it
00:17:44 in the context of church and theology.
00:17:47 And yet, when I was studying grace,
00:17:49 I went even deeper and recognized
00:17:51 that the word that is translated into grace
00:17:55 in the New Testament of the Bible is a Greco-Roman word.
00:18:00 This Greco-Roman word that was translated actually is charis.
00:18:06 Charis is the word that is translated as grace.
00:18:10 And when I looked at charis apart from our Christian-ish
00:18:15 church version of what grace is, when I just looked at it purely
00:18:19 in the historical context of charis, what I learned
00:18:22 is that charis was a system that was used in the Greco-Roman
00:18:27 era.
00:18:29 And in this system of grace called charis,
00:18:32 it is when one person gave a gift to another person.
00:18:37 The only thing is that the person who gave the gift
00:18:40 often had a higher value gift or a higher value
00:18:44 position than the person who was receiving it.
00:18:48 So charis is like a king and a servant.
00:18:52 And a servant gives a gift to a king.
00:18:54 And though his heart is well-intended,
00:18:56 though it has high value based on where the servant is,
00:18:59 from the king's perspective, it is a lesser value.
00:19:02 But still, because they have engaged
00:19:04 in this relationship, this system of grace,
00:19:08 just because he gives him something of lesser value,
00:19:11 it doesn't mean that he is disqualified
00:19:13 from being in relationship with him,
00:19:15 because charis allows for us to give something
00:19:18 on a lesser value and still be in relationship
00:19:21 with the person who we're giving the gift to.
00:19:25 When we see charis in the text, really,
00:19:29 we have to look at it in this cultural historical context
00:19:33 if we want to accurately determine
00:19:35 what it means to really experience God's grace.
00:19:39 Because Paul, the writer, a Roman citizen,
00:19:42 cannot separate the context of charis
00:19:45 from what he is translating into our relationship with God.
00:19:50 So when he says in 1 Corinthians,
00:19:53 when he talks about grace, I pulled a text as an example.
00:19:57 In 1 Corinthians 15, 9 through 10--
00:20:04 put it on the screen for me--
00:20:06 he says, "For I am the least of the apostles."
00:20:08 He starts off already setting his value low.
00:20:12 I am the least.
00:20:13 I have less value.
00:20:14 I'm not like some of the other apostles
00:20:16 who actually walked with Jesus.
00:20:18 I'm not high and mighty.
00:20:20 I'm the least of the apostles who
00:20:21 am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
00:20:26 the church of God.
00:20:27 But then it continues, and it says, "But by the grace."
00:20:30 Because I made an exchange with God,
00:20:33 it's not that I don't have the least amount of value,
00:20:36 but by the grace of God, I am what I am.
00:20:39 You could appraise my worth based off of what I did,
00:20:43 and you would be right to say that I have no value.
00:20:46 But if you appraise my worth by who I am connected with,
00:20:50 then you would recognize that who I am connected with
00:20:53 automatically took my stakes up.
00:20:55 It is by the grace of God that I am who I am.
00:20:58 You're right, I'm not educated enough.
00:21:00 You're right, I don't have the right connections.
00:21:02 You're right, I have no business being in this pulpit.
00:21:05 But by the grace of God, I am what I am.
00:21:08 You're right about it.
00:21:09 I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be raising the family.
00:21:12 I shouldn't be starting the business.
00:21:14 But by the grace of God, I am what I am.
00:21:17 Some people are jealous of what you did.
00:21:20 They don't realize that what you did
00:21:21 was done by the grace of God.
00:21:23 You and I are actually no different.
00:21:25 But by the grace of God, I am what I am.
00:21:29 You could act cute in this place if you want to,
00:21:32 but I know there are some people in this room
00:21:34 who are only in this room because grace said,
00:21:37 "I will align with you."
00:21:39 And no, you're not my best option.
00:21:41 And no, you're not my best choice.
00:21:43 But if you're willing to give me an exchange.
00:21:46 I made an exchange.
00:21:53 There's some people in this room
00:21:55 who made an exchange with God.
00:21:58 And the exchange they made with God
00:22:00 didn't even have any value to God.
00:22:02 God gave you addiction and he gave you a ministry.
00:22:05 God gave you, you gave God addiction
00:22:07 and he gave you a ministry.
00:22:09 You gave God low self-esteem and he gave you a business.
00:22:12 God gave me an exchange.
00:22:14 It don't even make sense 'cause what I gave him
00:22:17 doesn't match what he gave me in return.
00:22:19 I gave you disobedience and you gave me another shot.
00:22:22 I gave you reckless and you ordered my steps.
00:22:26 I wish there were some people in this room
00:22:28 who knows that God, what I gave you wasn't nothing
00:22:31 compared to what you gave me.
00:22:33 You see, I know what I gave him.
00:22:38 See, I tell other people, "No, no, I studied for this.
00:22:41 "No, I went to school for this."
00:22:43 But when it's me and God in the prayer closet,
00:22:46 God's able to help me understand.
00:22:48 Now, you know you didn't really give me much to work with.
00:22:51 You know you was lying your face off.
00:22:53 You know you was sleeping with anything that would walk.
00:22:56 You know you didn't give me nothing to work with.
00:22:58 But by the grace of God, when God's grace breathes on you,
00:23:02 it takes your nothing and turns it into something.
00:23:06 The grace of God is why I'm in this room.
00:23:09 The grace of God is why I have another chance.
00:23:12 The grace of God is why I know I'm gonna see
00:23:15 the goodness of God, the goodness of God
00:23:17 and the grace of God that keep messing with me
00:23:20 every time I think I'm giving him something of value.
00:23:24 He says, "That's nothing to me.
00:23:26 "Let me breathe on it and expand it."
00:23:28 (congregation cheering)
00:23:32 I didn't give him nothing to work with.
00:23:36 I didn't give him nothing to work with.
00:23:37 I didn't have no ingredients.
00:23:39 But God says, "If you just give me what you have,
00:23:41 "if you just give me what you have,
00:23:43 "I know it doesn't seem like a lot.
00:23:45 "I know it looks like broken pieces.
00:23:47 "I know it may look like abortion.
00:23:49 "I know it may look like you died.
00:23:51 "I know it may look like you should be locked up.
00:23:54 "But if you give me something to work with,
00:23:56 "we could enter into an alliance
00:24:03 "where my grace and what you offer
00:24:10 "aligns in such a way
00:24:13 "that it is undeniable that grace went ahead of you."
00:24:23 Yeah, grace is an exchange.
00:24:28 Grace is not just about consumption.
00:24:31 Grace is not insurance for you to do whatever you like.
00:24:36 I know, I'm sorry.
00:24:39 I wanted to preach something real cute,
00:24:43 but God told me I gotta really break down what grace is
00:24:46 because some of us do treat grace like it is insurance.
00:24:49 And grace is gonna go ahead,
00:24:51 and I'm gonna make the mistake,
00:24:52 but I believe grace is gonna cover me.
00:24:54 When you really get a revelation of grace,
00:24:56 you understand that if God ever gave me
00:24:58 what I truly deserved,
00:25:01 if God ever lifted his grace off of my life,
00:25:04 then imposter syndrome would be right
00:25:06 because I have no business being where I am,
00:25:09 but God's grace
00:25:10 was the grace of God that made the difference.
00:25:21 And so when we see Paul talking about grace,
00:25:25 and he says, "It is the grace of God, I am what I am,
00:25:28 "and his grace towards me was not in vain.
00:25:32 "But I labored more abundantly than they all."
00:25:36 I see exchange here.
00:25:40 "I am the least of them,
00:25:43 "but God gave me the grace of God, I am what I am.
00:25:46 "He changed my identity."
00:25:48 And then when he changed his identity,
00:25:51 when he changed my identity, says Paul,
00:25:53 when he changed the way that I saw myself,
00:25:56 when he changed the way I saw what he was doing in the earth,
00:25:58 I decided that his grace toward me would not be in vain
00:26:02 because grace comes with a responsibility,
00:26:06 because I don't feel entitled to grace
00:26:11 just because you allowed me to have grace on credit.
00:26:15 God help me.
00:26:21 Some people in this room got grace on credit.
00:26:24 God says, "I'm gonna give you grace first,
00:26:28 "and then when you step into the grace,
00:26:30 "I want you to live in such a way
00:26:32 "that I know that my grace was not in vain,
00:26:35 "that you recognize what this is,
00:26:37 "because if you recognize what this is,
00:26:39 "you won't do that again."
00:26:41 That's why we can love people with grace for real.
00:26:44 I don't have to condemn you
00:26:45 to make sure you don't make the same mistake
00:26:47 over and over again.
00:26:48 I just gotta be so good to you
00:26:51 that you never wanna be bad to yourself again.
00:26:54 I just gotta be so good to you
00:26:56 that you never wanna go back to who you were before.
00:26:59 It is the grace of God, the goodness of God
00:27:02 that kept showing up in his life that says,
00:27:04 "Now I feel obligated.
00:27:06 "What can I render unto you, God,
00:27:08 "for all that you have done to me?
00:27:10 "I feel obligated to, I am a slave to the gospel,
00:27:14 "not because I did everything right,
00:27:16 "not because he actually chained me,
00:27:18 "but because he kept chasing me with his grace,
00:27:21 "and I finally turned around, and I said,
00:27:23 "God, don't you know I'm raggedy?
00:27:25 "God, don't you know I'm bad?
00:27:27 "God, don't you know you could get somebody else,
00:27:30 "but you keep chasing me into this bar.
00:27:32 "You keep chasing me into this strip club.
00:27:35 "God, what is it that you want with me?
00:27:37 "God, what is it that you can do with these?"
00:27:40 (congregation cheering)
00:27:43 (congregation applauding)
00:27:47 Hallelujah.
00:28:00 Second Corinthians chapter 10, verse nine.
00:28:05 That's my scripture right there.
00:28:12 Paul is expressing right before this
00:28:15 how he's got this thorn in his flesh.
00:28:19 Oh God, I feel like you wanna do something in this place.
00:28:25 God, I could almost be used,
00:28:27 but I got this thorn in my flesh.
00:28:30 God, I could almost be abused,
00:28:32 but there's this thing that is piercing my soul.
00:28:34 I could almost be like them.
00:28:36 I could almost be perfect.
00:28:37 I could almost hold my head up high.
00:28:39 I could almost be in ministry.
00:28:41 I could almost lay it down.
00:28:42 And Jesus says to him, "My grace."
00:28:44 Once again, we're not talking about grace
00:28:47 the way we've come to know it in church.
00:28:49 We're talking about an exchange.
00:28:51 This exchange that I made is sufficient for you
00:28:54 because my strength is made perfect in weakness.
00:28:58 That means that if you make this exchange the right way,
00:29:01 it won't matter what the thorn is.
00:29:03 It won't matter where you're weak.
00:29:05 All that'll matter is that you made an exchange with me.
00:29:08 You give me weakness and I give you strength.
00:29:11 You give me freedom and I will give you
00:29:13 a real call and a purpose.
00:29:15 If you give it to me, I'll transform it.
00:29:18 God says, "I wanna marry your weakness."
00:29:21 (congregation cheering)
00:29:24 Put it back on the screen for me.
00:29:28 I want you to give me your weakness.
00:29:30 I want you to give it to me.
00:29:34 Don't give it to them.
00:29:35 See, the reason that most of us
00:29:37 end up with our hearts broken
00:29:39 is because we were giving our weakness
00:29:41 to other weak people.
00:29:42 And we were hoping that if I give you my weakness,
00:29:45 I'll finally feel strong.
00:29:46 But Jesus says the reason why you needed him to walk away,
00:29:49 the reason why you needed her to disappoint you
00:29:52 is because you wanted her to do what only I could do.
00:29:55 You wanted the job to be what only I could be.
00:29:58 You wanted the check to do what only I can do.
00:30:01 And that's why you're rich and still upset.
00:30:03 And that's why you drugged out and still ain't got no peace.
00:30:06 There is no drug greater than my grace.
00:30:08 There ain't a drink on earth
00:30:10 that can make you strong in the area you've been weak.
00:30:12 It can help you forget.
00:30:14 It can help you walk away.
00:30:15 But if you wanna be strong for real,
00:30:17 you gotta take that weakness and say,
00:30:20 "God, here I am, Lord.
00:30:22 Here I am with my weak self.
00:30:24 Here I am with my broke self.
00:30:26 Here I am with my shattered self.
00:30:29 The moment they call me, I go running out the door.
00:30:32 I don't wanna be weak anymore."
00:30:37 I don't wanna be weak like this anymore.
00:30:40 This weakness is messing up my destiny.
00:30:43 This weakness is messing up my family.
00:30:45 This weakness is changing the way I see myself.
00:30:48 This weakness is about to keep me
00:30:50 from being who you've called me to be.
00:30:53 You gotta go to war with your weakness
00:30:55 'cause your weakness gonna mess you up.
00:30:58 But when you decide that I will let a weak thing
00:31:02 keep me from a God thing,
00:31:04 (upbeat music)
00:31:06 the weakness,
00:31:11 it's in the way.
00:31:14 It's in the way.
00:31:16 That weakness is in the way.
00:31:19 And you don't just get it out of the way by ignoring it.
00:31:23 And you don't get it out of the way
00:31:24 by pretending you gonna be confident
00:31:26 in the place where you are weak.
00:31:28 You can't affirm yourself out of this weakness.
00:31:31 You can't post yourself out of this weakness.
00:31:34 The only thing you can do with a weakness
00:31:36 is yoke it up to something stronger
00:31:39 than the area where you're weak.
00:31:41 His name is Jesus.
00:31:43 Oh God, I done got it.
00:31:44 His name.
00:31:45 Paul says,
00:31:51 "I knew I was weak,
00:31:54 but when I got this revelation
00:31:57 that my weakness can have a companion,
00:32:01 my weakness can have a companion,
00:32:03 and that companion is his strength.
00:32:06 When I got that revelation, I did something crazy.
00:32:09 I started boasting in my infirmities
00:32:12 'cause the more I boast about it,
00:32:14 the more he breathes on it.
00:32:16 And the more he breathes on it,
00:32:19 the power of God rests upon me."
00:32:22 (upbeat music)
00:32:24 I don't know about you,
00:32:28 but I'm trying to live a life that confuses the enemy.
00:32:33 How in the hell did all of the hell I put her through
00:32:38 not keep her from being?
00:32:40 How did I, how the hell did all of the hell?
00:32:44 (upbeat music)
00:32:46 The enemy sent hell to keep you from being
00:32:50 who God has called you to be.
00:32:52 I know it's confusing,
00:32:55 but the hell didn't work.
00:32:58 I know it's confusing,
00:33:00 but the hell actually worked for me, not against me.
00:33:05 His strength was made perfect
00:33:08 in the place where I experienced hell.
00:33:12 You standing in evidence.
00:33:15 Oh God, that's not even, that's not my message.
00:33:21 And I'm trying to calm down,
00:33:23 but I just gotta let you know
00:33:26 that you standing in the room
00:33:28 where hell tried to attack me,
00:33:30 you standing in the room where hell said,
00:33:34 I'm gonna get her pregnant.
00:33:36 So she never opens her mouth at 13 years old.
00:33:40 I'm gonna put her in a room
00:33:42 and tell her you'll never have access
00:33:44 to the gift of God you see in everybody else.
00:33:48 And heaven said, "Uh-huh, uh-huh, one day,
00:33:51 she gonna give me all that hell she went through."
00:33:55 Okay, okay, hold on.
00:33:58 I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
00:34:03 If you're visiting for the first time, I'm sorry.
00:34:07 You don't even know me like that.
00:34:09 But let me tell you something,
00:34:10 I know something about the grace of God.
00:34:12 I know something about the goodness of God.
00:34:15 I know I don't have no business in this place.
00:34:18 Okay, okay.
00:34:23 (audience cheering)
00:34:26 I'm gonna boast in my infirmities
00:34:32 that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
00:34:36 I'm not gonna whisper about these infirmities.
00:34:39 I'm not gonna ignore these infirmities.
00:34:42 I'm gonna make an exchange.
00:34:50 (audience cheering)
00:34:53 I give God my weakness,
00:35:00 my doubt, my insecurity,
00:35:06 my need to perform, my need to be polished.
00:35:12 I'm gonna give him my weakness.
00:35:15 I'm gonna give him that broken little boy.
00:35:17 I'm gonna give him that broken little girl.
00:35:19 I'm gonna give him my weakness, my weakness.
00:35:23 I'm gonna give him this addiction.
00:35:25 I'm gonna give him my weakness.
00:35:27 You see, we came in here
00:35:28 and we look the best that we can look.
00:35:30 Part of it is because I'm trying to cover up
00:35:32 some of this weakness.
00:35:33 You think you got degree on top of degree
00:35:36 'cause you really wanted education, and yes, that was it.
00:35:39 But some of you were trying to cover up your weakness,
00:35:42 and I hear God saying,
00:35:43 "You're trying to cover up
00:35:44 "the very thing I wanna partner with.
00:35:46 "I don't wanna partner with what looks good.
00:35:49 "I don't wanna partner with the part of you
00:35:51 "that makes everyone feel good.
00:35:52 "I wanna partner with the part of you
00:35:55 "that nobody wants, not even you."
00:35:57 God says, "That's the part that I want.
00:35:59 "I want your weakness.
00:36:01 "I want your brokenness.
00:36:02 "I want your bitterness."
00:36:04 He left 20 years ago.
00:36:05 You're still bitter.
00:36:06 God says, "Give me that.
00:36:08 "You're not angry, you're hurting.
00:36:09 "You're not in pain, you're broken."
00:36:12 I want...
00:36:12 (audience cheering)
00:36:15 I want your weakness.
00:36:17 Oh, goodness.
00:36:23 This exchange that we make with God
00:36:29 requires that we really see
00:36:36 the difference between the good and the bad.
00:36:39 The good is the one that we see,
00:36:41 and the bad is the one that we don't see.
00:36:44 We really see the little bit of value that we bring.
00:36:49 I have to tell you, culturally, this is challenging,
00:36:57 because culturally, we do live in a world
00:37:02 that requires we find our confidence,
00:37:05 that we find the best version of ourselves.
00:37:10 And sometimes, we get so high off our own supply
00:37:14 that we don't see the gap between who we are and who God is.
00:37:20 And you start to think to yourself,
00:37:24 "Maybe I'm not that bad.
00:37:25 "I mean, I did do this, I did do that."
00:37:27 But it is the grace of God, not the grace of man,
00:37:30 that makes the difference.
00:37:31 And just because you got favor in the eyes of man
00:37:34 doesn't mean you did anything
00:37:36 to get favor in the eyes of God.
00:37:38 God is not impressed with what you have.
00:37:40 God is impressed with all of who you are.
00:37:44 And if you are not careful,
00:37:48 you will allow your achievements
00:37:52 and your pursuit of another crown
00:37:56 to keep you from making a divine exchange.
00:38:06 God told me the only way we survive this time
00:38:11 that we're living in is not by how big we can make ourselves,
00:38:16 but how much weakness we can find within ourself.
00:38:22 And I know you can point out weakness
00:38:24 'cause you're good at pointing it out in everyone else,
00:38:26 but what about that weakness inside of you?
00:38:31 What about that speck in your own eye?
00:38:35 'Cause it's weakness inside of me.
00:38:37 And when I handle my weakness with care,
00:38:40 it changes how I see your weakness
00:38:42 because I recognize that I wouldn't even have
00:38:44 the sense that I have if it wasn't for the grace of God.
00:38:48 And so maybe instead of prosecuting them,
00:38:50 what we need to do is pray that they have an exchange
00:38:53 with grace that helps them to understand
00:38:56 you don't have to live that way,
00:38:57 you don't have to talk that way,
00:38:59 but I understand how you got that there
00:39:01 because there but for the grace of God.
00:39:04 (congregation cheering)
00:39:07 There go I.
00:39:08 I'm not even in my text.
00:39:16 It was really interesting to me
00:39:28 that God would give me a message about grace
00:39:33 but then take me into the Old Testament.
00:39:37 Doesn't really align.
00:39:41 Those of you who are real fancy scholars,
00:39:45 y'all sit down, we just, I don't know,
00:39:48 just, I don't even know.
00:39:51 We just reckless and unruly every time.
00:39:54 Yes, child, sit down right there, make yourself at home.
00:39:57 Welcome to the Potter's house.
00:40:01 Sorry.
00:40:02 Welcome, yes, welcome.
00:40:04 Take your shoes, I took my shoes off.
00:40:06 One time I took my wig off, that didn't go over well for me.
00:40:10 Helps a lot of people.
00:40:12 I wondered why for me, it didn't go well for me.
00:40:17 I wondered why God took me to the Old Testament
00:40:22 because traditionally when we look at scripture,
00:40:27 we think of the Old Testament as the law
00:40:31 and the New Testament we associate with grace.
00:40:35 This is the traditional lines of demarcation
00:40:40 when studying the Bible.
00:40:42 We see the law as the list of rules
00:40:46 that God gave to Israel knowing that they could not fulfill them.
00:40:50 That they would ultimately need the grace of Jesus' life
00:40:55 in order to make up the difference for what they could not fulfill.
00:40:58 Jesus fulfilled the law.
00:41:01 He did what no one else could do
00:41:03 so that we can do what we have no business being able to do
00:41:08 because we didn't live in such a way that would allow us access to God.
00:41:13 And yet God gave me this text about grace
00:41:17 because he wanted me to understand
00:41:19 that though grace is not the star of the Old Testament,
00:41:24 grace is running in the background of the Old Testament.
00:41:29 We see the word grace, the Hebrew word for grace,
00:41:33 mentioned for the first time in Genesis 6
00:41:37 when God has looked at the earth and said,
00:41:41 "I'm so sorry that I made them,"
00:41:44 which sometimes in 2023, I'd just be like,
00:41:49 "Are we messing it up down here?
00:41:51 And can you tell me, can I have a Noah anointing on my life
00:41:55 because I think we're messing it up a little bit down here."
00:41:59 It says in Genesis 6, he looked at all of the earth
00:42:03 and he was sorry that he made them.
00:42:05 He says, "But Noah found grace in his eyes."
00:42:11 This concept of grace is not what we know of it now.
00:42:17 This is the first time we see grace
00:42:19 and it taught me something about the way that grace
00:42:21 is running in the background of the Old Testament.
00:42:24 It taught me that ultimately,
00:42:26 when Noah found grace in God's eye,
00:42:29 that he found the ability to give to Noah
00:42:32 what he could give to no one else.
00:42:34 He found favor in God's eyes.
00:42:37 And the thing about this is that
00:42:38 it doesn't tell us much about Noah.
00:42:40 It doesn't say that Noah was necessarily
00:42:43 the most righteous man, the most faithful,
00:42:46 that he did everything the right way,
00:42:48 but there was something about Noah's heart posture
00:42:51 that when God looked at him, he found grace.
00:42:54 Oh God, that's a word within itself.
00:42:56 Sometimes we are concerned about who we are connected to
00:43:00 because we are afraid that who we are connected to
00:43:03 may dissuade people in some way
00:43:05 from wanting to be connected with us.
00:43:07 But there was something to be said
00:43:09 about man looking at the outward appearance
00:43:11 but God looking at the heart.
00:43:13 God says, "I know how to get through all of the mess
00:43:15 "that you're around to see the virtue and the favor
00:43:18 "that is still down on the inside of you."
00:43:20 How did God decipher that Noah was the one
00:43:23 because Noah understood something about God
00:43:27 that other people didn't?
00:43:29 It says that Noah found favor in God's eyes.
00:43:35 What this taught me about the mystery of grace
00:43:39 is that grace wasn't just something
00:43:42 that we receive from God in the New Testament.
00:43:44 It also taught me that when we find grace in God's eyes
00:43:48 that oftentimes grace makes the first move.
00:43:52 God help me.
00:43:54 Help me to say this the right way.
00:43:57 Man, I got to unpack this the way God gave it to me.
00:44:01 When Noah finds grace in God's eyes,
00:44:06 he gives Noah a download about what is to come.
00:44:13 This helped me to understand that too often
00:44:16 we see grace as a one-off.
00:44:20 That there is grace that is confined
00:44:23 to a particular situation.
00:44:26 That God showed me grace in this one instance.
00:44:30 And even when we talk about Noah finding grace in God's eyes,
00:44:33 we kind of limit it to him giving the instruction
00:44:36 that the flood is coming and he built the ark
00:44:38 and we kind of make it seem that that is the end of grace.
00:44:42 But what I learned in reading this text
00:44:44 is that when Noah found grace in God's eyes,
00:44:46 that ultimately God invited him into a lifestyle of grace.
00:44:51 Yeah.
00:44:53 Because it's not just grace for you to be preserved.
00:44:56 It also takes grace for you to build something
00:44:58 you've never seen before.
00:45:00 It requires grace for you to understand
00:45:02 that there's going to be an element
00:45:04 that you've never experienced that's going to hit the earth.
00:45:06 It doesn't just take grace to get onto the ark
00:45:09 and build the ark.
00:45:10 There's a special kind of grace that also happens
00:45:12 when the flood has withdrawn
00:45:14 and now I have to build my life again.
00:45:16 He invited him into a lifestyle of grace.
00:45:19 And as long as we see grace as temporary,
00:45:22 we will never give the level of obedience
00:45:24 that unlocks a lifestyle of grace
00:45:27 that allows us to stand in moments
00:45:29 we would have never had access to.
00:45:31 But for the grace of God,
00:45:33 now I'm living a lifestyle of grace.
00:45:35 I want to prophesy over somebody in this room
00:45:37 that the moment that you recognize
00:45:39 that you have found grace in the eyes of the Lord,
00:45:42 that you have a responsibility
00:45:44 to be obedient to that grace.
00:45:46 I don't know who you are in this room,
00:45:48 but God has told you time after time,
00:45:50 "I have graced you for this.
00:45:52 "I have graced you for something in the earth
00:45:54 "that only you can do."
00:45:56 And you want to understand
00:45:57 what's on the other side of the grace.
00:45:59 I know I'm talking to somebody in this section
00:46:01 because I keep getting pulled over here.
00:46:03 I know that I have graced you for something,
00:46:06 but you'll never see the fullness
00:46:08 of what I have graced you for
00:46:10 until you are obedient to the yes
00:46:12 that is required in this moment.
00:46:14 Maybe you're over here too,
00:46:16 and God has graced you for something like Noah.
00:46:18 I found grace in the eyes of the Lord,
00:46:20 and I keep seeing this grace,
00:46:22 but I don't trust this grace.
00:46:24 (audience cheering)
00:46:28 I don't trust the grace
00:46:32 that I found in the eyes of the Lord.
00:46:37 Oh.
00:46:39 So I would rather believe that grace is a one-off,
00:46:44 that it saved me once,
00:46:46 than to believe that there is grace
00:46:48 for me to unpack in my life.
00:46:51 (audience murmuring)
00:46:54 Jesus, help me.
00:46:56 Can you imagine,
00:46:58 though we see grace for the first time
00:47:01 as a word in Genesis 6,
00:47:04 the first act of grace is really in Genesis 3.
00:47:10 After Adam and Eve have eaten from the fruit,
00:47:15 Jesus told them-- God told them in Genesis 2,
00:47:18 if you eat from this tree,
00:47:21 you will surely die.
00:47:23 That was the rule.
00:47:25 That was the law.
00:47:28 And they broke it,
00:47:30 but they did not die.
00:47:32 (audience cheering)
00:47:35 They got results that they didn't deserve,
00:47:39 even though they broke the rules.
00:47:42 And instead of them really dying,
00:47:45 now an animal that was minding its business has to die
00:47:48 to cover the thing that they should have never been in
00:47:51 in the first place.
00:47:52 If that's grace, I don't know--
00:47:53 If that's not grace, I don't know what is.
00:47:55 Because how are you covering something that I messed up--
00:47:59 Oh, God, see, some of you--
00:48:00 Oh, Jesus, this is my word.
00:48:01 Y'all can just hear my word.
00:48:03 You see, there are some messes I got myself into.
00:48:06 There are some things that God shouldn't have had to cover at all.
00:48:09 There are some things where I should have thrown myself down
00:48:12 at the mercy of the court and say,
00:48:14 "God, I did that, and whatever punishment I get
00:48:17 "is the one that I've earned."
00:48:18 But God says, "I'm actually not going to punish you.
00:48:21 "I'm going to cover you in a way that you could have
00:48:23 "never covered yourself."
00:48:25 You took those little fig leaves
00:48:27 and tried to cover that mistake you made.
00:48:29 God says, "I got something more durable to cover you.
00:48:32 "I got something that cannot be shaken,
00:48:35 "and I want you to sit back and look at the lengths
00:48:37 "I will go to cover you."
00:48:39 God took an animal that did nothing wrong at all
00:48:42 but said, "Because I got to cover my child,
00:48:45 "I'm going to tell you this," and it might be a little bit--
00:48:47 I don't know, it might be a little bit wrong to tell you,
00:48:50 but I want you to know that there are people
00:48:52 who will end up paying the consequences for what you did,
00:48:56 and that's how you know that the grace of God is with you
00:48:59 because it really shouldn't have been them
00:49:01 that lost their job.
00:49:02 You owned up to the mistake and everything,
00:49:04 but some kind of way, God still preserved you.
00:49:07 There are people who end up paying consequences
00:49:10 for things that you should have been paying
00:49:12 the consequence for.
00:49:13 Some of you ought to be in jail.
00:49:15 Some of you ought to be in the hospital.
00:49:17 Some of you ought to be on food stamps
00:49:19 and working from check to check,
00:49:21 but somebody else is paying for consequences
00:49:23 that didn't have anything to do with what they did
00:49:26 but because God said, "For some reason,
00:49:29 "I'm going to cover you, and I'm going to..."
00:49:32 [cheers and applause]
00:49:35 This is...
00:49:37 [cheers and applause]
00:49:42 Jesus.
00:49:45 What I find interesting about this,
00:49:48 in Genesis, when God shows them grace
00:49:53 by slaughtering this animal to cover them,
00:49:57 he does kick them out of the garden,
00:50:00 and it proves to me that a version of their lives did die.
00:50:06 Their life itself didn't die,
00:50:09 but there was a version of life as they knew it
00:50:12 that ended in that moment.
00:50:15 It helped me understand another mystery of grace
00:50:18 that I think is important for all of us to know--
00:50:22 that even though life as you know it may have ended,
00:50:28 maybe you're not in the same city.
00:50:31 Maybe that person is never coming back to life.
00:50:35 Grace is not always about keeping that life alive.
00:50:41 Sometimes grace is about showing you
00:50:43 how to live again in a new world.
00:50:47 [cheers and applause]
00:50:52 Their life didn't end the way that it should have,
00:50:57 but God paves the way for them to experience life again.
00:51:02 That's grace too, is that you can have joy again,
00:51:06 that you can have peace again.
00:51:08 Not that the situation goes back to being what it was,
00:51:11 but sometimes grace is I can't change what happened,
00:51:14 but I can offer you the opportunity to live again
00:51:16 in a way you never thought was possible.
00:51:18 I wish that would have never happened.
00:51:20 I wish that your life would have been preserved.
00:51:22 I wish it would have stayed protected,
00:51:24 but my grace is sufficient enough to help you understand
00:51:27 that on the other side of this heartbreak,
00:51:29 there is a life again,
00:51:30 and that life still allows you to be fruitful and multiply,
00:51:34 and that life still allows you to have dominion.
00:51:37 I got a plan, and this is why we've got to acknowledge
00:51:40 that grace does exist in the Old Testament,
00:51:42 because Jesus was the lamb slain
00:51:45 before the foundation of the world,
00:51:47 which means that even in Genesis
00:51:49 and even through all of the Old Testament,
00:51:51 when we see God giving chance after chance after chance,
00:51:54 that what we're really seeing is him setting up a template of grace
00:51:58 where you don't always do the right thing
00:52:00 and you don't always get the right yeses,
00:52:02 but because I so believe in who you can become,
00:52:05 I'm going to show you that there's life after mistakes.
00:52:08 I'm going to show you there's life when you should have been dead.
00:52:11 There are some of you in this room who are sitting next to a corpse
00:52:14 and you don't even know it,
00:52:16 but because God allowed them to live again,
00:52:18 that thing that is sitting next to you
00:52:20 is someone who has been resurrected.
00:52:22 That thing sitting next to you
00:52:24 is someone who had suicidal thoughts
00:52:26 and thought, "I shouldn't be here."
00:52:28 You're sitting next to a corpse.
00:52:30 I didn't even want to live to see another day,
00:52:32 but for some reason, the grace of God gave me another chance,
00:52:35 and now the life that I'm living is really not my own.
00:52:38 The life that I'm living is the life that I was resurrected to embody.
00:52:42 The life that I'm living is the life that God said,
00:52:45 "If you can just hang on and survive,
00:52:47 I'm going to bring you back to life."
00:52:49 I want to prophesy to somebody in this room,
00:52:51 and you've been feeling like you're on your last leg.
00:52:54 You've been feeling like this life is over.
00:52:56 You've been feeling like there is nothing else for you to do in the earth
00:52:59 because you've made so many mistakes,
00:53:02 because you've been the victim of so many mistakes,
00:53:04 and I hear God saying that I can bring you back to life.
00:53:08 I hear God saying that that resurrecting power,
00:53:11 there's grace on the other side of this for you to live again.
00:53:14 I don't know who stole from you.
00:53:16 I don't know who betrayed you.
00:53:18 I don't know what betrayal you allowed to happen on your own,
00:53:21 but I hear God saying that there is life after your shame.
00:53:25 There is life after your heartbreak.
00:53:27 There is grace for you to live again.
00:53:29 I dare you to take a deep breath and let the devil know,
00:53:33 "You should have killed me when you had the chance,
00:53:35 but for some reason he keeps breathing air into my lungs."
00:53:39 I hear God saying that your breath is a threat to the enemy
00:53:43 because your breath is a reminder that my grace is still sufficient.
00:53:48 Your breath is a reminder that though he slay me,
00:53:51 I can still trust in him.
00:53:53 Your breath is a reminder that he's not finished with me yet.
00:53:57 My story is still being written.
00:54:00 Heaven is still rejoicing when I wake up in the morning.
00:54:03 Hell tried to unleash hell on me,
00:54:06 but heaven kept pulling me back.
00:54:08 Heaven kept chasing me down.
00:54:11 I think I'm going to go on and live again.
00:54:13 I think I'm going to go on and try again.
00:54:16 I think I'm going to go on and elect myself to get back in position
00:54:20 so that I can become all that God has called me to be.
00:54:23 I think I'm going to try anyway.
00:54:25 I think I can still be fruitful.
00:54:27 I don't know who you are.
00:54:29 I've been in a drought, but I hear God saying, "Get ready for rain,"
00:54:33 because the moment you get a revelation that my grace sees past your drought,
00:54:38 I'm going to unlock the windows of heaven,
00:54:41 and I'm going to pour you out a blessing
00:54:43 that you don't have room enough to receive.
00:54:45 What is that blessing?
00:54:47 That blessing is getting your mind back.
00:54:49 That blessing is getting your heart back.
00:54:52 That blessing is getting your hunger back.
00:54:55 [music]
00:55:00 There's a grace.
00:55:02 There's a grace.
00:55:03 There's a grace.
00:55:04 There's a grace after this.
00:55:05 There's a grace after this.
00:55:07 There's a grace after this.
00:55:09 That grace says, "If you give it to me, I'll transform it."
00:55:12 There's a grace after this pain.
00:55:14 There's a grace after this.
00:55:15 There's a grace after this.
00:55:16 I don't know who you are, but I hear God saying, "There's a grace coming."
00:55:20 There's a grace coming.
00:55:21 Keep your eyes open.
00:55:22 You're going through life with your eyes shut.
00:55:24 I hear God saying, "Keep your eyes open."
00:55:26 I'm about to show you what grace looks like.
00:55:28 I'm about to show you what grace sounds like.
00:55:31 Make sure the volume is up on your phone,
00:55:33 because I want you to hear grace when it starts ringing.
00:55:36 I want you to hear grace when it starts knocking on your door.
00:55:39 I prophesy for somebody in this room that before I see you again on Sunday,
00:55:45 that you're going to have an encounter with grace,
00:55:47 that grace is going to wake you up in the middle of the night,
00:55:50 and all of a sudden, where you were weeping,
00:55:53 somebody's going to wake up laughing.
00:55:55 I think grace just woke me up out of depression.
00:55:58 I think grace just woke me up out of stupid.
00:56:01 Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace.
00:56:04 Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace.
00:56:07 Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace.
00:56:10 Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace.
00:56:13 I need it in my marriage.
00:56:15 I need it at my job.
00:56:17 I need it in my forgiveness.
00:56:19 I need it in my pain.
00:56:20 I need it in my bitterness.
00:56:22 I got to give you grace because I'm making room.
00:56:25 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
00:56:38 I think somebody's making room for grace.
00:56:41 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
00:56:43 I've been making room for doubt.
00:56:45 I've been making room for worry.
00:56:47 I've been making room for things to go bad.
00:56:49 But I hear God saying, "I need you to make some room for grace."
00:56:53 I know you see how it could fail, but do you see how I could take things and do exceedingly and abundantly above all that you could ask for or imagine?
00:57:03 I need you to get in the mindset of grace.
00:57:05 I need you to get in the posture of grace.
00:57:08 I need you to free your feet so you can dance.
00:57:11 I need you to move your arms so you can pray.
00:57:14 Because in a minute, a grace wave is going to hit this place.
00:57:21 The grace is coming like a wave.
00:57:24 It's coming like a wave.
00:57:26 It's coming like a wave.
00:57:27 It's coming like a wave.
00:57:28 Don't look at the news.
00:57:29 The news don't know nothing about this wave.
00:57:31 Don't look on your timeline.
00:57:33 Your timeline don't know nothing about this wave.
00:57:35 This grace wave that's coming, it's going to move you from where you have been and place your feet on solid ground.
00:57:42 Who are you?
00:57:43 You've been sinking.
00:57:44 Who are you?
00:57:45 You've been drowning.
00:57:46 God says grace is about to carry you to shore.
00:58:08 Grace.
00:58:10 Grace.
00:58:15 Jesus.
00:58:19 I think God gave me this text.
00:58:22 I've got to finish.
00:58:23 I think God gave me this text because Elijah experienced God's grace.
00:58:33 Elijah was drinking in a drought, eating in a famine.
00:58:41 Elijah experienced God's grace.
00:58:44 And he was not just a consumer of God's grace.
00:58:48 He was obedient to the grace that was on his life.
00:58:54 Even when that grace almost risked him his entire life, he couldn't separate the fact that yes, I may be afraid.
00:59:02 Yes, I may be distraught.
00:59:04 But at the end of the day, if God says arise and eat, I'm going to be obedient because the grace that is on my life requires obedience.
00:59:11 And if I am not obedient, then I will be disconnected from that grace.
00:59:15 I don't even want to risk being disconnected from that grace.
00:59:18 I want to stay so connected to that grace that I can be obedient and still distraught.
00:59:23 I can be obedient and still nervous.
00:59:25 I can be obedient and still unsure because at the end of the day, my obedience is about the grace, not my emotions.
00:59:32 My obedience is about God's faithfulness, not my emotions.
00:59:36 My obedience is about his grace.
00:59:38 It is not about the rumors.
00:59:40 I am obedient because grace chased me down.
00:59:43 Grace preserved me.
00:59:45 And the same grace that did it then, I believe that it's going to do it again.
00:59:49 And I want to be in the room when it happens.
00:59:52 I want to be in the room when grace shows up.
00:59:54 I want to be in my body when grace shows up.
00:59:57 I want to watch that child when grace shows up.
01:00:00 I want to watch that ministry when grace shows up.
01:00:03 And if I give up, I may miss when grace makes its next move.
01:00:12 And Elijah, Elijah's successor, Elijah, is concerned that when Elijah is gone, that that grace, that prophetic voice for the time will be gone as well.
01:00:35 So, he doesn't even want to talk about it.
01:00:40 If you read the whole chapter, people coming up to him telling him, "You know he's going to die, right?"
01:00:46 And he said, "Let's not talk about that."
01:00:49 Because I'm afraid that that grace may not stay in the earth.
01:00:56 We talk a lot about generational curses.
01:01:00 We don't talk enough about generational grace.
01:01:06 [applause]
01:01:13 You can see where the previous generation has room for grow without throwing out the fact that you are standing on the shoulders of that very grace that you are now criticizing.
01:01:23 And yes, maybe they didn't go to therapy and maybe they didn't gentle parent.
01:01:27 But I am telling you, I don't know where the praying grandmothers are unless somebody in my generation says there was a grace on prayer.
01:01:34 There was a grace on worship.
01:01:36 There was a grace on going to church.
01:01:38 There was a grace on making sure your house was covered.
01:01:41 There was a grace on taking oil and bathing the walls of your--there was a grace on that.
01:01:46 There was a grace on saying, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus."
01:01:52 They needed therapy, but Jesus, Jesus, Jesus broke some strongholds.
01:01:56 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus shrunk some tumors.
01:01:59 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus got your hips in church.
01:02:02 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, I'm not a church mother, but I know there's a grace on what happens.
01:02:14 When I start saying the name of Jesus, I'm crazy enough to believe that the grace that said demons scrambling 50 years ago will put a devil on notice in 2023.
01:02:26 I believe that there's a generational grace waiting for us to lay hold of.
01:02:32 [applause]
01:02:39 We need a generation that sees that we can't throw everything away because we won't have no power.
01:02:50 We need a generation—I hate to be the one to say this because I sound like an old woman fussing, and you know I'm too fly and too cute to be sounding like an old woman fussing.
01:03:01 But there is something to be said about the anointing of a church mother.
01:03:06 There is something to be said about the praying father who would get down on his knees.
01:03:12 His knees couldn't even handle the weight.
01:03:14 But Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, I don't know about therapy, but I know about Jesus.
01:03:22 I don't have money for a prescription, but I know about Jesus.
01:03:31 And we need that.
01:03:33 And if we drop that, we're going to miss out on the power we need to fight the devils of our generation.
01:03:40 Because these devils don't care how cute you are, and these devils don't care how many decrees you have.
01:03:47 As a matter of fact, they'll distract you with that to keep you from calling on a name that is above any other name.
01:03:54 [applause]
01:04:05 And Elisha gets in position because he doesn't want to drop the grace.
01:04:15 Lord, don't let me drop this grace.
01:04:18 Lord, don't let me drop this grace.
01:04:21 He doesn't say, "I want to be as famous as Elijah."
01:04:24 He doesn't say, "I want to be as popular as Elijah."
01:04:27 He says, "I want a double portion of your spirit."
01:04:31 When I say I want a double portion of your spirit, it means that I want a double portion of the posture of your spirit
01:04:38 that made it possible for you to decree and declare something in the earth and not care how outnumbered you were.
01:04:45 Because you truly believe that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the earth.
01:04:51 I want to pray cancer out of somebody's body.
01:04:54 I want to pray deliverance out of somebody's--you don't even have to be in the room.
01:04:58 When I start praying for you, I want you to get filled with the Holy Ghost on the other side of town,
01:05:04 sitting at your job, saying, "I got a generational grace that I want to pour into the earth."
01:05:14 And Elisha demonstrates the type of hunger you must possess
01:05:20 if you want to make sure a generational grace stays in the earth.
01:05:30 That grace matters.
01:05:34 That grace matters. That civil rights leader grace, it matters.
01:05:40 That innovation matters.
01:05:43 Getting hosed down with a water hose, that type of generational grace, it matters.
01:05:49 Our ancestors had a grace enslaved, enchained, and still singing.
01:05:54 And we get one bad report, one bad email, and we have deconstructed our whole faith.
01:05:59 No, no, no, no. I want a kind of grace that can withstand the storms.
01:06:03 I want a kind of grace that says, "I'll keep serving you even if I don't know where you're headed."
01:06:07 I know, I know, I know we don't want to do it, but I'm telling you we need something real in this generation.
01:06:13 We need something that'll anchor us so that our parents can rest in peace,
01:06:17 so that our grandparents' pain was not in vain.
01:06:20 We need something to anchor us so my children don't have to fight a devil that's got my name on it.
01:06:26 I'm going to handle my giant by the grace of God.
01:06:30 [applause]
01:06:38 The--Elisha.
01:06:46 When I read this text, I can imagine that Elisha was not sure whether or not he had really met the criteria
01:06:58 to receive a double portion of Elijah's spirit.
01:07:05 He saw the whirlwind, but they don't really say that Elijah died.
01:07:09 He didn't see a body. It wasn't exactly foolproof evidence that he saw what happened.
01:07:20 So my Bible tells me in this text that Elisha grieves, "My father, my father."
01:07:29 Then he picks up the mantle.
01:07:36 There's so much power in this mantle.
01:07:41 This is not just a coat.
01:07:44 This is the same mantle that Elijah threw on top of Elisha's shoulder.
01:07:49 I got it. I read it.
01:07:53 This is the same mantle that before it was thrown on Elisha's shoulders,
01:07:59 when Elijah was hiding and thinking to himself, "This is the end,"
01:08:02 he took that mantle, he wrapped it around his face, and he stood on the top of the mountain.
01:08:08 And when God passed by, it hit this mantle.
01:08:11 This is not any ordinary mantle.
01:08:13 This mantle is evidence that God has been with Elijah every step of his journey.
01:08:19 This mantle is evidence that there shall be no other gods before me.
01:08:23 This mantle is evidence that he that began this work in you is going to complete it.
01:08:28 Elijah said, "Where I'm headed, I don't need this mantle."
01:08:31 But for what God has called you to do, you're going to need this mantle.
01:08:35 You're going to need this evidence from the generations that the same grace
01:08:40 that allowed Israel to pass through this Jordan,
01:08:43 the same grace that allowed us to pass through on dry ground,
01:08:47 is the same grace that is going to be with you even when I'm gone.
01:08:51 I want to talk to somebody who lost their spiritual covering,
01:08:55 and I want you to understand you may have lost their body,
01:08:59 but you did not lose their body,
01:09:01 because their body is wrapped up in the Spirit that positioned them to cover you.
01:09:07 And what you need to ask for, instead of asking God, "Why did you take them?"
01:09:12 Say, "God, where is the God of my grandmother? Where is the God of my father?
01:09:17 Where is the God of Moses? Where is the God of T.D. James?
01:09:21 Where is the God they keep talking about?
01:09:24 The God that will allow me to be in my lowest valley and still praise?"
01:09:31 Where is...
01:09:38 And Elisha, see he takes this mantle,
01:09:46 and he does the very thing he saw Elijah do.
01:09:51 Because when you don't know what you have,
01:09:54 you just got to work what you know.
01:09:57 You just got to work what you know. You don't know what you have yet.
01:10:00 You don't know what this thing is going to turn into.
01:10:03 And I know you want to know before you get started,
01:10:06 but I hear God saying, "You don't get that kind of grace.
01:10:09 You only get the grace to get started."
01:10:11 If you have the grace to get started, God says, "I got the grace to help you finish."
01:10:15 If you got the grace to get up and get moving,
01:10:18 I got the grace to make sure that you run your race with strength.
01:10:22 If you got the grace to get started, and just ask, "Where am I?"
01:10:26 Just ask, "If I show up." Just ask, "If I got your back."
01:10:30 And Elisha lifts up his hand, and he says, "Where is the God of Elijah?"
01:10:35 I'm about to put my grace to the test.
01:10:38 I'm about to put this grace.
01:10:41 I'm going to put this grace to work.
01:10:47 I don't know what it is yet.
01:10:50 I don't know if it will do what his did.
01:10:52 I don't know if it will work the way your grace works.
01:10:55 But one thing I know is that God gave me something to work with.
01:10:58 So I'm going to put this grace to work.
01:11:01 And when I put it to work, I'm going to put it to work looking for God to show up.
01:11:06 Every time I get ready to preach, I say, "God, if you don't want me to do this, don't show up."
01:11:11 That will be the last time I do it.
01:11:13 But if you want me to do it, God, make it undeniable that you'll never leave me nor forsake me.
01:11:19 Make it undeniable that my voice matters in this generation.
01:11:23 I put God to the test because I want to know.
01:11:28 What are the limits?
01:11:33 What are the limits on this grace?
01:11:37 I know we got to go.
01:11:39 But I want somebody to know.
01:11:41 You're just scratching the surface for the limits of the grace that's on your life.
01:11:47 I want to talk to somebody who has gone as far as they have ever seen.
01:11:52 No one in my family has ever made it this far.
01:11:55 No one in my family has ever done it this way.
01:11:58 And I don't know where I go from here.
01:12:01 God says, "I'm glad you don't know where you go from here because my grace got you started."
01:12:05 But my grace is about to take you somewhere that eyes haven't seen, that ears haven't heard.
01:12:11 It didn't even enter into the heart of your parents, the things that I have in store for you.
01:12:15 If you put your grace to work, I'll make that grace take you places you never thought you would be.
01:12:21 You don't even know the limits of what I want to do with you.
01:12:24 You don't know the limits of where I want to take you.
01:12:27 You don't know the limits of who you're going to be in the earth.
01:12:29 I hear God saying, "Don't be afraid to have grace for what you've never seen done before."
01:12:48 Elijah gets exactly what he asked for, a double portion.
01:12:57 We've got eight miracles documented from Elijah.
01:13:00 We've got 16 miracles documented from Elijah.
01:13:05 That means eight of those miracles, they almost looked identical to what Elijah did.
01:13:09 But there were some miracles that he had preserved just for Elijah that was only for him to unlock.
01:13:16 I know you have seen some miracles done before, but God told me to tell you I got some miracles that you haven't even seen performed before.
01:13:24 And I'm going to use you to get it done.
01:13:27 So while you're trying to imitate what you have seen, I hear God saying, "Keep your eyes open for what you have not seen."
01:13:34 Because what you have not seen are the miracles that I have ordained for you to perform.
01:13:54 That's it.
01:14:00 The mystery of grace is that it's still unfolding.
01:14:11 The mystery of grace is that in our air, we think that we choose the grace, but grace chooses us.
01:14:27 Grace chooses us.
01:14:34 That idea was birthed in grace.
01:14:38 That life started in grace.
01:14:43 You were saved by grace through faith in Jesus.
01:14:48 He died before you even took your first breath, His grace.
01:14:58 His grace chose you before you chose Him.
01:15:04 And now with the context of the historical cultural nuances of charis or grace that was translated in the New Testament,
01:15:11 I understand why Paul says things like, "It is my reasonable service."
01:15:19 Because this grace chose me.
01:15:25 God said in 1 Kings 19, He told Elijah, "Take your mantle and throw it on Elisha.
01:15:32 He's going to be your successor."
01:15:35 But Elisha still asks for a double portion of his spirit, as if he's asking Him for something that has not already been ordained for him to receive.
01:15:45 Before you ask for it, before, oh God, something happens when you walk with the Lord,
01:15:50 that you begin to ask the Lord for the things He's already decided to give you.
01:15:55 Elisha finally aligns with why he has been chosen.
01:16:04 But it's not until he puts that grace to work, does he see the unfolding of who God has called him to be.
01:16:14 I'm finished.
01:16:16 I almost called this message, "Step into it."
01:16:21 Because Elisha had to make a decision to not talk himself out of what he saw,
01:16:31 to not talk himself out of what he knew.
01:16:35 He had to make a decision to step into it, even though he didn't fully know what he was stepping into.
01:16:42 I don't really know what this is, but I think I might have a grace for it.
01:16:46 I think, I think, I don't know.
01:16:49 I don't know, but I'm going to work what I've got, so I can discover where the grace is.
01:16:56 Everybody in this room has a grace assigned to their name.
01:17:00 The first grace you have, you have by being in relationship with Jesus.
01:17:04 And if you're not in relationship with Jesus, I want you to come to this altar.
01:17:10 Because the grace that we have through Jesus is God's way of making the first move.
01:17:17 I'm going to give you something of such high value, even though you have nothing to give me.
01:17:24 That's how bad I want to be in relationship with you.
01:17:28 And I don't want this relationship to be a one-off where you thank me that you didn't die in the car accident,
01:17:33 but you don't live every day stepping into the grace that is assigned to your life.
01:17:39 I want to be in relationship with you, says God.
01:17:43 Everyone in this room has a grace, and I felt like calling this message, "Step into it."
01:17:48 Because I recognize that there is a doubt that comes when we are exploring the grace that God has allowed to fall into our hands.
01:18:02 And yet we have a responsibility to do as Paul did, and to step into it, not with a faux sense of confidence,
01:18:14 but with trust and belief that it is by the grace of God that I am what I am.
01:18:23 And because of that grace, that grace is going to be with me as I take this journey.
01:18:31 If you're in this room, and you're ready to step into the grace that has fallen into your hands,
01:18:42 whether that is relationship with Jesus or an expansion of that initial grace,
01:18:49 where God has graced you in ministry, in business, in mental health and wellness, in wholeness for your family,
01:18:59 I want you to meet me at this altar.
01:19:03 And as you make your way to this altar, I want you to imagine that you're stepping into that grace.
01:19:13 Oof. You're in this room, and there is a generational grace that you want to see happen in your family.
01:19:29 I know the generational curses I want to break, but there is a generational grace that I want to see live on in my family.
01:19:36 I want you to meet me down here, because I hear God saying the mere fact that you have the desire for that generational grace to continue
01:19:46 is a sign that you have the ability to make sure that that generational grace stays in the earth until Jesus comes back.
01:19:56 You're here, and you're raising your babies, and you didn't have anybody to pour into you.
01:20:01 You're here, and you're raising your family, and you never had the role model.
01:20:05 You didn't have the father. You didn't have the husband.
01:20:07 But you want the grace to be a good man. You want the grace to be a good woman.
01:20:12 You want the grace to open your heart in a way that you never experienced.
01:20:16 I want you to step into that grace by meeting me at this altar.
01:20:20 You won't do it without grace.
01:20:23 You can read all the books you want to read, but there are some things that require grace.
01:20:32 You got to make an exchange, and you get to come even if you're uncertain.
01:20:39 And you get to come even if you don't even have the strength to do it, because His strength is made perfect in your weakness.
01:20:50 You want the grace to be clean, but you're not sure you can do it. Come on, we'll take that.
01:20:54 You could be high right now. You could come right down to this altar.
01:20:58 You could be here with your lover. You could come right down here at this altar.
01:21:01 And let me tell you, if somebody in this church judging you, then hell is going to strike them and them alone,
01:21:06 because everybody in here had a little need for grace.
01:21:14 If we can't get grace here, where can we get it?
01:21:20 I know you messed up.
01:21:23 I know if we saw all of the things that play in your head, that we probably would understand why you feel the way you feel.
01:21:33 But I hear God saying, there's a grace for you too.
01:21:40 I don't care how low you've been, how dirty, how nasty, you in the right place.
01:21:50 You in the right place.
01:21:57 The church is not perfect.
01:22:00 We could all create a list.
01:22:04 But when God calls us to grace, it ought to change the way we handle other people.
01:22:10 And I want you to know that if you ever got rubbed the wrong way by somebody who was representing God,
01:22:16 that that is not a reflection of God's heart for you.
01:22:19 That God's heart for you is literally for you.
01:22:24 For the highest version of yourself.
01:22:27 And God's grace, His grace is sufficient for you too.
01:22:30 It's not just sufficient for me.
01:22:32 It's not just sufficient for them.
01:22:34 It's sufficient for you too.
01:22:36 The same grace that let Bishop Jakes go into places and spaces that he should have never been.
01:22:45 That same grace is sufficient.
01:22:47 That same grace is sufficient for you.
01:22:52 Oh, goodness.
01:22:54 I want to pray with you.
01:22:56 Can you do me a favor?
01:22:58 Clap your hands like you're receiving grace like.
01:23:07 Now cup your hands like you're receiving something.
01:23:12 Jesus, thank you for your grace.
01:23:18 Oh, God, thank you for covering us in ways that we could have never covered ourselves.
01:23:26 God, I thank you for every story represented at this altar.
01:23:34 These stories are not beautiful, but they are still being written.
01:23:40 God, I thank you that we are giving you the pin to this story.
01:23:44 No longer will we hold ourselves back or try and dictate who we should be, who we can be.
01:23:50 But instead, God, we lay our lives down at your feet and we say it is not much at all.
01:23:56 God, you could choose anybody.
01:23:58 You could use anybody.
01:24:00 But because your grace made the first move, it is my reasonable service to turn my life over you in such a way that I say,
01:24:07 God, where you send me, I'll go.
01:24:09 What you say, I will believe.
01:24:11 God, I thank you that you are opening the hearts and minds of these, your sons and daughters,
01:24:16 to not just be consumers of grace, but to be a grace responder.
01:24:20 I thank you, God, that wherever there is a grace that is connected to their lives, that their obedience will follow.
01:24:26 God, I thank you that that same mind that was in Christ Jesus is the mind that will dwell on the inside of them.
01:24:33 And Jesus, when that mind begins to dwell on the inside of them, I thank you, God, that it is going to combat darkness.
01:24:39 I thank you that it is going to combat low self-esteem.
01:24:42 I thank you that it is going to combat insecurity.
01:24:45 And I thank you, God, in advance for the generational grace that is down on the inside of them.
01:24:51 God, I thank you that you're going to unlock generational grace, a grace to be whole, a grace to be free, a grace to be clean,
01:24:59 a grace to move with power and obedience, a grace to pray, a grace to prophesy.
01:25:05 I thank you, God, that this is not just an altar of people, but this is an altar of prophets.
01:25:10 And in your last day, you made a promise that you will pour out your spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters will prophesy.
01:25:19 So I thank you, God, that you're prophesying over their bodies.
01:25:22 I thank you, God, that you're prophesying over their minds.
01:25:25 I thank you, God, that you're prophesying.
01:25:27 And when you fill them with your spirit, God, I thank you that the enemy will not have any space in their mind.
01:25:36 Because who the son has set free will be free indeed.
01:25:40 God, we receive the grace that you have so graciously given us.
01:25:44 We thank you.
01:25:47 God, I thank you that as grace unlocks doors this week, that their eyes will be open to see it.
01:25:55 Their feet will be ready to step into it.
01:25:58 And that you are going to give them more creativity, more innovation, more strength, more wisdom
01:26:04 than they should even have access to.
01:26:06 But because they are finally stepping into the grace, I thank you that the resources connected to that grace are coming.
01:26:12 God, I thank you for like-minded individuals.
01:26:15 And I thank you that the power of Christ is going to rest upon them.
01:26:20 May they never forget that they are not in it on their own, but that the power of Christ is resting on them.
01:26:29 I don't know who you are, but I hear God saying you're going to be more bold than you've ever been.
01:26:33 I thank you, God, for the spirit of boldness.
01:26:36 That with that grace is going to come a boldness for you to step into the room with confidence
01:26:42 because you know God sent you.
01:26:44 And because God sent you, you're not going to let anyone push you out of it.
01:26:49 God, I tried to say what you told me to say.
01:26:56 God, that which is for them, I ask that it takes root and produces fruit.
01:27:01 And that which is not for them, God, if it be for another season, I ask that they store it and draw from it when they need it the most.
01:27:10 I thank you that this is just the beginning of them unfolding the mystery of the grace connected to their lives.
01:27:18 May they solve it and solve it and solve it and then pass it to another generation to unlock the mystery of grace on their life.
01:27:29 Seal this word as only you can do.
01:27:31 In Jesus' name, amen.
01:27:33 Can you celebrate with me?
01:27:37 Come on, can we do a little bit better than that?
01:27:40 I know I went over time, but can we do a little bit better than that?
01:27:44 I want you to thank God like you stepped into a grace that no one has seen before.
01:27:50 I want you to praise God like the walls of Jericho just came down.
01:27:55 [applause]
01:27:58 [music]
01:28:08 (upbeat music)