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00:00:00 (upbeat music)
00:00:02 - Listen, you got a special opportunity.
00:00:12 We're doing a special promotion.
00:00:14 Starting now, you can purchase a registration
00:00:17 for our international leadership.
00:00:19 Somebody's to get one half off, not both of them,
00:00:22 but one of them, half off,
00:00:24 so you can bring somebody with you.
00:00:27 Or take advantage of our one of a kind group deals.
00:00:31 We have scenarios for everyone.
00:00:34 Auxiliaries, a lot of times the pastors come,
00:00:37 so leaders come, but they don't bring their team.
00:00:41 And it's like Moses going up on the mountaintop
00:00:43 and seeing the glory of God and coming down
00:00:45 and the people you had to work with
00:00:46 were dancing naked around the calf.
00:00:49 I found out if you go up by yourself,
00:00:52 you come down back to the level you were on again
00:00:56 because you didn't bring anybody up with you.
00:00:59 Look at somebody and say, bring somebody up with you.
00:01:02 I urge you, you can get groups for 12, 25, or 50.
00:01:07 You can go on the site and learn more about it.
00:01:09 I urge you to use this offer while it lasts
00:01:12 'cause it will not last long.
00:01:14 It's just a Christmas special.
00:01:17 This is our Black Friday.
00:01:18 Anyway, I urge you to, y'all missed it.
00:01:25 I hate it when y'all miss something
00:01:26 and I'm trying to be funny.
00:01:28 It just hurts my feelings so bad.
00:01:30 I'm auditioning and in case y'all fire me,
00:01:33 I could do standup comedy or something for a little bit.
00:01:36 I tell you what, back to the corner,
00:01:39 I could give 'em a run for their money.
00:01:40 Don't laugh at me now.
00:01:43 I urge you to use this offer while it lasts
00:01:46 and take advantage of the experience it set up for you.
00:01:49 Nevertheless, the occasion to glean wisdom
00:01:51 from today's leading experts has never been more critical.
00:01:55 Please don't sleep through this.
00:01:59 I'll try not to go off on it
00:02:00 'cause I just came back from Atlanta
00:02:02 talking about the urgency of right now.
00:02:05 The prevailing change, the paradigm shift of our times,
00:02:11 the entrance of AI, the inflation that we're dealing with,
00:02:16 the economy coming up but the inflation not going down.
00:02:20 You have to be a creative leader.
00:02:22 The stress, the pressure, the fatigue, the frustration.
00:02:26 Just 'cause you wear a collar
00:02:27 doesn't mean that you have mental health.
00:02:29 Just because you have a corner seat in a corporate office
00:02:37 doesn't mean that people don't get on your very,
00:02:39 yeah, that last one.
00:02:43 My wife has a jar in the house that says,
00:02:45 "Mama's last nerve, I stay away from it.
00:02:49 "I dance all the way around that nerve
00:02:51 "'cause I don't know what'll happen
00:02:53 "if I get that last nerve."
00:02:55 Now, that next to the last one,
00:02:56 I will get on it in a minute,
00:02:58 but that last nerve,
00:02:59 you wouldn't like me if you made me mad.
00:03:04 Most of you know that the theme of our event
00:03:07 is timing is everything.
00:03:09 And it's not just a slogan or an idea.
00:03:14 If we don't take advantage of time and be proactive,
00:03:19 more times than not, we end up reactive.
00:03:22 After we are assaulted, after we are wounded,
00:03:26 after we are fired, after we are in trouble,
00:03:29 then we go to God.
00:03:31 But if we would seek the Lord early,
00:03:33 the whole purpose is to seek the Lord early,
00:03:38 get ahead of it and find out what you need to do
00:03:41 to be prepared.
00:03:43 God has a prepared blessing for a prepared people.
00:03:47 And I wanna be prepared.
00:03:49 I don't wanna get ready, I wanna stay ready.
00:03:51 I was saying, "Get ready, get ready, get ready,"
00:03:54 40 years ago.
00:03:56 If you ain't ready now, I don't know what to say for you.
00:03:59 That's all I can do.
00:04:01 So take advantage of that.
00:04:02 Again, it's March 21st through the 23rd.
00:04:05 There's information on the screen
00:04:07 amongst the mighty preachers that we have.
00:04:11 I'm so proud of our lineup this year.
00:04:13 It's one of the most, we got everybody,
00:04:16 Gen X, Gen Y, millennials, Gen Q, Gen R,
00:04:21 boomers, bammers, and beamers.
00:04:24 They're all gonna represent from Jakes and Jones
00:04:28 to Sarah Jakes Roberts to just about everybody
00:04:33 you can think of.
00:04:34 I resent the fact that you all didn't start clapping
00:04:36 until I said Sarah Jakes Roberts.
00:04:38 I'm terribly offended by that.
00:04:45 And we've got Keon Henderson, we've got great,
00:04:48 yeah, go ahead, clap.
00:04:50 Go ahead, I can't beat it.
00:04:52 I can't beat it, can't beat it, just join it.
00:04:54 Listen, it's some of everybody there.
00:04:57 Also joining us to focus on some of the business issues
00:05:02 and the important issues is the head,
00:05:07 the secretary of the United States Department
00:05:10 of Housing and Urban Development, Marcia Fudge,
00:05:14 will be joining us.
00:05:15 I talked to her when I was in Atlanta.
00:05:17 She's coming in to talk to us about what to do
00:05:20 with that excess property you have
00:05:22 that you're just sitting on and how to turn it
00:05:25 into an answer to our city's problems
00:05:27 for housing and development and an answer
00:05:30 for your retirement plan 'cause your 401K
00:05:33 has turned into a 401C.
00:05:36 And so in case you need to supplement your income,
00:05:42 you need to, sometimes God gives us assets
00:05:45 that we don't recognize.
00:05:48 Can I get a good amen in here?
00:05:50 And she's gonna tell you how to take advantage
00:05:53 of some special program that HUD has available for you
00:05:56 and just deal with a plethora of different things
00:05:59 that I think is very important.
00:06:01 In the book of Numbers, chapter number 20,
00:06:12 verse two through 13, there you will find
00:06:17 the reading of the word of the Lord.
00:06:19 Open your hearts and your minds
00:06:24 as we contemplate the text that we might extrapolate
00:06:30 from it the substance that is necessary
00:06:35 to sustain us through the vicissitudes of life.
00:06:41 We thank our God for sustaining us.
00:06:46 Through winter, spring, summer, and fall,
00:06:55 you sustain us.
00:06:59 At every age and stage, you sustain us.
00:07:04 When you have it, say amen.
00:07:08 Numbers 20 and two, and there was no water
00:07:13 for the congregation.
00:07:16 And they assembled themselves together
00:07:22 against Moses and against Aaron.
00:07:26 And the people strove with Moses,
00:07:34 gave him a real hard time,
00:07:37 and spake, saying, "Would that we had died
00:07:41 "when our brethren died before Jehovah."
00:07:45 Why have you brought the assembly of Jehovah
00:07:51 into the wilderness?
00:07:53 That we should die there?
00:07:55 We and our beast?
00:07:58 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt
00:08:04 to bring us into this evil place?
00:08:08 It is no place of seed or figs or vines or pomegranates.
00:08:14 Neither is there any water to drink.
00:08:21 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence
00:08:27 of the assembly, I don't blame them,
00:08:28 unto the door of the tent of meeting,
00:08:34 sometimes you gotta get away from folks,
00:08:36 and fell upon their faces,
00:08:42 and the glory of Jehovah appeared unto them.
00:08:48 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
00:08:54 "Take the rod and assemble the congregation."
00:09:00 I'm not gonna use anything you don't already have.
00:09:03 (congregation murmuring)
00:09:06 Thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock
00:09:11 before their eyes, that it give forth its water,
00:09:18 and thou shall bring forth to them water out of the rock.
00:09:23 So thou shall give the congregation and their cattle drink.
00:09:32 And Moses took the rod from before Jehovah
00:09:37 as he commanded him.
00:09:39 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together
00:09:42 before the rock, and he said unto them,
00:09:45 "Hear now, ye rebels."
00:09:47 Moses was hot.
00:09:53 "Hear now, ye rebels, shall we bring you forth water
00:09:59 "out of this rock?"
00:10:02 And Moses lifted up his hand and smote the rock
00:10:07 with his rod twice.
00:10:10 And water came forth abundantly.
00:10:16 Somebody shout abundantly.
00:10:17 - Abundantly.
00:10:19 - And the congregation drank and their cattle.
00:10:23 And Jehovah said unto Moses and Aaron,
00:10:27 "Because ye believe not in me, to sanctify me
00:10:32 "in the eyes of the children of Israel,
00:10:34 "therefore ye shall not bring this assembly
00:10:37 "into the land which I have given them.
00:10:41 "These are the waters of Meribah,
00:10:46 "because the children of Israel strove with Jehovah,
00:10:51 "and he was sanctified in them."
00:10:57 Can you say amen?
00:10:59 - Amen.
00:11:00 - For the next few moments, I would like to talk to you.
00:11:04 You might not be in this place right now,
00:11:06 and you might not need it today,
00:11:08 but say that you'll need it tomorrow.
00:11:10 I want to talk to you from the subject,
00:11:14 working through hard places.
00:11:18 Working through hard places.
00:11:27 Endow me, sir, with your grace.
00:11:31 Empower me with your presence.
00:11:35 Invigorate this clay body with the kind of glory
00:11:41 that enables it to function in supernatural ways.
00:11:47 Translate me out of my flesh
00:11:49 into the kingdom of your dear son.
00:11:54 And let me feed the flock.
00:11:56 For beneath all of the fancy frivolity of this occasion,
00:12:03 truth of the matter is,
00:12:07 many of us are working through hard places.
00:12:12 We're dancing, but we're working through hard places.
00:12:20 We're smiling.
00:12:24 (congregation laughing)
00:12:26 But we're working through hard places.
00:12:28 We even clapped our hands,
00:12:30 but we are working through hard places.
00:12:33 Anything you can tell us
00:12:36 that will help us with what you have for us to do,
00:12:43 we are hungry to receive.
00:12:47 Because we don't want to get this close to the promise
00:12:52 and stagger in unbelief.
00:12:57 Now bless the furtherance of the service.
00:12:59 In Jesus' name we pray.
00:13:02 Somebody shout amen.
00:13:03 - Amen.
00:13:04 - You may be seated.
00:13:05 We are in the book of Leviticus.
00:13:11 We are studying the life of Moses.
00:13:13 We are delving into the fact that he has been assigned
00:13:19 to people who have not been kind.
00:13:22 Because God doesn't always assign you to nice people.
00:13:31 (congregation laughing)
00:13:36 And just because they're not nice
00:13:39 does not mean that you're not assigned.
00:13:41 We're living in a time that people give up their assignment
00:13:47 for their comfort.
00:13:48 (congregation laughing)
00:13:51 They think that if they are not comfortable,
00:13:55 then they are not assigned.
00:13:59 But occasionally God assigns you to hard places.
00:14:06 And depending on what was modeled in front of you
00:14:14 and what your character level is
00:14:16 and your personality profile exhibits,
00:14:20 it is possible for you to forsake the assignment
00:14:24 because of the surroundings to which you have been assigned.
00:14:31 We are a very vocal generation.
00:14:38 We have, all of us have become news reporters.
00:14:45 We don't just vocalize in our home,
00:14:47 we vocalize publicly because we don't always like
00:14:51 the assignment.
00:14:53 It is in a way retaliation.
00:14:56 But behind the retaliation, there's no judgment here,
00:15:01 is frustration.
00:15:03 Frustration occurs when our life does not look like
00:15:10 what we imagined it to be.
00:15:14 We're looking at the imagination of the people.
00:15:17 Hence they're saying, "Where are the figs?"
00:15:21 All I see is sand dunes and gust of hot air.
00:15:28 Where is the pomegranates?
00:15:32 Where is the promised land?
00:15:36 They are assaulting Moses and making him responsible
00:15:44 for their choice to go.
00:15:47 It is not as though Moses has put a sword to their throat
00:15:55 and asked them to go.
00:15:58 And it is not as though Egypt was a wonderful place to be.
00:16:04 But isn't it amazing how quickly we forget
00:16:10 what worse was like?
00:16:13 Amen.
00:16:14 My first point I want to leave in your hearing
00:16:21 is that underestimating the difficulty of the assignment
00:16:26 will get you in trouble.
00:16:27 Underestimating the difficulty of the assignment
00:16:34 is in part a fault of our own mentors
00:16:41 because they often made it look easier than it really was.
00:16:46 Not wanting to murmur and complain,
00:16:52 they made it look more simplistic.
00:16:54 But when you actually took the job,
00:16:57 when you actually had the baby,
00:17:01 when you actually got married,
00:17:05 when you actually started the business,
00:17:09 when you actually started the career,
00:17:11 it was not as glamorous as dating it.
00:17:15 Dating is far more glamorous than marriage.
00:17:21 Dating is filled with Tic Tacs and deodorant
00:17:27 and cologne and nicety.
00:17:31 Marriage got bad breath.
00:17:37 Sharp words, unexpected situations.
00:17:42 It's too cold in here.
00:17:46 Turn the heat up.
00:17:48 It's too hot.
00:17:49 For my people over 50, it's too hot.
00:17:54 Turn it down.
00:17:59 The discrepancies in our comfort has become so paramount
00:18:03 that now we sleep in the same bed,
00:18:06 but we got different sides so you can tilt up
00:18:08 while I tilt down and you can regulate the temperature
00:18:12 because we can't even agree
00:18:14 on the temperature in the room.
00:18:20 We do not understand that hard places
00:18:26 are given to strong people.
00:18:33 The question is, can God trust you with a hard place?
00:18:38 I know he can trust you when everything
00:18:46 is falling into place,
00:18:49 but can he trust you in a layoff?
00:18:51 Can he trust you through a repossession
00:18:58 and you're moving back in with your mama?
00:19:00 Where is your praise now?
00:19:04 While your enemies are saying, where is your God?
00:19:07 Your God is saying, where is your praise?
00:19:10 Or do you only love me when I play Santa Claus in your life?
00:19:19 As long as I'm coming down the chimney, you got cookies.
00:19:25 But what happens when God does not show up
00:19:30 the way you expected him to show up
00:19:33 in the form you expected him to show up in?
00:19:38 Can you still be assigned and uncomfortable?
00:19:43 Can you be assigned and be miserable?
00:19:49 Now, I'm not talking about the things
00:19:51 you assign yourself to.
00:19:53 'Cause some of this stuff you got into,
00:19:56 God didn't assign you to.
00:19:59 Your lusts assign you to it.
00:20:03 Your sin assign you to it.
00:20:06 Your pride assign you to it.
00:20:08 Your ego assign you to it.
00:20:10 Your overinflated confidence assign you to it.
00:20:14 But I'm talking about the times that God has assigned you
00:20:19 to a hard place.
00:20:26 And you're rebuking the devil and pleading the blood
00:20:28 and trying to cast out devils
00:20:31 that are absent from the situation
00:20:33 because it was all right in spring and summer and fall,
00:20:38 but now winter has set in
00:20:41 and you're not dressed for a hard place.
00:20:46 I'm wondering if you understand,
00:20:51 if it were easy, anyone could do it.
00:20:56 (congregation murmurs)
00:20:59 I said, if it were easy, anyone could do it.
00:21:05 If it were easy, anyone could be a great parent.
00:21:17 If it were easy, anyone could be a great husband.
00:21:21 If it were easy, anyone could be a great wife.
00:21:26 Truth of the matter is, some of y'all are hard
00:21:28 to be married to.
00:21:29 Just keep looking straight ahead.
00:21:39 I'm gonna get you through it without a scratch.
00:21:43 Hard mothers-in-law.
00:21:48 (congregation murmurs)
00:21:51 Yeah, I know they're coming over for dinner next week.
00:21:54 It's gonna be all right.
00:21:55 Hard father-in-law.
00:21:58 And now you got to serve somebody
00:22:04 who complains about everything you do.
00:22:08 That's not the way I make my potato salad.
00:22:11 What did you put in this?
00:22:14 (congregation murmurs)
00:22:18 Assigned to a hard place.
00:22:21 Assigned to a boss who gives you a task to do,
00:22:26 takes all the credit and never acknowledges you.
00:22:29 Assigned to a hard place.
00:22:33 You drive to work speaking in tongues
00:22:36 'cause you consider the job you prayed for
00:22:39 speaking in tongues.
00:22:40 Now you're speaking in tongues trying to endure
00:22:43 the answer God gave you because now you realize
00:22:48 that the paycheck doesn't matter because I'm assigned
00:22:51 to a hard place.
00:22:57 You don't yet realize that people are fickle.
00:23:03 So you bought into their praises
00:23:09 and you brought into their adoration
00:23:12 and you bought into, you were lacked and you were accepted
00:23:15 and you were loved and you were appreciated
00:23:17 and you were validated and you didn't understand
00:23:20 that people are fickle.
00:23:22 These are the same people that Moses stopped from dying
00:23:29 by lifting up the brazen serpent in the wilderness.
00:23:34 These are the same people that Moses prayed
00:23:37 till bread loaves fell from heaven.
00:23:40 These are the same people that Moses casts a tree
00:23:44 into the bitter waters of Mara
00:23:46 and caused him to drink healthily.
00:23:49 These are the same people that an 80 year old man
00:23:54 was walking through the wilderness
00:23:57 and he had not had a drink of water either.
00:24:00 No empathy for the fact that Moses' mouth is dry.
00:24:08 (congregation laughing)
00:24:12 No empathy for the fact that Moses
00:24:14 is just as depleted and older.
00:24:18 These are the generations born in the wilderness.
00:24:25 They're half his age, young enough to be his children,
00:24:27 maybe a quarter of his age and they are complaining
00:24:32 about an old man who never made them go from Egypt.
00:24:37 This is a man that prayed in such a way
00:24:42 that not one of their children died
00:24:44 while all of the Egyptian firstborn sons were destroyed
00:24:49 but we get amnesia when we get uncomfortable.
00:24:54 Oh, you don't believe it but keep living.
00:24:57 People will forget everything you did
00:25:01 because of one thing you did
00:25:04 and throw you completely away.
00:25:08 These are the same people who are cajoling him
00:25:16 and attacking him and blaming him and assaulting him.
00:25:21 They're the same people who later will cry
00:25:24 at the bottom of the mountain because he's dead
00:25:28 because we deified the dead while we crucified the living.
00:25:33 (congregation laughing)
00:25:36 Some people don't get wonderful till they get gone.
00:25:40 (congregation laughing)
00:25:42 Oh my God.
00:25:44 They're not really appreciated until you roll over
00:25:50 and that side of the bed is empty.
00:25:52 I'm talking about the fickleness of people.
00:25:59 The procurement of the promise doesn't negate problems.
00:26:04 With every promise we just got through shouting about,
00:26:10 they will not come without problems and obstacles
00:26:14 and setbacks and delays and trauma and adversity.
00:26:19 You thought you were gonna eat the figs
00:26:23 and the pomegranates without stress?
00:26:29 You thought you would drink the water without dryness?
00:26:33 And by the way, you are not the only one who's thirsty.
00:26:39 Everybody in the text is thirsty.
00:26:44 The people are thirsty.
00:26:48 Moses is thirsty.
00:26:52 God is thirsty for the praises of his people.
00:26:59 He has nothing to drink but complaint
00:27:02 and everyone in the text is dry and still moving.
00:27:07 You're not a full grown man until you can walk dry.
00:27:14 You're not a real woman until you can walk dry.
00:27:20 Dry meaning your needs are not being met, legitimate needs.
00:27:26 Dry meaning you don't get things
00:27:29 the way you want them to be.
00:27:30 Dry meaning you can't control the external circumstances
00:27:35 around your life and you must make progress under pressure.
00:27:39 Progress under pressure.
00:27:45 Is there anybody in here that knows what it's like
00:27:48 to make progress under pressure?
00:27:55 And yes, we get frustrated over our haters
00:27:58 because our haters think our walk was easier than it was
00:28:02 and they envy us for things they would not endure.
00:28:06 That they could have had but they quit.
00:28:10 They died in the wilderness.
00:28:12 But with parched lips and a dry tongue,
00:28:21 they kept on moving.
00:28:24 (audience cheering)
00:28:27 One thing I have learned in life is keep it moving.
00:28:32 (audience cheering)
00:28:36 Keep it moving.
00:28:39 Do not sit down and bask in how you feel about it
00:28:44 to the degree that you delay your assignment.
00:28:50 Investigating your emotions should not delay your assignment.
00:28:55 The discomfort we were just talking about,
00:29:04 the chickens running in the yard and all of that
00:29:07 makes your tolerance stronger to pain.
00:29:11 But when everything was brought to you,
00:29:13 served to you, given to you, handed to you,
00:29:16 anytime it doesn't work like that,
00:29:18 you think you're being abused.
00:29:21 Mama didn't tell you that it's going to get hard.
00:29:29 Daddy didn't tell you it was going to be hard.
00:29:32 Or they told you.
00:29:34 See, the problem with communication is all we have is words.
00:29:44 And your idea of hard and my idea of hard
00:29:46 are two different things.
00:29:48 And I told you it's going to be hard being a grown up
00:29:51 and you couldn't wait to be grown.
00:29:53 And now you find out it's not what you thought
00:29:56 it was going to be.
00:29:57 Come on, talk to me, somebody.
00:30:01 It's not as good as it looked on the outside.
00:30:05 When the bills start coming in your name
00:30:07 and when you start running out of capital
00:30:09 and when you have to get up and go to work
00:30:11 when you don't feel like it and you don't like your job
00:30:14 but you love your kids, you go do your job.
00:30:18 Walk through hard places.
00:30:26 Because life, not demons, not devils, not witches,
00:30:34 not hexes, life is hard.
00:30:42 I could stay there all day.
00:30:44 Life is hard.
00:30:46 Life is hard.
00:30:48 Life all by itself.
00:30:50 Life is lifin'.
00:30:52 People being born at the same time people are dying.
00:31:00 You're connected to both sides.
00:31:02 You got to go to the baby shower
00:31:04 and prepare for the funeral.
00:31:06 Life is hard.
00:31:09 Before you can bury one, another one dies.
00:31:11 Life is hard.
00:31:12 Life is tough.
00:31:13 I'm not simplifying it.
00:31:14 I'm not saying it's easy.
00:31:16 I'm not saying it's not painful.
00:31:18 I'm not saying that it doesn't break you down to your knees.
00:31:23 But that doesn't always mean that a devil is probably.
00:31:26 Satan did not create the desert.
00:31:29 It's just that the desert was the only way
00:31:36 to get through to the promised land
00:31:39 if you were going with Moses.
00:31:41 You cannot get through to the promises
00:31:45 you just got through shouting about
00:31:47 without going through dry places.
00:31:52 It would be different if they were hungry
00:31:54 'cause I can live longer without food.
00:31:57 The body is designed to protect me.
00:32:00 My metabolism slows down.
00:32:03 It starts eating off of fat in the body.
00:32:06 I can go longer without food than I can without water.
00:32:09 These people aren't just hungry.
00:32:11 They're thirsty.
00:32:12 In their mind, they saw pomegranates.
00:32:17 In their eyes, they saw sand dunes.
00:32:20 And even the animals were tired.
00:32:28 What do you do when what you're riding on
00:32:31 gets tired?
00:32:38 Eventually, no matter how strong of a camel I may be,
00:32:43 if you take me through enough drought,
00:32:46 I'm gonna get tired.
00:32:48 That's why it's dangerous to rely on people.
00:32:54 Because the person you're dumping on
00:33:00 has as many problems as you do.
00:33:04 And initially, they had the capacity
00:33:06 to absorb the extra weight,
00:33:08 but eventually, necessity necessitates
00:33:12 that I have to let you go
00:33:15 'cause I had problems when you called me.
00:33:18 'Cause we are all going through a hard place.
00:33:25 Number two, hard places are often made more difficult
00:33:32 by past problems.
00:33:35 (congregation chattering)
00:33:37 You see, this is particularly difficult.
00:33:40 God, give me the grace to make this clear.
00:33:43 This is particularly difficult for Moses.
00:33:48 I know that they entered the text
00:33:50 talking about their drought and their dry place,
00:33:53 but I want you to understand
00:33:54 that this is a trigger to Moses' trauma
00:33:59 because Moses' identity relies on their affirmation.
00:34:04 You see, Moses, you will remember,
00:34:10 is a Hebrew child that escaped the massacre
00:34:14 by being raised in Egypt.
00:34:18 So he is raised like an Egyptian,
00:34:22 but genetically, he is a Hebrew,
00:34:27 which that alone creates an identity crisis.
00:34:32 He wasn't raised with the heritage of the Hebrews.
00:34:36 He was raised with the heritage of the Egyptians,
00:34:40 speaking the language of the Egyptians
00:34:43 and yet having an affinity for the Hebrews.
00:34:48 Moses is homeless.
00:34:56 He cannot go back to what raised him.
00:34:58 And if the people that he has now been assigned
00:35:04 to reject him, it is not just rejection
00:35:08 that he's dealing with, it is identity.
00:35:11 Because if you hate me,
00:35:15 who am I?
00:35:18 And Moses, who I believe to be one of the greatest leaders
00:35:25 of the Old Testament, Moses, who God said,
00:35:28 "Other prophets have I spoken to through dreams and visions,
00:35:31 "but of my servant Moses will I speak to face to face."
00:35:35 Moses, who had direct access to God.
00:35:38 Moses, who could walk into the temple
00:35:40 and God would appear.
00:35:42 Moses, who was as anointed as anybody.
00:35:45 Moses, who could turn the seas to blood.
00:35:48 Moses, who could part the Red Sea
00:35:51 and bring the children of Israel across on dry ground,
00:35:54 does not negate the fact that internally
00:35:58 you can have a hard place that people don't see.
00:36:01 They can't see it because they are camouflaged
00:36:07 in your successes and you can be so successful
00:36:10 that people deem you not human.
00:36:12 They love to make you a hero so that they can kill you
00:36:18 for being like them.
00:36:24 Oh, we do it all the time, look around you.
00:36:26 We love to take people up so that we can watch them
00:36:30 fall down all the way back to the gladiators in Rome.
00:36:35 Thousands would gather to watch them die.
00:36:39 We are a bloodthirsty people.
00:36:43 Good news travels slow.
00:36:52 Bad news travels fast.
00:36:55 Bad articles make the front page.
00:36:58 Redactions are in the back of the newspaper.
00:37:02 Just a line or two.
00:37:05 We apologize, we were mistaken when we said so and so.
00:37:09 No pictures.
00:37:11 Just a paragraph of a retraction that you only got
00:37:18 because you got a lawyer.
00:37:19 (congregation murmuring)
00:37:23 And being known is a hard place.
00:37:28 And being a leader is a hard place.
00:37:34 And being a breadwinner is a hard place.
00:37:38 And being innovative is a hard place.
00:37:41 And being gifted is a hard place.
00:37:45 And being chosen is a hard place.
00:37:50 And so what you're praying for is a...
00:37:54 (congregation murmuring)
00:37:57 Give me a child lest I die.
00:38:02 Yeah, you're asking for a hard place.
00:38:07 The same person who says give me a child lest I die
00:38:11 holds her stomach filled with twins and says,
00:38:14 why am I thus?
00:38:16 I asked for the baby, not the pregnancy.
00:38:19 You didn't tell me it was gonna be twins
00:38:24 and that the twins were gonna fight in my body.
00:38:28 I did not ask for this hard place.
00:38:32 I asked for pomegranates.
00:38:35 I asked for figs.
00:38:39 You answered with dust and freezing nights.
00:38:45 And scorching days.
00:38:48 And no rivers run through this desert.
00:38:52 And you performed a miracle,
00:38:56 but now the miracle has dried up too.
00:39:00 And when we get in a hard place, we get vicious.
00:39:05 (congregation murmuring)
00:39:09 We get toxic.
00:39:14 We get hard to deal with.
00:39:16 And sometimes nobody can see your hard place
00:39:20 because Moses' hard place is not so much the drought.
00:39:23 You don't hear him complaining about his mouth being dry
00:39:27 because he is so committed to being accepted.
00:39:31 They are his family.
00:39:33 They are his dream.
00:39:35 They are his promised land
00:39:38 because we always pray for what we didn't get.
00:39:41 (congregation murmuring)
00:39:45 He has been rejected by the Egyptians.
00:39:49 He has been driven out of the palace.
00:39:52 He has had to go out into the wilderness
00:39:55 and get a precursor of what his future was to be like
00:39:59 working for Jethro.
00:40:01 He has built up an immunity to the heat
00:40:04 because he spent 40 years in hard places.
00:40:10 Sometimes God will train you in hard places
00:40:13 so that you don't faint like other people faint
00:40:16 because your endurance has been built up
00:40:19 by the I wish there was somebody in this room
00:40:22 who looks back on your hard places
00:40:24 and says it was good for me that I was afflicted.
00:40:28 For had I not been afflicted,
00:40:29 I would have never known the glory of God.
00:40:32 You can't roll your eyes and run me back home.
00:40:35 I'm a little tougher than that.
00:40:37 You can't write a bad note about me and make me quit
00:40:42 because I trained in hard places.
00:40:45 I was raised in hard places.
00:40:48 I'm not used to folk liking me no way.
00:40:50 So roll your eyes all you want to.
00:40:53 Delete, delete, delete, delete, and delete.
00:40:58 (congregation murmuring)
00:41:02 (congregation cheering)
00:41:05 Yes.
00:41:10 Every now and then somebody write me,
00:41:13 I'm gonna unfollow you.
00:41:15 And I think, not before I delete you.
00:41:21 So if you're gonna unfollow me, you got to hurry
00:41:26 'cause I got a button too.
00:41:30 But you can't push the button when you are assigned to them.
00:41:35 What do you do when you can't defend yourself
00:41:40 the way you want to defend yourself
00:41:42 because you're on assignment
00:41:44 and if you defend yourself, you offend God.
00:41:49 Oh, if it came down to it word for word,
00:41:59 I could hold my own with you.
00:42:02 Don't let the caller fool you, baby.
00:42:04 Yeah, yeah, I could get you back at rhyme
00:42:08 while I was doing it.
00:42:09 They'd have to put music behind what I would put on you
00:42:13 if God would turn me loose.
00:42:15 I didn't hold my peace because I was weak.
00:42:18 I held my peace because I was assigned.
00:42:21 And I realized your attack on me
00:42:25 is Satan trying to trick me into cursing myself.
00:42:30 So I held my peace,
00:42:33 but don't think I couldn't get you.
00:42:36 And if you're not careful,
00:42:51 your pride will make you retaliate
00:42:55 and you will win the battle and lose the war.
00:42:58 I'm talking about working through a hard place.
00:43:04 The people that he needed affirmation from
00:43:10 and validation from and acceptance from
00:43:13 so that he could have a people,
00:43:16 a society that embraced him,
00:43:19 a womb that incubated him,
00:43:21 a matrix that protected him.
00:43:23 We all crave connectivity in an age of disconnection.
00:43:28 We have more people in our phone
00:43:30 than we have in our house,
00:43:32 and yet we are alone.
00:43:34 And here he is dealing with the people
00:43:42 who are angry because anger is often the camouflage
00:43:47 that hurt wears.
00:43:50 (audience murmurs)
00:43:53 I'm gonna say that again.
00:43:56 Anger is often the camouflage
00:44:00 that hurt wears
00:44:03 because it is easier to be angry
00:44:08 than to admit you hurt me.
00:44:12 I don't wanna give you the pleasure
00:44:16 of letting you know how important you are to me
00:44:19 that hurt so I get angry.
00:44:24 And Moses, you see, as mighty as he is
00:44:27 and as gifted as he is,
00:44:29 has a problem with anger.
00:44:31 Do not forget, don't let the grace of God
00:44:33 become so flamboyant that you forget the fact
00:44:36 that Moses is a murderer.
00:44:38 Moses would take you.
00:44:41 You barking at the wrong brother.
00:44:48 (audience murmurs)
00:44:51 This brother is an ex-convict.
00:44:54 We run away from the law.
00:44:56 Be careful what you call him
00:45:00 'cause he might backslide.
00:45:04 (audience murmurs)
00:45:07 But the truth of the matter is the people are just hurt.
00:45:15 They are hurt because the promise is delayed.
00:45:18 Like many of you in this room right now,
00:45:21 you are hurt
00:45:22 that the promise is delayed.
00:45:28 You are hurt because what you had in mind
00:45:32 didn't happen like you thought.
00:45:34 You are hurt because you envision pomegranates
00:45:40 and grapes and fruit and promised lands
00:45:44 and a house instead of a tent.
00:45:47 You are hurt because your life doesn't look like TV.
00:45:53 You are hurt because you are getting older
00:45:58 and you thought you would be further than this by now.
00:46:01 You are hurt because you have had to keep it moving
00:46:11 with your mouth dry.
00:46:14 (audience murmurs)
00:46:16 And you need somebody to blame for your discomfort.
00:46:21 So you blame the one who led you,
00:46:26 not acknowledging that he never made you.
00:46:29 You absolve yourself of any responsibility
00:46:34 in being in the situation that you're in
00:46:37 and you act as though I made you when I came to save you.
00:46:42 (audience murmurs)
00:46:45 And the problem with the hero complex,
00:46:47 the person who wants to save everybody
00:46:50 is that the only thing they want back is appreciation.
00:46:53 You don't have to pay me, just appreciate me.
00:46:59 Just acknowledge that I did without so that you could have.
00:47:04 Just acknowledge that I prayed more about you
00:47:06 than I prayed about myself.
00:47:08 Just acknowledge that I paid you
00:47:10 when I didn't get paid myself.
00:47:13 Just acknowledge that I helped you
00:47:14 when I couldn't help myself.
00:47:16 Just acknowledge that you got the last piece of chicken
00:47:19 and I ate the bread crumbs that you left behind.
00:47:22 Just acknowledge that I took care of you
00:47:25 and cleaned you up before I went to work.
00:47:28 Just acknowledge that because I need your affirmation
00:47:33 to validate my existence.
00:47:35 But isn't that dangerous?
00:47:38 Because people are so fickle that one moment
00:47:42 they will say Hosanna and the next moment
00:47:44 they will say crucify him.
00:47:46 And the shock of it all is that both words
00:47:49 come from the same people.
00:47:51 I cannot believe that the same people
00:47:54 who are assaulting Moses spent 30 days
00:47:57 at the bottom of the mountain crying over Moses' death.
00:48:01 Make up your mind!
00:48:03 (congregation shouting)
00:48:07 Just be consistent.
00:48:13 If you're gonna hate me, just hate me.
00:48:17 Don't confuse me with one moment you love me
00:48:21 and the next moment you hate me.
00:48:23 I can't adjust to which one you're gonna be.
00:48:25 I can adjust to either one but not both.
00:48:33 Ingratitude can blind you to your purpose.
00:48:37 It can knock you off course.
00:48:39 It can make you react out of your feelings
00:48:41 because you must understand it is not just Moses' leadership
00:48:45 that is being attacked, it is his identity.
00:48:48 You are saying that I am not one of you
00:48:53 and I gave up everything in Egypt,
00:48:59 in the palace to be associated with the slaves.
00:49:04 I came down to you when you couldn't get up to me.
00:49:12 I came down where you were.
00:49:14 I came where you were.
00:49:16 I came to you because you were important to me
00:49:20 more than palaces and gold and silver
00:49:23 and columns of granite.
00:49:25 I gave it all up to be with you
00:49:29 and now you who I gave it all up for,
00:49:34 hate me.
00:49:37 And I am alone.
00:49:44 And even God himself says it is not good
00:49:51 for man to be alone.
00:49:55 There are a good 7,000, maybe 6,000 people in this room
00:50:01 and yet there are many of us that are alone.
00:50:05 There are many of us that have big families
00:50:08 but the truth of the matter is we sit at the table
00:50:11 and we grin and we smile and we make small talk
00:50:15 but on the inside we are alone.
00:50:19 Single people get married so they won't be alone
00:50:22 only to find out that you can be married and still.
00:50:25 Come on, come on, come on.
00:50:27 Help me preach this morning.
00:50:28 Help me preach this morning.
00:50:30 Help me preach.
00:50:32 And you find yourself in a hard place
00:50:35 when you attach your identity to other people's reaction.
00:50:39 I only feel like I look nice when you say I look nice.
00:50:46 (laughs)
00:50:48 Love is giving people the power to hurt you.
00:50:53 'Cause if I didn't love you, I'd tell you,
00:50:59 I don't care what you think, I put it on 'cause I like it.
00:51:02 But if I mess around and love you,
00:51:07 your power to hurt me intensifies.
00:51:11 Moses' past
00:51:15 has become his tormentor
00:51:17 because he's suffering from identity crisis.
00:51:25 Who am I?
00:51:26 Where do I fit?
00:51:30 I gave up everything to be connected to you
00:51:36 and now you are telling me you don't want me to.
00:51:44 Until you understand the consequences of your words,
00:51:49 you will hurl them without thought.
00:51:52 And now Moses is losing sight of his assignment
00:52:02 because he is angry with these people
00:52:12 because they are angry with him.
00:52:15 Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
00:52:17 Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
00:52:20 You can only be angry at a woman so long
00:52:23 before she turns around and she's angry back.
00:52:27 You can only, fathers provoke not thy children to wrath.
00:52:31 You can only beat them so long
00:52:33 until one day they break a bottle and say, I dare you.
00:52:36 I wish you would come over here again.
00:52:40 - I'm not a racist, I'm not a racist.
00:52:43 - You can't sow animosity and reap respect.
00:52:48 And now they don't call you, now they don't come
00:52:57 and you're sitting up there telling,
00:52:58 when you tell the story,
00:52:59 I can't believe they wouldn't come home for Mother's Day.
00:53:02 You didn't tell me that you beat the slop out of them
00:53:06 and you hated them and you put men over top of them
00:53:09 and you left them alone and you forsook them
00:53:11 and you rejected them and you cursed the girl out of,
00:53:14 call your daughter a hoe.
00:53:16 All you told me is that it's Mother's Day.
00:53:23 She don't even call.
00:53:25 See, we arranged the story.
00:53:28 Y'all ain't gonna talk to me,
00:53:35 but the real people are clapping their hands
00:53:37 'cause the real people know what I'm talking about.
00:53:41 They understand what it's like
00:53:43 to have to work through a hard place.
00:53:45 The hard place isn't just the weather.
00:53:48 The hard place is my heart place.
00:53:54 My heart place is the hard place.
00:54:01 I am conditioned to the external weather.
00:54:04 I spent 40 years in the desert,
00:54:06 but my heart place is my hard place.
00:54:13 Am I preaching good?
00:54:32 We should have died in Egypt.
00:54:34 Speaking out of despair only intensifies the crisis.
00:54:43 What difference does it make where we die?
00:54:50 If it has come down to dying,
00:54:58 am I any less dead in Egypt than I am in the wilderness?
00:55:03 Your complaint makes no sense
00:55:07 because it comes from selfishness
00:55:11 and pride and vindictiveness,
00:55:14 and the only reason you're saying it is to hurt me.
00:55:17 We should have died in Egypt.
00:55:23 What kind of sense is that?
00:55:27 Is that your problem,
00:55:28 that you didn't die in the right place?
00:55:30 So why are you leveling a ridiculous argument against me?
00:55:37 You're mad at me that you didn't die sooner?
00:55:40 Don't let your personal pain make you say stupid stuff.
00:55:54 (congregation applauding)
00:55:57 Can I go deeper?
00:55:59 What gets lost in this text for me is God's unfailing love
00:56:08 is seen in his provision for rebellious people.
00:56:13 When the water starts to flowing,
00:56:19 it flows on people who don't even deserve it.
00:56:23 (congregation laughing)
00:56:25 That's what people never bring up in this text,
00:56:27 that God's unfailing love is toward his people
00:56:32 even when they are rebellious and foolish and resentful.
00:56:37 You didn't get the water because you were good.
00:56:39 You got the water because God was good.
00:56:42 Now you're bragging about how much water you got.
00:56:45 Now you're bragging about how much money you got.
00:56:48 Now you're bragging about how many grandkids you got.
00:56:50 You didn't get the water because you were good.
00:56:54 You got it because God was good.
00:56:56 You didn't deserve it.
00:56:58 You didn't talk right.
00:56:59 You didn't hold on to the faith.
00:57:01 You didn't say, "I know if he did it once,
00:57:03 "he'll do it again."
00:57:05 You didn't read the resume of all the things
00:57:07 that he'd done for you before.
00:57:09 You didn't even praise him for saving your life
00:57:12 from the snake bites that were supposed to kill you.
00:57:15 You didn't praise him for the manna that you were eating
00:57:18 that was falling from heaven.
00:57:19 You didn't thank him for the quail that he gathered
00:57:22 to feed you just because you got tired of the same cuisine.
00:57:26 Now you forgot all the good
00:57:29 and all you do is harbor trash.
00:57:33 Water for the wicked.
00:57:41 That's the star, that's the apex,
00:57:48 the opiate of the entire text
00:57:51 is that God is good to people that are bad.
00:57:55 I wish sometimes he wouldn't be,
00:58:01 but I'm not gonna wish it 'cause sometimes it includes me.
00:58:04 But God is good to people that don't deserve it.
00:58:16 God is good to people you don't like.
00:58:19 Have you ever had God bless somebody you didn't like
00:58:23 and you had to stand there and watch them be blessed
00:58:27 and it got on your nerves
00:58:30 and yet you shout when we say that he prepares a table
00:58:34 before you in the presence of the enemy
00:58:36 because you imagine yourself as the one sitting at the table
00:58:40 and not the one watching the other person eat,
00:58:43 but God prepares a table in the presence of your enemies
00:58:47 even when the enemy is you.
00:58:49 I dare you, I dare you not to give me credit for it.
00:58:56 I dare you not to give me credit for it.
00:58:59 I dare you not to acknowledge that God just said something
00:59:02 that's so heavy in your life.
00:59:04 You never liked that girl,
00:59:09 you told him not to marry that girl, you were against it,
00:59:12 you didn't even wanna come to the wedding
00:59:14 and now they're living better than they ever lived before
00:59:17 and you're sitting over there with a smirk on your face
00:59:20 'cause you're frustrated because God has prepared a table
00:59:24 that you don't get to sit at
00:59:26 and now you gotta watch them eat
00:59:28 and you're talking about I don't even get to see my grandkids
00:59:32 your mouth ran your grandkids away.
00:59:35 (audience cheering)
00:59:38 Oh, that was a good place to dance right there.
00:59:53 That's a good old Christmas message right there.
00:59:57 I'm getting you ready for your kinfolks
00:59:59 to come over for dinner.
01:00:00 You gonna be so ready.
01:00:02 I want you to listen at this tape
01:00:04 right before they come in the house
01:00:06 so that you don't say what you wanna say
01:00:08 like you like to say it.
01:00:10 When she say, "Why you put raisins in the potato salad?"
01:00:13 'Cause I want 'em too and it's my house.
01:00:17 I like raisins, pick 'em out.
01:00:19 Moses is judged
01:00:32 because, watch this,
01:00:35 I ain't got the good stuff yet, I'm coming.
01:00:38 Moses is judged because he misrepresents
01:00:44 God's attitude for his own.
01:00:47 He thinks that because he's angry, God is angry.
01:00:54 He wants God to be on his side.
01:01:02 Most of the people in this room
01:01:04 want God to be on your side.
01:01:07 But God doesn't wanna be on your side.
01:01:12 He wants you on his side.
01:01:15 And in order to do that,
01:01:22 you're going to have to give up being your own God.
01:01:28 (congregation cheering)
01:01:31 Moses misrepresents God is where I'm at.
01:01:38 Moses misrepresents God
01:01:40 and he is God's representative,
01:01:43 God's ambassador at the United Nations.
01:01:46 He is God's voice, God's mouthpiece.
01:01:50 He is God's communicator.
01:01:52 He is the one who intercedes between God and man.
01:01:55 He is the one that brings down the 10 commandments.
01:01:58 He is the one that is refreshing them
01:02:01 in the ways of the Lord that they have been absent from
01:02:03 for over 400 years.
01:02:07 But Moses is angry because he has a hard place
01:02:11 that is a hard place.
01:02:14 This is why generational problems
01:02:20 continue to occur over and over again.
01:02:23 Because often our hardest place is our heart place.
01:02:28 And we only go to church to campaign,
01:02:37 to get God on our side.
01:02:40 So we never come to the altar
01:02:45 to give up our perspective for his.
01:02:50 And this leads us to a place
01:02:53 where God is trying to get something through to him
01:02:57 and he punished him.
01:02:59 But God's love is on display here
01:03:02 because even though he punishes Moses for smiting the rock
01:03:06 rather than speaking to the rock as he was commanded to,
01:03:10 he punished him but he still protected him
01:03:14 when Satan was after his body.
01:03:16 He sent Michael the archangel to protect his body.
01:03:21 Moses didn't get into the temporary promised land
01:03:24 but he did make it into the eternal promised land.
01:03:28 And I can prove it
01:03:30 because when they were on the Mount of Transfiguration,
01:03:33 Moses shows up on the Mount of Transfiguration
01:03:37 and he's still standing with God.
01:03:39 Oh, I got to stop right here
01:03:41 and praise God for having mercy
01:03:44 even when you got it wrong.
01:03:47 I got to praise him that God don't throw you away
01:03:50 just because he's chasing you
01:03:52 doesn't mean he doesn't love you.
01:03:54 For the Bible said, "Whom the Lord loveth, he's chasing him."
01:03:58 Oh, you don't hear what I'm saying to you.
01:04:01 The devil's been trying to tell you you're cursed
01:04:03 because you missed out on something that you could have had.
01:04:07 No, you're not cursed, you're chastised.
01:04:13 You're not utterly cast down.
01:04:16 All the way in the New Testament,
01:04:22 Moses is still appearing on the Mount of Transfiguration.
01:04:27 So you can't do that from hell.
01:04:29 And Michael fought off Lucifer for the body of Moses.
01:04:42 And all you do is talk about
01:04:43 he didn't get to the promised land.
01:04:45 You're wrong, he got to the real promised land.
01:04:49 Can I go a little bit deeper?
01:04:54 Can I go a little bit deeper?
01:04:56 I want you to see this.
01:04:58 His problem was he struck the rock
01:05:02 when he should have spoke to the rock.
01:05:05 Now, the first time God tells him to strike the rock,
01:05:09 he struck the rock.
01:05:11 The next time God says speak to the rock,
01:05:14 instead of speaking the second time,
01:05:20 he struck the second time.
01:05:22 And the reason God penalized him
01:05:24 is not just because he disobeyed,
01:05:27 though that is a very relevant point,
01:05:29 but God also penalized him because he broke the type.
01:05:33 You see, the rock is Jesus.
01:05:41 This rock is Jesus.
01:05:42 Yes, he's the one.
01:05:47 And the reason God didn't want him to strike him twice
01:05:52 is that if he struck him again,
01:05:54 it implied that he crucified the Son of Man afresh,
01:05:59 as if the cross were not enough.
01:06:02 For Isaiah says he was smitten of God, but only once.
01:06:09 And with God, details matter.
01:06:11 So if he told you to speak to the rock,
01:06:15 it was to typify that once he had been struck once,
01:06:20 that the waters would flow just 'cause you spoke to it.
01:06:24 You will see the reflection of it in the book of Hebrews
01:06:30 when it says many of them did not receive the promise
01:06:34 because they crucified the Son of Man afresh,
01:06:37 bringing him to an open shame.
01:06:40 To crucify him afresh is to strike twice.
01:06:44 They believed on him and then they rejected him.
01:06:50 They apostatized from him and fell back in their unbelief.
01:06:54 And the writer of Hebrews said,
01:06:56 "It is impossible for those who were once enlightened
01:06:59 "and have tasted of the heavenly gift,
01:07:01 "if they should fall away,
01:07:03 "to renew them again to repentance
01:07:06 "because they struck the rock twice."
01:07:09 Striking it once breaks the typology
01:07:13 that the cross was enough.
01:07:15 And if you understand that the cross is enough,
01:07:23 that you can get the water now by speaking.
01:07:27 And if you don't believe that Jesus is a rock,
01:07:31 then explain to me when the Roman soldier
01:07:33 pierced his side, out of his side came blood and...
01:07:37 - Blood.
01:07:39 - Come on, come on, come on, come on, go with me.
01:07:42 Came blood and water.
01:07:44 "Woman, if you knew who I was, you would ask me to drink.
01:07:48 "For whosoever drinketh of this water
01:07:50 "shall never thirst again."
01:07:53 This rock is Jesus.
01:07:56 Rock in the weary land, the rock of ages.
01:08:01 He is a stone that the builders rejected.
01:08:06 He is a hewn out stone that the commandments are written on.
01:08:11 This rock is Jesus.
01:08:13 Following them through the wilderness,
01:08:15 following them through the hard places.
01:08:18 What I love about God is if you're in a hard place,
01:08:22 he gets in the hard place with you.
01:08:24 Jehovah Shabbat, the Lord is present in the hard place.
01:08:30 I came to tell somebody in a hard place,
01:08:33 you ain't in that place by yourself.
01:08:36 This rock has been following them
01:08:38 all through the wilderness.
01:08:41 And it doesn't deserve to be struck twice
01:08:44 just 'cause you don't like people.
01:08:47 How dare you call it church hurt?
01:08:57 The church didn't hurt you.
01:08:59 The people hurt you.
01:09:04 And where are you gonna go where there are not people?
01:09:07 You think they won't hurt you in the bar?
01:09:11 You think they won't hurt you in the strip club?
01:09:13 You think they won't hurt you on your job?
01:09:16 You think they won't hurt you at the family reunion?
01:09:18 You gotta learn how to work through hard.
01:09:22 (audience cheering)
01:09:25 Touch three people and say, "Work through it, baby.
01:09:32 "Work through it, work through it.
01:09:34 "Work through it, work through it, work through it,
01:09:36 "work through it.
01:09:37 "Grow through it, grow through it, grow through it.
01:09:40 "Preach through it, preach through it, preach through it.
01:09:42 "Teach through it, teach through it, teach through it.
01:09:45 "Build through it, build through it, build through it.
01:09:48 "Advance through it, advance through it, advance through it."
01:09:51 You can't run away from hard places.
01:09:54 Stop dodging people 'cause you don't like them.
01:09:57 Work through the hard place.
01:09:59 Do what you gotta do.
01:10:00 You may have to love 'em at a distance,
01:10:03 but you gotta work through it.
01:10:05 Am I preaching?
01:10:11 I feel like preaching this morning.
01:10:14 I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost in this place.
01:10:18 I wish somebody who was about to bust
01:10:20 would give him 30 seconds of crazy praise.
01:10:26 Hallelujah.
01:10:28 Hallelujah.
01:10:30 Hallelujah.
01:10:32 Hallelujah.
01:10:34 Hallelujah.
01:10:36 Hallelujah.
01:10:38 Hallelujah.
01:10:40 Hallelujah.
01:10:42 Hallelujah.
01:10:44 Hallelujah.
01:10:46 Hallelujah.
01:10:48 Hallelujah.
01:10:50 Hallelujah.
01:10:52 Hallelujah.
01:10:54 Hallelujah.
01:10:56 Hallelujah.
01:10:58 Tell your neighbor, I'm in a hard place, but I'm going to work through it.
01:11:04 I may be down, but I'm not out.
01:11:09 I may be persecuted, but I'm not forsaken.
01:11:14 The Lord is on my side.
01:11:17 Wherever I go, he is with me.
01:11:20 If I make my bed in hell, the Lord is there.
01:11:25 If I take the wings of the morning and I sail to the uttermost parts of the earth, the Lord is there.
01:11:34 This rock has been following them all through the wilderness.
01:11:39 And God judged him because he said, "You have not sanctified me before the people."
01:11:48 What does that mean?
01:11:50 To sanctify me before my people is to make them to understand that your latter day shall be greater than your former day.
01:12:10 That what it took to bring you here, it will not take to take you there.
01:12:18 Sanctify me before the people is to teach my people that once I was crucified, you'll never have to go through that again.
01:12:30 All you have to do is speak to me and I am going to make the water gush for you.
01:12:39 And that's why I told you to open your mouth because the power of life and death is in your mouth.
01:12:51 I want to tell you that you got the power in your mouth.
01:13:00 It will not be by might.
01:13:03 It will not be by power.
01:13:06 But it's by my spirit.
01:13:09 Sayeth the Lord.
01:13:11 Slap somebody and tell them God's about to do something.
01:13:16 If you speak it, it's going to flow.
01:13:20 If you speak it, it's going to happen.
01:13:24 If you speak it, it's going to come to pass.
01:13:28 If you speak it, you're going to get the same results with less effort.
01:13:35 And God said I wanted you to demonstrate before my people that I will make water gush in spite of your murmuring and complaining.
01:13:47 If you stop using your tongue to complain about what's wrong and start speaking what's right,
01:13:56 then as the scriptures have said, out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.
01:14:06 I don't know who I'm preaching to today, but I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost in this room.
01:14:19 You got the power in your mouth to change situations in your life.
01:14:28 But the devil wants you to murmur and complain.
01:14:32 And the devil is a liar.
01:14:35 Speak life to your death.
01:14:38 Speak strength to your weakness.
01:14:41 Speak healing to your disease.
01:14:44 The Bible said let the poor say I'm rich.
01:14:52 Hallelujah to God.
01:14:55 I dare you to open your mouth and speak what you want.
01:15:03 [music]
01:15:22 I may not see it.
01:15:25 I may not see it, but I'm going to speak it.
01:15:29 You may not like it, but I'm going to speak it.
01:15:33 The devil is after my tongue.
01:15:36 He wants me to stop speaking life to my situation.
01:15:42 But God has so designed it that whatsoever you desire, when you pray, believe you have received it.
01:15:54 And ye shall have it.
01:16:00 You ought to be speaking in this room.
01:16:03 If you want the supernatural in this room, you got to speak the supernatural.
01:16:10 If you want the supernatural in your finances, you got to speak the supernatural.
01:16:17 If you want to break the back of debt, you got to speak the supernatural.
01:16:24 Because all you got to do now in the second iteration of Jesus is speak the word.
01:16:33 Get away from people that are murmuring and complaining and find you somebody that's speaking healing.
01:16:44 I need some friends that speak life.
01:16:49 I need some folk that speak deliverance.
01:16:53 I need some folk that speak positively.
01:16:58 Because the rock responds to word.
01:17:04 Speak the word only and my servant shall be healed.
01:17:10 You don't have to go to my house.
01:17:13 Just stand flat footed in the middle of the road.
01:17:18 And if you speak it, it's going to happen.
01:17:22 Somebody take the roof off of this place.
01:17:30 Speak it.
01:17:32 Speak it.
01:17:35 Speak it.
01:17:37 Speak it.
01:17:40 Speak it.
01:17:42 Speak it in this place.
01:17:44 Speak it in this place.
01:17:47 Speak it in this place.
01:17:49 You in a faith fight, speak it in this place.
01:17:54 Speak it in this place.
01:17:58 [Applause]
01:18:10 Honey, the first time I was at a dinner that they served a seven course meal.
01:18:17 Because you know if I grew up eating powdered eggs, I wasn't used to seven course meals.
01:18:23 At the end of each course, they brought the sorbet.
01:18:28 And I thought the sorbet was dessert.
01:18:31 But they said no, it's to cleanse your palate.
01:18:37 So that you're ready for the next course.
01:18:44 You got to cleanse your palate so you're ready for the next course.
01:18:52 If you've been murmuring and complaining, cleanse your palate.
01:18:58 Because in 2024, you're getting ready for the next course.
01:19:07 The scripture said it.
01:19:09 The Bible said it.
01:19:12 This is your time to speak to the rock.
01:19:17 I feel a flow about to take over this room.
01:19:23 I feel a --
01:19:25 [Screaming]
01:19:30 I feel a flow about to take over this place.
01:19:36 I feel --
01:19:38 [Music]
01:19:41 I feel a flow.
01:19:43 Somebody open your mouth and holler!
01:19:47 [MUSIC - "YES LORD"]
01:19:51 Yes, Lord!
01:19:55 Yes, Lord!
01:19:56 Yes, Lord!
01:19:57 Yes, Lord!
01:19:59 Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
01:20:02 Yes, yes, yes.
01:20:04 Yes, Jesus.
01:20:06 Yes, Lord.
01:20:09 Yes, Jesus.
01:20:10 Yes!
01:20:11 Yes, Lord.
01:20:12 I'm getting ready to speak some things.
01:20:15 I'm going to speak over my house.
01:20:18 I'm going to speak over my body.
01:20:20 I'm going to speak over my finances.
01:20:23 I'm going to speak over my children.
01:20:26 Devil, you tried to shut my mouth, but the devil is alive.
01:20:33 I just cleansed my palate.
01:20:35 [MUSIC - "YES LORD"]
01:20:39 My God, I don't know who I'm preaching to,
01:20:52 but get ready for the next course.
01:20:55 Get ready for the next course.
01:21:00 Your eyes have not seen.
01:21:03 Your ears have not heard.
01:21:06 Neither have any to the heart of man.
01:21:09 The things that God has in store for them that love him.
01:21:15 Somebody give me five seconds of crazy.
01:21:19 [MUSIC - "HALLELUJAH CHORUS"]
01:21:23 Hallelujah.
01:21:24 Hallelujah.
01:21:25 Hallelujah.
01:21:25 Hallelujah.
01:21:27 Hallelujah.
01:21:28 Hallelujah.
01:21:28 Hallelujah.
01:21:30 Hallelujah.
01:21:33 Hallelujah.
01:21:35 Hallelujah.
01:21:38 Hallelujah.
01:21:39 Hallelujah.
01:21:40 Hallelujah.
01:21:49 Hallelujah.
01:21:50 Hallelujah.
01:21:52 Hallelujah.
01:21:53 You're driving the devil crazy.
01:21:56 If you don't stop speaking the word,
01:21:59 hell is going to get nervous.
01:22:02 Demons are going to collapse.
01:22:04 Shackles are falling off of you.
01:22:07 If you don't stop speaking it, rivers of living water
01:22:12 are going to flow into your life.
01:22:15 I decree and declare the drought is over.
01:22:21 The drought is over.
01:22:24 Do you hear me in the balcony?
01:22:27 The drought is over.
01:22:29 Do you hear me out loud?
01:22:32 I decree.
01:22:34 I decree.
01:22:35 Over, over, over, over.
01:22:43 The drought is over.
01:22:46 The drought is over.
01:22:48 It's over.
01:22:49 The drought is over.
01:22:50 It's over.
01:22:51 The drought is over.
01:22:52 It's over.
01:22:53 The drought is over.
01:22:54 It's over.
01:22:55 Over.
01:22:56 It's over.
01:22:57 The drought is over.
01:22:58 The drought is over.
01:22:59 Over.
01:23:00 I dare you to declare it.
01:23:03 Somebody move out of your spot and say the drought is over.
01:23:08 The drought is over.
01:23:10 It's over.
01:23:12 It's over in my mind.
01:23:14 It's over in my heart.
01:23:16 It's over in my body.
01:23:18 It's over in my spirit.
01:23:20 It's over in my mind.
01:23:23 It's over in my heart.
01:23:25 I declare it's over.
01:23:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:23:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:23:36 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:23:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:23:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]