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I want our church to be a well-learned aerodite congregation. I don't mind repeating myself because I understand that repetition breeds revelation. Repetition brings revelation.
This principle came alive to me watching LeBron James in an interview. He's contemplating retirement after his 20th season. He's always been in the finals, always went deep into the playoffs, always played on allstar teams. His body is tired. But what struck me was this: What season are you in? How many times have you been around the park? How many times have you had to deal with betrayal, anxiety, and frustration? How many breakups have you been through? How many seasons of having money, then losing it, then having it again?
There are different types of people in different seasons. Some of you are rookies—just got in the league. Some of you are veterans—you've been here a whole lot of times, you've seen everything. Some of you are midseason players—seven, eight, nine years in, finding your way around the league. But God elevates us in a rookie season, and now we're dealing with seasons where we have a lot to think about.
I watched a video about LeBron's genius. In a game against the Warriors that came down to the wire, he remembered a play from almost 10 years ago from his Cleveland Cavaliers days. He looked at Steph, looked at the lineup, and told AD to go to that corner. He told another player where Draymond was going. Draymond did exactly what he thought—he messed the play up so much he turned the ball over and the Lakers won. The commentator said, "It's amazing that LeBron remembered that play." Repetition breeds revelation. When the devil runs that play that took you out five years ago, you won't get hit with it. You'll see it coming.
Many of us keep missing the mark because you do not learn a lesson off one session. You don't learn your lesson off one session. My boys are taking final exams right now. Final exams scare me. A test would prepare you for that week, but a final exam is a compilation of everything you learned—not just all year, but all season.
Some of the hell you're catching right now requires repetition. Sometimes when I'm not doing anything, I need to go all the way back to the first series and catch that thing. Some of you keep flunking the exam but passing the test. That's what I call spiritual arrogance and immaturity. You passed the test but flunked the exam because you did not have retention.
The reason I'm sitting in this series so long is because I'm trying to give you revelation and retention. REVELATION lets me see something and learn something different. RETENTION means I don't lose it. Retention is like a tank.
My staff laughs at me sometimes because they see me do interviews and I don't always have time to prepare. But I got a tank. I got stuff I've learned throughout the years that I can pull from. When you don't have retention, you don't have nothing you can pull from. What I'm trying to give you is a tank.
With that said, let me review the principles we've talked about.
First: The principle of generosity—a heart that's willing to give that leads to a life that freely gives.
Second: The mindset principle—what I believe about me often determines what I believe about God.
Third: The principle of multiplication—God does not simply create us to maintain; He called us to multiply.
Fourth: The principle of freedom—freedom is not doing whatever you want to do, but doing what you were created to do.
I want to pause here because God gave me a different revelation about this. Someone said to me after seeing me perform at the Exodus, "The way you're weaving in between music and messages is mindblowing." The Holy Spirit put a different revelation on me. It's called creation.
Look at your hands. Rub them together. This generation is going to miss a lot because they don't use these. Remember cursive writing? Some of you got PlayStation fives. Your child got 17 Xbox ones. But I'm going to tell you about something you probably won't remember—Play-Doh.
Play-Doh was basically a glob that came in a tube. You pull it out, throw it on the floor, and it's just a glob. But the beautiful thing was it could become whatever you create. You could make it a ball, make it long and turn it into a bow tie, do different things with it. It was moldable.
I formed you from the dirt.
You are Play-Doh and God formed you. Here's what's critical: The principle of freedom suggests that freedom is not doing whatever you want to do, but doing what you were created to do. It's impossible to create without putting your hand on it. While you were being created, He had His hand on you.
What I'm trying to get you to realize is freedom does not mean I move how I want to move. Freedom is moving in the parameters of keeping His hand on me while I do what God called me to do.
Fifth: The principle of partnership—trusting the wrong people will make you worse and trusting the right people will help you.
Sixth: The principle of transformation—my gift will change others but my character will change me.
Seventh: The principle of the pick—who you choose to be in your life will either be an asset or an assault. Who done had to go back and fix some picks?
Eighth: The principle of the breakthrough—true breakthrough is not when you go to the next level, but when God shows you why you are stuck on your now level.
True breakthrough is not when you go to another level. It's when God shows you why you're stuck on this level.
That lets us know that breakthrough ain't physical. It's mental. If you give somebody with the same mindset new stuff, they will treat the new stuff the same way they had the old stuff. Breakthrough is not a natural word. It is a spiritual word.
The etymology of breakthrough is found in 2 Samuel 5:20:
So David went to Ba Perisim and defeated the Philistines there. The Lord did it.
David shouted, "The Lord did it!" How did you survive the pain? The Lord did it. How did you survive the hurt? The Lord did it. How did your family maintain unity? The Lord did it. How are you surviving all the stuff that should have took you out? The Lord did it. How are you still smiling when you got reasons to frown? The Lord did it.
He burst through my enemies like a raging flood.
He named that place Bel Perisim, which means the Lord who burst through.
Here's my definition of breakthrough: God breaks open a new realm in the spirit and brings us through. Breakthrough is when God opens a new realm in the spirit and brings us through.
If you're not careful, you're going to think that breakthrough is something you do. Breakthrough is something you receive. You don't have the power to break through it. You just got to have the power to claim it.
If you be still and let me break through.
Because the One who created it knows when it's no longer healthy for you. The manufacturer of the situation said you could have it and it's good for you until this time. Now if you go past this day, it's on you. But the manufacturer has warned you. It is impossible to know when people should come or go or you should release them or keep them if you don't check back with the manufacturer.
Now I want to give you something new today. The principle of discernment: the ability to recognize the difference between what's dead and what's dormant.
Most of us will fail because we're looking at something thinking it's dormant when it's really dead. Or we're looking at something that's dead when it's really dormant. If you don't have discernment, you will try to resurrect something that only needs to be resuscitated.
Discernment is the ability to see if something needs to be resurrected or released.
Wish people came with an expiration date. It would be so much easier. Have you ever went to the refrigerator to eat something and checked the date? Didn't even smell bad and it still looked edible. But the date put you in a place where you said, "No, I ain't going to try it." Why? Because the one who created it knows when it's no longer healthy for you. That's discernment.
Why do I need discernment? To ensure I am not remaining committed to dead stuff. Many of us are staying committed to dead stuff.
How do I discern the difference between what's dead and what's dormant? Look at the pattern. Look at the pattern. Look at the pattern.
I pulled up to my house today and it's springtime, but my grass looks bad. I got one patch that's solid green, then like 17 brown patches. The little bushes look weird too. They're green but they look bad—like they got a little ring worm at the top or something. I was standing outside when the guy was cutting the grass, right before it rained, asking, "So what do I need to do? Do I need to water it more? Do I need to put some chemicals down?" This is going to bless your life.
He said, "No, the grass is not dead. It's just dormant." I said, "How you know?" He said, "Put this in your notes. Dormant grass is dead in spots. Dead grass is dead everywhere."
If my yard had been completely dead, the whole thing would be brown. But since I had spots, I realized the grass is still alive. It just got a couple places that need to be resurrected.
I'm preaching to some of y'all. That's only for three of y'all who can be honest with yourself and say, "Pastor Mike, I'm not dead yet, but I do got some places that need some love and attention." That's important.
Put this in your notes, and I need you to catch this now: Deception will cause you to trust personalities. Discernment will help you see patterns. That's critical.
Why is that critical? When we do not walk in discernment, we fall into deception. Many of us are making major life decisions based off of personalities.
Now, what's a personality? It's what's presented. A house can have personality. When you walk into it, they make the personality of the house come alive. A car when you go to the lot can have personality. If you ain't careful, you going to think discernment is only for who you sleep with and who you go to lunch with. No, discernment is so you can see a pattern in everything.
Discernment is not so you can see a thing, but you can see into a thing. That's critical.
Look at Mark 5:2: "When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain."
Put this in your notes: Without discernment, we live illogically.
I want to point something out from the text. Notice it says "no one could bind him anymore." No one could bind him anymore. The text does not say "a demon man." It says "a man possessed with an impure spirit."
Many people are going to miss God because we keep calling them by what they're doing, NOT by what has control of them.
Somebody shout "bind." What does bind mean? You don't know what bind means until you got to make a child sit still who don't want to sit still no more. What do you have to do? Bind. What does bind mean? I have to overpower. I have to put restraint on. I have to keep you from hurting you.
Some of y'all not locked out because you ain't got discernment. You don't realize God ain't locked you out. He's binding you. "Pastor Mike, I don't know what to do. I feel stuck." Yes. Because he has you bound. Because he realized if I don't bind you, you going to hurt you.
It's like every time I turn around, stuff keep going left. It's not going left. God sometimes uses trouble and pain to bind you. You pray better when you bound. That's the problem with the church. We're always talking about setting somebody free, always trying to do deliverance. But for some of us, in certain seasons, deliverance ain't going to help. Because I can't deliver you from His grace.
Come here, Jonah. Jonah tried to run from God. What does God do? God causes him to sit for three days in the belly of a whale. In other words, God didn't use a chain to bind Jonah. He used a whale to bind Jonah.
Watch this: While Jonah is in the belly of the whale, bound, constricted, by the time the whale spit him out, he was where God wanted him to be. Because if you submit while he's binding, he will be transporting you while you're submitting.
I came to see who's mature enough to say, "God, I thank you for the seasons of my life." I want to thank God for every no. I want to thank God for every not yet. I want to thank God for every season where I was praying like crazy. But God was like, "Nah, cuz if I let you loose in this season, you going to hurt not just them, you going to hurt you."
Some of y'all think the reason stuff ain't moving the way it's supposed to move is because God mad at you. No, God love you enough to realize if I don't keep you bound, you not just going to tear your life up. You going to hurt everybody around you.
This brother is illogical. What does illogical mean? Without discernment, we live illogically. One of the definitions that blesses me: not having sound reasoning.
Without discernment, we live illogically. That's what's happening. You got your flesh and your discernment and you got to pick. It's the principle. But when you live illogical, there is no reasoning.
The pattern of your life is you up one day, down the next, act a fool Tuesday, but then want to be saved Wednesday. It's because you are without sound reason. You know what I discovered? Many of you won't ever be logical because you want to submit to nobody who can bind you.
I need somebody in my life who can bind me. I need people in my life who can be like, "Nah, you're doing too much. No, you need to sit down somewhere. No, you got too much going on. You're lacking sense."
To be illogical means you lack sense. What are the five senses? Taste. Sight. Hearing. Touch. Smell. That's all five of those are tools of discernment.
Some animals that have poor vision have strong sense of smell. To be illogical means I lack my senses. So even if I smell it and it's spoiled, I can't discern it. Even if I touch it and the texture's not right, I can't feel it. Even if they show me who they are, I can't see it.
To live illogically will have you drinking poison thinking it tastes good. What I'm trying to do is not just give you discernment. I'm trying to give you your senses back. Because some of y'all done lost your mind. And losing your mind means you have given up your discernment.
How do I know this man is living illogically? In Mark 5:2, he picks a place that is full of death even though he is still living.
He's living in the tombs. The tombs were not just reserved for dead people. They were also reserved for poor people. They would make apartments out of the tombs and poor people could live in dead places. To this day, we still see a lot of death in poor areas.
Why? Because poverty is a type of death. I don't care—stuff don't even make you as mad when you got money. Conversely, you can have nothing and they just look at you and say, "What's wrong with you?" Because poverty is a type of death.
That's why I'm trying to speak wealth and trying to speak to be saved and paid over your life. Why? Because for years, the church programmed us into thinking the less you had, the more holier you were. They programmed us to think to have stuff meant something was wrong with you. No.
I bind poverty over every person under the sound of my voice. You're not just going to be paid financially. You're going to be whole spiritually. Because some of y'all got money, but you broke mentally. Some of y'all got a whole lot of mind, but you ain't got no money.
I'm going to speak by faith that this is about to be the season of your life where your money, your mind, and your spirituality all about to connect.
Why do you keep picking climates that don't match your calling? That's crazy. People been telling you your whole life you were a minister. Your whole life they've been telling you you different. You're comfortable in that messy circle.
God hates mess. There's certain places I just can't go no more. There are certain phone calls I'm just not answering no more.
I was on the phone this week and they started kind of telling me some stuff. I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't need that in my spirit right now. I be honest with you, I got a lot going on." I said, "I love you." But I realized something: no, I don't need that. Because if I hang around that long enough, it's going to come out when I see them again.
Some of us got to come out of the tombs. What tombs do you live in? You do know the difference between a grave and a ditch. The difference between a grave and a ditch is a body.
Why do you keep picking friends that don't match your future?
Number one: Does the climate match your calling? What does that mean? Does where I am match who I'm becoming? Not who I am—who I'm becoming. Does who I hang with match who I'm becoming?
I am deputizing you. I'm giving you the authority and the power to start telling people: "I love you so much, but I can't hang with you because you picked them."
It's certain places in my life now where I'm starting to build teams and I need more people to be doing more stuff. I'm seeing what God is doing and I'm realizing like, no, I know where I see God taking people. I need people. But people are just calling me. I would love to do this for you. I would love to do that.
So now I'm just having to be honest. "Oh, thank you so much. But I just noticed when I looked at your page, you frequent with this person a lot. They tend to be real messy. And for you to love their company suggests it's a lot of them in you."
Have you ever hung with somebody who smoked and you didn't? Yet when you went around your new circle, they asked if you smoke, because the scent of who you were around followed you. I can't be around y'all. You're not going to have me smelling like who I used to be.
Put this in your notes: Without discernment, we live uncontrollably.
Uncontrollable means fractious, intractable, irresistible, lawless, undisciplined, unmanageable.
The scripture says he would scream all night. All night he would be screaming. Watch this: he was living in dead places, but it was impacting people who were trying to live. The tombs weren't just where people died. People were living in them.
He was living in dead places, but it was impacting people who were trying to live. The tombs weren't just where people died—people were living in them. Imagine you had a tomb, but you weren't dead. So what would you do? Rent it out. You would let people live where you would eventually reside.
So the people who were living in the tombs are losing their mind because he's screaming all night. This is why you have to be careful about who's in your life, because their inability to come out of stuff will start impacting you. Their uncontrollable state becomes your problem.
Think about a mother who has a baby that cries all night. The baby sleeps during the day with no care in the world. But now you're all day what? Cranky, upset, mad—because that baby impacted your peace.
The disciples had a conversation about this man. They said, "We used to be able to at least put chains on it, but the chains don't work anymore."
What does that mean? The demon kept getting stronger. What you used to be able to play with, you can't play with anymore. The chains don't work.
Put this in your notes: It's going to keep growing if you keep feeding it. And to play with it is to train it. When I play with that demon, when I play with my issue, I'm giving it strength.
I remember when I pledged my fraternity. It was twenty-three of us when we started. By the time it was over, it was only two. I probably quit seven times. Every time I would think, "I can't do this," but I'd come back the next night. Still here. Still here.
By the fourth week, my body couldn't take it anymore. I was getting hit in the chest over and over. By a certain point, I got hit so many times that my body just went numb. They would slap me, and I got locked. The affliction they were causing me started prepping me. My body made a decision: either it's going to break, or we're going to form calluses.
If you keep playing with something, you're going to wake up one day and realize it is now playing you.
The Greek word for bind means to compel or influence. So when they say no one could bind him, it also means no one could influence him.
I tell everybody close to me, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart: I don't care how upset I get, how mad I get. I want to get to a point where I could be hollering, screaming, fussing, cussing, ready to fight. But if my daddy says, "Mike"—I want to be at a point in my life where somebody can influence me. Dr. Vern is that for me. It's hard for me to act a fool in front of him. I respect his anointing and the spirit so much it binds me.
If it ain't nobody in your life that can do that, you, my friend, are illogical and uncontrollable.
When you live illogically and uncontrollably, you eventually suffer tremendously. Why would God give you overflow if you're going to blow it? Why would God send you a good man when your mouth is illogical and your attitude is uncontrollable? Why would God send you a good woman when you're uncontrollable?
Somebody has to be able to bind you. Don't think a good woman can bind you? Ask the Hulk. The movie isn't called David Banner. The movie is called what? Hulk. What was in him would tear up cities until he learned how to control it. When he could no longer control it, he had somebody who could bind him. And what would she do? She would sing a little song to him.
This is biblical. How is this biblical? Saul was dealing with spirits, and Saul would say, "Tell David to come here." David would come into the room and start singing, playing the harp, and worshiping. And it would soothe his spirit.
Some of y'all come to this church because there's something in you that's going to go crazy. And something about my crazy pastor—if it's his joke, if it's his laugh, if it's the worship, if it's the word—it soothes you.
This is why I'm learning that devotional energy is so important. No matter how bad your day is, we've got a place. We've got something in place now where every morning if you wake up feeling some type of way, you can just say, "Let me log on real quick." And it can soothe.
The scripture says night and day. Night and day. Even in my music, I like to flow. I don't like being predictable. So I want to be able to do my show and if it's something I feel like doing on the spot, let's go. I didn't realize how much I would make my band look confused sometimes.
But then my band told me, "Pastor Mike, if we can just stay on format till we get to this point. Once you get us to here, let God have his way." And since we've been doing that, it's so free.
When they didn't know what I was doing, I spent most of my show like this—constantly having to talk to them. Now that we've got locked and we all know where I'm going, I don't even look at them anymore. We're so in tune.
That can't happen if I didn't respect them enough to let them bind me. So me getting locked to my new format—it's them being able to bind me even though I'm in charge. Because leadership doesn't mean you do the binding. It means you're also humble enough to realize if God put certain people in your life, allow them to influence you.
This man was unable to be bound. Mark 5:5 says, "Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones."
He would cut himself with stones. Typically, when we're in pain, we try to find out who or what is causing it. But what do you do when you're the problem? What do you do when you can't blame nobody but the person you're looking at?
What do you do when you go to the ER or the spiritual ER and your discernment kicks in? Because some of you think your discernment is going to help you pick your career, pick your husband, pick your wife, pick your next job. But I got a wakeup call for some of you.
When God shows you what's holding you back, and your face pops up. What do I do when I ask God what's wrong with the people I love, and I'm the problem?
A life without discernment will have you living in self-deception. And anytime you live in self-deception, you will practice self-sabotage.
He was cutting himself. You cut yourself to either get something out or to get something in. The only time a doctor will cut you is when they need to fix something on the inside of you.
Everyone preaches that he's cutting himself because he's demon-possessed. But what if he's cutting himself because the only way he knew how to get it out was physically? What if they said, "Stop cutting yourself," but he didn't know how to articulate that something was in him?
Self-sabotage is when you say you want something, but you do everything in your power to make sure you don't get it. Self-sabotage is when you say, "I want to start the business," yet you keep going out wasting your money. Self-sabotage is when you say, "I want to be happy," but you keep sitting in conversations, taking trips down memory lane. Self-sabotage is when you say out your mouth, "I want to be whole," but you're committed to dead conversations.
When you're going to stop cutting yourself? Because two things are going to happen in my life. Either people are going to stop cutting themselves, or I'm going to have to remove myself. Because you've got to stop bleeding on me.
Wine comes out, ketchup comes out, but blood stains. When you mop the floor, it takes work to get blood out. Even with the right light, illumination, and revelation—if somebody walks in with the right tools—they can see where you cleaned it up. Even if you fix the floor, all they have to do is pick up the floor. It seeps through the baseboard.
You can't get blood out. Many of you don't even realize that God keeps trying to bless you, but you've got too much blood on you because you keep cutting yourself.
This brother in the tombs was cutting himself, cutting himself. Maybe you haven't cut yourself with a knife, but I heard somewhere in the Bible that the tongue is sharper than a sword. So your tongue is a type of knife.
It's called cutting confessions. It's when you say something out your mouth that cuts you off from the promise that God had prepared for you.
God said, "I'm the head, not the tail." Which means even if you're on the bottom, there's a supernatural cord tied between the bottom and the top. If you hold on long enough, He's reeling you in. But when you start speaking negativity, your mouth cuts the cord.
I came to decree by faith: You may cut me with your words. But after today, I'm not going to ever cut myself. Even if you get a cut, you can put some ointment on it. The anointing is sort of a cut sealer.
I'm speaking by faith: God, increase the level of anointing in people's lives. So when people come into their lives with cuts, they'll be able to speak those things that are not as though they were.
Go back a couple verses. Night and day among the tombs. And in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself.
His spirit was the same in low places and in high places. When you ain't got it, you're still depressed. And when you get it, you're still going to be depressed. If you don't deal with the stuff that's on the inside of you, promotion ain't going to fix it.
A new house ain't going to fix it. A new relationship ain't going to fix it. More money ain't going to fix it. Because what you need, natural stuff ain't going to fix. What's going to fix it? The demon saw Jesus.
When the demon saw Jesus, it ran to Jesus. It ran and fell on his knees. In other words, he paid homage. He said props.
Now, here's something interesting. Some scholars argue that verse 8 came before verse 7. Verse 7 says, "He shouted at the top of his voice, 'What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? In God's name, don't torture me.'" But verse 8 says, "Then Jesus cried out, 'Come out of this man, you impure spirit.'"
Some scholars believe when Jesus got off the boat, he saw the spirit and said, "Come out of this man." And then the man ran to Jesus and bowed down.
I wasn't there. I don't know if Jesus told the spirit to come out first or the demon ran. I'm just grateful the right man got off the boat.
When Jesus was sitting around people, He says, "Who do men say that I am?" And Simon says, "You are the son of God." Jesus says, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you." Jesus changed his name and said, "From this day forward, we will call you Peter."
Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you. If it ain't flesh and blood, it's what? Something spiritual.
Something spiritual. Here's what I want to say: All of us are possessed by something. For children of God, it's called the Holy Spirit. This man had an impure spirit. Why did he have an impure spirit? A demon had inhabited him.
This is pre-Pentecost, which means the Holy Spirit hadn't dropped yet. So this brother was empty.
Some of y'all are thinking you're possessed, and the question I want to ask you is: How are you possessed when you're filled?
Jesus explained that flesh and blood cannot reveal spiritual truth. When Simon recognized Jesus as the Son of God, Jesus told him, "Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you." This reveals a fundamental principle: if it isn't flesh and blood, it's something spiritual.
All of us are possessed by something. For children of God, that something is the Holy Spirit. In the account with the demon-possessed man, he had an impure spirit because a demon inhabited him. This was pre-Pentecost, before the Holy Spirit was given, so this man was empty. The critical question becomes: How can you be possessed by something when you're already filled?
When the demon recognized Jesus, it had to bow. The spirit that had been beating up this man couldn't stand against God's power. This is the point: God put something in you, but you have to make a decision about what controls your life.
The kingdom of God is not inherited by explanation, but only through revelation. When God wants to transform a person, He doesn't always give answers—He asks questions. Adam, where are you? Moses, what's that in your hand? Can these bones live? Who do men say that I am?
You may need to stop spending your whole life asking God for answers and instead ask Him to give you the right question. As one writer said, "There are certain years that give answers and certain years that give questions." If you sleep through the seasons when God is giving answers, you will panic in the seasons when He asks questions.
If someone learns fundamentals in a season of answers, they won't panic when asked questions later—they have a foundation. But if you've been sleeping, when God shifts and asks you something, you'll panic. Many of you are panicking because you were sleeping during the years that gave you answers.
Dead weight is heavier than living weight. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Strip off, lay aside every weight." When we don't lay aside unnecessary weight, we become weary. And wherever we are weary, we are not wise. When weariness walks in, wisdom walks out.
Dead ends are people, places, and things that lead to nowhere. Before Jesus went into the grave, He gave the grave a deadline: "In three days." He wanted death to know it had an expiration date.
There are some timelines God sets and other timelines we set without discernment. Sometimes we wait on God when God is actually waiting on us. God isn't going to confirm everything—some things are your decision to make. You know when you're hungry; you don't need to pray about what to eat. You need discernment to know which decisions require prayer and which require action.
Dead faith is staying committed to where God was, not where God is. It's staying committed to what is good instead of what's God. You cannot be preaching commitment while having dead patterns in your life. Certain positions require total commitment, not just good conversation.
You'll start cutting dead weight and coming out of dead ends when you realize next week isn't promised. If you're praying for a relationship that's dead, heaven might say no to resurrection. Dead ends are real. Don't let anything become a dead end in your life.
What if the issue isn't that people around you are dead, but that you've shifted into a different season? One man plants, another waters, and God gives increase. Some people who've been around you long enough may not feel what they used to feel—but that doesn't mean you're not anointed. It means life has shifted you to a different season.
You don't always have to kick people out of your life. Sometimes you just need to change their seat or their priority level. Your campaign manager who got you into office isn't necessarily the right person to help you sustain that office. What you needed to get somewhere isn't what you need to stay there.
Your commitment to dead stuff will delay your destiny. This applies to every area of life. How you deal with your children has to grow. Some of you treat them like babies when they're becoming young adults. You must honor their growth.
With your spouse, you might need to sit down and say, "I wasn't viewing you right. I still had old pain in my heart, and I didn't even realize I was committed to dead patterns. Let me put my heart out there. If it gets broken, God can mend it. But I'm going to trust." This requires real conversation and discernment in every relationship.
Memory lane is backwards. You're literally driving in reverse. Life is a one-way street—you cannot go back. To go down memory lane is to risk getting hit by what's coming.
There's a difference between healing from the past and being stuck in it. You may have relationships from your past that meant something, but people who knew an old version of you don't need to know the current version. Tell them: "I love you, but I need you to see me differently. You helped me in that season, but this is a new season. You can be in the car, but you can no longer drive."
Many of you are evolving. Your view of yourself has to change, because how you view things determines how you treat them. If your view of people doesn't change, how you treat them won't change, and they will start viewing you as dead stuff.
God has a plan. When you know God has a plan, you don't mind submitting to His timing and moving at His pace. Maybe opportunities are opening now, but you need to wait for the right season. God may be binding you to a place, closing certain doors, and opening others—all part of His design for your life.
Whatever season you're in, speak growth over your life. Let God do something fresh and new in you. Revival is when transformation and revelation overwhelm a group of people, and that's what God is doing right now.
Many doors were opening, and my team will tell you opportunities were coming seven and eight years ago. It was hard for me to say no to them. My friends looked at me and said, "You're stupid—those doors don't open forever." But the Holy Spirit told me, "Sit still."
I'm grateful now that God put the right people around me. When you know God has a plan, you don't mind submitting to His timing and moving at His pace. This principle has shaped everything we're doing.
I want to speak to those of you watching at home and thank you for being patient with us during our renovation season. You can see the footage—this place is becoming beautiful. The children's wing is looking great. The hallways are looking great.
I got convicted about the condition of our facilities. I said, "I want my church to have the best of everything." We took out all the old bathrooms upstairs. I busted up the tile, took out the stalls, looked at the toilets, and said, "My people are not going to use old toilets." We put brand new toilets in there.
Right now, the stage in the sanctuary is almost done. As we speak, they're installing all the speakers upstairs. I looked outside and didn't feel like we had enough parking. God blessed us to meet a company, and this brother was kind and said, "Pastor Mike, I got you." They're literally installing another parking lot as we speak.
I always wanted a parking lot strictly dedicated to our volunteers. Imagine when you get here—you'll park in this certain parking lot we're creating. You show your badge, and a golf cart or van brings you over. Downstairs, there will be refreshments waiting for you and a place to put your stuff. We want to make sure we do it the right way.
If you're giving, you know how to give—be faithful over your giving. I'm a tither. I have never in my life beaten God's giving. No matter how hard I tried, God keeps blowing our minds. I believe by faith it's falling on your life, too.
Father God, in the name of Jesus, I pray a simple prayer: Lord, Your will. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
I want our church to be a well-learned aerodite congregation. I don't mind repeating myself because I understand that repetition breeds revelation. Repetition brings revelation.
This principle came alive to me watching LeBron James in an interview. He's contemplating retirement after his 20th season. He's always been in the finals, always went deep into the playoffs, always played on allstar teams. His body is tired. But what struck me was this: What season are you in? How many times have you been around the park? How many times have you had to deal with betrayal, anxiety, and frustration? How many breakups have you been through? How many seasons of having money, then losing it, then having it again?
There are different types of people in different seasons. Some of you are rookies—just got in the league. Some of you are veterans—you've been here a whole lot of times, you've seen everything. Some of you are midseason players—seven, eight, nine years in, finding your way around the league. But God elevates us in a rookie season, and now we're dealing with seasons where we have a lot to think about.
I watched a video about LeBron's genius. In a game against the Warriors that came down to the wire, he remembered a play from almost 10 years ago from his Cleveland Cavaliers days. He looked at Steph, looked at the lineup, and told AD to go to that corner. He told another player where Draymond was going. Draymond did exactly what he thought—he messed the play up so much he turned the ball over and the Lakers won. The commentator said, "It's amazing that LeBron remembered that play." Repetition breeds revelation. When the devil runs that play that took you out five years ago, you won't get hit with it. You'll see it coming.
Many of us keep missing the mark because you do not learn a lesson off one session. You don't learn your lesson off one session. My boys are taking final exams right now. Final exams scare me. A test would prepare you for that week, but a final exam is a compilation of everything you learned—not just all year, but all season.
Some of the hell you're catching right now requires repetition. Sometimes when I'm not doing anything, I need to go all the way back to the first series and catch that thing. Some of you keep flunking the exam but passing the test. That's what I call spiritual arrogance and immaturity. You passed the test but flunked the exam because you did not have retention.
The reason I'm sitting in this series so long is because I'm trying to give you revelation and retention. REVELATION lets me see something and learn something different. RETENTION means I don't lose it. Retention is like a tank.
My staff laughs at me sometimes because they see me do interviews and I don't always have time to prepare. But I got a tank. I got stuff I've learned throughout the years that I can pull from. When you don't have retention, you don't have nothing you can pull from. What I'm trying to give you is a tank.
With that said, let me review the principles we've talked about.
First: The principle of generosity—a heart that's willing to give that leads to a life that freely gives.
Second: The mindset principle—what I believe about me often determines what I believe about God.
Third: The principle of multiplication—God does not simply create us to maintain; He called us to multiply.
Fourth: The principle of freedom—freedom is not doing whatever you want to do, but doing what you were created to do.
I want to pause here because God gave me a different revelation about this. Someone said to me after seeing me perform at the Exodus, "The way you're weaving in between music and messages is mindblowing." The Holy Spirit put a different revelation on me. It's called creation.
Look at your hands. Rub them together. This generation is going to miss a lot because they don't use these. Remember cursive writing? Some of you got PlayStation fives. Your child got 17 Xbox ones. But I'm going to tell you about something you probably won't remember—Play-Doh.
Play-Doh was basically a glob that came in a tube. You pull it out, throw it on the floor, and it's just a glob. But the beautiful thing was it could become whatever you create. You could make it a ball, make it long and turn it into a bow tie, do different things with it. It was moldable.
I formed you from the dirt.
You are Play-Doh and God formed you. Here's what's critical: The principle of freedom suggests that freedom is not doing whatever you want to do, but doing what you were created to do. It's impossible to create without putting your hand on it. While you were being created, He had His hand on you.
What I'm trying to get you to realize is freedom does not mean I move how I want to move. Freedom is moving in the parameters of keeping His hand on me while I do what God called me to do.
Fifth: The principle of partnership—trusting the wrong people will make you worse and trusting the right people will help you.
Sixth: The principle of transformation—my gift will change others but my character will change me.
Seventh: The principle of the pick—who you choose to be in your life will either be an asset or an assault. Who done had to go back and fix some picks?
Eighth: The principle of the breakthrough—true breakthrough is not when you go to the next level, but when God shows you why you are stuck on your now level.
True breakthrough is not when you go to another level. It's when God shows you why you're stuck on this level.
That lets us know that breakthrough ain't physical. It's mental. If you give somebody with the same mindset new stuff, they will treat the new stuff the same way they had the old stuff. Breakthrough is not a natural word. It is a spiritual word.
The etymology of breakthrough is found in 2 Samuel 5:20:
So David went to Ba Perisim and defeated the Philistines there. The Lord did it.
David shouted, "The Lord did it!" How did you survive the pain? The Lord did it. How did you survive the hurt? The Lord did it. How did your family maintain unity? The Lord did it. How are you surviving all the stuff that should have took you out? The Lord did it. How are you still smiling when you got reasons to frown? The Lord did it.
He burst through my enemies like a raging flood.
He named that place Bel Perisim, which means the Lord who burst through.
Here's my definition of breakthrough: God breaks open a new realm in the spirit and brings us through. Breakthrough is when God opens a new realm in the spirit and brings us through.
If you're not careful, you're going to think that breakthrough is something you do. Breakthrough is something you receive. You don't have the power to break through it. You just got to have the power to claim it.
If you be still and let me break through.
Because the One who created it knows when it's no longer healthy for you. The manufacturer of the situation said you could have it and it's good for you until this time. Now if you go past this day, it's on you. But the manufacturer has warned you. It is impossible to know when people should come or go or you should release them or keep them if you don't check back with the manufacturer.
Now I want to give you something new today. The principle of discernment: the ability to recognize the difference between what's dead and what's dormant.
Most of us will fail because we're looking at something thinking it's dormant when it's really dead. Or we're looking at something that's dead when it's really dormant. If you don't have discernment, you will try to resurrect something that only needs to be resuscitated.
Discernment is the ability to see if something needs to be resurrected or released.
Wish people came with an expiration date. It would be so much easier. Have you ever went to the refrigerator to eat something and checked the date? Didn't even smell bad and it still looked edible. But the date put you in a place where you said, "No, I ain't going to try it." Why? Because the one who created it knows when it's no longer healthy for you. That's discernment.
Why do I need discernment? To ensure I am not remaining committed to dead stuff. Many of us are staying committed to dead stuff.
How do I discern the difference between what's dead and what's dormant? Look at the pattern. Look at the pattern. Look at the pattern.
I pulled up to my house today and it's springtime, but my grass looks bad. I got one patch that's solid green, then like 17 brown patches. The little bushes look weird too. They're green but they look bad—like they got a little ring worm at the top or something. I was standing outside when the guy was cutting the grass, right before it rained, asking, "So what do I need to do? Do I need to water it more? Do I need to put some chemicals down?" This is going to bless your life.
He said, "No, the grass is not dead. It's just dormant." I said, "How you know?" He said, "Put this in your notes. Dormant grass is dead in spots. Dead grass is dead everywhere."
If my yard had been completely dead, the whole thing would be brown. But since I had spots, I realized the grass is still alive. It just got a couple places that need to be resurrected.
I'm preaching to some of y'all. That's only for three of y'all who can be honest with yourself and say, "Pastor Mike, I'm not dead yet, but I do got some places that need some love and attention." That's important.
Put this in your notes, and I need you to catch this now: Deception will cause you to trust personalities. Discernment will help you see patterns. That's critical.
Why is that critical? When we do not walk in discernment, we fall into deception. Many of us are making major life decisions based off of personalities.
Now, what's a personality? It's what's presented. A house can have personality. When you walk into it, they make the personality of the house come alive. A car when you go to the lot can have personality. If you ain't careful, you going to think discernment is only for who you sleep with and who you go to lunch with. No, discernment is so you can see a pattern in everything.
Discernment is not so you can see a thing, but you can see into a thing. That's critical.
Look at Mark 5:2: "When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain."
Put this in your notes: Without discernment, we live illogically.
I want to point something out from the text. Notice it says "no one could bind him anymore." No one could bind him anymore. The text does not say "a demon man." It says "a man possessed with an impure spirit."
Many people are going to miss God because we keep calling them by what they're doing, NOT by what has control of them.
Somebody shout "bind." What does bind mean? You don't know what bind means until you got to make a child sit still who don't want to sit still no more. What do you have to do? Bind. What does bind mean? I have to overpower. I have to put restraint on. I have to keep you from hurting you.
Some of y'all not locked out because you ain't got discernment. You don't realize God ain't locked you out. He's binding you. "Pastor Mike, I don't know what to do. I feel stuck." Yes. Because he has you bound. Because he realized if I don't bind you, you going to hurt you.
It's like every time I turn around, stuff keep going left. It's not going left. God sometimes uses trouble and pain to bind you. You pray better when you bound. That's the problem with the church. We're always talking about setting somebody free, always trying to do deliverance. But for some of us, in certain seasons, deliverance ain't going to help. Because I can't deliver you from His grace.
Come here, Jonah. Jonah tried to run from God. What does God do? God causes him to sit for three days in the belly of a whale. In other words, God didn't use a chain to bind Jonah. He used a whale to bind Jonah.
Watch this: While Jonah is in the belly of the whale, bound, constricted, by the time the whale spit him out, he was where God wanted him to be. Because if you submit while he's binding, he will be transporting you while you're submitting.
I came to see who's mature enough to say, "God, I thank you for the seasons of my life." I want to thank God for every no. I want to thank God for every not yet. I want to thank God for every season where I was praying like crazy. But God was like, "Nah, cuz if I let you loose in this season, you going to hurt not just them, you going to hurt you."
Some of y'all think the reason stuff ain't moving the way it's supposed to move is because God mad at you. No, God love you enough to realize if I don't keep you bound, you not just going to tear your life up. You going to hurt everybody around you.
This brother is illogical. What does illogical mean? Without discernment, we live illogically. One of the definitions that blesses me: not having sound reasoning.
Without discernment, we live illogically. That's what's happening. You got your flesh and your discernment and you got to pick. It's the principle. But when you live illogical, there is no reasoning.
The pattern of your life is you up one day, down the next, act a fool Tuesday, but then want to be saved Wednesday. It's because you are without sound reason. You know what I discovered? Many of you won't ever be logical because you want to submit to nobody who can bind you.
I need somebody in my life who can bind me. I need people in my life who can be like, "Nah, you're doing too much. No, you need to sit down somewhere. No, you got too much going on. You're lacking sense."
To be illogical means you lack sense. What are the five senses? Taste. Sight. Hearing. Touch. Smell. That's all five of those are tools of discernment.
Some animals that have poor vision have strong sense of smell. To be illogical means I lack my senses. So even if I smell it and it's spoiled, I can't discern it. Even if I touch it and the texture's not right, I can't feel it. Even if they show me who they are, I can't see it.
To live illogically will have you drinking poison thinking it tastes good. What I'm trying to do is not just give you discernment. I'm trying to give you your senses back. Because some of y'all done lost your mind. And losing your mind means you have given up your discernment.
How do I know this man is living illogically? In Mark 5:2, he picks a place that is full of death even though he is still living.
He's living in the tombs. The tombs were not just reserved for dead people. They were also reserved for poor people. They would make apartments out of the tombs and poor people could live in dead places. To this day, we still see a lot of death in poor areas.
Why? Because poverty is a type of death. I don't care—stuff don't even make you as mad when you got money. Conversely, you can have nothing and they just look at you and say, "What's wrong with you?" Because poverty is a type of death.
That's why I'm trying to speak wealth and trying to speak to be saved and paid over your life. Why? Because for years, the church programmed us into thinking the less you had, the more holier you were. They programmed us to think to have stuff meant something was wrong with you. No.
I bind poverty over every person under the sound of my voice. You're not just going to be paid financially. You're going to be whole spiritually. Because some of y'all got money, but you broke mentally. Some of y'all got a whole lot of mind, but you ain't got no money.
I'm going to speak by faith that this is about to be the season of your life where your money, your mind, and your spirituality all about to connect.
Why do you keep picking climates that don't match your calling? That's crazy. People been telling you your whole life you were a minister. Your whole life they've been telling you you different. You're comfortable in that messy circle.
God hates mess. There's certain places I just can't go no more. There are certain phone calls I'm just not answering no more.
I was on the phone this week and they started kind of telling me some stuff. I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't need that in my spirit right now. I be honest with you, I got a lot going on." I said, "I love you." But I realized something: no, I don't need that. Because if I hang around that long enough, it's going to come out when I see them again.
Some of us got to come out of the tombs. What tombs do you live in? You do know the difference between a grave and a ditch. The difference between a grave and a ditch is a body.
Why do you keep picking friends that don't match your future?
Number one: Does the climate match your calling? What does that mean? Does where I am match who I'm becoming? Not who I am—who I'm becoming. Does who I hang with match who I'm becoming?
I am deputizing you. I'm giving you the authority and the power to start telling people: "I love you so much, but I can't hang with you because you picked them."
It's certain places in my life now where I'm starting to build teams and I need more people to be doing more stuff. I'm seeing what God is doing and I'm realizing like, no, I know where I see God taking people. I need people. But people are just calling me. I would love to do this for you. I would love to do that.
So now I'm just having to be honest. "Oh, thank you so much. But I just noticed when I looked at your page, you frequent with this person a lot. They tend to be real messy. And for you to love their company suggests it's a lot of them in you."
Have you ever hung with somebody who smoked and you didn't? Yet when you went around your new circle, they asked if you smoke, because the scent of who you were around followed you. I can't be around y'all. You're not going to have me smelling like who I used to be.
Put this in your notes: Without discernment, we live uncontrollably.
Uncontrollable means fractious, intractable, irresistible, lawless, undisciplined, unmanageable.
The scripture says he would scream all night. All night he would be screaming. Watch this: he was living in dead places, but it was impacting people who were trying to live. The tombs weren't just where people died. People were living in them.
He was living in dead places, but it was impacting people who were trying to live. The tombs weren't just where people died—people were living in them. Imagine you had a tomb, but you weren't dead. So what would you do? Rent it out. You would let people live where you would eventually reside.
So the people who were living in the tombs are losing their mind because he's screaming all night. This is why you have to be careful about who's in your life, because their inability to come out of stuff will start impacting you. Their uncontrollable state becomes your problem.
Think about a mother who has a baby that cries all night. The baby sleeps during the day with no care in the world. But now you're all day what? Cranky, upset, mad—because that baby impacted your peace.
The disciples had a conversation about this man. They said, "We used to be able to at least put chains on it, but the chains don't work anymore."
What does that mean? The demon kept getting stronger. What you used to be able to play with, you can't play with anymore. The chains don't work.
Put this in your notes: It's going to keep growing if you keep feeding it. And to play with it is to train it. When I play with that demon, when I play with my issue, I'm giving it strength.
I remember when I pledged my fraternity. It was twenty-three of us when we started. By the time it was over, it was only two. I probably quit seven times. Every time I would think, "I can't do this," but I'd come back the next night. Still here. Still here.
By the fourth week, my body couldn't take it anymore. I was getting hit in the chest over and over. By a certain point, I got hit so many times that my body just went numb. They would slap me, and I got locked. The affliction they were causing me started prepping me. My body made a decision: either it's going to break, or we're going to form calluses.
If you keep playing with something, you're going to wake up one day and realize it is now playing you.
The Greek word for bind means to compel or influence. So when they say no one could bind him, it also means no one could influence him.
I tell everybody close to me, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart: I don't care how upset I get, how mad I get. I want to get to a point where I could be hollering, screaming, fussing, cussing, ready to fight. But if my daddy says, "Mike"—I want to be at a point in my life where somebody can influence me. Dr. Vern is that for me. It's hard for me to act a fool in front of him. I respect his anointing and the spirit so much it binds me.
If it ain't nobody in your life that can do that, you, my friend, are illogical and uncontrollable.
When you live illogically and uncontrollably, you eventually suffer tremendously. Why would God give you overflow if you're going to blow it? Why would God send you a good man when your mouth is illogical and your attitude is uncontrollable? Why would God send you a good woman when you're uncontrollable?
Somebody has to be able to bind you. Don't think a good woman can bind you? Ask the Hulk. The movie isn't called David Banner. The movie is called what? Hulk. What was in him would tear up cities until he learned how to control it. When he could no longer control it, he had somebody who could bind him. And what would she do? She would sing a little song to him.
This is biblical. How is this biblical? Saul was dealing with spirits, and Saul would say, "Tell David to come here." David would come into the room and start singing, playing the harp, and worshiping. And it would soothe his spirit.
Some of y'all come to this church because there's something in you that's going to go crazy. And something about my crazy pastor—if it's his joke, if it's his laugh, if it's the worship, if it's the word—it soothes you.
This is why I'm learning that devotional energy is so important. No matter how bad your day is, we've got a place. We've got something in place now where every morning if you wake up feeling some type of way, you can just say, "Let me log on real quick." And it can soothe.
The scripture says night and day. Night and day. Even in my music, I like to flow. I don't like being predictable. So I want to be able to do my show and if it's something I feel like doing on the spot, let's go. I didn't realize how much I would make my band look confused sometimes.
But then my band told me, "Pastor Mike, if we can just stay on format till we get to this point. Once you get us to here, let God have his way." And since we've been doing that, it's so free.
When they didn't know what I was doing, I spent most of my show like this—constantly having to talk to them. Now that we've got locked and we all know where I'm going, I don't even look at them anymore. We're so in tune.
That can't happen if I didn't respect them enough to let them bind me. So me getting locked to my new format—it's them being able to bind me even though I'm in charge. Because leadership doesn't mean you do the binding. It means you're also humble enough to realize if God put certain people in your life, allow them to influence you.
This man was unable to be bound. Mark 5:5 says, "Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones."
He would cut himself with stones. Typically, when we're in pain, we try to find out who or what is causing it. But what do you do when you're the problem? What do you do when you can't blame nobody but the person you're looking at?
What do you do when you go to the ER or the spiritual ER and your discernment kicks in? Because some of you think your discernment is going to help you pick your career, pick your husband, pick your wife, pick your next job. But I got a wakeup call for some of you.
When God shows you what's holding you back, and your face pops up. What do I do when I ask God what's wrong with the people I love, and I'm the problem?
A life without discernment will have you living in self-deception. And anytime you live in self-deception, you will practice self-sabotage.
He was cutting himself. You cut yourself to either get something out or to get something in. The only time a doctor will cut you is when they need to fix something on the inside of you.
Everyone preaches that he's cutting himself because he's demon-possessed. But what if he's cutting himself because the only way he knew how to get it out was physically? What if they said, "Stop cutting yourself," but he didn't know how to articulate that something was in him?
Self-sabotage is when you say you want something, but you do everything in your power to make sure you don't get it. Self-sabotage is when you say, "I want to start the business," yet you keep going out wasting your money. Self-sabotage is when you say, "I want to be happy," but you keep sitting in conversations, taking trips down memory lane. Self-sabotage is when you say out your mouth, "I want to be whole," but you're committed to dead conversations.
When you're going to stop cutting yourself? Because two things are going to happen in my life. Either people are going to stop cutting themselves, or I'm going to have to remove myself. Because you've got to stop bleeding on me.
Wine comes out, ketchup comes out, but blood stains. When you mop the floor, it takes work to get blood out. Even with the right light, illumination, and revelation—if somebody walks in with the right tools—they can see where you cleaned it up. Even if you fix the floor, all they have to do is pick up the floor. It seeps through the baseboard.
You can't get blood out. Many of you don't even realize that God keeps trying to bless you, but you've got too much blood on you because you keep cutting yourself.
This brother in the tombs was cutting himself, cutting himself. Maybe you haven't cut yourself with a knife, but I heard somewhere in the Bible that the tongue is sharper than a sword. So your tongue is a type of knife.
It's called cutting confessions. It's when you say something out your mouth that cuts you off from the promise that God had prepared for you.
God said, "I'm the head, not the tail." Which means even if you're on the bottom, there's a supernatural cord tied between the bottom and the top. If you hold on long enough, He's reeling you in. But when you start speaking negativity, your mouth cuts the cord.
I came to decree by faith: You may cut me with your words. But after today, I'm not going to ever cut myself. Even if you get a cut, you can put some ointment on it. The anointing is sort of a cut sealer.
I'm speaking by faith: God, increase the level of anointing in people's lives. So when people come into their lives with cuts, they'll be able to speak those things that are not as though they were.
Go back a couple verses. Night and day among the tombs. And in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself.
His spirit was the same in low places and in high places. When you ain't got it, you're still depressed. And when you get it, you're still going to be depressed. If you don't deal with the stuff that's on the inside of you, promotion ain't going to fix it.
A new house ain't going to fix it. A new relationship ain't going to fix it. More money ain't going to fix it. Because what you need, natural stuff ain't going to fix. What's going to fix it? The demon saw Jesus.
When the demon saw Jesus, it ran to Jesus. It ran and fell on his knees. In other words, he paid homage. He said props.
Now, here's something interesting. Some scholars argue that verse 8 came before verse 7. Verse 7 says, "He shouted at the top of his voice, 'What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? In God's name, don't torture me.'" But verse 8 says, "Then Jesus cried out, 'Come out of this man, you impure spirit.'"
Some scholars believe when Jesus got off the boat, he saw the spirit and said, "Come out of this man." And then the man ran to Jesus and bowed down.
I wasn't there. I don't know if Jesus told the spirit to come out first or the demon ran. I'm just grateful the right man got off the boat.
When Jesus was sitting around people, He says, "Who do men say that I am?" And Simon says, "You are the son of God." Jesus says, "Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you." Jesus changed his name and said, "From this day forward, we will call you Peter."
Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you. If it ain't flesh and blood, it's what? Something spiritual.
Something spiritual. Here's what I want to say: All of us are possessed by something. For children of God, it's called the Holy Spirit. This man had an impure spirit. Why did he have an impure spirit? A demon had inhabited him.
This is pre-Pentecost, which means the Holy Spirit hadn't dropped yet. So this brother was empty.
Some of y'all are thinking you're possessed, and the question I want to ask you is: How are you possessed when you're filled?
Jesus explained that flesh and blood cannot reveal spiritual truth. When Simon recognized Jesus as the Son of God, Jesus told him, "Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you." This reveals a fundamental principle: if it isn't flesh and blood, it's something spiritual.
All of us are possessed by something. For children of God, that something is the Holy Spirit. In the account with the demon-possessed man, he had an impure spirit because a demon inhabited him. This was pre-Pentecost, before the Holy Spirit was given, so this man was empty. The critical question becomes: How can you be possessed by something when you're already filled?
When the demon recognized Jesus, it had to bow. The spirit that had been beating up this man couldn't stand against God's power. This is the point: God put something in you, but you have to make a decision about what controls your life.
The kingdom of God is not inherited by explanation, but only through revelation. When God wants to transform a person, He doesn't always give answers—He asks questions. Adam, where are you? Moses, what's that in your hand? Can these bones live? Who do men say that I am?
You may need to stop spending your whole life asking God for answers and instead ask Him to give you the right question. As one writer said, "There are certain years that give answers and certain years that give questions." If you sleep through the seasons when God is giving answers, you will panic in the seasons when He asks questions.
If someone learns fundamentals in a season of answers, they won't panic when asked questions later—they have a foundation. But if you've been sleeping, when God shifts and asks you something, you'll panic. Many of you are panicking because you were sleeping during the years that gave you answers.
Dead weight is heavier than living weight. Hebrews 12:1 says, "Strip off, lay aside every weight." When we don't lay aside unnecessary weight, we become weary. And wherever we are weary, we are not wise. When weariness walks in, wisdom walks out.
Dead ends are people, places, and things that lead to nowhere. Before Jesus went into the grave, He gave the grave a deadline: "In three days." He wanted death to know it had an expiration date.
There are some timelines God sets and other timelines we set without discernment. Sometimes we wait on God when God is actually waiting on us. God isn't going to confirm everything—some things are your decision to make. You know when you're hungry; you don't need to pray about what to eat. You need discernment to know which decisions require prayer and which require action.
Dead faith is staying committed to where God was, not where God is. It's staying committed to what is good instead of what's God. You cannot be preaching commitment while having dead patterns in your life. Certain positions require total commitment, not just good conversation.
You'll start cutting dead weight and coming out of dead ends when you realize next week isn't promised. If you're praying for a relationship that's dead, heaven might say no to resurrection. Dead ends are real. Don't let anything become a dead end in your life.
What if the issue isn't that people around you are dead, but that you've shifted into a different season? One man plants, another waters, and God gives increase. Some people who've been around you long enough may not feel what they used to feel—but that doesn't mean you're not anointed. It means life has shifted you to a different season.
You don't always have to kick people out of your life. Sometimes you just need to change their seat or their priority level. Your campaign manager who got you into office isn't necessarily the right person to help you sustain that office. What you needed to get somewhere isn't what you need to stay there.
Your commitment to dead stuff will delay your destiny. This applies to every area of life. How you deal with your children has to grow. Some of you treat them like babies when they're becoming young adults. You must honor their growth.
With your spouse, you might need to sit down and say, "I wasn't viewing you right. I still had old pain in my heart, and I didn't even realize I was committed to dead patterns. Let me put my heart out there. If it gets broken, God can mend it. But I'm going to trust." This requires real conversation and discernment in every relationship.
Memory lane is backwards. You're literally driving in reverse. Life is a one-way street—you cannot go back. To go down memory lane is to risk getting hit by what's coming.
There's a difference between healing from the past and being stuck in it. You may have relationships from your past that meant something, but people who knew an old version of you don't need to know the current version. Tell them: "I love you, but I need you to see me differently. You helped me in that season, but this is a new season. You can be in the car, but you can no longer drive."
Many of you are evolving. Your view of yourself has to change, because how you view things determines how you treat them. If your view of people doesn't change, how you treat them won't change, and they will start viewing you as dead stuff.
God has a plan. When you know God has a plan, you don't mind submitting to His timing and moving at His pace. Maybe opportunities are opening now, but you need to wait for the right season. God may be binding you to a place, closing certain doors, and opening others—all part of His design for your life.
Whatever season you're in, speak growth over your life. Let God do something fresh and new in you. Revival is when transformation and revelation overwhelm a group of people, and that's what God is doing right now.
Many doors were opening, and my team will tell you opportunities were coming seven and eight years ago. It was hard for me to say no to them. My friends looked at me and said, "You're stupid—those doors don't open forever." But the Holy Spirit told me, "Sit still."
I'm grateful now that God put the right people around me. When you know God has a plan, you don't mind submitting to His timing and moving at His pace. This principle has shaped everything we're doing.
I want to speak to those of you watching at home and thank you for being patient with us during our renovation season. You can see the footage—this place is becoming beautiful. The children's wing is looking great. The hallways are looking great.
I got convicted about the condition of our facilities. I said, "I want my church to have the best of everything." We took out all the old bathrooms upstairs. I busted up the tile, took out the stalls, looked at the toilets, and said, "My people are not going to use old toilets." We put brand new toilets in there.
Right now, the stage in the sanctuary is almost done. As we speak, they're installing all the speakers upstairs. I looked outside and didn't feel like we had enough parking. God blessed us to meet a company, and this brother was kind and said, "Pastor Mike, I got you." They're literally installing another parking lot as we speak.
I always wanted a parking lot strictly dedicated to our volunteers. Imagine when you get here—you'll park in this certain parking lot we're creating. You show your badge, and a golf cart or van brings you over. Downstairs, there will be refreshments waiting for you and a place to put your stuff. We want to make sure we do it the right way.
If you're giving, you know how to give—be faithful over your giving. I'm a tither. I have never in my life beaten God's giving. No matter how hard I tried, God keeps blowing our minds. I believe by faith it's falling on your life, too.
Father God, in the name of Jesus, I pray a simple prayer: Lord, Your will. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
