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How can any of us who are followers of Christ look at what Jesus did for you on the cross—"God so loved [that he] mutilated his son for you"—and then turn away from the cross and hoard? How is that possible in your soul? How do you stare at the cross and turn away from it and not be generous?
I know you feel entitled to salvation. You feel entitled to grace. You feel entitled to escape damnation, as if your good behavior can escape the wrath that is coming. But listen: all that I have and all that I am came from him. Who am I to not give back and help other people?
You cannot preach truth when you're bound to the approval of people. I'm free from that. If the room is packed to capacity, the temptation would be to stroke them so they don't leave. But I'm not afraid, and I don't care if they don't come back next week. Amen.
I was with Janet yesterday during outreach. I prayed for her, and when I tried to walk away, she squeezed me. She wouldn't let me go. With tears in her eyes, she begged: "Please, pastor, don't leave me here."
Hundreds of us were doing outreach yesterday across nine initiatives. My heart is full of joy for that. But I want to be fully transparent: my heart was so broken this morning for Janet. I could see her with her black hair, her weave just slapped on because she's just holding on for hope. I could feel her nails in my side.
At 4:00 a.m., I was crying out for Janet. I was weeping in tears over Janet. In that moment, I got this strong reminder of the great depravity of human beings, man. How deprived humanity is apart from God. We're like sheep scattered without a shepherd, lost and separated from God.
I thought about all the people we saw yesterday—they were scattered with no shepherd, no guidance, outside of the kingdom, poor and headed for damnation. But I was also grieved thinking about the wealthy people I see on social media who are headed for damnation just the same. Wealthy and arrogant and prideful. They think that money is going to keep them comfortable in flames. But any amount of millions or billions cannot protect you from the wrath of God. You are deceived to think wealth can protect you from the wrath that is coming.
From the wealthy atheist to the poor woman under the bridge, I wept this morning thinking about the depravity of human beings. How separated we are from eternity.
I thought about how messed up we are as human beings apart from Jesus. Our marriages are messed up. Our homes are messed up. Our values are messed up. The things we treasure are all messed up. The way women see beauty are all messed up. All messed up.
I was sitting there shedding tears, praying at 4:00 a.m., crying out to God and saying, "Lord, you are the only hope for humanity."
Then I had a flashback to when Lena and I were living in North Carolina in a small apartment, when the Lord had saved me over that toilet seat. In that moment, I just began to thank God for salvation. Amen.
I began to thank God when I thought about all the times I could have been dead. I thought about all the times when bullets grazed my hair, when I was in shootouts. I thought about all the times I could have been dead. When my friend drove over a cliff drunk, we almost died. I just began to cry out to God and thank him for salvation.
I didn't want anything from him in that moment. I didn't want a bigger church. I didn't want a different house. I didn't want a newer car—mine is 9 years old. I didn't want something. I was just thanking him for salvation. I was thanking God that he rescued me from the dominion of darkness. He brought me into the kingdom of light.
I thought about the fact that I did not know him. I did not deserve that. There was nothing I could do to come into the kingdom on my own. The scripture says that unless the Lord draws someone to himself, they cannot come. The Lord was wooing you, had his eyes on you, was scheming on you, was plotting the day, month, time, and year when you would say yes.
Your good behavior couldn't earn that. Your heritage couldn't earn that. Who your mother was or who your father was—if you were born in church—couldn't earn that.
In American Christianity, we don't even thank God for salvation. We just keep begging him for the next best thing. We want the next iPhone, the next fill in the blank. We never even look back and say, "Lord, look where you took me from," like David did. Do I have anybody that can give God a remembrance praise for where he took you from?
No one comes to God except they're drawn by the Lord. So if you're in this room, if your name is written in the Lamb's book of life, if you died today in a car accident and you would wake up in glory, it was the Lord that wooed you to himself. You could not manufacture that. You could not earn that.
I was just thanking God for that. But watch—not only where you took me from, but where you brought me into. The Lord doesn't only save us out of darkness. He saves you into a kingdom. He calls you from something—my God—to something.
I'm going to unpack the text now. The Lord called you from something to something. Watch what American Christianity has done: it has taught us that the Lord called us from something to be consumers of what we want.
Listen to American preaching. You know what it trains believers to do? To be consumers. It's all about your vision board full of stuff. I've never seen anyone make a vision board with intangible things you can't touch. Maybe your next vision board should be: I want more wisdom. I want to live more holy. I want to be more disciplined. I want to have more faith. I want to be more devoted. I want to have a stronger prayer life. Where's that on your vision board? No. It's husband, wife, house, car, your empire.
American Christianity has taught us to turn the church and the gathering of Jesus into a platform for consumerism. It's always about what can be done for me and how we're trying to serve you better. We've got a dope children's church to serve you better. We've got squads to serve you better. And there's a place for some of that, but we've overdone it.
I know how this goes down. Most people come into gatherings like this thinking it's all about what you can get from the church. You sit down and think it's all about you. It's all about three people: me, myself, and I. That's not the way the Lord called you. That's not what the scriptures say.
The Lord did not call you to be a consumer. The Lord called you to send you. The Lord called you to work through you. The Lord called you to use you. The Lord called you to be a representative through you to others.
Some of you don't believe that about yourself. I understand. I'm going to help you with some of that.
Let's look at Matthew chapter 10. Jesus called his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. Anything God calls you to do, he will also empower you to do.
Look at verse two: the names of the twelve apostles. Pay attention. Don't let the devil steal this from you. This is powerful.
First, Simon, who is also called Peter, and Andrew his brother. James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. Philip, and Bartholomew. Thomas and Matthew the tax collector. James the son of Alphaeus, a different James. Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
Twelve names. Twelve dudes. Who are they? In this group, there are four uneducated fishermen. In this group, a man who was a radical fanatic—Simon the Zealot. He was like thugged out, the one who would be carrying tools all the time, pulling guns on everybody. He was part of a radical sect that tried to overthrow Rome by force.
Thomas got a bad rep for being a doubter the rest of his life. Matthew—a tax collector, a wealthy man who was despised by his own people. A couple of nobodies that you don't even know. We don't even care who they are. James the son of Alphaeus. We don't even know that much about him from history.
And Judas Iscariot, who was from Kerioth. If he was from Kerioth, he was the only person of the 12 not from Galilee, from Jesus's original area of ministry. He was an outsider added to the team. He was not a good cultural fit for the team. If you've got a business or a company, you've got to be careful about adding people to the team who are bad cultural fits. Judas was the only one who was not from Galilee, and he was the one to betray Jesus.
Why am I telling you about these men? Because there are no all-stars on this list. Jesus gathered a group of B-paper people and used a small group to change the world. Uneducated people. A rich man, a radical hothead, a bunch of no-names, and a betrayer.
The Lord calls people from all socioeconomic statuses, and the Lord can use anyone that's fully surrendered to him. This group gives me hope that even the people of the world would despise and say as unusable, the Lord says, "This person is usable in my sight."
There are some of you—people who know you from your past—who would never believe the Lord can do anything with your life. But the Lord has a way of picking people the world would never choose. When teachers look you in your face in high school and say you're never going to amount to nothing, the Lord chooses people like that. When you felt like a failure, when you felt like you had no potential, the Lord has a way of picking people the world would never choose.
Jesus calls people to himself first. Then he calls people to see. He showed them the harvest, the field of the world that was so ripe. So he calls people to himself first. He calls people to see differently once they come into the kingdom. Then he calls us to service.
Now Jesus has a group of men that he called to himself. What does he do with them next? Does he send them to church to just sit and suck up sermons and do nothing? That's what we think Christianity is. You think Christianity is just the time you spend here absorbing and not doing anything with it.
Verse five: "These twelve Jesus sent out. Sent out. Sent out."
How long did it take for them to send? Two years. They were with him for two years, and then he sends them out. A year before he leaves, he sends them out instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Jesus sent them out and gave them instructions. Anything that God has called you to do, he will not only empower you to do it, but he will guide you through it. You don't have to figure everything out on your own. If he called you to do it, he will guide you through it.
I'm talking about callings from something as little as he called you to be a parent and to raise up godly, righteous children—or called you to a platform—and anything in between. If he called you to it, he will give you instructions.
Notice from the text: they did not send themselves out. They did not get saved, say, "I'm going to manufacture a ministry," and build their own ministry in their own strength. The Lord gave them instructions. The Lord sent them out.
That's a problem in our generation. You got saved in September; you're starting a ministry in October. Never mind process. Never mind training. Never mind sitting under somebody for a little while.
Side note: if serving is beneath you, then leadership is far above you.
They did not send themselves out. They had the character to be sent out.
The Lord told them, "Don't go to these places. Only go to the house of Israel first." The gospel will be preached to the Jews first and then it will go to the Gentiles.
He put restrictions on their ministry. And my question for you is: Do you have the character to handle godly restrictions?
I know you're anointed for the platform, but I want you to be an usher in this season. I know you think you're an apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist, but I want you to be on the welcome team in this season. I know you could sing and think you deserve a microphone, but I want you to just greet people at the front door just for this season.
Do you have the character to handle calling restrictions? "Don't go to these places. The Lord says only go to the place that I'm telling you first." I'm sending you out, but I'm sending you out with restrictions.
The restrictions of the Lord are for your benefit. Anytime the Lord restricts you from doing something or closes a door or redirects you to something else, he's doing that for your benefit. He restricts us for your benefit—to build you up, to develop character, to protect you from hurting yourself, and to protect you from stepping into things before it's time. God's timing is his kindness.
I know he called you to be a worldwide evangelist, but you just got saved last year. I want you to serve at a church faithfully. First, I want you to sit down for a season and receive.
Notice what the Lord did not allow to hinder him from sending them out. You know what it is to feel called and insecure at the same time? You feel like God is wooing you to something, but you feel insecure about that at the same time. You know what it is to feel called and you feel unprepared for what God is calling you to do?
You know what it is for the Lord to open up a door for you and tell you to walk through that door, but you don't feel like you have the goods to walk through that door, the education to walk through that door, the training to walk through that door. You know what it is for the Lord to be tapping you to step into something and you feel so afraid? It could be something as simple as joining a squad, but you feel afraid. Jump on that team, but you feel afraid. "I don't want them to really know who I am. I'm afraid they might judge me." I want you to start the ministry now, but you feel afraid. Write the book now, but you feel afraid. Start the podcast now, but you feel afraid.
We feel afraid. We feel unworthy. We look over our past. If you knew, Lord, where I came from, you would never call me to do something like this.
Can I say something to somebody who feels called right now? Just do it afraid. Just step into it afraid. I've never met a fearless person in my life, but I have met people that learn to fear less.
You really think I feel prepared to do this every week? You think I'm a machine? You think I'm not a human being? You think I have no insecurities. I never feel afraid. I never feel ill-equipped or unprepared. I never have weeks when I had a terrible preparation week and my outline looks like crap and I got to get up here. You think I'm always ready and I'm a machine, like I'm not a human being that feels afraid sometimes?
I walk up this platform with the fear of God in my heart every single week to handle these eternal scriptures. You think I never feel nervous about leading a growing organization and handling a growing budget and dealing with staff and employees and all this stuff and then having to preach every week? You think I never feel insecure about any of that stuff? And I think about, man, a dude from Queens that almost barely got out of high school leading a whole organization. You think I never feel insecure about that?
But I love the fact that the Lord don't allow our insecurities to keep us from his calling. He don't allow our fear to keep us from that. Man, we keep stepping into things with fear and insecurity, and then you look over your shoulder, and man, Lord, I've been walking with you for all this time and you led me through all of that while I was afraid, insecure, nervous, felt unworthy, preaching and feeling unworthy. Thank you.
If your fear, your insecurity, and your sense of unworthiness was going to be a disqualification for calling, everybody would be disqualified. Somebody just thank the Lord right now that he looked past your fear, past your insecurity. Is anybody thankful that he looked past all of that, your feelings of unworthiness?
Verse seven: "And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.'"
Demonic forces are real, and they are in people. If you're not saved, you are subject to demonic influence. You are an empty house without the Holy Spirit. That's why you need to be saved.
Demonic forces are real. That's why you shouldn't go see psychics—they're tapped into demons. That's why you shouldn't get your tarot card read because that is demonic. You shouldn't believe in horoscopes because that is demonic. The scripture tells us to stay away from all those things. Stay away from all fortune-telling because all fortune-telling is demonic.
I used to be a Sagittarius. Now I'm just a believer. Your little Gemini chain, you better get rid of that. All that stuff is demonic. You got the Virgo tattooed on your leg? Get a new tattoo.
All fortune-telling, all sage, crystals, mystics, psychics, horoscopes, tarot cards, burning your little sage incense to create a vibe—all that stuff is demonic.
Somebody said, "But the psychic told me about my past accurately." Of course! Demons have been watching you since you were a child. Duh. They can see. But I'm not going to be guided by a fortune cookie. I'm going to be guided by the Word of God.
Too many believers are tapped into too much demonic stuff. You want to keep burning something? Burn your heart instead of burning sage. How about that? Take all that sage and throw it in the trash. It's demonic. You want to burn something, burn your heart in prayer. Burn your heart with the Word.
I'm going to speak for my church. I got to help y'all because I don't want you to be wearing a 2819 shirt and then burning sage, looking like you have no common sense, like you haven't been taught. You got on a 2819 shirt burning sage and you got tarot cards open on your desk with a 2819 shirt on. You're just telling everybody you haven't read the scriptures.
Take all the little juju beads and idols and tarot cards and all that stuff, put it in a plastic bag and set it on fire and throw it in the trash today on the Lord's day. Some of you are going to be more clear in your mind after you do that.
Paul travels to a city with his boys. He gets to a city and a woman starts following him. These men come in the name of the Most High God. She's following Paul for days. These men come in the name of the Most High God. Everywhere Paul went in the city, she was following him. These men come in the name of the Most High God.
Then Paul gets tired of her nonsense. He turns to her and he commands the demon to come out of her. The demon who was saying, "These men come in the name of the Most High God." The demon that was saying these men come to expose them.
The best lie is not an outright lie. The best lie is mingled with truth.
The demon was saying, "These men come in the name of the Most High God." Paul gets tired of her foolishness, turns to her, and the scripture says he commands the demon to come out of her. The demon that was saying, "These men come in the name of the Most High God."
When the owners of the girl figured out she could not fortune tell any longer and she could not make them any more money, they try to throw Paul out of the city.
Not be idiots on social media. Let me help you not look ignorant on social media. All such fortune-telling and anything connected to it is demonic.
I want to have an altar call for all demonic jewelry. Just throw it up here right now. Somebody's clutching their little Sagittarius chain right now. That was 14 carats. Yeah, that's a lot of demonic activity on your neck.
Bring everything demonic and lay it on the altar next Sunday. Your tarot cards, your jewelry, your rocks and your crystals, your sage sticks, your evil eyes. Everything.
Come against every devil in this room. Come against every demonic force in this room. You'll be subdued by the power and truth of God's Word. We're about to set you free in Jesus's name.
We need to be a free people, a wise people, a biblically literate people. I'm so tired of us with your little tattoos. Who God says is free? Free indeed? No, you read that wrong. "If you abide in my teaching, then you are truly my disciples. And the truth that you know will set you free."
Everything you own that's demonic, I want you to bring it here next week. I'm dead serious. Run up here and throw it on the platform. Or if you're afraid and don't want to be seen, come early for prayer and just leave it on the platform. And don't take it off the platform.
Verse eight: "You have received without paying, give without pay."
Anytime the Lord calls somebody, he gives them instructions. Notice what he told him to preach. Preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Who else preached that? Jesus. Who else preached that? John the Baptist. I want your message to sound like mine. I want your biblical posting to sound like mine. I want the preaching in America to sound like mine. I want you to preach the message that I preach, teach the things that I gave.
Heal the sick. Cast out demons. What is that, man? Ease the suffering of other people. Use your life, your resources, your prayers, your love to try. Anytime you get an opportunity to ease the suffering of other people, like a hug for Miss Janet and a prayer, man—be conscious of where you can ease the suffering of other people.
And don't manipulate people as I send you. You have received from me freely. Turn and be a blessing to other people freely. Don't be a manipulator.
Verse nine: "Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or staff, for the laborer deserves his food."
What Jesus is really saying: Everything you have to start, everything you need to start, you already have.
You've been sitting on that thing for years. Everything you need to start, you already have. He's telling them, "You don't need anything extra to do what I've called you to do."
And as you go, I will provide everything you need. Provision follows faithfulness.
If you're just faithful to do what you're called to do—whether it's raising your child or platform ministry—you have everything you need to get started. And as you go, he will provide for you. You don't have to have everything figured out as you go. And you don't need everything you think you need.
This is a word for somebody who's been disobedient for a long time. You got everything you need to start. And as you go, the Lord will provide for you everything that you need.
Don't let that baby be aborted, man. The Lord keeps nudging you to do this thing, to be obedient in this area, to step into this thing. And you keep waiting for the sun and the planets and the moon to align and for everything to be perfect before you start.
My first sermon preaching at this church, I had no money in my bank account and no money in the church bank account. I had no money to take my kids to lunch and my kids had holes in their shoes, and I stepped out on faith anyway.
Verse eleven: "And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart."
"As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to it."
The Lord is talking about worthy homes and peace and no peace. He's talking about the gospel atmospheres and the kind of environments we live in. Who are people who are worthy? Anyone who received the gospel message—that home is worthy.
In the first century, traveling ministers would stay in the homes of people in towns because hotels were dangerous and full of prostitution. So traveling ministers would find people who received the gospel and stay in their homes.
He said, "Anybody received the message, then watch—bless that home." God, if anybody rejects the message, take that blessing away from that home. Where the gospel is received, there is an atmosphere. He said, "Bless that home. Let there be an atmosphere of blessing where the home has received the gospel."
Where husband and wife have received the gospel, where children are being taught the gospel, he says, "Man, where they receive this message, man, speak a blessing over that home. Let your peace be upon that home. And if they reject that message, man, take the blessing away from that home."
Verse fourteen: "And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet."
"Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable. More bearable. You know what that is? That's levels of punishment. It'll be more bearable on the day of judgment coming for everybody than for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah."
This is so powerful because I used to deal with this. You know what the Lord was preparing his people to deal with? He was preparing his people for how to handle rejection. Because if you live long enough, you're going to deal with rejection.
He taught them how to handle rejection. If they don't receive the message, they don't receive you. This is like people who start cutting you off because they see you following Christ. It's the family members who start hating on you because you're following after God's calling. It's the people who stop following you because you went from posting really ratchet things to posting things that are really righteous. It's the people who don't understand you anymore because you don't like going to places you used to go and doing the things you used to do. It's all the people who got an issue with your salvation.
He's preparing them for how to handle rejection. He said, "If y'all go places and they don't receive the message of the gospel, man, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."
There are some people you can't help. Stop wasting your time trying to convince people that don't want to be convinced.
You got to know how to pivot from rejection and not feel so personal. If they reject Christ in you, they reject you. You hold them forever. You take that so personal. He said, "Man, if they don't receive, if they reject you, man, shake the dust off your feet. That is, yo, just let them go and keep moving forward. Let the Lord deal with them."
There's some people in this life you're not going to be able to help. You're wasting your time trying to help that person with a hardened heart. Let the Lord deal with them in another season.
You know what else he was preparing them for? There's a third thing: he was trying to help them with the Jesus complex—that you can't fix every problem and you can't fix every home and you can't fix every situation. Every single problem is not your assignment. So stop wearing yourself out trying to help people that's not your assignment.
Anyone who rejects the gospel of Jesus in this life? Watch. It's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for the person that rejects Jesus. Why?
First, Genesis tells us about Sodom and Gomorrah—two ancient cities rampant with sexual perversion, rampant with unnatural relations. And people say, "Man, this is how God made me. This is my desire." But your desire could still be unrighteous. Imagine if we gave a license to every married man to pursue your lust. Y'all wouldn't like that, ladies.
So don't get mad at me when I stand for marriage according to the scriptures, and we stand against the evil agenda that's sweeping our nation. The Lord destroyed two cities for the same agenda we're teaching kids now in kindergarten.
For all of you soft Christians that get mad every time I stand up against unrighteousness: the same crap they're trying to teach kids in kindergarten that is right is the same thing that God watched destroy two cities for.
You said I don't believe that? They found both of those cities buried under a mound of sulfur in the Middle East. Yes. When the scripture says in Genesis 19, God saw the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah—all of their unnatural sexual activities, their unwillingness to repent, their evil ways—the stuff we're teaching kids now as right. He rained down fire and brimstone and wiped out two cities for the stuff y'all keep pacifying today.
Jesus, for the thing you think is cute and you want to keep promoting—the Lord destroyed two cities for that kind of perversion and for evil and for wickedness. Because I think God is playing? I don't care about your desire. I got desires that don't mean they're holy. I was born a sinner. I was born lustful. That doesn't mean it's right. Just because I got a desire, that doesn't mean I got a right to act on my desire.
What about godly restrictions? "Only go to..." Do we have the character to handle godly restrictions? I rather burn than burn. Jesus.
You think Jesus is playing around? Listen to his words, not Philip Anthony Mitchell. Watch this. He said anybody who rejects the message of Christ—the people from Sodom and Gomorrah who're in damnation, their punishment is going to be less severe than anyone that rejects Jesus.
Why? Because damnation has levels of punishment. Everybody's not going to deal with the same flame. Who determines who gets worse flames than the other? The more revelation you've been exposed to, the more accountable you are. The greater the rejection, the greater the punishment in the afterlife.
The people of Sodom and Gomorrah rejected Yahweh, but they had not seen Christ yet. In this America, man, you hear the preaching of the gospel every week. You still reject Christ. You're still trying to go on your own, still think he's just a prophet.
If you die in your sin, he said your punishment is going to be worse than those who had less revelation than you. That's why it's dangerous to hear the truth.
And that's why I would be nervous to sit in any church where a pastor's not concerned about where you're going to spend eternity. If they don't care about eternity, they will preach lies to you to keep you comfortable. They don't care about where your soul is going to end up. And then because of this preaching, you're not going to want to come back next week.
You're going to park yourself in Bedside Baptist, but they're going to keep you comfortable in your sin. A car accident will meet you a year from now. You'll wake up in eternity and wish you would have responded to the gospel.
This is called love. It's called not on my watch. It's called no bloody hands from this pulpit.
For all of you in this room, everybody watching me, man: you're so confused about what God is calling you to do and what I'm supposed to be called to do. We got all this American confusion about calling. You know why we're confused about calling? Because in America, you've overromanticized it. You've made it glorious. You've worshiped the idea of calling.
You know how you figure out your calling? Start with what has already been revealed. Just obey the scriptures, man. Just do the simple things. Love, serve, give, forgive, live in community. Just obey. If you just start with obedience to the word, the Lord's will is to reveal to you his will. You don't got to overromanticize calling. You overromanticize platforms.
When the Lord saved me, I was just walking my dog and thankful to be in the kingdom. I was serving in a church. I was giving tithes and offerings. I was serving on a team. I was living in community, man. I was making little evangelism cards that had the Romans Road—Romans 3:23 and 6:23. I was giving them out to people. I was just living as a Christian.
That is the foundation of calling.
Some of you make calling so romanticized, so glorious because of American preaching. It's got y'all feeling depressed. You're always trying to figure out what you're called to do. Man, you're called to have an intimate relationship with Christ. You're called to be obedient to the scriptures. You're called to live in community. You're called to love, pray, serve, and give. You're called to just be faithful one day at a time. And anything beyond that, the Lord will reveal it to you. He's a good Father. He's not trying to hide his will for your life.
What is Lena called to do? You think because she's not doing Evolve Women's Conference, she's less of a woman? What if God called her to just be a mother who raises up world changers? Is that enough for your American Christianity?
Billy Graham—my favorite preacher after Christ and Paul—what was his mother's calling? You don't even know her name. What if God called her to just raise a righteous son who he would use to change the world? Is that enough for American Christianity? No, that's not sexy enough.
What if God is going to just be a good parent? How about start with the calling to just be a good believer and stop glorifying all these things. What am I called to do? What am I called to do? You're called to just be faithful to Christ. Have an intimate relationship with Christ. Love Christ. Love others. Obey what is already written. And then watch. And as you do that, anything beyond that, he will reveal to you.
Man, I was doing all of that long before he talked to me about pastoral ministry. I was loving on God and loving on people and serving in church and giving tithes and offerings and telling people about Jesus. I was standing on park benches preaching the gospel. I was being a good witness. I was dealing with my sin. I was crushing my heart. I was dying daily like it's suicide. I was doing all that stuff long before he said, "I want you to pastor a church."
Some of you are confused about calling because you won't start on the ground. If you just be faithful on the ground, all that fancy stuff, man, he will reveal to you what he wants you to do. Man, he's a good father. He's a good father. He has your best interest at heart. And if you'll just be a faithful believer on the ground, all that other fancy stuff, whatever he has for you, he will walk you into it.
What is Don called? Don is the best agitant I've ever had. What if this is what God is calling him to do? To just rock with me until we've all broke until we're gray and we get and we sit in a wheelchair. Is that enough for your American Christianity? If Don never stood on a microphone and preached, is that enough for your American Christianity? Is he any less of a man because he's in a chair and I'm on a platform?
Is Don any less of a man? Or am I any greater of a man because he's in a chair and I got a microphone?
I didn't even want this. I ran from this for 4 years. And we're so thirsty for all this American garbage. Got your hearts sick. That's why you have no joy. You can't even celebrate the small things that God is doing in your life because you got all that American preaching in you that keeps your eyes on the lights. So you can't even be thankful for the simple things in life.
I'm thankful that I got people around me who I believe really love me. I'm thankful for a godly wife and my four children. I'm thankful for Don, the best agitant I'm ever going to have. I thank you for Kenny, Pastor Kenny, who's been a right-hand man to me for 10 years. I thank you for Elder Milton and Elder Eric and Carina. I thank you that I can talk to you. I thank you that God saw fit to use me to do anything.
I'm going to be thankful for the meal I'm going to eat after this. I just want to love Jesus. I want to keep growing in prayer. I want to read my Bible. I want to be a faithful servant. I want to be generous with my resources. I want to love on other people. I want to apologize and say, "I'm sorry." I want to love well, forgive well, suffer well, pray well, and be faithful well. Just do the simple things well.
Stop listening to all that junk. It's why your heart's all messed up, and you keep you on your phone like this all day looking at what other people are doing. Then comparison comes up from your heart. How come they got this, and I'm not? And you don't understand—all of that comparison is a thief. It's an enemy. It steals joy.
What am I called to do? Every time you say that, you're thinking about a stage. Just be a faithful believer on the ground and just love Jesus and love people and be faithful. If you just do that, if he has anything other than that for you, he will reveal that to you.
I want to pray for everyone in this room who feels confused about calling. I want to pray for everyone whose heart is in a bunch about what am I supposed to be doing. I want to pray for the person in this room who's far away from God. Because if you die in your sin, man, it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you. You ain't heard truth like this.
Every head bowed, every eye closed. Sit still.
Heavenly Father, I pray the truth over these your sons and daughters. You call teenagers. You call people who are 80. You just want faithfulness on the ground. I pray first you would deliver them from strongholds of bad thinking that have been built up in their mind—all the lies of bad American preaching, all the glorious things they think Christianity is and it is not, all the things they keep running after, God, that they can't put their hands on and they don't have joy.
Father, I pray you would rob from them every lie that they believe. I pray the truth of God's Word would tear down every stronghold in their mind. I pray every person confused about calling would stop worrying about what is in the future and would just be faithful believers on the ground.
Would you teach them to just love you more than everything else? Would you teach them to just pray and talk to you? Would you teach them to just open the scriptures and just read even if it's a verse a day? Would you teach them to serve if they feel compelled to do that and to be generous with the check that comes into their house to support the gospel with just a portion? Would you teach them to love other people as they have been loved and to forgive and to say I'm sorry and to be humble?
Would you teach them to be a good witness on their campus and on their job and in the gym? Would you teach them to just be good disciples and to live in community? Would you teach us to just be good followers of your son, and anything else you have for them that is specific? Lord, I pray at the right time in the right season according to their maturity, their faithfulness, their willingness to submit to the process, you would reveal it to them when you are ready.
I pray now for a flood of just joy to come into this room. Just the joy of salvation. The joy of simplicity. When we leave today, may we just be thankful for salvation. Will we just be thankful for health? Will we be thankful for friends and family and people we love? Would we just be thankful that our names are recorded in heaven? Will we be thankful for a church where the truth is being taught? Will we just be thankful for people who love us? Will we be thankful for the money we're going to use to buy a meal?
Would you just make us grateful for all of your blessings? Lord, please deliver us from this American garbage. I pray for a flood of joy, just joy and gratitude to be released in their heart, that they would just be thankful that they belong to you, Jesus, and that we know the end of the story. We will get crowns in glory. Would you help them to be thankful that they don't walk through any valley alone? Even the troubles in this room, you are with us in the middle of all of our troubles. There's no battle we fight on our own.
Now I'm talking to you, my brother and my sister. You already know who you are. You're a fraud. You've been in church your whole life, but you don't have a relationship with Jesus. You know it. You do religion, but you don't do relationship. You're full of pride and arrogance, and you are a sinner just like I am a sinner. You've broken God's laws. You were born in sin. You were born separated from God. You're already headed for damnation. Your good behavior is not going to get you to escape from that.
But God in his love for you, my brother, in his love for you, my sister, he loves you so much. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ into this world—more than a prophet, more than Muhammad, more than Confucius—who died a sacrificial death in the first century for you. And then he says, if anyone would just put their faith in what Christ has done for you, the Lord promised: I will save you. I will forgive you of all of your sin. I will wash you from all of your past. I will write your name in heaven. I'll make you a brand new man, a brand new woman. You'll walk out of here today, my child.
I'm already saving you in your seat. And you already know I'm talking to you. You feel that tug in your belly. If I'm talking to you, you know the Lord is tugging on you. Christians are praying. Stop spectating. This is the most important moment of your life. I can't save you. Ain't no fancy prayer is going to save you. It's the sovereign work of God. He's already working in your life.
I just want to see who I'm talking to. If I'm talking to you, I see tears falling and the Lord is saving you right there. You feel something welling up in your belly like, "Lord, I want to surrender. I want to live for you. I want to live a life of purpose. I want to be a son. I want to be a daughter. I want to talk to you. I want to go to glory. Lord, I want all of you. I want to be brand new. I'm tired. I'm fed up. I'm weary. I'm repenting."
Right now, if that's you, on a count of three, I want you to throw up your hand because I want to see who I'm talking to. One—Jesus is calling you. Two—he's doing the work right now in your seat. Three—put your hand in the air.
I see that hand. Keep it up. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand.
My sisters and my brothers, all of you with your hand raised, I want you right now to do something gangster, the most brave thing you've ever done in your life. Tell the person next to you, "Get out of my way." I want you to come down here right now. Let me talk to you. Tell the person next to you, "Get out of my way. Get out of my way."
I saw you with the hat on. Come on. I'm talking to you right there. Tell them, "Get out of my way." My brother, I'm talking to you with the hat on. Come to me right now. Forget them. They're not important. They're not going to hell for you. Come on. Run to me right now. Run. Come on. Run to Jesus. Run. Run. Run. Run to Jesus. Run. Run. Run to him. Get close. Run. Come on. Get close. Run. Come on. Run. Run. Run to the Lord. Run. Run to the Lord.
How can any of us who are followers of Christ look at what Jesus did for you on the cross—"God so loved [that he] mutilated his son for you"—and then turn away from the cross and hoard? How is that possible in your soul? How do you stare at the cross and turn away from it and not be generous?
I know you feel entitled to salvation. You feel entitled to grace. You feel entitled to escape damnation, as if your good behavior can escape the wrath that is coming. But listen: all that I have and all that I am came from him. Who am I to not give back and help other people?
You cannot preach truth when you're bound to the approval of people. I'm free from that. If the room is packed to capacity, the temptation would be to stroke them so they don't leave. But I'm not afraid, and I don't care if they don't come back next week. Amen.
I was with Janet yesterday during outreach. I prayed for her, and when I tried to walk away, she squeezed me. She wouldn't let me go. With tears in her eyes, she begged: "Please, pastor, don't leave me here."
Hundreds of us were doing outreach yesterday across nine initiatives. My heart is full of joy for that. But I want to be fully transparent: my heart was so broken this morning for Janet. I could see her with her black hair, her weave just slapped on because she's just holding on for hope. I could feel her nails in my side.
At 4:00 a.m., I was crying out for Janet. I was weeping in tears over Janet. In that moment, I got this strong reminder of the great depravity of human beings, man. How deprived humanity is apart from God. We're like sheep scattered without a shepherd, lost and separated from God.
I thought about all the people we saw yesterday—they were scattered with no shepherd, no guidance, outside of the kingdom, poor and headed for damnation. But I was also grieved thinking about the wealthy people I see on social media who are headed for damnation just the same. Wealthy and arrogant and prideful. They think that money is going to keep them comfortable in flames. But any amount of millions or billions cannot protect you from the wrath of God. You are deceived to think wealth can protect you from the wrath that is coming.
From the wealthy atheist to the poor woman under the bridge, I wept this morning thinking about the depravity of human beings. How separated we are from eternity.
I thought about how messed up we are as human beings apart from Jesus. Our marriages are messed up. Our homes are messed up. Our values are messed up. The things we treasure are all messed up. The way women see beauty are all messed up. All messed up.
I was sitting there shedding tears, praying at 4:00 a.m., crying out to God and saying, "Lord, you are the only hope for humanity."
Then I had a flashback to when Lena and I were living in North Carolina in a small apartment, when the Lord had saved me over that toilet seat. In that moment, I just began to thank God for salvation. Amen.
I began to thank God when I thought about all the times I could have been dead. I thought about all the times when bullets grazed my hair, when I was in shootouts. I thought about all the times I could have been dead. When my friend drove over a cliff drunk, we almost died. I just began to cry out to God and thank him for salvation.
I didn't want anything from him in that moment. I didn't want a bigger church. I didn't want a different house. I didn't want a newer car—mine is 9 years old. I didn't want something. I was just thanking him for salvation. I was thanking God that he rescued me from the dominion of darkness. He brought me into the kingdom of light.
I thought about the fact that I did not know him. I did not deserve that. There was nothing I could do to come into the kingdom on my own. The scripture says that unless the Lord draws someone to himself, they cannot come. The Lord was wooing you, had his eyes on you, was scheming on you, was plotting the day, month, time, and year when you would say yes.
Your good behavior couldn't earn that. Your heritage couldn't earn that. Who your mother was or who your father was—if you were born in church—couldn't earn that.
In American Christianity, we don't even thank God for salvation. We just keep begging him for the next best thing. We want the next iPhone, the next fill in the blank. We never even look back and say, "Lord, look where you took me from," like David did. Do I have anybody that can give God a remembrance praise for where he took you from?
No one comes to God except they're drawn by the Lord. So if you're in this room, if your name is written in the Lamb's book of life, if you died today in a car accident and you would wake up in glory, it was the Lord that wooed you to himself. You could not manufacture that. You could not earn that.
I was just thanking God for that. But watch—not only where you took me from, but where you brought me into. The Lord doesn't only save us out of darkness. He saves you into a kingdom. He calls you from something—my God—to something.
I'm going to unpack the text now. The Lord called you from something to something. Watch what American Christianity has done: it has taught us that the Lord called us from something to be consumers of what we want.
Listen to American preaching. You know what it trains believers to do? To be consumers. It's all about your vision board full of stuff. I've never seen anyone make a vision board with intangible things you can't touch. Maybe your next vision board should be: I want more wisdom. I want to live more holy. I want to be more disciplined. I want to have more faith. I want to be more devoted. I want to have a stronger prayer life. Where's that on your vision board? No. It's husband, wife, house, car, your empire.
American Christianity has taught us to turn the church and the gathering of Jesus into a platform for consumerism. It's always about what can be done for me and how we're trying to serve you better. We've got a dope children's church to serve you better. We've got squads to serve you better. And there's a place for some of that, but we've overdone it.
I know how this goes down. Most people come into gatherings like this thinking it's all about what you can get from the church. You sit down and think it's all about you. It's all about three people: me, myself, and I. That's not the way the Lord called you. That's not what the scriptures say.
The Lord did not call you to be a consumer. The Lord called you to send you. The Lord called you to work through you. The Lord called you to use you. The Lord called you to be a representative through you to others.
Some of you don't believe that about yourself. I understand. I'm going to help you with some of that.
Let's look at Matthew chapter 10. Jesus called his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. Anything God calls you to do, he will also empower you to do.
Look at verse two: the names of the twelve apostles. Pay attention. Don't let the devil steal this from you. This is powerful.
First, Simon, who is also called Peter, and Andrew his brother. James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. Philip, and Bartholomew. Thomas and Matthew the tax collector. James the son of Alphaeus, a different James. Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
Twelve names. Twelve dudes. Who are they? In this group, there are four uneducated fishermen. In this group, a man who was a radical fanatic—Simon the Zealot. He was like thugged out, the one who would be carrying tools all the time, pulling guns on everybody. He was part of a radical sect that tried to overthrow Rome by force.
Thomas got a bad rep for being a doubter the rest of his life. Matthew—a tax collector, a wealthy man who was despised by his own people. A couple of nobodies that you don't even know. We don't even care who they are. James the son of Alphaeus. We don't even know that much about him from history.
And Judas Iscariot, who was from Kerioth. If he was from Kerioth, he was the only person of the 12 not from Galilee, from Jesus's original area of ministry. He was an outsider added to the team. He was not a good cultural fit for the team. If you've got a business or a company, you've got to be careful about adding people to the team who are bad cultural fits. Judas was the only one who was not from Galilee, and he was the one to betray Jesus.
Why am I telling you about these men? Because there are no all-stars on this list. Jesus gathered a group of B-paper people and used a small group to change the world. Uneducated people. A rich man, a radical hothead, a bunch of no-names, and a betrayer.
The Lord calls people from all socioeconomic statuses, and the Lord can use anyone that's fully surrendered to him. This group gives me hope that even the people of the world would despise and say as unusable, the Lord says, "This person is usable in my sight."
There are some of you—people who know you from your past—who would never believe the Lord can do anything with your life. But the Lord has a way of picking people the world would never choose. When teachers look you in your face in high school and say you're never going to amount to nothing, the Lord chooses people like that. When you felt like a failure, when you felt like you had no potential, the Lord has a way of picking people the world would never choose.
Jesus calls people to himself first. Then he calls people to see. He showed them the harvest, the field of the world that was so ripe. So he calls people to himself first. He calls people to see differently once they come into the kingdom. Then he calls us to service.
Now Jesus has a group of men that he called to himself. What does he do with them next? Does he send them to church to just sit and suck up sermons and do nothing? That's what we think Christianity is. You think Christianity is just the time you spend here absorbing and not doing anything with it.
Verse five: "These twelve Jesus sent out. Sent out. Sent out."
How long did it take for them to send? Two years. They were with him for two years, and then he sends them out. A year before he leaves, he sends them out instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Jesus sent them out and gave them instructions. Anything that God has called you to do, he will not only empower you to do it, but he will guide you through it. You don't have to figure everything out on your own. If he called you to do it, he will guide you through it.
I'm talking about callings from something as little as he called you to be a parent and to raise up godly, righteous children—or called you to a platform—and anything in between. If he called you to it, he will give you instructions.
Notice from the text: they did not send themselves out. They did not get saved, say, "I'm going to manufacture a ministry," and build their own ministry in their own strength. The Lord gave them instructions. The Lord sent them out.
That's a problem in our generation. You got saved in September; you're starting a ministry in October. Never mind process. Never mind training. Never mind sitting under somebody for a little while.
Side note: if serving is beneath you, then leadership is far above you.
They did not send themselves out. They had the character to be sent out.
The Lord told them, "Don't go to these places. Only go to the house of Israel first." The gospel will be preached to the Jews first and then it will go to the Gentiles.
He put restrictions on their ministry. And my question for you is: Do you have the character to handle godly restrictions?
I know you're anointed for the platform, but I want you to be an usher in this season. I know you think you're an apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist, but I want you to be on the welcome team in this season. I know you could sing and think you deserve a microphone, but I want you to just greet people at the front door just for this season.
Do you have the character to handle calling restrictions? "Don't go to these places. The Lord says only go to the place that I'm telling you first." I'm sending you out, but I'm sending you out with restrictions.
The restrictions of the Lord are for your benefit. Anytime the Lord restricts you from doing something or closes a door or redirects you to something else, he's doing that for your benefit. He restricts us for your benefit—to build you up, to develop character, to protect you from hurting yourself, and to protect you from stepping into things before it's time. God's timing is his kindness.
I know he called you to be a worldwide evangelist, but you just got saved last year. I want you to serve at a church faithfully. First, I want you to sit down for a season and receive.
Notice what the Lord did not allow to hinder him from sending them out. You know what it is to feel called and insecure at the same time? You feel like God is wooing you to something, but you feel insecure about that at the same time. You know what it is to feel called and you feel unprepared for what God is calling you to do?
You know what it is for the Lord to open up a door for you and tell you to walk through that door, but you don't feel like you have the goods to walk through that door, the education to walk through that door, the training to walk through that door. You know what it is for the Lord to be tapping you to step into something and you feel so afraid? It could be something as simple as joining a squad, but you feel afraid. Jump on that team, but you feel afraid. "I don't want them to really know who I am. I'm afraid they might judge me." I want you to start the ministry now, but you feel afraid. Write the book now, but you feel afraid. Start the podcast now, but you feel afraid.
We feel afraid. We feel unworthy. We look over our past. If you knew, Lord, where I came from, you would never call me to do something like this.
Can I say something to somebody who feels called right now? Just do it afraid. Just step into it afraid. I've never met a fearless person in my life, but I have met people that learn to fear less.
You really think I feel prepared to do this every week? You think I'm a machine? You think I'm not a human being? You think I have no insecurities. I never feel afraid. I never feel ill-equipped or unprepared. I never have weeks when I had a terrible preparation week and my outline looks like crap and I got to get up here. You think I'm always ready and I'm a machine, like I'm not a human being that feels afraid sometimes?
I walk up this platform with the fear of God in my heart every single week to handle these eternal scriptures. You think I never feel nervous about leading a growing organization and handling a growing budget and dealing with staff and employees and all this stuff and then having to preach every week? You think I never feel insecure about any of that stuff? And I think about, man, a dude from Queens that almost barely got out of high school leading a whole organization. You think I never feel insecure about that?
But I love the fact that the Lord don't allow our insecurities to keep us from his calling. He don't allow our fear to keep us from that. Man, we keep stepping into things with fear and insecurity, and then you look over your shoulder, and man, Lord, I've been walking with you for all this time and you led me through all of that while I was afraid, insecure, nervous, felt unworthy, preaching and feeling unworthy. Thank you.
If your fear, your insecurity, and your sense of unworthiness was going to be a disqualification for calling, everybody would be disqualified. Somebody just thank the Lord right now that he looked past your fear, past your insecurity. Is anybody thankful that he looked past all of that, your feelings of unworthiness?
Verse seven: "And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.'"
Demonic forces are real, and they are in people. If you're not saved, you are subject to demonic influence. You are an empty house without the Holy Spirit. That's why you need to be saved.
Demonic forces are real. That's why you shouldn't go see psychics—they're tapped into demons. That's why you shouldn't get your tarot card read because that is demonic. You shouldn't believe in horoscopes because that is demonic. The scripture tells us to stay away from all those things. Stay away from all fortune-telling because all fortune-telling is demonic.
I used to be a Sagittarius. Now I'm just a believer. Your little Gemini chain, you better get rid of that. All that stuff is demonic. You got the Virgo tattooed on your leg? Get a new tattoo.
All fortune-telling, all sage, crystals, mystics, psychics, horoscopes, tarot cards, burning your little sage incense to create a vibe—all that stuff is demonic.
Somebody said, "But the psychic told me about my past accurately." Of course! Demons have been watching you since you were a child. Duh. They can see. But I'm not going to be guided by a fortune cookie. I'm going to be guided by the Word of God.
Too many believers are tapped into too much demonic stuff. You want to keep burning something? Burn your heart instead of burning sage. How about that? Take all that sage and throw it in the trash. It's demonic. You want to burn something, burn your heart in prayer. Burn your heart with the Word.
I'm going to speak for my church. I got to help y'all because I don't want you to be wearing a 2819 shirt and then burning sage, looking like you have no common sense, like you haven't been taught. You got on a 2819 shirt burning sage and you got tarot cards open on your desk with a 2819 shirt on. You're just telling everybody you haven't read the scriptures.
Take all the little juju beads and idols and tarot cards and all that stuff, put it in a plastic bag and set it on fire and throw it in the trash today on the Lord's day. Some of you are going to be more clear in your mind after you do that.
Paul travels to a city with his boys. He gets to a city and a woman starts following him. These men come in the name of the Most High God. She's following Paul for days. These men come in the name of the Most High God. Everywhere Paul went in the city, she was following him. These men come in the name of the Most High God.
Then Paul gets tired of her nonsense. He turns to her and he commands the demon to come out of her. The demon who was saying, "These men come in the name of the Most High God." The demon that was saying these men come to expose them.
The best lie is not an outright lie. The best lie is mingled with truth.
The demon was saying, "These men come in the name of the Most High God." Paul gets tired of her foolishness, turns to her, and the scripture says he commands the demon to come out of her. The demon that was saying, "These men come in the name of the Most High God."
When the owners of the girl figured out she could not fortune tell any longer and she could not make them any more money, they try to throw Paul out of the city.
Not be idiots on social media. Let me help you not look ignorant on social media. All such fortune-telling and anything connected to it is demonic.
I want to have an altar call for all demonic jewelry. Just throw it up here right now. Somebody's clutching their little Sagittarius chain right now. That was 14 carats. Yeah, that's a lot of demonic activity on your neck.
Bring everything demonic and lay it on the altar next Sunday. Your tarot cards, your jewelry, your rocks and your crystals, your sage sticks, your evil eyes. Everything.
Come against every devil in this room. Come against every demonic force in this room. You'll be subdued by the power and truth of God's Word. We're about to set you free in Jesus's name.
We need to be a free people, a wise people, a biblically literate people. I'm so tired of us with your little tattoos. Who God says is free? Free indeed? No, you read that wrong. "If you abide in my teaching, then you are truly my disciples. And the truth that you know will set you free."
Everything you own that's demonic, I want you to bring it here next week. I'm dead serious. Run up here and throw it on the platform. Or if you're afraid and don't want to be seen, come early for prayer and just leave it on the platform. And don't take it off the platform.
Verse eight: "You have received without paying, give without pay."
Anytime the Lord calls somebody, he gives them instructions. Notice what he told him to preach. Preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Who else preached that? Jesus. Who else preached that? John the Baptist. I want your message to sound like mine. I want your biblical posting to sound like mine. I want the preaching in America to sound like mine. I want you to preach the message that I preach, teach the things that I gave.
Heal the sick. Cast out demons. What is that, man? Ease the suffering of other people. Use your life, your resources, your prayers, your love to try. Anytime you get an opportunity to ease the suffering of other people, like a hug for Miss Janet and a prayer, man—be conscious of where you can ease the suffering of other people.
And don't manipulate people as I send you. You have received from me freely. Turn and be a blessing to other people freely. Don't be a manipulator.
Verse nine: "Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or staff, for the laborer deserves his food."
What Jesus is really saying: Everything you have to start, everything you need to start, you already have.
You've been sitting on that thing for years. Everything you need to start, you already have. He's telling them, "You don't need anything extra to do what I've called you to do."
And as you go, I will provide everything you need. Provision follows faithfulness.
If you're just faithful to do what you're called to do—whether it's raising your child or platform ministry—you have everything you need to get started. And as you go, he will provide for you. You don't have to have everything figured out as you go. And you don't need everything you think you need.
This is a word for somebody who's been disobedient for a long time. You got everything you need to start. And as you go, the Lord will provide for you everything that you need.
Don't let that baby be aborted, man. The Lord keeps nudging you to do this thing, to be obedient in this area, to step into this thing. And you keep waiting for the sun and the planets and the moon to align and for everything to be perfect before you start.
My first sermon preaching at this church, I had no money in my bank account and no money in the church bank account. I had no money to take my kids to lunch and my kids had holes in their shoes, and I stepped out on faith anyway.
Verse eleven: "And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart."
"As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to it."
The Lord is talking about worthy homes and peace and no peace. He's talking about the gospel atmospheres and the kind of environments we live in. Who are people who are worthy? Anyone who received the gospel message—that home is worthy.
In the first century, traveling ministers would stay in the homes of people in towns because hotels were dangerous and full of prostitution. So traveling ministers would find people who received the gospel and stay in their homes.
He said, "Anybody received the message, then watch—bless that home." God, if anybody rejects the message, take that blessing away from that home. Where the gospel is received, there is an atmosphere. He said, "Bless that home. Let there be an atmosphere of blessing where the home has received the gospel."
Where husband and wife have received the gospel, where children are being taught the gospel, he says, "Man, where they receive this message, man, speak a blessing over that home. Let your peace be upon that home. And if they reject that message, man, take the blessing away from that home."
Verse fourteen: "And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet."
"Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable. More bearable. You know what that is? That's levels of punishment. It'll be more bearable on the day of judgment coming for everybody than for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah."
This is so powerful because I used to deal with this. You know what the Lord was preparing his people to deal with? He was preparing his people for how to handle rejection. Because if you live long enough, you're going to deal with rejection.
He taught them how to handle rejection. If they don't receive the message, they don't receive you. This is like people who start cutting you off because they see you following Christ. It's the family members who start hating on you because you're following after God's calling. It's the people who stop following you because you went from posting really ratchet things to posting things that are really righteous. It's the people who don't understand you anymore because you don't like going to places you used to go and doing the things you used to do. It's all the people who got an issue with your salvation.
He's preparing them for how to handle rejection. He said, "If y'all go places and they don't receive the message of the gospel, man, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."
There are some people you can't help. Stop wasting your time trying to convince people that don't want to be convinced.
You got to know how to pivot from rejection and not feel so personal. If they reject Christ in you, they reject you. You hold them forever. You take that so personal. He said, "Man, if they don't receive, if they reject you, man, shake the dust off your feet. That is, yo, just let them go and keep moving forward. Let the Lord deal with them."
There's some people in this life you're not going to be able to help. You're wasting your time trying to help that person with a hardened heart. Let the Lord deal with them in another season.
You know what else he was preparing them for? There's a third thing: he was trying to help them with the Jesus complex—that you can't fix every problem and you can't fix every home and you can't fix every situation. Every single problem is not your assignment. So stop wearing yourself out trying to help people that's not your assignment.
Anyone who rejects the gospel of Jesus in this life? Watch. It's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for the person that rejects Jesus. Why?
First, Genesis tells us about Sodom and Gomorrah—two ancient cities rampant with sexual perversion, rampant with unnatural relations. And people say, "Man, this is how God made me. This is my desire." But your desire could still be unrighteous. Imagine if we gave a license to every married man to pursue your lust. Y'all wouldn't like that, ladies.
So don't get mad at me when I stand for marriage according to the scriptures, and we stand against the evil agenda that's sweeping our nation. The Lord destroyed two cities for the same agenda we're teaching kids now in kindergarten.
For all of you soft Christians that get mad every time I stand up against unrighteousness: the same crap they're trying to teach kids in kindergarten that is right is the same thing that God watched destroy two cities for.
You said I don't believe that? They found both of those cities buried under a mound of sulfur in the Middle East. Yes. When the scripture says in Genesis 19, God saw the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah—all of their unnatural sexual activities, their unwillingness to repent, their evil ways—the stuff we're teaching kids now as right. He rained down fire and brimstone and wiped out two cities for the stuff y'all keep pacifying today.
Jesus, for the thing you think is cute and you want to keep promoting—the Lord destroyed two cities for that kind of perversion and for evil and for wickedness. Because I think God is playing? I don't care about your desire. I got desires that don't mean they're holy. I was born a sinner. I was born lustful. That doesn't mean it's right. Just because I got a desire, that doesn't mean I got a right to act on my desire.
What about godly restrictions? "Only go to..." Do we have the character to handle godly restrictions? I rather burn than burn. Jesus.
You think Jesus is playing around? Listen to his words, not Philip Anthony Mitchell. Watch this. He said anybody who rejects the message of Christ—the people from Sodom and Gomorrah who're in damnation, their punishment is going to be less severe than anyone that rejects Jesus.
Why? Because damnation has levels of punishment. Everybody's not going to deal with the same flame. Who determines who gets worse flames than the other? The more revelation you've been exposed to, the more accountable you are. The greater the rejection, the greater the punishment in the afterlife.
The people of Sodom and Gomorrah rejected Yahweh, but they had not seen Christ yet. In this America, man, you hear the preaching of the gospel every week. You still reject Christ. You're still trying to go on your own, still think he's just a prophet.
If you die in your sin, he said your punishment is going to be worse than those who had less revelation than you. That's why it's dangerous to hear the truth.
And that's why I would be nervous to sit in any church where a pastor's not concerned about where you're going to spend eternity. If they don't care about eternity, they will preach lies to you to keep you comfortable. They don't care about where your soul is going to end up. And then because of this preaching, you're not going to want to come back next week.
You're going to park yourself in Bedside Baptist, but they're going to keep you comfortable in your sin. A car accident will meet you a year from now. You'll wake up in eternity and wish you would have responded to the gospel.
This is called love. It's called not on my watch. It's called no bloody hands from this pulpit.
For all of you in this room, everybody watching me, man: you're so confused about what God is calling you to do and what I'm supposed to be called to do. We got all this American confusion about calling. You know why we're confused about calling? Because in America, you've overromanticized it. You've made it glorious. You've worshiped the idea of calling.
You know how you figure out your calling? Start with what has already been revealed. Just obey the scriptures, man. Just do the simple things. Love, serve, give, forgive, live in community. Just obey. If you just start with obedience to the word, the Lord's will is to reveal to you his will. You don't got to overromanticize calling. You overromanticize platforms.
When the Lord saved me, I was just walking my dog and thankful to be in the kingdom. I was serving in a church. I was giving tithes and offerings. I was serving on a team. I was living in community, man. I was making little evangelism cards that had the Romans Road—Romans 3:23 and 6:23. I was giving them out to people. I was just living as a Christian.
That is the foundation of calling.
Some of you make calling so romanticized, so glorious because of American preaching. It's got y'all feeling depressed. You're always trying to figure out what you're called to do. Man, you're called to have an intimate relationship with Christ. You're called to be obedient to the scriptures. You're called to live in community. You're called to love, pray, serve, and give. You're called to just be faithful one day at a time. And anything beyond that, the Lord will reveal it to you. He's a good Father. He's not trying to hide his will for your life.
What is Lena called to do? You think because she's not doing Evolve Women's Conference, she's less of a woman? What if God called her to just be a mother who raises up world changers? Is that enough for your American Christianity?
Billy Graham—my favorite preacher after Christ and Paul—what was his mother's calling? You don't even know her name. What if God called her to just raise a righteous son who he would use to change the world? Is that enough for American Christianity? No, that's not sexy enough.
What if God is going to just be a good parent? How about start with the calling to just be a good believer and stop glorifying all these things. What am I called to do? What am I called to do? You're called to just be faithful to Christ. Have an intimate relationship with Christ. Love Christ. Love others. Obey what is already written. And then watch. And as you do that, anything beyond that, he will reveal to you.
Man, I was doing all of that long before he talked to me about pastoral ministry. I was loving on God and loving on people and serving in church and giving tithes and offerings and telling people about Jesus. I was standing on park benches preaching the gospel. I was being a good witness. I was dealing with my sin. I was crushing my heart. I was dying daily like it's suicide. I was doing all that stuff long before he said, "I want you to pastor a church."
Some of you are confused about calling because you won't start on the ground. If you just be faithful on the ground, all that fancy stuff, man, he will reveal to you what he wants you to do. Man, he's a good father. He's a good father. He has your best interest at heart. And if you'll just be a faithful believer on the ground, all that other fancy stuff, whatever he has for you, he will walk you into it.
What is Don called? Don is the best agitant I've ever had. What if this is what God is calling him to do? To just rock with me until we've all broke until we're gray and we get and we sit in a wheelchair. Is that enough for your American Christianity? If Don never stood on a microphone and preached, is that enough for your American Christianity? Is he any less of a man because he's in a chair and I'm on a platform?
Is Don any less of a man? Or am I any greater of a man because he's in a chair and I got a microphone?
I didn't even want this. I ran from this for 4 years. And we're so thirsty for all this American garbage. Got your hearts sick. That's why you have no joy. You can't even celebrate the small things that God is doing in your life because you got all that American preaching in you that keeps your eyes on the lights. So you can't even be thankful for the simple things in life.
I'm thankful that I got people around me who I believe really love me. I'm thankful for a godly wife and my four children. I'm thankful for Don, the best agitant I'm ever going to have. I thank you for Kenny, Pastor Kenny, who's been a right-hand man to me for 10 years. I thank you for Elder Milton and Elder Eric and Carina. I thank you that I can talk to you. I thank you that God saw fit to use me to do anything.
I'm going to be thankful for the meal I'm going to eat after this. I just want to love Jesus. I want to keep growing in prayer. I want to read my Bible. I want to be a faithful servant. I want to be generous with my resources. I want to love on other people. I want to apologize and say, "I'm sorry." I want to love well, forgive well, suffer well, pray well, and be faithful well. Just do the simple things well.
Stop listening to all that junk. It's why your heart's all messed up, and you keep you on your phone like this all day looking at what other people are doing. Then comparison comes up from your heart. How come they got this, and I'm not? And you don't understand—all of that comparison is a thief. It's an enemy. It steals joy.
What am I called to do? Every time you say that, you're thinking about a stage. Just be a faithful believer on the ground and just love Jesus and love people and be faithful. If you just do that, if he has anything other than that for you, he will reveal that to you.
I want to pray for everyone in this room who feels confused about calling. I want to pray for everyone whose heart is in a bunch about what am I supposed to be doing. I want to pray for the person in this room who's far away from God. Because if you die in your sin, man, it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you. You ain't heard truth like this.
Every head bowed, every eye closed. Sit still.
Heavenly Father, I pray the truth over these your sons and daughters. You call teenagers. You call people who are 80. You just want faithfulness on the ground. I pray first you would deliver them from strongholds of bad thinking that have been built up in their mind—all the lies of bad American preaching, all the glorious things they think Christianity is and it is not, all the things they keep running after, God, that they can't put their hands on and they don't have joy.
Father, I pray you would rob from them every lie that they believe. I pray the truth of God's Word would tear down every stronghold in their mind. I pray every person confused about calling would stop worrying about what is in the future and would just be faithful believers on the ground.
Would you teach them to just love you more than everything else? Would you teach them to just pray and talk to you? Would you teach them to just open the scriptures and just read even if it's a verse a day? Would you teach them to serve if they feel compelled to do that and to be generous with the check that comes into their house to support the gospel with just a portion? Would you teach them to love other people as they have been loved and to forgive and to say I'm sorry and to be humble?
Would you teach them to be a good witness on their campus and on their job and in the gym? Would you teach them to just be good disciples and to live in community? Would you teach us to just be good followers of your son, and anything else you have for them that is specific? Lord, I pray at the right time in the right season according to their maturity, their faithfulness, their willingness to submit to the process, you would reveal it to them when you are ready.
I pray now for a flood of just joy to come into this room. Just the joy of salvation. The joy of simplicity. When we leave today, may we just be thankful for salvation. Will we just be thankful for health? Will we be thankful for friends and family and people we love? Would we just be thankful that our names are recorded in heaven? Will we be thankful for a church where the truth is being taught? Will we just be thankful for people who love us? Will we be thankful for the money we're going to use to buy a meal?
Would you just make us grateful for all of your blessings? Lord, please deliver us from this American garbage. I pray for a flood of joy, just joy and gratitude to be released in their heart, that they would just be thankful that they belong to you, Jesus, and that we know the end of the story. We will get crowns in glory. Would you help them to be thankful that they don't walk through any valley alone? Even the troubles in this room, you are with us in the middle of all of our troubles. There's no battle we fight on our own.
Now I'm talking to you, my brother and my sister. You already know who you are. You're a fraud. You've been in church your whole life, but you don't have a relationship with Jesus. You know it. You do religion, but you don't do relationship. You're full of pride and arrogance, and you are a sinner just like I am a sinner. You've broken God's laws. You were born in sin. You were born separated from God. You're already headed for damnation. Your good behavior is not going to get you to escape from that.
But God in his love for you, my brother, in his love for you, my sister, he loves you so much. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ into this world—more than a prophet, more than Muhammad, more than Confucius—who died a sacrificial death in the first century for you. And then he says, if anyone would just put their faith in what Christ has done for you, the Lord promised: I will save you. I will forgive you of all of your sin. I will wash you from all of your past. I will write your name in heaven. I'll make you a brand new man, a brand new woman. You'll walk out of here today, my child.
I'm already saving you in your seat. And you already know I'm talking to you. You feel that tug in your belly. If I'm talking to you, you know the Lord is tugging on you. Christians are praying. Stop spectating. This is the most important moment of your life. I can't save you. Ain't no fancy prayer is going to save you. It's the sovereign work of God. He's already working in your life.
I just want to see who I'm talking to. If I'm talking to you, I see tears falling and the Lord is saving you right there. You feel something welling up in your belly like, "Lord, I want to surrender. I want to live for you. I want to live a life of purpose. I want to be a son. I want to be a daughter. I want to talk to you. I want to go to glory. Lord, I want all of you. I want to be brand new. I'm tired. I'm fed up. I'm weary. I'm repenting."
Right now, if that's you, on a count of three, I want you to throw up your hand because I want to see who I'm talking to. One—Jesus is calling you. Two—he's doing the work right now in your seat. Three—put your hand in the air.
I see that hand. Keep it up. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand.
My sisters and my brothers, all of you with your hand raised, I want you right now to do something gangster, the most brave thing you've ever done in your life. Tell the person next to you, "Get out of my way." I want you to come down here right now. Let me talk to you. Tell the person next to you, "Get out of my way. Get out of my way."
I saw you with the hat on. Come on. I'm talking to you right there. Tell them, "Get out of my way." My brother, I'm talking to you with the hat on. Come to me right now. Forget them. They're not important. They're not going to hell for you. Come on. Run to me right now. Run. Come on. Run to Jesus. Run. Run. Run. Run to Jesus. Run. Run. Run to him. Get close. Run. Come on. Get close. Run. Come on. Run. Run. Run to the Lord. Run. Run to the Lord.
