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Hey, good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you and welcome to the ONE Podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our services from ONE in la. If you haven't been the one, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to one the Word one O N E and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy, and I'll be back with you at the end.
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God is so faithful. Y', all, we got a lot of work to do. Can we just jump right in? All right. All right. We are going to go to the the book of Genesis, chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. And this may be a very familiar passage for some of you, but it may be new for others. Genesis, chapter 12, verse 3. And it simply reads, now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. So we have getting out of your country, getting out from your family. So we have country, we have family, which is context, and we have your father's house, which is covering. Invariably, in your life, beloved, there's going to be an invitation for you to get from a particular place. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's geography. It may be a mindset, it may be a career, it may be a relationship, it may be a friendship, it may be an industry. Invariably, beloved, God will cause you to move from one geographic place, call you from a geographic place, from a context that you have understanding or familiarity with, and from covering. I'm going to pause there because some of you are in one of those three spaces. God is calling you from a particular place into a new place. And if you're honest, you do not want to go. We're going to talk about why later on, because I want to provide context. Because this is typically where the enemy provides condemnation. Look at you being disobedient to the voice of God. Sorry, I don't know why that came out. Again, like every. I'm trying to get better at my acting skills. I'm more of a method actor versus class. You know, the Point is, when we think about how the enemy moves with you in your attempt towards obedience, the enemy will whisper all the reasons why you're being disobedient, which obstructs your ability to follow what God is saying, because you're listening to noise rather than the sound of God's voice. But for somebody who's feeling like God is calling you to a new place, may this be confirmation for you. Some of you are being called from your family. Sorry, we're near the holidays. It's not Thanksgiving. We're not gonna get there. Triggers. Okay, we're not going there. Okay. Dr. Nita's not here. We're not gonna open that up. A lot of things to unpack. But that doesn't necessarily mean that God is calling you out of your family because of trauma or dysfunction. It's because he's calling you into something new. See, Abram, we hear no mention of Abram's family's history. What we hear about is the family that God promised him, the nation that he would become. Ha ha. You know, the voice of God because there's a. There's promise attached to it. It's not you running from something. It's running to. To something. That's how you know when you. That's how you know when you're following God. For those of you who are running away from something, you might want to pause before you try to make a move because you may be running into a trap rather than destiny. The third one is covering Question. What is covering you now? Who is covering you now? All of us go through seasons where. Where for little honest, we've moved out of the cloud and we have to slide back. And God is calling some of you to step into a different type of covering. Covering for some of you has looked like financial stability. That temptation to feel like, well, I'm good, so therefore, I'm good. Which is not to judge it, but to say that God calls you higher. Covering for some of you may look like friends, relationships, places that you're used to. Maybe it's place that you grew up in because there's a comfort and a covering that comes from that. But God is saying you might have to step outside of those bounds. You see, what's powerful is it says that he's gonna take you to a land that I will show you. God will show you. I will show you not your vision board. I will show you, not your friends. I will show you not the dream that you were in when you were in seventh grade. The dreams and the Places that you have are merely but you exercising what God will later take over in terms of what's possible, because it's about his vision, not necessarily your own. And I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. I want to speak to you briefly from the thought today called in chaos. What does it mean to be called in chaos? Let's pray. Spirit of the living God, Father, I pray that they would see all of you and none of me. That you'd make these lips of clay yielded unto you, Father God, that I'd be a mere instrument, that they would be able to experience the unsearchable riches of Christ through the words that come from my mouth. Let me be an instrument, God, that your breath breathes through. Let them experience the ruach, the breath, the presence, the power of God. And may somebody walk away from this sermon, from this message with a word and with context for the calling amidst all the chaos. In Jesus name, we all said amen. I really, really, really, really love the word of God. As I've gotten older, see, I grew up in a context. How many of you went to a church where it felt like they only read, like, four or five verses consistently? Like the rest of the Bible was just, you know, something interesting, but they really wanted to harp on those? The point is, growing up and then starting to study the Word of God for myself, I began to experience something which was really interesting, which is God is really unabashed about what it means to be human and what the human experience is like. Does that make sense? How many of you have ever struggled with this? Have you ever felt like you wanted to go to church, but you weren't dressed enough to go to church? Okay. How many of you have ever gone or felt like you wanted to go to church, but your life wasn't quite where you wanted it to be, and you didn't go to church because you thought you had to become something in order to be received by God? Mm. What's interesting is that's first of all an attack of the enemy. That's 100% the enemy. That's not how God sees us. Because if God only wanted to deal with the clean and nice parts of us, he would not have said a lot of the things that he says in his word about life, about experiences, about sin, about the things that he has dealt with and about the way that he has, through his love and his grace, come after us. Has God ever come after you? And what I love about the Word of God is it does not hide the challenges of life. And the reason why this is important is because if we do not see how God moves through the Bible, we will not always be able to perceive how he's moving. In our life. We serve a God who intervenes. Amen. We don't serve a God who sits on high and kind of like this Zeus, like, you know, kind of figure with lightning and looking down at people and judging. We have a Father in heaven who is compassionate, who understands the interesting things that we go through. Because we serve a God who before Adam and Eve sinned, there was the Lamb who was slain before the foundations of the earth. In other words, before your mistake, there was already a miracle that God had presented. And some of you need to hear that in this particular season right now, that no matter what you're going through in your particular season of life, that there's already been provision that God has made for you in the context of what you're experiencing right now. And if you're able to lean into the grace that has already been afforded to you, you will understand that God has already intervened on your behalf. And you don't feel like God has left you alone. Have you ever felt like God has left you alone? Amen. Somebody said country phrase, you know, hush, so you can holler something like that. I don't know what the point is, but when you think about how God shows up in your life, it's so very important. And what I've come to understand is that before there's chaos that we experience in our lives, there's a call of God that has already gone before us. You see, God works through chaos and calls. He works through chaos and through calls. This is important to know, because if you don't identify with that, you will think that all of the chaos that's surrounding you and the indifference of God that you may perceive or be experiencing is something that leaves you in a posture of being a victim, when in fact that this is not what God intends for you to understand or to experience. Because you're not a victim. You're a part of his plan. You're a part of his solution. You see, the word chaos has a couple definitions, but there's one that I want to focus on right now. Chaos is defined as complete disorder and confusion. You know, chaos and confusion, you know, like disorder and confusion is bad enough, but when it's complete like, you know what I mean? Like, it's. I'm sorry, it's not funny. You have to laugh so you don't cry. But the point is, have you ever looked at your whole life, you know, like, you know when a part of your room is messy and you can kind of. You can just put that in the closet so you can go outside and play with your friends. But when the whole thing. Okay, I'm telling myself, okay, so I was minding my own business. So I was trying to do laundry. Okay, I was trying to do laundry. I really was. And I'm very helpful, to be clear. Okay. I'm very. I can do these things. All right. She said, good. Sing for Jesus, baby. That's what that felt like. But the point is, I was trying to rinse off a shirt in the sink, turn on, turn on, you know, the sink that is in like the laundry room that has like, sha cha. Like it's like a waterfall. Like TLC talked about, like, not the normal, you know, kind of amount of water, like, you know, baptizing water. And I turn it on and I think I have undiagnosed adhd. I'm pretty sure that I do. I'm more than. If you've met me, you probably know this. And I got distracted with something else. When I tell you the whole thing flooded. The whole thing flooded. Don't look. Don't look over here. When the whole thing flooded, I came downstairs. Jesus, I was like, oh, let me turn off this water and just get some towels. There was water coming from the roof. There was roof. There's coming from the ceiling. Saints, okay. Have you ever been in that kind of mess where you can't fix it with a towel? Okay? It's chaos. It's a problem. What happens is in our own lives and even in the Bible, we don't know what to do in moments like these. Because it is very clear in that particular moment that you have reached a threshold that is above your weight. And when you reach a place in your life that is above your weight class to be able to fix solution, ideate, talk to the best friend, cry about, meditate, whatever it may be. There's something scary about that reality, is there not? There's something scary about the rent that's due and you done calculated all the hours, overtime and things and you still going to be short. There's something to be said about when everything is crashing down on you. And what I have found in the Bible and in our own lives is we pick and choose when we come into the story, has anybody ever picked and choose when they came into yours? They enter into a moment where maybe you're struggling, maybe you're having great victory, whatever it may be. And they don't understand the power of that moment that you're in. Let us not do the same with Abram in this moment. Because we come into a moment of great calling, but it's preceded by a moment of great chaos. Because if you read your bibles, Genesis chapter 11 is when the Tower of Babel happened. So we enter into a context where God is calling a man to start a new nation as the world is in complete disarray. Because the Tower of Babel is where they tried to build a tower that tried to reach heaven. And God said, nah, that's theological. It's the Hebrew. And I'm kidding. No, it's not. But the point is, okay, what ends up happening is God's response is he decides to confuse their language. And as a result, people scatter to different parts of the earth. See, if you don't understand the backdrop of what's so miraculous about Abram is you will think it's just this benevolent, the heavens parted kind of moment. And in fact, it was a moment that happened in the midst of chaos. Chaos is filled with a lot of opportunity. It doesn't feel that way. Cause again, water everything above my pay grade. But the point is, when it's above you, it has to be above you, which means that it's in his hands. And if you could ever just be excited about the things that become a part of God's hands, as opposed to fearful, because you trust that he's not an indifferent God, that He's a good father, that somehow he's gonna intervene in your life in such a way where you're going to see the goodness of God and the mercy of God and the power of God and the fai because he's going to extend a call amidst the chaos. And some of you are in a situation in a season right now where you are so blinded and so deafened by the noise of the earth that you do not see the calling that God is about to unleash. And this is a dangerous place for you to be in when you are so consumed with the things around you that you're not aware of the things that are being deposited in you. Because God never leaves you without something that you can respond to. God does not allow the earth to go through any situation without any informing, allowing or permitting somebody to be filled with the holy Ghost. Such that there's a response. The question is, is it you? And are you willing? Because there's chaos in the calling. What's interesting about this word is that chaos indicates that something is being started new in the earth. But for those of us who are living on earth, you know what chaos feels like. Trauma. I don't know why I said it that way. Again, we're practicing. Some of y' all are gonna have to school me afterwards. I need some private lessons with acting. But you know what chaos feels like? Trauma. There's four types, and we won't go into it, but trauma is an event and an experience in your life that shifts the way that you see it, shifts the way that you believe it shifts the way that your body even responds. So amidst something that is divine, there's something that is happening on the inside of you because of chaos that leads to trauma. And how does trauma show up in our walk of faith? Can we just pause here for a minute? Because what I appreciate about this ministry and the way that we teach here and the way that God continues to move amongst so many different churches and so many different spirits, if we slow down enough, we can actually help people. Because if we just skirt over into. You're called. And that's awesome. And you are. But this little piece right here, that keeps me from jumping in. I grew up in. This may be foreign to y'. All. There's a thing in some urban communities called double dutch. Are we familiar? Okay, now, double dutch. Jesus. The amount of welts, you know, when you get hit right in the back, you're like, ha. Like that. Okay? There's two jump ropes, and there's a rhythm around when you jump in. Trauma affects your ability to find rhythm. God, you're so good. And the problem is, you've been wanting to jump in for a long time. You come in every Sunday. You go to fire night, you go to worship, you participate, you serve. But you haven't jumped in the game that God has called you into because of trauma. And we're gonna unpack some of that today because God wants us to see chaos differently. See, I gave you one definition of chaos earlier, but the definition, and this is actually from Webster's. I don't know who Webster is, but he or she is very smart. They are wonderful people. Okay. Point is, this is not a biblical definition. This is an actual definition. Another definition for chaos is the formless matter supposed to have existed before the creation of the universe. See, we see complete disorder and confusion. God sees matter. That is Used for creation. See, with people, chaos is disorder and confusion. With God, chaos is a canvas for creation. What if you're in a season where God is creating something or can see, if you pause there, you actually get happy about the things that are happening in your life right now. Because you get happy about the fact that this is not something that is in disarray. This is not something that God can't use. In fact, he's going to use it because he's the only God who can say, let there be. And there was, because in Genesis 1, it said that there was void and darkness that hovered over the face of the earth. In other words, the matter that was around the earth was scattered and not put in a place. But there was potential in the matter. And only God can look at your life and see the potential in the middle of the mess. And if you would just yield that to him just long enough, you would be able to see that there's something being created as opposed to something that you need to manage. What I have found is that God extends his opportunity to follow him not in a place of chaos, but in a place. Not in a place of comfort and convenience, but chaos. Here's what I need you to understand. Abram was a part of a community called Urban. You are Ur. Sorry, sorry. I grew up in the early 2000s. There's a song. Anyways, it's not that. Sorry. Not the Gospel of Chingi. Okay. The point is, the people of Ur were people who believed in different types of gods, particularly moon gods. And one of the things that their faith was marked by was fertility, wealth, and different types of other things. I don't delve too much into other religions, but the point is, can you imagine what it's like to be told as Abram, who has been in a land where they worship gods, particularly around fertility, that you are going to be the father of many nations? Let's pause there. Not everybody in this church or in this community or online has always believed God. Can we be honest? Some of you came from traditions where faith was not a part of your household. So imagine growing up in Abram's shoes where you don't know this God because God had. Again, you think about everything that had happened. This was God starting a biblical in a family line. And what's powerful is imagine being Abram. He was late in. He was old in age. He was 70 years old when this happened. Imagine being 70 years old and worshiping a false God all the while. We can only assume. I tried because I think that this is maybe a thing that he desired by virtue of the fact that he was so excited about the promise of God, that maybe for those first 70 years where he wasn't following God, imagine the disappointment that he felt. Maybe he and his wife, you have this fertility God who's not allowing anything to happen in your life. And then you meet the true God, the one true living God, who says, not only will I give you a child, but I'm going to make of you a great nation. There's something there, and I want you to pause there. And this is not for me to really exert or exhort around, but for somebody who has felt like the promises that you had in your heart before you served God, now must completely be different after you find God. I want you to challenge that. Because just because you put hope in a false God or a false thing doesn't mean that the real God can't do the thing that God deposited on the inside of you. Because if we understand the fact that Abram's name means exalted father, God changed his name to Abraham. Abram means exalted father when he was an Ur. Abraham means father of a multitude. In other words, the thing that was a desire in your heart in a particular season is something that you know is confirmed as God when it's the seed of that thing. But then it becomes exalted because it requires the power of God to in order for it to happen. And that's when you know that you've stepped into something because you now no longer have to worry about if you're qualified to follow God. It's just the fact that he called your name because Abram didn't have a relationship with God. And some of you are watching right now. You have never prayed a day in your life. You've never been inside of a church. But God is calling you. And I want to break that spirit of religion off of you that says that because you didn't come from the right family, the right traditions, the right experiences, that somehow you can't follow that calling. But God is saying, because I call, I can start something new. But here's the problem and the challenge. UR was not a place that you would want to leave. Er was actually nicer. Sorry. That was such a dad joke. I apologize. Take that out, Sarai. Take that out. Point is, that was painful. Oh, God, I don't drive a minivan enough. But the point is, Ur was a place that was nice. See, in mesopotamic times, it was actually a very wealthy place. Picture America. And I'm not just saying that. Draw parallel. It was literally one of the most affluent places on Earth. Mm. We think God calls you in destitution. Have you ever gotten a call from a place of comfort? A place you like, A place you like, A job that pays more than enough, A relationship that you are content in? See, it's different because we treat the call of God as something that has to become this dramatic. I will follow you as I'm in a desert somewhere. You have no other option. Of course you would follow. You need a drink of water. You thirsty. But more times than not, you know it's a call when it shifts you from a place that you otherwise would not leave. And there's something that's difficult when you receive a calling because it necessitates you moving from an environment into a new place that otherwise you wouldn't move out of. Because here's the interesting thing. As a former athlete, one of the things that my coach told me is I was running track 100, 200. That's all you get out of me. Jesus. I'm not doing 800. Not. Bless your heart, okay? But what was powerful is when I was training for the 200, I would have to race eight hundreds. And the reason why is because my coach told me, your body is going to want to quit at about 110 and 140 meters. But if you train for 800, run for 2, your body won't quit before it's time. Why? Because biologically, your body is designed to survive. And that's the trap of being in your flight flesh. See, we talk about your flesh in terms of sin and sexuality and all those things, and those are important. What we don't begin to unpack is the fact that your flesh was designed to survive. Your spirit was designed to thrive. The Bible says that I desire that you would prosper as your soul prospers, meaning that your spirit is supposed to be able to go above the threshold of your flesh, because your flesh will always keep you at 50%. And many of you have been walking at 50% your whole life because you have not yet moved into a place where you are flowing fully in the spirit because your flesh controls your feelings. And if you're honest, the thing that you're most scared about is not surviving, as opposed to fulfilling a call. And this is a season for you to challenge that. Hear my heart. I'm not judging that. Challenge it with the Holy Spirit. Look at it and ask, can I go further? Can I go harder? Can I Do more. Because the calling of God often happens in a place of inconvenience. What's interesting about error is that he had no incentive to leave beloved. None. He was fine. But something in him said that this is not enough because there's something greater that's calling me. And my encouragement is, do not allow yourself to be deceived because you feel like you're getting enough. That enough is all that God has. There's something greater that God is calling you to. And so, amidst all of the chaos that's taking place in the middle of Abram's life, we begin to see that he's willing to step out on a calling. But what I have found is if we're not careful, we allow a promise that we have and a promise that we want to be confused. Meaning. His name, Abram means exalted father. So if God coming to him and saying, you're going to have a child, that sounds amazing. God didn't use the word child. God used the word nation. Question, what big thing is God speaking to you about? What is he speaking to you about? And here's the question. Follow up question, what are you reducing it to? Two questions. What is God speaking to you about? And what are you reducing it to? And again, no judgment. God promised a nation. He got mad in Genesis 19 that he didn't have a son. You have to be careful, beloved, when you take a promise of God and reduce it to an appetizer and a snack for you. Because God promises on the scale of his purpose, not what will be provisioned for you. There's something greater, beloved. And I'm pushing here because there's something very important that's going to be coming in your life. And I think this is the reason why the Lord brought me here today, which is to start to prepare some of you for a great calling that is gonna be coming. I think God is so kind. When you look at the word of God, there's any number of moments where there's a prophetic moment that happens before the moment. There's a warning, there's a heads up, there's something that God begins to speak to you. And this is important because we've talked about chaos, we've talked about calling. Now we're gonna talk about choices. And this is where we're gonna spend the crux of our time. And we're going to adjourn. Choices are a powerful word. But if I'm honest, I don't like that word for a couple reasons. The thing that I have struggled with, particularly as somebody who is on the side of being a pastor, but then also is in a medical space. And I don't have a medical background so much as I have to be mindful of different things. Particularly in psychology. We find that there's an interesting tension between theology and psychology. Not one that God created, but one that people institute. You see, what's fascinating is, have you ever felt like your choices were not your own? In the church, we call these generational curses. Okay, let me tell you a story. Okay? So I was minding my own business as a child, okay? And so was my father. These are some interesting parallels. My dad grew up in what we call the hood. The hood, like hood hood. Not like. Oh, that's nice. Like hood, like lay on the ground. Okay? Some of you understand what I'm talking about. The reason why you lay on the ground is because there are objects that fly at spontaneous times during the day. And thou mighteth, pray telleth, be not availeth in the erith for such a thingeth. Okay? King James. Point is, he grew up in the Huddoth, which also is to say that he grew up with very old school African American raising and parenting. Now, that culturally that may not translate for some of you, old school black parenting suggests that there's. Well, we won't go down the phrases and the things, but you could get in. Corporal punishment was a thing. We'll leave it there, okay? My daddy, Charles Guilford Jr. Wanted to fly. There was a show called Superman, okay, that he loved. And he decided one day that he was going to take one of my grandma's good towels. Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of good towels, okay, in certain households of certain economic thresholds, there are the towels that you useth to wipeth thy bodieth. And then there's those that thine do not, because they're consecrated on the ark of the cup, like they're separated for holy use. Nobody knows the use. There's never been a guest special enough for these things to come out. There's never been China that the president, whoever it was, could use. It just stayed there. And if you touch it, you die. Okay, the point is. Point is my daddy took my grandmama's good towel. Took paint, not the washable kind, because back then they had leaden paints, which is a separate conversation and issue. That's why we have provisions against these things. Painted a big S on it. Told his friends in the neighborhood the day before that he was going to do this at three o' Clock. This boy went up on his roof and said, oh, no, it's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's Superman. This fool jumped off his roof. Saints took a leap of faith. Just, you know, Matthew 4, you know, the angels will lift you up. Fell and crashed on the ground. Both his angles, like, just janky. Janky. For those of you who are unfamiliar, janky is a term that suggests that they're of no use. Okay, what happened after that? My grandma looked through the window. Okay, okay. All the holy Ghost is gone. She's just in pure rage. Okay? She's like, who did that? She came downstairs with a leather material object and proceeded to chasten. Said. Point is this, okay? Unbeknownst to me not knowing this story, when I was six years old, I was watching Peter Pan. I didn't have no tights. Okay, first of all, let's listen. Some of y' all grew up with Hook, okay? That was a fun movie. Hook was. Rufio, was amazing. Okay, first of all, point is, without knowing what my dad did, I encourage my mom, who's, like, half Indian, half Kuwaiti. So she has an accent. Don't worry. Beta like that kind of accent. Okay? Don't worry. So we take her to. I took her to King Soopers. I was like, mom, can I get Peter Pan peanut butter? She's like, what do you want it for? I'm like, because I need it, Mom. In my head, if you ate all of the Peter Pan peanut butter, that's how you got the dust and that's how you flew. You know what I'm saying? Hey, look at God. Okay? Won't he do it, Faith? But the point is, I proceeded to eat an entire small jar of peanut butter, which was bad. My stomach was dying. I proceed to get on a roof and then think of Christmas, think of snow. There's no better place to go. And I jump off a roof. Now, my mom, she didn't come down with different cultures, and I'm grateful for said difference in cultures, because that would have been a different experience. But the point is this. Have you ever felt like something that your parents did is something you're doomed to do yourself? See, mine was flying, but mine was also the fact that my parents. Well, I fell with style. That's the difference. But have you ever looked at your family line and felt like things that were a part of their line are also a part of yours? Ooh. Have you ever felt like there were choices that were made before you, that now, because of generational curses, you're not only going to make. You're doomed to make, that the enemy is chasing you down to make. See, the reason why I want to take a lot of time here is because we're going to break that perspective off of you right now. Because it's important for you to have awareness of what things should and should not follow you. And greater still, how God in his goodness fashioned. You see, in psychology or in biology, we have a different term, which is there's a philosophy in genetics that suggests that genetic determinism is a philosophy. It's a philosophy that believes that you are constrained to your genetic predisposition. And trauma can be something that can be experienced at a genetic level. And here's the problem with this perspective. If on one hand I've got generational curses, and then on the other hand I am scientifically and biologically hardwired to do the same thing or be vulnerable to the same thing, then where is my hope? And that's where some of you have been stuck, is you feel like the life that God is calling you to. Again, the pause between the double Dutch. The trauma is you don't feel like you have a choice or there's something following you. Have you ever felt like there's something following you spiritually and otherwise? In your line, your great grandma would talk about how men are no good, then Grandma talked about how men are no good, then mom talked about how men are no good, and then you find yourself in broken relationships. Have you ever felt like there are things that follow you? Have you ever looked down and seen that this father wasn't there for his father, and his father wasn't there for his father, and his father wasn't there for you, so you feel like you don't have a choice. Have you ever been in a space where because somebody else was addicted to alcohol, now you feel like you are addicted to alcohol? Have you ever felt like certain things just follow you? And I'm here to talk to you, beloved. Because the problem with this is when great moments of calling come, our context, our covering, the places that we have been often become the containers of what we think we can manage because we don't think God can deliver us. And the problem is we don't recognize that generational patterns do not necessarily have to be generational purposes. That which is a predisposition doesn't mean that you're predestined. That means that you do not have to be beholden to the things that have come before you. But the problem for some of you is is psychology term. You're frozen. You're frozen in a place that God wants to deliver you from. Because what's interesting about genetic determinism is the fact that it's wrong. It's a philosophy. It's not true. When you begin to understand the difference between genetics versus another term, epigenetics. Genetics are the DNA sequence that you have been given biologically. And yes, they can be impacted by trauma. Yes, they can be impacted by experiences that have happened in your family line. Epigenetics, however, says that what's most important about what you have experienced, genetically and otherwise, is not necessarily the thing itself. It's the environment that you are in. Because there's a difference between genes that are expressed and genes that are silenced. This is why God says, be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Because there are some things that God is trying to silence and there are some things that God is trying to express. Could it be that your calling is not necessarily about you packing a U Haul? It's about you moving from one place in one environment that expresses certain things out of you into another place. Because God, knowing the makeup and your frame and who you are called to be, knows that the place is that you are in, cannot hold who all you are. And if anything, it expresses things that God would rather suppress. It amplifies things that are not truly who you are. They're just there because of circumstance and context. And if you could just get out of an environment into a place that God would show you. Because it's not about abandoning in a place. It's about finding yourself in the place that he called you to. Because he put inside of you greatness. He put inside of you wholeness. He put inside of you peace. He put inside of you joy. He put inside of you things that if you stay within a certain circumstance, beloved, I'm telling you, there's erosion. You see, I'm somewhat of a nerd. So in chemistry, we have elements, not the fifth element. Sorry, made me think of Chris Tucker. It's a great movie. You haven't seen it? Okay, point is, in chemistry, you have elements. Let's take hydrogen, for example. If you take. If you take atoms of hydrogen, H, and put it with Cl, chlorine. What do you have for my scientists in the room? You have hydrochloric acid. You have something that erodes, but you take that same element and put it next to two pieces of oxygen. What do you have? Water. May I ask you a question? Has the enemy been telling you that you are the wrong element at the expense of you examining whether you're connected to the right things. Because there's something to be said about being the right thing in the wrong place. You know you're in the wrong place when it feels like, little by little, there's an erosion on you. Little by little, there's an erosion of your character. Little by little, there's an erosion of your spirit. Little by little, there's an erosion of the voice of God. Little by little, there's an erosion of who you are and who you are called to be. And so what happens in a place where you are not supposed to be, you begin to take on more things that you are not like. And the enemy is right there whispering that these are identifiers as opposed to expressions. Be careful what you call an identity. That's really just an expression that came up in a bad place. You can still be accountable for your behavior before the Lord and say, you know what, God, I repent. I apologize, my bad. But. And repent. But you don't have to take on the attributes of that thing. Maybe you were toxic in the relationship. Because it was a toxic relationship doesn't necessarily mean that you're a toxic person. You were connected to hydrochloric acid. God says, I want to connect you to some water. Pausing here respectfully. The problem for some of you is, is the stimulation that comes from being in something toxic, hydrochloric acid. There's bubbling, there's sensations, and all the kind of things you confuse all of the dysfunction with pleasure. And so you stay connected to things that while it's eroding you, it feels good while it's doing it. But water is something that is something that is absorbed. It is something that is healing. It is out of the belly shall flow rivers of living water that there's sustainability. And you have to get to the point where you no longer crave sensation above sustainability. Because when you crave the type of things that are eroding who you are at the core of who you are. Don't be confused when you don't understand how God is silencing things that God wants to express and expressing things that God wants to silence. Because God, through the moment and the season that you're in, is drawing you to water. Health, wholeness and goodness shall follow you all the days of your life. Be careful when you slap a label on something that only God can name, not you. God is changing some of your names in this season. There is a name change that is taking place. There's Expansion that is taking place. There was a prophetic thing that you knew you were a part of, but now there's a greater calling because there's now a word that has gone forth. And now you're no longer stepping out on your own. You're stepping out on a word of faith that God has called you to because you are now aligned. But what I'm trying to get you to do is to confront your trauma. What have you taken on as an identifier, as an identity? Can I share one with you? Of mine? I did not know this, but I had struggled with these fleeting thoughts of ending my life. But what I didn't know until more recently from talking with a family member is that my great grandmother attempted and committed this act successfully. My grandmother had the same kind of ideations and thoughts, and my biological family member attempted unsuccessfully. So in my head again, if you have genetic determinism as a philosophy, it feels like something that is inevitable, something that is unavoidable, and something that is a spiritual battle that is again, above your pay grade, but something that you have to endure. But what I began to find as I began to dig into this and began continuing down my own journey of healing is, just because something follows you or has followed you, doesn't mean it's yours. It's what you take in. See, I'm a country boy in the sticks. You have these little cats, these little feral cats. These things are crazy, okay? And some of them will try to follow you. And some of you are like, no, don't let anything in the house. Amen. Because you don't want to let something like that in the house. I'm not what's following me. I am what I let in. And in this season, there is healing that God is offering to you. Because, you know, no longer have to let those thoughts in. You no longer have to let in the thoughts that because your family was a certain way, then you're going to be a certain way. Because there's a great call that is coming amidst the chaos. And the challenge that I want you all to walk away with is epigenetics speaks to environment. It's about God putting you in a position where things that he wants to be expressed in you are able to be expressed. And things that he wants silence in you can be silenced. Because the things that we talked about on one side was generational curses. But what is the calling about generational blessings? I want you all to focus in this season of your life on the generational blessings that God has spoken over you. Because we treat trauma as if it's something, don't get me wrong, we absolutely need to confront. But it cannot be an idol. Beloved, your trauma. If you're not careful, your trauma will move into a place of adoration. You don't mean it to be worship, but it's a fixation. And it puts you in a position where you can't see above the thing that you've experienced. And therefore, you're constantly stuck in a position where you hear the jump rope, you hear the call, you hear the impression, invitation of God, but you don't respond because either you think the invitation is for somebody else or you think you can't handle it yourself because you're caught thinking that your pathway has been determined for you. We have a lot of fathers in this room, and I'm proud of that. In one la, we should really applaud the fact that we've got some really good godly men in this place. And I would venture that a lot of these men, enough of them, too many of them, didn't have father figures. Matter of fact, if that was you, raise your hand. If you are a father but didn't have a father, raise your hand. Okay. Okay, we see you. We see you. What's powerful about this? And other questions. And obviously there's questions for women, but I wanted to talk to the. The men real quick. Two reasons. Number one, the healthier the men, the healthier the pickings. Amen. Amen. God bless it. But also, she felt that in her Shawn Doe. But to that I say also, the healthier the men, the better the society. Because if men are safe, then women can experience a different type of safety. But when we think about this calling, we think about this word, we think about the context that we're in. What I'm trying to tell you is that there is a calling that comes in chaos. And for some of you, the work that you're going to have to do is to stop buying the lie that you have bought for so many years concerning who you are, concerning your life, concerning your parents life, concerning your experiences, concerning the things that you saw, because God did not create you to be predetermined by something or something else other than him. And if you could just let down that weight that you have been carrying that says that I am this or I will become this. And if you could just embrace a moment where God is saying to you, daughter, son, get thee from thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house to a land that I'M going to show you because there are things on the inside of you that I want to express. And some of you are experiencing that now in this season of your life. It is a season where things you didn't know about yourself are starting to come out. Some are good, some are challenging. Both God can handle. But I want to ask you today, have you considered the fact that the environment that you're in is not necessarily the environment with which your calling and your promise can grow and thrive? I'm not telling you to move. I'm not telling you to leave. I'm telling you to think about, pray about, be prepared for a moment of great calling. Because the earth needs the sons and daughters of God to stand up big and strong in ways that we have not seen in our generation. Every generation has an opportunity for this. This is ours. May I submit to you that the thing that bothers you, stresses you, frustrates you the most? The things that you're called to. If you get upset about injustice, could it be that you're the one that God is calling and raising up to address that? If you get frustrated by the way that faith is depicted in films, could it be that you're the solution? You're the answer, you're the one that God is calling? If you get frustrated by what you see in government, could it be that you're the one that God is raising, that God is calling, that God is selecting? Could it be that the things that you see in your family line, your community, your schools, the environments that you're in, that he puts something in you to respond to? I take issue, and I take exception with social media consumption for no other reason other than the word consumption. We take in more than we put out. And this is a season where God is calling you to be a laborer. The Bible says that the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. May I submit to you that maybe Abram wasn't that special, that there wasn't something about him other than the fact that he was willing? The Bible says that the God searches to and fro, seeking whom he may show himself strong in. The word seeking suggests that it's not actively available. Question, are you available? And I really want you to think on that. Not from a place of judgment, not from a place of anything other than am I ready to surrender? Because when we follow Jesus and the life of Jesus, what we find is he extended invitations for people to follow him. It was indiscriminate. The calling was sure their response wasn't we see God Extend a calling to one particular rich young ruler. And he says, sell all of your things and follow me. And the young, rich ruler looks at him and cries and walks away. Can you imagine what it feels like in your own soul to know that you're not willing to follow him when the invitation comes? And can I tell you something else? God is so good in my experience, not in that particular situation, but in others. We've seen how God will extend an invitation and somebody not respond. And God extends another invitation, and they do. And so I also want to deal with kind of that religious spirit that says, if you missed it, you missed the boat. Now, this is not public transportation. Okay, well, you have to. This is not that this is God. This is God. And what I want you to think about in your own life is the fact that God would not speak a word like this if there was not a profound calling that somebody or somebodies in this room or online had. Dr. King was assassinated April 3rd. April 4th, 1968. April 3rd. He spoke about. I've been to the mountaintop, and It's Deuteronomy, chapter 34, 36. Read your old Bobby. You'll find it. But he said, he quotes Moses, which says, I've seen the promised land. Now, he knew he wouldn't get there himself, but he saw it. And I worry that. And not to make this a social justice message, because it's not just in the spirit of what this represents. If you're not careful, you will hear the last words of Moses and not recognize the call of Joshua. And when you grieve longer than you should over the absence of something, you don't step into a place of healing and therefore into the next iteration of what is to come. May I submit to you that that's where a lot of our spaces in society have been. We're grieving what was as opposed to recognizing what it should be and stepping into what God is calling it. We're weeping over Abram not recognizing that God said Abraham is the next thing. We're weeping over Moses not recognizing that Joshua has been in the rears the whole time. And may I submit to you that you all are Joshua's. My prayer is that you will make sure that your trauma, your epigenetics, your belief concerning genetic determinism, your knowledge of generational curses. There's wisdom around knowing what has followed your family, but there's folly in thinking that it's the limitations of who you are. Awareness and accountability and awareness and being stuck are two different things. And I Worry that our generation, as we try to go through this mental health journey, which is powerful, if you're not careful, Bible says you'll be forever seekers of knowledge, never arriving at truth. Knowledge of what you have been through, knowledge of what others have experienced, knowledge of any number of things does not mean that it's truth. And today, God is calling you all to step into truth. I want to do an altar call, and I promise you we'll move through this, but I want to do an altar call for the ones who have let your trauma be your truth. If you're honest, there has been a level of trauma that has been your truth. You have defined yourself by it, you've identified with it. It you've taken that on. And I want for those of you who have allowed chaos to be at the source of your sense of identity, the sense of who you are, I want you to come forward. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. That's brave, y'. All. That's brave. That's brave, y'. All. That's brave. That's brave. The second one that I want to do a calling for is for the ones who now see that a pattern isn't prophecy and want to make a different choice. You recognize that you're not bound by the things that have taken place in your life, the things that have taken place in your family line. You recognize that there's a calling, and the calling necessitates choice. I want you to come down. Can we thank God for. For everybody coming down? For those of you who are online, I want you to touch the screen or touch the person that's next to you because there is deliverance in the room. Can you imagine what God can do in and through you, with you being whole, with your heart believing that he loves you that much? Can you imagine the things that you are capable of as you get free, as you move forward with all the things that God has done in your life to date? What if I told you that you're only functioning at a percentage of who you truly are, in the fullness of who God has called you to be, that you haven't touched nor scraped exceedingly nor abundantly? You have just been operating in the favor and the grace of God, but you haven't been operating in the full power therein. Not because he wants to withhold it, but because there's a season of release that God is speaking through this word. Because it's a season of calling. It's A season of commissioning. And here's the thing. You can no longer dismiss yourself. You can no longer disavow yourself. You can no longer allow the enemy to say that you are not worthy, that you are not worth it. For there's. There's some people in this room right now. I see parents who look at their children and fear their children experiencing the same type of trauma that they experience, the same kind of violence, the same kind of abuse. May I cancel that spirit? In the name of Jesus, that that baby is protected in the name of Jesus, that the things that followed you, the things that attacked you, the things that followed your family line will not follow this baby. And you do not have to come into agreement with that lie because God says that there is more. The only thing that the enemy. Thank you, Holy Spirit. The number one thing that the enemy will have over any of you is not authority. It is agreement. He has no authority until you operate in an agreement. When you say that this is my portion, when you say this is what I deserve, when you say you do not have that right, only God gets to determine what your portion is. So stop coming into the agreement of the condemnation, the lies, the shame, the brokenness. I don't care if you had a. We won't talk about what you did, but I don't care if you had a crazy experience even just last night. The same grace, the same love, the same mercy, the same fulfillment of promise, the same blessing that was shed for my sin was shed for yours. You don't get to qualify or disqualify yourself because God doesn't qualify or disqualify those whom he loves. And devil, you have no right to speak to them concerning who they are. They are valuable, they are precious, they are loved, they are covered, they are protected, they are worthy of righteousness, they are worthy of good things in life, they are worthy of the goodness of God. They are promised the mercy of God. They are promised, promised the grace of God. They are promised your fulfillment, they are promised your love, they are promised your embrace, they are promised your holding, your tenderness, your care, your character. Devil, back off of them with your lies in the name of Jesus. The third call is for ones who, like Abraham, you don't know where you are, where you're going. You just know that you're willing or that you are going. I want people who are feeling that Abrahamic tug, that Abrahamic call, that thing to push you into a different environment to come down. If you feel like the Lord has been speaking to you about being Called not out, but called in into purpose, into something greater than what you can imagine. I want you to come down, come forward, come forward, come forward. Amen. I may have mentioned this a time or two, but I went to the University of Colorado Boulder, and I only mention that because there was a young man and his name is Travis Hunter, and he was the number one athlete when he was in high school. And he could have gone anywhere. And people questioned, why did he choose Coach Deion Sanders? And I think this is a word and an insight for somebody in this room. It's not about the team that you play on. It's about the position that you can play on the team that you're going to, meaning you, in this season of your life. Please stop and hear me from the bottom of my heart. Stop accepting positions or places or positions that are a fraction of who you are. If you are called to more than one thing, then, baby, they better let you, you do more than one thing. If you are called to play defense and offense, then, baby, you rather play offense and defense. Coach Sanders was one of the only coaches in the country who was going to let Travis be who he was. And the young man won the Heisman Trophy. Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar, that is the number one collegiate award for an athlete. He went from a place that was completely mediocre to a place of prominence not because of anything other than he did not allow people to put him in a position that made him a fraction of who he was, rather than the fullness. And that is a word for you in this season. This is not a time for you to try to play on teams that are less than the fullness of who you are. This is not a time to attach yourself to people who only want a fragment or can handle a fraction of the totality of who you are. This is not a time for you to try to make it work with this young man because maybe he has some potential. And at the same time, you're having to stay who you are as a woman of God. This is not a time for you to connect to a person, a female or a lady or what have you, that doesn't allow you to be the fullness of who you are. This is not a time for those people who are your friends, but who still don't understand your vision and don't understand your dream, to try to be integrated into places and spaces that they do not have the grace for. This is a season for you to walk into the fullness of who you are beloved because There is a calling in the chaos. Spirit of the living God. Hallelujah. God, your spirit is so thick in this room. God, I thank you for deliverance. God, I thank you, Lord God, in the name of Jesus, for the spirit of deliverance. Father God, I pray, Lord God, that the spirit of heaviness, Father God, will be alleviated off of each person around this altar. Father God, that in your own way you are moving and flowing through this room, Father, that people are able to experience the fact that there is a calling in the chaos, that there was a reason why the brokenness happened. There's a reason why the things that they went through in life happened. Not because it was your desire for them, but because you are still God enough and good enough to use it for their good. Father God, I pray in the name of Jesus against this thought and the belief that somehow there is something that determines who they are, that is external to your word and their spirit. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus against the enemy that tells them that they're less than I pray against in the name of Jesus, the spirit of the enemy that tells them that they will never be forgiven, that that they will never be worthy, that they will never be able to step into a calling. They'll never be able to step into purpose. I come against that voice in the name of Jesus. And I release the voice of God that says you are more than enough, that you are my chosen child, that you are the one that I have purpose on this earth, that you are one that I breathe life into, that I breathe breath into, and that there's a calling that I'm going to make of you, a great nation, that there's a great calling, a great purpose, a great thing that you will do on the earth simply because I spoke it over you. And you, you come into agreement with my word and not theirs. You come into agreement with my will, not what has come before. You come in agreement with what I have spoken, not what everybody else has said. Father, we pray for this in the name of Jesus. Amen. God bless you, family. I just want to thank the Lord for this moment because this is going to mark a major shift for so many of you in your lives. I want you to challenge actively the things that you come into agreement with moving forward. Amen. And for those of you who have not given your life to the Lord, I'd love to pray a quick prayer with you because this prayer is what really seals this moment. You can talk about, hear about, learn about God all you want, but until you have accepted him as Lord and Savior over your life. What this becomes is more of an experience where you look from the outside, but God wants to be on the inside of your heart and he's been drawing so many of you to him. So I just want to pray this prayer. Say, father God, I love you. I thank you. I praise God for your son, Jesus, who gave himself on a cross for me. I believe that he lived, he died, he rose again for me. And when he got up, I got up. Jesus, I accept you as Lord and Savior over my life. Holy Spirit, come into my heart. Fill me to the overflow that I may be filled with the Holy Spirit, I thank you for the free gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. God bless you all. God bless you all.
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Hey, family. Well, I pray that you were just as blessed by this teaching as I was. I'm just so grateful again to be a part of a dynamic community full of love, full of revelation and wisdom. One has been a movement that's been blessing people for over two decades, and I'm so glad that you got an opportunity to experience it. I also have a podcast called the called it's right here on wherever you're listening to this Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to this podcast, Cash. You can just look up the call T H E C A L L E D with myself, Terry Roberts. This is designed for entrepreneurs, leaders and business people. It's a weekly podcast and it will bless you. But hey, I enjoyed having you here. Meet us here next week. Check out the call. Much blessings to you. We'll catch you next time.