ONE | A Potter's House Church
Episode Title: Designed to Thrive
Speaker: Pastor Touré Roberts
Date: November 10, 2025
Overview
In this passionate and revelatory sermon, "Designed to Thrive," Pastor Touré Roberts unpacks the theological and practical blueprint for thriving as individuals uniquely designed by God. Anchored in Deuteronomy 8:18 and Ephesians 2:10, Pastor Touré explores the divine coding within each person to create, produce, and prosper—not just for our benefit, but to fulfill God's covenant and impact the world. He challenges the church to move beyond spiritual platitudes into practical, enterprise-minded action, outlining seven "personal glitches" that hinder accessing our God-given potential. The message is both spiritual and highly practical, speaking directly to anyone sensing a call to entrepreneurship, creativity, or greater influence.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Scriptural Anchors and Divine Design
- Deuteronomy 8:18: “It is [God] who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant…”
- Pastor Touré shares how this verse inspired even the naming of his investment company, underlining its personal impact (01:05).
- Ephesians 2:10: “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
- Emphasizes that each individual is crafted by God for preordained purposes.
“There’s no loss in God, only alignment. When you get into alignment, he will restore the years that the locusts have eaten. God is the God of restoration.” (02:10)
2. Interpreting Current Times: A Divine Demand for Yield
- The world’s chaos births both grief and optimism for what God is doing (06:15).
- Suffering and discomfort (“birth pangs”) are the necessary process for birthing new versions of ourselves and fulfilling untapped potential.
- The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25) as a picture of God placing a demand on His investment (us):
- God expects not just preservation, but multiplication of what He’s entrusted (22:00).
“God is placing a demand on His investment… The stage [is] being set that will force us into our divine design.” (21:40)
3. You Are God’s Poem: Intentional Design Over Randomness
- The Greek word for "workmanship" is poiēma—we are divinely crafted like poems: intentional, rhythmic, unique (28:45).
- Success is not optional or just a dream; it’s embedded in our design.
- Everything about our lives—connections, place, words, even scars—has purposeful placement in God’s "poem."
“You are God’s poetic creation… each of us is a poem… authored with intentional rhythm, beauty and meaning.” (29:50)
4. Redefining ‘Good Works’: More Than Good Deeds—Enterprise and Multiplication
- The Greek word for "works" is ergon—not just good deeds, but enterprise, occupation, entrepreneurship, and industry (36:15).
- “Created for good works” means multiple callings and functions—not specialism, but multifaceted impact.
- Emphasizes the biblical normalcy of being a polymath—a “multi-hyphenate.”
“A polymath or a multi-hyphenate… is not abnormal. What’s abnormal is specialization.” (39:05)
5. Practical Application: Think Like an Entrepreneur, Not a Dependent
- God has endowed each person with the ability to create wealth—not just to get by, but to multiply and bless future generations (46:30).
- Rebukes a poverty mindset and government dependence; the biblical model is kingdom entrepreneurship, stewardship, and generational increase.
“There’s nothing in the Bible that says that people were supposed to rely on the government… Why would God put your provision in something that is not in the design of sowing and reaping and multiplication?” (50:05)
- Money and business success are not inherently ungodly; the issue is the love of money, not wealth itself.
“Almost everybody in the Bible that God used was rich. Now, if you trust in your riches, that’s a problem. Because that’s idolatry… But we gotta reframe some things.” (01:02:35)
6. Multiplication is Built into Creation
- The Hebrew word ’asa for "get" wealth is about production and yield, not mere acquisition (01:09:15).
- God’s model is creating with “perpetuity installed”—what we make or do must multiply and yield, blessing generations.
7. Why Doesn’t Everyone Thrive? The Human Glitch
- The divine code is real, but "personal constraints" block its outworking—these glitches are:
- Ignorance: Not knowing God’s principles, remedied by renewing the mind (01:18:00).
- Limiting Beliefs: Shaped by environment—sometimes God moves us physically or relationally to expand our capacity (01:21:40).
- Fear: Rooted in misplaced focus; overcome by consciousness of God’s love and presence (01:27:40).
- Laziness: Procrastination or lack of diligence leads to lack, as warned in Proverbs (01:30:55).
- Immobility: Refusal to change or be agile; greatness requires adaptability (01:36:40).
- (Delayed) Disobedience: Immediate action is often required to partner with God’s timing (01:39:45).
- Inconsistency: True mastery and breakthrough require sustained effort (01:41:15).
“Consistency is everything because consistency is the evidence of maturity, and it is the rhythm of mastery.” (01:41:30)
8. Activation and Prayer
- Pastor Touré closes with a call for action—urging listeners, especially business-minded and creative individuals, to rise and break constraints.
- Corporate prayer of activation, breaking limitation, and declaring alignment with design:
“God, I’m created in you before the world began for good works. You’ve anointed me and endowed me to have influence, to have impact. You’ve given me the ability to create wealth and experience yield that you might establish your own covenant with me…” (01:46:10)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- Restoration over regret:
“If you’re still breathing, that means the bets are still on.” — Touré Roberts (03:22)
- You are not generic:
“You're not mass produced… You are a system divined by God.” (30:40)
- Enterprise is sacred:
“What the enemy means for evil, God means for good. There are some people… their entrepreneurial spirit couldn't activate [until] their backs were against the wall.” (52:40)
- Self-stewardship and the ‘sinner’ in Proverbs:
“The sinner in the text is not the rich person. The sinner is the person who will not labor in such a way that it leaves an inheritance.” (01:13:05)
- Purpose of church:
“The evidence of having a good experience in church is what happens when I leave.” (01:17:50)
- On overcoming the mental glitch:
“Mind mastery is everything. You have to master your mind… Your mind be like, ‘Nope, can’t happen. You’re too old, it’s too late…’ God doesn’t work with what you don’t have. He works with what you do have.” (01:25:40)
Timestamps for Important Segments
- 01:05 — Scriptural Foundation: Deuteronomy 8:18 & Ephesians 2:10
- 06:15 — Grief, Groaning, and Divine Birth Pangs
- 21:40 — God Placing a Demand on His Investment
- 28:45 — Workmanship = God’s Poetic Creation
- 36:15 — Rethinking “Good Works”: Work as Enterprise
- 46:30 — Designed for Wealth Creation, Not Government Dependency
- 52:40 — God Using Hard Times to Activate Ingenuity
- 1:02:35 — Wealth in the Bible; Dismantling Poverty Mindset
- 1:09:15 — Hebrew Insights: ‘Asa’ Means to Yield
- 1:13:05 — Righteousness and Stewardship in Proverbs
- 1:17:50 — Church as Activation, not Entertainment
- 1:18:00–1:41:15 — The Seven “Human Glitches”
- 1:46:10 — Declaration Prayer of Activation
Closing Thoughts
Pastor Touré Roberts’ message is a rallying call for believers to move from passivity to creative engagement, stewarding their God-given uniqueness into enterprises, influence, and generational blessing. Success is not merely encouraged—it is wired into the very design of humanity. Overcoming ignorance, fear, and limitation is necessary to align with this divine blueprint. Church is reframed not as a spiritual “high,” but as an activation center for transformative living.
For more teachings or for those sensing a call to entrepreneurship and leadership, Pastor Touré invites listeners to his other podcast, “The Called,” focused on practical and spiritual leadership insights.