← ONE | A Potter's House Church
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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 to one, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to one the Word one O N E online 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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Well, let's get ready to make some big moves. We gonna read the word Genesis chapter one, starting at verse 20. Then God said, let the waters abound with what? An abundance of living creatures. And let birds fly up above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens. God. So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Not only was it good, it says, and God blessed them, saying, what? Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let the birds multiply in the earth. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Grab your seats. This is so huge. You. Because this is the only day of creation where abundance was used as a descriptor. And it's significant that it's the day that the water brought forth life, because water represents our eternal soul. On the second day, you know, on the first day of creation, the earth was completely covered with water. It was dark and there was nothing alive. When it says the earth was covered with water and darkness and void, that word void means lifeless. And on day one, God turned the lights on. And on day two, God put some structure on the planet. So he took some of the water and put it up. It says some water above the firmament and left some water below the firmament. And he called the water below the firmament the seas. And so the same water that we have down here is also in heaven. It's cleaner. There's no acid rain in heaven. There's no pollution in heaven. But there is water in heaven. Even the molecular structure of water is divine. H2O it reflects the triune God that we serve. O is the Father, that's the breath of life, oxygen. And then extending from the Father is the Son, the Word Jesus and the Christ, and then the Holy Spirit. So even the structure of water reflects divinity, and it is an eternal reflection of what's in heaven. Because when we die and prayerfully, we find ourselves in heaven. Hallelujah. And not the other place. Either way, your identity is eternal. You will know who you are and where you are. We have memories. We're still that essential part of us. The water is eternal. Amen. And so then, when he called life out of the waters, the fish and the birds came out of the water. The fish filled the water, the birds came up out of the water, and they were ordained to live on the earth. And we have been learning for the last two weeks that that deep ocean is the depths of our heart and that all the things swimming around in there represent our emotional lives, our motives, our intentions. If you haven't been here for those messages, please go back and listen. Because we need to be paying attention to what's happening in the heart. But today, we're going to talk about those birds. Those birds represent what's happening in the mind. They are our thoughts, our mindset, the way that we process things. So let's take a look at what that means for us. Those thoughts of the heart that we looked at last week are not the same as the thoughts of the mind. The thoughts of the heart refer to our intentions, our memories, our attachments, our fears, our hopes, the things we love, even our bodily experiences, because that becomes a part of our memory and how we experience the world. Even before our thoughts are present or conscious, we are already moving in the direction of the current of the ocean of our hearts. But the mind, when we're talking about the mind, we're talking about our reasoning, how we work through things, how we come to decisions, how we decide what to do. Ultimately, thinking is just the questions that we ask all day. Thinking is your Q and A session. It starts when you wake up and it runs till you go to bed. Soon as you wake up, what's your first thought? Can I afford to hit the snooze button? First question, second question is, can I hit it again? I hit mine twice today. I don't know about you. And then we get up, what am I gonna wear? Are my clothes ready? Is there gas in the car? All day long, we really are just asking questions. Should I take this route? Should I take that route? Should I return this Call. How long will this email take? Thoughts are just questions and that we're striving to get answers. And those answers become our behavior, our fruits. But thoughts is just a Q and A session all day long. For some of us, it's a Q and a session all night long. Because even when you sleep, anxiety will have questions running through your mind. You playing out wild scenarios, even in your dreams, constantly thinking. And this is a dangerous area because if we are not having our thoughts aligned with the Lord, it disrupts our capacity to fully, fully actualize who and what God made us to be in the earth. Because those questions can slow us down and they trip us up. I want to show you a little bit in scripture about how we understand that birds actually do teach us about thoughts. I know you trust me, but I want you to trust the word. Remember that the Bible says that we are like trees. Psalm chapter 1, verse 3. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its seed season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. I've taught you before to see the tree inside our actual biology. Can we show that again, that we have a tree of life in the center of our body? We call it the vagus nerve. But this tree actually runs all of our life functions. It starts by being planted in the heart. And that's why you see the roots go down into our bellies, where the rivers of living water should be flowing. Genesis chapter 2 describes this in perfect detail. There was a literal garden planted on the earth in Eden, but also in our bodies. We see this biological map, and then the tree grows up and then spreads all out here. And then your brain is a big fruit on top. That's the fruit. Brains are the fruit of your decisions, your experiences, your behaviors. I've shared this before, that they figured out that you cannot transplant brains. They tried it in animal studies. It doesn't work. You can transplant hearts. And we know that memories from the donor are known to show up in the recipient. But they have finally figured out if you tried to transplant a brain, that brain would become the person whose body it was, not the person it came from. Because it's a product of all the things going on down here, all this information and the brain, heart connection. 80% of the information is going up from the body to the brain. Only 20% is coming down. And so while we have made our brains, our minds king, we have idolized they are products. And so this is the fruit at the top of the Tree. And that's where the birds live. Psalm 104:12. By them the birds of the heavens have their home. They sing among the branches. Psalm 104, 16, 17. The trees of the Lord are full of SAP, where the birds make their nests. The stork has her home in the fir trees. Daniel 4, verse 12 and 21 summarized says, Its leaves were lovely, its four fruit abundant. The beasts of the field found shade under it. The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches. Last one I'll read. There are many more. Matthew 13:31,32. It's the parable of the mustard seed, which we know is compared to faith, that it grows and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. Birds teach us about the thoughts and the mindsets that we have. And so it's very important as we get ready to make a big move, that we get our minds right. Anybody want that mind right? Well, let's go to Genesis 8. I was so excited when God told me that this was the passage we were going to use for birds. Because, man, it's a story that we think we know it's Noah, but there's always something else to learn. We're going to pick up in Genesis 8. But if you want to read Noah's whole story, go back to, like, Genesis 6. But we're going to pick up at 8 where he has already been obedient to God, built the ark, and everybody evil has been wiped out. He was the righteous person on Earth who was a savior also for his family. God didn't say his whole family was righteous as Noah was. You can make a difference for people who don't even know Jesus if you just. You just ain't saying. I tell you, I walk around. Cause, you know, moving to California kind of scared me because, you know, earthquakes. I'm from the east coast, so all you ever hear is earthquakes. Earthquakes, like, they happen every day or something. So when I came out here, I was a little nervous. But I tell you, I still go out for walks in my neighborhood. And every now and then I'm just like, I command this earth to be still. You be still in the name of Jesus. And I look at that ocean, and there won't be no tsunami here. Stay in your borders. Everybody in this town is going to be blessed because I'm walking around out here speaking a word. Amen. And so it doesn't have to be that they know exactly what to do. It said Noah was righteous and his whole family was Saved. That was for somebody. So anyway, he builds this ark and they go in there, it rains. The rain wipes out everything. And now they're getting ready to come out. Genesis 8, chapter. Chapter 8, verse 3. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of 150 days, the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the 17th day of the month on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. And in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. I'm trying to tell you, some of y' all don't realize how long Noah and them were in that boat. It took a total of about 330 days from the time the rain stopped until the earth was clear and dry enough for them to come out. Stop rushing. The storm just stopped in some of your lives. And you're trying to run in that area and build and the water ain't even went down yet. So slow down. God told stop, okay, 330 days. That's a separate message. But anyway. And I say, oh, we were talking about this on the break we have. That was about 11 months. And we have 11 months or so left in this year. But God's going to do a thing anyway. So it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark, which he made. Then he sent out a raven, that's a bird, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. He also sent out from himself a dove to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot. And she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole Earth. So he put out his hand and took her and drew her into the ark to himself. And he waited another seven days. And again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth. And Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove with which did not return again to him anymore. I want to talk to you today about this raven and this dove because they represent two lines of thinking. See, Noah had a question. How safe is it for me to get ready to go outside? How soon might we be able to step out of this ark? He sent the raven to check on the environment and he sent the dove to Check on the environment. Now, the raven never came back. First time out, the raven doesn't return. The Bible says that the raven went to and fro, but it did not return. That to and fro stuck out to me. Because in Job, chapter one, we see the story of Satan roaming around in heaven with the other sons of God. And he says, it says in Job 1 chapter, chapter 1, verse, verse 6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, from where do you come? What you doing here? Where you been? So Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking back and forth on it, he did not have a destination. He was just prowling around to see what was going on. That is not how God sends us out when he's given us a word. You just out there checking out the scenery? I'm not sure, but I'm just gonna go back and forth and look around and survey the area and see what I see and see what I think, and then maybe I'll make a decision. But Ephesians 4, chapter 4, verse 14 says that we should no longer be children. Tossed two and fro, children roam around. I'm bored. Nothing to do, nowhere to go. Why? No responsibilities, no demands. I got things to do for God. I don't have time to just be to and fro, seeing how things fall out for me when he has given me an absolute command on what to do with my life, when I know he has a purpose for me and a plan for me and a hope for my future. What I'm toing and froing for, I need to be focused. But the devil loves to roam to and fro. And so that raven just kept going back and forth. That's not the kind of thinking that we want to have. As you prepare to say, God, what is the big move that you would have me make right now? Because there's a grace on the house for us to be under abundance and to make this move. You don't want to miss it. God, what would you have me do? Ravens are not good ways to assess. They are a negative thinking pattern that is survival focused. The reason why that raven never came back is because ravens eat dead things and there were dead bodies floating all over the water. This is not a fantasy story. The earth was flooded. Everybody died where you think they was at. But ravens eat dead things. And so that raven had somewhere to land. It landed on something dead what would let you know that as you consider your next big move, as you're listening for God, as you're surveying the area that you have sent a raven out to ask the question, well, does it go straight to where the problem was the last time? Does it survey what died to see if you might survive it? If you try again, does it settle down on something dead to see what the risk is if I were to make a big move? Here are questions that Ravens ask, well, what might go wrong if I try this? What will this cost me? What if I fail publicly? As you consider what big move God has for you to jump on in these next 40 days? If your mind's first ask is, what if I lose money? What if people judge me? What if I'm not ready? What if someone else is better at it than I am? That influencer already has that corner. I gotta come up with a better idea. What's the safest version of this? Can I delay this until conditions improve? How do I protect my reputation? Who might oppose me? And what is the minimum I can do to test this? Now I'm gonna go ahead and confess the guilt. Cause y' all know I always tell my own self. So I was thinking that my big move for these next 40 days would be to relaunch my podcast because I have not made a brand new episode on my own of my podcast in almost three years. I stopped podcasting in April of April or May of 2023. And I love Turn the Light On. I love my. I'm sorry, in the Light. I love my podcast, love doing it, love talking to people, love the feedback, love the interviews. But In April of 23, I was completely broken and wiped. I was walking through my divorce. Nobody knew it, and I couldn't. I didn't have the bandwidth. I had always been so honest and vulnerable on the podcast. And I didn't like sitting down in front of the microphone and trying to put a mask on. I don't have the capability. So I just went quiet. And so I let some time pass. But for the last year or so, I've been like, I gotta bring the podcast back. I'm gonna bring it back. And so I was like, that's what I'm gonna do for my 40 days. I'm gonna do my podcast. Well, child, no, not saying I'm not gonna do it, but that's not the big move that God had for me. So between services, I was talking to Pastor E.B. and we were talking about our podcast, and I was like, yeah, I'M definitely gonna do that. I'm definitely gonna go there. I think that's gonna be my big move. In 40 days, I'm gonna drop, like, five episodes. That's what I'm gonna do. And then I was reading my notes again. What's the safest version of this? And then the last one. What's the minimum I can do to test this? And when I read that on in my notes, I had this flashback. Last November, Pastor Torre was in town, and he and I were chatting, and he was asking me about things I had on my heart. And I said, you know what? I want to do a faith and mental health conference in 2026. I've never done one. It's been on my heart for years. I believe that it's still necessary. I believe it's needed. I want to do it on 2026. And he was like, okay, now, y' all know Pastor Tory. He, like, go. You know, he always gonna be like, go. And I was like, yeah, you know, I'll do it. I'll start small. And he went. And I was like, oh, God. And he said, why? Why does it need to start small? Why not start big? And I was like, yeah, okay, okay. And then I tucked that away. Can I tell you, that thing hasn't been on my mind no more? And when I was out there in between services, going on about my big move on my podcast, and I read, what's the minimum I could do to test this? And I heard him say, why start small? And God said, do that. I said, oh, when I tell you I was in the back with my face on the table, like, come on, God. But he comes for all of us. So let me announce my big move. The first Flourish Faith and Mental Health Conference will occur in 2026. And I'm gonna spend the next 40 days hearing from God, planning it, choosing a date, finding a place, whatever he opens the door to do, I'm not gonna hold back. And I'm scared to death, but here we go. That's my big move. What's your big move? Were you thinking of something that's easy to do? I could make three podcast episodes to today. That's a fact. I haven't made them. Something's hard about it, but I could do it today. I could go home, sit down in the corner. I got lights, I got mics, sit down, hit play, talk by myself for an hour. I can do that in my sleep. And so it feeling like a big deal because it's been a few years, because I Would have had to kind of approach an emotional space. Because every time something gets rebooted, built from that breaking down period of my life, there's a little pain, there's a little remembrance. But that wasn't hard enough to be big. So God let me know what he decided would be big. So it's not the thing necessarily that you're fantasizing about. If it's the kind that God put, you'll be like, that one. That one. And so I'm always. I want you to follow me as I follow Christ. That's why I'm telling you. Okay, so here I am now. I'm out here. Y' all gonna be watching me. And watch. Cause he never fails. He never fails. And we're gonna do this together, and y' all are gonna tell me what big moves you're making, and you're gonna tell each other, and we are gonna celebrate New Year's Eve this year. Like, oh, my God, look what he did. I will not send out a raven to plan this conference. See, a raven would try and find every other faith and mental health conference that ever got done to see what they did and how much it was and where did they go and who spoke there and did it work and did it not work. Ra look for the things of the past that die. Oh, well, it's good to get information. It depends where your heart is, when you get it. Why are you looking? Because ravens look for trouble and limitations, and they gang up. They like to travel in packs. They gang bangers. They will attack a common enemy together. In fact, ravens. It's been proven that ravens memorize the face of humans that have bothered them and will come back and sit on your fence and dare you to come outside and get pecked. Ravens are that smart. But some of our minds work like that. We are keeping a record constantly of what went wrong and what didn't work and who wasn't there and who said it and who talked about me and who didn't like my post and who said it stalked my story but didn't support my event. And you. Oh. Oh, my God. Unless you in Baltimore, I don't want to see no raven nowhere. They are dirty birds. They dirty birds. I'm telling you. I know they're dirty birds because Leviticus tells me that they are. Hold on. Let's find it. Let's see a Leviticus. Chapter 11, verse 13. And you shall regard as an abomination among the birds. They shall not be eaten. They are an abomination. This one's gonna surprise y'. All. The eagle. I know. The vulture, the buzzard. And skipping to verse 15, and every raven after its kind. These are dirty birds. They are not clean birds. They are not to be eaten. These are birds of predation. That means that predators they things to eat them. Did we just read at offering time that the bird, he feeds the bird? We are supposed to be fed by God. Our mind is supposed to be fed by God. But those birds hunt prey, and so they are being called unclean in that space. Not un. Not good. See, everything that God made was good, but it's not good for everything. You got to recognize a different attitude in a different place. Yes, the Bible says we will mount up on wings like eagles. We'll run and not get weary. But that's. You gotta hear. God gives us joys that exist as humans, but not everything that he gives us as a joy, as a desire that he meets in our lives, is considered a sacred thing that is worthy of altar space. You can't sacrifice a raven for your sin, but a dove is worthy of the altar. And so I may have some eagle areas of my life, but I want more and more of my life to be worthy of the altar. See, we love the way eagles soar. Ravens soar in a very similar way. Ravens just get their wings open and they just soar back and forth, very low energy. They just dialing it in. They're not really engaged. Oh, that was me about to restart the podcast. That's easy route. I'm just coasting, coasting. Let me look back and forth and see what's accessible to me. I could do that easily. I could do that. I can see where I have the resources for that. Oh, that will work. Oh, that's no problem. Oh, raven. But the dove is different. The dove flies differently than the raven. First of all, doves are smaller. Their wings are smaller, but they flap the entire time. And yes, that's a lot of energy because they're deliberate. They're not coasting. Doves can take off very powerfully all of a sudden, and they flap really hard, but that makes them highly maneuverable. They can turn on a dime. So you gotta be ready. What God said what? Oh, we going over there. See, when you coast and you're not even listening, but the dove is listening. When the wind changes, anything change quick. And so when Noah released the dove, the dove came back to the ark, the ark of the covenant of God, where the word of God lives. Noah was in a covenant ark. He said he had a covenant with God to be rescued. So he built an ark. So don't miss the fact that where the word was carried by the children of Israel was called the Ark of the Covenant. In every message we taught about the waters of your heart and the storms, where was the safest place place to be in the boat? The ark, the Word. And so this dove goes out without losing sight of how she has been made. God feeds the birds. They're supposed to be fed by the Lord. She goes out and she just sees dead stuff floating. There's no tree for her to live in. That is her rightful place to live. No tree was showing above the waterline. And so she returned to the ark. She came back to where the Word of God was. She came back to where the instruction was. And until what's out there is parallel to what's in here. Until what's out there is congruent with what God spoke here. I will return to the Word and wait. She made three trips. The first time, she came back with nothing. He brought her back in. We stay. Don't feel like just because the first time you tried it and it didn't work. Don't go from dove to raven now to try to figure out. See, some of you went out because God said go. And you tried it, and then it didn't work. You, like a moth to a flame, you keep getting burned up, but yet you're still attracted to that same light. Because there's something in you that is called to that space. It just wasn't time. You cannot allow the fear of the failure of the past to tell you that you're not meant for the thing. One dove and now you. All ravens. Because I don't want to feel that again. I don't want to lose again. I don't want to be rejected again. I don't want to have to start. Listen. Oh, my gosh. Valentine's Weekend. Anybody with me on the set, you know I'll go single. Talking phase. Exclusive phase. Single face, talking face. You know, y' all know. Come on, Gina. I don't want to play no more. Whatever it is the job. You got two interviews in and still didn't get it. You submitted the script to the film festival and it made it to the semifinals, but it didn't go any further. And because it didn't make the full run, you fly back in. And you don't want to send a dove again. Because doves are open. They're vulnerable, they're needy. They have to trust God. But ravens will go out and Try to figure out all the bad stuff that went wrong and protect yourself. That will not get you where God wants you to go. You've got to be willing to go with the Holy Spirit. It's a reason why a dove represented the Holy Spirit, sensitive to God, sensitive to the movements of the atmosphere, aware of its vulnerability. Here are questions that your dove thinking should ask. Is there solid ground here? Expect God to take you to solid ground. And if this is not solid ground, we're not going to take a substitute. We're not going to float on a dead thing for a while to see if it gets me to solid ground. I'm going back to the ark. Is there growth potential, not just loss prevention? Is this aligned with who God called me to be? In making our bold moves, we must remain identifiable as followers of Christ. There is nothing on the path that God has laid for you to get to your big move that would make you look different than him. On Wednesday night, no, Thursday night with the women, we talked about identity. And then I found out that on Friday night, Pastor Ev taught the men about identity. God wants us to know who we are, regardless of who we are connected to or what work we do. You have to be identifiable. Is this aligned with who God called me to be? Say yes or no question. Will this multiply something good? If I'm out here asking, will this multiply something good? The raven element of that question is, will it be that bad? Like, will the loss or the destruction or the compromise be small enough that I'm willing to risk it? Will this multiply something good? Where is the evidence of life? Where is evidence of life? See, once that tree started poking through the water, the dove got a little branch and brought it back to the boat. It wasn't enough for the dove to build a nest and stay, but they brought back a sign of hope. You gotta be willing to let a small thing excite you. Let a small thing give you hope. Is it sustainable? God's not gonna give you something that can't be sustained. And very often in our effort to avoid pain, sometimes we take massive leaps. That was not God at all. Then you mad at God because you living in your car. And now maybe God told you living your car and you're comfortable and you're happy. But I'm saying, sometimes in an effort to avoid pain, we'll just close our eyes and jump. That's not faith. That's fear of pain stopping me. And so I confront the fear by just running into it all wild. You feeling that little difference There. It's like, I don't even want to know. I don't even want to know. I just. You know what? Don't even tell me. I'm just going to do it all here. Here. No. Because if you feel you have to be aware of what's happening in your body, where is it coming from? The reason that the birds matter is because sometimes it's hard to see the fish. It's hard to know what's going on underwater. And in all of that flood, destroying all of the people and all of the many animals who died except the ones that were in the ark, guess what survived 100%? What was in the water. The fish didn't need no special help to survive the flood. The whales, the sharks, the puffer fish, the barracudas, the jellyfish, the goldfish, Nemo, Dorothy, everybody. Everybody still down there. And I think that's so interesting, because all of the possibilities exist in the depths of our hearts. From the moment that the woman in the Garden of Eden had a conversation with a serpent, the capacity to betray the word of God was in her heart. This is why it's so tough, because we don't really want life. We want to know the difference between good and evil. We're always trying to figure out what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's evil, what's sin and what's not. It's deeper than that. It's about the capacity, capacity to be motivated from different spots. And so our hearts still have full capacity to go after God or go after the flesh. Nothing in the ocean died, but the birds will let you know a little something about what's going on underwater because your mind is going to be congruent with what's moving your heart. Let me give you a few more Dove questions after. Is this sustainable? Who can I return to when I need to be recalibrated? You want to have an anchor point that Dove had an anchor point. You want to be able to get back to the ark. You want to be in line with what's happening in the house, with the word that God preached. And so many people are listening online. And if you consider yourself a part of this movement but you're somewhere else in the world, take this word and run. But we have to be careful going to YouTube and listening to eight services in a row and trying to follow every word being spoken in every house. We are. I am a pastor of a local body. God is called me to pastor. You don't. You don't want to run. 18 pastors try to get 18 words and everybody's listening. You be like, man. Dr. N, I did what you said. I tried to make a big move. First of all, are you linked to this movement? Are you part of this body I'm talking to? We got to be so careful because we can be so desperate to get what we want to hear. That's raven work. Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. What small step proves that the ground is drying. It's okay to take steps. That's not a fear problem. Well, it could be, but if you are motivated by fear. Yes, but it's okay to take small steps. They went out and came back. They went out and came back, went out and came back and then went out and didn't make it back. What would fruitfulness look like in year one? Think about that. Steve Jobs. Wonderful quote. We overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in 10. And so we're always behind the eight ball because we want the immediate gratification of being able to say, I accomplished all of these million things in nine months. When if you had planned well, you could accomplish even more in a decade. Where do you want to be in 10 years? Start there. If you made a vision board this year, it should be for 2036. And then if I'm going to be here in 2036, then 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27. Here's what I need to do in 2026 to be where I want to be in 2036. We can't keep running these short cycles. A year is a very short cycle. It's too short. You get one harvest, one, one crop of apples a year, one crop of corn a year, it's California, you might get a few more. I am amazed at the fact that I get to see more than one on my tree. But a year, it keeps you running so tight. What I want to do this year should be linked to where it's getting me 10 years from now. Think bigger. Fear keeps you in this tiny 12 month cycle, but a dove flight, Holy Spirit, God, move will take you a decade down the road, building legacy and security and stability and impact. Because I was thinking big, not just trying to feel better. Now go back and tweak that vision board. Go back and tweak your vision statement. Give me 2036. And if that scares you, spend some time with God. He's the God outside of time. Think about what's happened in your life. 10 years in the last 10. My life is unrecognizable from 2016. Unrecognizable. I was a wife with high school kids and a pastor's wife in Baltimore. Like, this is where I'm standing today is inconceivable through the eyes of my 2016 self. Inconceivable. And I know I'm not the only one. So we've had this little 2016 moment where you look back, you're like, wow. And, I mean, some of Y' all were 10, so God bless you. But it's been a big 10 years. You know, it's been a big 10 years. But now imagine that 10 more years from now. That makes you. When you think 10 years down the line, you're stretching capacity, you're making more space. And then what happens to that space? Abundance fills it, and the overflow is even bigger. Go, dove. Raven is small. It's current. It's immediate. It's safe. But that dove is vulnerable. Finally, our last dove question. Am I building two more? Am I building on debris or soil? That hurt my feelings. I wonder if the podcast for me to pick up the podcast would have been like a debrief. I'm thinking about that now because of how it stopped. I'm not saying I'll never podcast again, but maybe it'll be a different podcast. I have no idea. But I wonder why God pulled that. Am I building on debris? Are you trying to go back? Because you'll feel better if you could retrieve some of the things that a season cost you, and you'll feel better if you didn't lose as much. I don't need nothing but what God has for me. And so sometimes we do. We recover all. But we have to make sure we're not crawling back there, following ravens to see what I can get back. That's dead. Oh, Jesus. Last question. What needs to be surrendered for this to flourish? That's a dove question. Ravens will say, what's it gonna cost me? What I'm gonna have to give up? What will I lose? But the dove question is, what needs to be surrendered to God for this to flourish? You got your dove mind on. It's a really good thing because doves are vulnerable, and so it is a more vulnerable experience to ask those questions as you seek God for what your big move is. We are gonna be praying. Did I talk about prayer earlier? Okay, so our prayer is starting on Tuesday at noon. One of the things I want you in there doing is making sure at Least for these first few days, that you have good feeling from God about the big move that you're going to label for this. Now, let me be clear. Do not allow that to become a trap. Because sometimes we send out a raven to find the will of God. Oh, Jesus. We send out a raven because we like. I don't want to get it wrong. What if I picked the wrong thing and God wanted me to do a different thing? I've told y' all many times, God is not putting you on a scavenger hunt for his will. He is not hiding it from you to see if you find it. And so then you get the reward if you find it, and you don't get it if you don't. No good parent would do that. If I want my children to have something, I give it to them. I leave it where it can be found. Somebody is watching my dog today. I left the dog's dinner on the counter, measured out next to the food. He doesn't have to look for it. I want my dog to eat. How much more? Really think about it. You take care of your fish in a bowl better than that. And you think God has you running around. I don't know what's will. I don't know what's willing. And if you miss his will, he'll be like, ah, now you get nothing. Who is this God you serve? If he got something to tell you, get to you, it's going to get to you. And so today I was good, and then he smacked me. So now here we are with a conference. He ain't let me miss that. I'm out here preaching, and he in the back and in the back getting smacked. He won't let you miss it. I'm a witness. And then there's other times where you have choices and you make them. I've shared before. When God told me to launch this public mental health ministry, I was like, I could start a podcast. I could write a book, or I could go on a speaking tour. And I chose the speaking tour because it was accessible to me. I had never done it before, but I had everything I needed to do it, and it would not delay the people being touched. The podcast would have delayed people, the book would have delayed, but that wouldn't delay. And I didn't have. God wasn't on me on any particular thing. So I moved. When Adam was told by God to name every animal in the garden, he was given dominion to do that. He was empowered to do that. God did not tell him what to name. So he didn't stand there when the elephant came by and was like, God, I can't name until you tell me what it is. I can't name until you tell you what it is. It doesn't say that. It said God told him to do it. That's dominion. And if you go back to Genesis 1:28, it says that he made man in his image. He blessed them, told him to be fruitful and multiply, and he gave them dominion over the fish of the sea and the foul of the air. He didn't say, subdue them, control them, repress them. We said, subdue the earth, because this body will act up. We know that he said, subdue that. But it said, have dominion over the fish and the birds. So you are empowered to do things in this area. And if God has a very specific instruction, he will give it to you. But if you don't have more specifics than how he empowered you. Move. He orders steps. Pick up your foot and see what happens. Amen. Psalm 91. I'm almost finished. I want you to embrace the vulnerability of dove life because these are vulnerable questions. Raven questions are survival questions, and they're meant to self protect. But dove questions are thriving questions. But there's a vulnerability to them because you have to be open and quick to move, and you got to keep flapping and you might get tired and you have to start, maybe you come back, there's a vulnerability, but that's okay, because Psalm 91, verse 1 says, he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God. In him will I trust that bird. Flying back to the Ark, flying back to what God said, flying back to the word. He. He is my refuge, my fortress. In my God. In him will I trust. Surely he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler. That's the bird catcher. Why would I need to be delivered from a bird catcher? Because the enemy wants to steal the thoughts of what God has given me. He wants to capture the doves and send ravens instead. Many of you have quoted Psalm 91 about protection. And you ran right past that. Didn't even stop. Now, why would I need to be protected from a bird catcher? This is why. Because constantly the enemy wants to capture your thoughts. That's why you have to take thoughts captive. Capture those ravens. Let the doves be free. You don't listen to every single thing. You don't need to read every Single thing. You don't need to watch every single thing. I'm not saying be closed minded because critical thinking is a part of being a Christian. There's nothing wrong with being intellectual. Y' all know I'm a brainiac, but I have limits on where I let my mind go. I have limits. The Bible is my boundary. And so when people ask me questions about Scripture. Well, do you know this? I asked Sister C.G. ask me a question recently about the. The story where Jesus cast the demon out into the pigs and all the pigs jump off the. Off the cliff. Anybody know that story? And she was asking, she's like, why does happen? I said, you know what? I've never even wondered. Cause why? I haven't had a God driven reason to wonder. See, some of you want to pick scripture apart so you can argue about. See, that's. I haven't had a reason that God inspired for me to dig deep into the pig thing. I didn't have no reason. Now she asked me. I was like, why do you want to know? And you need to challenge yourself sometimes when you're diving into scripture. Why am I in this? Am I here to get guidance from the Lord? Or am I here to work out an issue that I have with God that I'm mad about? Am I here to try to avoid something that I don't want to do? What am I actually digging into Scripture for? I've seen things in scripture that I'm looking at the edge of them and I'm like, man, I bet that is wild. As wild as my trees and neurons and all the stuff I've seen. I have interest in a few things, but God has not released me to dive into them. And so I don't look. And when I do search my science and Bible intersection, I start with scripture and I end with Scripture. I start with Scripture, I fly out, and if I don't see nothing, I come back to the Word, then I fly out again. I might find a theory, a research article, a scientist. And it sounds like they're saying they're trying to say what God said. So I'll take that off article and I fly back and I go through scripture again. I don't allow the world's work to tell me how to interpret scripture. I use scripture to interpret what they're trying to accomplish. It's very tricky, and too many pastors will engage science in the wrong direction. They see something that sounds familiar to the Bible, they grab it and act like it's scripture and it's not. And Then you start using science that you. Some pop science you found to think that it's going to clarify what the Bible says. No, baby, no, no. No scripture out here. Back. And if it doesn't match scripture, I ain't going to say it. But there are things I'm curious about, but I have not researched because God didn't tell me to. And if I allow my intellectual capacity to run free just because I enjoy it, I could be in a dangerous place. See, that's raven thinking, and that's not good for sacrifice. So you make sure that you use your intellect, but you are not used by your intellect, that it must be satisfied in order for you to move. Honey, the only thing that needs to be satisfied is this word. He will meet you on the way. Amen. He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. And then he shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings shall you take refuge. His wings are so big, we could all get underneath them. That is because his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Trust the Lord, and He will cover you on the way while you fly in. He got his wing over you. Be willing to be vulnerable because he's covering you with his wings, with his thoughts, with his, with his perspective, his view. We are supposed to match God in heart, but we can't match him in mind. And so we fly vulnerably, humbly, always willing to be sacrificial. The dove is a sacrifice. We don't go with the unclean thing. We don't go after the thing that allows us to hunt and kill. We go with the ideas that means that God will feed us. And so as you look for this big move, stand to your feet as you look for this big move, maybe it's not what you were thinking it was at the beginning. Maybe y' all aren't gonna get slapped down like me, but maybe you will. And I hope so, because doing the thing that God said to do, he takes care of every other thing. And so for me, this was like, well, God, really? You gonna just jump like that? I can think of three projects, podcast included, that I consider, like, open and unfinished. I'd love to pick any one of those three right now to throw myself in and just have this feel like, man, I finished that up and he went way over there. But here's what I know about God. Somehow, in doing the thing that he told me to do, all three of those things are going to end up being Taken care of every single time because I'm under his wing. I don't got to go to and fro trying to figure out what. What it's going to look like and say, no. This is a prophetic call to you. Make a big move. Don't allow the enemy to steal any more days from your life. It's February 15th. There are things to accomplish that will bring 2036 closer. In 2026, what time is it? What is God saying? Ready, set, go to. I love that our team wanted to use the imagery of the trains for this because I felt like, man, first of all, I'm from the east coast, so I love a good subway ride. But as I sat on the train that day when we were filming, I just had such a worship praise moment with God as I looked at it, and I thought, this is my life for real. I've been on one train and then one stop will happen. I'll transfer trains. And it's like, oh, I was on the wife and mother train, and now I'm on the therapist train. And wait a minute, I'm on the pastor train. I don't transfer it from the P to the T to the B to the S. But it's always moving. It's always moving. If you're at a standstill, you might. It's just time to change trains. Be willing to get off that one and get on that one. You know the people on this train. You do not know the people on that train. But that is okay if you. If it's not unfamiliar, it's not a big move. It's going to go in a different direction. It might backtrack a little bit. It doesn't matter. Follow the route that God plans. Be obedient, and go for it. You are a very special group of people. 1. You are the best of the gifts of the kingdom. Kingdom. We've talked about what it means to be here in Babylon. They want to see the best that the kingdom has to offer. You are the most brilliant creatives here. You are the most prolific entrepreneurs here. You are the best writers here. You have the voices. You have the gifts. Do the thing. We cannot allow this privilege to be wasted. Move big. Move big. And we're going to do it together. How many people are still waiting? You're like, I know what it is. Well, first of all, who knows what it is? Who feel like they know what it is? Oh, that's exciting. And for those who don't know yet, meet us at prayer on Tuesday and then let's make sure that no ravens steal anything from us before we can you put up the slide with all of the with the word cloud on it. You guys answered me last week, remember I asked you to send out and tell me what was hard 500 plus. You responded before Sunday was over about what would be hard for your big move. And these are the things you said. Fear was the biggest one. We're going to win over fear, procrastination, lack of consistency, discipline. We are going to win finances, child start getting that seed together because we got an answer for that. But also in these coming weeks and next Sunday I should have the dates for you. The seminars that we have are going to be centered around the things that you said. So don't worry. We're going to be on top of every single thing. We're going to be looking at fear, consistency, finances, clarity. Don't miss Pastor Torre. He on a clarity run right now. And also we're going to give you a mechanism to let us know what you're doing, what your big move is because we want to be able to connect you if you and someone else are doing something similar or maybe you have a way to help somebody else because I can see what you're doing and somebody they're doing. We're going to take care of each other in this family of God. You don't have to do it by yourself. I love preaching to you, but I also want to get my arms around you. I want you to have the support you need and I want all ravens out, out, out. We are going to be dove minded in the kingdom of God. Amen. Amen. Let me ask you this question. Do you know Jesus? Because it's all ravens for you if you don't know Jesus. Is there anyone here who has not made the intentional decision to follow Jesus? Maybe you grew up in church or going to mass. You've always believed in Jesus but you can't look at a date when you said no, I am turning my life over to this path. Jesus is the way I'm going to live. Is there anyone who has never done this, that and you'd like to do it today? I want to invite you to make the biggest move ever, which is to give your life to Jesus. If you're watching online and you haven't done that, you can't point to that date night for me. November 7, 1992 where I gave my life to Jesus. Let today be it. February 15, 2026. Is there one? Just slip your hand up. I want to pray for You. And we want to welcome you. You into the kingdom. Hey, I see a hand. There we are. Hey. Yeah. Hey, you. I'm so excited. Is that. Oh, and that's one of our young, our little ones. Good decision, sir. Man, if I had really got serious about Jesus at that age, I could have stayed out of a lot of trouble. Would you mind coming for me to pray for you? Would you bring him down so we can pray if he doesn't have to, if it doesn't want to? I can pray from there. Is there anyone else who wants to come to Jesus today in that way? All right, well, we got this child. And let me tell you. Come on. This is a change. This is a change. That's okay. You're good right where you are. He's nervous. He's like. That's too close. All that matters is that we know that Jesus. We agree that Jesus was God's son, that Jesus loves you so much that he was willing to give up every single thing to be with you. And he did everything on earth that he could. And then he went back to heaven where his father lives, and there he is sitting, praying for you. If you believe that you belong to Jesus, and there is no limitation that people come up with that can work against Jesus living in your life, you now belong to Jesus. Y' all praise him that this child gave their life to Jesus today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Well, I'm gonna pray for you, and we're gonna go. Raise your hands. Father, thank you for these big people, these bold, identifiable goers who are ready, even if they're a little nervous, to pursue the move that you have for them to make. We thank you that in this next 40 days, we will have testimony of the seed that was planted in us so long ago, bursting forth and bearing fruit. I thank you, Father God, that no weapon formed against them during this season can prosper. That what they put their hands on you. Bless that you are speaking, that you are guiding, that you are changing them, that you are moving on their behalf, that the abundance that you have ordained for their life in this year will find room inside of them to the point of overflow. As we pray together, as we encourage one another, as we listen for your voice, as we take vulnerable flight, we trust you to cover us with your wings no matter what the journey is. In Jesus. Name.
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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, you can just look up the call T H E C A L L E D with myself to Ray 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.