Loading summary
Transcript9 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
- [00:04]
B
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 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.
- [00:54]
A
Luke, chapter one. Luke, chapter one. Oh. Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And having come, Just look at your neighbor and say, today my name is Mary. Uh huh. Yeah. Yes. Are you ready to carry something that can only be yours? Are you ready to feel it kick and move and leap? Are you ready to say yes? Whoo. I'm trying. I'm trying 21 or whatever the next verse is. My God, I'm trying verse 28. And having come in, the angel said to her, rejoice. Highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Rejoice. Highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Rejoice. Highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Rejoice. Highly favored one, the Lord is with you. And you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you. The Lord is with you. Oh, Is anybody highly favored? Well, blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying. And consider what manner of greeting this was. See, sometimes we've been waiting and waiting on God to show up, and we've been asking for a word, and then it shows up and you're so confused you don't even know what to think. Could God be showing up for me like this? What is this that's happening? But it is God. Learn to recognize him. Then the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found what I'm prophesying over you. You better call your Name, Mary. Today, I have found favor with the Lord. I have favor with the Lord. I have found favor with the Lord. There is nothing in this word that doesn't have revelation for this moment. We can't treat it like it's old. It's alive. And behold, you will conceive in your womb. If you were here a few months ago, I showed y' all a brain on the screen with a womb inside of it. If you wasn't here, you don't know. But if you know, you know. You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name. First time it's spoken to a human being. He will be great and will be called the Son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. The thing that God is conceiving inside of you on today is a generational fulfillment that will bring a blessing that was promised to your mother's mother's, mother's mother's mother, and your father's father. Father's father, Father, you better receive it. What's your name today? You go, somebody got it. I'm in the room with some people who got it. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no. You'll be thinking, something is running out. It's never run out. It might have changed direction. It might have kind of come from a different source. But you ain't never been out of favor. You ain't never been out of healing. You ain't never been out of grace. You ain't never been out of Revelation. You ain't never been out of anointing. It might have stopped flowing from this direction, but that just means I need to look for it over here. There's no end. I serve an eternal God. Then Mary said to the angel, how can this be? My God still asking questions? Since I do not know a man, it don't have to work the way you think it's gonna work. How can this be? I didn't apply for it. How can this be? I don't live in that state. How can this be? I didn't get a voice text. How can this be? Nobody sent me an email. How can this. And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. He told her what was coming, even though it wasn't going to come the way she would. Understand it to be coming. She knew that the angel said it was coming. And then the angel gave her an example because he didn't ask her to be the first believer. It said, now, indeed, Elizabeth, your relative this was her cousin, has also conceived a son in her old age. So we got a woman who shouldn't have been able to conceive because she was a virgin. And we got a woman who shouldn't be able to conceive because she was too old. We already got two situations here that are completely impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Then Mary said, behold, stop hiding your testimony. Somebody needs to know what he did for you. And you telling the good testimonies, but not the testimonies that still have shame on them for you. So you're not telling the whole story. You didn't admit to the diagnosis. You don't want to talk about that. You didn't admit to the sex abuse. You don't want to talk about that. You didn't admit that you had to file bankruptcy and God brought you back out. You don't want to talk about that because they might look at you different. And you not telling yourself story means somebody else's baby doesn't get to leap. Don't be selfish. And telling that story will crack. Shame off of you. My God, somebody needs your testimony. Ah. Don't talk about the thing you proud of. Talk about the thing that the enemy is trying to shroud in shame. But God did a thing. Tell your story. Tell your story. For with God it goes on saying this now, the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God, nothing will be impossible. Nothing will be impossible. Get ahold of the biggest dream that you let slip through your fingers and declare to it nothing will be impossible. Don't reorganize your dreams and your desires because you believe a time has passed or an opportunity has passed and you can't see how it's gonna work out. For with God, nothing will be impossible. Then Mary said, behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. He obtained her consent. He did not overtake her. He offered an opportunity to carry something extraordinary. But she had to say yes. Her victory wasn't in wrestling for it like Jacob. Her victory wasn't in leading armies into the valley like Deborah. Her victory was so simple. Yes, that's the only weapon you need. Oh, we've been talking about victories for weeks, but this week we're talking about the big win. And all you need for the big win is yes. My God. My God. Grab your seats. Grab your seats. Or not. It's up to you. But anyway, the victory that is fought with just the word yes, or however you phrase it, so be it unto me. I will do it. Not my will. Your will be done. I decrease, you increase whatever you say. That says, God, have your way in my life. Victory is a function of your consent. It's already won. It's about stepping into it. Genesis, chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. So the Lord God said to the serpent, y' all know what the serpent did? I'm not going to retell that story because you have done this. You are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. Verse 15. This is the good news. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Right here in this moment of the greatest failure in human history, the thing that changed all of our course of destiny and all of our lives. Right in that moment, God wrought a victory for us before we were ever born, because he didn't even let the problem get cold while they were still standing in the place of failure. He said that your seed. I have put a seed in this woman, and that seed will crush the head of the serpent. And so the victory that we have the right to put everything not like God under our feet was wrought for us in Genesis 3. And so there is no victory that you're pursuing that hasn't actually already been won. The story of Christmas is that you are just one yes away from the manifestation of the victory that was won for you before you ever showed up on the scene. Christmas is the celebration of a yes, merry, merry yes. It's Christmas, and it's the story of A yes. Galatians 4, verse 4. It says, but when the fullness of the time had come, it takes a minute sometimes. Do you know how long it was generations before it showed up? God, I feel that generational release in here today. When he said, the seed of a woman shall crush his head, it wasn't some abstract statement. The seed of the woman is the egg in the ovary in the woman's body. It wasn't a super spiritual statement. If you want to say there was biology involved. Every single woman, when they are made born, comes with every single egg she'll ever have in her ovaries. Women don't produce Eggs during their life, they mature them, but they don't produce new ones. And so that means that when my grandmother was pregnant with my mother, my mother had in her the eggs that would become me. And in her egg, where I was, when she was in her mother's egg, this egg was in my egg. We were all folded up together like a bunch of dolls. Nesting dolls. Just keep taking them out. That is how women's bodies are built. And that is how we pass on that genetic material. That's why it was important to put the skills seed in the woman, not in Adam. I didn't come to start no trouble. I'm just teaching a biology lesson. That seed was planted in her. And that's why Matthew chapter one, it's so important that the women in Jesus bloodline are listed because he biologically came down from egg to egg, from seed to seed to seed to seed. Every plant on this planet right now is the result of a seed from a plant that was created. And Eden, if you believe that God created the heave earth and the tree you walk past on the way to the parking lot was a seed that came out of the original seed. In Eden, they just keep on repeating and we're built the same way. And so the seeds just kept coming down. So it came down through Tamar and Bathsheba and Rahab and Ruth and Mary. Because Jesus was fully God and fully human. Immaculate conception is how this is described. I just found out, I know I was probably the last one, but I just found out a couple of years ago that immaculate conception is not a reference to her being a virgin. Anybody else who thought that? See, I got a few hands. I didn't grow up in the Catholic space. And I found out, and I love my Catholic brothers and sisters, they believe that Jesus is the son of God. He died and rose from the dead. They're my brothers and sisters in Christ. But I have a divergence of thought on this issue. The belief about Immaculate conception is that Mary was somehow born sinless and perfect. Unlike the rest of us. When we know when the fall happens, sin entered the flesh, right? And so that's why we are born. We have pain, we have sickness. It's why our bodies die. And we need to be resurrected in the end. Because we have the fall, we have sinfulness in our bodies. We call it original sin. And so we are all born that way. But there was this teaching in the Catholic space that Mary was born without that somehow she came here immaculate, clean, totally sin free. And I am sure that it Was probably because it's hard to conceive that a broken person like me could actually be giving birth to God. So there had to be something about her that was different than you or you or me. But that's not true. The Bible says he was fully human, which means he had to have fallen sinful genetic material. Go back to Galatians 4. 4 it says, but when the fullness of time had come, all those generations, the seed of the woman just passing down until Mary is there. It says God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law. The law was made to regulate sin. So if he did not have sin in his flesh, in his body, he would not have needed to be born under the law. He could not have actually wrought victory for us because he would not have fought our battles. If he did not have a body that was susceptible to what our bodies are susceptible to, then he would not have won our victory because he won a four hour fight. But he had to be able to be murdered. You can't murder a God unless there is some vulnerability. He was wrapped in this vulnerability. He felt pain when he was in the wilderness and the enemy tempted him with bread and with leaping off the temple. Read that later. Matthew 4. He tempted him. You can't tempt me if I don't like it. I'm hungry. You come to me with something I hate, I'm gonna be like, no thanks. Do you know how starving we gotta be to eat something we hate? Ain't none of us probably been that hungry in our any recent memory. I know you can look at me and tell you, I ain't been that hungry in recent memory. You will wait to get the thing you like. But if somebody brings you something you love to eat and you not hungry at all, you will still put it in your mouth. Oh, but it tastes so good. I'm just eat a bite. I'm full, but I'm just gonna eat a bite because you like it. You cannot be tempted with something that your body doesn't want. And so in order for Jesus to be tempted in every way as we were, his body had to want what our bodies wanted. And God can't create sin. And so he was his father, but he had to be biologically mothered in order to inherit sinful flesh from her. So he had, she had. Not only did she have to have sin in her body, we needed her to. In order for Jesus to fulfill who he was born to be. She was his biological mother. Don't let anybody tell you different verse 6, verse 5, verse 6. And because you are no. Verse 5. So born under the law to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. All of us get to be adopted as sons into the family of God. And this is why Jesus had to do this. He had a biological mother, but he was adopted by his father, Joseph. We'll get to him. And because you are sons, that's all of us. God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out, abba, Father, therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. This is the good news of Jesus birth, is that I am an heir of God through Christ. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But first, in order to be that, I have to say yes. I have to say yes to it. I can't try and make up my own way to get there. Jesus is the door. He's the only way. I'm sorry to tell you, but it's still a fact. Jesus is the only way to the Father. And every person is meant to hear this gospel. And that's why we have to talk about it. And so I'm telling you today, Jesus is the way. He's the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Him. And you want to go through this door, believe me, because there's nothing sweeter than serving Jesus. And so we just have to say yes. Like Mary did. She was willing to take divine into her and allow God to conceive something that the world needed. She said yes to something that was bigger than her. See, one of the problems with victory work is that we get very focused on our individual victory. What we want God to do for us through us, what we want him to deliver us from the fight we personally want to win. But Mary was challenged to put aside her personal fights because it was going to be bad for her. She knew it. If I say yes to this, they are going to talk about me, and I am engaged. And how am I supposed to tell this person to whom I am engaged that I am a virgin, but also, by the way, I'm pregnant? This was going to be a costly idea. But if we go and do what Colossians tells us to do, which is to keep our eyes on things above, we recognize that some victories are bigger than us, that we can be willing to suffer what we think might be a personal loss if we have the opportunity to participate in a kingdom movement that will actually shift the world. Can you Open up your thought process. Can you stop allowing your daily pain to narrow your focus only to who is in the mirror? Can you stop and intercede and say, God, I'm not going to pray for myself at all today. I'm not going to ask for nothing. God, I saw a person unhoused on the corner. Tell me how to help them. God, there are young people I have yet to meet who are suffering. Somebody is in a bedroom being abused right now and nobody's watching but Holy Ghost. Go in that room and break something up. You'll be shocked what comes out of your spirit when you start praying for somebody beside yourself. Set your eyes on things above. It will change everything. Communal victories matter. Kingdom victories matter and they will repay you. God will never leave you in debt to him. Give to him his thank you will blow you away. But we have got to elevate our thinking. Not just my victory. You need to take a Take a week. Take one day a week in 2026, one day a week and just pray for anybody but yourself. See what happens to you. And I don't mean pray for your cousin. Instead, somebody you don't know. Go on the online phone book and pick five names you ain't never seen before and say, God, I call these names. Do something. Because when you start realizing what kind of power you have in invisible realm, it'll change how you live. And I promise you, God will send them past you. You will get a testimony. You will find out. That person will walk up to you in the grocery store and be like, I just had to tell you my name. You'd be like, oh, my God, I was praying for you. Because he's gonna let you know one day a week in 2026, pray for people, pray for Kingdom, pray for the city. Walk the blocks in your neighborhood and just pray in the city spirit. If you have a heavenly language and say, God, everywhere I put my foot, change this place. Because when we allow our mind to be stretched beyond what we're suffering and what we want, we get closer to being like Jesus and even closer to being like a young woman. Her name was Mary. But Mary's yes wasn't the only yes that was exemplified in this story. There was a man named Joseph. And at some point in our lives, I hope we all get to be Joseph. Look at your neighbor. Say, my name is Joseph. I'm going to be Joseph. Well, let's find out what he did. Matthew, chapter one, verse 18. See, y' all like to be Jesus in the story. We not Jesus in The story Matthew, chapter 1, verse 18. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Found doesn't say she went and told him. It says she was found with child. When God speaks to you and you say yes, and you take on the thing that he's calling you to do that nobody may believe that you're gonna do, you don't have to tell everybody. You gonna start to show. After a while, it will be undeniable. You don't have to get permission. You don't have to run and send 10 emails to the church to say you believed. You called to be the apost. You will show. Just let us all see it. The time will come when you will show. Thank you, my sister, because I'm sweating up here. Bless the Lord. And so Mary started to show, and then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. Can we just shout out to Joseph that he was actually a good person? He does not yet in this verse, believe that Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. He's like, yeah, okay, Holy Spirit, huh? He expected that baby to come out in a few months, not looking like the Holy Spirit. He thought he might look like the guy down the street who worked around the corner. He did not expect him to come out looking like the Holy Spirit. But even in this offended position that he was in, that he may be embarrassed, that his heart may have been broken, that he could have been angry, all the feelings you could imagine he was probably having, he was still able to stop and say, I am not going to embarrass this woman. I'm not going to post it on a story. I'm not going to put it out in Twitter. I'm not going to be out here showing everybody, telling everybody, being cryptic like people don't really understand. Oh, well, you know what happens. You can't trust nobody. Everybody can't go to your next level. I didn't say they name anything you can do to try to complain publicly and make yourself a victim. He didn't do it. He loved. Oh, it's quiet. I'm not saying I got that kind of love, but I'm chasing after it. Chasing after it, he said, not wanting to embarrass her, he figured he would cover her and let it in without putting her name in the street. So here's a good man. I want us to be good people now. Is your name still Joseph? Ah, verse 20. But while he thought about these things, because now he's definitely at home, like, oh my God, when did it happen? Where did it happen? Why didn't I know? Who was it? How did I miss it? What did I do wrong? Why would she do this to me? While he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take till you marry your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son. And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. I love that the angel didn't interrupt Joseph throwing a fit. He saw him be a good man, a good human being. And then the angel came and said, you don't need to fear. Keep doing the right thing under every circumstance so that God will see your good righteous choices. Do good in every circumstance. Don't be so quick to collapse and believe the story is over or that you are being victimized again. Do good. And so the angel shows up and tells Joseph that Mary has indeed conceived of the Holy Spirit. Now I gotta pause right here and give a little relationship relationship advice, my sisters. Do not marry a man who is not recognizing what you are already carrying from God. Don't do it. Mary was pregnant when Joseph married her. And you should know what you are carrying from God. And if you don't know yet, don't marry nobody yet, because they might not be willing to cover you. They might not be willing to support the thing that they didn't do or they didn't invent. She was already pregnant anyway. I'm carrying something from God. The world didn't give it and the world can't take it away. Do not put it in a position employment wise, friendship wise, romance wise, church wise, that cannot cover what you're carrying. Men of God, especially Those seeking a Judges 5 woman. I'm just kidding. You can have a Proverbs 31 if you want. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine. Seek God to be sure you have revelation about what the woman you want to marry is carrying. Will you be willing to cover her and not take credit so that you can work together to fulfill what the kingdom has said we are meant to do together. Amen. And that's not only in marriage. Again, any relationship, it may be your yes to protect. It was Mary's yes to receive, to bear, to carry. But the yes to protect is just as powerful as the yes to carry. And you may at one point in your life, in one area say yes to carry and in another area be called to protect. Will you say yes whether you're the main character or not? Yes, to protect. That yes matters because we must be willing to protect something that got started somewhere besides me. And at the same time, Mary had to accept protection. And we must be willing to accept the help that God sends. Some of us are like, I got it. I can carry myself. I got this. I can't trust anybody to mess with this. So I gotta do it by myself. And God is telling somebody, she's got something in her, he's got something in them, that church has something that you need to bring your gift to cover and protect. And we have to be willing to say, thank you, God, for sending me protection. We gotta receive it when it comes. Can you be willing to say yes to the help? Yes to the help. Amen. So Joseph had a yes. But that's not the only two yeses in here. There was another yes. After they got married. They went to Bethlehem because there was a tax situation going on and everybody had to go back to where they were born in order to pay their taxes and be counted in the census. It was the whole story. I'll read it later. And they went back there, and somebody didn't make the right reservation either. Joseph was supposed to make the reservation. Mary was supposed to make the reservation. I'm sure to this day, in the heavenlies, in the great cloud of Witnesses, she's like, you said you were going to do it. And he's like, you said you were going to do it. They probably asked for the replay on Judgment Day. They're going to be like, run the tape. I knew I told you to do it. You said you had the confirmation number. They didn't have it. They get to Bethlehem, there's no room in the inn. Now, y' all know you go on a vacation with somebody and y' all get there and don't nobody got the room, y' all gonna be upset. But here they are. She's nine months pregnant. She rode there on a donkey. I have to believe it was Joseph. But, I mean, I'm just saying, because when I was nine months pregnant, I would have remembered to do everything I needed to do to make sure that I wasn't in that kind of pain. Because, let me tell you, eight pounds and four ounces. I love you. And so they arrive there, and there is nowhere for them to stay. They knock on one more door and an Innkeeper comes out. He says, I'm so sorry, the whole place is booked. But the innkeeper tells them he has a manger out back with some animals, a barn, and they can go out there and she can have the baby there. In Luke, chapter two, verses six through seven. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. But the innkeeper made the space that he had. Some of you need to say yes to making space in your life for God. Some of you need to say yes to Jesus just as a savior. Make room in your heart for Jesus. It's time. It's time. It's time. It's time to try Jesus. You've tried other things. You've tried other things. You've mixed some other things. You got a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It's time to try Jesus. If you have never accepted Jesus as your savior, just stay right there, because I'm going to give you the chance to do that today. It is. It is finally time to try Jesus. Make space for him. But some of you have made space for Jesus, but you have not made space for the things that God wants to do. We're so protective of our space. We even have this term now in the culture that says making space, holding space. Your friend calls you and says, I have some stress, but I want to know if you have space. Do you have space? Do you have capacity? Because you figured maybe somebody doesn't have capacity, or you're frustrated because somebody called and poured out all their problems without even asking you because. And then you get off the phone all upset. They didn't even ask me if I had the capacity for that today. I don't have capacity for that today. My capacity is limited today, and I don't have capacity. Instead of falling on your face and saying, God, give me more space. Oh, that's slow. I know, I know. You're so busy protecting your peace, and y' all have worked so hard. This might be the hardest part, the whole message to preach. Because we have gotten so good at protecting our peace and having our balance and telling people no, and we're not going to carry your stuff. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Hear me. You think you're an empath. Oh, don't Come for me, because I'll meet you there. It's Dr. Anita Phillips. That ain't theology.
- [31:40]
B
Let me help you.
- [31:42]
A
You think you're an empath. Thank you, my sister. Thank you very much. You think you're an empath because you're like, come in the room and I could just feel other people's pain. I leave. If somebody tells me their story, I just carry. I just automatically. Their sadness, I just feel it, I take it on. So I have to be so careful. Let me tell you what's really happening. Ain't that many empaths in the world. Here's what's happening. Your unresolved pain is being triggered by their pain. And so when they start talking about their pain, your unresolved pain that you've been crushing down, hiding, repressing and pushing aside, wakes up because it hears something familiar, and now you want to blame it on them. I'm an empath and they brought their heaviness. No, baby, you are an unresolved trauma survivor, and you're going to need to do some work. And that's the space. I just came to give you all kinds of good news today. I love you, though. I need to do that on social media. Be like, if I didn't want to hurt your feelings, I would say we have learned to protect ourselves. And I know, I'm not saying you gotta let people abuse you, but we are a long way from that now. We've gone so far to protecting our peace instead of letting him be our peace. Why would somebody be able to shake Jesus as my peace loose with their story? Oh, I'm just. I'm just. Maybe it's not you. Maybe it's just my friend Tay. Might it be you? And maybe it's just us, but it's me. It's me. It's me. Oh, Lord, standing in the need of prayer. I'm gonna need you to ask God to help you in 2026 to make space. Because the efforts that you're putting into protecting yourself is still fear bound, because it means that the world and people inside of it are more threatening to me than the God inside of me can handle. But make more space. Oh, my God. Test drive this Prince of Peace thing. Test drive it. Is he your prince? Is he the prince of peace? Because I have space. When I'm standing rooted and grounded in the word of God, I have space. Make space. Say yes, even when you feel full. Check and see God. Can you make space? See, when God expands your capacity, it won't drain you. But you gotta get out there to find out. Ask God to help you do more. That has been the greatest. As many blessings as I've had in 2025, I've had challenges as well. The blessings and the beauty has been public, but the pain and the challenges have been private. Oh, yes. Because you don't get elevated in the spirit without being more vulnerable to attacks. It doesn't happen. And so I have endured other pains behind the scenes that I haven't preached about yet. I'm coming. But here has been my prayer all through it. God, stretch me open. I don't need to believe that me at the edge means that you are at the edge. That me at my end means you are at your end. That I know you can raise me up and open the me up and increase my capacity so that I have the space to handle. I don't like that I run out of gas so fast in this area. I should not go down this hard. I should not hurt this fast. And I'm not talking about sinning. Don't say I'm good. I'm talking about when your mind won't even work because the emotional stress. I should be able to stay clear longer than this. God, stretch my capacity. Capacity. But I can't pray for more space till I find out where I was out of space. And so the trial has been a blessing. Oh, because I found out I am the power model. Oh, yeah. Some of y' all need a booster. My engine boost is serious. I'm an amg. I ain't just a regular Benz. Oh, I found out. But I had to go in the shop. They had to add some stuff. Break some stuff open and add some power. Say yes to making space. And finally another yes. After they had the baby. Jesus is born. They're in there. There were three wise men who came to see him. Matthew, chapter two, verse one. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod, the king. Behold, wise. The king. Behold, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born, King of the Jews? For we seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. What is happening? These men knew how to read the story of the heavenlies that had been written to tell them that the prophecy was about to be fulfilled, that a king was coming. And Herod knew about the prophecies too. And he was king. And he didn't want another king. So he wanted to find out where the king was going to be so he can kill that king. So he could stay king. But the wise men don't think that anybody would be that evil. So they just came asking about the king. And it says, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where Christ was to be born. And so they said to him, in Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written by the prophet. These people, I just thought about this, who want to kill Jesus, believe the Word. More than some of us. They are so dedicated to making sure that their dark kingdom is not toppled. They are studying the word of God, and they believe it enough to declare that Jesus is born and we have Jesus. And when the Word tells you that you're the head and not the tail, that he's under your feet, that he's a healer, that he's a provider, that he's the lover of your soul, that your enemies will be scattered, that no death and disease can have victory over the king. You double check in 18 translations. But they believed it. I'mma stand on this word, my rock, my salvation. They believed it enough. And so then he went on to say, but you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, and not the least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. So then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, he got slick. He determined them what time the star appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go search carefully for the young child, like he meant God some good. And when you have found him, bring the word to me that I may come and worship him also. Mm. And when they heard the king, they departed. And behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them till it came and stood over with the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, because they brought him the gold, the frankincense, the myrrh, then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. It took them days, weeks, months to get to where Jesus was. But a dream told them that Herod was a danger and they had to cover Jesus. And so they were to go home to their country another way, which would take even longer than how long it took them to get there. This last Human yes. The yes to long obedience. There's a victory that was wrought for you in Genesis. The seed of the woman has been born. But your yes may involve very long obedience. Victory is yours. But are you willing to play the long game? Are you willing to not see it come to pass this month, this year, maybe even some things this decade? There is something that the Lord put in my heart as a child that he gave me some confirmation that he would do for me back in 2012. And this summer he came back around again, took me to the same location I was at, and affirmed again that he still intends to do it. There has been Dec. I am 52 years old. This particular desire has been in my heart since I was probably maybe 10. And it's like one of those things that would be really amazing, but it's not like it just would be amazing. And God came back around again. And I don't know if it will be 20 more years before it comes to pass. But I'm playing the long game of obedience because what happens on this earth, I get to say yes to God. I get to co create those things with God. And so I'm willing to play the long game, but it's gonna require obedience. It requires me to be focused. It requires me to do what he's called me to do, both in ministry and in my professional space. It requires me not to get distracted. It requires me not to get lazy. It's long game obedience. Are you willing to go the long way to cover what God has placed on this earth for you? Yes. To carrying? Yes. To protecting? Yes. To making space? Yes. To playing the long game. The big win depends on your yes. But if it's not. If it's not just for you, it is for this world. If there's nothing that you are clinging to, to say yes to that is going to affect far more people than you. That may not leave you as the main character. Are you willing to give God that Yes. To embrace the victory that has already been won? It may cost you something, and if it does, it'll probably only be pride. The reason I know that is because the biggest yes in this picture belonged to Jesus. Philippians 2, verses 6 through 8. It says, Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient even to the point of death. Even the death of the cross. Jesus was born for that moment, but he had to leave the highest possible state. He is in heaven. He can see what's happening down here, and it's a mess. You couldn't get me to move to this neighborhood for nothing. If I was living in that neighborhood, you could not get me to this neighborhood. The fact that he was willing to lay those things down. He is the Lord. He is the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace. To come here and have to spend the first two years of his life with his family as a refugee. Well, I said it, so let me say that. Yeah. Jesus was hidden by his parents in Egypt. They went to another country as refugees to hide Jesus.
- [43:14]
B
Us.
- [43:15]
A
Good thing they didn't put the refugees out. Yeah. I'll wait. Yeah. Jesus spent those two years. The Bible says as he grew up, he learned obedience by the things that he suffered. And not until he was 30 years old did his ministry even begin. Do you know how much humility he had to have to be willing to let people not recognize who he really was? To treat him poorly and then ultimately to kill him, accuse him of things, spit on him, beat him. Who? Which of us? His yes was humility. It was a humble yes. But we are required to be like Jesus. And I can tell you that the yes that will come against your pride, the yes that will reveal your vulnerability, the yes that will make it feel like you're going backwards when God is really trying to catapult you forward, is the yes that will change everything. Because it says in Philippians 2 and 9 that therefore God also highly exalted him and then gave him the name which is above every name. The victory that Jesus wrought also was in his yes. Are you ready to say yes? Amen. Stand to your feet. Hallelujah. Mary. Mary. Yes. That's the gift that I want you to offer to the Lord this Christmas. Your yes in whatever form it's being asked of you. The most important thing you can do in your entire life is to say yes to God. And the next most important thing you can do is to say yes again. Keep saying yes. Renew your yes. Remind yourself of what you know God has asked you to do, what he's called you, to carry what he's called you, to protect, what he's calling you to make space for where he's calling you, to play the long game and decide again right now to say yes fresh. Make it a scratch start, and in doing so, remind yourself of every victory you've had in every valley he has never let you down. Yes is all you have to do because the victory's already won. It's just about your consent. He has no desire to overwhelm you. We talk about God like that sometimes. Well, you know, he gonna get you. He gonna get you. And I mean, don't make him. But that's not his stance. 99% of the time, it's love. He's waiting for you to say yes. So just do that. It's the best yes you'll ever give. If you are one of the people whose heart jumped when I said, are you ready to actually just say yes to Jesus first? If you've never given your life to Jesus, this will be the biggest and best yes you've ever said. He really was born in a manger. He really was fully God, but also fully human. There is no other God who went to this kind of trouble, not to win a war, but to win your heart. No God moves in love like this God. There's no other God that allows us not just to change our behavior, but to actually be changed. It's so much easier to be changed than to try to change yourself. This God has a plan and a purpose for your life. If you are not sure anymore what God would have you do or why you're here, or why your life doesn't feel meaningful even when you're succeeding, I want to encourage you to just try Jesus, he has a purpose that will change everything for you.
- [47:09]
B
Hey, family. Well, I pray that. 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 T 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.
- [48:03]
A
LA.