A (0:00)

Happy Sunday, Social Family, you know me. I am so happy that your face is in the place. Do you like who you're sitting next to? If you don't, change your seat. We have plenty of seats at Texas Trust Theater. Change your seat. No. If you are new to Social Dallas, you need to know that we frame our year with a word. And our word this year is planted. And we start every service reading our verse of the year. And so let's read it together with uplifted voices as a family. It's Psalms 92, verses 13 through 15. Y' all ready? Are y' all ready? Here we go. 1, 2, 3. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Social fam. Y' all sound good. You sound good. Hey, I'm not there, obviously, but, you know, as always, I have left you and really good hands.

B (1:04)

Ooh.

A (1:05)

You ain't ready. You ain't ready. First of all, if you don't like to laugh in church, you need to pick one of these exits and just leave right now, because you're going to laugh today. Our guest is incredible. He's been on the Tonight Show. He's been on Oprah. He was in the movie War Room. But none of that compares to his incredible ability to use comedy to point people to Jesus. He's insightful. He is hilarious. Have I said that? And this is his first time at Social Dallas. So come on, let's make him feel welcome.

B (1:34)

Put your hands.

A (1:35)

Hands together for my friend, my brother.

B (1:38)

Michael Jr. Come on. All right. You guys are awesome. Yay. All right. Okay, you can sit down. I ain't doing anything. Wow. I am so. Well, let me say this. Let me start with this. I was 7 years old, in pain, and there was a dead body in the room. All right, so I'll get back to that in a moment. So first, I want to say I'm super happy to be here. This church is legit. Pastor Dog on Robert. They be doing it for real. Like, I'm like, you cats are in some great hands. And if you don't have a church, it's okay, because they don't have a church right now either. But they do actually, like, these people are the church. I'm so blessed. In fact, I have a human that I really love that I call my daughter. Cause she is so I have Five kids, and I travel a lot so I can see them all. One of my daughters, I gave her away to a man named Derrick. And then they moved. They live here in Dallas, and their choice was to become members at Social Dallas. So they've been here for like a year. So I am very, very blessed that the human that I got to raise made the decision to be here. This just speaks volumes for this place right here, like, in a big way also. My amazing wife is here. I love you so much. Love. And then my daughter Portland is here too. Hey, Portland. Hello. How are you? Cool. So here's what's going to happen. We're going to laugh. Some people think you shouldn't laugh in church. My response to that is, what? Good father doesn't want to hear his children's laughter in his house? So before I go any further, my wife and I actually are. Our focus right now is marriages. We really, really, really, really, really love to help marriages. So we've actually created a workshop that we're going to be doing online. And you guys are the very first people to hear about this and you get access to it. This is the name of the workshop. It's the marriage checkup. There it is, right there. And if you want it. If you want to. Yeah, you should check it out. Cause that's my wife and she is so fine. Anyway, it's called TheMarriageCheckUp.com youm can go there and register. It's free. You can actually get your marriage better at no cost. Well, it's gonna cost you some time. All right, so now I'm about to jump in this thing. It's gonna be fun right here. So I'm seven years old, and church was not this cool. Like, this is a really cool church. Cats all. Look at the hat. Stand up. Look at the hat he got on. Yeah, yeah. All right. Sit down. Like, church was not that cool when I was a kid. In fact, I'm gonna tell you, when I was seven years old, my grandmother would force me to go to church. It was miserable. My shoes were like three sizes too small. My grandmother had this thing called a shoehorn. So if your foot don't fit now it do. The church lasts six hours. So my toes are balled up in these shoes for six hours. Then we go in the basement and eat a sandwich and come back up. Like that was halftime or something. My clothes were so tight. Every Sunday I wore a white and brown shirt. Actually, it was just white, but the buttons were so tight. It looked like it Was white and brown from a distance. It was miserable. I remember walking in this church and this dude is up on stage and he mad at everybody. This is what I figured from 7 years old. He was mad at everybody. And the reason he was mad is because he had some phlegm that was caught in his throat that he couldn't get out. So at the end of every sentence he would try to get it out. He'd be like, the Lord said, act like you. I'm like, grandma, he need the gargle or something, grandma. He had a bible in his hand. He kept playing like he was gonna throw it at people. The Lord said everybody around me would get scared. They'd be like, hey man, hey man. I realized now they were saying amen. I didn't know I was seven years old. So there's three verses of scripture that's gonna apply to what I share with you today. You can write em down when you go home and read them. They're gonna pop in a new way as a result of what we're talking about. So there's Jeremiah 29, 11, then there's John 10, 27, then there's Revelations 20. In fact, I'll give you a bonus scripture. There's two Romans. There's no second Romans, people. If your Bible got a second Romans, take it back to dollar tree. So church was miserable as a kid. Nobody was teaching anything. I didn't understand anything. One time I went to church, it was a dead body in the front. Nobody explains to a seven year old, Michael Jr. This is a funeral, it's not church. I'm thinking, yo, that's how they roll. Like every few weeks or so they bring a dead body in as an example or something. Dude on stage will yell at us like, we did it. I asked my grandma, I was like, grandma, what happened to the man in the box? What happened to the man in the box? Her entire explanation was he in a better place. I'm like, what kind of box did he live in before it was completely miserable. I'm talking about miserable. It was nowhere near as cool as this. Some churches, they won't let you in where they praying. You ever notice that? You can't go in right now, they praying. You think God gonna lose focus. God is like, they keep moving around. I can't. They keep moving around. I don't know what to do. I can't. I can't see them that good. 14 years old, instead of forcing me to go to church, my grandmother did something different. She asked me if I Wanted to go. I was like, let me think this over, Grandma. No. So I wouldn't go to church, and I just hung out with my friends. And we were poor growing up. We were broke. We had no money. I was actually being sponsored by a family from Haiti. That's a funny joke, man. Some Christians don't know what to do with that joke. You can't laugh and shake your head when you don't have any money. You get creative. I remember When I was 10, I wanted an action figure. I just wanted an action figure. My dad, 10 years old, on my birthday, he handed me a box. I opened it up, it was empty. He said, it's invisible, man. I played with that thing for three weeks till my brother hid it from me. Man Also made a deal that we wouldn't curse anymore. At this age, me and a friend, we're like 14 years old. We made this deal that we wouldn't curse anymore. Let's be real. You don't know nothing about Jesus. You're 14 years old. He wants to feel like a man. It's the first thing you do when you leave the house. You start cursing. We made a deal, if he heard me curse, he could hit me in the chest, hard as he wanted to, and then vice versa. And dude could hit hard. I stopped cursing immediately. We played other violent games, too. You ever played the game Slug Bug? If you're from the east coast, they call it punch bug. Here's how the game works. You see a Volkswagen Bug, you get to hit your friend. Those are all the instructions. In my neighborhood, they would take this game a little too far. They would add to the game. You ever play uppercut? Firetruck? What about Minivan Body slam? You ever play that game? There's always one crazy dude in our group who would make up games on the spot. Like, hit you in the throat, tall building that don't even rhyme. You play too much. Then I started noticing around this age that I was struggling with my reading. Now, I knew it before this, but I didn't care. But now I'm noticing girls, and I don't want the girls to know I'm struggling with my reading. I was struggling. I read fine now, by the way, like, the signs over the door that say excite. I could read that stuff. This lady just started praying for me. She's like, he still don't know. He can't read. He still don't know. I would struggle. I couldn't sound words out phonetically. It just didn't work that way for me. So I have to look at the word differently. I look at the font size, the color, the positioning, what's in front of it, how people responded to it. Actually came up with seven different ways to look at a word to determine what the word was. Then I got really good at it to the point in high school, people didn't know I wasn't really reading. I was just working it out really, really fast. Now, as an adult, I read just fine, but I still have this ability to look at words and people and situations seven different ways almost immediately. In fact, it's the primary place that I pull my comedy from. So the very thing from my past that looked like it was a handicap, I felt like I was dealt a bad hand. God didn't cause it, but he's used it in preparation for what he's called me to do. It's almost as if I was practicing, even though I didn't know I was practicing. Let me say this again so you can hear what I'm saying. That thing from your past, the fact that you never met your dad before, your mom was an alcoholic, you were molested, you were raped as a child. God did not cause that, but he will use it in preparation for what he has for you to do. Chances are someone needs to hear your story so they could be set free, and you can, too. You've been practicing, but for a lot of you guys, it's game time. But you have to be able to hear the coach's voice. So as a result of my practice, I find funny everywhere. I'm at the airport, cool little white kid walks up to me, asks for autograph. I said, cool, buddy. What's your name? He said, I'm Tanner. I'm like, no, you're not. Did you just explain that joke to somebody? I just saw you explain it. People ask weird questions, and I'll find funny. Somebody walking. Say, Michael Jr. Where you from originally? Originally, huh? Well, I was conceived in Michigan. Yeah. Before that, I was with my dad. Yeah. Then there was a swim competition, Right. And I won, which is crazy, right? Cause currently I don't swim at all, man. But I used to be fast man. I was fast mouth. I just added that little move recently. I don't normally do that move, but I just want you explain it to the kids later. They don't understand. So comedy would just show up for me. So now I start my comedy career in the Midwest, but now I feel like I should move to New York because that way I'll know if I'm funny or not because in New York, if you're not funny, the way they let you know is they'll say something like, you not funny. So I moved to New York City and there's this comedy club there called the Comic Strip Live. And it's one of the hardest clubs in the city to get into. In fact, they used to have open mics on Tuesday nights at 7pm Comedians who were new in town, like myself, would have to line up starting at 6 o' clock in the morning so you could do 90 seconds in front of the manager in hopes that the next month you don't have to wait in line. So it's finally my turn to perform at the Comic Strip Live. And right before I get on stage, this comedian named George Wallace walks in. And when somebody like that walks in, because George Wallace is a very established comedian, whoever is next gets bumped. I'm next. I know I'm about to get bumped. The manager's already walking over to me. But no, this is where God shows up for the first time in my life. Well, this is where I noticed him. There's a difference. The manager says, michael, listen, George Wallace is here. Would you like to go on before him or after him? You never get an option. You never get a before him, please. So I go on stage before George Wallace, and I got New Yorkers laughing. But not only are they laughing, he comes in the room and he's laughing as well. After the show, there's a bunch of comedians around him. They're all asking him questions. He leaves them and comes over to me and he says, you're really funny. I was like, oh, thanks, man. He said, let me ask you a question. He was like, why don't you curse? I was like, I don't know if my grandmother walk in or something. My grandmother wanted to come into New York, let alone a comedy club. What was I going to say? My friend might hit me in the chest. I'm a grown man. So he said to me, you're funny and you're clean. I'd like for you to do a show with me and my best friend a couple nights. I don't even know who his best friend is, but I'm pumped. I'm excited to get to the show. It's me, George Wallace, Jerry Seinfeld. I did two shows and got two standing ovations. I rip. I'm the man. I'm like, yes. Let me pause for a second. I'm also homeless, living in my car. Can't get into that part of the story, right now, but my address was 1997 Chevy Aluminum Dr. So I'm blown back by the fact that, like, I got two standing ovations. Then after the show, the club manager walks up to me and he says, michael, you had a really great set. Let me ask you a question. I was like, yeah. He said, would you like to go to church with us this weekend? Him and his fiance was going to church. And I was like, church? I was like, back up. You're making my feet hurt. Why would I go to church? My pause. I actually had the subconscious conscious thought of, back up. You're making my feet hurt. Why would I have such a thought? He invites me to church, and I'm thinking, back up. You're making my feet hurt. I had built up a negative neural association from when I was a kid and my shoes were so tight and I was in so much pain at church that church equaled pain. So when someone would invite me by default, I wouldn't want to go. It would bring up this pain thought in my head. But the pain was horizontal. It wasn't vertical. So for years, I stayed away from him because of them. So when someone tells me they don't have a relationship with God or they're not into that at all, the question I ask is, who is the reason you don't have a relationship with God? But jump back into the story. So he invites me to church, and I was like, nah, I'm cool. I don't wanna go to church. Twenty minutes later, his fiance asked me the same question. But she was fine. I mean, she was beautiful. She pales in comparison to my wife now. But I didn't have a wife back then. And she was beautiful. She had some kind of accent, too. She's like, Michael Jr. Would you like to go to church with us? I was like, I was just looking for a church the other day, man. Shoot, man. Let me give you this side note again. There's only two reasons you do anything in life. Your decisions that you made today breaks down to one of these two reasons, period. To avoid pain or to gain pleasure. One of those two reasons is why you're here in this building right now. So she asked me that question. I was like, yeah. And I go to this church, and I can't even find the people who invited me. And I walk in, and this dude is up on stage and he's talking about Jesus. He not screaming, he not yelling. He don't got no perm, he ain't got no towel. He's just talking about Jesus. Just like Pastor Robert, he just explained it in a way that I understood it. Then he did this thing where he did like an altar call. He said, if you want Jesus in your life, you just stand up, do this prayer, and Jesus is yours. And I wanted to do it social. I really wanted to, but I was like, nah, I gotta read the pamphlet first. Because I knew a couple Christians and they was creepy. There's some creepy Christians out there. If you don't know any creepy Christians, it's you. Yeah, your friends know one. So I told myself, nah, I gotta read the Bible first, because I didn't know if there was a catch, because I just didn't know. So I told myself I'd read the Bible before I gave my life to Jesus. I don't even have a Bible. A couple days later, I'm at this mall, like, area. This woman walks up to me and hands me a Bible and walks off. We don't even exchange words. I'm like, snap. So I opened the Bible up. First thing I read was the copyrights. The Bible was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Me too. That's crazy, man. And we never met before. This whole time you round the corner from me. So I started reading the Bible and I'm going to church. Reading a Bible, going to church. Is that your kid? Is that your son? I'm just making sure he was. I don't know for sure. Like, you just mean I look alike, but I don't know for sure. Right? You just, come on, sit down. You going to church? You bad. Sit down. I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. Hey, what's your name, buddy? Cool. Awesome. Are you safe? Okay, cool. I couldn't take opportunities to Marcela. Okay, cool, cool, cool. So I'm reading the Bible and I'm going to church. I'm reading the Bible, going, and I'm digging into God's word because I really want to give my life over to Jesus. So I'm reading and I got to the part about the job. I'm like, no wonder I don't want one of them. That is bananas, man. First service, read the Bible more than y' all do. Anyway. I'm reading the Bible, I'm going to church. Reading the Bible, going to church. And then I remember getting to the part of Matthew where it said Jesus died for me. I didn't know Till I was 27 years old that Jesus died for me. I didn't know till I read it right there in Matthew. Then I turned to Mark and he died again. I go to Luke. I'm like, he died again. I get to John, I'm like, why are you going back in the garden, Jesus? I wish that was a joke that I wrote, but I really thought Jesus died four times. I remember finished reading the Bible. And I go to church, like, during the announcements. And I run up to the altar, I'm like, hey, is Jesus here now? And I give my life over to Jesus. And then I realize, wow. Like, I'm not just funny. Like, I'm funny for a reason. Like, God has purpose behind me, having a sense of humor. And I get some celebrities that you would know. They asked me questions about God. One dude was like, explain God to me. First of all. I can't just explain God. If I could just explain him, he wouldn't be God. And then he rephrased his question. He was like, well, how is it I could do all of this stuff that I'm doing? And people still say that Jesus wants relationship with me. And this is all I could come up with at the time. And this is. This is not even close to how awesome God is. But this is all I can come up with. I was like, you ever been in a car with a navigation device before? You ever been in a car before? We could start there. You guys ever been in a car? Okay. It's like being in a car with a navigation device. If it says, go 10 blocks and turn left, then you go 10 blocks and turn right. It doesn't abandon what you're supposed to do. It recalculates what you need to do to get to where you're supposed to be based upon where you are. The only problem is, if you keep making the wrong turns, the road conditions will be different. They may be rougher, and you're running out of time. So you have to be sensitive to listen to that voice. You can make the right choice about where you're supposed to be. And that voice sounds an awful lot like a coach. Cause you haven't been practicing for nothing. So now I'm at the point where I got time for one story. Hey, buddy, I have two stories I could tell. I got time for one. I'm gonna let you choose story about being on the Tonight show on NBC, which you don't know what that means yet, or going to jail. You want the jail story or the TV story? You get to choose. What's that TV story? Good choice, man. Good choice. Stay away from jail, man. Good choice. So New York is too expensive. Can't afford New York City. So I feel like I'm supposed to move to California. In California is the number one comedy club in the world. It's called the Comedy and Magic Club. This club is so prestigious, I can't even get in the club. But George Wallace is in town, and he takes me to the Comedy Magic Club. He can't get me on stage. He can only get me in the club. Afterwards, he takes me into the green room. In the green room are some soldiers in comedy. Jay Leno, Garry Shanley, George Wallace. And somehow I'm in the room and they had this big spread of food. Like they had all of this food. And I wasn't eating any. Only thing I would do is eat French fries. Because I didn't feel like I belonged in a room. I wasn't contributing anything. I didn't feel like I should be there. I'm just eating fries. And at the time, you guys may remember this, it was a while ago, but a football player got hit in the eye with a flag. And he was suing the league for $400 million because he lost his vision in one eye. And all of these guys are working on that subject for the monologue on the Tonight Show. I ain't saying nothing. I'm just happy to be eating French fries with these dudes. But your gift will make room for you. So they're sitting there working on a joke. Then they got quiet, and they looked at me, and I was like, oh, snap. I was like, all right, let me see if I got this right. He got hit in the eye with a flag. He lost his vision in one eye, and he's suing the league for $400 million? He not gonna see half of it. Then I grabbed a piece of chicken. Look at this. How did I get that joke that fast under that much pressure? It was not as much pressure as you might think, because I had been practicing since I was a child in the form of a kid who was struggling with their reading. I was practicing just like you've been practicing for. I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. You've been practicing, but for a lot of you guys, it's game time. I'm gonna do the prison story. Smash through this thing. I'm gonna smash through it. I'm gonna smash through it. So I got a nonprofit. It's called Funny for the Forgotten. If you wanna go check it out, you can, but we go to homeless shelters and prisons and abused children's facilities with Funny for the Forgotten. My first time ever in prison, I'm scared for real. Soon as I walk in, the warden takes my belt, says, you can't have a belt. Somebody might try to hang you. Can't they just boo me like regular people? Why they gotta hang me? I'm in prison, my pants loose. This is a bad idea, man. I know God is telling me to do this, but I got questions. I'm like, I don't know. And I'm walking in. And I shouldn't be afraid, though. I got eight prison guards around me. But the deeper we go into the prison, these cats start peeling off like they're getting shot by dart guns or something. We get to the last set of bars, and this one little skinny guard was like, hey, this as far as I go. I was like, well, me too, man. Get my dvd. But I know God is telling me to go in there. So I walk in, and there's. As I walk in, I look and there's all these prisoners in a circle. But then in the middle of the circle, there's a hole, and there's an aisle leading to the hole. And I guess that's where I'm supposed to do jokes. I gotta get to the aisle. And I figure I got, like, maybe five steps after I land. I got two and a half seconds before I need to start talking, 12 seconds before I need to hit my first punchline, and I can control the room. Problem is, as I'm walking, I got no jokes popping up. I got four steps left, no joke, nothing. I had one joke pop up, but I didn't feel like I should start with it. I was gonna be like, you know what? You guys are a captive audience. I just want to say that I didn't feel a peace in my spirit about that joke. So I got three steps left, I got nothing, nothing. Two steps, nothing, nothing. One step, and I settled his foot. And for real social Dallas, standing right up front is a white dude with a white beard named Moses. I was like, thanks, Lord. When I said these words to Moses, the place exploded in laughter. We had an amazing time. I said, moses, this is what I want you to do. When you see the prison warden, I want you to look him in his eye. You look him right in his eye, and I want you to say, let my people go. How did I get that joke that fast under that much pressure? I was practicing. Just like you've been practicing, You've been practicing through some relationship. You've been practicing because you never met your dad. You've been practicing for something, has been preparing you. But the practice is for nothing if you can't hear the coach's voice. So me and my wife were looking at some old videos recently of our youngest daughter being born. And I'm gonna show you the video, not her being born. Cause that's the wrong video for this young man who may be your child or not. So we're looking at these videos, and I. I took the video, the video you're about to watch. I am the camera person in this video. But I didn't understand the power of it till I sat down and watched it, like you're about to do. So let me set it up for you. Our daughter at the time is two and a half minutes old. And they got her under a little chicken warmer, little French fry warmer. I don't know what kind of insurance we have, but they got a little French fry thing in there. She's two and a half minutes old, and she starts to cry. I want you to notice what happens when she hears my voice. It's okay for. Let me look. I'm right here. It's okay. It's okay. I'm right here. I am right here. We're doing just fine. It's okay. It's okay. I'm right here. Right here. Yeah. It's okay. It's okay, baby. Joe, that was pretty doggone powerful. Now it's like seven, maybe seven and a half minutes or so later, the nurse is done cleaning her up and she starts to cry again. I speak up and she stops crying again. But I want you to notice what happens when I tell her I love her. Portland. Portland. It's okay. It's okay. It's good. It's good. It's good. I'm right here. I'm right here. I am right here. I love you. I love you. I love you. Love you. Yeah. I'm right here. I'm right here. It's okay. It's okay. So listen. There will be times in life, and for some of you, that may be, even now, even you watching online, where you feel like you've just been practicing and practicing and practicing, maybe even to the point of frustration and tears. The key thing to do in those moments is to be still and listen for the father's voice. Because he is talking to you. And what he wants you to know is that he's right here. He loves you. All you have to do is open your eyes. You hear some music? Yeah, not yet, man. Not yet. You early, man. You getting us emotional and stuff. I'm like, lord, is that you? Sing it to my heart. No, it's not. It's you. It's. You got to just wait a second. Just. It's not your concert. He's like, it's my opportunity right here. It's my opportunity. No, no, I got one more story I want to share first. And then he's supposed to slide in. After I set it up. After I set it up, I'm like, man, that was cool. You. You got us. You married? Are you married? Not yet. You will be soon. You smooth, bro. I'm just letting you know. Soon, bro. Hey, girl. Hey, girl. Okay, so before I tell you this story, I wanna set it up first and tell you how I came up with it. I was doing what I do. I'm referred to as a comedic thought leader now. But at one point it was just about the comedy. And I was writing this joke about the good room. How many people in here know what the good room is? Raise your hand. See, there's a few hands going up. But let me explain. The good room is that room in your grandmother's house or your aunt's house or maybe your house. It's that one room that's better than the rest of the house. Can't nobody go in there. There's plastic on the furniture. It's really just for looks. Company come over, they're like, that is a nice room. You're like, yeah, but we sitting over here. How many people know what the good room is? Now? Raise your hand. Exactly. So I'm writing this joke about the good room. And in the middle of writing it, God stops me and tells me to tell this story to his people instead. So I'm gonna tell you this story. Now would be a great time to jump in, bro. I didn't mean to interrupt you. That brother, he was early and late. That's amazing. He probably mixed. That's probably what it is. He probably mixed. You have to explain that to him. He don't know what I'm talking about. We are laughing in the middle of what will be a life changing moment for people. People think God doesn't want us to laugh in church. What good Father doesn't want to hear his children's laughter in his house? So here's the story. So in this story, I want you to imagine. Imagine that you are a house. This is a story about having a relationship with Jesus. Imagine that you're a house. And outside of the house is Jesus Christ. And he would like to come in, but he'll never force his way in. He'll never force his way in. He wants you to invite him in. Other people have probably tried to force him into your house, but that's not how this works. It's only if you invite him in. And the reason some people in this room have not invited Jesus into the house, some people watching online, is because you're cool with the way things are right now. So it would seem whenever you need something or something happens, you walk up to the door, crack it open, say a little prayer, tell them what happened, and you close the door, you go right back into the house if you have that conversation at all. And the reason you won't let them into the house is because your house is a mess and you think you need to clean it up first. There may be drugs or alcohol. You just party and doing a bunch of stuff, trying to stay extra busy or whatever, or relationships. You brought other people in the house, hoping that somehow they could help you clean it up, but they can't. The only one who can clean it up is standing outside the door, wearing an apron, with a bucket in his hand, waiting on you to truly open the door. Then there's other people in here right now. You used to have Jesus in the whole house, but whether you realize or not, you've moved him to just one room in the house, the good room. Have you ever noticed how the good room, most of the time is the one right up front with the big window? So when people look in, they think the whole house is clean, but it's not. It's just that one room. So when they hear about you coming to church, they think the whole house is clean. So when you read the Bible once in a while, you and they think the whole house is clean. You got a Bible verse tattooed on your body. You pray once a day, but it's just that one room. Jesus wants access to the whole house. And I'm telling you, if you would just open this door and let him in, he'll show up with a contractor named the Holy Spirit, and they will make sure the house is functioning the way it was intended to. But none of this happens if you don't open the door. Because he will not. He will never forced his way in. He wants you to invite him in. So if everyone in here, if you could just close your eyes and bow your head as I explain the house story. If you know this is for you and you need to invite Jesus into your house, whether it be for the first time or to give him full access to the house again, I'm gonna ask you to do something really simple. On the count of three, I just want you to put your hand in the air. Don't overthink this. But if this is you and you need to invite them into the house for the first time or to give them full access on account of three, just put your hand in the air. Hands are already going up. One, two, three. Nice and high. Nice and high. Praise God. Praise God. Go ahead and put your hands down and then look up at me. First thing I feel like I'm supposed to say is, I'm proud of you. I'm telling you, man, God will give me a number of how many times I'm supposed to repeat that phrase for some people in the room who have never received that phrase from a father's voice. So I'm going to repeat that phrase, and I want you, not just the people who raised your hand, I want you to work to receive that phrase. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I am proud of you. I'm proud of you. I am proud of you. So now Jesus says this. He says, if you will take a stand for me before man, I will take a stand for you before my Father in heaven. So what that's going to look like right here in this room and even online as well. You can do this as well. Everyone who raised their hand, even those who should have raised their hand, on the count of three, I want you to stand up and remain standing so we can pray together. When you raised your hand, it was like you were reaching for the doorknob. But when we do this prayer together, you're blowing the door open. Notice how the doorknob is really high in this scenario. It's because you're coming to Jesus like a child. So on the count of three, everyone who raised their hand, even those who should have raised their hand, I want you to stand to your feet and remain standing. And to help with that, everyone around you, they're going to applaud as loud as they can, but it will not compare to the applause that the angels in heaven will be doing when you stand to your feet and remain standing. 1, 2, 3. Stand up, remain standing. Stand up and remain standing. Stand up and remain standing. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Keep standing. Keep standing. Keep standing. So we're about to do a prayer together. This is awesome. I'm so proud of you. Don't sit down. The tendency when the applause stop is to sit back down. But this is not about them. This is about him. The angels are still rejoicing because of this choice. So I'm gonna give you. I'm gonna give one thing, man. I haven't. So some of you guys have been through a lot. There's a few people in the room who are sitting down, who should be standing. So you should get up now. This is your opportunity. So. So there's a. That's great. Why you always late? You play keyboard. Anyway, so I'm gonna get this real, real super fast. So there's some people in here who have really, really, really, really been through some. Some stuff. And it's been painful. It's been hard. Here's the thing. The church where I got saved at in New York, the pastor had like five trees planted when the church was first there. And then over the years, one of the trees was smaller than the other trees. Then the pastor said to the gardeners, this is all real. He said, why is this tree so much smaller? The gardeners leave and they come back with these two big four by fours, and they start beating the base of the tree. Y' all got it right. And my pastor at the time was like, what are you doing? Why are you beating the base of this tree? And he explained that when you beat the base of the tree, its natural response, you put it into a trauma, and its natural response is to grow. If you go there today, that tree is a little bigger and probably stronger than the rest of the trees. But here's the thing. All of that pain took place. And because you're making this decision right now, you're deciding to grow up towards God, you're not growing. Because here's what happens. The tree is so strong, it's not growing. The key is to get people around you, like at this church, because you ever see a small tree when it's first, they put those little bars next to it with the wires attached to it so the tree can grow in the right direction. It doesn't. Not to grow angry or not to grow bitter, but to grow up towards God so you can bear the fruit. Do we need you to bear. All right, so we're gonna pray. And normally, I don't know how they're gonna do it here, but normally they bring out a white dude to make it official. Like, my prayer didn't work, but just something. Nope, they got a brown dude. So we good. It's different. It's different. So I want you to repeat this prayer in the privacy of your heart. I'll say it out loud, you repeat it in the privacy of your heart. If you're sitting and you should be standing, you know who you are. You know who you are. Just repeat this prayer in the privacy of your heart. Dear God, thank you for sending your son, Jesus Christ. If you're sitting and you can't stand, God sees you. Thank you, Father, for sending your son Jesus to this earth to die for me. I thank you that he rose again on the third day. I believe it and I receive it. Come into my house, come into my heart, and have your way in my entire heart, in my entire house, in Jesus name, Amen. All right, sit down real quick. I got something super fast. Okay, so here's what I want you to do. For everyone who made that decision today, I want you to do something different than what you've normally done. Because normally we come to church, come in, sit down, get up, and leave. I want you to break the pattern of what you've always done. Because if you do something different in the physical, watch what God is going to do in the spiritual. So I just want you to break it up a little bit. So one thing I. You could do anything, introduce yourself to somebody, stop, and just sit in the car for a little longer. One thing I love to have people do is when we dismiss, I would love for you to come forward, maybe get prayer with one of the prayer partners who are going to be here, or just come touch the stage and say thank you. I just want you to do something different. The reason I love that so much is because when we dismiss, most people will be going that way, but you'll be coming this way. Why do I like that so much? Because when we dismiss and you're no longer in this building, most people will be going that way, but you'll be going. God will be calling you in a different direction, and you would have already practiced it in his house. The other thing I like about it is the people have people who are leaving, they got someplace to go, and you're trying to come this way, and you got someplace to go. You got all of these thoughts in your head, I got to get my kids. I'm going towards God. I got to go get something to eat, but I'm heading towards God. Like, there's all these reasons to not come forward, but I'm telling you, practice it here and watch what he does out there. I absolutely, unquestionably love you guys. I thank you so much. Thanks for being amazing. Come on, y'. All. Give it up for Michael Jr. Come on. Can we really show our appreciation? What an incredible time. Laughing and crying and celebrating in the house of the Lord. Just what a gift to the body of Christ that he really is. And.