Sunday Message - 251214

Summary

The Potter's House Podcast

Episode: Sunday Message – 251214
Date: December 14, 2025

Main Theme / Purpose

This message delves into the story of Abraham and Sarah from Genesis 18, exploring what it means to truly know God, distinguishing fact from truth, and inviting listeners to allow God to “set the record straight” in their own hearts. The sermon challenges listeners to examine the false narratives they’ve accepted about themselves, embrace God’s promises even when facts seem contrary, and experience a deeper, more personal relationship with God—the one true and living God who pursues, transforms, and empowers His people.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Foundations in Genesis: Abraham, Sarah, and God’s Promise

• Context: The speaker sets the scene in Genesis 18, where God reiterates His promise to Abraham and Sarah that they will have a son, despite Sarah’s barrenness and advanced age ([01:37]).
• The Paradox of Faith: God’s promise ("I will make you the father of many nations") appears at odds with Abraham's reality; Sarah’s inability to have children leads to her attempt to “help” God’s plan by giving Hagar to Abraham ([03:05]).
• Relatability: “Have you ever tried to modify God's plan for him?” ([03:05], Pastor/Speaker). The speaker humorously acknowledges human tendencies to intervene in God’s timing, only to complicate matters.

2. The Nature of God’s Voice and Human Limitations

• The Mystery of Divine Encounter: God appears as both “the Lord” and as “men,” highlighting the mysterious ways God communicates ([03:48]).
• Knowing God’s Voice: Listeners are encouraged to develop discernment to recognize God’s guidance, even when it’s not obvious ([04:27]).

3. Parental Imperfection and Divine Compensation

• Parenting as Formation: The sermon explores the reality that parents are trying to raise children while still being formed themselves ([08:48]).
  • Memorable Quote: “Human beings are forming other humans while they’re yet still being formed themselves.” ([07:38], Pastor/Speaker)
• Forgiveness and Compassion: Understanding parental failure brings empathy and leads to healing—“Your parents didn’t know what they were doing. They were doing the best that they could.” ([10:48])
• God as the Ultimate Parent: When parents fall short, “the Lord will take care of me.” God can be whatever nurturing presence is lacking ([11:43]).

4. Understanding God in Historical and Cultural Context

• God’s Distinction Among the gods: Israel’s God was unique—"not a god of the sun, a god of the storm, a god of fertility—but the one true and living God" ([18:45]).
• Power and Holiness: “He’s not just mighty, he's holy.” God’s “moral perfection” distinguishes Him. His power is rooted in holiness, not capricious or manipulative ([20:11]-[22:39]).
  • Notable Quote: “If you touch my God, you'll become whole... because my God is different from your God.” ([20:25], Congregant/Participant)
• Relevance Today: The message challenges complacency, reminding listeners not to take access to God or scripture for granted ([17:23]).

5. God’s Pursuit vs. Religious Rituals

• God Makes the First Move: Unlike ancient religions that require people to perform rituals to get gods’ attention, “we serve a God who makes the first move... I'ma reach down to you” ([27:04]).
  • Memorable Quote: "God chased them down... He pursued me." ([28:54], Congregant/Participant)
• From Ritual to Relationship: God prioritizes relationship over ceremony. “He’s connected to a people” ([26:51], Congregant/Participant).

6. Importance of Knowing Who God Is

• For Courage and Integrity: Facing giants like David or life’s challenges requires deep certainty about God’s identity. “You gotta know who your God is.” ([23:38]-[31:31])
• Personal Experience Over Inherited Faith: “Sometimes you cannot borrow someone else’s faith. You need a word from God for yourself before you step into faith.” ([36:56], Congregant/Participant)
  • Key Point: God goes out of his way to ensure Sarah hears the promise herself—direct revelation matters ([36:11]).

7. Facts vs. Truth: Setting the Record Straight

• Sermon’s Core Message: “You can have a fact about who you are, but it not be the truth about what God says about who you are.” ([38:40], Pastor/Speaker)
  • Notable Quote: "You got a lot of facts, but you don’t have truth... My truth does not need the facts... My truth steps over the facts of who you are." ([39:23]-[40:14])
• Breaking Mental Strongholds: Listeners are urged not to rehearse negative facts about themselves, but to embrace what God says—the truth ([40:14]-[43:39]).

8. Questions for Reflection and Altar Call

• Core Reflection Questions:
  1. "Why is it hard for me to believe what God is saying or what God is willing to do?"
  2. "What would I have to believe about God to accept this word?" ([54:02]-[55:31])
• Laying Down Facts for Truth: The congregation is invited to symbolically bring their “facts” (limiting beliefs, false identities, past failures) and trade them at the altar for God's truth ([57:07]-[64:08]).

9. Faith, Acceptance, and Identity in Christ

• Faith Like Sarah: Hebrews 11:11 demonstrates the shift—from laughter and disbelief to faith, “She judged Him faithful.” ([49:46]-[51:35])
• Ongoing Growth: Knowing God is a continual process—“I don’t want religion; I want relationship.” ([53:09], Pastor/Speaker)
• Letting God Define Us: God wants to “correct the stories that we believed that held us bound,” transforming us to reflect His image ([70:25], Pastor/Speaker).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Have you ever tried to modify God’s plan for him?” – Pastor/Speaker ([03:05])
• “Human beings are forming other humans while they’re yet still being formed themselves.” – Pastor/Speaker ([07:38])
• “Your parents didn’t know what they were doing. They were doing the best that they could.” – Pastor/Speaker ([10:48])
• “When my mother and my father forsake me, the Lord will take care of me.” – Pastor/Speaker quoting Psalm 27 ([11:40])
• “The God that I have is not like your God.” – Congregant/Participant ([18:45])
• “He’s not just mighty, he’s holy... There is no moral failure in my God.” – Pastor/Speaker/Participant ([20:25])
• “We serve a God who will make the first move... I’m a reach down to you.” – Pastor/Speaker ([27:04])
• “God chased them down... He pursued me.” – Congregant/Participant ([28:54])
• “You got a lot of facts, but you don’t have truth... My truth steps over the facts of who you are.” – Pastor/Speaker ([39:23]-[40:14])
• “Sometimes you cannot borrow someone else’s faith. You need a word from God for yourself before you step into faith.” – Congregant/Participant ([36:56])
• “Sarah judged Him faithful.” – Pastor/Speaker ([50:47])
• “I don’t want religion; I want relationship.” – Pastor/Speaker ([53:09])
• “What would I have to believe about God to accept this word?” – Pastor/Speaker ([54:02])

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Important Timestamps

• Genesis 18 Reading & Setup: [01:37] – [05:20]
• Parental Imperfection & Divine Compensation: [07:38] – [12:04]
• God as Distinct and Holy: [18:45] – [23:22]
• God’s Pursuit of Us: [26:26] – [29:06]
• Knowing Who God Is (Courage/Integrity): [30:00] – [33:38]
• Sarah Receives the Promise & Personal Faith: [36:11] – [38:00]
• Facts vs. Truth: ‘Set the Record Straight’: [38:00] – [43:39]
• Altar Call, Heart Search, Surrender: [57:07] – [67:56]
• Closing Prayer and Blessing: [70:25] – [End]

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Conclusion

This sermon encourages listeners to let go of the limiting “facts” about themselves that conflict with God’s promises, and to embrace God’s higher truth. The message highlights the necessity of knowing God personally, not secondhand; understanding that He is both powerful and holy; and receiving direct revelation so that our faith becomes rooted and unshakeable. The call is to allow God to “set the record straight” in our inner lives and step forward in the fullness of His truth, empowered for purpose, identity, and destiny.

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Summary by Podcast Summarizer AI

Transcript

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[Pastor/Speaker]

Welcome to the Potter's House podcast. You are home away from home. Stay a while as the word of God restores your hope and transforms your life. I'm in Genesis 18. Start in verse nine. This is a very interesting text. When we enter into the text, God is having a conversation with Abraham. And for those of you who may not be familiar with Abraham's story, in Genesis 12, technically, at the end of Genesis 11, we first experiences his name and his background. But in Genesis 12, 12 is when we first see the Lord begin to speak to Abram. He begins to speak to Abram and he says, get out of your father's house into a land that I will show you. And he makes all of these promises, all these covenants to him. He says, and I'm going to make you the father of many nations. And so throughout Genesis 12 and a little bit past where we are today, we see the unfolding of this relationship with God and Abram. When we enter into the text, though, some interesting things have happened. God promises, abram, I'm going to make you the Father of many nations. But then his wife Sarah can't have children. So God makes him a promise. But it doesn't look like the promise is going to be fulfilled. Sarah takes things into her own hands, and she says, here is my maid servant, Hagar. Like, maybe what God had really meant is that you're going to do it.

[Congregant/Participant]

But have you ever tried to modify.

[Pastor/Speaker]

God's plan for him?

[Congregant/Participant]

You know what I mean?

[Pastor/Speaker]

Like, because sometimes God be busy and you be like, you know what? Don't worry about that. I got a plan now.

[Congregant/Participant]

I'm going to help your plan with my plan.

[Pastor/Speaker]

And then we gonna see. And God was like, see, nobody even told you to do that. Now I got to clean up your mess. So Hagar has Ishmael, and he says, no, I'm still going to give you a child through Sarah. And it hasn't happened yet. And the Lord appears to him in Genesis 17, and he talks about circumcision and how his household should be reigned. And he says, I'm still going to give you this child. And In Genesis and 18, we see the Lord come to him, and it says, the Lord appears to Abram. But then the text is interesting because it says, the Lord appears, but then it also says that there are men there with him. And this text vacillates between like, is it the Lord, Is it men? Is the Lord taking on different forms? And yet he's still trying to belabor this promise that he has given Abraham. And Sarah overhears this promise between the Lord and the men. And so as I'm reading this text, you may say, I thought it was the Lord, I thought it was the men. I think that this is part of the mystery of the way that God speaks to us. Sometimes it's clearly him, sometimes we're wondering if it is him. And so we have to know his voice in order to understand what is him in different seasons. Genesis 18, verse 9 says, it says, then they said to him, this is the they. It was the Lord. Now it's back to them. And it says, then they said to him, where is Sarah, your wife? So he said, here in the tent. And he, this is God said, and I will certainly return to you according to the time of life. And behold, Sarah, your wife shall have a son. Sarah was Listening in the tent. You know, women know how to ear hustle. You said it to my husband. You said it to us. We are Ussy and we don't have no secrets around here. He be praying.

[Congregant/Participant]

I'm like, what the Lord say to you, huh?

[Pastor/Speaker]

Sarah was listening in the tent door, which was behind him. Now, Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age, and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, after I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? And the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I surely bear a child since I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord at the appointed time, I will return to you according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. And he said, no, but you did laugh. God really need to check y' all sometimes, because how you gonna lie straight to the Lord as he's sitting there listening? Lord, I really do have faith. I wasn't laughing. I really do believe you. But he knows what's in your heart, regardless of the words that you speak. Speak. Even the text says that Sarah laughed within herself. That means that the Lord knew what was happening inside of her, even though she never gave it language. With that in mind, Lord, you know what's happening on the inside of us. Certainly you know what's happening around us. We open our insides to you, speak a word that you know we need to hear, breathe your life inside of us until those dead bones come back to life. God, I thank you for the spirit of wisdom, of prophecy, of revelation. God, I thank you that in this moment it would just be you standing tall in me where there would be nerves, where the enemy would dare to threaten me with inadequacy. I thank you, God, that the Spirit of God will sustain me. And I thank you that as the Spirit of God sustains me, that what happens in me and through me will overflow and touch every soul, not just in this room, but even those watching on live stream who are in need of what you're doing on the inside of me. God, I submit myself to you, a vessel. And I say, have your way, great God, that you are. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Say something nice to the person beside you as you sitting down. Let's go to work. There is a unique paradox that comes with parenting that I feel like is not something you fully understand until you enter into the stage of life in which you are an adult child. When you become an adult child, There's a revelation that hits you as it relates to you reconciling your experiences with your parents and perhaps your experience while raising children. That paradox is this, is that human beings are forming other humans while they're yet still being formed themselves. We don't realize this when we're young. And when we're children, we think our parents know everything and that they have all of the answers. My son, he's 20, 23 years old, and every now and then he'll reach out to me and he'll say, mom, I cannot believe that when you were my age, you had two children and you had it all together.

[Congregant/Participant]

And I was like.

[Pastor/Speaker]

And the gag is, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. You can't tell the kids that when they're young because there's a certain level of respect that you want them to have, and you want them to be able to trust you and to feel safe. But I am beginning to believe that one of the best parts, that of seeing your children grow up and enter into adulthood, is the gift of being able to finally tell them, you know, I didn't know what I was doing. Right? Let me tell you, I realize now, even in my adult relationship with my parents, like, y'. All.

[Congregant/Participant]

I mean, I love y', all, but, like, y' all really didn't know what y'.

[Announcer/Commercial Voice]

All.

[Congregant/Participant]

Not like, not like in a disrespectful way, but, like, y' all didn't really.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Know what y' all was doing. Right? You know, like, this was their first day on the Earth as well.

[Congregant/Participant]

Like, who could have known that you.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Were going to move to Dallas and this church would explode?

[Congregant/Participant]

And how do I raise the children.

[Pastor/Speaker]

And balance the church and balance the ministry?

[Congregant/Participant]

You really didn't know what you were doing.

[Pastor/Speaker]

I get it now.

[Congregant/Participant]

I get it that you really weren't.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Upset that I didn't take the chicken out.

[Congregant/Participant]

It was that you were so upset, trying to navigate through the world, and I got to pay the bills and the job is going to get let go, and I got betrayed, and I don't know what I'm going to do from day to day to day, and all I asked you to do was to take the chicken out the freezer. It was never about the chicken. I get it now. You didn't care that Johnny had two apples. You were upset because you didn't know what you were doing.

[Pastor/Speaker]

I feel like this is where we have an opportunity to experience parental forgiveness in whatever ways. It feels like my Parents didn't show up. My parents didn't do this.

[Congregant/Participant]

Your parents didn't know what they were doing. They were doing the best that they could. And in the process of them doing.

[Pastor/Speaker]

The best that they could, some of them dropped some balls. Some of them may have missed some things, but it was the best that they had to offer. I'm not talking about abuse. I'm talking about people with good hearts and good intentions doing the best they.

[Congregant/Participant]

Could with what life had offered them.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Trying to form you while also taking care of themselves.

[Congregant/Participant]

There are a lot of parents in.

[Pastor/Speaker]

This room who did the best, best that they could. And when we step into adulthood and we understand just how hard it is to take care of yourself, nevertheless, taking.

[Congregant/Participant]

Care of other people, you begin to have a little bit more compassion on those parents. And you know why you can have compassion? Because the Bible tells me that when my parents, when my mother and my.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Father forsake me, the Lord will take care of me.

[Congregant/Participant]

That means you do the best that you can and God will take care of you, care of the rest. I got a word for somebody whose parents didn't show up in every single way that you needed them to show up. Maybe they didn't show up at all.

[Pastor/Speaker]

In Psalm 27, it says that when my mother and my father forsake me, the Lord will take care of me.

[Congregant/Participant]

See, you got to know God well enough to know that there are some things that your mother and father weren't meant to do so that you would have a reason to come to the one father who knows knows everything about you. I know every hair that's on your head. I know every thought that's in your mind. I know you wish someone would have seen you. But because they didn't see you, now you came searching. And because you came searching, you found out I'm a good, good father. And when you need me to be, I can be the breasted one. I can nurture you like your mother never did. I can discipline you in the way your father never could. I can be your mother and your father. I want to talk to somebody who you didn't have either. And I want to let you to know. We call him Father, but he can be anything you need him to be. I could be your nurturer. I can be your nourisher. I can raise you up. I can sit you down. I can discipline you. I can teach you. I can guide you. I can put morals on the inside of you. Maybe nobody taught me this. You didn't need nobody to teach you you just needed to be hungry enough to go searching for the ultimate teacher, the master teacher, the one who knows all things, who holds eternity in his hands. He knows you're in from your beginning. He was in the birthing room when. He was in the room when they conceived you. He'll be in the room when you take your last breath. You won't go anywhere where God won't be with you. You may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but you won't be there by yourself. I've been in some things my parents don't know nothing about, but God was standing in the midst of of it. Oh, I know him as a father. I know him as a friend.

[Pastor/Speaker]

That's good to somebody.

[Congregant/Participant]

I don't know who you are, but I'mma give you five seconds to thank God for doing what somebody else couldn't do. To thank God for being what your parents weren't. To thank God for your parents, but to also thank God for that extra he did on top of your parents. They was good, but you was better. They did the best they could, but you came and finished the job. I want to give you five seconds. Oh, is that all he did for you? Is that all he did for you when you had to bury your parents? Who stepped in when you felt like you was uncovered? Who stepped in when you felt like no one understood you? Who stepped in?

[Pastor/Speaker]

Sometimes we have to realize that our parents were still being parented by the father while also showing up. For us, understanding our parents outside of just being our parents and seeing them as humans offers us a broader perspective, a greater context for who they are. I feel like in our relationship with God, even to fully understand the depth of who God is, there's something to be said about properly understanding scripture in context. God is greater than even the greatness we understand through the lens in which we engage with Scripture. Lord, help me. When we look at this Bible, especially through the lens of modern, perhaps even Westernized Christianity, we see it in a bit of a vacuum. It is the dominant religion of this nation, of most Westernized nations. Even if it is some form of Christianity, it is considered the number one religion. And yet we don't always engage with this book because it's been around for so long in the way that it was originally written and presented, because this has been around for thousands of years. But it hasn't been around in this way for thousands of years because we have these big buildings and there's churches on every corner. We kind of take for granted the accessibility we have to scripture and to God and to environments that lift his name up. So for a moment, I want to ask you to suspend everything you know, and to travel back in time with me. Before we had these leather bound Bibles, before they got the council together and decided that they were going to divide the letters and the manuscripts up by numbers and to give them chapters and names. I want to take you back, back, back in a time where we were being introduced for the first time to this God of Israel, the one true and living God. When you read the Old Testament and I grew up in church, I read the Old Testament like I was reading a history book. Like everything there was to know about how the world came to be was in that one book. And while the creation story is there, we also have to understand that the Old Testament is being told on a backdrop of the Mesopotamian religions that existed at that time. And when we begin to see that this Old Testament was told on a particular backdrop, it helps us to understand just why our God stood out amongst that religion. The New Testament itself too was being told on the backdrop of a Greek Roman world, a Greco Roman world in which there were Greek gods like Zeus and, and Aphrodite. There were all other gods that were in the mix. But when we read the scripture, we don't realize that Jesus is speaking about being the one and true living God and talking about his relationship with the Father on the backdrop of those who were worshiping to the gods of the water and gods of the sea. That's why what he said was so profound. We go back to the Old Testament. I need you to understand that what Israel was saying was unique because they were not just saying that we have a God because having a God was not uncommon. What they were saying is that we have the one true and living God. Oh, God's gonna help me.

[Congregant/Participant]

The God that I have is not like your God.

[Pastor/Speaker]

I don't have a God for the sun and a different God for the storms. I don't have a special God for fertility.

[Congregant/Participant]

I don't have a different God for war. My God is God all by himself.

[Pastor/Speaker]

He spoke the sun into existence.

[Congregant/Participant]

I don't need a separate God when I want the rain to come because my God is in charge of the season, the storm. Jesus stepped out on the boat and said, peace, be still. Who is this that the winds and waves obey him? Why did they ask that question? Because in that world there would have been a different God, God for the storms. But this is the kind of God that is the God of peace and the God of the storm. This is a different kind of God. The God of fertility is not the same God as this God. This is a God who is unique and stands alone. Above him there shall be no other. These words make better sense in context when you realize that other people were praying to different gods for different things. All of a sudden there came this God of Israel that says, I shall have no other idols before me. There came this God of Israel that said, you can trust on me for anything you need. You got to know what kind of God you have. Please turn me up in the monitors because I feel like we going to have to break this thing down.

[Pastor/Speaker]

The God of Israel, different than the other gods that existed at that time. He wasn't just mighty enough to command the seas and the sun. He was holy too.

[Congregant/Participant]

You see, it's one thing to understand God is mighty. It's another thing to understand him as holy. That means that his power is directly connected to his holiness. That means that there is no moral failure in my God. That means that my God is whole. He's not jealous of me. My God is whole. He is complete. My God is powerful, but not powerful for the sake of being powerful. My God is powerful enough to let his holiness invade the earth. If you touch my God, you'll become whole. If you touch my God, if anything in you is broken, it'll rise to the surface. Because my God is different from your God. I'm sorry that in your God you to bargain and you got to set out bowls and you got to dance all night. All I got to do was call his name. My God is different than your God. I got a kind of God that you wouldn't quite understand. And when I tell you he's holy, I'm telling you that the angels bow down before him. When I tell you that he's holy, I mean that there was something in me that was broken by sin. But I let him in my life, in his holiness, fix my brokenness. He. He's not just powerful, he's holy. He's gentle with me. He knows my soul. He orders my steps. He speaks the Word and it is complete.

[Pastor/Speaker]

He is not just mighty, he's holy.

[Congregant/Participant]

He's a different kind of God. You got to see it in the backdrop of what was taking place in the Old Testament. They had never heard of a God like this. You've been hearing about this, God forbid, so long that you take it for granted. But I think some of us just need a reminder that he's still the Only God standing. Zeus has gone away. Aphrodite has gone wherever she has gone. But my God still remains. You know why? Because he is the one true and living God. And you gotta know who your God is. And you have to know the distinction of your God from the other gods that people will try to keep. Convince you or God? No, that's not God. I tried it and it didn't heal me. That's not God. I had to work up on it. And my God says, if all you have to do is have faith, it's not even about what you do. It's about what you believe. My God.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Is different. He has complete moral perfection. He is holy. He's not a man that he should lie. He's holy. He's not so drunk off of who he is that he cares about who you are.

[Congregant/Participant]

Matter of fact, my God said, I'm gonna make you in my own image, be holy, for I am holy. He's not threatened by me. Other gods back then, they be threatened. God got jealous of you. My God don't get jealous of me. My God provides for me. My God reaches down into his resources and goes ahead of me so that I lack nothing. I have a good shepherd. I know no lack.

[Pastor/Speaker]

You got a different kind of God. And it is important that you understand the distinction of your God. In Daniel, it says, those who know their God shall do great exploits.

[Congregant/Participant]

You got to know who your God is. My God is powerful, yes. The Son obeys him, indeed. But he is also holy. You got to know who your God is. When you read this book, you are.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Not just reading these old stories that no longer apply.

[Congregant/Participant]

You are reading about who God is. The character of God is hidden in these pages. I don't just call him faithful because he was faithful then. I call him faithful because he was faithful then and he's still faithful now. I don't just call him a provider for what he did Now I look back over his history and I see that the same God that provided for me provided for Hagar when she was in the wilderness ready to die. I call him a healer because the same God, when the woman touched the hem of his garment, healed her body, healed my body. Healing is what he does. Liberation is who he is. I wish I had about five people who didn't mind getting ignorant for a second so I could brag about who your God is. Do you understand that the same God that delivered then is delivering now? The same God that was speaking then is speaking now. The same God that was prophesying through people. The same God that split the Red Sea. The same God that told David, I'm gonna be with you, when everybody else turns their back on the same go, Uh, oh.

[Pastor/Speaker]

I think somebody just remembered.

[Congregant/Participant]

Who their God was. Sometimes you need a reminder that my God's not sitting in the corner office. My God cannot be limited to a tabernacle or a temple. My God doesn't need a ritual for me to experience his presence. We can turn all the lights off and all the sound off, and you could never preach another word. And God would whisper in my ear, do you know who my.

[Pastor/Speaker]

You see, in the ancient Middle Eastern religions, when they wanted to hear from God, they had to perform rituals. They had to get out at a certain time of day and do things a certain way. But our God is not like their God. He doesn't need any rituals.

[Congregant/Participant]

That's why we could turn the lights off and have no music, and he still show up because he's not bound to rituals. He's connected to a people.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Yeah. One of the. The most unique attributes of our God, in contrast to the little gods that existed at that time, is that our God pursues us. Tell you like this. We serve a God who will make the first move. You see, those ancient religions, they had to pursue their God. That's why they needed the rituals. That's why they had to perform certain tasks and do certain things, because that was their way of reaching out to their God. So when the God of Israel is introduced, we're looking at a God who.

[Congregant/Participant]

Goes, I don't need you to reach out to me.

[Pastor/Speaker]

I'm a reach down to you. We serve a God who makes the first move.

[Congregant/Participant]

In the Old Testament, before Adam could even figure out how he was going to tell God what happened, our God.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Says, where are you?

[Congregant/Participant]

Because I'm so in love with who you are that I will pursue you. I will make sure nothing stands in the way of us staying connected. I'm not waiting on you to reach out to me. I will come get you. You see, and that word only resonates with certain people who understand what it's like to have God chase them down. You think that they in this church because they chose to come to church. They in this church because God chased them down. You ought to see some of the places God chased them from. He made somebody get out of the bar. He made somebody get out of the club. They wanted to stay, but God chased them down. God pursued me.

[Verizon Advertiser]

Me.

[Congregant/Participant]

It's not that I was running after him. I run after him. Now. But he chased me down first. He came and saw about me.

[Pastor/Speaker]

He pursued me. Is there anybody in here who can resonate with that?

[Congregant/Participant]

God came looking for me. God chased me down. He got a burning bush from Moses. He said, abraham, we. We don't even know where Abram came from. What was it about Abram? God pursued him. He saw Noah. Noah found favor in God's sight.

[Pastor/Speaker]

We serve a God who pursues us. And I am telling you that now more than ever. I feel this prophetically.

[Congregant/Participant]

You are going to have to know who your God is and know who your God is not. My God is not in technology, though he can use it. My God is not in the government, though he can work through it. My God sits on the throne of heaven. He is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. David knew who his God was. That's why he wasn't afraid of Goliath. Because he wanted to know, who is it, this uncircumcised Philistine who would dare come up against my God? If you're going to do anything for God, you better make sure you know. Know who your God is. Because you're going to stand against some giants and some people who think they're God. And you got to be able to look them square in the eyes and say, you are not God. I know who my God is. And I won't bow the knee and I won't kiss the ring because my integrity is more important than your opportunity. I know who my. Now is not the time for you to be a stranger with God. Now is the time for you to be empowered. Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the work. It ain't no greatness in this world greater than my God. I don't care what the headlines say. I care what God says. I don't care what the streets are talking. I want to know what God is saying. Because when God points me in the direction of what I'm supposed to do.

[Pastor/Speaker]

I leave myself.

[Congregant/Participant]

No other option.

[Pastor/Speaker]

You gotta know.

[Congregant/Participant]

You gotta know them for real.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Oh. Cause you gonna need them for real.

[Congregant/Participant]

You gotta know them for real. Cause you gonna need them for real.

[Pastor/Speaker]

In the New Testament, the centurion man comes to Jesus, says, my servant is sick. Jesus says, I'll go right now. He says, no, no, no, you don't have to go. Because I know who you are.

[Announcer/Commercial Voice]

If.

[Pastor/Speaker]

You just speak a word. I wish I could say this better than the way I'm saying it, but.

[Congregant/Participant]

You need to understand the power, the.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Authority, the Holiness, the integrity, the faithfulness.

[Congregant/Participant]

The righteousness, the mercy of who your God is. You gotta know this so that when.

[Pastor/Speaker]

He says, I'm with you, it means something to you.

[Congregant/Participant]

I'm not talking about an Instagram quote. I'm talking about confidence when God says, I'll see you through this situation. I'm talking about the kind of courage you gonna need for the rooms God takes you in. You gotta know who your God is. That I'll give you language on the side spot. I'll give you rest in your heart. I'll give you strength to raise the child. I know who my God is.

[Pastor/Speaker]

I don't just say this cause it's cute. I know what I got when I got you. I don't deserve you, but I know.

[Congregant/Participant]

What I got when I got you.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Oh God, Holy Ghost, help me.

[Congregant/Participant]

The enemy will try to make you believe that you don't got what you got when you got God. Sodi, did God really say, maybe I don't have what I really have when I got God, but I came here to let you know that you got to know what you got.

[Pastor/Speaker]

You don't need another degree if you.

[Congregant/Participant]

Don'T know who your God is. You don't need another opportunity if you aren't going to know who your God.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Is in the midst of it all.

[Congregant/Participant]

Be your protection. I'll be your public relations. I'll be your security. I'll be your partner. I know you're grieving. I know you're upset that you don't have everything you need. But if you know who your God.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Is, you won't have to worry about those things. So when we look at Abram and Sarah in the text, we have to realize that unlike you, who's been exposed to faith and religion and all of who God is through your mother and your grandparents and just television, that we're introduced to people who are just learning who God is, who are just beginning to understand what it means to be in relationship with him, who are just beginning to understand what it means to understand his father faithfulness and his courage. When we see them in the text, we understand that Sarah's in a little bit of a predicament because God has given a promise to Abram. And I'll be honest, I'm not entirely convinced that Abram fully told Sarah what God said. I'll say that because I know what it's like to have a partner who don't be telling all the details of the details of the retails. You know, like what's the Dress code. What can I anticipate? I'm not entirely convinced that Sarah knew what to expect. Because for some reason we see the words, the Lord appeared to Abram. We see that in Genesis 12. We see it in Genesis 17 where it says, the Lord appeared to Abram. When the Lord appears to ABRAM In Genesis 17, he basically says exactly what he said in Genesis 18, that Sarah's going to conceive a child even though they have Ishmael. He basically says it again. But there is something about Genesis 18 in which the Lord goes out of his way to make sure that Sarah understands exactly what the promise is. I love this. If I could just sidebar for a moment. Because if you look at the Scripture and you look how Scripture has been manipulated, you could be fooled into believing that you serve a God that doesn't care about women. But Genesis 18 proves that God went out of his way to make sure.

[Congregant/Participant]

That Sarah received the same message that he had been given to Abraham straight from him.

[Pastor/Speaker]

In Genesis in nine, it says, where is Sarah? The Lord says, where is Sarah?

[Congregant/Participant]

Because I have a word that I.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Want to give to her, and I.

[Congregant/Participant]

Want to make sure that she hears it straight from me. And I want her to know that I hear what's happening on the inside of her. He goes out of his way to.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Make sure that Sarah gets this word.

[Congregant/Participant]

Because Sarah's belief in this word is.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Critical to the manifestation of it happening.

[Congregant/Participant]

We call Abraham the Father of faith, as we should. But we have to recognize that it.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Was going to require as well, Sarah's buy in Sarah's participation, Sarah's belief.

[Congregant/Participant]

And sometimes you cannot borrow someone else's faith. You need a word from God for yourself before you step into faith. That's a word for somebody. Somebody. You've been wondering why I don't. Why I can't have someone else's faith be enough faith for me. God says, you don't need someone else's recycled, borrowed faith. What you need to ask for instead is that I would speak to you directly. Because the same God that got a word to Abram will go out of his way to make sure he can get a word to Sarah. And if he got the word to Sarah, he'll go out of his way to make sure that that word gets to. To David to make sure that word gets to Jessica. I don't know who you are in this room, but I want you to understand that God will go out of his way to make sure that the word resonates with you. He'll Raise up voices, he'll raise up teachers to make sure that the Word gets to you. I don't know who you are and where you've been, but I need you to understand that God knows how to find you. God knows how to make sure that the Word reaches you in a way that only you can understand. Stand in a season where you are positioned to take it and make it.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Turn into the manifestation of what he said. He goes out of his way to get this word to Sarah. I told myself that the subject for this message would be Set the record Straight. And I called it Set the record straight. Because I believe that part of the reason why God goes out of his way to have this moment of making sure that Sarah has heard this word and heard this promise is because the Lord recognizes that there's something taking place on the inside of Sarah that would prohibit her from fully believing what God said. There's a record that she's keeping, but what's in the record is false. Oh, God, help me. She's got facts, but she doesn't have truth. And sometimes you can have a fact about who you are, but it not.

[Congregant/Participant]

Be the truth about what God says about who you are. And you will chain your destiny to the facts when God has subscribed your destiny to be connected to the truth. And so he goes out of his.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Way to set the record straight with Sarah.

[Congregant/Participant]

Because if Sarah doesn't get out of.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Facts, she's going to miss destiny.

[Congregant/Participant]

That's somebody's word in this room. You got a lot of facts, but you don't have truth. You got a lot of facts about your age, a lot of facts about your education, a lot of facts about your community, but you don't have truth. And because you don't have truth, you don't believe what God says. Because you're taking what God says and you're. You're comparing it to the facts. You don't understand that God doesn't need the facts to add up in order for his truth to come alive. My truth does not need the facts. My truth steps over the facts of who you are. If you don't believe me, you better ask that woman at the well who had no business talking to Jesus. That was a fact. But what was true is that he sat at that well and he waited for that woman. And you got to know the difference.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Between what you're calling facts and what God calls truth.

[Congregant/Participant]

The enemy will start replaying the facts in your head over and over again.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Come on. Ministry.

[Congregant/Participant]

I don't know who you are. But you gotta replay your facts in your head over and over again. Of the things you did wrong, of.

[Pastor/Speaker]

The places you didn't go.

[Congregant/Participant]

And you got all of these facts. But I feel like God wanted you to, to know before 2025 is up that you cannot walk into 2026 replaying those same facts in your head over and over again. Because what God is going to do in 2026 is going to be the truth. And you can have the facts or you can have the truth. But if you're going to have the truth, you're going to have to lay down the facts and step over into a realm of faith. And that realm of faith says, I believe what what God says about me. That truth is going to have to be whatever God lays ahead of me. I'm going to step into it with boldness, with courage and with confidence. Yeah, but you was this. That's a fact. But the fact didn't change the truth. I wish I could say that real good for the place inside of you where the enemy has been tormenting you with facts. I want you to understand that God counted the cost and called you anyway. That God saw the mistake before you made it and still had a destiny for you anyway. I saw the facts, but the facts didn't change my truth. You're still my child. You're still anointed. You still can raise that family. You still can be everything I called you to be. And that's the truth. Baby. You let somebody else play in your face with facts. God says, if you get in my presence, I'm going to tell you the truth. That you are the right righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That you can still be holy because I am holy. That you are still anointed and appointed. That you haven't seen your best days yet. That no weapon formed against you will prosper. And every tongue that rises up against. And that's the truth. And you better start telling the enemy the truth truth instead of letting him play with the facts. Because the truth is my God has gone ahead of me. The truth is he will anoint my tongue. The truth is that I'm filled with the Holy Ghost. The truth is that the blood covered it all. The truth is that the child's gonna be okay. The truth is that I'm gonna make it through the end of the day. The truth is that the disease is out of my body.

[Pastor/Speaker]

The truth is I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.

[Congregant/Participant]

The truth is I'm forgiven. The truth is I woke up this morning with new mercies. The truth is that he's already seen my past and still holding my future. Oh, I wish somebody could receive that he didn't see my past and throw my future away. He saw my mistakes and said, I'm still holding it for the day that you get up and rise up into everything. That's the truth.

[Pastor/Speaker]

So the question is, are you willing to lay down your facts to lay hold of his truth? Are you willing to build an altar with your facts in exchange for his truth? This is a critical moment in God's plan. And this critical moment in God's plan. God wants to make sure that every participant will have the correct heart posture so that the plan can be executed. You don't have to figure out the math of how it's going to be done. You just need your heart postured in alignment that it's done. Do you understand? And some of us get caught up because we think we have to figure out the plan. No, we don't have to figure out the plan. We just need our heart aligned with what the plan is. So what you have to ask yourself is this. Why is it hard for me to believe what God is saying or what God is willing to do? Why is it hard for me to believe that? Because that's what's in your heart. This is not a question that you may even be able to answer right now. Some of you may, but others of you, in your prayer time, when you ask God to search my heart, I want you to dare ask God, why is it so hard for me to believe what you're saying? Why is it so hard for me to believe what you're willing to do for me? There's a record somewhere in your heart, and God wants to set the record straight. God, what message did I receive as truth? What message have I accepted as truth that I will have to reject in order to trust you, in order to believe you? What is it? Somewhere along the way, I accepted something as a fact. But now your truth is bumping up against my facts, And I'm gonna have to set the record straight. Sarah's got something on the inside of her, and she has accepted this fact about her biology, about her social shame, and it has made her suspicious of God, which you would never say because you're so saved and you're so dressed up. Anybody that dressed up could never be suspicious of God. But if we're honest, there have been moments where God says, I'm going to send you in that room. I'm going to heal that thing on the inside. I'm going to break that generational curse. But because it hasn't happened yet, there's a part of you that has not completely given up. But you've become so suspicious that his promises almost land like a joke. Oh, I wish I could say that real good. Sarah laughs within herself as if to say, that'll never happen for me. How many times is God sending you a word that you deflect from because you're.

[Congregant/Participant]

You don't want to become who you'd.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Have to become in order to accept it? The vulnerability that would be required for.

[Congregant/Participant]

You to accept, the hope that would be.

[Pastor/Speaker]

You see, Sarah had put that hope away. It's not just going to happen for me. It's just not going to happen for me. And now here comes God.

[Congregant/Participant]

Sending a.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Word that what I gave up on you, gonna bring back to life.

[Congregant/Participant]

I don't know who you are, but you don't want to want it anymore. I don't want to want it anymore. I finally let it go. I don't want to need it anymore. But all of a sudden, God sends this word that says, at an appointment, appointed time. You wanted it then. But then wasn't the appointed time. Now was the appointed time. And I need you to get back to a heart posture where you can.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Believe that it's still for you. And what happens in this text is so beautiful because when we read later on, later, much later on, in Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11:11 tells us that when all was said and done, that Sarah judged him faithful. The same Sarah that laughed, it says, by faith. Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed. And she bore a child when she was past the age.

[Congregant/Participant]

How did she do it?

[Pastor/Speaker]

How did she receive strength to conceive? She received it because she judged him faithful. That's so good to me.

[Congregant/Participant]

She judged him. She looked at his track record. She looked at who he was. I don't want you to have somebody else's faith. I want you to judge him for yourself. She looked at who he was and what he'd been through and what he said he was going to do. And she judged him faithful. You got to know God for yourself. Because my faith won't get you through. I can't inspire you. But it won't be no better than you getting a hit. If you don't judge Him. Him faithful for yourself, you won't receive the strength you need.

[Pastor/Speaker]

She judged him faithful. Faithful to perform what he said he was going to do. But look at where she started. She started laughing at what he said until she took a minute and realized that there is something about God that I've missed. Something about who he is and what he's capable of that I've missed. Is it possible that you could come.

[Congregant/Participant]

To church weekend and week? I think that you could spend your.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Life in church and miss out on the fullness of who God is. In this season of your life, there.

[Congregant/Participant]

Is an expression of who God is.

[Pastor/Speaker]

That he wants to reveal to you. And you have to be willing to receive as truth that you don't know everything there is to know about God. I know that sounds crazy, but sometimes you come to church all the time and you like. It's the same old message. It's the same old. I heard this before. I heard this before. And you think because you've heard everything from man that you've heard everything there is to hear from God.

[Congregant/Participant]

You can know a lot about church, but never know God.

[Pastor/Speaker]

To wake up every, every day, say, God, there's something I want to know about you today. Open my heart, God. I don't want religion. I want relationship. I want to get to know you so that I can judge you. Faithful for myself.

[Congregant/Participant]

So that when you.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Speak a word, I know that you're faithful to deliver that word.

[Congregant/Participant]

And you have to know that the enemy has tried to make you believe.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Some things about your identity, about your destiny, about your capacity that does not.

[Congregant/Participant]

Align with what God says.

[Pastor/Speaker]

That means that there are some records inside of you that God didn't write.

[Congregant/Participant]

And the more that we know God, the more that we behold the.

[Pastor/Speaker]

The spirit of God, the more we are transformed into that image. What are we being transformed from? We're being transformed from the identities that we accepted that do not align with what God said. And for me, this text is a beautiful example of what work must be done in our heart in order for us to receive what God says. I want you to ask yourself one more question. I'm closing. We did the first one. Why is it hard for me to believe what God is saying or willing to do? This is the second question I want you to ask. What would I have to believe about God to accept this word? Oh, what would I have to believe about who God is in order for me to say yes to what he's asking me to do? That he'll provide for me? I'd have to believe that he was a healer. I'd have to believe that he'll comfort me. I'd have to believe that I don't need them in order to do this, what would I have to believe about God?

[Congregant/Participant]

That I'm enough.

[Pastor/Speaker]

That I've got what it takes, that I haven't ran out of time? What would I have to believe about God to make this marriage work? What would I have to believe about God to raise these children, to build this business, to create this ministry? What would I have to believe about God? You know what our problem is, is that we want to believe in ourself. And if I could just build enough confidence and build enough belief in myself.

[Congregant/Participant]

Then I'll say yes.

[Pastor/Speaker]

This isn't about believing in you. Look at Sarah's response. Sarah's response is about herself.

[LinkedIn Advertiser]

Old.

[Congregant/Participant]

And he's old.

[Pastor/Speaker]

We can't do this on our own. And the Lord's response is, this really doesn't have anything to do with you.

[Congregant/Participant]

Is there anything too hard for God?

[Pastor/Speaker]

She didn't even factor God's ability into the equation. So the question is, what would I have to be willing to believe about God to accept this? I want to pray with you. God gave me this message and I believe that God gave me this record, this message, because there are some records he wants to set straight. I believe that as God was pouring this message into my heart.

[Jerry Insurance Advertiser]

That he.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Was highlighting for me people who have created a separation between what they're able to do and what he's able to do. That word in the Hebrew where it says, is there anything too hard for God? It's used in Leviticus and numbers as well. But it's not hard, it's consequent created. Which means that what the Lord is asking in that text is, is there anything that you have separated from my ability? Is there anything too hard for God? What have you separated from me? Because what I have for you, what I'm asking you to do, this invitation to destiny, is going to require that you include me every step of the way. I want to pray with you. When I ask that question specifically, why is it hard for me to believe what God is saying or what God is willing to do? You know exactly what it is. You know exactly what record keeps replaying in your head over and over again that makes it hard for you to believe the bare minimum of what God says. If that's you, I want you to come to the altar for me. And I want you to imagine as you're making your way to the altar that you're bringing those facts with you. The facts that compete with God's truth, the facts that replay in your head over and over again. Will wait for you, it doesn't matter where you're coming from. I believe as you make your way to this altar, that we're going to set the record straight, that there's a narrative that you have accepted and God wants to change your story. I need you to understand, and I know this for myself in my own journey, what it's like to accept as fact some things about your identity that don't align with who God says you are. I know what it's like to say because of X, Y and Z, I'm always being be this. I can never be that. I can never do that. And I know for myself what it's like to. By faith. Oh, that's the thing. What makes our God different from those little gods is that this is just about faith. This is just about belief. It's not about what we do. We aren't safe because we did everything the right way. We're not safe because we followed the law by the letter. We are saved because we believe in the one who fulfilled the law, because we believed. Blessed are those who believe.

[Congregant/Participant]

We believe.

[Pastor/Speaker]

That Jesus truly paid it.

[Congregant/Participant]

All on the cross. That's what I believe.

[Pastor/Speaker]

I believe that he was a perfect, perfect man who got on the cross with all of my sins, all of my failures, not just for the era that existed at that time, but for.

[Congregant/Participant]

All of the errors to come. That's what I believe. And I believe that when he put.

[Pastor/Speaker]

It to death, that he nailed my sin to the cross too.

[Congregant/Participant]

That he nailed every lie that the enemy would ever use against me on. We about to put some things back on the cross. There's some things that jump off, off of the cross every now and then, but we're gonna put it back on the cross.

[Pastor/Speaker]

You're in this room and maybe you don't know who Jesus is. And I've been talking about Jesus and maybe for you, scripture doesn't fully make sense yet and maybe you haven't had your own encounter, but you can't deny that something happened in this room as you were worshiping, maybe as I was speaking. I want to invite you down to the altar as well because I'm gonna pray with you too. Yes, I see you family, you're here and you don't know who Jesus is. I just want to invite you to come down. We'll wait for you. I want you to. If you're at this altar, I want you to lift your hands and surrender. Oh, Lord. Here's my story. Here are my facts, my worries, my doubts, my frustrations, my Anger. Here I am, Lord, presenting myself as a living sacrifice. Lord, they're at this altar. And we know without a shadow of a doubt that there have been some stories, some records, some facts that they have accepted as truth that don't align with what you say. And, God, they've taken the bold, courageous step of saying, lord, search me. If there's anything in me, God, that doesn't look like you, that doesn't please you, that doesn't align with who you are, God, let it rise to the surface. Let me become uncomfortable with it. God, if there's anything in me that's keeping me from receiving your word, receiving your truth, God, I want more than anything to be aligned with who you are. I want more than anything to know you for myself. God, I'm praying right now that every soul, every household represented at this altar, God, and even those watching online would begin to have a divine encounter with you. God, allow your spirit to fall in this room like never before.

[Congregant/Participant]

God.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Let it rest on that area of.

[Congregant/Participant]

Emptiness, that area of brokenness, that area.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Where they haven't known you as faithful yet.

[Congregant/Participant]

God. And I ask right now in the.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Name of Jesus, that you would begin to minister to them in a way.

[Congregant/Participant]

That is so deeply personal that they know that it is you and you alone. God, I'm praying for a weight of glory to fall on them like never before that where the enemy has planted lies where their family members have spoken words over them, not even even realizing that they were being used by the enemy. We rebuke it right now in the name of Jesus, every word that has been planted, every thought that has been planted in their lives. God, I thank you right now for fresh revelation, for fresh knowledge coming into their spirit. I thank you, God, that you are offering them an opportunity to experience your holiness. God, I thank you right now that they will be rooted and grounded in your love. And God, I thank you that even as they are at this altar that our intercessors are going to war with every devil and every demon that has ever tried to rise up against them. We plead the blood of Jesus over them right now in the name of Jesus. We decree and declare right now that you cannot have them. The blood. The blood. The blood. The blood. Blood. The blood. The blood. The blood. The blood. God, I thank you for fresh identity. God, I thank you for an infusion of faith. God, I thank you for breakthrough in the area of depression. I thank you for breakthrough in the area of identity. I thank you, God, that you hold their heart in your hand and I thank you, God, that as you hold their heart, that you're healing their heart, that you're fixing their heart, that you are restoring their heart. I thank you, you God, for a heart of flesh where they once had a heart of stone. And I thank you, God, that chains will be broken. I thank you, God, that generational curses will be broken. God. I pray that the gift of God that's on the inside of them that will be stirred up afresh. I thank you, God, for prophecy. I thank you, God, for breakthrough. If you're at this altar, I dare you to just begin opening your mouth and calling on the name of of Jesus. I dare you to begin opening your mouth and letting your hunger reach heaven. If you're at this altar, I dare you to begin calling out for God. Because the Word says that if you open your mouth wide that he will fill it. I thank you, God, for desperation. I thank you, God, for hunger. I thank you, God, for righteousness. I thank you, God, that you can do at this altar what years of parenting could couldn't do. That you could do at this altar what counseling couldn't do. I thank you, God, that you will restore their confidence. God, take their confidence away from what they do and who they are and let their confidence be in you. That he that began that work is going to see them through. Thank you, God, that they're going to know you as father. Thank you, God, that they're going to know your love. And that because they know your love, they will will do great exploits. I rebuke you, devil. I rebuke every thought. I rebuke every plan. I rebuke you, witch. I rebuke you. Molestation. I rebuke you, abortion. I rebuke you depression. I rebuke you, shame. I rebuke you anxiety. I rebuke you insecurity. No longer will you be their idol. No longer will you be their God. We set the king of kings on his throne and we move away. Any other God. The God of my identity, the God of my bank account. I remove it right now in the name of Jesus. And I say I want to know the one true and living God. Make yourself known to your people. Make yourself known in your room. Make yourself known in their bodies. Make yourself known in their spirit. God. Make yourself self known.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Oh, I hear God saying, no music for a second. I just want to hear 10 seconds.

[Congregant/Participant]

Of you calling out to God.

[Pastor/Speaker]

God told me in 10 seconds that.

[Congregant/Participant]

I'm going make myself known in this room. I don't know who you are. But I hear God saying, if you need something from them, now I is not the time to be cute. Now is not the time to be dressed up. Now is not the time to worry about what other people think. God said, if you really want a new identity, if you really want transformation, I'm going to give you 10 seconds to truly prove that you're ready to judge me faithful. Because I'm going to show up in your situation. I hit 10 seconds. 10 seconds. 10 seconds. 9. 9 seconds. 9 seconds. 8 seconds. I dare you to start calling on them. Where is that lie that the enemy has told you? Where is the stronghold that exists over your mind? Seven seconds to call out for Jesus. Six seconds to set the record straight. Five seconds to put them back on the throne. Four seconds to say, I want you to be my God. Three seconds. What can you do in three seconds? Who do you know him to be? What do you want to know about God? Do you want to know him as healer? Do you want to know him as way maker? You got one second to go before the Heavenly Father.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Yeah. It.

[Announcer/Commercial Voice]

Sa.

[Pastor/Speaker]

That he inhabits the praises of his people. And God wants to make himself known to you. So that you can be transformed by who he is. So that you can take on his likeness and his image. So that his attributes can become your attributes. So that you can exercise power over the enemy. Instead of believing that the enemy has power over you, he's giving you power over the enemy. He's giving you power and strength. He's giving you strength to perform the task that he's calling you to. By faith. Sarah receives strength. There's strength available to you. So, Father, we want to know you deeply. We want to know you personally and we want to know you for ourselves. For some of us, it's not the first time. We're just asking to go deeper because we realize that we don't know everything there is to know about you. We want to know you in the area of our unbelief, the area of our frailty and insecurity. God, we make room for you by laying down what we once believed to be true. And we say, deposit your truth inside of us. Breathe fresh life inside of us. We receive it. We believe it. Oh, place my hand on my heart because that's where I feel God moving. Thank you, God, for bringing healing to our hearts, bringing healing to our minds. Thank you, God, for correcting the stories that we believed that held us bound. We ask now for a fresh outpouring of your spirit. Fill us from the inside out. Fill us in a free, fresh way. God, rest for the weary souls, strength where there's weakness. God, these are your people. This is your word. And this is our time to partner with you. Whatever's in us that would laugh instead of believe, whatever's in us that would keep us from walking with boldness into this next stage of what's happening in the earth, God, sit with us in that space until we receive the courage to walk out of it. And I thank you, God, that I know that you're not just the one who makes a way, but you're the one who guides us through it. Grab their hands, hold their hearts, order their steps. Take this word, God, and where it applies, allow it to take root and produce fruit, the kind of fruit that echoes for generations. Seal this word as only you can do. If there's someone here who's for the first time receiving you, Jesus, as their Lord and Savior. Savior, we say thank you. Thank you for loving us beyond our sins, beyond our imperfections. God, we receive these brothers and sisters as a part of our family in the body of Christ. And we say thank you for making us better, for making us bigger, making us bolder. God, and we thank you that because they have Jesus name now, that they are in full reconciliation with you, God. Nothing standing in their way, no sin, no mistake, no failure standing in their way. God, we thank you that this is just the beginning of a beautiful journey of them walking with you. Thank you, God, for this word in Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Thank you for joining us on the Potter's House podcast. Remember, there's always a space in the house for you. Subscribe and never miss a word.

[Congregant/Participant]

Dashing through the store, Dave's looking for a gift. One you can't ignore. But not the socks he picked.

[Pastor/Speaker]

I know, I'm putting them back.

[Congregant/Participant]

Hey, Dave, here's a tip. Put scratchers on your list. Oh, scratchers.

[Jerry Insurance Advertiser]

Good idea.

[Congregant/Participant]

It's an easy shopping trip. We're glad we could assist. Thanks, random singing people. So be like David's holiday and give the gift of play scratchers from the California Lottery. A little play can make your day.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Please play responsibly.

[Congregant/Participant]

Must be 18 years or older to.

[Pastor/Speaker]

Purchase play or claim.

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