← The Potter's House Podcast
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Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.
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We're reconsidering everything right now. What is time post Covid? What is truth in Trump's America? Is yous've Got Mail Secretly, a movie about a creepy gaslighting stalker? We can't answer the first two questions, but we have opinions about the third. We on Hot and Bothered are revisiting romance movies of the past and asking what were these movies teaching us? What did we not even realize they were teaching us? Hot and Bothered is me, Vanessa Zoltan, a pop culture critic and nice lady with opinions, and Hannah McGregor, a bonafide professor of media studies, loving love stories and also just a little bit concerned. Come listen to Hot and Bothered.
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ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast dot who was here Sunday? Just so just by show of hands, if you were here on Sunday. Okay, so the lion's share of you. You heard the, the message. It was called the power to Change. And, and I'll just give you a three minute recap. The passage of scripture was rooted in proverbs where it talks about how hope deferred makes the heart sound sick, but when the desire comes, the tree of life. And essentially I was talking about how one we level set prophetically by what I really sense. And some of the people that I know that hear from God are saying that we're on the cusp of a significant spiritual breakthrough and blessing in our country and world. This is happening. We're on the cusp of something very, very powerful as it relates to spiritual things and the things that God is doing in the earth. Right. But on the backdrop of that are a lot of difficulties. You know, we had a tough week last week. We've had a tough year. The world is just, it's pretty, you know, as my children would say, it's pretty lit right now. It really is. But Jesus taught us In Matthew chapter 24, you can't predict what God is up to by the crazy things that are happening in the world. Because the scriptures say on the backdrop of those crazy things, God's going to be doing incredible things. Things. And so we looked at that passage, hope deferred makes the heart sick. And we really wanted to understand what a sick heart is and what creates a sick heart. Hope deferred essentially is when your expectation, when you're expecting something and you've been waiting a long time for something or you've been in a challenging situation for a long time. And your hope or your expectation begins to wear down. And it literally says it makes the heart sick. And when we study the scripture, we realize that out of your heart flow the issues of life. And so if you have a sick heart or your heart is not healthy, if you've been disappointed and you no longer believe for change, it really creates not the best version of you. And so we dealt with that. We talked about what it meant to have a sick heart, and there's some questions in there about how to heal a sick heart, and we're going to touch on that. But. But the message was called the power of change because at the end of the day, God has given us ability to change things. We are literally God's change agents in the earth. So even when I talk about this breakthrough that's coming, this breakthrough is not God all of a sudden cracking heaven open and coming down and doing something, but more so us being revived and us being activated and us being spiritually healthy and mature to, through faith and direction, do powerful things in the name of God. Does that make sense? So that's the long and the short of the message. It was a really, really strong, powerful, impactful message. But what I like to do on Wednesday nights, following the message, and sometimes we do it with panels is, you know, you can't get it all out in a message. And there you've got the message, and then you've got walking out the message. And so we set these up because we want to get feedback and get some of those questions and then begin to guide us on how we can truly walk out the word instead of getting the word, and then we're off to the next word the next Sunday. No, let's figure out how to walk this thing out. Because I don't think that God wants words wasted. I think that he wants his words to take root and bear fruit in our lives. So we put it out there, and people send questions in. We had about 50 questions sent in. And what we do is we try to consolidate the questions into five or six questions that are around the primary or the majority of the questions that are being asked. And so you may hear your question in a different. It'll be your question, but might be asked differently because we try to find the questions that are the most succinct questions around that particular topic. Does that make sense? All right, so we're going to jump into these questions really quickly. And I want to maybe start with questions about fasting, because there's some of you who have questions about it, and There are others who weren't here. You didn't start, but you're going to start tonight and huh, you're going to start tonight. Let me just jump into the fasting part. So there are a lot of biblical. I won't say a lot, but there are several biblical fasts, but three, three day fasts with nothing. There are 40 day fasts. I'll be honest with you, with, with nothing. I don't know how. I've never done that before. And I thank the Holy Spirit for not leading me into that before. If he did, I would. There are fasts that have to do with changing your diet. So you heard of a Daniel fast? The Daniel fast is about fruits and vegetables. There are various fasts. Here is my take on fast. This is my take. My take on a fast is you truly realizing what is a sacrifice for you. So if you never eat breakfast, you can't fast breakfast because you never eat breakfast. It's not going to be a sacrifice or what have you for me. I'll just tell you my fast. I've given up meat, sweets, bread, pasta, all those things I love. That's a, that it's a struggle with me for that. Some days doing from sun up to sundown. That's what some people do. They say, okay, I'm not going to eat until 5 o' clock today. Just get with the Lord, understand your body, understand what is a true sacrifice for you. And it is a food sacrifice. Consecration is different. Consecration is more about you. Maybe you're getting off of social media or maybe you're not watching, you know, some of the TV shows that you watch are consecrating. You're in a process of consecration. And you know, to be honest with you, you can throw that on top of a fast. But that's not a fast. It's not a biblical fast. That was about entertainment. It's a food fast, right? There's something about actually denying your physicality right to. And let me say this, it's not simply about denying yourself, it's about denying yourself and leaning into God. So if you don't replace it with something that's going to edify you spiritually, then you're just going to be kind of in this religious state where you're counting the days to break the fast. But if you give up that food and you get hungry, you say, you know what, I'm going to eat the word and I'm going to go and I'm, you know, I'm going to open up the Bible, maybe I'll start it from, you know, start to finish or whatever. You. It's going to take you a little longer than the 10 days that we're on. But you might say, you know what? I'm going to read the proverbs. I'm going to read the book of wherever the Lord leads you. I'm going to read one of the gospels and I'm going to eat. I'm going to open it. I'm going to open up the word, and I'm going to eat the word. So you want to add. You don't want to take away and not add. You want to diminish one thing and grow in the other thing. So you make up your mind about it. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but you make up your mind about it. But you and God come up with something that is truly a sacrifice that you're going to feel, that is going to hurt you, that you're going to have to say no. The temptation is going to be there. Let me tell you something. If you are on a fast and you haven't been tempted a little bit, it's not a hard enough fast. You need something where you got to walk by something and say, oh, Jesus, wait a minute. That's when you know that you are a worthy type of fast. And that's all I will say about it. You can chatgpt the various types of fast. If you are very technical. I want to know, you know, can I should. Is a peanut okay or should it be a cashew? If that's you, I'm not mad at you. Do your thing. You go online and you, you, you ask those sorts of questions. You don't need me for that. All right, here we go. This is from Monique. Can you give some examples to people so that they will know how to go about keeping your heart healthy? What are some of the ways you would advise? It's a great question. I'll tell you right now. One of the greatest tools that keeps me flowing in God is literally daily living for a pure heart. Like some people say, you know, I want a crazy anointing. You know, just. I want, I want to cast out devils and I want to lay hands on the sick and they recover. And I want to work miracle signs of wonders in my hands and all. That's wonderful. That's wonderful for me. I want a pure heart because the Bible says, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. I truly believe it. And here, here's why, you know, the scriptures say in Jeremiah. I believe it's Jeremiah 17. It says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And then it says, who can know it? Okay, that's crazy. That's scary. That's scary because that's telling me that I have something in me that's powerful, that is influencing me, that can deceive me. And then it literally says, and it's desperate above all things. And it says, who can know? Which means that without God, I can be thinking that I'm good. I can be thinking that I'm okay. I can be thinking that I'm right and be wrong. That scares me. There's a passage of Scripture that's in Proverbs twice in two different places. And it says, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. That scares me. I don't want to be wrong. But I can handle being wrong if I know I'm wrong. Because I have the opportunity to be right. I can fix it if I know I'm wrong. But if I am wrong and I think it's right, I'm in trouble. Are you tracking with me? That scares me. So, to the question. So what do I do to ensure that my heart is healthy? What disciplines do I employ to do to give myself the best shot of having a pure heart? First of all, I ask the Lord for it. David said in the word, create within me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me. Which means that the key to a healthy heart begins with humility. Come on, talk to us a little bit. It starts with humility. I told somebody the other day, I said, I trust myself because I suspect myself. Oh, you gotta catch that. Catch that. The only reason why I can trust me is because I know I suspect me. And since I suspect me, I get in God's presence and I say, search me. Search my heart. If you find anything in me that is not like you, take it out. Right? I'm serious about that. Because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So, number one, I ask God, hey, God, show me what I can't see. There's another passage that says, man's ways are clean in his own eyes. Another scary passage of Scripture. It says, but the Lord weighs the heart, so God doesn't leave you in this place of not knowing your heart. He says, you might not know it, but I do. So my relationship with God. One of the biggest parts of my relationship with God is about God showing me where I am in my Heart and being honest and being real. And God's not going to show you and condemn you for what he shows you. He loves the fact that you're actually trying to get it right. Are you tracking with him? So that's one. I think number two is I can't be more committed to what I want than I am to what God wants. That's the one right there. I have to desire what God wants from me more than what I want from me. I've got so many stories. So I remember when I met. Can I tell you one real quick? Then we'll move on. So when I met my wife, when I met Sarah, I was in a season of my life where I stopped dating. And I was like, God, it's just going to be me and you. And my first book came out and I said, I'm just going to focus on. On preaching and teaching and getting this book out there, promoting this book. I'm gonna do my thing. I had dated a little bit before that, and I said, God, I want to stop playing because what's on my life is too important for me to be playing. You know what I mean? With my own self and with others. No, just me and you, God. Okay, then. So in that space of me and you, God, no dating, I meet Sarah in a business meeting. It's fine. I don't see anything. There's no connect. Well, there was a spiritual connection. I said, she's special, but that was it. God literally had blinded me from that in that space. And the same with her. She was in a similar situation. Fast forward to. We had a conference a little less than a month later in March. And then we. So we met at the end of February. February 25th, to be exact. 2, 225. Yeah. February 25th. 26th. 226. February 26th, we met. And so then we saw each other at a conference. And then something started happening, you know, and that's when she, you know, Sarah's kind of bold. Was she? And I guess she's not bold, but she was bold in that moment. I'm glad she was bold because I wouldn't have stepped to her. She stepped to me anyway. She comes up to me and she's like, hey, I'm coming to LA in three weeks and you were taking me to dinner. I said, well, if, you know, if you must, you know. So anyway, I'm getting to the point, I promise. Getting to the point. So we go on, we have dinner. It's an amazing dinner. We shut the restaurant Down. I'm on my way home, and I'm just. I'm like, what just happened? So I get to the house, and after all of the smoke settled, I remembered the covenant that I made with God. Like, hey, is this gonna be me and you? So it became clear to me that because I was feeling and this thing was so strong that it was either the Lord or the devil. Come on, let me put you in it real quick. Just imagine. Just imagine for a second you meeting somebody and you connecting with them on every level. Like you've known each other your whole life. It's that level of connection. So it's powerful and it's spiritual and it's dynamic. Something is happening. The only thing is, me and God had this little deal that the only thing that I was going to move in relationally was something that your hand is on. So guess what I had to do that night because I didn't know and because I knew the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? You know what I had to do? Watch this. I had to break up with her before we even got together. In my heart, I had to say, God, it's over. No, no, no. I'm telling you how radical you got to be God. This. I'm not going to do this unless you show me that. This is you talking about how to really, really manage the discipline of having a pure heart, which is part of having a healthy heart. I mean, like, I'm not calling her. You know, the term ghosting wasn't out back then, but in today's term, it was literally about ghost. Like, that's it. I've never. You know what I mean? Because it was too strong, and it needed to be God, because it was too strong. And I'd already been through too much drama. So I went to sleep, I gathered my heart, and I said, that's it. Went to sleep. God woke me up in the middle of the night in a dream, took me, opened me up to show me something in the word, and affirmed. Confirmed that that was her. I called her not. Watch this. That that was her in that. And I see I'm getting too far off. We got questions about that. Okay, okay, okay. I'm not. I'm gonna tell you something right now, and I'm a little bit of a hypocrite about this. I'll be honest with you. Because if one of you came to me tonight and said, I met somebody, PT and the Lord told me after one date that this is the one I'LL be a little suspicious. I'll be honest with you. I'll be a little. I'll be a little suspicious. But the long and the short. It was literally, no. I killed it in my heart. I put it to death in my heart and said, God, I'm moving on unless you show me this is you. And he did. And it wasn't no Lord, if I wake up in the morning, that's her. Because we can get very, very creative. We get very creative when it comes to that sort of thing. So what are some of the disciplines? First of all, be humble enough to realize that you can be wrong, that your heart can deceive you, that you can want something for your that God does not want for you. And you have to be real with yourself about that. And you have to trust that God knows what is best. And you have to want what God wants for you more than what you want for you. Which means that you're going to have to die to your desire. You've heard that passage, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. One of the most misquoted. Not one of them. It's an often misquoted passage because the notion there is that if you love God, then God will give you whatever is in your heart. That is not what that means, because that contradicts what we're talking about. The heart is deceitful. Above all, it's desperately wicked. Why? God loves you too much to give you something that's deceiving you. So when it says, delight yourself in the Lord, watch this. It means delight in the Lord. Delight, desire God, and then God will appropriate your desire. He will cause you to desire what he wants to produce in your life. That's Philippians 2:13. It's God who works in us, who causes us. So. It's that level of. Of heart examination that will ensure one of my disciplines, to ensure that I have a good chance of having a healthy heart. And then when your heart is dirty, be honest about it. If you're envious, guess what? Your heart is dirty. Go a little deeper. If you're lusting for that which is not yours, guess what your heart is. Hey. And you got to be honest about it. God's not mad at you. He's like, hey, I'm just telling you a little dirty there. And watch this and address it immediately. Immediately. Don't even let it fester. Don't even let it. Not for a second. Once you know that your heart is dirty. See, here is the thing it is a blessing to have the consciousness of a dirty heart. That's actually a blessing because you can do something about it. And I don't know about you, but if a dirty heart is going to keep me from seeing and could compromise my anointing. Oh, ain't nothing worth that. My oil. Ain't nothing worth my oil. Hello, Somebody? That moment will pass. Hello? So you have to vociferously fight for a pure heart. We're going to talk about the heart more because there's another question that speaks more to not just having a pure heart, but dealing with your heart when it gets sick. And I want to find that. While we're on the subject of heart, just give me one second here. Okay? I think this is one. This is from Pamela. I do feel like my heart is sick, and I really, really need to know how to heal it, because I relate to everything you said to leave all those things to be true. And my question is, what do you do when you have a sick heart? How do I heal it? How do I fix it? Truly fix it so that I can walk in my truth and what God has for me? So I am going to assume, even though she did not give details, I'm going to assume that she's talking about a sick heart in the context of our conversation on Sunday or. Which had to do with disappointment. It had to do with delay or that deferred season where you've been waiting on something and it has just been so long. I mean, like, long, long. And slowly but surely, the expectation seeps away like air out of a balloon that has a needle's pin in it. And you didn't even know it was going away. You were full of faith, you know, because you get a word sometimes, and the moment you get a word, the word is like an injection of faith. Oh, my God. You're happy. You're excited. You start ordering your life around that word. You write it down, you walk it, you talk it, you believe it. You expect it. You're looking for it everywhere. And then two months passes by and you're doing okay because in the grand scheme of things, we're still in the same year. And then the preacher gets you all hyped up on New Year's Eve. This is your year. This is your year. It's getting ready to happen. As soon as we cross. It's getting ready to happen. Hallelujah. Yes, Jesus. April comes around and it's still not there. And your heart starts getting sick and you stop expecting it. But you won't say it. You're too religious to say it. You're too religious to say God, I stopped believing, but you're not even in position for it anymore. Plan B, plan C, plan D have all come into play. So my assumption is that it's the disappointment of the delay or the deferred season that she's talking about where the heart is now sick. The faith is no longer active and alive, and there's discouragement there, and it's just gone. That's where I believe she's at. And so her question was, how do I heal it? How do I fix it? I think being honest is the first step. But then I think. I think. I think it's knowing the credibility of God and understanding the difference between our timeline and God's timeline. It's truly. It's kind of like that scripture we opened up with, where it talked about holding fast to the confession of your faith, counting him faithful who promised. I think it has to do with your sense of the integrity of the Promise Maker over your perspective of the appropriate timeline. Because we're talking about surgery now. The heart has gotten sick. We're past the encouragement point. Now we've got to do surgery. And what I've learned about spiritual surgery is it has to do with the renewing of the mind. So now I need surgery now. So surgery as it relates to something that you believe God said to you that you're waiting on, has to go back to the character of the one who spoke. I got to go back to that, right? Because what's the reason why my heart is sick is because I've been looking at circumstance, not the Promise Maker. So my focus has shifted. My focus has gone from the God who promised to the circumstances that are in front of me, from faith to sight. And sometimes it's better. Just close your eyes and believe. I'm serious. There's a In. In Jewish custom, I'm going to mispronounce this. I think it's called the zizi. I think it's tzitzi. But you'll see our Jewish brothers and sisters, and they'll be wearing these garments, and they have these strings that are coming off of them. And I believe that they number. They're representative of the 613 laws or commands of God. And there's a passage of scripture that says, don't let my word depart from your eyes. It says, let them be frontlets before your eyes. In other words, the whole idea is to be looking at the promise, not necessarily the process. And so you'll see them and they'll be kind of rubbing those things. Those things are representative of the covenant promises and they're attached to them. And sometimes, particularly if it is a. A significant promise for something that is not there, you're going to have to look at the promise and not the process. It's just it. So it starts with, I gotta count God faithful. Is God faithful or not? And am I in a position to say God is not faithful? Because it's not happening according to my time. That means I know more than God. That means that I can counsel and consult God and say, God, you're not God, because if you were God, this should have happened like this during this time. And God is saying, and where were you when I put those stars in the sky? And where were you when I created the ocean? And, and where, where, where? Just, just if you're consulting, if you are telling me, tell me how that star got up there while you're at it, and tell me how that sun got and that you understand what I'm saying. We have to put God in his. In his place. And I don't mean put him in his place. I mean put him in his place. That's where it begins. And I think that, you know, the scripture says that God gives everyone a measure of faith. So we're never completely deplete of faith. We always have something to work with. And, you know, the Bible talks about, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can speak to this mountain and tell it to be removed and cast into the sea. That doesn't mean that little faith moves mountains, because that would be opposite of what Jesus taught. Jesus would look and say, oh, I've never seen such great faith. He was saying that if you have faith, if you have just a little bit of faith, you have the essence of that which all it has to do is grow. And one of the other questions was, how do I grow my faith? I grow my faith by working the faith that I have. Are you hearing me? You got a whole, oh, I feel this right here for somebody. You've got to hold on to your faith. You have to hold on to your faith for dear life. Because when you hold on to your faith, what you're doing is you're holding on to the thing that you're expecting. Okay, I want to. I want to. I don't want to preach. I want to make this. I want to make this tangible. Hebrews 11. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. That word. Things hoped for. One word it literally means expectation. So your faith is the substance of your expectation, the reason why you can't lose the faith. Because if you lose the faith, you lose the thing. Because the thing is in your faith, did you catch it? So that's why the enemy is always after your faith. Because if he can get you to fumble your faith, you fumble the promise. Because what ensures the manifestation of the promise is God's promise, your faith. So in Hebrews he says, Hebrews 10:35, it says, cast not therefore away your confidence. That's your expectation. That's your faith. Don't cast it away. It says, wherein there is great reward. So if you say, all I got is a word from God, look at what you just said. All you got is a word from God. That's all you need. Everything you see was created by a word. So how do I heal my heart? Slowly, slowly. By remembering who spoke. You won't be the first one whose heart got sick. There are many people in the scripture whose heart got sick. Jesus heart got sick on the cross. What? What are you telling me this blasphemy? No, it's not. It sounded like this. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Even the Lord's heart got sick. So don't think that some strange thing happened to you because your heart got sick. And if your heart got sick and you're hearing this message, it's because God is getting ready to heal your heart and get you back in the game so that you can lay hold of the promise that's on your life. You got to count him faithful who promise. A lot of times a sick heart is just a tough. See, all of us have had. 2013 was a horrible year for me. Oh, man, my heart was all kind of sick. I was ready to leave ministry and everything. I'm serious. It was like, you know, just. It was a. It was a tough year. Heart sick. Couldn't see. I can remember. I can remember wondering if I was going to even make it through that year called Blessed, all that kind of stuff, but could not see my way through that moment that I was in. I can remember 2012, the end of 2012. The enemy tempted me, just showed me in a flash. Me hurting myself. I know what it's like to not see the light at the end of the tunnel. Heartsick. But I'll tell you what I did. I didn't cast away my confidence. I couldn't see it. I didn't understand it. I didn't like it. But I had a history with God. Come on. And God, I may not know how you're going to do it, but the fact that I'm taking breath in right now is evidence that God, you make ways out of no way. I don't have to see the way. That is irrelevant. Get back in the fight. So I couldn't see, and I couldn't see. 2013. I couldn't see. I couldn't see my way. I'm just walking. But God, watch this. God had an unfolding. That's how you heal your heart. You got to know that life unfolds. And in that moment where your heart is sick, what you don't realize is that your future is just folded. So all you're doing is you're looking at this. This is all you see. It's weird. A couple of words. It says, can you give? I do feel. But what happens is, as you keep walking and you don't cast away your confidence, what happens? It starts to unfold little by little by little by little until things are straight. Are you hearing me? I just want to make. How do I heal it? How do I fix it? Truly fix it so I can walk in my truth and what God has for me. That's how you do it. You count him faithful who promised. And then get in atmospheres and environments of faith. Faith is contagious. I love everybody and I will minister to anyone. But as it relates to hanging out, having coffee or tea, you got to have some faith. We have to be. See, See, the Bible says, you know, it says, be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. And let me tell you what. What, what, like Christians think that that means. That means that if someone is an unbeliever, then you need to get away from them. Don't be connected to them. That's not what it means. It says, be not unequally yoked with un. People who don't believe. You can have Christians who don't believe. Christians who don't have faith. Are you tracking with me? Sometimes people who don't know Jesus yet will have more belief in what God spoke over you. So you want to be in environments that build your faith. I'm tracking. Let's see here. All right, hold on. How are we doing on. Oh, boy. Okay. All right. Here's one. This is from Tiara. I believe I'm saying it right. Tiara or Tiara. How do I tap into what God wants me to do? And how do I make sure it's him who's directing me? Then it looks like it's the second another. Well, that's two parts. There's another part. It says, additionally, I'm close to retiring after serving 23 years at education. That's amazing. I have the preparation, but I need the guidance as to the platform that God wants me to share the knowledge, if that's even his vision for me. So that is a layered question. Let's get into it a little bit. How do I tap into. I like that you use that word, tap into. How do I tap into what God wants me to do? And how do I make sure it's him who is directing me? Okay, so how do I tap into. I love that you said tap into. Because. Because God. God is a flow. God's word to us truly is a flow. There's a Hebrew word Torah, and the Bible is translated law. Keep my law, you know, and follow my law, delight in my law, meditate in my law Torah. And it literally means, if you get down to the root of that word, it literally means to flow water. And so when you start thinking about revelation, you start thinking about God speaking to you specifically and precisely for you. It is in a flow. It's truly in a flow. And so how do I tap into the flow? First of all, I believe you need to know the Lord, right? My sheep hear me and they know my voice. And so I believe pursuing a relationship with God through His son, Jesus Christ, and thereby being sealed with the Holy Spirit and is important. Now you have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. He is a spirit of truth. And God is not sitting back, trying to. Not trying to keep you ignorant. God is not profited nor benefited by you and I being ignorant. Right? God delights, and Scripture says he delights in the prosperity of his children. He knows that we prosper by being in alignment with him and being obedient to his instruction. That's how we move forward. So you have to know that one, you can hear from God, you can receive from God, you can perceive God. It is the right of every human being on the planet, the ability to hear from God. Why would God give you an ear to hear audibly, a nose to smell? Right. A tongue to taste and not give. Give you the ability to perceive Him. In fact, there's a word in, in Hebrews, it's only used one time in the Bible. And it's the word, it was translated the word senses, or our ability to sense. And it literally means the organ of perception. So God has given to all of us spiritually an organ of perception, the ability to perceive God. How can God express, expect us to walk with him if he doesn't give us the ability to perceive him? So first and foremost, we tap into God by knowing that we can. Right then you. In my estimation, in today's world. Today's world is very, very noisy. It is very loud. It's loud outside, and it can be very loud inside. And so stillness is everything. The Bible says, be still. And what? And no, I'm God. So there's something in the discipline of stillness, the discipline of getting by yourself, getting in the word, praying and perceiving God, hearing from God. Now, what God also is, has no problem doing is confirming himself. That's one thing that I love about God. God, for me, if, particularly if it's something like big, like moving to Dallas, he had to tell me that more than one time. You got to give this to me. And I love it here. I'm glad he told me that. But I'm saying I've never lived full time anywhere else than where I came from. Just so I'm down for going. I just need to know that it's you. So God gives the instructions. I pray, I write the instruction down. I write it all down. And then I said, now keep talking to me. And by the time we actually moved, I had about 15 confirmations from different sources that this is what God wants me to do. Are we tracking? So you. So God will speak to you? And how do you know it's him? It's because he will confirm it. Now, again, because the heart is deceitful. If you want something real bad, you gotta be willing to let it go in order to hear from God about whether or not it's for you. Because sometimes we can get real tricky with them confirmations. God, if I'm on the freeway today and I see a white car. Oh, God. If I'm on the freeway today and I see a green car, that means it's a green light. That means this is what you have for me. No, you gotta be. You gotta truly be dead. You have to truly be surrendered. Abraham is the perfect example. God says, hey, man, you know that thing that you love a whole bunch? I mean, you loved it so much, you were begging me for this thing. And I finally gave it to you, right? And that thing was called his son Isaac. You begged me for it. I gave it to you. We went through all kind of drama to get it. Now you got it, right? He said, tell you what, I'm gonna need to hold that. I need that back, right? The Father of our faith. And, you know, the Bible just kind of moves from chapter to chapter. He didn't talk about that. But don't think for a second that it was easy. He was like, okay, let's go up. No, he probably was walking up to Mount Moriah, weeping, his son weeping, but going. That's why the Bible says, blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. You cannot walk in the fullness of God without being willing to mourn. And think about, when do you mourn? You mourn when something has to die. Part of this journey, part of this journey of walking with the Lord is being willing to let something die if God tells you to. He gets up there. He's willing to let that thing die. He gets up there and God says, I'm just kidding. I just want to see if you would. Because I'm not a taker, I'm a giver, I'm a multiplier. But I needed to see if you would withhold from me anything, man. I feel this. This is when you start talking about being powerful in God for real. Can I just talk to you straight up right now? Like. Like getting to a place where you have unlimited access to what God's doing, unlimited access to revelation, unlimited access to power, unlimited trust from God is the people that he knows will not keep back anything from him that won't put anything in front of him. You got it? I wish I could say that better. To really just lay down and say, God, here I am, I'm yours. Whatever you want from me, you have. Wherever you want me to go, I'll go. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do. Whatever you want me to say, I'll say, those people. And God tells him, he says, abraham, he says, because you wouldn't keep this from me. Even your only son. Watch this. He says, blessings, I will bless you. And multiplying. I will multiply you. I am going to multiply your descendants. He just. It was incredible. Why? What was it about Abraham? He wasn't perfect. Sarah talked about it a few Sundays ago. He wasn't perfect. He made all kind of mistakes. What was it about him? He would not keep back anything from God. He trusted him. And when you trust God on that level, there is nothing that he will withhold from you. And Abraham, if you get back to the end of his life, study the end of Abraham's life. Genesis 24. He was old and advanced in years. And the Bible says, and the Lord had blessed him in every Way in all things. Why? Because there was nothing standing between him and what God wanted to do. So as it relates to hearing God for your life, and I know that you asked a layered question, and I want to answer as much of it as possible. You tap in by one, believing that you can, by two, getting still enough to perceive God's voice from all the other voices, including your own. Getting in that word, there'll be confirmation. Right? Seek confirmation. God, if this is you, if this is a direction, confirm it, and he will. You saw it with Gideon, with the whole fleecing thing. God has no problem because that means that you're interested. Half the people aren't even interested. Okay, God. All right, Lord, I just want to know. I. I will do it. I just want to listen. That's integrity. I'll do it. I just want to know that it's you that's integrity. God appreciates that. Okay, good. I'm glad that you're taking this seriously. And he will bring confirmation. Additionally, I am close to retiring after serving 23 years in education. I have the preparation, but I need guidance as to the platform that God wants me to share the knowledge if that's his vision for me. The platform. The platform. The platform. So as it relates to platform, I think that you are the platform. I really do. Because. And I don't know exactly entirely what tiara, what you mean by platform. I'm looking at this. This is a platform. But your mouth is a platform. You yourself are a platform. And the only reason why I take a minute to say that is because a lot of times we feel like if we don't have this structured place of prominence or prestige, then we don't have what it takes to do what God has called me to do. I have people to reach out to me and say, hey, man, you know, can I come and preach at your church? And I've never asked anybody to preach at their church. God will open up. I said, well, why don't you start with your Facebook Live? Hello? Or why don't you start with your neighbor, right? So I wouldn't be stuck. And I'm not trying to come down here, but I'm saying I wouldn't be stuck by looking for a platform. You are the platform. And if you're faithful over a little, God will make you rulers over much. When I started the movement that I started in California, man, it was me, and I just kept preaching. I preached it. Listen, on Easter, we had a whopping 30 people. On Easter Sunday. Hey, it was packed in there. 30 people. But I preached like there were 30,000. And that church grew to multiple thousands of people. Still going strong right now. And then we went online and reached even more people. So just be faithful where you are, because God is testing you. Everything big started small. Despise not small beginnings. Everything big starts small. What time somebody got? I don't have my. I'm. Put the clock up there, So I. 8:30. O. Huh? 8:30. 8:30. That's 8:30. 8:30 dot okay. Okay. Oh, come on. Ocha y media. Muy bien. Muy bien. All right. Okay. I think. I think. I think. Let me just see if there's one that I have to. I have to ask. I plan on stopping right here because I want to pray and do something else. Okay. We talked about fasting. How do I increase my faith? I talked about that work to faith that you have. I think we did it. How do we rebuild our faith again and regain the fire we once had before? I think I touched on these ones. Okay, okay. All right. Let's see. Let's see. Let me look at you real quick and see what else God wants me to say. Before we wrap up tonight. I'm gonna stare at you and get a word from God. Hallelujah. Just read your question. Read your question. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. What are you saying to your people? It's gonna be all right. It's already done. Already done. God who declares the end from the beginning. God has already figured out. He's already worked out what you're trying to figure out. I feel like God wants. We're done here just about. I feel like God is inviting his people into a place of rest. If God declares the end from the beginning, if in Christ is already worked out, Jesus is called in scripture. He's defined in scripture as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, then that means that before God introduces a problem, the answer already exists. And I feel like for this group, I feel like for this group, the command is the command to rest is to rest in who God is and who God's promise and who God is and what God has promised. Because progress comes from the place of rest. It doesn't come from the place of cognitive overload. It doesn't come from the breakthrough, doesn't come from the place of trying to figure it out. The greatest of the struggle is to trust God enough to rest. I want to say this right. I'll say this right. To be, not even to do. Because doing that doesn't flow out of being is religion. It's religious doing that flows out of being is divine. I say this right, Be still and know prophetically. Some of you are going to go so much further in the place of rest than you have been for the past five years of striving. Every significant breakthrough. I feel the spirit of God so strong right now. Every significant breakthrough that has ever happened to me, it didn't happen like this right through. It happened when I wrestled myself to peace. You understand what I'm saying? It's when I arrested every thought that was exalting itself against the knowledge of God in my life. I feel the Holy Spirit real strong right now. I just want to say it right when I stop striving, because you know what striving says to God. You don't trust me, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit. What's interesting that's in Zechariah prophesying about the rebuilding of the temple. He doesn't start by saying, by my spirit it's going to happen. He starts with how it is not going to happen. So he's correcting before he's instructing. Why is he correcting before he's instructing? Because of our tendency. He's dealing with our. He's breaking down our tendency to tell us how this thing is going to happen. Not by might, not by power. This is going to happen by my spirit, by my breath. By my breath. So breathe. So breathe. So breathe. That's how your breakthrough is going to come. So come and worship. It's going to come when you let go. That's how that revelation is going to come. It's not going to come because he was just. I'm after God. No, I'm on my face. I'm in my daddy's arms. He's got me. I'm covered. I'm loved. I'm blessed and I will not strive. That's the Bible. In Timothy, it says the man of God doesn't strive. Person of God doesn't strive. It's rest. So I want to pray for you to that end. I believe that's the corporate word for us in this moment. Maybe you're watching via live stream. Rest. Rest. Be still and know God is causing all things to work together for good. He's not slack concerning his promise. I got you. Before you got into it, I'd already made a way out for you. I already did it. I'm good like that. I'm a good preparer. I got you. You're not in this by yourself. Rest. I wouldn't do you like that? I wouldn't have you out here by yourself to fight for yourself in this world. That's unfair. With the enemy running around and principalities. I would definitely. You like that? I got you. God creates six days. He set everything in motion in six days. Then it says God, he rested because it was done. Jesus was the lamb slain before all of that. Hear me, it is already done. We're just working out. We're just walking out what is settled. What was settled when he sat down. And I can't read it anywhere where it says he stood back up because there was more to do. We're just walking out what God has already worked out. And if that is the case, rest. Father, I thank you for what you're releasing in this house. Some things are taught, other things are caught. Lord, we feel your compassion. It was demonstrated even in the gospel where you saw your children and they were moving about like sheep without a shepherd. And you had deep compassion. Literally your bowels turned for compassion for your people because they were moving about as if they had no shepherd. And you prayed. You said, the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few. I just want shepherds to go into the harvest to tell them that it's already done, to give them rest. Jesus said, come unto me. You said it, Father, Come unto me. All you who labor and are heavy laden, take my yoke upon you. Mine, not yours. And learn from me, and ultimately I'll give you rest. That was a promise. He didn't promise to fix it. You know why he didn't promise to fix it? Because it was already fixed. He said, I'm just going to give you rest. That's what you need. Rest. Rest. And the believer that walks in the rest of God, not striving, not trying, just being. Being loved. Be loved. Being loved. When he calls you beloved, he's commanding you. It's a command, not just a title. It's a command. Be loved. Receive it. I got you. It's already worked out. Some of you are going to walk out of here into miracles. I heard it right there. You literally. You're literally going to walk right out of this moment into a miracle that was waiting for you in the place of rest. Some of you are going to see miracles that were right there that you couldn't see because you were so busy striving. Oh, holla. I cannot wait for the testimonies. I cannot wait for the testimonies. So, God, we receive this word, we receive this prophetic declaration. We receive this renewing of our Mind. And I pray that when we start striving again, when we start getting in our head again and trying to make things happen and trying to manipulate circumstances, we remember, we will hear your voice say, rest. I've already gone ahead of you. Do it, God, in Jesus name. I want to do two things really quickly. We're going to honor the Lord, of course, in our giving. But before we do that, if you're watching via live stream, get in on that. I don't have to give a big dissertation about honoring God with our substance, with our tithes and our offerings. We understand that. And if you don't, I'll maybe explain in a minute. But I do want to, I don't want to assume that everyone here has a relationship with the Lord. As I mentioned on Sunday, I cannot even fathom I, I, I, it, I can't even comprehend how I would be, how I would be moving through the earth right now if I did not have a relationship with, with Jesus. I can't even, I can't even imagine navigating life without the rest. Giver. So if you're here and if we wouldn't mind just standing really quickly, I just, just, you know, so that if there's someone here, they, they'll be halfway down the aisle, halfway in position. If you're here and you've never, even if you're watching, you can just say, I received Jesus there. But if you're, if you've never opened up your heart to the Lord, but you feel something in this moment, you feel something not only in this moment, but you feel it in your heart, and you want to say, yes, and you, and you want to open up to Him. That's him. That's Him. The Creator, The One who made us, the One who knows us, the one whose entire focus, entire focus is you. Is you. God is not this big God with this big agenda, and we are just, you know, pawns in his agenda. No, we are his agenda. We are his agenda. And so if you're here and everybody had that first time where God, the connection with God hit so deep that they knew that this was different, that this was a pivotal moment, there's not a person who's walking with God now that didn't have that one time where everything changed. And if you're here and you say, I want to open up my heart to the Lord. I want to accept Jesus. I feel Him. This is not, I don't feel pressured into this. I feel drawn deeply into a relationship with God. If that's you. And you say, I want to open up my heart to the Lord. Just meet me here at this altar. I want to pray for you. I don't want to take anything for granted. And don't worry about who's looking. If I'm talking to. I'm not talking to your neighbor. I'm not talking to your pride. I'm not talking to your status. I'm talking to your heart. And if that's what you feel, and you say, I'm feeling something. And maybe your head is getting in the way. Maybe there are a million questions in your mind. What does this mean? And what does that mean for my life? And what do I have to do and what do I have to change and all. Forget about that. That's not what I'm talking about. If you can just suspend that for a second, get your head out of it, deal with what's happening in your heart. And if you feel, touch, and I'll tell you how you know it's God, it's love. It's not drawing you to take something from you. It's drawing you to complete you. And if that's you. And here someone, under the sound of my voice has been experiencing a lot of inner changes in their life. Like, inside, man, I feel this really, really strong and heavy inside. There's just been a lot of change, a lot of reorientation, a lot of reorient. Reorienting. I'm trying to use this word properly. God has been reorienting you inside. And your. Your sense of happy has been evading you. It's almost like you haven't fully been yourself. And it's not necessarily like a bad thing. It's more of a longing thing. It's like a long, like, I'm. I'm. Yeah, God bless you. You come on and you come while I'm talking. I want to describe this. Hey, daughter, come here. It's a. I want to get this thought out. It's. It's a. It's a. It's a longing. It's like a. You're not satisfied. And it doesn't even make sense for you to not be satisfied because there are a lot of things that are actually going right. But God, remember, he's the one that causes you to desire what he wants to give you. He makes you hungry so that he can feed you. That's what he does. He loves you that much. Come on. You can come while I'm talking. Come right on down here. Everything that the Lord is about is you. Come on. All the Way down. Come on. Come on. This is for us. This is our party. This is our party. This is our party. Bless you. So if you're here, I don't want to take anything for granted and say, I want to open up my heart to the Lord. I feel it. It's real. Don't worry about who's looking. If you can get out of. Get out of your head and just move and just respond. What you don't realize is you're not walking down to an altar. You're stepping into what God has for you. You're stepping into this new life. That's what it looks like. Come on. God bless you. I see you. Come on. We ought to celebrate like heaven is rejoicing. Yeah, yeah. God says I got you and I know the plans I have for you Come on. God bless you. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Come on. Come on. Come on. Yes. Come on. Come on. Come on home. Come on home. Come on home. Come on home. Come on home. That's what this is about. That's what this is about. Literally all of it. At the end of the day, the lights, the microphone, the music, the. Everything at the end of the day is about you. I swear, it's about you. That's how much you mean to God. The second point of this invitation is this. If you're here and, yes, you've opened up your heart to the Lord, but you just realize you're looking around. You're looking. And I mean, looking around life in this world. And I'll just tell you this really quickly. In 2000, for me, I met God when I was nine, 2000, I was 26. And I came to this moment in my life where I had been the recipient of a lot of grace and mercy. God just really blessed my life and just took me to encourage incredible places and spaces. I beat all the odds, and yet there was something still missing. And I'll be honest with you, like, at that moment, I felt like if I didn't make a shift and come deeper into the things of God, I felt like I was going to be lost. Because I do think that grace. I think that grace has intention, and I think that there are moments and spaces and seasons of certain types of grace. And I think that sometimes grace lifts. When God gives you an instruction and you harden your heart to that instruction, he has to lift grace and allow life to deal with you a little bit, to ultimately get you to that moment. And I feel like I was at a moment that God was calling me to surrender to, like, really, like, be completely sold out for him. Like, for real. Not just like, lord, I made a mistake. Forgive me. Oh, thank you, Jesus. I love you. But no, like, like, walk with me. Like, let's do this thing together. You've seen my grace, you've seen my mercy. You've seen all of that, right? But if all you've experienced in life is God's grace and his mercy, you have any even. You haven't even experienced a relationship with God. Walking with God, going from being a believer to a friend of God, it's different. The access is different. The revelation is different. What he. You know, the Bible says that the secrets of the Lord are with those who fear him, who revere Him. He shows them his covenant. And so the last point of this invitation. Well, not the last one, the second point is if you're here and you're at that moment and you know it's time to lean in and go deeper, that God is requiring. I was going to say more of you. I was going to say more from you, but I mean more of you that he's requiring more of you. More of you. More of you. And you feel that I want you to come meet me at this altar. You feel like God is requiring more of you. More of you. More of you. I want you to come and meet me here as well. We're going to pray more of you. I know that's big. Come on. And the last point of this invitation. Family. I don't know why. And we're certainly, certainly, certainly not the only house of worship that God is moving. And I would never, ever pretend to even articulate or communicate that that's true. Because it's not God is moving in every house who puts him first. But I can attest to the fact that God is moving very, very powerfully and very, very strategically in this house. It's true. And I can tell you right now. I can tell you right now, and I speak on behalf of my wife and of course, our founding pastor, Bishop. I can tell you right now, we are safeguarding and stewarding this move. We're not playing with it. Let me tell you what I mean. Like, we feel like this is not like people were talking when we got, you know, when we were installed as pastors, people were saying congratulations, and we appreciate that, but we didn't look at it like this is something to be congratulated about. For us, it was about stewardship. To whom Much is given, much is required. Again, it wasn't. We weren't mad that people were good. But what we would have resonated more with is we're praying for you. We understand what's on your life. We understand what you're called to. So when I say we're serious about so stewarding this movement, this is God's church. It's God's church, the potter's house. God is the potter. It's God's church. And we're serious about creating space for what God is doing in the earth, in your life. We're serious about it. So if you want to be a part of a church that is serious about discerning the times and praying and preparing God's people and creating community and being a blessing, of course, in all the ways that we are a blessing as a philanthropic movement. And that's a big part of who we are. And I think that's a big part of soul winning is being a blessing to people naturally. But I say all that to say if you're here and you are not a part of a spiritual family, a spiritual community with leaders that are serious about integrity and not just personal life integrity, but the integrity of the Word and the integrity of what God is doing in the earth that are serious about walking circumspectly, fasting and praying for you, interceding in the heavenly realms, appropriating our spiritual authority as it relates to principalities and powers over regions and systems. If you want to be a part of a church that will truly cover you and protect you and fight for you, I can tell you right now, we're. That we're not the only one, but we are that. And it's not time to be straggling around, get somewhere and get plugged in and get locked in. Because I think that the people that just kind of straggle, you're not going to be in a good place as these times continue to go the way they're going. But this gospel of the kingdom, what God is doing is happening 10 times faster than what the enemy is doing. Are you hearing me? So the last point is, invitation is if you're here and. And you say, I want to, I feel like this is home, then we'll welcome you, we'll receive you. We've got pastors to my left. They'll connect with you, but we're just serious about what's taking place. I want you to pray after me. Those who are here at the altar. Heavenly Father, thank you for your love I feel it. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. I receive it. You've spoken to me. I heard you and I'm responding. Heavenly Father, I thank you for Jesus. Thank you for making him who had no sin, all of mine, all of my weakness, all of my limitations, all of my mistakes, all of my shortcomings, all of my brokenness, all of my hurt, all of my pain you placed in his body, nailed it to the cross and put it to death. And as he was raised up, loose from all those things, free and victorious because I'm in him, I'm raised up too. Holy Spirit, you are my portion. Fill me to the overflow that I might walk in my divine nature and glorify you with my life. I renounce every yoke of bondage. I decree in the name of Jesus, my freedom, my may every yoke break off of my life. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief build my faith that I might walk in power. In clarity. Lord, transform me by the renewing of my mind that I might prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of yours. My past is behind me, I'm not a slave to it. And my future is bright. It's glorious. I'm yours and nothing can separate me from your love. I receive this gift in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you. Listen, we're family and we're here as long as the Lord says so. Every Sunday, every Wednesday, we've got community groups. There's so many ways to get connected. Make sure you click the QR code or again, talk to our staff here and, and let's just stay connected. We're going to receive our tithes and our offerings. Do we have any cheerful, happy kingdom givers in God's house tonight? I'll just say it really quickly. We believe in honoring the Lord biblically with our substance, with the first fruits of our increase. Every time I get an increase, I honor God with it. 10% God. Hallelujah. I thank you, God, that you've given me an increase. I sow it into the church. If you need an envelope, lift your hands. Our PMTs will serve you. You're giving by text to give. The instructions are on the screen if you're watching via live stream. Thank you for sowing into this ministry. And we thank God for what he's going to pour back into you for being a part of this, this grace that we're in. The Lord spoke and he moved tonight. We talked about a lot of things. We walked it out Wednesday. But I truly believe that that word of wisdom, that really prophetic utterance from the spirit about rest was a serious word and there were promises connected to that. So I like to sow into word. When a word is for me, I sow into that word. I just believe I got that from Abraham too, to be honest with you. Right Abraham. Every time God gave him a word, he built an altar right there on that spot. And his grandchildren literally will go to that same spot and walk in that same covenantal blessing and promise. I want to thank those again who are watching via livestream. Many of you who come, you watch all the time and we pray God bless you. Let us know where you're watching from and get involved. This is not just, you know, know. We have a very strong and robust E church community and we just love you and we are for you. We quilt this city. We quilt this city with a comfy rose with Quilting Northern to be specific. So cushy and so plushy. Just give it a try. Feeling is quilted with three cushy layers for your comfort. The quilted comfort of Quilted Northern. We know what's comfy and now you do too. Keep it quilted with quilted Northern. ACAST powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.
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We're reconsidering everything right now. What is time post Covid? What is truth in Trump's America? Is yous've Got Mail Secretly, a movie about a creepy, gaslighting stalker? We can't answer the first two questions, but we have opinions about the third. We on Hot and Bothered are revisiting romance movies of the past and asking what were these movies teaching us? What did we not even realize they were teaching us? Hot and Bothered is me, Vanessa Zoltan, a pop culture critic and nice lady with opinions, and Hannah McGregor, a bonafide professor of media studies. Loving love stories and also just a little bit concerned. Come listen to Hot and Bothered.
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