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Transformation Church
Don't Waste Your Faith // Mustard: The Seed That Can Change Everything (Part 1) // Pastor Michael Todd
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Your future is being created by your faith today. The question is—what are you creating with it? In Week 1 of our brand new series, MUSTARD: The Seed That Can Change Everything, Pastor Michael Todd teaches us on 5 Things to Not Waste Our Faith On....
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What do you think makes the perfect snack? Hmm. It's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient. Could you be more specific? When it's cravinient. Okay. Like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter, available right down the street at am pm. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at am pm. I'm seeing a pattern here. Well, yeah, we're talking about what I crave, which is anything from am, pm. What more could you want? Stop by AM PM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience. Am pm Too much. Good stuff.
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Welcome to Transformation Church podcast where we represent God to the lost and found for transformation in Christ. We're so glad you're here. And wherever you're listening from, we believe God will transform your life through today's message.
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We are starting a brand new series today and it's called Help Me Mustard. Yes. I'm not gonna do it every time. I can't do it every time. Just say it with me. Say my stuff. Somebody had to do it. Somebody had to do it. All right, all right, all right. I'm excited about this series because I believe it's about to change something in the fabric of the way you think about God. Okay. I need everybody to hear me say this. This is not just a catchy title so we can lack substance. I'm trying to bring as many people into this because I believe it can change the fabric of their life. And the Bible talks about us having the faith the size of a mustard seed. And today, as I was approaching this text, I was trying to figure out, God, what do you want us to do? He said the same thing I told you at the beginning of the year. Focus. I want you to focus on your faith because your faith is so important to everything you're believing for. And most people have anemic faith. Your faith is malnourished. Your faith doesn't get to work out. Your faith doesn't have what it needs. And we're believing God for big things with barely any faith. And today I feel like I have a spiritual gift to impart to everybody that would have ears to hear. This is something that I believe that God has gifted me to live. I'm not. I'm not saying that from a standpoint of being hopeful that God will do some things that I'm believing. I have seen God take my mustard seed faith and turn it into the building you're sitting in. You don't Hear what I'm saying to you. I have seen God take my mustard seed seed, faith and turn it into the movie set that I just came off of yesterday. You missed it. I. Charles, could you pass me a mustard seed real quick, please? I just need the people to see how large, how expansive, how massive. You can't even. You can't find it. We just seen it. You got it. Come. Oh, Lord. He dropped it. Is it gone? You got one? I just need one. I just need one mustard seed. Just one. Oh, don't drop. Oh, you got another one? Yeah. All right. There you go. Thank you, bro. I got three more. You got three more if I need it, huh? It's so crazy that the thing the Bible tells us can move a mountain. It's so small, I can lose it if not taken care of. The thing that God says can literally change an entire geographical standpoint. Starts off so small that I could honestly not even see it without y'. All. Can't even see it. Come. Oh, 4K. That's some. That's an expensive camera. Now look how much magnification has to happen for anybody to see. What could change my next year? This could change the family line that I come from. This could reshape the financial trajectory of everybody with my last name. This could give me the ability to forgive somebody who is unforgivable. Okay, so y' all thought the mustard seed was for things, but some of us need God to do a miracle that's going to take this much faith, to believe that God can heal the disease, to believe that God can undo the damage that has been done to us. It takes somebody say, a little bit of faith. And as I started to think about this mustard seed, I was like, I don't really want to talk about it until next week. Because the truth of the matter is, most people don't understand faith at all. So I can tell you could have the faith the size of a mustard seed. This is an analogy. But if you don't understand the essence of what faith is and how faith is used and how imperative and important faith is to your life, you will think this is just another message instead of something that needs to be built into the foundation and the fabric of who you are. Somebody say, I'm a person of faith. You didn't say it with no faith. Somebody say, I'm a person of faith. Every believer should actually be a person of faith, because you can't get saved without it. Okay? And this year, I want us to focus on. On our faith over the next Eight weeks. I'm believing that there is going to be something that happens on the inside of you that will be undeniable. That people who have been at the starting line, afraid to do what God said to do are going to find that thing on the inside of you that's going to make you step out and be everything that God called you to be. I'm telling you, I believe that there is something that is about to be awakened on the inside of you. That something is about to be stirred up. I'm getting happy already that something's about to get stirred up on you that's going to make your situation frustrating. It's gonna make you look around and say, this is below what my God promised me. You're gonna turn around and you're gonna say, I can no longer live another year in this paralytic position. I'm about to get up and walk. This will not be my story forever and this will not be the place I choose to stay. Somebody's faith is about to get shaken. So be careful listening to these sermons because your personality is about to change the traits that you've been like. Well, I'm just a. You're going to have to denounce some of the things you've just been to walk into what God is calling you into. Well, I'm a background person, but I will come up front. If God is calling, y' all gotta hear me. I'm used to being here, but if God's calling me out there, I'mma do everything that God's called me to do. This is the moment where you don't just have a mustard seed, you plant it. See, the problem with most believers is we have something we've never planted and we would rather show people a mustard seed. Look, I got seed like I got. I got saved like a mustard seed. And God said, put it in some soil. Prove. Prove that this has life on the inside of it. Water this thing, take care of it, cultivate it. And most Christians are walking around with jars of mustard seeds. I shouldn't be able to see your mustard seed. It should be under something I shouldn't be. I should not be able to. To talk about. Look. What? Look. What? Look. It should be under prayer, it should be under decisions, it should be under actions. My mustard seeds got to be under something for it to grow. Okay, let me stop. I'm getting ahead of myself. Ain't even touched my notes yet. All I'm saying to you, All I'm saying to you is this is the season where you no longer use what you haven't had as an excuse for what God can give you. One year, one decision, one choice. It can change your entire life. And today, I just want to show you how important faith is to your entire faith journey. Write this down. Faith is Paramount. It's Paramount. Now, I know y' all have only heard that word when you see in a movie, the Paramount Pictures that you've only. But. But the reason it's a mountain there is because it's. It's the top, it's the peak. It's the Paramount. If you're gonna get anything out of this journey with God, you need to know faith is something that is so important to God that he weaves it into the fabric of every. Every area of our spiritual walk he requires. Somebody shout at me. Faith. Faith, y'. All. Okay, y' all gonna have to wake up today. Somebody shout at me. Faith. Faith. There it is. I'm just gonna give you some facts about faith, and I'm gonna give you a bunch of scripture. And I'm about to rattle these things off because I feel my help coming on right now. And I don't think I'm gonna get through this whole thing. Cause when I start to talk about faith, I start to see invisible things happen. I start to see. See, when I start talking about faith, something on the inside of me. The devil messed up and had me do this series. Let me do this series, because I knew God told me to do it. But as I'm standing here, Charles, there's another level that's about to come out of me. And see, this is the thing. I've used my faith so many times, and I've seen God do so many things that now it almost feels like I'm waiting for other people to catch up. But I just made a decision right now that I'm about to die empty. That everything that God showed me when nobody was here, I'mma see it come to pass that everything that he placed in my spirit, I'm gonna do it. I will not stop believing what God said to me. I will not stop. I will not dumb down his word. Because if he said it, it's settled. He needs me to be faithful. Oh, my God. Something just happened on the inside of me. I'm sorry, y'. All. Okay. I'm gonna try to contain myself for the rest of this. Okay? Hebrews 11:3. Every time you see the word faith, I need you to shout it out, okay? Okay. Hebrews 11:3. Put it on the screen if you can. For me. All right, Hebrews 11:3 and we'll go NLT version. It says by faith. How was it done? How was it done? Not intellect, not planning, not resources, not connections. By. I need you to understand that because all of those other things are, are necessary. They're just not the starting ingredient. And many of us get stopped because we need our, we want our starting ingredient to be something more dependable. I need the starting agreement to be an investor. Buy an investor. I started Buy a guarantee. Buy a promise. Buy and, and, and this is the blueprint of how God formed the world. So he's trying to set a precedence that what we need before we need anything is what faith. He said, by faith we understand that the entire universe was formed. So for everybody worshiping the universe, you can't worship it because it was a created thing. Just real quick, just neat, just, just the universe. No, God brought you. Okay, let's stop. By faith we understand the entire universe was formed at God's command. That what we now see, every person, every piece of technology, every piece of shapewear you're wearing, all these chair. Y' all know some people is uncomfortable. All of these screens, all of the. It says literally what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. Guys, let me give it to you in, in just the Mike Todd version of it. Write this down. Faith formed the world. Faith formed the world. It was, it was God having faith to show us a blueprint. He said, I'm gonna show them. I'm gonna show my kids how to do anything on this earth. No matter what family they come from, no matter what generational patterns that have been in their life. I' ma show them how to do anything by faith. By, by faith I can raise these kids. See, by faith I can step into this position that I don't have any education to do. And I cannot just hang on. I can innovate. I can become a leader. My deficiencies actually are the thing that make me a perfect candidate to be able to find a new way to do something that my education would have dumbed down. I can beat somebody shout at me by faith, by faith, God can use this marriage that was broken and deformed and jacked up and turn it into something that is a life giving force to other couples that are older than me or younger than me or more broken than me. Somebody shot at me by faith. Worlds are formed by faith. You want a new world? Start with faith. What about your world? Do you not like, start with faith? Start with seeing what God says about this. Okay, I gotta keep moving. Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. For it is by grace that you have been saved. Oh, we. Oh, thank God for his grace. But it's not grace alone. It's by his grace through Y'. All. Stop yelling faith. Y' all that quick. I gave you one scripture, now I give you one more. You forgot about faith. Just that quick. And I think it's an example of how quick we can see God come through for something. And then we try to get another formula the next time we need to use our faith. I can't tell you how many times we've seen God. We believe God and he did it. And then hopefully the next time, it don't take all that. Hopefully. I don't gotta believe like that. Hopefully God does it a different way, because that was a lot. And I just want to let you know that faith is always going to be attached to anything God is a part of. You always will have to to use your faith. For it is by grace you have been saved through. Through what? And this is not from yourself. It is a gift of God, not by works, so that no man can boast. Let me write it how I would write it. Faith is the guts of the gospel. Anybody that's going to see God do something and somebody be saved, they got to have faith that when I talk to them, God's gonna make something change in their heart. I was at the airport yesterday, and the Holy Spirit told me to walk up to this guy in the bathroom and invite him to church. And I'm gonna be honest, I missed that opportunity. Oh, y' all don't want me to tell the truth. I'm gonna be humble, open, and transparent. I was like, my God. God, I don't wanna dab him up in here. I ain't seen him watch his hands yet. This is awkward. But what I told God is, if you give me another opportunity, if my man is not gone, I'm just being honest. I said, I'mma tell him. Mima as my witness. We get to the carousel to pick up our luggage. I walk straight up to the dude, and I'm like, yo. And he's tall. He looks like an NBA player. This dog is like 71, probably six something, but it felt seven. I was like, yo, what's up, bro? I was like, he had his headphones in, So I did 15 seconds of my speech thinking he could hear me. That is embarrassing. Hey, bro, you know, he looked like he did the pop out, so I had to start again. And I Said, hey, bro, you live in Tulsa? He was like, yeah. I was like, hey, man, you ever heard of Transformation Church? He was like, nah. He was. I was like, perfect. I got a church for you to come to, bro. You should come this Sunday. He was like, for real? Where is that? And I was like, it's. And then I started. I said, can I give you on Instagram? And then I started this conversation. He was like, let me just give you my number. And then I started panicking. I was like, give him my number. And does he know who I am? You don't know who I am. I don't know who he is. And God said, invite him to church. He said, I want you to have faith that I guided you to him. I want you to have faith that I've been setting this up before you were born. I want you to have faith that it doesn't matter who you are and where you're from. He needs to be in the thing. And I don't know. He's here today if you here, bro, what up? I just told our story, but all I'm saying is I text him. Text him the location, text him to think. Because the guts of the gospel, it's going to take somebody having faith. Here we go. Let's keep going. I'm just giving you some facts about faith in the Bible, Hebrews 11:6. But without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. I always like to flip this one, because sometimes the negative doesn't inspire you, but the positive will. Watch this. How I put it, faith, please, is God. It doesn't matter if the outcome of your faith is the result that you want it. Every time you use faith, God's like, there my boy goes. There my daughter is. They stepped out on faith. No, they didn't get the job. No, that didn't work out for them. No, they didn't get married to them, but they exercised that faith. They. Oh, they getting strong in they faith. See, too many of us are attaching our faith to an outcome when faith is attached to obedience. Your obedience to do what God said may not change the end result, but it changes you. I. I still trust God. I still believe God. I still will stand on his word. And this is where too many believers get messed up, because we think faith is the result and faith is the action. Did y' all hear what I just said? Don't miss this. Your faith working is Never the result. Because God may have wanted something different to happen. And in your. In your ability, in that moment, you may be using all the faith you have. And God was like, look at they little dumb selves down there believing that that person they just met is their husband. Oh, no. But they are really praying about it. And they're coming to me and they're acknowledging me in all their ways and they're giving me an opportunity to direct their path. And that's why I had to expose wrong room so he. So she wouldn't get caught up with him because that was a fool front. And I really got Jontay over here ready and willing. He just got a couple more things he's getting in order. But it's never about the outcome. It's about the obedience. Okay, some of y' all looking like you said, come on, Dante. Come here, Dante. Get it together. Okay, so we just told you, faith form the world. Faith is the guts of the gospel. Faith pleases God. Hebrews 11:1. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Let me put it in Mike terms. Faith is the future, your faith. Most people think that the future is waiting on them. The future is being created by your faith today. What do you have faith in and for today? Because that is what's going to show up in your future. Now, how would you live if you really believed that your future was based on your faith today? Most people life is happening to them. They are not understanding. They have been deputized to be a part of the creation of their future. Oh, my gosh. This is why I can't get no amen there. Because they don't understand this, Brent. But if you could get the understanding that God has decided to partner with you to be able to engineer your future. This is not. It just happened to me. And it just happened to me. And this just happened to me. God said, would you please get in the game? Would you please put your faith in action? Would you please allow yourself not to be held back by excuses anymore and actually become an engineer. Build something with what God's given you. Pastor Mike, how can I do that? You can actually start using your faith. Watch this word now. Did you see the beginning of that thing? It said now. That means wherever you're at, you can start now. Oh, I love the Bible. Cause it lets you know that in the broken place, now is the time to start building that future in prison. Now is the time to start creating a life of integrity. Why you. You're walking Back out of debt. Now is the time to begin to think and act like a millionaire. Why am I saying that? Because your present faith is creating your future. First Corinthians 13:13. And now these three will remain. Faith, hope. And look, only one person yelled faith. They're like, I appreciate you back in the back. Thank you. Thousands of people. You in the pink. I see what God is doing in you. Here we go. In First Corinthians 13:13, it says, and now these three remain. Say it with me. Faith, hope, and love. But the greatness of these is love. I love that God gives us that. In the beginning, it was faith. And when everything else passes, faith will still be there. Put it in a point. Faith finishes when everything else fades. It said by faith, the worlds were formed. So at creation, faith by faith. And he said, when everything else is said and done, I will not look at your accolades. I will not look at how much money you made. I will not look at how many people liked your photos on Instagram and Facebook. I will not take an account of how many people you influenced. I'm going to see. How did you exercise your faith? How did you put your faith to work daily? How did you put your faith on display for the world to see? I'm a person of faith. What does that mean? No, I'm. I'm. I'm. I. I have faith. In what? No, no, no, no. My faith is on display. Where. No, I want you to ask yourself these real questions. How would somebody know that you're full of faith because you come to church? There are faithless people sitting in the crowd right now. No, no, no, I'm not. I'm. I'm. I'm not going to be ideal in this, because when we stand before the throne of judgment, God's going to be like, so what did you do with them 72 years? What'd you do with them 13 years? What did you do with those 32 years? What did you do with THOSE 95 years? The Bible says in another scripture, I didn't put it in my notes, but it says, when the Son of Man returns, he said, will I find faith? Not will I find big churches? Not will I find people that's balling out. Not will I find people whose aesthetic is physically pleasing. He said, will I find faith? So it must mean that faith is important. I just. I just would like you to know that if you've been using your faith as like, a side thing in your Christian walk, you have mislabeled what God thinks about faith. Okay, so now somebody's like, all right, Pastor Mike, I need some faith. I need some faith. Well, how much faith do I need, Pastor Mike? And my question would be, what you gonna do with it? Because the amount of faith you need is determined by what you gonna do with the faith. If somebody asked me, how much faith do I need? I'd be like, to do what? And this is the problem, and I have to make this clear, is that many people are wasting faith, because faith is the substance that formed the universe. Think about how powerful that is. It takes invisible things and ideas and brings it into the actual. The clothes you're wearing right now weren't real except in somebody's mind. And they had faith to go into the invisible realm and grab something out of there and struggle and strain and go through haters and go through opposition and have to get in patents and figure out new technology and be able to lose family members and walk away from guaranteed money. To pull something out of the invisible so you could put it in your closet. That car you drive, Somebody grabbed that out of the invisible and had to work through fear and had to work through being judged and had to work through not having enough and had to work through. Through not having cars designed like that, and they had to throw it. I. I'm trying to give y' all a picture. The airplane. The Wright brothers in North Carolina had to get together. They had to have some agreement, and they had to pull out of the invisible with all of their strength, with failed test, with people even dying, and they had to pull airplanes. It's so common now, we forget that it was invisible at one point. And if you. If you downgrade or devalue what faith can produce, you'll never use it. Right? One of the biggest epidemics in the body of Christ right now is people use their faith wrong. Okay, let me give you five things not to waste your faith on. Write them down, because this is why some of y' all came today. Don't waste your faith on things discipline can delete. I'm believing, God, that when I go take this test, I don't have diabetes. That's a fork problem. And now we're in a huddle, praying for you, believing God by faith to do what putting down the fork would do. And so now you used all your energy, your time, your effort, and everything. I had to use my. Oh, God. They said if I could just lose the weight and get my A1C down, and if I could take this, and I can do that, and I'm on Ozempic. And I did this and I did that, and I did all that stuff. And I'm not saying nothing's wrong with that. All I'm saying is when you get done using your faith for that, a lot of times we don't have no more faith to believe for miracles. People. Why don't we see miracles like they see in the east and all that other stuff? Because we got too many options. Miracles come with desperation. And over here in the west, we got too many options. When the doctor can't see you because there's no doctor and you actually have to believe God, then it changes your desperation. But us, we can decide to know we on the verge of diabetes, yet still hit Wingstop. Okay, that's too heavy for y'. All. And many of y' all are wasting your faith on things that discipline could delete out of your life. Oh, God. Oh, God. Well, everybody not at the same place. No, they're not. We're all running different journeys. But tell me an area that your discipline has kept you from the place of health that it needs to be. And I'm not just talking about physically. You keep dating the same dude. You keep going after the same type of woman. You keep entertaining. I ain't doing nothing. I'm just flirting. Shut up. I'm just a nice guy. No, you're undisciplined. If you get attention, you're like a dog. Huh? Did somebody call my name? Huh? Did somebody. Somebody call my name? Huh? And you sitting there undisciplined. You're sitting there undisciplined. And now you got to pray for God to preserve your marriage. And now you got to pray that she's not pregnant. And now you got to see, I'm telling you, we're using our faith for the wrong thing because we're undisciplined. I don't care if you like it. I'm speaking the truth, okay? If the church could ever stop using their faith for things that discipline could fix. I feel so tired. I'm so burnt out. Turn the TV off, Mustang. Somebody had to do it. Turn the TV off. Turn the TV off. You watching Netflix from 11 to 1pm I'm 1am Every morning. Because it's your time to release. It's your time to numb out. It's your time to not think about anything. And God's saying, I need you to rest because I'm gonna wake you up at 4 and give you an idea that's gonna take you out of that job. You gotta be At. At seven. But you will not become disciplined. Okay? That's only one of five. So y' all hold on, hold on, hold on. You only need healing where there's not health. You only need healing where there's not health. So some of you, if you would become disciplined and go into therapy and getting it out of you, it wouldn't turn inward. And now you feel with an edge and anger and resentment and dark thoughts just because you won't become disciplined, you'll buy a purse that nobody will notice after the first two weeks but will not invest in your mental and emotional health. I need to say this. There are too many couples in here that have not invested in the greatest asset you have, y', all, if you will become disciplined. And you invested in that house, and it's cold in there. You got two separate cars, so y' all don't have to be together. You got these kids. They're your greatest accomplishment. But they're just business deals. If you would invest in y', all, it would change. That's why we're doing the relationship goals class. And over a hundred people were in there this past Wednesday night because somebody said, I'm gonna become disciplined about that. That's why we did the stride class. And people on Wednesday night was out there working out. They came on Wednesday. And some of y' all need to be there this Wednesday. Bring your shorts and your spandex and your big shirt, okay? And get it there. And move something, shake something, drop something, do something, because you. Because I would rather you be embarrassed at the start than immobilized for the finish. Okay, Here we go. I'm trying to tell you how to use your faith, and you can't use your faith if you waste your faith, okay? So don't waste your faith on things discipline can delete. I could do a whole sermon just on that one, but let me go to the next one, because you need this one, too. Don't waste your faith on things communication can correct. Lord God, just give me the faith to go in here and deal with these people. Oh, God, I just. I don't know how much longer I can do this job, but until you provide, I won't move. So, God, give me the grace to deal with Sally. Lord, I want to slap Sally every day, but, Father, it shows grace and mercy that when she comes through, Father, I just don't lean in. And I want you to think about this. I definitely think it's important to acknowledge God in all your ways. I think pray about everything, but some are Using your faith just to focus at your job because you won't have a conversation. And you've adopted labels like I'm non confrontational. How are you gonna live this life? No, no, no, no, no, no. Sometimes when you adopt labels you can say, I don't like confrontation. But when you label yourself, I'm non confrontational, you gotta get over your words to do what's go. There are too many of us that gotta jump over the wall we built to do what's gonna help us. And have you ever thought about this? Sometimes an apology is anointed. The communication of that apology could literally watch turn an enemy into an ally. And there are too many people believing God for God to another way because you cut off the way he made. Oh God. You're believing God to send somebody else when the person he sent you just need to communicate with and get a better understanding. And you wouldn't have to use your faith for something that's not here yet. Okay, that's only number two. Here we go. Next one. Don't waste your faith on things a budget can build. Now this one, this one's strong because a lot of us use our faith to make it from paycheck to paycheck. Come on. A lot of us use our faith to oh, Lord, if the gas don't hit on the right day and if the, if, if the cable comes out and, and the truth of the matter is most people I talk to that have financial problems have not been consistent with a budget for more than three months. You see how quiet it just got? Because everybody will get the planners. We'll order something off of Amazon, we'll have it on an app. But consistency for more than three months. You can't even find your real numbers. Y' all know y' all have to guess at the beginning of a budget. Like at the beginning of a budget. I think I was meant about 260 on gas and then about 345 on groceries and you know, entertainment like 2, 2, 2 20. But without consistency, then we spend our time. God, would you just make a way, God, I shouldn't have gone on that trip to Acapulco with the girls, Lord. And I just. God, I was fun. But God, this is not fun. Functional. And God, I just need you to do a miracle, Lord. And when he does it, clock it. Clock it. God did it, God. And you do that and then you. But you still don't make a budget. And so, so, and so since, so, so since you won't build today, what you need what you want to live in tomorrow, you're consistently believing God to make ends meet and to make a miracle. And by the time God's like, well, believe me, to tithe more, your faith is empty. That's why half the time, while I was talking in the money series, some of y' all was just like. Like the whole series. Every time I came here, they're like, it's because you've used your faith just to get here. And I get it. I've been there. I've been so dysfunctional with finances at a point in my life that it was like, I can't. I can't. I can't believe you for nothing. Except keep these lights on, make this car payment that has 168% interest on it. Cause that's all my credit could afford. And what I'm saying to you is, maybe you can. Maybe we can believe today. Somebody say now that. That the outcome of the budget is not what God wants to see first. It's the faith to stay consistent to it. And let me tell everybody that has this closed shopping thing, like, there's a difference between somebody who has style and somebody that just puts on fashion. You can wear the same outfit over and over and over again if you got style. And people will make it a thing. Like, oh, yeah, no, he wears the black. She wears. Oh, my God. Do you see the thing? You don't have to go and chase new things if you're in a season of needing to build the budget. Bishop told me this a long time. He said, just a season. A season of actually cutting back and doing what's necessary can produce a lifetime of freedom. A season of less can produce a lifetime of freedom. But do you have the faith to create it? Somebody say now, all right, here we go. We're going to run through these. Don't waste your faith on things integrity can avoid. Somebody came up to one of our pastors the other day asking for God to pray that they had favor with the judge on a. An infraction that we will keep covered. But we think they did it. I mean, all signs were pointing to guilty, even the conversation. And I'm not saying, like, it's, yes, thank God, let's pray for favor. But the DNA, and there are too many people using faith for things that if you were just integris, we wouldn't have to be believing for that situation to go this one way. That will get you out. If you just didn't. You didn't take things that weren't yours. Stop taking Stuff that ain't your. The pillows at the hotel aren't yours. Oh, I'm in somebody's business, right? Those aren't your pillows. And for you to bring an extra suitcase to stuff those pillows down in there and then have an attitude. If they charge you on the bill, prove it. Prove it, Prove it. If they came to your house. What I think about the situation that happened to me where I did car insurance fraud. There was no reason. I got in a car accident when it was snowing outside. Somebody hit me, then drove off the highway. So I felt like it wasn't my fault. Then I hit somebody else. And I didn't have insurance at the time. The five year process of embarrassment, money. I was a pastor. I had to get up in front of the whole church and tell them, y', all, I committed car insurance fraud. I had my parents standing with me, business standing with me. It was like I murdered somebody. No, I'm serious. I had to. It was embarrassing. It's on video somewhere. Thank God it ain't on YouTube. But I had to do that because I was not a man of integrity. The consequence would have been there, but less if I would have chose integrity in the moment where I chose ignorance. Today I'm asking everybody, stop using your faith for stuff you could just be integrous about. Okay, last one. Don't waste your faith on things a schedule can solve. Some of y' all are believing for God to give you another day in the week. Come on, y'. All. How many pray, how many have ever said, if that was just another day, if we could just get another day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, another day. But the truth of the matter is, if you got another day, you do the same thing you're doing with this. I. I'm just finding so many people using their faith at a low level. So today on the start of this series, I'm not even halfway through my notes, but I think I'm about done. I'm asking you to raise the function of your faith. Raise the everybody say function. You're using your faith too low. You're using your faith too low. This is the same faith that the worlds were formed by, and you're using it to make sure you get twelve hundred dollars for the apartment payment. What I'm trying to tell you is God can fix that and he can fix it permanently through character transformation. And we would rather everything be a miracle than management. We would rather God come through every month. Oh, I got on. You got a reason to praise because you didn't plan. You got a reason to praise because you don't have priorities. And God made a way came through. But he said that's a lot. That's what y' all using. That's what I gave you. Authority. People don't even think about the authority we're given to cast out demons. No, nobody think about it. We think that's crazy. One of the main things Jesus said is you will be able to cast out demons, lay hands on the sick. They shall recover. We are using our faith to go on vacation. And nothing's inherently wrong with those except a vacation could be saved for. Let me give you a mental picture as we leave of how I believe your faith is supposed to look. You should have faith like a Ferrari. How many people in this room have ever actually driven a Ferrari? Hands mo. 1, 2, 3. Anybody else driven a Ferrari? Four, maybe seven people driven a Ferrari. Now thousands of people in here, seven to eight have driven a Ferrari. Why? What, why has not. Why hasn't everybody driven a Ferrari? What? How much it costs? Any trust? Ain't nobody gonna trust you with they Ferrari. So anybody else, why has. Has. Has not a multitude of people driven a Ferrari? Okay, what'd you say? No access. What if I told you that a Ferrari is not supposed to be an everyday drive around the city car? What if I told you the reason why most of us have never driven a Ferrari is because we're not in the atmosphere? A Ferrari was made for our daily function. To go to the grocery store and drop the kids off at school is not built for the power of a Ferrari. Can a Ferrari go to whole foods and can it drop your kids off at school? But the medium speed limit that you can go going to Those places are 40 miles an hour. Do you know what speed the Ferrari was built to go at? What they call on the Ferrari website is the Ferrari sweet spot. It was made for it to be completely at top performance between 80 and 140 miles an hour. So using a Ferrari to go to sprouts is an underutilization of the power of the Ferrari. And if you are using your Ferrari to go 30, stop, 40 stop, 50 stop. It's because you don't have access to the atmosphere that it was built to go in. So there's a place called the Autobahn. It's in Germany. It's the atmosphere. The Ferrari was made to functional. This is 8197 miles with no speed limit. You don't get on this highway unless you're going a certain Speed. It was created Aug. 6, 1932 and the common spots speed limit on the autobond, the common is 90 miles per hour. Some of y' all ain't never made your car go 90. That Hyundai ain't never seen past 74. You wouldn't know what the Jesus take away, you wouldn't know what to do. But I believe that the reason your faith is supposed to look like this Ferrari is because there is a atmosphere that your faith can get into where it actually goes at the speed that God called it to go. That we're not just believing for low level things, that we are believing for the things that actually change people's lives. And this is why I needed to come and tell you this, to raise the function of your faith today. Cuz faith performs at its best when there's a demand on it. And most of us have not put a demand on the faith that God has given us. If you get on the autobond, you better put your foot on the gas because it's dangerous for you to be in that climate, in that atmosphere, not actually using the car's full potential. And I came to prophetically tell some of y' all it's dangerous for you to not use your faith at its full potential in the season that God is calling you to faith like a Ferrari. But do you know what it takes to get on the autobahn? This is where I'm gonna start next week. Audacity. And most people don't have the audacity to believe God. You don't got the audacity to actually say, you know what? Nobody in my family has ever believed God outside of this four mile block. But for some reason something is raising up on the inside of me that God has called me to more than this. And it doesn't matter if I don't have a blueprint. I got Jesus. And as long as I got Jesus, I'll be able to go wherever he decides for me to go. So today I'm making a decision that I'm not going to stay in this low level of using my faith. That I am going to raise the function of my faith and I'm going to have the audacity to believe God. I don't know who I'm talking to in here, but I believe something on the inside of you is about to raise up. And you're going to have the audacity to believe that that neighborhood is not where you're going to stay. You're going to have the audacity that when you Walk in, things change. You're going to have the audacity to believe that if you speak it, things start to shift around what God is saying. You're going to have the audacity to believe that that marriage can be restored, that those children will be saved, that that community will reflect the kingdom. Somebody shout amen. Standing all over this place. Next week, I'm gonna unlock your audacity. I'm gonna unlock because I can't get to having faith like a mustard seed yet. Because if you get it, you won't have the audacity to plant it. I gotta help you understand why this is important. Before anybody leaves, before anybody moves, I need you to hear me say this right now. Faith is the greatest thing you need to focus on. Because it's by faith that everything in your life can go from where it is now to watch this. Not where you want it to be, where God intends it to be. There is a divine transformation that's about to happen on the inside of you. And today is going to be the first impartation. Would you lift your hands? All over this place, I feel the presence of God. Father, I thank you that every area of our life that we have wasted the faith that you literally sent your son to die for. And you didn't just give us audacity, you gave us authority. And today, Father God, I'm asking that we would walk in another measure of faith today. Holy Spirit, give us the audacity to pray prayers that are outlandish. Give us the audacity, Father God, to be scared when we say it out of our mouth. Father God, give us the audacity, Father, not just to believe in the idea of it, but put the works with it. In the name of Jesus today. God, I thank you that you're starting the engine on the inside of everybody under the sound of my voice. There is no school you can't go to. Young man, young lady, have the audacity to believe that God will fund where he's called you to be. I feel that there's somebody that's about to make decisions based on facts. I dare you to add faith to the equation. I'm not saying ignore the facts, but I am saying fill out the fafsa, make the presentations, do what you need to do for the grants. There is nothing that God will not do for those who believe. God, I thank you that you're raising the faith of Transformation Church. We are a church of crazy faith. But you never call us to stay in the same place. I thank you that you are raising the function of my faith. Father, I thank you that I will believe everything you wrote on that crazy faith paper like never before. You said this building would be filled three times over every Sunday. Father, I agree with your word in the name of Jesus. I thank you, Father God, that I'm raising the level of my faith. It doesn't matter what I see in front of me. I stand and declare, Father God, that I am re upping on what you said. Father God, I'm standing in promises that you made me that nobody else believed. And so today, Father, in front of everybody, I am making a fresh commitment to believe every word that you say. You told me what you were going to do for MJ today. Father God, I stand in fresh faith believing every every word that you said. God, I will not back down off of your word and your promises. God, today I stand in faith. Increase me, God. And I know that comes with trial and I know that comes with tribulation and I know that comes with disappointment and I know that comes with being confused sometimes. But today, God, if faith pleases you, that is right where I want to be in the place of faith. Father, let this church never see any mountain and think it cannot be moved. Because you said if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed, we could see miracles. I speak to the one right now who is at the end of their faith or they wasted their faith on a different season. Would you renew their strength right now, God? You said in your word, those that wait on the Lord will find renewed strength today. God, I thank you that right now there's renewed strength coming to that mother and that father. And there's renewed strength coming to that young lady who just got out of that horrible relationship. And there's renewed strength for the person who just had to file their taxes and it was more than what they thought. There's renewed strength to the people who had to just move from one home to another. There's renewed strength, Father God, for the one who's burying a loved one and trying to figure out their life all over again. The one who's grieving and the one Father who's giving. I thank you, Father God, that you're renewing our strength today. God, we trust you and we will have faith in God. If you're in this room and you've never put your faith in God, we can't talk about faith at all. And you not be able to receive the guts of the gospel. It's by faith, but it's by grace through faith. That we are saved today. The only reason I can get up here and talk like this is because I've seen God move so many times. I was addicted to pornography. I was a liar. I was a manipulator. You just heard me tell you I committed car insurance fraud. If we went through all my stuff, you'd be like, how is he talking to me? By the grace of God. I don't know how people live without the grace of God. And today I want to. I want to extend that to you. Watch this now. Now, faith. You can give your life to Jesus and accept what he's done by faith. And if that's you all over this place or watching online, you may be in your pajamas, in your bed. You might be on the couch, at a gym, at your workplace. Today is the day of salvation. And the church here is going to begin to pray because we know that this is a moment that changes everything for you. If you're under the sound of my voice and you're ready to surrender, that means I'm throwing my hands up, God. I'm not doing it my way no more. I'm doing it your way. If you're ready to surrender today, God wants to take you to a whole another level. He's the only one that if you give him your heart, he'll help you change your habits. Stop trying to clean up before you come to him. He is the cleaner today. He's gonna do what you could never do. He's gonna renew your name and give you a brand new life. But you have to receive this gift. On the count of three, I just want you to lift your hand up online or in this room. 1. You're making the greatest decision of your life. 2. Your name is gonna be written in the Lamb's book of life. I already see my man's hand right here. 3. If you want to give your life to Jesus. I see you. I see you. Come on. I see you. I see you. Transformation Church. I see you up there, Buff. I see you. And more than that, God sees you. Hey, Transformation Church. We're a family. Nobody prays alone. Would you just lift your hands and pray this prayer out loud, boldly, with me. Say, God, thank you for sending Jesus just for me today. I give you my life. I believe you lived, you died, you rose again with all power just for me. And today I put my faith in you. Change me. Renew me. Transform me. I'm yours. In Jesus name. Amen. Hey, can we celebrate? Break. Oh, y' all can do better than that. That Number just went up from 886. God is adding daily. Hey listen, this week I want to invite everybody to the dig on Wednesday night. We have fitness classes, finance classes, Bible study, relationship goals classes. Am I missing? And we have prayer, youth. We got everything. And if you want to get disciplined in some areas, you may need to get with some other people to help you start on that journey. This Thursday night we'll be preaching at the GAP standards conference and I believe God's going to do something powerful. I feel that I'm a, I'm a stay in this vein and I'm about to help some people's faith. I'm about to stir it up. Next week we go into week two of mustard. So I want to see you here, share this, watch it over and over. If you just got saved, I want you to text saved to 828282 and we want to walk with you and listen to me. I know people are leaving, but if you need agreement in prayer for anything, I want you to know that you can get prayer right here or in the back. Some of you need to be not just prayed for, but prayed with. And we want to do that with you. You. And listen, if you want to make TC a place where you can actually find community, tonight at 6 o' clock we have family dinner here. We will feed you, bring all your baby's kids, bring everybody. We go. We gonna have a good time. You'll get to meet with our team and we just want to find out a little bit more about you. We love you. Until next week, go out and live a transformed life. Hug two or three people around you and tell them you.
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Thank you for joining us today. If you said that prayer and accepted Jesus into your heart, it's the best decision you could ever make. We want to celebrate with you and we have some tools to help you on your journey. Text saved to 828282 and to find out more about TC text connect to 828282. Be sure to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks for listening. Now go out and live a transformed life.