What Is Your Question?

Yo, Gateway, I am so excited to be here like this.

This is so cool.

Listen, Jimmy and Tim Ross and Pastor Robert and all of these different pastors you've seen, they've done a great job at bringing you a phenomenal message in a sanctuary that's empty.

So I was like, shoo, I know I do comedy.

I got this too, man.

Let's go.

So I was like, yeah, let's do it.

So let me start out by telling you about me.

Well, when I was a kid, I used to struggle with my reading a lot.

I used to struggle with my reading.

But my uncle would try to make me feel better.

He would say things to me like, Don't worry about it, Michael Jr., we math people.

I was like, oh, okay.

He said, you probably could be a math genius like me.

You got at least a 40-40 chance.

Um yeah, that didn't work at all.

This is more like it.

Nice and clothes.

Who needs all of those empty chairs?

So instead, what I'm deciding to do is just sit here with you and share some things with you.

Uh, some stories that I have that I think is going to help you understand this overall message that I feel like has been put on my heart to share with you.

And if you receive this message in the way I'm hoping that you will, I think it can make some substantial changes in a good way.

If not, maybe it'll be remotely entertaining.

And the reason it could be entertaining, notice I say it could be, is because uh I actually have some new jokes.

Let me see if I got them right here.

I got some new jokes that I've been working on.

I got them on these cards.

I don't know if these are funny or not, gotta be real with you.

Because uh, haven't been on stage.

There's a virus out.

I don't know if you're familiar with that or not, but it's out there, so be careful.

And then also, what else we got cooking?

Oh, we have a small group curriculum that I created.

It's a small group course.

It's called Funny How Life Works.

It actually helps you understand some life principles, but we use comedy to teach them so you can better understand your purpose and what you're called to deliver.

So I'm so excited about that.

If you want to buy that, you can for sure.

That'd be great.

The proceeds are going to uh a black family in America.

So, with that being said, uh I think we'll just kind of jump in this thing.

So, I've come to learn that there's a question that people are asking even when they're not asking the question.

Sound a little creepy, doesn't it?

Sound a little weird like I'm playing mind games, but there actually is a question.

When you're in the midst of doing something, there's a reason, and you're trying to get an answer to a question that you're asking, but you may not even know you're asking.

Before I sound any more weird, let me use the example of the profession of comedy, which is what I'm known for, right?

So when a comedian gets on stage, the question he's asking, whether he can articulate it or not, we're asking the question, how can I get laughs from people?

Literally, that's the question we're always asking.

How can I get laughs from people?

Which means we're going to do pretty much whatever it takes to get the answer to that.

So if I go like this, will that make people laugh?

Or if I say this, or if I make this move, is that gonna make people laugh?

And then they answer the question by either laughing or not laughing.

But we're constantly asking that question.

And I was all about that.

I was completely about saying, How can I get laughs from people?

But then one day I was outside of a club in Los Angeles, and right before I got on stage, I did a prayer, and I felt like there was a shift that took place.

God told me instead of trying to get laughs from people, that I should go up there and give them an opportunity to laugh.

This changed everything.

Because now I'm not looking to take, I'm looking for an opportunity to give.

I can't even tell you.

So that same night, I remember getting up on stage that night and things were different.

It seems like a small tweak, but it was huge.

Because I went up on stage and I probably didn't even present a joke for the first seven, maybe 15 seconds.

Here's what I realized when you have a gift for someone, you don't really shove it in their face.

If what I have is actually a gift, you don't shove it in their face.

You wait for an opportunity to present the gift.

You wait till you're invited in.

So I went up on stage, I was very, very relaxed, I did the event, we did the show, and had a great time.

It was so much fun.

Afterwards, I leave the club, same club I've been to many a times.

There's people around me that want autographs, we're taking pictures.

It's the same scenario as always.

But this time, as I'm taking pictures with the people, I look across the street and I saw a homeless guy.

I had never seen a homeless guy outside this club before, ever.

But that doesn't mean he wasn't there before.

That just means before I was asking the question, how can I get last from people?

So why would I even notice a homeless guy?

I'm asking a different question, and I see him.

And I think to myself, wow, how could I give him an opportunity laugh?

You have to be really careful about what it is you ask for because you're probably gonna get an answer.

So a few days later, I'm doing another event, and there's people in the autograph line, and this lady walks up to me and she says, Michael, your show was really, really funny.

Listen, I work on Skid Row at a homeless shelter.

I was wondering if you might consider doing comedy for some of the homeless people there.

Now listen, I would really like to tell you that I went and found the nearest phone booth, came out with a cape on and a gold microphone, and I said, Yes, let's go to those people on skid.

No, I was afraid.

I hadn't heard a sentence with the phrase comedy and homeless shelter in it at all.

And then when she said it, I kind of panicked.

I was like, um, no, I never thought about that before.

That sounds interesting.

And I just took her car.

But then I continued to ask the same question.

So the next day, I was like, I caught her up and I said, Let's do it.

And I remember going to Skid Row and we're walking down the street.

I don't know if you've ever been to Skid Row before, but there's like a four-block radius where there's like 10,000 homeless people at in living in tents, and they're just, I saw an elderly lady eating oatmeal out of a shoe.

This place was like, whoa, and I'm thinking, this is why am I here?

I'm not gonna be able to get laughs from people here.

Why am I here?

I can't get laughs from people.

I'm not there to get laughs.

I'm there to give them an opportunity to laugh.

So we went to the Union Rescue Mission.

And I remember uh getting up on stage and I was I was going through my routine, and people weren't really laughing at all.

It was a little after 3 30 in the afternoon, 3 40 or so, and I'm up there and nobody's really laughing, but more and more people are coming in.

And I'm kind of panicking, I'm a little afraid, but then I was just like, I'm just here to give laughs.

And here's the thing about a gift.

When you have a gift for someone, it doesn't really matter how they respond to it.

Your job is to be obedient and deliver the gift.

If they respond well, that should be considered a gift back to you, but you're there simply to give.

So I pressed on and I realized that the reason more and more homeless people are coming in is because probably at 4 o'clock they're gonna serve food.

And chances are they're not gonna serve the food until I'm done speaking.

So I confirmed this with a guy up front.

He was like, Yeah, we can't eat until you're done.

And I was like, Well, cool.

Well, I'm not gonna be done until y'all start laughing.

And the place explodes in laughter.

Now they're not laughing because they were threatened, they laughed because I recognized what was actually going on in the moment.

They wanted to laugh about what was really happening in their lives right there in that moment.

I think it's weird when Christians say prayers right before they eat at a restaurant, like, Lord, bless the hands that made this food.

First of all, it's a human back there making your food.

You only care about his hands?

Like, what if he got a bad knee?

Like, you're not being very Christ-like.

I just want to say that.

So we're getting ready to perform in Denver, Colorado.

And because I'm asking a different question, I'm getting different results.

So instead of just doing the big show in Denver, we also decide to go to Montrose, Colorado, a place called the Dolphin House.

Now, the Dolphin House is a facility that takes care of children who have been abused or they've been through some sort of trauma.

And the reason they call it the Dauphin House is because whenever a dolphin is wounded, other dolphins come around it and they stay next to it until it's healed and it can protect itself.

So before doing a show for all of these abused children and their caregivers, I decided, hey, why don't I capture their stories first so I know what they've been through?

I'd like to tell you that was a great idea, but it was really hard to hear these stories.

Because I'm hearing story after story about what these kids have been through, and then I gotta prepare myself to do a comedy show for them and their caregivers, and it was it was kind of hard.

There's a grandmother who shared the story of her grandson, and um he's around five years old, and she explained to me he's gonna be there that night, but when he shows up, he's gonna have on a Spider-Man costume.

And the reason he wears this full Spider-Man outfit is because his mom had been abusing him, and one of the things she was doing is she was pulling out his toenails.

So I hear this little boy's story, and I hear all these other kids' stories.

Then they bring them all in, and now I gotta do jokes for him.

Now listen, if my mindset was to get last from people, there is zero chance I would have been able to do the show.

But instead, I had that shift that I keep telling you about where I was asking the question, how can I give them an opportunity lab?

So I have to do the show.

I mean, who else is gonna come there and do like it's me.

So I remember going up on stage and I'm I'm doing comedy, and slowly but surely they start to laugh, and and the show starts to get better and better.

Then sitting right up front is Spider-Man on his grandmother's lap.

And he doesn't appear to be laughing at all.

In fact, he's kind of clinching his grandmother a little bit.

And I'm not trying to draw any attention to him, so I'm gonna continue to do jokes, and everybody knows everybody's story.

This is a small community.

And I remember I had one of my children's books with me, and I offered him a children's book.

I said, Hey Spidey, would you like a children's book?

And he looked to his grandmother, then he ran up and grabbed the book, and then he ran back to her lap.

And um, that was a big deal.

I mean, the fact that he was willing to receive from somebody, that was a big deal.

So then I carry on, I continue to do more and more jokes, and then I don't know, maybe like 20 minutes later, I hear a voice come from this area right here, and the voice says, My name is Ronan.

And this little boy pulls off his mask and introduces himself to me.

And he gave me a gift that I'm not going to soon forget.

Like it was him saying, Here I am.

And I don't know if that was just because he was in a room full of people and they were laughing and he felt comfortable, but by the end of the night, me and the kid formerly known as Spider-Man are on stage together breakdancing and laughing and having a great time.

It was probably, I want to say a year or so ago, just randomly out of nowhere, I get a I get a letter from his grandmother.

And his grandmother explains that since that day at that comedy event, Ronan never put his Spider-Man mask on again.

Ever.

All I did was show up with my gift.

And I was asking the question, how can I give?

You have a gift, but what question are you asking?

There's something amazing for you to deliver, and the people around you need it.

And the hard part sometimes is that the people around you really need it, but they have a hard way of telling you they need it.

It's because they're putting on a mask.

Sometimes they'll let you know that they need it in the form of cutting you off in traffic, in the form of yelling at you or just being mean or ignoring you.

All of those are masks, and those people are using those masks and they're crying out for you to deliver.

And if you only deliver under the circumstance where you get, you will never reach those people.

But if you ask a different question, if you simply ask, what can I give, regardless of what they look like, I think you'll find some amazing opportunities to truly deliver.

Here's the thing about people at Walmart.

I don't think the people at Walmart are crazy.

I think when we go to Walmart, we become those people.

Like soon as you cross the threshold, like three teeth fall out, suddenly you got some tobacco on your lip, and you got house shoes on.

You're like, I don't even like bunny rabbits.

Where are these bunny rabbits?

So as a result of asking a different question, I started noticing some parallels because not only am I asking a different question, but I'm also still doing comedy.

Like I'm traveling doing comedy, and I am a I like to make connections between things, right?

And I'm noticing some parallels between comedy and life.

Let me explain.

In comedy, the way comedy works is there's a setup and there's a punchline.

The setup is when uh a comedian will use his talents and resources to seize any opportunity to ensure that you, the audience, are moving in the same direction.

Well, the punchline occurs when he changes that direction in a way you're not expecting.

When you catch on to this change, you've received the punchline, and the results are revelation, fulfillment, and joy expressed through laughter.

Well, life is very similar.

In life, there's a setup and there's a punchline.

Your setup is your talents, your resources, and your opportunities.

And most of the time we use our setup to ensure that the people around us are moving in a direction that serves us.

Which means the punchline occurs when you change that direction in a way they're not expecting.

You actually use your setup for other people.

The results are the same, yet multiplied.

It's revelation, it's fulfillment, and it's joy.

But it's not just for the one receiving the punchline.

It's also for you who get to deliver the punchline as well.

But how do you truly deliver the punchline?

To truly deliver to someone else, you have to ask a different question.

Otherwise, you'll be under the impression that the punchline is all about you receiving.

But when you ask the question, how can I give, as the Bible talks about, the punchline becomes, how can you deliver?

It's like a game changer.

If you get a hold of this, it will literally change the game.

My dad, when he was getting ready to discipline me, he would always say stuff, uh, he hadn't done this in a while, it was about a couple weeks ago.

My dad would always say to me, Listen, this is gonna hurt me more than it's gonna hurt you.

I'm thinking, well, well, why are we doing this then?

We should cut our losses right now, Father.

I don't want to see you hurt, father.

So here's where it got really cool.

Instead of asking the question, how can I give them an opportunity to laugh, I just start simply asking, what can I give to my audience?

And I'm not just talking about the audience on when I'm on stage, I'm referring to the audience that is around me.

There's gaps, and I if I can listen in between those gaps and ask a different question, I could get some different results.

By the way, there's gaps in your life.

No matter what you do, no matter where you've been, there's gaps.

What question are you asking in between the gaps?

Are you asking what can I get, or are you asking what can I give?

And if you don't know the answer to that question, I think you know the answer to that question by default, since the fruit we've been asking, what can I get?

So now I'm asking a different question, and I remember I was in uh Peoria, Illinois.

So I'm on stage and we finish up the show, we're having a great time or whatever, and I've listened between the gaps.

The show was great.

We're doing an autograph line, and this lady walks by and she says, I get it now.

This is all she says.

She didn't want no autographs, she ain't buying no merchandise.

She like she just said, I get it now, and then she walked off.

Like, anyway, a year and a half later, I'm back, Peoria, Illinois, same venue.

The lady walks up to me and says, Do you remember me?

And at first, I'm like, No, and I'm going back way too far on my Rolodex.

Man, it was high school.

I was a little scared for a second, but then I thought, no, I should be good, right?

Anyway, she says, Do you remember me?

And I actually did remember her after a moment.

And she said, When you're done with your autograph line, I'd love to share a story with you.

So I was like, cool.

So she says, a year and a half ago, I came to your comedy show.

She said, I had no money.

She was actually$132 in a negative in her bank account.

A friend gave her, bought her a ticket to the comedy show because she knew she had so much weight and heaviness on her.

She said, Well, just go have a laugh, you have a great time, and then you can figure out the stuff later.

So she explains to me.

She comes to the comedy show and she laughed and that she really, really needed the laughter.

She said, But then, Michael Jr., you started talking about your setbacks and your and your setup and how you have a punchline to deliver.

And she said it really kind of moved her to tears.

She explained to me that she's a school teacher.

Let me say that first.

She's a school teacher, minus$132 in her bank account.

On top of all of those other issues, one of her favorite students had approached her that day, which was Friday, and explained to her that she wouldn't be coming back to class anymore.

See, her her mom was going to prison and she had never met her dad before, and she didn't have any place to turn.

She's like 16 years old, she had no place to turn, and she did not want to get caught in the system, and she was going to just work it out for herself.

And her teacher, having so much drama going on in her own life, or things just being so hard, she just didn't know what to do.

She comes to the comedy show.

After the comedy show, she realizes she has a setup, she has something to deliver, and she calls up her student and she says, Listen, I don't know what this looks like.

I don't know exactly, but why don't you just come stay with me for a little while and maybe we can figure it out together?

So this this young 16-year-old girl, she comes and lives with her teacher, and they uh and on that Sunday they're unpacking her clothes and saying, You just you'll just be here, we'll just work this out.

They're unpacking her clothes, and the teacher found a suicide note that was um that was dated for that Friday.

And uh and then the teacher says to me, Hey, do you do you want to meet her?

I've adopted her and her little sister.

And for a for a few moments, it was a couple beats at least, it was hard for me to even turn around and look at him.

Because I didn't want to get choked up and uh kind of like I am now thinking about it.

The teacher started asking a different question.

She had a bunch of problems when she was asking, What can I get?

But she changed the question and she'll tell you herself that she saw the opportunities.

And in her own words, she is so much more happier now, even though because she just asked a different question.

I think tears are a good reason to find some jokes.

I was driving the other day and I saw a road sign that said drive safely.

Is there ever a circumstance where you just driving out of control and you see a sign, you're like, oh, oh yeah, that's right.

That's right, my bag.

I forgot.

Thank you, sign.

I appreciate that.

Cool, sorry I knocked you down.

That was one.

Another song they played that they shouldn't be playing right now.

This shouldn't even be on the radio.

Is Lean On Me.

When you not strong.

No, you can't lean on me.

We're socially distancing currently.

Lean on yourself.

When you're not strong.

And you're not strong?

Yeah, you should go get checked out.

So we're in Nashville and I'm on stage.

The show is sold out.

There's over 2,000 people at this event.

I'm listening between the gaps.

We're having a great time.

Mostly I'm just delivering comedy, comedy, comedy.

And then I felt like God said to me, See that lady up over there?

I want you to bring her up on stage.

I don't know this lady.

She don't look funny.

What am I bringing up on stage for?

I don't understand why we're having such a good time.

This is what's going on in my head in the midst of having this conversation.

I'm having this conversation with God in my head while everybody else is laughing, having a great time.

I'm trying to figure out what this is gonna look like.

So then I go ahead and do another joke, and I look at the lady again, and I notice she's not actually looking directly at me.

She's looking at a sign language lady, and she's deaf.

Like, well, I don't know any sign language.

Only sign language I know is this right here, and another one before I was a Christian.

I'm not gonna show it to you now because I don't do that.

Plus, they would probably blur it out.

So I feel it again.

Bring her up on stage.

So I said to the sign labels lady, hey, can you ask her right there?

Can you ask her to come up on stage, please?

It's a white lady, she's maybe like 54, 55 years old.

She comes up on stage, she's moving really slow because you can tell she's afraid.

She don't know what's going on.

Well, guess what?

I don't know what's going on either, lady.

I'm just bringing you up here to find out.

I'm just listening.

She comes up on stage, and uh the audience is froze at this point.

We were just laughing really hard, having a great time.

Now suddenly they don't know what's going on.

Welcome to the club.

She comes up on stage and I and I ask her a question I've never asked anyone on stage before or since.

I've never had never done this before.

So I look at her and I said, um to the sign language lady, I said, Hey, can you ask her what is her biggest need?

So she signs over, she signs back, and she says, Well, um, she says she doesn't have any needs.

She's she's fine.

I was like, nah.

Ask her again.

So she signs over, she signs back, and she says, Well, her and her husband, they haven't been able to go on vacation in over 11 years, not even for a weekend, and they could really use some time away.

I was like, okay.

And what normally happens under this circumstance?

We pass the hat around, we collect a bunch of money, and we give it to them.

We've all seen that before.

The greatest punchlines are the ones you never see coming.

And plus, money is not a punchline.

Don't get me wrong.

It is awesome when you give from the hip.

It's a game changer when you give from the heart.

So I just simply ask the next question.

I was like, well, why not?

And she signs over, she signs back, and she says, Well, um, her and her husband, they have a special needs child.

And they uh they can't afford a nurse who's qualified and can take care of the child in such a way that they feel comfortable and they can leave.

I was like, okay.

I turn to my audience, I say, Where is the special needs nurse who can deliver their punchline?

And the whole room is quiet, they're silent, they're still kind of tripping.

So I have to say it again.

I said, Where is the special needs nurse who can deliver their punchline?

And you hear a voice come from the top balcony.

And this lady says, Here I am.

She comes walking down, and we introduce them, and they live 30 minutes from each other.

And the whole room is done.

Like we are blown back by what is taking place.

But what really happened?

Someone showed up with their setup, willing to deliver their punchline, and someone else is there willing to receive it.

There's people around you right now who need you to deliver what you have.

Or there's people around you right now who are ready to receive from you.

But we have to be ready.

You have to be ready and willing to ask a different question so you can truly deliver.

Or maybe you're in a position right now where you really need to receive Jesus.

Where you're having a hard time listening in between any gaps or figuring out life in general.

Well, listen, the greatest setup punchline story ever is the story of Jesus.

Think about it, he was the king.

My bad.

He was the king of kings.

And when you're the king, what does that mean?

That means everybody should serve you.

That is the direction everyone was going.

But what did he do?

He said, No, instead of you serving me, he changed the direction.

He said, I'm going to serve you.

I'm going to climb up on this cross and die for you.

The greatest punchline story ever.

Nobody saw it coming, yet he delivered.

Not just for me, he has delivered for you.

And if you want to fully receive what he's delivered, you just need to do a prayer.

You need to pray and ask him to come into your heart.

And if you're not sure what that looks like, you can easily text the word decision to 710-10.

And somebody will pray with you so you can truly deliver what you're called to deliver.

Could you imagine with everything that's going on in the world right now?

If everybody just decided to ask a different question that was really about delivering to other people, where might we be right now?

Or maybe you're in a position right now where you just need to connect with somebody on some level, and all you gotta do under that circumstance is just text the word connect to the same thing, 710-10.

Or maybe you're just ready to walk in your purpose and deliver your punchline, but you need some tools under that circumstance, please get the Funny How Life Works course that we set up for you.

All you gotta do is text the word Michael, which is my name, to 71010, and you'll get access to be able to buy the course.

Just text Michael to 71010.

You can get the course and be on course.

Regardless, make some sort of decision.

If the only decision you make is to change the question you're asking with regards to the people around you, that is an amazing, tremendous decision that you can make right now.

Because you're asking a question.

And my question to you is it helping other people?

Is it helping you?

Is it making the community better?

And if it's not, you should change it.

Listen, I am Michael Jr., I love you.

I appreciate you.

You have something amazing to deliver.

So go deliver.