I'm Getting My Edge Back // Start Sharp ( Part 1) // Michael Todd

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. Do today's message. This is

week one. Somebody say, week one of a series that I'm about to

do. Call very simply start sharp. Everybody says, start sharp, Say

it fast, Everybody say it loud. We are about to start twenty twenty

four sharper than any year as a church that I believe I've been in leadership

in this capacity. This is gonna be our sharpest year. God gave me

this vision and the plan is a little different. Usually on the first Sunday

of the year, somebody else preaches. Usually I'm away right now, just

trying to make sure the word of the year is right, just trying.

All right, Lord, one more time, confirm it to THEE, tell

me this is it. He confirmed what he was gonna do three days into

my sabbatical in July. The Word of the year this year is gonna change

everybody's life. But then he gave me new instruction. He said, you

cannot share the Word of the year until you build value into what I'm gonna

say, because many of us fumble what God gives us because we didn't think

it was valuable. It came in a regular package. So I guess this

seat. Some of the greatest advice that I've ever gotten is from the woman

I sleep next to every night. And because her voice is familiar, if

somebody else that was on a big platform said it, I'm telling on myself

right now, I'd be like, Oh, that's such revelation. But she

said it last night while I was on my way to sleep. She says,

stop feeling with them people, And I was like, but that,

and then somebody else say it, and it's like, oh, you gave

me a revelation. No no, no, no, you devalued the package.

You you became too familiar with the way that it came. And God

said, the word of the year is simple this year, but if you

don't find it valuable, you'll stumble it again. So I'm about to spend

four weeks building value of how we start sharp and then I'm gonna release the

word that God gave me, and then I literally y'all ever seen like Star

Trek where they go into warp speed. Some of that are like Star Trek,

Star Wars. Start okay, but there's a mode that happens when you

when it accelerates everything. And I believe that's what God is about to do

in this year. But I got to do it how God told me to

do it. So everybody says, start shark, I'm gonna go ahead and

start with an analogy that really, really, really really changed my life.

I was reading a book called The Fasting Edge by Jensen Franklin, and there

was this story in it that really captured my attention. And I'm gonna set

this story just for everybody, the mind of everybody's imagination. I want to

set it in like a forest back in the day, no chainsaws, no

modern technology. There were two lumberjacks and there was a young lumberjack that was

jacked, strong, buff and there was a og lumberjack, older hands,

big and calloused. And the young man wanted to make a name for himself,

so he came to the older man and he said, hey, Og,

I want to challenge you to a tree chopping content And the og said,

young buck, I don't even got energy for all of that. And

the young man said, come on, what you scared? You think you

still got it, And the old man said, pick up your ax,

and they went. And the goal was to spend all day chopping down as

many trees as possible. So the young man said, I'm about to kill

this og. I'm young, i am fit, and I got way more

energy than him. It comes to the point where it's time to start.

All the other lumberjacks are around putting the betsy in on who's gonna win,

and this young lumberjack goes to trees falling everywhere, and the older gentleman is

sitting down and watching the younger gentleman. The young guy's like, oh my

gosh, I'm about to kill him. Tree after tree, boo boo boom,

they fallen. He looks back again and the old gentleman sitting on the

stump. They're waiting at the end of the day for the official count of

the trees in the young man's chest is pumped up, sweat dropping, saying

hi to the ladies because he knows he has this in the bag. The

official count comes back and the young man chopped about twenty trees and the older

man chopped about forty trees, and the young man said, what in the

world is going on. There's no way this old man beat me, because

every time I looked at him, he was taking a break. And the

young man, furious, went up to the older man and said, I

guess you won. And the older man looked at his axe and he said,

son, every time you thought I was taking a break, I was

sharpening my axe. The young man used all his effort and energy because his

axe was dull. And every time that that old man sat down, to

everybody else, it looked like nothing. To everybody else, it looked like

fanatical Christians doing Christian things. To everybody else, it looked like, y'all

gon, oh, that's what religious people do. No, no, no,

we're taking the first twenty one days of this year and we're putting friction

on our faith and we're sharpening our ecx. What would happen this year it

was the less you had to swing in the natural? What if this year

your finances went up because of the direction God gave you as you were not

three jobs, three instructions. What if this year you didn't go through four

relationships to find the right one. But what if this year in sharpening,

God says it'll be around May. Don't accept any counterfeits until I confirm it,

and everybody find coming after you starting February fourteenth. But God gave you

a word while you were sharpening yours. Most people are starting this year dull,

and they're going to get tired and worn out relationally, spiritually, mentally

because they will not set aside time to Just what are you saying, Father,

God? I know that was a plan for last year, but what

are you saying this year? God? I was successful at that, but

what are you saying today? See? The hardest thing for many of you

is to stop doing what worked in another season. You think success is that

it worked. Success is obedience. So if God told you to do it

in one season and it worked, and now he's telling you to stop,

but many of us won't stop long enough to even see. And I have

one question for everybody that came to church today, and this is very simple,

and I need this is not for your neighbor, This is just for

you. Everybody say just for me, not the hair product. But this

is a word from God, and I need you to really answer this internally

on the first Sunday of this year. Have you lost your edge? I

can't answer it for you, But is there an area of your life that

you've lost your edge? Have you lost your edge? And your speech so

loose with words? Now everything that comes out is negative? No faith anymore,

no expectation. Have you lost your edge and your thinking? Every morning

you wake up you're thinking about what could go wrong? And why? Why

should I even try? Have you lost your edge? I believe that God

is coming to ask his people do you want your edge back? Do you

want to walk into situations and barely have to use any of your effort and

energy? But because you came into that thing sharp? Do you want to

be the solution to the problem or do you want to just keep complaining about

the problem and hope somebody else becomes the solution. God is saying to every

person in this room. When I thought about that analogy, I wrote this

down. The trees of trouble in your life fall faster when you're spiritually sharp.

Most of our life looks like this. Let's be honest. There's stuff.

This could be a house, this could be a boat, this could

be but it's all in a form that has to be removed to find out

its potential. God doesn't give us houses. He gives us trees. God

doesn't give us boats, He gives us trees. And God saying there's some

in your life I need you to chop down. But you are going to

be too tired to even do the work after you chop the tree down,

because you did not sharpen your edge. Now, the only thing that I

want to say about sharpening an axe, because most of us don't mess with

axes unless you're a fireperson in this place. The only way you sharpen an

axe is through what friction. So this year, I just want to let

you know that the friction is not always bad. Okay, I know,

I know you want to be comfortable, but before you get sharp, something

has to rub off the parts of you that can no longer go into this

next season. So hello everybody, I'm your pastor and I'm to be friction

to your faith this year. Oh no, no, no, no no

no no no no no no. We gonna laugh, we gonna cry,

we're gonna shout, and I'm gonna challenge you because some of us have not

taken a step forward in our faith in a decade. And you think God

is proud because you hear you think that he's jumping up and down. He

said, I would rather them actually obey what I say to do, then

to get brownie points for sitting in a chair and not participated. Okay,

hello, I'm friction. And the reason I have to be this is because

I spiritually did not develop until somebody challenged me. And if you want a

church where you can get three points in a poem and nobody's ever gonna challenge

you and ask you to do anything, go up the street. But the

sign of spiritual growth is spiritual maturity. And what we have to do is

grow up. I have a prophetic word for you. It's not the word

of the year, but it's the word for every year of your life.

Grow up. Some of y'all complaining about stuff God ask you to do every

single day and it's been thirteen years and you're mad after outcome, but you

are not mad when He asked you to do the step. It's something to

be obedient. I'm on another level today, church, because I don't want

you to be at this altar at the end of the year praying for things

that you can make a decision to change today. Oh God, y'all see

them clad I'm gonna need help from the sanctuary because the Western Church has gotten

so comfortable with frictionless faith. I want it to change, but please don't

touch me. I want it to grow, but I'm not really good with

my hands in the dirt. Is there a way we can artificially insiminate this

growth? Can we get a hydroponic growth chamber where everything is bacteria free?

How we gonna get fruit and we do not have any dirt on our hands?

Howard? Okay? And I think the church today is playing themselves because

we want to be effective and we have no proof of wanting to rub up

against anybody. Some of us, haven't. We come late on purpose so

we don't have to talk to nobody. Okay. The reason you gotta talk

to somebody is because you've been hiding all those things that God wants to expose,

but you cannot get exposed by yourself. God's bringing people in your life

to be what friction the world. The reason we read the word of God

every day is because it rubs up against my flesh every day. Give them

I want to slap them, but when I read that scripture, it's friction

to my faith. Pray for my enemies. I'll pray they die. Come

on, y'all, come on. But when I do, if you are

not having your flesh against some friction, you will never become sharp Ecclesiastes ten

ten. Using a dull axe requires great strength, so sharping your blade,

like the Bible is telling you at the beginning of this year, for what

I have for you to do, you're too dull. You're too apathetic,

You're too like, ah, you want the purpose of God, and you're

like, oh, you want to be in a healthy, thriving like said,

I mean yes, it's like you're gonna use your finances to further kingdom

going. If I haven't, everything is he says, Sharpen your blade.

That's the value of wisdom. It helps you succeed. Have you lost your

edge? The title of my sermon today is really to talk to every person

that has become dull. And I want you to understand this. All of

us, at some point in our life, no matter how close we think

we are with God, have become dull. Your pastor has areas in his

life that I used to be very sharp in that the Holy Spirit said,

ooh, that don't even that doesn't even excite you me or anybody You're so

dull in that area that now I'm gonna have to reframe, reshape, remake

you in that area. And I just want to encourage everybody because somebody like

twenty twenty four here just telling me I'm dull. No, no, no,

no, No. Dullness comes from discouragement. Many people are dull because

you've actually been fighting. And I've been chopping at something that I haven't seen

no breakthrough in. And I've really been trying to fight for my marriage,

and I've really been trying to fight for my children, and I've really been

trying to fight for my mind, and I've really been trying to fight for

my purity. But nothing has changed and sold something that once was very sharp.

If this was real sharp, there's no way I should be able to

put this ACX up to my neck. There's no way I should be able.

There's no way if it was actually sharp. Could this be what happens

when your coworkers run into you. Could this be why the church is ineffective

in culture Because at the moment we rub up against somebody, they said,

that's tickled. I thought you were a Christian. I thought you had the

word of God on the inside of you. I thought the word was sharper

than any two edged. But the word of God in your mouth is dull.

When stuff comes up in your life, you reach for the man's before

you pray. I'm not saying nothing wrong with the medicine or the aspirin,

But you didn't go to the father that created the body to say, Father,

in the name of Jesus, I'm experiencing a headache. Father, you

know this body, and I thank you that by your stripes, I am

healed. You used to say it, but you don't say it no more

because that scripture in your heart. God though, But I believe by the

presence of God me at the end of this series, somebody say, I'm

getting my edge back. I'm getting my edge back. Somebody says, by

face, I'm getting my edge back. In my finances, I'm getting my

edge backed. In my mind, I'm getting somebody say I'm getting my edge

back. There's nothing worse than being dull. Has anybody opened up a fresh

bag of chips and then they was all stale and dull? I mean,

that is one of the things that takes me out. That's one of the

things that frustrates me. Who put this crusty bag of the ridos and then

you bite into them. No crunch. Nobody wants to be dull, but

many of many of us live in that tension every day. I'm gonna tell

you a secret that will help change you and get your edge back. What's

gonna help everybody get your edge back. What's helped me every time I've gone

through something get my edge back. It's pray and fasting. Now I know

because some of y'all. Anytime prayer and fasting comes in your mind, that

something in you shuts off. Because the one thing you love is food.

Somebody say, preach, I am you love your food. Actually, it's

become a stronghold in your life. And I'm not talking about weight class or

big boned. I'm not talking about anything. I'm talking about self control.

I'm talking about some of y'all. God can say it. But if Wendy

says it, come on. And now they got grub Hub and uh,

what's the other one? Uber Eats And what look at y'all? Do that

shut door that you have more faith in DoorDash than you do in the God

of the universe. Don't even care if these people put their hands on your

food, dirty cars, all kinds of stuff is as long as your mcduble

get there, she said, mcdub bull. All I'm saying is this is

an ancient spiritual principle that has gotten people back on the right spiritual path for

years before any of us were here, even our savior Jesus. If anybody

could have not fasted, it could have been Jesus. Yet several times right

after he got baptized, the Bible says and the Holy Spirit led him into

the wilderness for a forty day. Everybody shout at me this four letter word

fast. As a church, we're going into twenty one days of praying fasting

tomorrow. And the reason why some people are getting excited about it is because

these are the moments that have changed our life. These are the moments where

we were going one direction and God said you turn. These are the moments

where God gave answers and there was a somebody shot at me breakthrough. Some

of y'all need a breakthrough. You don't need a couple of things to happen.

You don't need just a little bit more money. You need a breakthrough.

And I'm telling you there is nothing that starts to move things like when

you deny your flesh and you get hungry after the things of God. Okay,

what is fasting? Pastor Mike? Fasting is abstaining from food for spiritual

purposes. And I'm gonna keep saying this because I see the eyebrows going up.

People right now getting uncomfortable, and they see they like not me.

Maybe not, but maybe it's the very thing that would change the rest of

twenty twenty four for you. The fasting edge comes back. I'm gonna give

you points right now. Get ready to write them down. Fasting edge.

This is how we get it back. It comes when food exits and God

deals with your desire. You want your fasting edge back. Let food to

exit for twenty one days. Some of y'all gonna do a Daniel's fast,

no meats, no sweet Some of y'all gonna do nothing. Some of y'all

gonna fast till a certain time. Some of y'all are going to fast the

thing that you love the most. Some of y'all all. The greatest fast

you could do is no ice cream. That was convicting to Somebody said it

took her out. No, no, no, I'm just saying there's something

that needs to be denied. Watch this. That you won't fast and salary

is not an issue for me, never will be. But there are some

of us need the fast social media because the thing that you are well,

I'll talk about in a second. Okay, food, that's it. So

God can deal with your desires. You want your fasting edge back, Watch

this. You have to have father engagement so he can deal with your descernment.

We're just we're just not not eating. That's a diet and those haven't

worked for you either. So what I'm telling you, let's be honest.

They got your money. Okay, let's be honest. We're not giving up

food just so we can lose ten pounds. That we can do that a

different way. You just start walking and drinking water. You're gonna be fine.

What I'm saying is I need to be connected to the Father. So

every time I would sit down with a big spread, I'm gonna sit down

with the bread of life. I'm gonna sit down with the word of God,

gonna I'm gonna devour that, I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna have father

engagement so that he can deal with my dessertment. The truth of the matter

is some of y'all picker is off. You get options, and you just

pick wrong because you're picking from your trauma. You're picking from somebody else's comparison

measure in your mind. You're picking not even for what you want. You

pick him based on what the people around you will think. It's good.

Okay, And God says, can I fine tune your discernment this year?

Can you just not make plans? Proverb says, acknowledge God in all your

ways, and he will direct. He'll give you discernment on which path to

take. You want to get the fasting edge back. Third thing you need

to forfeit entertainment. We are so entertained that we don't think about things that

are eternal. Y'all. See how quiet it is in here. This is

a sign that maybe some of the things you've been focusing on. God's saying

that's why you lost your edge. Every TikTok is not gonna teach you where

your purpose lies. You overhear about to start a business that don't even make

no sense because of a TikTok you saw and a woman doing something with cookies,

and now you want to open a bakery and God's like, oh,

my goodness, no, I'm telling you what's happening. Because everybody wants something

to work so bad that they'll be willing to go to sources and just put

place, do copy and paste on the things that never have anything to do

with your purpose. And God saying I need you to start forfeiting some entertainment.

Why, because I need to deal with your distractions. If you don't

allow God to sit with you, and you to sit with him long enough

to sharpen you, you'll never ever be able to see what God can do.

Not because he didn't plan it, it's because you were distracted. Fourth

thing, if you want to get your fasting edge back, you have to

focus eternally because God wants to deal with your direction. If you do not

think fasting or eating is a big deal, I just want to say it

to you like this. The original sin of man and had something to do

with what people put in their mouth Adam and Eve. The reason why we

hear today and not in a guardian is because they could not deny what was

presented to them and their flesh wanted. When is the last time you told

your flesh no? If as a believer, you're not telling your flesh.

No, it is controlling you. Okay, that's just me. Pastor Mike,

we know you're the devil because the truth of the matter is many of

the things that we're doing, it's leading us away from God and leading us

to death. And God wanted me to come tell you there's a way to

get your edge back. There's a way for you to actually be so sharp

this year when stuff comes in your way, when people start hating, you'll

be able to see, oh, that's just a distraction. There's no way

that I'm gonna get off course for that. You're gonna be like Neia,

Maia. You said the work I'm doing is too great. I cannot come

off of building this wall to go meet with somebody else that will bring me

down. This is the year you get your edge back. And I want

to be a pastor that keeps it a hundred with you, not ninety nine

and a half a hundred. Somebody's like Sally, a hundred, one hundred.

Okay, Fasting is not a requirement. See, I like to do

real church. Yeah, you can be saved and never fast. You can

go to heaven and never fast. My question is, but why would you

if you go to the hotel and they say we got the penthouse sweet for

you for no extra charge, why wouldn't you take the upgrade. Fasting is

not a requirement, it's a choice. But it's a choice that breaks the

routine in your life and draws you closer to God. So I'm trying to

tell everybody. Some people are making a decision right now. They're hearing me

right now, and it's like fastening. I'm done with you, I'm done

with this church. I'll see y'all when you do something on relationships. Cool,

But so you don't get broken hearted again, so you don't start another

thing that God has to allow to fall. Why don't you get closer to

him by doing this spiritual practice that watch is a gateway through which God releases

his supernatural power into your life. But it's still a choice. You can

hear it and go with it, or you can ignore it. So watch

this fasting is a short season of sacrifice that produces long term success. How,

somebody, how are you telling me that? Because all my life I

have not known what to do. Everything that God has called me to I

was not prepared for, didn't have a degree for it didn't have a certificate

for it, didn't have nothing. God was like, I want you to

lead this. How come here, sharpen yourself. I'll tell you what do

that mean when you're on vacation this year? Fast? But Lord, we're

going to Disney World, And the only thing that helps me make it through

this horrible family drudgery of walking all day is them CENTI bonds, slush,

She's God said, but I'm calling you somewhere higher. I'll give you instructions

if you come close. I'm not gonna yell these instructions. I'm a whisperer.

This really is not about a corporate fast. We're doing this together so

that everybody can get in the rhythm. But I really believe we're not supposed

to fast one time of year. I think we're supposed to live a fasted

life. Some of us have so much that God's doing that I can't walk

into this without clarity. Put the year on the screen for me. Put

three hundred and sixty five days on the screen, just an example of it.

Like, if you got something that could show what it looks like for

it to be a whole year, y'all got it? Yay, nay,

Okay, twenty one days of prayer and fasting. There it is. This

is the whole year. Show me what twenty one days looks like in this

whole three hundred and sixty five day continuum I have. Would you give up

sacrificially that much to have the rest of this blessed? Some of y'all can't

even see it on the screen right now. There's like, come a little

closer, all right, come on, but put the shot up, Get

the shot bigger, this little bit, this little bit right here. This

is what God's requiring for all of that to have his mind, wisdom and

blessing on it. Now. I need everybody to see this because you think

somebody's trying to take something from you, and what God is trying to do

is get something to you. But if you do not see what God is

doing, you will take the first and not allow God to bless the rest.

Okay, So this is this is how we go Second King chapter six

and go She's like, I need some more Bible for this, okay,

Second King chapter six. One day there was a group of profits. In

my mind, they're like a gang. They all were red, and they

were like, we'll prophesy to you, but it's just this is in my

mind. They came to Elijah and told him, as you can see the

place where we meet, it's too small. Let's go down to the Jordan

River where there are plenty of logs, and there we can build a new

place for us to meet. They wanted to build something new. They wanted

to come into a new place. They wanted to come into a new territory,

just like we're coming into a new year, all right. He told

them, go ahead, please come with us. Someone suggested that. He

said, oh, come, so we went with them. When they arrived

at the Jordan they begin cutting down trees. But as one of them was

cutting a tree, his axe head fell into the river. Oh sir,

he cried, it was a borrow ass. I ain't even pay for this.

I wrote this. Where did it fall? The prophet said. When

he showed him the place, Elijah cut a stick and threw it into the

water, and at that spot then the axe head floated to the surface.

Grabbed it, Elijah said, and the man reached out and grabbed it.

I've been talking about sharpening your edge, but the truth is some of y'all

have lost your axe head. The reason why none of the message up until

this point has even like resonated with you because you don't even feel that at

all. You're talking about sharpening something ain't nothing there. You're talking about getting

stronger and stuff it fell off. I'm here out of ritualistic I'm here because

I want something different, but I don't even have it no more. I

started good, but somewhere along the way I dropped that thing. So how

do you get your edge? Ooh? I love this story because it's so

simple, and this is how you gonna get your edge back. The first

thing you have to do is admit you lost your axe. And some of

y'all so prideful in this place that you won't even do what this man did.

He chops and he literally looks up and all he got is this.

And this is what some of y'all year has been looking like effort and energy,

but I don't even have what I need to get anything done. And

God said, would you let me do a miracle? Pastor Mike? Why

would this be a miracle? Because iron does not float. This is an

act here it this is heavier than water, so when it falls into the

Jordan, it's lost because some of the things we lose our spiritual edge in

are things that are dark. We lost it when we lost that loved one.

We don't even know. We're so far in grief right now that we

can't see. And some people be like, just picked it up. He

hit it, he lost his edge, Pick it up. That's what religious

people tell you. They act like everything's so simple. Just worship. You

don't think I've tried that. Just get you don't think I've tried that.

See the thing about the Jordan River, if you've ever seen it, the

Jordan River actually is muddy. It's murky. You can't see to the bottom

of it. And so this would be a miracle. But the young man

does this. He cried as soon as it happened. Boom, ohn shoot.

I lost it. I lost my mind this past year. I lost

my purity. I don't even care no more. I've lost discipline. I

don't stick to a budget. I'm talking about real things. I'm not talking

about spiritual God saying, if you want it to be sharp again, you

got to cry out, and you got to tell me where it sat.

I lost my ability to even want to mend the relationship with my family.

I don't want to forgive no more. I want to be bitter. I

lost it. I was hurting the last church. I don't want to do

church no more. Cry This is the way that the miracle worker knows where

he needs to work the miracle. He needs his children to identify. Be

specific during this twenty one days of praying, Fascinator, be specific of what

you are believing God. Somebody shot at me cry out if this young man

would have lost his accent, and was like, oh, shoot, okay,

well well maybe nobody will notice. Yeah, I'm gonna just playing the

water. What y'all doing? Y'all doing shoes shoes, shoes shoe shoot like

starts entertaining people. Got Scots, Got Scot's, Got Scott's Scott because he

doesn't want to admit he lost something. I think the most spiritual thing we

can do this year is admit we lost it. I wasn't excited about this

prayer Faston because last one I quit on day two, and so now it's

praying faston and it feels like another thing I'm gonna fail at. And I

work in the food industry. I work at Chick fil A. Come on,

these are real people's issues. I'm a caterer for a living how how

ama not? And I'm not. Come on, let's be real. And

God said, would you just do me a favor and admit you lost the

axe? And this is the other thing, because there's some religious people in

here that I feel you right now, stop denying your doll your prayer life

hasn't been on fire in sixteen months. Today God is asking us, y'all

know there's two rivers in Egypt right it's to Jordan and what denial and some

of y'all doll Christians been in denial? Okay, all I'm asking you to

do today is cry out third thing, do the natural so you can experience

the miracle. Did y'all see what Elijah did. Elijah didn't walk over to

it and go deep sea diving for the acts. He took a stick,

something very practical, and everybody else would be like, what is he doing?

He did something very natural through the stick into the water, and then

something supernatural happened, which lets me know that natural unlocked supernatural. Somebody's like,

how is this fast gonna help anything? It's just a natural part of

it. When we push away that food, when we make that declaration when

we decide to do this. It's just the natural part of it. What

we believe is that God's gonna get somewhere in the mix of this, and

he's gonna do something everybody says supernatural. Nobody was expecting metal to float after

a stick was thrown in, and nobody will be expecting the miracles that happen

in your life as you do twenty one days of prayer and fascinate. We're

gonna meet here every night. Some of y'all can't come every night, that's

okay. I want you to watch online, put it in the background while

you meal prepping, do the different things. As many of y'all can get

in here, I want you to bring your kids. This was the atmosphere

the fire of God was birthing me in. I wasn't paying attention. I

was just in the atmosphere. I was affected while I was coloring and playing

on the seats, and my mom and dad was praying. This is the

change for your whole family. Husbands and wives, you can't talk together right

now, but you can pray, and God will be speaking to you while

you walking over there. And God will be speaking to you while you crying

over there, and God can make you meet in the middle. I'm talking

about we're gonna do the natural, and God he's gonna do the supernatural.

But even right now, you're looking for it to make sense. And God

said, I use the foolish things to make sure none of y'all can take

credit for this. I use it to confound the wise. I'm telling you

right now, if some of y'all take this challenge, this spiritual growth journey

moment, to go on a fast with us, it's gonna change everything.

Last thing, how do you get your edge back? You have to take

action and pick your edge back up. What do you mean past, Mike,

the man loses his axe here, he cries out. Elijah throws the

stick in there. The miracle happens. But watch this, Elijah doesn't pick

it up and hand it to him. He tells him, you go obey,

pick it up. What sense does it make for us to get instructions

from God and then disobey them right after he gives them. The crazy thing

about it is people get to what I call the almost end of the fast.

They cry out, they deny themselves food, they pray. God gives

an answer, and then they disobey. That's fumbling the ball at the one

yard line. What you have to do at this point is actually, everybody

say take action. During this fast. God's gonna tell some of you it's

time to let them go. But God, you you, you, you

already know we got we got best friend tattoos. Should have talked to me

about that. But God, you've already made your announcement to where you're moving.

If y'all want to bless me as I'm moving to California, uh,

I gotta go fund me. I made it to LA. You're gonna have

to send them people their money back. No, you've already accepted the job.

And I'm not saying this is why you need to pray and fast,

because some people are trying to make decisions off of what I'm saying. It's

not what I'm saying, it's what he's saying. He may be asking you

to go to counseling twice a week and stop buying clothes. Nothing's wrong with

your screen. I'm just because the trauma you need to unpack is going to

be better for you than anything you could pack for a vacation. Why would

you get an answer from God and then disobey. I believe today it's time

to get our edge back. Your family needs you to be sharper. You've

invited snakes into your house and you're letting your kids befriend them. Because you

became spiritually dope. You're actually the answer to what the church needs. God's

been calling you to be a leader. But because of the things, the

sins, the weights you're mixed up in, the enemy has convinced you that

you couldn't let that thing go. So the church suffers as a whole because

you're spiritually dope. Haw said, Mike, why are you bringing this message?

God told me this year he was going to build this church in a

way that only he could take credit for. And I've just been praying,

God, where are the people? Where? Where are the people? You

promised me where? I didn't set out from North Side. We could have

stayed in North Tulsa, and then I didn't. I didn't trust you and

believe you in crazy faith so we could come here and put on a performance

every week. We have to reach the whole city. God, you told

us that we had to take this thing to the nation. She said,

I didn't ask for this, but in a time of me stopping and sharpening,

you told me to write things down and put them on a paper,

and the Spirit Bank Evince Center would be transformation charge. That wasn't a time

where I was stopping and fasting and praying and asking for what was next.

When I was walking around seven four two five Garnet trying to figure out should

I be a pastor, you told me, oh, where are all the

people? He said, Michael. They're here and they're coming, but they're

discouraged and they're dog and during this fast, I'm gonna give people back.

They're cutting edge. One of my friends told me. He said, in

the church, if we're not on the cutting edge, we're on the judging

edge. And if you look at the landscape of the church right now,

most people are on the judging edge, not the cutting edge. But I

declare, by the power of the Spirit of God, during this twenty one

days of prayer and fasting, transformation Church. I don't know about everybody else,

but somebody's about to receive this. We're about to be on the cutting

edge of business. We're gonna be on the cutting edge of raising families.

We're gonna be on the cutting edge of spiritual discernment. We're gonna be I

need somebody to agree with me. We're gonna be on the cutting edge of

knowing what God is saying about our city, about our home, about the

nation, about our world. We are gonna be on the cutting edge because

we are close to the Creator, right, go yell it to me.

I'm close enough to hear a whisper. I'm getting my edge back. With

everybody just staying today, I want to pray for everybody that's deciding I'm not

gonna live though, if that's you. As we start this twenty one days

of prayer and fascinating, I know everybody's gonna try to rush out. I

just give me five minutes because I want to pray you into this next season.

In this year and the Bible, they will call for the elders of

the church to pray for people, and I just feel like I don't want

to just go into this with a program. I want to pray over you.

This won't be another dull year for us, it won't be another dull

year for you. By faith, I'm declaring that this is going to be

the sharpest year of your life. But now we gotta make a decision.

How do we get our faster it eds back? How do we get our

edge sharp? We're going fast. My last example that I didn't know was

an example is this was sharper than I thought it was. When I did

this, I cut myself at the beginning of the message. I've been wiping

my hands so y'all wouldn't notice. But what I found out is God told

me. He said, things that look dull still have the ability to be

sharp. And some of y'all been judging how it looks, and God said,

you still got cutting. Your greatest days were not back in the nineties

and back in the two thousands. He said, look at your neighbor and

say, you still got some cudding. You. Come on, hey,

I feel that thing. You still got some cutting. You your greatest message,

your greatest idea, your greatest contribution r may be hidden because the thing

I didn't recognize is while I was doing the example, what was I doing?

So what was doll in run through? I did it just an hour

ago, and nothing but what was doll in run through right became sharp enough

to leave a mark. Y'all, this ain't gonna take long. It's gonna

take twenty one days of us being intentionally I feel this thing. It's gonna

take twenty one days of us saying God, more of you and less of

me. It's gonna take twenty one day and what looked the same is gonna

be s. Hands are lifted every oh I feel the presence of God right

there, y'all, Lift y'all hands. Father, I pray for every person

under the sound of my voice hoom, and I command the spiritual dullness that's

been on our life, that's been over our eyes, that's been on our

minds. I pray right now in the name of Jesus, that you are

bringing us into another level of sharpness. Speak, Lord, your children are

listening me. God. Over this next twenty one days, when doubt tries

to creep in, I pray that the spirit of the Living God will come

in and give us hope, wisdom, joy and faith to continue on.

Father, build endurance in us. Father, as we feast on your word,

I thank you that you are changing situations that we don't even know about.

Right now, God, I'm thanking you. By the beginning of February,

there is a complete turnaround in everybody's mind and a complete turnaround in our

situation. Father, even in the things that will not be finished, we

will see your hand God. I thank you for every person that's making the

decision to fast for the first time, who are in the building watching online.

Father, I thank you that this will become a spiritual discipline that will

be a cheap code to any moment that they feel dull. That Father,

you're about to do something on the inside of them that's gonna keep them sharp.

We ain't just gonna start sharp, We're gonna stay sharp. And I

pray that what we do in this next twenty one days as a church will

bleed over into every area of our life. I pray the best year over

transformation Church. I pray a year Father of God's blessings, understanding, wisdom,

and success. I pray over their businesses, their families. Father God,

I thank you for unity, and I pray that this church will reach

more people for your glory than ever before. Today we're making a decision.

We will no longer be dull or discouraged. That we're starting twenty twenty four

sharp. Have your way in us and through us in Jesus' name. Everybody

say we agree, say we expect a man. Will somebody give got a

huge shout of praise in this place. Oh, come on, Holley Louie

a listen. There are people that need further prayer, and there are people

that need the opportunity except Jesus. But tomorrow we will be right here at

six o'clock an hour of power. Come in your work clothes, come with

your wig gone or off like. This is not to impress nobody. This

is to get with God, and we're gonna pray this thing through. Amen.

If you're in this room, listen to me. I know there's so

many people saying God, I need more of you, but some of you

need to just get Him in your life for the first time. If you're

in this room and you want to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior in

an atmosphere that it's built for this, because it's our church vision. This

is who we pray for every day people to come to Christ. If that's

you on account three, I just want you to shoot your hand up easy,

and all we gonna do is something he said. I'm here right now,

Come on one two three. I'm so proud of you. What a

way to start this year. I see you. What a way, What

a way? Come on, I see you, I see you. Glory

to God. This is the way to start Shark Transformation Church. We're a

family. Nobody prays alone. Let's pray this prayer together. Everybody, say,

Father, I thank you for sending Jesus just from me today. I

accept you as my Lord and savior. Change me, renew me, transform

me, sharpen me. I'm yours in Jesus' name. Amen. Can we

thank God for every person? Oh, y'all, come on these our first

self face. There's a twenty twenty four so proud of you. Wrong,

it's gonna be the best year of your life. We want to walk with

you. There's a QOL code on the screen, and I want you to

let us know the information. We got something for you. We got a

Bible for you. We have information that will help you walk this out and

we want you to get plugged in. Next week. I got three more

weeks before I give you the Word of the Year. You don't want to

miss one week because they're gonna all build on top of each other. Okay,

watch this back. Share this with people. If you need prayer for

anything. Some of y'all just need prayer. Personal agreement to start the year.

You're facing something, I'm gonna ask the altar workers to come right now

and people are gonna leave the worship teams go sing another song. If you're

online and you need prayer for something, I want you to type it in

the chat. This is gonna be our best year yet, because it's gonna

be our best year spiritually. Every good Just say start shark after I pray.

If you need prayer for anything, I want you to come to the

altar. Thank you, Lord for what you did today. Thank you that

we started off this year in the house of God. God. I thank

you that you're blessing your people. Thank you that this will be the best

week of our lives, and we'll give you all the glory for it as

we start fasting tomorrow in Jesus' name, we agree, somebody say amen,

go out and live a transformed life. We love you so much. Thank

you for joining us today. If you said that prayer and accept it 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. Tech saved to A two A two eight two and to find out

more about TC text connect to a two eight two eight two. Be sure

to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks for listening. Now

go out and live a transform life.