How To Date For A Counselor // Damaged But Not Destroyed (Part 7) // Michael Todd & Panel

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. To today's message, It is

week seven of a series we're calling Damaged, but not has anybody been helped

by any of the weeks of this series. Okay, so today I'm gonna

tell y'all gonna give you a road map where we're going. Okay, if

you're taking notes, go and pull your notes out, get your phone ready.

I'm gonna give your roadmap. Okay. For six weeks we have been

dealing with the damage. And the truth of the matter is some of us

have been dealing other others of us have been watching people deal with the damage.

Did you see how quiet it just got? Because the truth is,

it is very fun to watch somebody else squirm and deal and go through while

they're trying to heal. It's sometimes fun to watch, like, look at

a struggling, look at a going through and you're on the sideline in full

pain, full denial, and still not healing. We're not doing this whole

series so that we can check off a religious box on your Sunday experience.

This series is so that you can get healed. Somebody say, God desires

for me to be healed. One more time. God desires for me to

be healed. Do you want to be healed? Right? Right? Right?

There were still people that know God's desire and looked at me when I

said do you want to be healed? And they were quiet. Do you

want to live at the same level of insecurity the rest of your life?

Do you want to not be able to celebrate those you actually love for the

rest of your life? It's time to do some work. People always act

like the healing happens at the altar, and I just want to let you

know that healing happens when you leave here. This usually is the catalyst for

your healing. But if the only time you spend working on the issues that

God or the Holy Spirit reveals to you in this place is when you come

back to this place, you're not actually getting healed. So today, as

we spent six weeks talking about it, today I'm gonna try to compel you

into a step of action. I can't make you and most people will want

to go ahead and preach the house down and get some good clips so the

saints will know around the world. I care nothing about building a platform if

there's no fruit in your life. And there are too many people worried about

building a platform and the people that are around them are fruitless guys, It's

time to do something with the damage, not just claim it. The worst

thing we could do in this series is glorify the pain, and many of

us won't admit it, but when we do, we stay in glorifying it,

and what we glorify in the pain and the trauma becomes our excuses of

why we can't reach purpose. And today I'm coming to lovingly challenge you as

your pastor. And I started thinking what could we do to help people like

actually move forward? And then I started asking my community and my chilbe what

did we do to actually move forward, to actually go from knowing something was

jack the to actually moving into a place where God could heal it however he

wanted to. Because healing is fine as long as it's how we want it

to. But when God starts asking us to do stuff we ain't never done

before, and our family never done before, and even asking us to do

stuff that costs a little money. Healer should be free. Jesus paid it

all. Somehow we back up off the healing. So today I brought the

people to the stage, some of the people who have been closest to my

healing journey. If you read damage but not destroyed, you know your boy

been through some things, and how many of us have been through some things?

Okay, hands up. If your hand's not up, your liar.

If you've ever been through some things and you've never dealt with those things,

the things are still with you. Okay. Some of you are carrying around

nineteen eighty six, you're carrying around two thousand and four. You're carrying around

James, John and Jack. You don't see them physically, but they're weighing

on your soul every day. Your confidence is gone because of something you've been

carrying since high school. But I'm asking this church to do not every church.

The rest of the world can stay bound if they want to, if

they want to, but so can you. But I decided, as as

the leader of this house, that we're not gonna play church. I'm gonna

take a whole Sunday to convince you that you need counseling. I just offended

a lot of people because your pride has you thinking you got it. I've

just generationally divided the room because the season saints a counseling. I ain't telling

nobody my b business, well, how that little boy gonna help me?

Or these are things I've actually heard. How is somebody going to help me?

And I'm twice day age, you've been twice as me. I just

thought it was important to teach everybody in here what the Bible says about counseling.

So this is not just an opinion of mine, This is not just

a great idea. Today we're gonna share and I know, I'm all.

I'm asking, We're gonna We're gonna We're gonna do it a little shorter than

we regularly do because I know some of y'all. It's gonna start uppercutting some

of us because today is gonna be confirmation for some because God had already been

done told you it's time to talk. For others of you, there's gonna

be conviction because you're gonna feel the Holy Spirit saying you remember when you was

praying to me and saying, God, I need a change. Here it

is. And for others of you in here. This is going to be

the day that God is saying it's time to consecrate this next season. I

need you to set this next season apart and call it holy. You know

what the word holy means, separated, set apart. I need you to

not be so excited to be outside that you don't deal with the inside.

And so today the title of the message is how to date for a counselor?

Y'all like Dayton, And the truth of the matter is that most of

us feel like counseling is something we either hit or miss. I want to

take that stigma off of it. I'm gonna have to date and find the

counselor that God has assigned to you in this season to help you with the

issues you have right now. And some of us, why you save date

Pauser, Mike, I ain't gonna marry him. I'm not talking about marrying

your counsel but if he's single, some of y'all need to ask God.

You need to live your hand to tell them. Thank y'all. But but

what I am saying is I want to switch the mindset this from I gotta

find a counselor, and people try one time they weren't the one for me

that was three years ago. Well, how do you find a counselor they

act like it's climbing mount kill him and jaw row. My question back to

you is, how do you find a car? How do you find where

you're gonna eat? How do you find those shoes that that one girl had

that you don't know her name, but you screenshoted it and you zoomed it

in. Yeah, I know what them fingers are. The zoom in fingers.

It's one word. You search. And God says a lot about searching

and seeking and finding, but when it comes to the things that we actually

need in our lives, many times we don't go after it. So today

I brought my family onto the stage. Will y'all give it up for the

Medcalfs and the Davises and my wife Natalie, And today I'm not gonna preach.

We're gonna have a conversation. And this conversation has scriptures attached to it,

This conversation has real life experiences attached to it. But all of us

in this room have to deal with the true reality that most of us have

never talked about. Most of the things that have happened to us. Sit

with it. You know, stuff that nobody else knows. You are holding

stuff that nobody has ever helped you carry, not because they wouldn't because you

never were vulnerable enough to give it to them. And so today I just

want to see if we can start down a path I don't want to even

say convinced. The word is compel. I want to compel you into a

step that may be more spiritual than anything else you do this year, Charles,

can you give them a scripture about counseling. Yeah, well, the

Bible's clear. There are two things. One there's the question. Well a

statement that you've made over the course of this past series that we believe in

theology and therapy, Like, we believe in both of those things. So

it's not just one because you can study your Bible and still not know why.

When you see that certain thing, your chest gets hot and then you

start talking about like there are still things in your body that are happening.

And I heard one leader say it this way that Jesus may be in your

heart, but your Grandpa's in your bones. So that's why you lash out

at certain people, That's why you talk like there are certain things that just

in your family you grew up with. And when we talk about why theology

and therapy, there are two reasons that we're going to talk about today.

The first one is this has worked in our life, like this is a

practical thing that we've had. We're not talking you from theory, we're not

talking from ideas. This has worked in our life. And it's very clear

it is wise. This is about getting wisdom. How many people in this

room would benefit from getting wisdom. Raise your hand if you desire wisdom,

and some of y'all like, I don't want to be wise. I just

want to do my thing. Okay, God bless you, but I want

to read you this scripture. It says this in Proverbs twelve fifteen. The

way of a fool is right in his own eyes. That makes sense of

some of our whole seasons of life right there, that one scripture. The

way of a fool is right in his own wise eyes. But a wise

man listens to advice, esus, we wouldn't be honest with you. You

wouldn't have done it if you didn't think it was wise in your own eyes.

Come on, just be you would not have dated Ricky if you knew

he was a bum, you did. But when y'all was dancing, he

just let you know the way the light hit him. There are so many

There are so many things that if we're just honest with ourselves. You know,

in the moment, I thought it was wise, but I realized I

didn't get counsel on it. So today is all going to be about getting

counseled. The truth of the matter, Charles is advice takes humility. Yeah,

many of us get to a certain stage and age that we are not

humble enough to take anybody's advice. Yeah. I even need to go to

the religious people that you say the only advice you can take is from the

word of God, and it's because it's the only thing that you feel like

is older than you. Age has nothing to do with wisdom, it can

it can? I know a lot of older dumb people. Can I be

very serious with you. I know a lot of older people that are stubborn,

and I know a lot of younger people that are stubborn. The Bible

is saying it is wise to be humble enough to take somebody else. Watch

this their perspective on a situation. And there are things you may be missing

just because you won't even consider it. Like there are certain foods I would

not like right now if somebody else didn't come to me a true story,

I did not go up like in strawberries. And I don't know why.

I don't know if I didn't have strawberries or if I taste the NASAs shrawberries.

But my wife loves shrawberries. And my wife was like, you should

eat strawberries. Mike, I think you would eat strawberry. I said,

you don't know my taste. But I got you with strawberries and pancakes fresh

on top. Cool, y'all. I didn't know it was a thing.

And now you never eat pancakes without strawberries and whip cream. Now, hold

on, I didn't tell you to tell all my business. I was only

talking about the strawberries. But the balance to everything yet. But what I'm

saying, yeah, what I'm saying is perspective. Everybody say the word perspective.

If you're not allowing anybody else's perspective, it's a problem. And this

is the one thing that we wrote down in a point so that there can

be handles to this conversation. If you're taking notes. You can write this

down. Many times, wisdom is outside of yourself. The wisdom that you

need will not be found just in your brain. The wisdom that you need

to be a parent, or a father, or a business owner. It's

not just like I'm a wing it. I go with my gut. Yes,

sometimes you go with your gut, but sometimes you need to read a

book. And I think we've over spiritualized some of the help that we need

unless God tells me, Well, God did tell somebody to write that book,

and he told you to read the book, but you're still on page

four. I'm saying that the perspective of the Body of Christ and at least

Transformation Church, I'm asking us to value counsel, advice perspective that is not

our own. And when you do that, it changes everything. You got

something truce, Well, I just realized that there were a group of people

a long long time ago who didn't want to hear the perspective or new ideas

from someone that they didn't recognize. His name was Jesus Christ. He he

was thirty years old and came and started telling people who had read more scripture

than he had, who had all more the degrees than he had, and

they said, well, who is this man that says he can forgive sin?

It was someone trying to bring in literally a new paradigm that because they

didn't like how he was talking and who he hung out with, they decided,

let's not listen to what he has to say. Let's kill him.

Let's kill him. And could it be that there's someone at a different stage

of life, at a different point in your life, that has the wisdom

that would literally save your life. But just because I think there's so many

times where because of how people look, because of our own perceptions, where

we shut people out, and the Pharisees did that to Jesus and they didn't

get the wisdom that he had to offer. Let me give you another scripture

Proverbs chapter fifteen, twenty two. I'm gonna give you a lot of Bible

so that you can understand that this is what God says about us having counsel.

It says without counsel, plans fail, but with many advisors they succeed.

I like this scripture because in the last ten years of my life,

God put a lot of pressure on me because of purpose. And I could

have said, all right, if God gave me this pressure. I'm gonna

figure it out by myself. We would not be here today. I thank

God that I don't just have an advisor, one counselor. I have tons

of people. I've gotten so used to counsel. I got counselors for my

money. I got counselors for parenting. I got counselors for relationship. I

have counsel for spiritual things. It says if you do not see counsel,

your plans fail. Nobody wants their plans to fail. This is the key

for some of us of why our stuff keeps not happening how we desire it

to be. It might be that we're missing the ingredient of advisors that will

give us a brand new perspective. Write this down for everybody so we can

give you some keys to this. Most people think counseling is weird. The

Bible says counseling is wise when you accept that in your heart. I'm just

I'm submitting this to you today. God's brought us here to just give you

maybe a different perspective. I don't want the powerson of mife that's yelling and

saying crazy faith. It doesn't matter if you get it and you can't hold

it because of all of the things that are undealt with. I am sitting

right now in the middle of so many situations of people who God's done extraordinary

things for and their life is falling apart because they've never dealt with their issues.

And today, I think Charles, even the week we've had counseling people

behind the scenes, this message comes with conviction because you don't have to be

close to death to get deliverance. That's so good. We're having to revive

people and marriages and families that are one away from being over. But if

you could listen to the council that's on this stage right now, who wants

you to know that there is a different way to deal with your issues and

the things that are going on in your life. Let's take a second and

clarify counseling real quick. Bree, I need you because you are the only

one on the stage with more degrees than a thermometer. You are the only

one that I don't know if you have a doctor or a master's. You

have a whole bunch of things. Be the only one that went to college,

Be the only one that gets he honestly is the only one qualified to

talk to y'all. That is incredible. Can you just hit us with the

different lanes of counseling. So today, specifically, we're going to kind of

jump into three different lanes of counseling. The first one being community council.

This is just community. This is your friends, This is spouse's this is

parents, people that are just in our community. And honestly, regardless if

we know it or not, every single one of us are being counseled by

our community. The people that are around us. They get to speak into

our lives. They get to give us advice, whether it's good advice or

ill advised. Somebody's always telling us something that they think we could do better,

or whatever the case may be. So community counsel is the first lane.

The second lane is spiritual counsel. This is specifically when you have someone

as a pastor or a mentor. Personally, I have a spiritual director,

which is someone that once a month, I have an hour with this lady

and all she does is ask me. I bring something to her and she

says, what do you feel like the Holy Spirit is saying to you about

this? Half our time is in silence. Honestly, it's just me processing

what the Holy Spirit may be saying. But spiritual counsel is someone that's coming

from the angle of a biblical perspective and they're just asking you different questions,

probing questions, even giving you biblical advice, something that you could get just

and everybody can have a spiritual counselor, whether that's a mentor or someone that's

close to you. And then the last one, and this is the one

that has been so taboo in the church world. It's been completely awkward to

even talk about sometimes, but this is professional counseling. This is someone that

actually went to school and has a degree and not only has a degree,

but a license in your state to counsel you. Many different types of counselors

out there. There are trauma informed counselors, there's family system counselors, there's

all kinds of counselors that are out there. But these are people that actually

have a degree and license to sit down and not only give you advice,

but give you advice from a psychological perspective because they have studied the human brain

and human behavior. And that's exactly what we want to encourage today is that

we all take a step if you have not already to get in professional counseling.

Every single person up here is in professional counseling. Yes, it's not

just a community counsel which we have in our friendship and we have in our

community. It's not just spiritual counsel where we have people that are mentors or

pastors, but also sit down across somebody one on one and have professional counseling.

Because God heals us oftentimes through the other people that are around us.

It's important for us to know that it's not just in your own quiet time

or your own time with the Lord. Oftentimes healing has come to my life

and our life because we're sitting right across from somebody and we're able to share

our story with them and hear what advice and wisdom they have to give us.

As a matter of fact, James five and sixteen says, confess your

sins one to another, pray for one another, and you will be healed.

In other words, healing happens with other people. That is the way

God designed healing to be is to be with another person. When I confess

myself and the word sin doesn't just mean that you're doing something wrong, and

that scripture specifically, it means you're wanderings. If you have wandered from your

identity, if you have wondered from God, what God feels about you,

if you have wandered from your purpose. You confess that to somebody and then

you pray for one another, and that's when healing actually takes place in our

life. NAT you have something? Yeah, when I started going to therapy,

I think what helped me. At first, I was like, Okay,

I don't know this person. I've never been to therapy. I don't

want them knowing on my business. And I definitely don't want anybody from Oklahoma

that was my thing or whatever. So anyway she made us go to Colorado,

I didn't make us Honestly, this was Breathe get to that later.

But the thing that helped me the most when she started talking was she was

a believer as well. So she not only was licensed and all these degrees

and stuff, she specialized in trauma therapy, which I also didn't feel like

I needed. I was like, i'ven't been shot nine times, Like I

haven't, you know, Like, why do I need a trauma therapist?

So we'll get to that later too, trauma therapist. But the thing that

got me was is that she open my eyes because even when Brie were saying,

they study the brain, they stell your hormones, your chemical balances and

what that does, and all that sounds really sciencey. So I think that's

also why the church kind of backs off, because science and then faith.

It's like, I don't know, but I'm like, she's what she told

me was, But you don't realize is God created our bodies to work like

this. So it's not like somebody sitting behind a desk and it's telling us

this from what they studied. It's like, no, they're finding out how

God made our brain, how God made our hormones, and if those things

are off balance, God made it to where we'll have certain it will show

in our body. We'll feel stressed, we're tiden our shoulders, we have

headaches, we can't sleep, we feel numb, we feel like we can't

express our emotions. The thing she just said, how many of us feel

stressed, numb, pains in our body, things that like come on hand,

Hi, I need everybody. When Breeze said, when you said,

what did you say confess your sins oneed to another. So when you're in

freeze, which is a lot what I was in, it's you're kind of

in this numb kind of area, and a lot of us are in freeze.

So we get grown and we're like, I gotta talk to this about

nobody. You're froze. It's not coming out. And so even in the

scripture when he says confessing one to another, there has to be something that

comes out. So if you're froze, you're not going up. You're not

really going down. You're just trying to stay kind of like right here.

Or I'm too grown, I'm not gonna deal with it, or time is

passed and I'm just gonna let time heal it, which is not true.

I'm gonna let time heal it. Or you know, I'm too mature for

that, and you know, those are just different ways to say you've hit

the freeze, and its flight, fight freeze or fun and that freeze one

is what gets me a lot. But there is the fight. You didn't

maybe feel like you were heard as a child is with therapy is for and

you feel like I have to get aggressive for people to listen to me.

I have to speak up. And what's another one? Flight you run away?

Oh fleet, Yeah, that's another one. I'm out. I'm ghosting

you. I don't even know who you are. I don't even know this

man who has like, like real strong I'll cut you off game like,

I will cut you off immediately. Yes, that is a trigger response to

some type of trauma like response. Okay, whole fight. Who are the

people that's like? And it's not? And the thing is, the fight

isn't because it's it's a it's a false sense of control that you're trying to

protect yourself or you're trying to fight for a cause or whatever. But you

feel like this is how you have to communicate it because it's probably what you

saw growing up. Hey, I got it in fond the fond people?

Who are the people pleasers in the room right now? Come on, let's

be honest. Oh okay, I really would hate to come over your house

and eat your food, but I'm coming anyway, Like if it makes everybody

peaceful, I'm just gonna do it. And who are the freeze people?

Like something starts happening, you just well and then the fond the fawn gives

me. I was some of that too, was because you may have been

the person in the family that like you didn't get in a lot of trouble.

You feel like you couldn't really get in a lot of trouble. Or

I'm just trying to trigger certain thoughts and maybe you don't think you're any of

these, and you realize, oh, maybe I am. You realize it's

a false sense of control because as a child, I realized that's how I

got attention is when I did well or I helped. I saw needs very

easily. I put myself last trying to take care of I needed to help

my mother. I needed she needed my support. Different thoughts like that can

be a sense of funny. So so let me ask everybody around here,

just so we can be hot, humble, opening, transparent, when was

the first time you went to counseling? And I need y'all to just take

about a minute and a half and tell us Abby, I want you to

start. When did you go to counseling and what was it for and how

did you feel when that happened. Yeah, so I was eleven the first

time that I went to counseling. That's white kids for you, because I

know black people and eleven, oh my room, whoa white people? Yeah,

white people one for white people to represent babe. Okay, I'm so

glad you're here eleven years old. Hey we have I'm sorry. This is

what we do all the time, like this is for okay's gonna get read

just wait for it. Not today, No, my parent very serious note

My parents had just gotten divorced and all within six months, like the three

biggest men in my life all kind of left. So my dad left,

my mom. My uncle was in a gang and he was murdered in a

drug deal, and then my other uncle moved to Brazil, so across the

world. And I think that's the first time in my life that I just

felt deep abandonment in it. Now that I look at it, I'm like,

oh, that's the way that I That's why I'm so try to be

so strong all the time and try not to rely on people and all these

things. But yeah, So my parents put me in counseling when I was

eleven, and I love that we're talking about dating for a counselor today because

the first time I went was not the best counselor for me. It was

good, it was not good. Literally, I was eleven years old and

she gave me this list. She was like, you're probably dealing with a

lot of anger right now. So here's some practical things that you can do.

Grab a marshmallow and the person that you're mad at draw their face on

this marshmallow. Put it in the micro and watch it explode. Now and

listen. I remember being eleven years old and thinking, I don't think this

is that's some of the white people stuff for you. That's the other crazy.

Put the mallow in there and draw their face on it. She want

me to draw it on an egg, throw it against the fence if I

needed to, get a wet towel, and like stand in the shower just

like hit the murderer. Yeah, that's what first year marriage Abby in the

shower, like, sweetheart, what are you doing? No tell I think

it's a story. I know that you said you remember this picture in your

mind, the moment you decided to be strong. Do you remember that you

were saying, like you saw this is I just took us there. But

I think it's super important because I think a lot of us have moments in

our life that are trauma and our responses even things that we love about ourselves.

The root of them wasn't necessarily born from the best I remember as an

eleven year old when I think about that day that my dad left, it

was very disorienting for me because my dad he told me every day, he's

like, I love your mom so much and I'm never gonna leave her.

And so then when he sat down my mom, my brother, and me

and told us that he was leaving, I remember them like saying like,

okay, there's something we got to talk about. I thought, oh my

gosh, somebody's dying. Like that thought divorce never even crossed my mind.

And I remember sitting in our front little office and my mom and my brother

were crying in this big armchair, and I remember looking out the window watching

my dad roll drive away and turning and seeing my mom and my brother,

And in that moment, I don't even remember being like sad, being hurt.

Like what went through my mind was I'm gonna take care of them.

And Nat at conference, she prayed over me something and she was like,

you can just give yourself permission to fall apart. And when she said that,

I was like, I don't need that, Like I can cry whenever

I need to cry, and then God brought that back to my mind and

I was like, oh, my goodness, like I have in trauma.

I step up and I'm like all right, like I'm gonna help you,

Like we're gonna get through this. And it's a I mean, it's not

the worst response to have, but it's left me with a bunch of emotions

inside of me that need to be released. And I don't know how much

more you I love talking about that. No, I have something, Can

I read this? Okay? Functional freeze is a survival response that's triggered when

we experience chronic stress or over being overwhelmed. People in functional freeze just what

a lot of us can do can actually appear to be fine to everyone else.

Inside, they may feel numb, powerless, hopeless. They struggle to

feel any joy or excitement in daily life. Usually this is labeled as depression

or sometimes people are told it's your head. The truth is it's in your

body. And in order to get out a functional freeze, we have to

allow the body to thall. So you've got to start feeling or to go

into a mobilized states more than the terms they use. Just start going into

action. And yeah, and it says you need to start moving your body.

Walking is the best way to start. Take a small step around the

block. Notice as much as you can visually around you look at your uh

uh, what do they say? Exercise? The funny thing is when you

said the marshmallow thing all that stuff. Actually I do talk about screaming in

a pillow twisting a towel really hard, saying that it allows anger to come

up and out of your body, so it won't immobilize you in that free

state. It needs to come out. You think that you're being mature or

is a plus like what you're saying Charles to my character, But actually it's

like you don't know how to function when anger comes, like so you don't

know what to do. So it actually is immobilizing you. You need to

get it out. You might feel like crying or tingling. Let you freeze.

Not tingling feel like crying, but you freeze and freeze. Energy is

trapped and a release allows us to get back into our regulated state. Okay,

go yeah, yeah. So when my Mimi, she recently just passed

a breast cancer, but when she was first diagnosed about ten years ago,

the doctor told her that eighty percent of women who have lost a child develop

breast cancer. And I think a lot of times we can we it's like,

yeah, we know that stress can show up in our body, like

you can lose your hair. You're yeah, you can feel tight or whatever.

But like all of these emotions, if they're not being released, if

you're not able to have a way to get it out, it's not just

gonna leave on its own. And these emotions, they they slowly kill us.

Cannot say this, These emotions were put in us as indicators solid odd.

Yes, I need I need everybody to see. Your emotions are not

the problem. I'm gonna say it one more time. Your emotions are not

the problem. Literally, do with those emotions is what creates the problems,

and most of us were not given the tools to be able to deal with

our emotion. Counseling doesn't solve anything for me in that it gives us tools

to solve things. And what I'm trying to encourage the church to do is

to get some more tools to build your house. You're literally walking around with

just a hammer and a flathead screwdriver and you're trying to erect this mansion that

your children and family will live in and you will not go somewhere to get

some more tools. What I'm telling you is for the beauty that God wants

to see in your home. There's gonna take some skill to actually come into

another level of executing what God has called you to do. And so again

our sharing transparently, it's just trying to hopefully get somebody to say, you

know what, this is a step of faith that I'm gonna take because counseling

for you. You'll give a thousand dollars for you go to counseling some of

y'all would y'all, no, no, no, I'm gonna give in crazy

faith. God said, keep the thousand and spend one hundred and ten every

week and go see Martha, and that would be easier for you. Chantel

or Chantel, you always use Martha, Bessie, that's the first time I

used Martha. I always say, we need counseling. Okay, Aaron,

can you tell us about the first time you went to counseling. Listen,

brother, Well, I was twenty three. But the reason why I went

is when I was twenty one, my father had passed unexpectedly of a heart

attack. While we was riding down the street. So now saying that when

he was driving down, low down, slow down. Okay, right,

this is listening his community right now because he tries to like, you know,

pass some stuff say that's a part of my trauma. But yeah,

when I was when I was young, we was riding a car to go

get my mom and he started kind of acting weird, and so I didn't

know what was going on. So a lot of nuances and details I'll skip,

but ultimately he passed away of a heart attack in the car, and

the ambulance and fire trucks and all this other stuff, and I'm like a

kid, but it felt like I'm twenty one. But at the time I

just didn't know really what was happening. I just knew I need okay,

So I got to take care of mama, and so for like two years,

suddenly I started having panic attacks, anxiety, all different things. And

it be only when I'm in the car, by my elf and all these

other stuff. So I was talking to my older sister. She was like,

you you never went to a therapist, And I was like, I'm

good girl, I'm just a little panic attack, you know, getting a

little hot sweat, you know what I'm saying. But I'll be through it.

But Aaron also copes through humor, so we'll see that a lot too.

Weak. Yeah, so you're going to see all my issues in Nale's

going to point them out. Sorry, thank you. So yeah, I

like to laugh about it because also because I can cry at the drop of

a dime and I feel very deeply. And since I was a little kid.

So I went to counseling at twenty three, So that's two years after

something that traumatic had happened. And I'm not gonna lie to even say I

went to council at twenty three and I'm you know, been in counseling now

for the last thirty years. That's not true. I went to one session.

I told him what happened. He said, wow, how did that

make you feel? And I said, yeah, I don't like that and

I never went back. So I didn't make it back to counseling for the

next eight years after dealing with that, and so a lot of details in

those eight years, but we'll skip that, just gonna we're not gonna We're

gonna let your wife feel them in you go to counseling I first went to

counseling. It was our first year of marriage, and I found out there

was infidelity in our marriage. And he's, as an idiot, you what

you do. That's a testament of how good God is the fact that they

can have some sense of joy. And right there, I remember I was

having a conversation actually with Pastor Barbara, one of the pastors here at our

church, who has been We talked about those three lanes of spiritual counselor for

me, and she said to me, she was like, you are either

going to live or you are going to die from this situation. I knew

she meant spiritually and emotionally, and I was just in a terrible, terrible

place and really didn't know what to do. We were very new in ministry.

I mean, we were all young. I mean, it was just

it was a long it was eight years ago, but it was just we

didn't even know how to truly help one another other than just being there for

one another. And so I ended up going to counseling by myself, and

then Aaron and I ended up going to marriage counseling together. One of the

things that I love about our story US four is that We all started going

to counseling around the same time because there was so much like the life is

life and life was life and all at the same time. And this is

the crazy thing. Everything around us looked like it was purposeful. Everything around

us looked like it was blowing up and blooming, and that can be the

very scene of somebody's spiritual and emotional death. You can't look at what's happening

for somebody to tell how they're doing. And this is why Instagram, social

media and even the little side conversations we have with people. And they got

a promotion, that don't mean they doing good, that means they got more

money, that doesn't mean they're doing good. And we had each other to

be able to be like, how was your counseling session? We literally had

post counseling sessions after the session because we had no idea what this was.

And one of the beautiful things is the first time that I'm gonna just let

you say, when was the first time that you went to counseling. I

first went to counseling because Breed said, I think she okay, free state.

What else is going on? We just were not seeing I die.

I'm trying to go back there some details. We had found out that MJ

had autism. I was the crazy faith guy, so I was like,

let's just put oil on his head and pray over him and he's gonna be

good. And Natalie was like, okay, we could do that. And

I'm like, Google up till four in the morning, Google and everything,

and there's so much iffaction about autism. That's so confused. I'm like,

girl, just put some oil on him, pray for the boy, and

he's gonna start talking tomorrow. And she was like it's been a month and

like we're going back and forth and it's starting to affect the way that we

like order food. Yeah, so now some other stuff is just all the

time. And we was arguing a lot, a lot, and so then

yeah, and that's why I was like, yeah, I need to go

to Castle and anyway, my first time is brief sent me there. She

literally booked and said, Yo, I'm going to Colorado. Just happened to

hear about some kind of intensive something out there and you should go. And

I was like, I'm not feeling this, like what I don't talk to

people. I am. I am know what everybody else needs. I am.

I'm not gonna rock the boats. I'm not gonna shake it up even

though I could, because it actually affects me. But I'm gonna hope back

because if I do that, I don't know how everyone else is gonna respond.

And so a way to kind of have that false sense of control is

I have this uncomfortable false sense of control that I can I know I can

deal with I don't know if I could deal with you like how you're gonna

respond. So to protect me, I'm just gonna be kind of good.

I'm just gonna freeze out, numb out. I got it. That wasn't

working. MJ broke that, and so we're arguing a lot. She sent

me to Colorado. I don't feel like talking to someone about my business,

like I'm the person that kind of fixes things for other people, and I

just didn't trust this person. And so it took me, tell the truth,

it took me anywhere from about a year to a year and a half

two years to say I think I might have some issues. No, lie,

no, but about a year at least a solid year of I don't

know what you're talking about, me arguing back and forth with her, of

not understanding. I'm questioning her because I'm just like, now, for what

I remember she told me at one point she said, the degree that you

feel the highs is the degree. The degree that you feel the lows is

the degree that you're going to feel the highs. You have to feel those

lows or you're never gonna be able. And I was like, who told

you that? I'm like like why? And then you know and that she's

bringing up like how even God made seasons, you know, things have to

die. There goes through a season, and it goes back up and we

flourish again. There's always gonna be these waves of life. It's never gonna

necessarily stop as you just learn how to navigate, get better tools to navigate

the flows of life. And I was just like, you're saying that,

but what Like I didn't believe anything she had to say so for a year

and she also told me like she said honestly, she was like like an

addict. She was like, they are these stages that they can go through,

and it's like one of them is what problem? Like I got a

problem? And then eventually it's like, okay, I might have a problem,

and then it goes to like, Okay, maybe I'll kind of see

what I could do about it, like some action steps, and then you

finally go into making the action steps and all this, you guys, is

over years. I'm trying to take these steps in two years. Yes,

So a lot of Michael's counseling and our counseling happened because we got sent there

and he honestly, it was so good that he sat in a lot of

the sessions that I had. Because people will tell you people that have a

more anxious attachment style, someone that can talk really when they get I don't

know, something happens to them and they want to fix it. They want

to talk to that person had it's easier for that person to go into counseling

and get action steps, start doing them things that start breaking open. Well,

someone that's more in a free state that kind of numbs out. It's

kind of like you need to get thawed out, you need to get like

she was like, you are ice cold. She was like, we just

need you to start getting warm. And she was like, and to get

you to the place where to fall apart, which I've only done once.

I need to try to still in counseling. She was like, to get

you a place where you need to fall apart, which it needs to happen

kind of routinely. She was like, you got to get hot, so

you need to get like flaming hot for you to get to a place to

where you can break, because these things have to come out. That's why

you feel all this stuff. And I was just like, I just didn't

believe nothing she had to say. So it took a good year and two

years. And this is what I want to say. The thing I want

to bring about this wait before he just ends on mind. This also did

trigger a lot of things for him in counseling, and you have to start

kind of going on your own. He has some sessions without me in the

room too. It wasn't just me, No, it was up We're still

and counseling. It was us. But the thing I wanted to draw of

the point is is that it was Breeze care for us that first sent us

to counseling. Yeah, I want to let you know, if somebody says

you need counseling, it is a form of care. It means that they

have no they don't have the tools to actually help you, but they actually

love you enough. I trust her enough, yes to go. I was

like, all right, will we knew Literally we got to Colorado, didn't

know nothing, but our friend who saw us in need, said that you

need counseling. And she said she knew it so much that she set it

up for us. And both of us sitting there like twelve year olds that

got sent to the principal's office, like what are we doing here but begin

to open up the pathway to transformation in our whole life. And I'm just

saying that we're up here in care for you, saying that all of the

issues that you need, you just may need more time than what the church

can even provide for you. I've talked to bishop and Pastordebbi who have done

counseling for thousands of people over tons of years, and the one thing that

they say is some people just need more time to work through all of the

issues that they have gone through. And we are coming to you lovingly and

caring to say, hey, everybody, the most spiritual thing you can do

for your children, for your spouse, for your future spouse, for the

people you work with is actually go to counseling. Okay, I know that

some of y'all just squirming right now. We're almost done because today it's not

about trying to make somebody get something in this service. The thing we want

you to do is to do something after this service. I want you to

go to Google. Some of y'all doing it right now. You need to

go look up Christian counseling. You need to go in the city and the

state that you're in. You need to make an appointment. It might not

be till December seventeenth, and you don't need to be patient, but you

need to go and do this. What were you gonna say? Now?

You know how you're going like YouTube and you like Google, how to use

your phone or a new app and all this stuff. You really can go

in the deep YouTube search researching different types of therapists and stuff, and you'll

like realize there's all kinds of things out there. Also, you're gonna date

these people, like what we're saying. One counselor that I had that you

guys love, he wasn't for me. I mean to me, I know

I love him, I love him, but he just his style wasn't for

me. He was a little too to me. I feel he's a little

too soft and too understanding. I needed someone, like I said, I

don't believe what you're talking about. I needed someone that could give me back

some minutes. I want somebody to fight her a little bit, a little

bit, but I needed someone also to explain scientifically what is going on with

it, and then also tie that in with God. I needed to know

I'm a researcher, and I needed someone to also give me pushed. I

needed you to push me a little bit out of my comfort zone. And

so there's gonna be different styles of different so on that. Let me say

this point. A counselor is not someone who tells you what you want to

hear. It's someone who tells you what you need to do to heal.

Okay, So so I want Aaron to talk about the counselor that you went

to after eight years, who told you something and how you responded to.

Yeah. So this is after eight years of bliss and h finally gets finally

got married and some issues popped up, very big deal. So we go

to counseling. Yeah, we go to counseling, and after even after issues

arose, there was still something like okay, we're gonna be all right.

You need to change, and I need to change. It's not just you

know, a me situation. So we go find this counseling. The counselor

after maybe four or five sessions, I already knew like two sessions in like

he ain't got nothing for me, like he's doing too much and not doing

enough. And then one day he asked me, he said, have you

ever considered that you may be, uh, may be addicted? And uh

in my mind, I said, well, I mean I feel like it's

okay to be addicted to the things that God created. These are things that

God made our bodies to function like this. I should I'm not addicted.

You need you need to fix her. She's the issue and she needs to

be addicted. She needs to get addicted some things that God created. So

that was what I thought. We left that session and I said, we

are never going to him again. He's crazy, right right, fair enough

so as ghetto as that is. Two years later, when I was in

Colorado holding onto a rock surrounded by therapists, I realized, no, I'm

not praying. I was literally hugging the rock and balling my eyes out,

and I realized like, oh my gosh, I've been addicted since I was

five. Wow. And so yes, counselors won't tell you what you need

to hear, but they will tell you where you need to heal. And

this is why I need to say this because a lot of you, most

people think that counseling is scary, but the Bible says it's safe Proverbs eleven

fourteen. Where there is no guidance a people false, but in an abundance

of counselors, there is safety. When I first read this, it messed

me up because it says when there is no guidance, nobody to give advice,

nobody to counsel you on what to do, what night not to do?

He said, It doesn't say a person false, it says a people

group false. This is why it's so important for us to deal with our

trauma is because the thing that switched it for Natalie is when the counselor said

this one statement. What was the statement? Oh yeah too, like you

need this to be healed. And honestly, I didn't think I need to

be healed, Like what were you talking? I literally talked like that.

I was like, I don't even know what you're talking about healed of what.

I don't even know why I'm here all that to say, I didn't

have the motivator for me to do it was not for myself to get healed,

to feel better to do this. That. And the third my motivator

came when I finally found that for my children. When I told her,

I said, I just don't through us talking through sessions. I was like,

I just don't want my kids to do and feel the things that I've

felt and how I deal with them. And that's when she told me,

Okay, well, the only way that happens is is you transform. Because

whatever you don't transform, Natalie, she was like, it will get transferred

no matter what you do or what you think, because there's scientifically things that

backed us up as well with addict behavior and just culturally how you grew up

in your family. And so that became my motivator. And through that other

healings and things that I wanted for myself, I was starting to be able

to see and yeah, so I need everybody to understand that the Bible says

counseling is safe, and I need everybody in this place to commit to those

three levels of counseling. This year, I want you to start praying different.

Pray that God would give you counsel that's community like this. Just pray.

If you don't have it right now and you start desiring it, it'll

change the way that you pray. And then I want you to pray that

God sends somebody spiritual in your life to be a counselor to you, not

to be God to you, because because you never need to listen to somebody

more than you confirm what that body says with God's good. I need everybody

because a lot of times we make idols out of people who may have wisdom,

and they may have wisdom, but they are not all know way there

was only one omniscient one, okay, but you need that spirit counsel.

I can't tell you how many times people have come to me and said,

Mike, you should think about this, you shouldn't do this. But then

I'm asking everybody get this third lane for Christmas. Some of y'all need to

give out counseling sessions. No more Jordan's, no more purses. They're literally

sitting. They're a status symbol, trying to cover up insecurities that you haven't

talked to you got four cars and only drive one. Like, I want

us to think about all the things we do to try to cover the pain,

to numb the pain, and God saying, why don't you let me

heal the pain? Let me say it like this? Okay, I told

Abby, there's an analogy of most of us that have an iPhone. There

is this feature that most of us are unaware that is running all the time

in the background, that whatever app you open, it stays open until you

actually close it. And the other day that I was going through my I

realized that my children take my phone a lot. And when my children take

my phone, they open apps that I've never thought of, Like I didn't

even know what's on my phone. Matter of fact, they put them on

my phone. And then I let my wife borrow my phone and she opened

an app and then breathe, and Aaron was showing me something, so I

look something up. And literally, I'm trying to figure out why my phone

keeps dying so fast. Right my phone, Literally I'll charge it up and

literally after a few hours it's dead. It was because I had seventy eight

different apps opened on my phone running at the same time, even though I

was not acknowledging them. Come on, Could this be why you're so tired?

Could this be why every plan God gives you you never can get it

off the ground. Could this be why the kids you prayed for you're annoyed

with? Could this be when you know God's put a purpose on the inside

of you, you feel like you have nothing else to get what's running in

the background emotionally that you're saying, I'm sixty, I'm seventy five, I'm

forty two, I'm twenty one. I don't need to deal with that.

God said, You've never closed it, and it's draining you every day of

your life. The beautiful thing about what God's done, and I've been able

to see it some of us, we all up here still got apps open,

but it's not as many as there were. And for us to come

up here as a leadership team, I never saw pastors come up and talk

about their issues as long as I would like. As long as I've been

in church, pastors are telling you what God's gonna do and how it brought

me out, and when I got the building and I'm driving me sades and

nobody talking about when I was about to give up. And I just think

as a hot church, a humble opening transfer church, I just wanted to

say that you're not just dealing with your trauma. Your leaders are dealing with

it too great And when we decide to bring all of our damage to God,

he's the only one that can take all of it and turn it into

something beautiful. Absolutely well, I think the experience just to because some people

feel the thing you said about being scary. I think the honest truth is

you have to realize is you may go to counseling for one thing and that

may not be the actual thing on And I just need to say that because

some of you feel like, oh I just need to go because sometimes my

chest was little time I think I might be anxious. The issue is not

just figure out just I don't want to be anxious. There's roots behind that.

And just as on your phone, as you start swiping up some of

y'all, I saw somebody else bus out laughing over there, They're like,

I think somebody had a bunch of apsce. But like as you start doing

that, you start getting back to things a long time ago and you realize,

like, oh, maybe I'm just a little anxious, and then you

realize, well, I'm anxious around that person, and well, that person

reminds me of so so and so. And when I was around so and

so, I used to feel small. And when I felt small, the

way I compensated was by performing. And when I put the pressure on myself

to perform and I didn't live up to that performance, I let down all

the people. And so then I tried harder and I overcome. Like and

you'll get all the way back to usually something from the age of three or

four to eight or nine years old. Some of you could have been earlier,

where you made a decision that you don't realize was the foundation of who

you are. And the beauty of counseling, the beauty of having a therapist

is being able to go back and talk to that person. Yes, many

of us, it is not you raising your kids. It is the ten

year old you who said I didn't get this, so I'll make sure my

kids always. And here's the thing about that doing the opposite of what hurt

you doesn't mean you're healed. Yes, sir, I didn't get no hugs,

so come here and give me this boy you love me? Or I

don't know, like, no, you have to go back, yes,

sir, and you may have to give yourself the hug you didn't get.

You may have to go back and tell yourself, I'm proud of you for

making that decision. And as I think we go into this, something we

were going to talk about is the idea of where all of us would be

if we hadn't been to counseling. And for me, I was thinking about

this, and for me, I started going to counseling because I was filled

with anxiety. I was filled with pressure. And the honest truth is I

created two worlds on the inside of me. Nobody in New York's too.

But there was one world where I did and lived up to what God called

me to live. And there was an other world where I didn't have to

carry the responsibility of what it would cost me to be that person, so

I could make whatever decision I want, I could do whatever I wanted.

And it was that pressure that drove me to be in suicidal And I remember

going to counseling, and I realized I was thinking about as we were talking,

if I hadn't gone to counsel I would have become all my greatest fears.

And there are some of you that the fear of going to counseling you

do not realize the avoidance of that is the very path that you will become

the thing you're terrified of becoming. As long as you avoid that because you're

afraid, well, I don't want to and what happens if I open up

that box? And as long as you avoid that, it is staying on

the path. Because the thing you're very afraid of coming is someone who didn't

deal with their issues, didn't have tools to say I'm upset, didn't have

tools to say that offended me, didn't have tools, And counseling is simply

a better way and better tools to progress through. I'm going to say this

so that you can leave with this thought. You don't go to counseling just

to get rid of your trauma. You go to counseling to uncover your treasure.

Now let me I need you to get this. This is not about

getting rid of trauma. It's about God made you so special. Life and

sin and crap gets on the treasure to try to bury it. Look at

this scripture I found in Isaiah forty five to three, and I will give

you treasures hidden in darkness, secret riches. I will do this so you

may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel. Watch this

the one who calls you by name. That means every one of us have

a name. And when life comes at us, we get covered up.

But God says, I want you to pray, I want you to read

your word, and then I want you to talk to somebody. And as

you talk to them, it's gonna be like God gets down every time you

go to counseling, every time that you share with your small group, every

time that you go and you write the letter and you journal. The whole

time we were up here, there was a treasure hidden under everything that looked

like everything else. And as soon as you uncover what it is, what

it becomes is a mirror so that you can see who God has actually created

you to be, and He made you in his so when he sees you,

he sees himself. And many of us have not allowed God to uncover.

We've been trying to hold our family name higher than His name. We

don't want to frustrate nobody or frust get anybody friz up. But God saying,

would you let yourself be uncovered so that you can display my beauty as

we in this service. I want to let everybody in this room know that

there is a better path forward for you than just dealing with it. You

can get healed from it. I hope today wasn't something that made you feel

like anything else, except there's a bunch of real people up here who God's

called. He chose us, but he did not take away the burdens of

this life reigns on the just and the unjust. But He's made ways for

us to overcome. And one of the ways we overcome is by the blood

of the Lamb. That's what he did. But then what's the other way?

The words of our story, that's all the testimony is. It's your

individual story. And the crazy thing is there are people here that have lived

four decades and never told their story. It must be tired, It must

be heavy you holding all of those feelings and trying to be God instead of

letting God be God. What we want everybody to know is that everybody needs

Christ and the Counselor can I say it to you that Jesus even thought this.

Come on, y'all know Jesus thought this because Jesus said, Christ is

literally right there with the disciples, and he said, you know what,

I got an idea, it would be better if I go, because when

I go, I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit, who is the

counselor can I got to read it to him and the amplified. Everybody's standing

real quick. You got it up? Stand up, We're going home.

Who I feel the presence of God John sixteen seven amplified. But I tell

you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For

if I do not go away, the helper, comforter, advocate, intercessor,

counselor strengthen her to stand by will not come to you. But if

I go, I'll send it. I'll send the Holy Spirit to you to

be in close fellowship with you. Even Christ said I'm not enough. If

you're gonna be on this earth, you need a Christ and a counselor.

What I'm praying is that the Holy Spirit would lead you into all truth.

And how can he lead you into all truth? And you're still lying today.

I know it's been rough for some of y'all to sit through this whole

service. I need some so I need some Wow, and power and pizzle.

But some of the greatest transformations that happened to my life has come in

silence. Has come when I've been thinking, when I've been sitting in solitude,

when I've been praying, when I've been breathing, when we've been just

sitting in a room. When the spid hit the fan, y'all remember that,

it's like, how could we forget? Pastor I'm so thankful from our

community because the next day, on that Monday, we were on a flight

to Napa, California, and me Natalie breathe and Aaron said on a balcony

next to a fire, not talking about nothing, but just letting the love

of God wash over us. And then somebody would say something, It's like,

you remember how God called us to do this? And I was like,

dang, why he do that? And then we start encouraging each other,

and then we would Brie would say, Mike, how do you feel

so mad? Hurt? I don't know why? And I would just start

to and I would be able to let go of the stressing attention just that

would come up in that moment enough to get me to the next day.

And then Aaron be like, how you doing today, Bro, I want

to I want to get a marshmallow and draw faces on it and put it

in a microwave and blow them all up. He said, cool, I'll

go get you some marshmallows. But just having this community and then having my

mom and dad and bishop and pass the Debbian and Tim Rawson like my spiritual

community. But then going to see this old white lady in Colorado and she

said and held my face, and you don't have to be that way anymore.

And the man you see today at thirty seven, it's more free than

I've ever been in my entire life. And I told God that if I

was ever to become a pastor, I wasn't gonna keep any of this to

myself. I was gonna give all the cheat codes that God gave me.

What I'm saying to my church, you go to another church. God bless

you. Y'all keep shouting and hollering and do whatever. Everybody in this church

needs to find a counselor. And I'm just asking you this is a challenge.

Before the first quarter of the year is over, you've gone to at

least three counseling sessions. Okay, that's January February March. When April gets

here, I'm asking everybody gone. Some of y'all gonna go nine times.

This was your green light. You're like, shoot, counseling, I'm in

thank you, But for everybody else that's like, I don't know today,

would you just lift your hands and we're just gonna ask, Holy Spirit,

what are you trying to say to me through this message. You're the counselor,

God, and you'll lead me. I may not find the first person

I go to may not be in it, so I might have to date

some counselors, I may have to go to some place, but Holy Spirit,

you'll lead me into all truth. Father, I thank you for every

couple, every individual, everybody that even is hearing this message and thinking it's

for somebody else that I'm asking you that you would soften our hearts, that

you would make us one's Father, God, that are saying, God,

if you brought this to me today, I'm gonna accept this care and I'm

gonna just begin to pray that you give me the desire to obey. What

you've said in your word is wise. In the multitude of counsel there is

wisdom today, Father God, I thank you that you revealed to us individually

what this means for us. God. I thank you that this church will

be healthy. And when I say healthy, I'm not talking about numbers.

I'm talking about fruit in their lives. Thank you that fathers will be better

fathers, and mothers will be better mothers, and teenagers will be able to

deal with this crazy world of comparison because they have tools, Father, God

to look at you, Father and know who You've created them to be.

I thank you that everybody in this room, Father finds their identity in You,

not in trophies and performances and platforms, but in their position. Father,

I thank you that the next generation will have a better chance because we

dealt with our issues. Father, thank you that you're taking us from trum

triumph. God. By faith, we believe you're taking us from trauma to

treasure. That you're moving on the inside of us, God, to see

a reflection of You on this earth. Today. God, every stigma,

every taboo, every fear we commanded to go in the name of Jesus.

We thank you that generational freedom is coming to the houses of the people that

receive by faith, and today we accept what you say counselor be the advocate,

lead us in Jesus' name. If you're in this room and you've never

accepted Jesus, today, I want to give you the Christ who lead you

to the counselor. You may be hearing everything that I'm saying in like Pastor

Mike, I need help. That's what Jesus died for. And today you

may be struggling with issues that God says. I'll take that too. I

don't care where you've been, what you've been through. Today is the day

of salvation. We're not gonna belabor it. Some of you been feeling that

urge this whole service, like I need to make a change today. Some

of you need to give your life to Christ for the first time, and

others of you need to rededicate your life. You're in this room. The

Bible says that the Holy Spirit's been drawing you the whole time. You just

thought it was a feeling. It was him and he's the only one that

if you give him your heart, he'll help you change your habits. If

that's you on account three, I just want you to lift your hands and

we're gonna pray together. Today is the day of salvation and it's gonna begin

the transformation that you've been believing for. One, you're making the greatest decision

of your life. Two, I'm proud of you. But more than that,

your name is gonna be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Three.

Just shoot your hand up if you want to give your life to Christ.

I see you, I see you, I see you. I see

Transformation Church. Oh man, Glory to God. Glory to God. And

there's tons of people online Transformation Church. You know how we do. We're

a family. We're gonna pray together for the benefit of those coming to Christ.

Everybody, say God, thank you for sending Jesus just for me today.

I give you my life. I believe you lived, you died,

and you rose again with all power for all of my damage. Change me,

renew me, transform me. I'm yours in Jesus' name. Amen.

Can we give God some praise? Right now? Oh? Y'all better,

come on. I know we've been subdued all day, but let's give God

some praise. Hey, listen, if you just accepted Jesus, I want

you to scan the QR code on the screen. We're gonna give you some

help and then our altar workers are about to come and we're just gonna allow

the worship team to just play. Y'all need prayer today you need spiritual counsel.

Like you got your people you talk to, but today you need spiritual

counsel, and today we want to pray with you. Services is about to

be dismissed, but don't leave without getting agreement. Father, bless these people

is our prayer. Thank you that faith with works is alive, and we

declared this will be the best week they've ever had as we deal with what

you've given us with your help. Until next time, y'all go out and

live a transformed life. Amen. 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.

Tex saved to A two A two A two and to find out more

about TC text connect to A two A two A two. Be sure to

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

out and live a transform life.