Michael Jr. at United City Church

United City, how are we doing?

Man, it is good to see you.

My name is Chris Cuba.

I have the privilege of being the lead pastor here at United City.

Today, you are in for a treat.

You know, it is definitely hard these days to be able to find good, clean fun.

And we definitely know that is the case in the comedy world, especially.

It seems like in order to get laughs, people use vulgarity or profanity.

And I want to introduce to you our guest preacher today, who is none of those things.

He instead is a man who is a clean comedian.

You need to follow him.

Michael Jr.

is his name.

He is hilarious.

He was here last night to a packed-out house.

How many of you were here last night and was able to enjoy the marriage night?

It was an incredible night together.

Wasn't it funny?

Wasn't it a good job?

He did a great job last night.

I I promise you did do a good job.

There's no question.

Hey, it is good to see you.

I know many of you have had uh a crazy few days, and we are just grateful to be in the house of the Lord and just to be able to worship together, to be able to hear uh from Michael Jr.

Here's what's great.

Not only are you gonna laugh today, but what you're also going to experience is somebody who deeply loves Jesus.

And you're gonna see that not only in his story, but I hope that you will open up your heart and your life to be able to have that same experience take place for you.

So let's give a great United City welcome to Michael Jr.

Amazing Gracias muchos.

All right, we're gonna have some fun this morning.

We're gonna laugh.

Some people think you shouldn't laugh in church.

My response to that is always what good father doesn't want to hear his children's laughter in his house.

So we're gonna laugh.

When I was a kid, laughing at church was illegal, though.

I mentioned this last night, it was illegal.

You couldn't, one time I laughed, I was seven years old.

This lady would jump around and her wig fell off.

I cracked up laughing.

Like I cr I was laughing.

And my grandmother would pinch and twist.

A pinch is okay.

You're gonna twist?

It might be the devil.

So church for me, I'll give you a little snapshot of my when I was a kid, my my shoes were like three sizes too small.

My grandmother had this thing called a shoehorn.

So if your foot don't fit, now it does.

So my feet just sitting in there for six hours, balled up, and my shirt was so tight.

It was so so every Sunday I wore a white and brown shirt.

Actually, it was just white, but the buttons were so tight.

It was church was miserable.

One time I went to church, it was a dead body.

There was a dead body in the front.

Nobody explains to a seven-year-old Michael Jr., this is a funeral, it's not church.

I'm thinking, yo, that's how they roll.

Like every few weeks or so, they bring a dead body in as an example or something.

And the dude on stage would yell at us like we did it.

I asked my grandma, I said, Grandma, what happened to the man in the box?

What happened to the man in the box?

Her whole explanation was he in a better place.

I'm like, what kind of box did he live in before?

It was miserable.

You couldn't laugh at church.

It was miserable.

So here's what's gonna happen this morning.

Well, first, I asked God this morning, what do you want me to tell the people?

Is there anything direct and specific?

And I felt like he said to tell you, I love you.

So I want you to receive that.

I felt like he said to tell you, even you, little baby, I love you.

Alright, so here's what's gonna happen.

So, um, how awesome would it be if every time you went through anything, you could hear God's voice in the midst of it.

How awesome would that be?

Like you're in the middle of something and it seems rough and you can hear God's voice, that would be pretty amazing.

You can hear you can get wisdom, you can get confidence, you get understanding and peace in the midst of it.

That'd be awesome.

Here's the thing God is speaking to you in the midst of whatever you got going on.

In the middle of your story, God is speaking to you, but sometimes it can be hard to hear his voice.

So, what we're gonna do today is something a little different.

I'm gonna share with you two stories from my life.

I wrote a book called Funny How Life Works, and there's 26 of my stories in this book.

I'm gonna share two of them with you today.

But here's what's gonna happen.

Normally, when someone gets on stage and they share a story, like Pastor Chris, great storyteller, dude know how to preach, great dude.

Took me to Hooters, great dude.

Um I'm just I'm just playing, I didn't go, I didn't go.

Anyway, um it's comedy.

Anyway, explain that to the kids later, Chris.

That's gonna be great, man.

So normally when you get up on stage, you'll tell a story, and then the rep the presenter will pull out some scripture and share it with you.

Be like, this right here, and this and this, this is not what's gonna happen today.

I'm going to share my story, and because I know how connected we are, I know how God made us, to whatever degree He's allowed me to see it, I'm going to tell my story, and I want you to pay attention to you.

While I tell the story, I want you to pay attention to you.

Because what'll happen is if you listen closely, scripture will start showing up for you.

God will speak to you through the scripture, and then what's gonna happen at the end of the story?

I'm gonna ask you what the scripture was.

You're gonna raise your hand and somebody's gonna bring you a microphone, and you get to tell us what the scripture was.

It came up for you as you hear my story.

So some of y'all like, but I don't read the Bible.

That's okay, just don't raise your hand then, bruh.

You're gonna have a hip hop song jumping around.

We don't need that.

Pour out a little liquor.

That's not that's not scripture.

That's not.

But I want you to pay attention to you and what comes up.

So the first story.

I'm actually gonna sit down for this.

This is a nice stool.

Sometimes they got raggedy stools.

It's like a stool sample sometime, but this is comedy here if you want it, folks.

So this first story.

I'm gonna sit here, but I probably will get up in the middle of it because it's such an exciting story.

Anyway, so so I grew up in Michigan.

I started doing my comedy in Michigan, right?

I feel like a kid.

Like I need a high chair.

So I grew up in Michigan doing comedy.

And uh I wanted to know if I was funny or not.

So I decided I'm about to move to New York.

Now, in New York, there's a comedy club there.

There's a bunch of comedy clubs there, but it's it was really hard to get into some of these clubs in New York.

But I was able to get into some, but as soon as I did, now in the Midwest, they normally pay$100 a night for a comedy show.

I got to New York City and they pay$9.

I didn't know that till I got there.

$9.

That's not slang for$900.

They pay$9.

So it wasn't long before I couldn't afford to live where I was at any longer.

And my new address was 1997 Chevy Lumina Drive.

Yeah, I was living in my car.

It was a four-door apartment on the east side of the street.

So nobody knew that I was living in my car.

And what my day would look like is in the middle of the night, roughly every 42 to 47 minutes, I'd have to wake up and start the car up to get warm.

And then I would be able to, I'd have to run a car for maybe three to four minutes.

I'd turn it back off.

I had this comforter that I took from Marriott that I would use to stay warm.

It's very uncomfortable in the front seat of a car, too, because of seatbelt, like I couldn't figure out the whole seatbelt thing.

Eventually, by the way, I did take that comforter back to Marriott.

Um, it looked different when I took it back.

So I'm in my car and I train myself.

Normally every morning I get up at least around 6 a.m.

But I had to train myself to get up at 11 because I didn't have any money for breakfast.

So I would have sleep for breakfast.

And then around 11, I would wake up and Subway would have these subs, meatballs, for$5 each.

I would get one, I would cut it in half, eat the first half immediately, save the second half for later on that evening, and that's what I would eat for the entire day.

Then uh I'm performing at the Comic Strip Live.

Another$9, super excited.

But this comedian named George Wallace walks in and he sees my comedy set.

And he says to me, You're really funny and you're clean.

I'd love for you to do a show with me and my best friend in a couple nights.

I'm pumped and excited.

I'm like, yes, I'll do it.

I didn't ask him if he was gonna pay me because this was a great opportunity.

Why would I ask about money?

This is a great opportunity.

I just gotta figure it out.

So I'm starting to do the math on if I can do the show with him.

And if he didn't pay me, would I still have any money left over?

So I did the math on how much gas might cost to get there.

And I was so I'm sitting in my den trying to figure it out.

And when I say den, it's the passenger seat with the glove compartment down.

So I'm trying to do the math, and I figured I would have maybe$2.20 left over if he didn't pay me.

I didn't have another show for like two days, but whatever, it was worth the risk.

I'm like, that'll be fine.

But then I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, snap.

The show was in New Jersey.

Some of you guys don't know what that means, but if I go to New Jersey, that's fine.

But there was an$8 tow charge to get back into New York City.

So if I go to the show in New Jersey and they don't pay me, I can't get back to what I know.

I have to figure out life in this whole new city that I've never been to before.

And that was a scary thought.

And plus, I had some I had some events booked that were gonna pay another$9.

So I needed to get back there.

So I didn't know what to do, and I couldn't pray.

I didn't know Jesus.

There was no prayer.

I don't know anything about prayer.

So I just sit in my car and I had to think.

I was like, what do I do?

The math doesn't make sense.

I gotta.

So I just decided I'm just gonna go.

So I go over, I park my car way down the street from the club, way down the street, and I'm walking up to the club, and as I walk up, there's this big bouncer dude.

I'm talking about like a big dude.

And he had all this bass in his voice.

He's like, Can I help you?

Dude has so much bass.

Like he had a gold chain on when he talked, it would rattle.

This is a big dude.

And I was like, and for some reason his bass took mine away.

He was like, Can I help you?

I was like, uh, yeah.

Um George Wallace has said I could come here and do some jokes on Michael Jr.

He was like, Oh yeah, yeah, Mike Jr.

And he opened the door.

There was something so powerful in that moment to have somebody say my name and open the door.

I can't even explain it to you.

So I walk in and I see all these beautiful people, just like this morning.

And the thing that I noticed the most, and this will sound silly to you, but the thing that I noticed the most was silverware.

Like they were eating with silverware.

I hadn't seen silverware in a long time, and I didn't even recognize it until that moment.

So I walk in and I date, I go to the green room, and there's George Wallace.

His best friend is Jerry Seinfeld.

So I'm pumped and excited.

We did two shows, and I got two standing ovations.

I rip, I'm like, the man, yes, this is awesome.

But now the show's over.

The audience is leaving, and nobody's giving me any money yet.

And I'm like, I don't, somebody needs to like, I don't know, I need some money.

I don't know.

This was laughs was great.

I need to eat.

And then I look up and George Wallace is gone.

Seinfeld's not there.

Like, place is empty.

There's just waitresses around.

Nobody's giving me any money.

And then I make eye contact and I see the manager.

I'm like, yes, he's gotta be the guy who's gonna give me some money.

And he's walking towards me, and I'm thinking, yo, I don't even know what they pay in New Jersey.

I did two shows.

Am I gonna get$10 a show?

What if it's what if it's$20 a show?

I got all these thoughts running through my mind.

And he approaches me and he says, Michael, you have some great sets, really funny.

I was like, Oh, thanks.

Then he says this.

He says, Let me ask you a question.

And I'm like, yes.

Then he said, Would you like to go to church with me this weekend?

I was like, church, man, but back up, you're making my feet hurt.

I don't go to church.

That's what I was thinking in my head.

Why would I go to church?

Now let me pause for a second.

Why would I have the conscious, unconscious thought of back up, you're making my feet hurt?

Because when I was a kid, I was in church and my feet hurt the whole time.

I built up a negative neuroassociation that said church means pain.

But it doesn't.

It was just that situation.

Does anyone in here have a negative association with church or God or something, or maybe somebody watching online?

I'll pose that question to you.

So he asked me if I want to go to church, and what I said out loud so he could hear, I was like, nah, I'm cool, man.

I won't go to church.

And he just walks off.

He don't give me no money.

And I don't know what I'm about to do.

But I can feel my emotions coming up, and I feel like I'm about to cry, and I don't want to cry in this club, so I'm like, I need to figure out, I gotta get up out of here.

So I went to the bathroom because the one in my apartment doesn't work.

So I go in the bathroom and I feel all these emotions coming up, and I gotta leave this club because I don't want to cry in this club.

And I walk out and there's this woman.

I don't know if you've ever seen the scene from the movie when the woman shows up.

She's beautiful, and those lights are on her and her music is playing, and she all her hair is blowing in the wind and stuff, but she was black, so it wasn't blowing that much.

It was just going like this.

Okay.

She was beautiful.

She pales in comparison to my wife now, but this woman was beautiful.

I'm talking about beautiful, and she has some sort of accent.

And she said, Hello, Michael Jr.

I was like, hey, how you doing?

And she explained to me that she was the manager's fiance.

I thought she said she was Beyoncé.

She was beautiful.

She had this accent.

She said, Michael Jr., would you like to go to church with us?

Now listen, let me pause for a second.

There's only two reasons you do anything in life.

Only two reasons.

To avoid pain or to gain pleasure.

That's it.

So she says to me with this accent, Michael Jr., I was wondering.

She was like, Would you like to go to church with us?

And I was like, I was just looking for a church the other day, man.

So she gets a napkin and she writes down the address of this church.

And she hands it to me and then she floats off.

And I'm like, wow, she's beautiful.

And I look at the napkin and it's a New York City address.

I can't get to New York.

I don't know where I'm going after I would leave the footprints that I was in.

So I went to the bar and they had these peanuts.

And I'm telling you, I just grabbed some peanuts.

And now all these emotions are coming up, and I don't want to cry in this place, so it's time for me to leave.

So I get ready to leave and I'm walking down the street.

I turn out the club and I'm walking, and all and I'm I know I'm about to cry, so I'm trying to move fast, and I hear this big, I hear this voice from behind me.

Yo, Mike Jr.

It's the big bouncer dude.

I look at him and I can see in his eyes that he has more respect for me now.

I can't explain it, but I could just see in his eyes.

And he's approaching me, and I can tell we're about to slap hands.

Like I could just, I could tell, like black people, we just know when it's about to happen.

I know some of my white friends, you want to announce it first.

High five, buddy.

Like that's not something that's not necessary for us.

So we're walking up, and I could tell this is gonna be a big loud slap, and it's gonna be powerful.

So I'm kind of bracing myself, and he's walking up to me, and I'm and I'm like, and blah, and it's a powerful, but it's not loud.

And then we bring it in for the half hug.

And the reason the slap's not loud is because he is exchanging some money into my hands.

Now all those emotions from before are coming up, and I could feel my eyes start to well up with tears, but I'm still hugging this big dude.

And I don't want him thinking, yo, you the one, right?

So I gotta.

So I start blinking, trying to drive my eyes before this is over, and I look back and he said, George Wallace said to give you a little something, something.

I was like, oh, thanks, man.

And I didn't look because for whatever reason, that's the rule.

You can't look right away.

So I said, Thanks, man.

And I start walking to my car and I'm crying.

Like I'm not crying yet, but all these emotions are there.

I'm crying on the inside.

I'm starting walking in my car, and I still got this fist, and I'm holding my stuff, and I get in the driver's seat, and I'm sitting there and I don't look yet.

And yes, on the inside, I'm crying like a baby.

And I'm holding this money in my hand, and I'm thinking to myself, what what how much, like, what is it?

Like, how much?

Like, I throw all my stuff on the pastor's seat and I slow it with my hands, and I remember the sound I heard was my tears crashing down on$200 bills.

And I was done.

Like, I was done.

I was in my car crying like a baby.

The next thing I saw was a crumbled-up napkin on the pastor's seat or addressed to a church.

And I went to that church, and then 36 days later, I gave my life to Jesus.

What's scripture came up for you?

Raise your hand.

Just raise it nice and high.

You gotta raise it so they can see you.

All right, they're coming, she's coming to you right now.

And then if you have one as well, you can raise your hand.

There's another mic runner over there.

All right, what do you got?

Oh, it's over there.

And then we'll come to you next.

Go ahead.

Can you stand up?

Oh, yeah.

All right, go ahead.

Uh so the one that came to mind was trust was Proverbs 3, 5.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean on your not your own understanding.

Uh then to six, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

So listen, what I want you to do, that's a powerful scripture.

But here's what I'm gonna here's what I'm gonna request.

When they read a scripture, I don't want you to clap.

I want you to just hear what's being said.

Because sometimes what happens is we'll hear something, it'll have an impact on us, and then we try to create noise as opposed to feeling what God might be saying in the midst.

Go ahead.

Uh, this one's actually really near and dear to my heart because I decided to be a foster mom at the age of 22, and I didn't have anything, and someone gave me a car, okay, and I was able to rent out my apartment, and like before the kids came, and I had seven dollars.

I had seven dollars in my bank account the day that they came, and so I'm just like, this is so big.

That is beautiful.

Luke 12.

Hey, what is your name?

Kira.

Kira.

Yeah, you're my favorite comedian, actually.

I was so excited that you're here.

Oh, thank you, Kira.

My best friend's not here, so I had to ha ha by myself.

So quite the story.

I'm gonna let you know that.

Go ahead, Kira.

Yeah, I just wrote a book.

Um, Luke 1224.

Consider the ravens, they do not sow or reap.

They have no storeroom nor barn, yet God feeds them.

And how much more valuable you are than the birds.

How much more valuable you are than the birds.

That is beautiful.

Who else?

My man right here got one.

They're gonna bring you a microphone, somebody's gonna take off running.

Right?

You a big dude.

Use your voice, stand up.

No, no, no, no.

Here she comes right now.

She got you.

Cool, he's about to start yelling.

He's gonna get kids crying and stuff, man.

Go here.

Jeremiah 29, 11 says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.

Like he's so new to plans that he had for me.

Okay.

Stand up for this one.

So I leave New York City.

New York is expensive.

Like it's very expensive.

And I'm I get to pray now, and I'm praying, and uh New York was too expensive, so I felt like I'm supposed to move to California.

See, my cousin has a couch in California, and he said if I could just get to California, I could I could stay on his couch for free.

All I had to do was get to California.

So I'm gonna sit back down.

This is a discipline.

I don't actually like sitting down, but I like doing stuff that I don't like to do.

So I leave New York, I stack up enough money to get as far as Chicago, Illinois.

In Chicago, there's a comedy club there that said I can perform there, and they were gonna pay me$475 to perform.

So I only had enough money to get to Chicago, and my plan was to use that money to get to California for gas and food.

I was gonna use That money.

But on my way to Chicago, my brakes start to grind.

I take it to the brake shop and they said it's gonna be$465 to fix your brakes.

I don't have$465.

So I go to the club and I say to the guy, I say, Hey, is it okay?

And they have to give me an advance of the money so I can get my brakes done, but now I'm out of money.

Like I don't have any more money.

I know Jesus now, so I'm praying.

And I'm like, God, I don't know how you're gonna do this.

I don't know how you're going to do this, Lord, but if there's any way.

But there wasn't any way.

Like there's like there's no way.

The only chance I had of making any any money was I used to sell these t-shirts.

It was a black t-shirt with white writing on it.

Nothing in it for the consumer at all.

On average, I would sell one shirt per show.

I did four shows already.

I sold three shirts below average.

So I'm sitting there, I'm like, God, I don't know how you're gonna do this.

And I'm starting to, in my head, I'm like, maybe I'll just go back to Grand Rapids.

I knew if I went back to my hometown, my career was gonna end there.

So I get in, it's Sunday, it's the last show.

I walk in, there's 26 people in the audience.

Like it's the smallest show by far.

And I'm sitting here and I'm like, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

And uh I get up on stage and I bring the best show I can.

And I want to say it's because I'm such a showman, but I really thought it would be my last comedy show at all.

So I get up on stage and the audience is there, and I'm bringing the best I can.

And then I gotta pitch these t-shirts, and I hold up the t-shirt and I say, Hey, I got the shirt, and I'm talking about the shirt, and I get heckled by a drunk dude in the back of the room.

How much for that crappy shirt?

But he didn't just say crappy.

He kept going because he was drunk and just belligerent.

And I didn't know what to say to him, getting heckled, or I stared at him, I was like, for you,$50.

And everybody giggled a little bit.

Then I would do this, then I would close my big closing joke.

Some of you guys may remember I used to do this this joke about being in a nice neighborhood like Beverly Hills, and I was and I started jogging to my car.

Then this white lady came around the corner about 20 feet in front of me.

Now we're jogging in the same direction.

Then she looked back.

She started jogging faster.

So I look back too.

I ain't say anything back there, but if a white woman's scared of it, Michael Jr.

is scared of it too.

So I close with this big this big joke.

Everyone laughs.

Then I go set my t-shirts up on the stool and I'm standing there.

And all these people, um, they don't even see me.

They just walk by, like 15 people, and never even notice me.

And then this white lady, um I just won't forget her.

She walks up and she waits to make eye contact with me.

She waits for me to lift up my head a little more.

She looks at me and she says, I want you to know you're so worth it.

That's what she said.

She said, You're so worth it.

She gave me some money for a shirt.

Now I gotta get change for her because she gave me a$50 bill.

So I'll go get change from a waitress and I come back and she's gone.

So I have to find her though, because this is only a$10 shirt.

But before I could go find her, there's another couple and they want to buy two shirts.

And he gave me$100.

Then another dude bought a shirt for$50.

I sold 13 shirts for$50 each.

And God said to me in that moment, He said, if you trust me, I got you.

He also showed me that He God used a heckler in my life to get me where he wanted me to be.

My heckler, sometimes your heckler is confirmation that you're doing what you're supposed to do.

If you don't have any hecklers, you may not be doing what God has called you to do.

What scriptures?

What came up for you?

Raise your hand.

A man right here with the really big hands.

That dude right there.

They're gonna bring in a scripture right now.

I mean a microphone.

And then raise your hand if you have one.

You can keep it up to bring a mic.

What you got, bro?

I would say what comes to mind is uh Matthew 5.16, which reads, In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven.

How is it possible that you're finding all of this glory in my story?

It's because there's glory in your story as well.

You can hear his voice in the midst of your story just like you're hearing it right now.

Alright, we'll go right here.

Um I have Esther 414.

If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place.

But you and your family will be destroyed.

And who knows, perhaps you have come to your world your royal position for a time as this.

Never thought about that before.

What if I went through all of that stuff for this moment?

For you.

Now, what do you do at this moment?

What do you do after this moment?

I want to go with that lady way back there for some reason, patiently got her hand up.

She's like, come on, help me, Aaron.

And this one is um 2 Corinthians.

I don't know if I can read it.

9 8.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.

An abundance.

I was trying to sell shirts for$10.

God said, No, I got you.

I'm gonna do exceedingly and abundantly over and above all you could ever ask or think.

So I could get to my cousin's couch.

The same couch I was sitting on watching TV when I saw this pastor.

And I was like, I want to go to his church.

And then I went to that church and I met that woman right there.

And now we get to travel the world.

We got our five kids, we travel the world talking about him.

Could it be that you are here for such a time as this?

So the moments after this, you can go do the thing he's called you to.

Okay.

So, um first of all, Pastor, you need to fix the dust in this place.

It is easier to work on that, man.

Maybe if you weren't spending all your money at Hooters, it wouldn't be so jacked up, man.

What you guys have been doing, whether you recognize it or not, and we couldn't hear every single scripture, but it was coming up, and you simply you're hearing God's voice.

If you feel like you're supposed to do something, you have these three things, go get it done.

If it lines up with his word, if it's confirmed by another believer, and if you have peace.

Not that you think it's gonna be easy, but you have peace about doing it regardless.

Go get it done.

The key is to be able to hear his voice.

So me and my wife were looking at some old videos of our youngest daughter being born.

It's not her being born, because I'm not gonna show you that video.

But when I watched this video, I didn't understand.

I'm the one recording this video you're about to watch.

But I didn't understand the power of it until I sat down like you are and just watched the video.

So let me set it up for you.

At the time, our daughter is like um, she's like two and a half minutes old.

And they got her under a little chicken warmer, the little um French fry warmer.

I don't know what kind of insurance we had, but they got her under a little chicken warmer.

And she starts to cry.

I want you to notice what happens when she hears my voice.

Okay, but look, look, I'm right here.

It's okay, it's okay.

I'm right here, I'm right here.

It's okay.

It's okay.

I'm right here.

Right here, yeah.

It's okay.

It's okay, baby.

Yo, that was pretty powerful.

Now it's like seven, maybe seven and a half minutes or so later.

The nurse is done cleaning her up and she starts to cry again.

I speak up and she stops crying again.

But I want you to notice what happens when I tell her I love her.

Portland.

It's okay.

It's okay, it's good, it's good, it's good.

I'm right here, I'm right here.

I am right here.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

Yeah, I'm right here, I'm right here.

It's okay, it's okay.

So listen, there's going to be times where you feel like you can't find the glory in your story, where you're just going through the motions.

And maybe things just seem really, really, really hard in the midst of it.

The key thing to do in those moments is to be still and listen for the Father's voice.

Because he is talking to you.

And what he wants you to know is that he's right here.

He loves you.

All you have to do is open your eyes.

You hear some music?

Yeah, not yet.

You early again.

Just say, not yet.

You're getting, you're getting everybody emotional.

That's what you're doing.

Everybody is crying because of you.

I thought it was the Lord.

No, that brother, right there.

So I have one more story I want to share with you.

But I don't want you to do any work with this story.

I don't need you to think about the scriptures.

I just want you to listen to this story, okay?

And after, but first I want to tell you how I came up with the story.

Then, after I tell you how I came up with it, then at that point, he's supposed to slide in right there.

But he was just, he got us.

You felt that.

I see the tears.

So this is a story about having a relationship with Jesus.

And the way I came up with this story is I was writing a joke about the good room.

How many people here know what the good room is?

Raise your hand.

See, there's like no hands going up.

You know why?

I never finished writing the joke.

But the truth is, is mostly all of you actually know what the good room is.

Let me explain.

The good room is that room in your grandmother's house or your aunt's house or maybe your house.

It's that one room that's better than the rest of the house.

Can't nobody go in there, it's plastic on the furniture.

It's really just for looks.

How many people know what the good room is now?

Raise your hand.

Exactly.

So I'm writing this joke about the good room, and in the middle of writing this joke, I felt like God stopped me and said, I want you to tell this people, tell this story to my people instead.

So I'm gonna tell you this story.

Now it'll be a great time to jump in if you want to, man.

He was early and late.

It's amazing, really.

So in this story, I want you to imagine.

I want each one of you to imagine.

Imagine that you are a house.

You're a house.

And outside of the house is Jesus Christ.

And he wants to come in, but he'll never force his way in.

He wants you to invite him in.

And the reason some people in this room have not truly invited Jesus into the house is because you think things are cool the way they are.

Whenever you need something or something happens, you walk up to the door, crack it open, say a little prayer, tell them what happened, then you close the door, then you go back into the house.

But that's not a relationship at all.

How can you hear his voice under those circumstances?

How can you hear his voice so you can understand his glory in your story in those circumstances?

And the reason you won't let him into the house is because your house is a mess.

And you think you need to clean it up first.

How's that working out for you?

There may be drugs or pornography or alcohol, you're just volunteering, trying to stay busy to be distracted from the mess.

Or relationships.

You brought other people in the house hoping that maybe somehow they could help you clean it up.

But they can't.

The only one who can clean it up is standing outside the door wearing an apron with a bucket in his hand, waiting on you to truly open the door.

Then there's other people in here right now who used to have Jesus in the whole house, but whether you realize it or not, you've moved him to just one room in the house.

The good room.

Have you ever noticed how the good room, most of the time, is the one right up front with the big window?

So when people look in, they think the whole house is clean.

But it's not, it's just that one room.

So when they hear about you coming to church, they think the whole house is probably clean.

But it's not, it's just that one room.

You quote scripture, but it's just that one room.

You give money sometimes, but it's just that one room.

You may have a Bible verse tattooed on your body, but it's just that one room.

Jesus wants access to the whole house, and I'm telling you, if you will just open this door and let him in, he'll show up with a contractor named the Holy Spirit.

And they will make sure the house is fully functioning the way it was intended to.

So you can clearly hear his voice in the midst of what you might go through.

But none of this happens if you don't open the door because he will not, he will never force his way in.

Even if other people tried to force him in your house, they can't.

It only works if you invite them in.

So for everyone in here, if you could just close your eyes and bow your head.

The reason I ask you to do this is so you can have a private moment where no one's looking around.

If you're in here right now and you know you need to invite Jesus into your house, whether it be for the first time or to give him full access to the house again, I'm gonna ask you to do something really simple.

On the count of three, I just simply want you to put your hand in the air.

Don't overthink this, but if this is you and you need to invite Jesus into your house for the first time or to give him full access on the count of three, I simply want you to put your hand in the air.

Hands are already going up.

One, two, three.

Nice and high.

Praise God.

Praise God.

Praise God.

All right, go ahead and put your hands down and then look up at me.

Awesome.

Okay, you guys can look up at me.

First thing I want to say is I'm proud of you.

Now listen, more times than not, when I say that phrase, or right before I say that phrase, I feel like God tells me that I need to repeat that phrase because there's some people in the room who have never heard the phrase, I'm proud of you, from a father's voice.

So I'm going to repeat the phrase, and all I want you to do is to listen and work to receive this phrase.

I am proud of you.

This isn't just for the people who raise their hand.

Now, this next thing, this is for everyone who raised their hand, and even those who should have raised their hand.

Jesus says this if you will take a stand for me before man, I will take a stand for you before my father in heaven.

So what that's gonna look like right here in this building, and maybe even everyone watching online, what that's gonna look like is everyone who raised their hand, and even those who should have raised their hand, on the count of three, I want you to stand up so we can pray together.

This is very important.

If you can't do this in here where we're proud of you, you won't be able to do it out there.

So again, on the count of three, this is for everyone who raised their hand, even those who should have raised their hand.

I'm gonna want you to stand to your feet and remain standing so we can pray together.

This is very, very important.

This is really important.

When you raise your hand, it's like you're reaching for the doorknob.

But when you stand up and we do the whole prayer, it's like you're blowing the door open so Jesus can come into the house.

So I'm gonna say this one more time.

This is for all those who raise their hand, and even those who should have raised their hand.

On the counter three, I want you to stand to your feet and remain standing, and to help with that, everyone around you.

They're going to applaud as loud as they can, but it will not compare to the applause that the angels in heaven will be doing when you stand to your feet and remain standing.

One, two, three.

Just stand up and remain standing.

Remain standing.

Yeah, yeah, bruh.

Yep.

Yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yup.

Praise God.

Break God.

Praise God.

Just receive the applause to the people around you.

Just receive the applause.

Alright.

Keep standing.

Keep standing.

Keep standing.

So we're gonna do a prayer together.

Praise God.

Oh, you made the right decision.

There's three people, at least three people who are sitting down right now who should be standing.

You know who you are.

This is how you always do.

But this is not how you'll continue to do, because today is your day.

So you can stand to your feet now.

You're probably feeling this little weird feeling in your stomach.

Praise God.

There's like two more people.

There's like one more.

I feel like it's an auction or something.

Why we gotta do it like this?

Praise God.

Praise God.

Praise God.

Alright, so now we're gonna do, we're gonna do a prayer.

And then normally to bring up a white dude to make it official.

I don't know why they gotta do that part.

It's gonna happen.

Watch.

Listen, we're in the middle of a life changing moment.

If you're in here, you need to stand up right now.

I don't know.

I don't know.

If you're in here and you need to stand up, you know who you are.

Hey, so it's really, really, really, really, really, really hard for somebody, for a couple people in this room to stand up.

Like it's crazy hard.

So we're gonna pray real quick.

I'm gonna do a prayer before we do that prayer.

God, give him wisdom, favor, and grace.

Have your way, Lord.

Give him the strength to trust in you in every way.

Let him trust in you, Lord.

In Jesus' name.

Praise God.

Good stuff.

Good stuff.

Alright, so now we're gonna do this prayer.

I want you to repeat after me in the privacy of your heart.

I'm gonna do the prayer, you repeat it in the privacy of your heart, okay?

It starts like this.

I'm a black man.

I'm just saying, that's not the prayer, that's not the prayer.

So repeat this prayer in the privacy of your heart.

Dear God, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to die for me.

Thank you that he rose again on the third day for me.

Thank you that I'm forgiven for my sins, for every sin.

Come into my house, come into my heart and have your way.

Show me your way, Lord.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Give them a round of applause.

Here comes a white guy.

Here he comes.

So listen, this is very important.

You can have a seat for a second.

This is very, very, very important.

So Pastor Chris is gonna give you some instructions on what to do next.

This is for those people who made this decision.

And I want you to follow these instructions.

The reason I do is because what happens sometimes is we come to it's the same pattern sometimes.

We come to church, we sit down, we get up, and we leave.

I want you to break the pattern of what you've always done.

This is for the people who made this decision.

I don't want you to do what you've always done because I don't want you to get what you've always got.

God has so much more for you.

So much more.

Hey, my man with the tag on and the white shirt.

God sees you for real.

So, he has so much more for you.

So I want you to break it up.

I want you to break up whatever that thing is, and I want you to do something different.

He's gonna tell you to do something different.

Not I just want you to break up.

Don't do the same thing in the physical.

Watch what he does in the spiritual.

Even if it's just sit down for a little longer, sit in your car for a little longer, do a prayer like just break it up.

And watch what he'll do.

I appreciate you guys.

I love you.

Thank you.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this.

Thank you guys.

If God is moving in your heart today and you stood up, you just made a decision to give your life to Jesus, maybe you made a decision to rededicate your life to be able to say that I want to have God in every every single area of my house.

If you're here today, maybe you want to join United City Church.

I want you to know we're going to be a church that's going to do whatever is necessary to get the gospel to as many people as possible in Northeast Houston and beyond.

So if God is leading you to join with us in that mission, I'm going to ask you to come forward here in just a moment.

We've got our team that's already up front.

You can see who's closest to you.

We've got them on the front, we've got them on the sides.

I just want to ask that today would be a time of you taking a next step.

Maybe some of you need to get baptized.

Maybe you've given your life to Jesus, but your next step today is to follow through in believers' baptism.

Maybe some of you just need prayer today.

We know that the last few days have definitely brought a sense of uneasiness and have definitely brought a sense of panic and perhaps anxiety.

And what I think we are now standing here today realizing what we've always known, but maybe we need to be reminded of, is God is still in control.

And I want you to know that whatever you're facing, whether it is outside elements that may be potentially causing damage to your home or something like that, or whether perhaps it's even the issues of your own heart.

Maybe it's a marriage struggle, maybe it's a financial issue, maybe it's a family situation.

We want you to know that you're not alone today.

We want you to we want to pray with and we want to pray for you today.

And so in this moment, I'm gonna pray.

And whenever I say amen, if you just stood up, you gave your life to Jesus, you just prayed that prayer with Michael Jr., I'm gonna ask you to come forward.

And others that need to make a decision public today, I'm gonna ask you to do the same.

Father in heaven, we come before you and we say thank you.

We thank you, Father, that Jesus came, He lived, He died, and He rose again.

We thank you, Father, that that truth changes everything.

We thank you, Father, for Michael Jr.'s story.

Father, we can see traces of our own story all throughout it, knowing, Father, that you have been so good and that you have been so faithful.

Father, your provision has been abundant, even if at times it feels like it's at the very end.

God, may we trust you today.

May we respond to you in faith today.

Father, for those that need to make a decision public, I pray you'd give them the boldness and the courage to respond today and take that next step.

Father, I pray that you would move in our hearts.

You would allow these stories to be ones that cause us to lean upon a God who sees, who knows, who is proud of us.

And Father, may you get all the glory for what's going to take place in these moments.

In the name of Jesus, I pray.

Amen.

Would you stand up, church?

And as you stand, our team is up front and on the sides, ready to receive you.

You come as God is getting you to respond.

Come on.

Wow, what an amazing message we got to hear this morning.

I hope the Lord showed himself to you in a fresh, new way.

Hey, if you made a decision today to follow Jesus or a decision for Christ, we would love to process that with you.

And so text the word next to 55498, and someone from our team will be more than happy to reach out and process that with you.

If you missed the message or you missed a note or two and you want to go back, don't worry.

We've got the option for that as well.

It's going to be available on Spotify as well as Apple Music.

This has been an amazing morning.

We love you guys so much, and we hope to see you next week.

Bye bye.