The Secret to Increasing Your Discernment | Apostle Mike Signorelli

I wanna share something because right now we're living in

incredibly confusing times and many of you are just inundated with

information and you're trying to make decisions.

And this is gonna be another prophetic sermon because as we've

been journeying through the book of Acts together, I'm gonna

take you back to all over the Bible here in the next several moments.

But right now you're faced with life decisions, decisions about

decisions about your health, decisions about relationships, decisions

about your future.

And as I've been a pastor for the last two decades, and I've facilitated

hundreds upon hundreds of pastoral counseling meetings, one

to one or one to the couples, I've noticed that many Christians

love to hide behind the excuse of I am confused, I don't know what

to do, I'm confused.

And I have come to learn over all of the years of faithful shepherding

that most Christians are not confused, they're disobedient.

Oh, come on, this church is really saved.

They all clapped here on Long Island.

And oftentimes we know what to do, but we lack the faith to do it.

And so my prayer as I begin this message, Lord, is that you release

a supernatural impartation of faith.

Faith, because I don't believe the root is rebellion.

Even though it's disobedience, it's a lack of faith.

It's not rebellion, it's a lack of faith.

It's fear that is keeping many of them bound.

So, Father, under the sound of my voice, perfect love cast out all

fear.

And I thank you God, that your love is going to drive out fear and

faith is going to replace fear.

And they're going to leave this message changed.

And everybody said, amen, Amen, Amen, amen.

So some of us, we are guilty of leaning on our own understanding.

You know, I was telling my 19 year old daughter the other day about

stories from when I was in college, stories in my 20s, stories

in my 30s.

And as I was telling her these stories, you know, I thought that

as her dad, I was telling my daughter what it was like to live

life and how I've navigated the complexities of modern culture

and all of the things that we struggle with.

And I really thought I was equal equipping my daughter.

And then all of a sudden, Bella looks at me and she goes, I

got a question for you, dad.

As you have figured all those things out over the many years of

your life, is it hard for you to trust God?

And I said, what do you mean, babe?

And she said, well, it seems to me like, you've gotten really

good at figuring things out for yourself.

Probably the more you figure things out for yourself, the less

you are able to trust God.

And I was like, rebuke taken, my young padawan.

But it's true.

The person that I trust most in life is me.

Anybody know what I'm talking about?

When people walked out, I just kicked it up a notch and went to

the next level.

When nobody gave me money, I just went out and made money.

When nobody could help me, I helped myself.

So what happens is I. I begin to become more confident in me.

And it ironically made it harder for me to trust God.

And oftentimes, the lower our level of trust is in God, the higher

our anxiety levels are in life.

Because if it's on me, it's on my strength, and I've got limited

strength.

If it's on me, it's on my understanding.

I have limited mental capacities.

If it's on me, I've got limited finances.

And.

And so I wanna go to the root of this.

And we're gonna look at it because there's this truth is that

every single one of us is leaning on something all the time.

We all lean.

Everybody's leaning.

It's just, what are you leaning on?

And we're gonna look at proverbs to start, because this is

the book of wisdom.

And we're gonna get progressively deeper into the scriptures,

because this is what I'm gonna start with.

One of the most famous scriptures that.

That you've heard quoted.

But it really speaks to our illusions of control and the behaviors

that we build around it.

So let me.

Let me read it with you.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart.

Can we just stop there?

What does Disney tell us?

Trust your heart.

But the Bible says that your heart is deceitfully wicked above

and evil above all things.

So if culture, wouldn't it be the most Luciferian, demonic, conspiratorial

agenda to get an entire generation to trust their heart?

When Satan knows that our heart is a lie factory, it's a deception

factory.

Our heart lies all day and all night long.

It lies in our dreams.

Come on.

Some of the women having dreams about their spouse cheating

on them, waking up wanting to slap them in the face.

I mean, we are conspiracy factories.

We have whole strongholds built up in our mind about how people

feel about us that we've never talked to, about what they think

about us at work.

Even though we have no confirmation other than a facial

expression.

It could be indigestion, could be gas.

We don't know.

We've got our mind made up.

Our heart is deceived, deceitfully wicked above all things.

And so what we've been trained to do is to trust our heart.

But the very first premise of godly wisdom is fear the Lord and

actually don't trust your heart.

So this formula is trust in the Lord God with all your heart.

So here's the problem.

The problem is that we trust God with some of our heart.

The problem is that we trust God with, to varying degrees, some

of us trust God with more of our heart, most of our heart.

But very few of us ever get to the point where we trust God with

all of our heart.

So if all of your heart is lying, if all of your heart is evil

and you've only trusted God with 60% of it, then you have a war

going on on the inside of you.

And the Bible says a double minded person is unstable in all

of their ways.

So when you're double minded, you're not unstable in some of your

ways.

The Bible says you're unstable in all of your ways.

But what does it mean to be double minded?

Can I break this down for you?

Because we're talking about the mind and the heart.

Oh, this is gonna help somebody.

So double minded is I believe that I should steward my finances

and have a budget and give the first fruits, which is 10% to God's

storehouse.

And I believe that I should be making investments and I believe

that I should be saving.

That's what I believe.

That's what one of my mind believes, my other mind believes.

Yolo.

I'm swiping this card until Chase starts giving me notifications

because I'm stressed and I don't care what's happening because

I gotta live my life and it's only H and M. Come on somebody, right?

I only spent $300 on five dollar shirts.

See what happens is.

But here's the problem.

You believe both of those things at the same time.

So you are double minded.

You have two minds.

You have one mind that says stewardship and sacrifice and surrender

in your finances and discipline.

And the other mind says I'm gonna do whatever I feel like doing

because I'm stressed.

But the Bible says that if you are double minded, you are unstable

in all your ways.

So this is God bringing many of you into a place of being complete

and whole.

But it requires total surrender.

So trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Somebody just say all, okay?

And do not lean on your own understanding.

So we're all Leaning, I lean on my ability.

I lean on my own ingenuity, my own strategy.

The problem is, when you're leaning on your own understanding,

it's like a walking stick that has helped you make many journeys,

but it's also fragile.

So that when it does break, not only does it snap and hurt your

hand, but you fall over and hurt yourself.

So the threat of leaning on your own understanding is that it

will work for a little while, but when your own understanding is

fractured under the weight of your life, it will end up causing

you more pain and more hurt when you fall.

This is.

Are y' all getting something out of this?

So leaning on your own understanding works until that thing

breaks.

Then the consequence of that fall may be very, very great, and

you'll spend some time having to work it out.

Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways.

And in what ways?

In all of my ways, in my sexuality, in my finances, in my

thought life that nobody can hear, by the way.

No one can hear your thoughts, but we all see the result of them.

I'm just gonna revelate.

So you think that your thought life is secret, but the secret is

revealed in your life around you.

So what happens is we think to ourselves, like, I'm gonna be okay.

Compartmentalizing.

It says, no in all your ways, in every single part of your life.

And the reason why I'm your pastor and the reason why you are

a digital disciple, the reason why you're at a campus is because

V1 church is predicated on the idea of all in.

When a.

When a plane takes off the Runway, the whole plane flies, the

whole crew, everybody on it.

There's something about all, all, all.

And so when it's no turning back, this whole thing's about to

fly you.

And I think the message of this house, when people ask from

all over the world, what does V1 mean?

It means all in.

No turning back.

This plane is going to fly.

So what does it look like if you just say, I'm gonna lean not

on my own understanding, but in all my ways, acknowledge him and

that he will make your.

Your path straight.

This is Proverbs, chapter three, verses five and six.

And before we even go to the next part, I want us to pray together,

because I could just open up the altar and we could start puking

out demons right now.

Because the Lord didn't die on the cross.

For some of you, Jesus did not take a crown of thorns.

He wasn't a tiara that covered the front of his face.

It was a crown that was 360 degrees of his mind.

So all of your mind can be set free.

When Jesus died, it wasn't the swoon theory where he passed out

for a few days and came out of the grave.

All of his body died.

So he is asking that you surrender all in response to him

as your Savior.

He gave all, so we gave all.

All.

All means all.

And that is the fight of our life.

It's not against Leviathan.

It's not against Jezebel.

It's not the real fight, because demons are already defeated.

I'm just enforcing that victory with the name of Jesus.

The real fight is you versus you.

When are you going to start winning a little bit up in here?

Y' all get what I'm saying?

Come on.

Executing a demon is easy.

That's Jesus authority.

Use your will to execute your own flesh.

I'm preaching to myself every Sunday.

Y' all know that, right?

We're all in this together.

This is not a condemnation sermon.

It's actually, yes, it's convicting.

But all it is is a confirmation of what the Holy Spirit

already told you.

And I got real good news for you.

The gospel is that when you surrender, he empowers you to do

what you cannot do without him.

So when he says, acknowledge me in all of your ways.

We can't do that.

But through Christ, all things become possible.

This is why people look at you and say, I marvel at their ability

to live the kind of life they live.

And you say, I wish I could take credit for it, but the Holy

Spirit in me is the reason why I didn't slap you today.

Come on, let's clap our hands for that.

The Holy Spirit in me is a reason why I. Oh, I wanted to.

He held.

He took my hand from this to this.

Praise God.

Somebody.

And ain't nobody but the Holy Ghost.

Getting credit for why you didn't get knocked out.

Praise God.

Y' all think I'm.

I'm being funny in all my ways.

I have to acknowledge him.

And this is what.

This is what discipleship looks like.

All of you, you're an introvert.

Join a group.

You're poor.

Give money.

Discipleship is the Lord.

Not me.

Not a church, not a pastor, not a leader.

It's the Lord asking you to do what you don't want to do.

That is what discipleship is.

It's the Lord saying, would you do the thing you don't want to

do?

You know how I know?

Because Jesus didn't even want to go to the cross.

If it be if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me.

The Lord's like, no, there's no other way, Jesus.

It's just this, Lord, if there's any other way than in my

finances.

Can I just do that?

Lotto ticket.

Come on, Lord, please.

If there any other way.

Tell me the numbers, Lord.

I know.

Tell me the numbers in Hebrew.

God,.

We're always looking for an out, but the way is through.

He says, when you do this, I will make your path straight.

You know why?

You know why he'll make your path straight?

Because you'll stop trying to go around.

Do y' all feel what I'm saying?

He'll make your path straight because you'll stop trying to go

around and you'll go through.

And you'll say, okay, God, I'm surrendered.

I'm surrendered.

Okay, I got a little bit more.

Are y' all still with me?

Okay, let's talk about the illusion of understanding.

So if I were to confess my sin one to another, there have been many

moments in my life when I literally knew what God was gonna

do.

Then there's other times where I had no idea what he was doing.

And I would connect all the dots in my head.

I would triangulate every sign.

Anybody say that a feather falls from the sky?

Oh, Lord Jesus, I know that's you.

No, it's a pigeon.

You're in New York City.

You walked under a bridge, right?

Anybody seeking this sign, just show me, Lord.

I had my timeline.

Everybody had their timeline.

Oh, I'm gonna do this by 30, this by 32, this by 35.

Planning your life out like it's a biography.

Got everything planned out like the story's already been written.

And then God does something that completely blows up your understanding.

Anybody know what I'm talking about?

I had a timeline for when I was going to start this church.

I actually moved my family to Long island the first time.

Served under another church.

The whole thing imploded.

Wasn't my fault.

Of all the things in life that have been my fault, praise God, that

wasn't one of them.

Come on, now.

I only tell those stories.

Why am I saying this?

Not to dishonor them, but to simply say, my wife, she let out

a spoken word curse because our family was so beat down by that

situation that happened on Long island, that when I put my tail

between my legs and went back to northwest Indiana, my wife uttered

the words, I will never do ministry on Long island again.

Well, you see how that worked out?

Lean not on your own Understanding why?

Because her understanding said, when I go to Long island, the

Long Islanders hurt me.

The pastors hurt me, the church hurt me.

We came out there with the best motives, the best intention,

but Long island didn't work out.

So what happens when you're regulated by experience is you lean

on experience.

That's how we stay safe.

If you got attacked by a dog, you're probably going to stay away

from every other dog, because rationality would tell.

You if one dog bit you, there's.

A probability another one's going to bite.

Is that.

Doesn't that sound logical?

This is why a lot of people end up going into lesbianism, go

into homosexuality.

They'll get hurt by a gender, and then go to the opposite gender.

Because if I avoid that gender.

Oh, y' all don't want this sermon today.

You.

You don't want this sermon.

That's why they'll literally say, I don't.

Want to be with a man, but then date a woman that looks like

a man.

Why?

Oh, come on.

I'm trying to help you.

This is not me being mean.

This is me speaking to the root.

They're saying, because I can't get hurt by a man if it's not

a man.

I can't get hurt by a woman.

If it's not a woman.

But I still wanted to look.

Want him to look like a man.

Want him to look like a woman.

No.

The root of it is leaning on your own understanding.

It ain't no different than when my.

Wife said, I don't want to go back to Long Island.

I.

Because in the natural, that makes sense.

That's how we survive.

So I'm not condemning anybody from the pride community.

I'm simply saying it makes sense that your wounds would cause

you to lean in the wrong direction, just like we leaned away

from Long island, but the Lord called us here.

It makes sense because we were deeply wounded.

But in all.

Oh, but in all your ways, acknowledge.

Him,.

Love him, serve him, devote yourself with all your heart.

Isn't it funny that if you give him all your heart, your genitalia

will follow?

If you give them all your heart, your mind will follow if you

give.

It starts with the heart.

The Bible says the heart.

It's from that flows everything, as a.

Matter of fact, even out of your.

Mouth, the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Speaks.

So it wasn't Julie's word, It was Julie's heart that was wounded.

Am I right?

And so she says, I'll never go back to Long Island.

But then God Says it's your way or it's my way.

My ways are higher than your ways.

And let me just tell you, we had to wrestle as a family.

And there came a point where I went to Julie and I said, julie,

we have to acknowledge we have a launch team for this church.

I put V1 Brooklyn on all the original branding because we were

gonna be right there in Brooklyn, and we were gonna start

the church there.

But our team had people from Queens, people from Brooklyn, and

then people from Long Island.

And the Long island team exploded.

And I said, the grace is on Long Island.

I wish it wasn't so, but the Lord's doing something.

Either we obey or we disobey.

And my wife said, watch this.

I'm gonna show you something powerful.

Cause this is a word that people will say the F word before

they say this word.

Matter of fact, we're more likely to say the other S word before

we say this S word.

Submit.

Submit.

Mike, you're my husband, and I submit.

But I had to ask myself, okay, that's a big responsibility.

But, God, I'm submitted to you.

And if you're saying this, I'm submitted to you.

And Julie is submitted to me, which means the kids are submitted

to Julie through me, by proxy through you.

And I have to trust it's your way.

Well, for those of you watching online who may not have

put it all together yet, I'm standing in a former soccer field

that's been converted to a church on Long island that's filled

with people for three services a weekend that are worshiping, that

are saved and sanctified.

And filled with the Holy Spirit.

Spirit that are tongue talking, devil stomping, empowered

believers.

And every generation is rising up in this place right now.

And what was a tomb has been turned into a garden.

And God said, I'll take what the enemy meant for harm and turn

it around for your good.

Don't lean into your own experience, because I'm doing a new

thing.

Behold, a new thing comes forth.

Hallelujah.

Come on, Long Island.

See, the thing is, if you make.

Every decision as relegated to what happened to you in the past,

then you stop giving God permission to do a new thing.

See, God will say, I want to do a new thing in an old place.

I want to do.

Okay, for those of you on the verge of divorce, God wants to do

a new thing in an old marriage.

Come on.

God wants to do a new thing in an old marriage.

He did a new thing in an old region for us.

And life broke forth out of Here.

But you know what?

No one will know the cost.

The cost wasn't the building.

The cost was submission.

How do I increase in my discernment?

Obedience.

The cost of discernment is obedience.

Right now, not a lot of you understood the full weight of what

I just said.

Because we think discernment is conspiracy theory.

We think discernment is information.

And the more information you get, the more you discern.

This is not the thing of this.

This is not the way of the Spirit.

In the Spirit, you do not increase in discernment as you increase

in knowledge.

In the spirit, you increase in discernment as you increase in obedience.

Why?

Because we cannot know God's ways.

So even if he released all the information, I still wouldn't understand

why he allowed my family to be wounded on Long island just to bring

us back to Long island to start a church.

I would have never understood why he would float Moses in a wicker

basket down the Nile to put him in Pharaoh's courts as a child

just so that he can be rejected by the famed, the same family

that raised him.

You understand the weight of what I'm saying to you right now?

That God would actually allow Joseph to be thrown into a well so

that he ends up having to distribute seed to his own brothers

in need.

That he would be rejected by his family only to be the one that

helps him later on.

And you can't deny the fact that God allowed Moses in that wicker

basket down the Nile.

God allowed Joseph to be thrown into the well.

How many of you know that God will even allow us as Christians

to get into situations that defy our understanding?

But it is the shortest route to the destiny that he promised us.

It's the route that hurts the most.

It's the route that we don't want, but it's the very thing that

we need the most.

But it requires submission.

The only way that the plane takes.

Off is if you sit down and put yourself seatbelt on and shut up.

And you got a whole generation that the pilot's got to get on the

intercom and say, everybody sit down.

And I hear in the spirit realm, the Lord is saying, sit down

to the body of Christ.

I'll get you there.

If you shut up and sit down,.

Lock in for that journey and say, lord, I don't get it, but God's

what I can imagine.

When.

When Julie said, I'll never go back to Long island to do ministry.

And the Lord was like, There was a man named Naaman and he had

to learn this Lesson.

When you look at the Hebrew word for trust, it's bata, and it

means it's not believing in something in your head, the way that

we think about understanding or trust.

It's a picture of someone putting their full weight on something,

like leaning back in your chair.

Right?

Now, many of you across our campuses, you have more trust in

a chair than you do the Lord.

You didn't even look.

You made a blind faith decision to sit in that chair.

You didn't even inspect it right.

What are you doing?

I'm just trying to make a wise decision.

Some of you need to take the trust that you had in your chair

and transfer that to your savior.

And instead of inspecting the will of God, surrender to the will

of God and just say, God, I'm gonna just trust in this thing.

That's what the Hebrew word for trust really means.

It means to put your full weight on it.

My youngest daughter's 12 years old, but she doesn't know that

yet.

And you better not tell her because she thinks that she's 4 years

old to her daddy.

And she still comes to me and she was like, daddy, can you pick

me up?

And I'm like, yes.

You know, and her legs are all dangling down here, you know, and

she puts her head on me and she puts her full weight on me.

The other day I was holding my daughter and you know, you have those

thoughts, when's gonna be the last time?

And all you weirdos had those viral videos with a 26 year old holding

them.

Don't do that.

Don't post it.

If you do it.

Some things should be family things, so.

But I have a health coach that I meet with, and it's.

Every time we meet, it's just more of an acknowledgment of how

neurotic I am.

And I thought to myself after the last meeting, maybe some of my

hyper vigilance in my adult life is I don't have any memory of

ever resting my full weight on my biological father's shoulder.

See, what happens is when you're the only person who ever picks

yourself up, you begin to rely on yourself.

And you'll end up putting your full weight in the wrong direction

in your own understanding, in your own skill and your own.

And this man named Naaman, I identify with him.

I think he gets villainized in the Bible.

But Naaman is a story because when you look at this, you see him

doing the Hebrew word for trust, putting his full weight on

his title, his position, on his accolades, and what he's accomplished.

And I wanna show you this briefly because it's such an interesting

story in scripture.

It's not one that often gets preached.

It's two Kings, chapter five.

I'm gonna sort of summarize it.

But Naaman, he's a commander of the army of Syria.

You know, to make your way through the ranks to be commander,

you're big dog.

It's a big deal.

He's very successful, he's very respected.

When Naaman walks in the room as a commander, people they about

face.

But there's a hidden problem he has, and the problem is leprosy.

It's a skin disease.

Leprosy is progressive.

So is double mindedness.

See what, what happens is you start off right and it's like, well,

I'm only going in that wrong direction a little bit.

A little bit, A little bit, a little bit.

But it's a progressive disease.

Worry is a progressive disease.

Anxiety is a progressive disease.

And Naaman has this condition called leprosy.

And I think we're able to see a picture of this through the scripture.

And we might be saying, well, this didn't have nothing to do with

me because my skin is okay.

But what is the condition of your spiritual skin?

What is the thing that's progressively growing in your soul?

And all of us have this.

Some of you remember the days when you were a little girl and you

could just laugh.

And you haven't laughed from your belly in a long time because

the spiritual and soulish leprosy has grown.

And leprosy is painful.

It's painful socially, not just physically.

And as he began to struggle with this, it's like, man, this is

Nathan, watch this.

No external enemy could kill him.

Think about it.

He was a military genius.

He was a commander in the army.

So nothing external.

No other person could take him out.

But the thing that was actually taking him out was his own

body progressively betraying him.

And so for many of us, you can prophesy, I'm so proud of you.

You're powerful, you can preach.

I'm so proud of you.

You can cast out a demon.

I'm so proud of you.

But the thing that you struggle with, like Naaman, is the

thing not externally, but internally.

How many men of God have we lost?

How many women of God because they could conquer cities but couldn't

conquer their own soul?

This was Naaman.

Oh, I identify with Naaman.

And for all of his victories, for all of his accolades, his titles,

for all of his achievements, there's a disease in his body that

he can no longer fix.

And so he said, I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna go to the prophet.

And you know the story in Second Kings, this is chapter 5,

Isaiah 5:9–12

verses 9 through 12 is Elijah hears about this and sends a servant

to give instructions to Naaman that he's gotta fully submerge himself

in water seven times.

Now, this was offensive to Naaman because Naaman said, wait

a second.

If I'm going to go to V1 church, I want to talk to Mike Signorelli

myself, not one of his campus pastors.

That's literally what's happening.

That's literally what's happening.

I don't want to talk to a campus pastor.

Oh, wait, you're not even a campus pastor.

You're just our pastor.

Pastor.

Oh, no.

So I basically, Naaman said, do you.

Know who I am?

I want to talk to Elisha.

But see, the thing was, his pride was rising up.

And Elisha, the fruit, the evidence that he heard from God was

him saying, I ain't going out there.

To me, Naaman don't need me.

Naaman needs humility.

Naaman needs to learn how to go low.

Another verse says that when you humble yourself under the mighty

hand of God, in due season, he will lift you up.

Honey, the only person that can stop you is.

Is you.

The only lid you have is not a leader.

It's your lack of submission.

This is what the Bible says.

Because if you'll go low, there's only one way, and it's up

from there.

And this, this servant of the prophet was basically saying, hey,

Naaman, I'm here on behalf of Elisha, but I have the word of the

Lord.

So what?

Oh, come on.

I'm about to preach this.

It didn't matter who it came from.

What mattered is, did it come from the Lord?

It didn't matter what human was delivering the word.

It's did the human it originated from, hear it from God?

It don't matter if Mike hears it or a campus pastor or another

pastor.

Did that word come from God?

See, there's something about it.

But Naaman couldn't acknowledge the fact that it was

never about Elijah.

It was about the God behind Elisha.

And he needed to be humbled to hear from God.

He was.

He was going to go from leaning.

On his own understanding to leaning on Elijah.

So Elijah said, no, no, we're going.

To learn how to lean on God.

Some of you don't need a meeting with me.

You need a meeting with God.

I'm here to.

Don't be Leaning on the pastor.

Don't be leaning on Mike Signorelli.

Lean on God.

I'm here to teach you how to go to the Father.

Don't you dare put me on a pedestal.

Are y' all with me?

You don't need a meeting with me.

You need a meeting with him.

And that's what Elijah was trying to say is you don't need the

prophet.

The prophet's connected to God.

I'm about to take you direct.

Go get in that water and dip yourself seven times.

Hey,.

We don't need more celebrity pastors.

We don't need churches that idolize them.

We need people that will come together and.

And say, that's a word from God.

I heard it when the campus pastor said it.

I heard it when that other leader in my small group said it.

But I know the voice of God, so I know it when it comes.

Through someone else's voice.

I'm helping y'.

All.

I'm helping you.

Because in our lives, we do the right things too few times.

I got my wife flowers once.

Well, how long you been married?

20 years.

I massaged her back once.

How long you been married?

30 years.

I took her on a date once.

Well, how long you been married?

See, we do the right thing too few times.

We are changed often by the things that.

Not the things we do once, but the things we do many times.

This is why the Lord told Naaman, you need to dip in the water

seven times.

Because there's seven layers of pride that need to come off.

See, this is why we lift our hands in worship.

You know why?

Cause it's humiliating and weird.

So for all of you, like, I've never gone to a church that raises

their hand.

I feel like a hostage.

Yes, that's the whole point.

Hostages don't have control.

God, hold me hostage.

Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do.

Whatever you say I'll do.

God.

See, this is what the posture of raising your hands in worship.

For those of you like, I don't.

The reason why you feel weird raising your hands is because you've

always been the one in control.

You gotta get used to being a hostage.

But actually, that's another way of saying a child of the king.

Because when my 1212 year old wants to put the full weight, like

Bata, when she wants to rest fully on me, she has to start from

the bottom by lifting her hands in the air.

And then I pick her up and put her full weight on me.

How else can God pick you up.

Unless you lift your Hands up.

And you start low.

Come on.

And I'm talking to the men too.

Oh, God, Why'd you allow this diagnosis of my body?

Well, listen, I believe God can heal it.

Anybody believe that?

But through that process, he'll teach you to trust.

We're about to pray in a few moments.

The water that Naaman was asked to wash in was the Jordan.

I don't know if you've ever been.

I baptized hundreds of people in the Jordan.

In Israel.

It's muddy.

It's muddy.

Assistant to the prophet.

You're an idiot.

I have a skin condition.

How am I going to go into dirty, muddy water and get clean?

See, the problem is we've become a generation of experts.

I wouldn't run a church like that.

I wouldn't run a country like that.

I wouldn't run a business like that.

I wouldn't do it like that.

And what have I would.

If I were going to heal me, I wouldn't take me to the Jordan where

it's all muddy so that I can get clean.

Here's the problem.

You're not in control.

And everything you did to solve your leprosy didn't work.

So guess what?

Deliverance is for the desperate is for the people who say,

you know, I used to think that was a dumb idea, but.

But I tried all the other ideas.

I used to think that was stupid,.

But I tried it.

And nothing else helped me.

See that woman with the issue of blood.

Jesus wasn't her first choice, but sometimes you expend all your

other choices.

And then there comes that man from Nazareth.

And there's only one thing you haven't tried.

Some of you tried to go to a concert and lift your hand for Taylor

Swift, and you ended up in a worse condition than you stood started.

Taylor Swift couldn't help you.

I'm sorry.

Swifties.

Some of you went to the jets game and raised your hand, but your

football team couldn't save you.

You expended everything else.

But then you came to church and you got down into that Jordan

river and you said, this doesn't make sense to me.

I don't understand.

I've been to all this counseling, all this therapy, all

this school.

I don't know what's happening but God, if you want me to surrender,

I'll try one last thing.

I tried alcohol.

I tried drugs.

I tried.

But I'm gonna try surrender.

And all of a sudden, Naaman.

And then nothing happened.

You know what we should stop telling people.

Come back to V1 Church three times before you Decide and we should

say, come back.

Seven times, like Naaman.

Well, I went to church, I prayed for my husband.

Nothing happened.

How many times I prayed for this cancer.

Nothing happened.

How many times I pray.

Come on, I'm talking to.

I prayed about my depression.

How many times?

See, I'm telling you.

Naaman had to learn about going down.

There was something about the spiritual realm.

Seven times he had to go down.

I'm here to tell somebody.

Watch it right now.

If your cancer has not not been.

Killed by prayer, pray again.

If your depression is still wrecking your mind, pray again.

If your marriage hasn't been made whole, pray again.

There's something about the insistency of prayer.

You will come up out of that water.

One time different.

Come on, I'm about to close this thing out.

7Th time, Naaman comes out and he's healed.

He's healed.

You know what I love about the way God does things?

Everybody say double portion.

Naaman went to the prophet to get his body healed.

But after being humbled seven times, his whole life got healed.

His mind got healed, his emotions got healed.

He became humble.

He came out of there.

And he wasn't different physically.

He was different physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

Because whom the son sets free.

Oh, y' all about to get a.

Revelation who you might have come to God.

Desperate.

God saved me from this addiction.

He said, I want to break every chain, not just that one chain.

I want to break every chain in your life.

You came to me for one reason, but I want to heal and restore door

every reason.

Keep going back into that water.

Keep driving those kids to church.

One of them is a prophet, the other's an evangelist.

The other one.

Come on, keep being faithful.

Keep being faithful.

Come on.

What does the Bible say about being faithful?

He that began a good work in you will see it through until completion.

We press forward toward the high, that.

Calling, that mark of the.

I mean, we're looking at that thing, that prize, that God, I want

to be faithful.

I want to see this thing till the end.

God, I don't care how many times, I'm going to keep on keeping

on faith.

Remember, I started this sermon by asking God to give you

what, what, what?

Faith, faith, faith.

Okay, here's the close.

I was looking at Paul, you know, my man Paul.

I love Paul.

Paul's one of my favorites.

And when you look at Paul in.

I'm just gonna briefly do this because this is crazy.

In Acts, chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

So for the note takers, read that chapter this week.

Paul is not rebellious.

Paul is not running from God.

Paul is not living in sin.

Paul is on a mission.

But how many of you know he's a human?

How many humans do we have in the room?

Okay.

A lot of humans and a couple monitoring spirits.

Okay, I can deal with that.

Now, here's the thing.

Paul was human.

So in Acts chapter 16, he had this desire to go take the Gospel

Acts 16 · chapter mention

to a certain region, and he is prevented twice.

Again.

You gotta have to read this this week.

I want the flight crews to take this deeper this week.

Are there any flight crews that are going to Act 16 this week

and go deeper?

I know they're all over Long island in Miami and northwest Indiana.

And so basically, when you look at Acts 16, verses 6 through

Acts 16:6–10

10, and you read the last part of it in the ESV translation, you

read a couple other translations, too.

The Holy Spirit, not the devil, the Holy Spirit, is forbidding

them to speak the Word in Asia.

The Spirit of Jesus is not allowing them into a certain region.

Then there's the Macedonian vision.

Why is this important?

Because Paul's understanding is not bad.

It's good, it's wise.

It's intentional.

But two times, Everybody say two times.

The text says that the Holy Spirit stops him.

Let me give you this last bit of wisdom.

And we're about to pray.

The Holy Spirit will stop you, but the Holy Spirit will not and

cannot start you.

What do you mean cannot?

God can do whatever he wants.

Yes, he can.

But he chose not to.

He gave you something called a will.

And when he gave you the ability to choose, you must surrender

that ability to him.

So he will not start you, but he will stop you.

What I just told you is the secret to all of my success in the

Kingdom.

I will do everything in my power to go to Times Square and preach

the Gospel.

And if it's not the Lord's will, I rest in the fact he'll stop

me.

And you know, how many of you are parents?

How many breeders do we have?

Good job.

So when your kid learned how to walk and your kids walking around,

what's one of the first words that they learn after they walk?

No.

You see them.

They go to reach for something.

No.

Then they go the other direction.

You know, when they do their hand like this, it's like they're

trying to use the force.

Like Grogu trying to get that Whatever.

No, no.

But you don't tell them, stop walking.

You tell them what not to go after.

Are y' all hearing me?

Am I preaching to somebody?

You don't tell your Kid stop walking.

You tell your kid, no, you can't have that.

Here's my thing.

To the body of Christ.

This comes a time when you get up and you say, okay God, I.

Was seated for a season.

You got me to this destination.

I'm no longer Naaman.

Now I'm Paul and I'm gonna get up and start to move.

And if you don't want me to.

Do it, you can stop me, but you can't start me.

And I will tell you this, God, God is faithful to give you a no.

And that no will be a protection.

But he will also give you a yes.

I prophesied over this church for almost seven years.

We were going to a stadium.

And every time I reached for the stadium, the Lord said, no, Mike,

no, no, no.

And then one day he said, okay, Mike, you're mature enough

now.

Yes, go fill that stadium in Chicago and fill that whole thing

up.

See, the thing is, the things in your house are a no to your children

before their time.

But in, in a later season of maturation, your children will be

grabbing the.

Very thing you told them no to.

Can you imagine an 18 year old who don't know how to use a knife?

Cuz the mother never stopped saying no.

See, no to the knife is about the developmental season, not about

the permission.

But when you reach a maturity level, the Lord will say the very

thing he told you no to in immaturity.

Now he'll say, actually, not only can.

You touch the stove, but cook the whole family dinner now.

And then you'll learn.

Come on, I'm talking to somebody right now.

See, the Lord is not interested in blocking you, but he's

interested in redirecting you into mature, which is true discipleship.

To begin to say, I will give it to you when you're ready, but

I want to see if you know how to sit and I want to know if you

know how to walk.

And then you get this rhythm down.

And the Lord will release you into higher levels of authority.

So let's do this now.

Across every campus, stand to your feet.

Oh, this word was for somebody.

Because we're going to increase in discernment.

We're going to increase in discernment.

Some of us are in a naming era of our life where we got to keep

dipping.

We got to put the giving on reoccurring giving.

So our flesh gets fought every time we get paid.

We got to set that budget up.

Some of us, we don't need smartphones, we need a dumb phone.

Because we're like Naming.

We got to learn how to dip into the water.

So we, we got.

There's things in our lives we got to repeatedly deal with until

it's done.

Can I get an amen on that?

But then some of us are like Paul and we've moved past that season

and we gotta know how to move and do what God's called us to do.

And then he'll tell us a no.

If it's a no.

He'll send the no through wise counsel, through pastors, through

the local church.

He'll send a note through his spirit.

But how many of you believe that a no is a not yet?

If you're on a journey of maturity, a no is a not yet.

Some of you are single and you said, you're reaching for that man.

And the Lord says, no, daughter, no, no.

Like that Bugs Bunny meme, no, no.

Then all of a sudden, five years later, you find out that homie

only went to church to pick up chicks.

And he wasn't even a Christian to believe he was actually a wolf

in sheep's clothing.

He had the V1 shirt on, but underneath that V1 shirt was a ravenous

wolf.

See what I'm saying?

A Noah's protection.

So the Lord is moving right now.

I want to pray.

This is what I'm going to ask him.

We're going to go back and to worship for a moment.

Because worship is surrender.

Take me hostage, God.

I'm done trying to figure this out.

I'm done.

You saw what I did.

A righteous person becomes wealthy and their whole city is transformed.

An unrighteous man becomes wealthy and only his family is transformed.

Who's God going to release wealth to.

See?

The Lord is speaking right now.

He's just.

And it's not that he don't want you to have it.

He's just.

He'll test and try our heart.

And he'll say, lean not on your own understanding, but in all

your ways all.

So can we do a moment of surrender right now across all of

our campuses?

Here's what we're gonna do.

A moment of surrender.

I'm gonna count to three.

And when I get to three, if you just said, okay, God all means

all.

No more double mindedness, no more trying to do it my own way.

I'm gonna lock in now single mindedness, the mind of Christ, the

mind of the spirit.

I'm going, this is it.

I'm gonna be discipled.

I'm not fighting just like Naaman, just like Paul.

I'm gonna.

It's time.

When I get to three.

Let's put our hands in the air and across every campus, let's just

take a moment of unadulterated worship to him.

Ready?

One, two, three.

If that's you right now, come on.

Let's just worship.

Come on.

Come on, Miami.

Come on, South Florida.

Come on, Brooklyn.

Come on, Indiana.

Come on.