Follow The Cloud

Open your Bibles to Numbers chapter 9. We're going to meet at verse 15.

Numbers 9 · chapter mention

Numbers chapter 9, verse 15. We're going to read nine verses here,

Numbers 9:15

and this is going to impact your life.

I want you to hear clearly what the Spirit of the Lord will say to you through

these verses and through this teaching today. I believe I have a word from God for you.

Verse 15, now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, The cloud covered

the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony.

From evening until morning, it was above the tabernacle like the appearance

of fire. Somebody say fire.

So it was always, so it was always, it was always the cloud covered it by day

and the appearance of fire by night.

But whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle,

after that, the children of Israel would journey.

And in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tent.

At the command of the Lord, the children of Israel would journey,

and at the command of the Lord, they would camp.

Not because they felt that way, but at the command of the Lord.

As long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle, they remained in camp.

Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle,

the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey.

So it was when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days,

somebody say a few days, according to the command of the Lord,

they would remain in camp.

And according to the commandment of the Lord, they would journey.

Verse 21, so it was when the cloud remained only from evening until morning,

when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they would journey.

Whether by day or by night, whether by day or by night, whether by day or by

night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey.

Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the

tabernacle, the truth of Israel would remain encamped and not journey.

But when it was taken up, they would journey.

At the command of the Lord, they remained encamped, and at the command of the

Lord, they journeyed. they kept the charge of the Lord at the command of the

Lord by the hand of Moses.

Let me ask you this question this morning.

Does everything you plan work out according to your plan?

Well, let me ask it this way. Is there anything that you have planned that actually

worked out according to your plan?

No. The children of Israel were in bondage with the Egyptians for 430 years.

Moses, the Savior, a type and shadow of Jesus, rescued them,

delivered them with many mighty signs and wonders as they exited Egypt.

They were going to the promised land that was declared before them hundreds

of years before, and the trip only should have taken 11 days.

However, the trip took them 40 years.

You know how frustrated I would be if this trip should only be 11 days?

After about, I mean, six months, like what in the world? A year?

38 years? 40 years it took us to make this 11-day journey? But God was trying

to teach them in the process.

He was trying to get them into the promised land. But before he could do that,

he had to get Egypt out of them because he didn't want Egypt going to the promised land with them.

And he wanted to instruct them so that they would depend on him so that he would

discover from them their faithfulness, their dependency,

their ability to listen and to follow directions.

He wanted to teach them about themselves something that they would have never

discovered without wandering around the wilderness for 40 years.

And he wanted to teach them about himself some things they would have never

discovered while they're wandering around the wilderness for 40 years.

And so they had to be completely and utterly dependent upon the voice,

the presence, and the command of the Lord.

If you know me, if you've been with me long enough, you know me,

you trust me, you'll discover that I am one of the most stable people that you'll ever meet.

I'm also one of the most unstable people that you'll ever meet.

You say, well, what do you mean by that?

When Stacey and I first were started to date, someone asked her to describe

me in one word, and she used the word predictable.

And I thought that was an insult. I was young. I was dumb. I thought,

predict tomorrow, are you trying to say I'm boring?

Are you trying to say I don't have no spontaneous desires or I'm just predictable?

But I find out later what she meant by that was that I was stable,

that if it's 6.30 a.m., I don't have to wonder where Devon is. He's praying.

If it's a certain time, I don't have to guess where he is. He's working out.

He's doing these different things. He's predictable.

I know where he'll be when I discovered that later on I had to ask her to forgive

me because I really was upset at first When she said that but the unstable side

of me is I was born in Mississippi.

Then I moved to California. Then I moved to Alaska.

Then I moved back to California. Then I moved to Texas.

And now I'm here in North Carolina. A very stable man that has transitioned quite a few times.

While I've only been a member of four churches, first church gave my life to

the Lord at True Victory Baptist Church. Glory to God.

The Baptists know how to get people saved. Amen. man.

Then we, that was in Alaska. Then moved to California and Mount Olive Baptist Church.

Glory to God. And Pastor Reed, I mean, I'm sorry, Pastor Tyler sent me a happy,

pastor appreciation message just the other day.

I thought that was so kind. I was a teenager in that church.

Then we moved to Texas and I went to Eagle Mountain International Church.

Then I came to North Carolina and went to a church called the Branch Family

Church. It ended up closing down, and then we started True Life Fellowship Church. Amen.

And so while there's been some consistency, there's also been some transition.

And what we discover here about the Israelites is God's presence was always with them.

It was in the form of a cloud by day and a fire by night.

So in order to obey the instructions of the presence of the Lord and the command,

the Israelites had to be adaptable, flexible, and adjustable.

Say it with me, adaptable. Say it after me, flexible.

Adjustable. The cloud would be over them by day, which now they're in the wilderness.

It's hot in the wilderness.

And God's cloud was his presence and his protection from the sun.

Glory to God. The cloud would cover them by day.

And at night it was dark, pitch black, dark. and the fire would bring them comfort

and warm them up and give them light while they were in the wilderness.

And if the cloud remained, they would remain.

But if the cloud moved, they would move with the cloud.

So they had to be flexible, adaptable, and adjustable. God intentionally kept

his people in a place where they had to rely completely on him.

They could not be people that were stuck in a particular place.

They had to be a people that were willing to pick up their tent and move when God said move.

They could not always just rely on, well, I'm going to work this job forever.

They had to be ready for the Lord to say, it's time for you to do something else.

Many of you know my story. I was working at Wachovia Bank, large bank in town,

making over $125,000 a year.

The Lord said, I want you to leave this, and I want you to pastor a church.

Well, I wanted to stay at the bank.

I was hoping that Stacey would be in disagreement.

I was hoping she would say, no, we need to stay at the bank,

because I wanted to stay too.

I'm like, oh Lord, you know, unless you convince Stacey, you know,

we got to, you know, hey, I can't leave without this and that.

And how many of you know that there are times, well, I won't get that.

Let me stay on my subject. Okay, here we go.

But there are times that, let me just say, I will say that there are times that you got to leave.

You got to leave. The men, men need to leave at times. But Stacey was in agreement.

She said, you know what? Let's do it.

I wanted to stay at the bank, but I also wanted to obey God,

but we had to pick up our tent, and we had to move because the cloud was moving.

And we find out here, watch this, that every step is in constant dependence on him.

Every step has to be constant dependence on him and the key to experiencing

God's best is not in speed but in synchronization.

Did you hear that? The key to experiencing God's best is not in speed,

and I know we want things to go faster.

But how many of you know in my life, the things don't seem to go as fast as I want them to go.

The crock pot is taking too long.

I know the food is better when it comes out the crock pot than the microwave. Say amen to that.

So the key to experiencing God's best is not in speed, but in synchronization.

And so they had to move when the cloud and the fire moved.

They couldn't get stuck in the transition. And when the fire and the cloud stayed, they had to stay.

But I want to talk about the moving aspect.

Because following God may lack predictability.

Listen to me now. Following the Lord may lack predictability.

The movement of the cloud was unpredictable.

How many of you know things happen? You get fired from a job.

That's unpredictable. You got to move with the cloud. Amen.

I was talking to someone earlier this morning. I said one of the reasons I came

to North Carolina, because I got fired from a job in Texas.

Thank God I got fired from that job too, praise God, because I would have never

been here. And let me let you know I didn't do nothing wrong.

I was wrongly fired, okay? And I have tons of witnesses to justify that.

Okay and so y'all think oh lord what did he do he embezzled some money I did not.

I didn't want their money. I had my own money. Amen. We're not talking about just a weather event.

We're talking about direction from the Lord that it would move and divine direction

would come with the movement.

You read in that verse, sometimes the cloud would stay a few days,

sometimes a few months, sometimes years.

But whenever it moved, they hopped up and it moved. I mean, can you imagine?

You wake up in the morning. Oh, shoot. The cloud is moving. Pack your bags.

We got to go. There was no warning.

He would just move, and you would have to move with it. Some of y'all,

I want to talk to people, though, that likes to be comfortable.

You just like it all to always work out and always be comfortable.

I want to talk to somebody that just wants it always to work out. That's not life.

Things change rapidly. Matter of fact, there's only two constants.

You want to hear the two constants?

Jesus is the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. That's constant.

Change is constant.

Things are going to change no matter whether

you like it or not change is happening

somebody say follow the cloud when the cloud moved Israel moved when the cloud

stayed Israel stayed the only they only went where the presence of God led them

they didn't move until the cloud moved But when the cloud moved, they moved.

And God would not allow Israel to be led by routine or tradition.

Glory to God. They were not led by routine or tradition. They were led by the presence of God.

Your movement must flow from his presence, not from pressure,

opportunity, or emotion.

Let me say it again. Your movement must flow from his presence,

not from pressure, opportunity, or emotion.

They didn't move by convenience.

They moved by command.

Well, I don't feel like doing that anymore, so I ain't going to do that no more.

No, that didn't move them.

I've talked to pastors all over town, and people leave church left and right.

Why are you leaving? I just don't feel like going no more. Did the cloud move here or not?

The cloud could still be sitting there. You just move. You didn't feel like

going no more. Or maybe it was time to move. Amen.

Hallelujah. And you just move with the cloud.

Consistent obedience brings consistent direction. Let me say it again.

Consistent obedience brings consistent direction.

When the fire and the cloud moved, they were consistent to move with the presence of the Lord.

You know, in the New Testament, that those that are mature, that are led by

the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, Romans 8, 14.

For as many as are led, they're sons. Notice it didn't say that they are children,

because children can be immature.

Those that are led are sons, mature. And so in order to be led by the Spirit of God,

it takes an element of maturity to know what God's saying and to follow his

lead with confidence because consistent obedience brings consistent direction.

Now, there were times that the cloud would stay and you need to remain with

the cloud. that people had to be sensitive and patient.

One of the hardest things to do is to stay. There are many exit roads that are not going to be.

In life, many exit ramps to get off.

One of the hardest things to do is to just simply stay.

People have a hard time just staying.

And so there were times the cloud would not move and they had to stay.

There was no pattern. Did you notice? There was no pattern of how long the cloud remained.

We didn't know how long it was going to remain. No pattern behind it.

So we just had to stay. and Israel couldn't make plans independent of God.

They made plans based upon the movement of the cloud.

True faith is trusting that God's delay is his preparation.

Ooh, come on, somebody hear what I'm saying. God's delay, what seems to be taking

so long for you is actually his preparation in your life.

The Lord spoke this to me years ago. I was pressing in because something was taking forever.

And I was like, Lord, what is taking so long? Have I sinned?

Come on, somebody. Have I missed the mark?

What is taking so long? And the Lord spoke this to me, Kurt.

The Lord said to me, the other person is not ready yet.

I thought, oh, that's what's taking so long. I'm trying to get the other person

ready so that when you get to that place that you were going,

that person needs to be ready too.

That person's not ready yet. I'm getting them ready. Sometimes your delay is preparation.

And how many know you want the right thing at the right time with the right

people doing the right thing? Amen?

I ain't got time to raise nobody up, right? I want them ready so we can get

to the next level together. Somebody say amen to that.

Don't grow impatient in times of waiting.

God does his best work in the quiet moments.

When you are staying and remaining, don't grow impatient.

Don't let your emotions, don't let things that take place move you from the

presence of the Lord. Don't chase opportunity.

Follow God's instruction.

Don't chase opportunity. Follow God's instruction. Don't let emotions lead.

Only revelation should guide you. Are you listening to me today?

Somebody say amen to this.

Don't let emotions lead you. Stay. They could have got upset.

I'm tired of being in this hot desert. I'm going over here. No, they stayed.

They stayed. I won't do what they did do with a lot of complaining, by the way.

God's grace and mercy saved them. I mean, God said, I want to wipe them all out.

He told me, these are stiff-necked people.

I'll wipe them all. Moses was like, Lord, if you do that, the word about you

around town is going to be, you can't take care of these people.

Don't do it. God said, okay, for your sake, Moses, I won't do it.

Waiting seasons are not wasted seasons.

Waiting seasons are not wasted seasons. Sometimes we just got to stay.

And sometimes staying is the hardest thing to do.

It's just staying. God uses what feels like delays to prepare us for the next phase of our lives.

What feels like a delay is actually preparation to the next phase of your life.

Preparation. Somebody say preparation. Preparation. Preparation. He's preparing you.

Preparation for the next thing of your life.

God was teaching Israel patience and dependence.

We got to be taught to be patient and dependent.

Especially as adults, because we, you know, I want to do what I want to do.

Don't nobody tell me what to do. No, you need to be dependent like a child on

him. Lord, I am yours to command.

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

I'll go. Wherever you tell me to stay, I'll stay.

I don't like what he preached that Sunday. It don't matter, I'm going to stay.

Sometimes I don't even like the message I preach sometimes.

Somebody, I do a lot of speaking, and inevitably somebody tells you,

well, I didn't agree with that, and I went back and said, well,

I didn't agree with it either, you know.

Let's just move on. Amen. I say things sometimes that didn't come out like I

wanted to. Somebody say amen to that.

Sometimes his delay is the greatest demonstration of his love and protection.

Sometimes his delay. I was in line the other day at the dollar store.

And this lady had a cart of stuff. And I had one item.

And she looked back. She goes, if I'd have known you had one item,

I'd have let you go in front of me. I told her, I said, you know, I'm not in a hurry.

And I stood back. I thought, right now while I'm waiting, it's changing the

trajectory right now of my life.

I'm missing a car accident right now. Come on, somebody.

Just waiting on that lady. I'm missing some things that could have taken place

to harm me. God put me behind that lady.

The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.

My steps are ordered to be right. I'm just going to wait right here.

And it took her forever to ring that up.

And I just waited thinking I'm missing all type of catastrophes.

Are you listening to me today? Perspective, yeah.

I'm missing all type of concern just because God put me right here for delay

purposes. And I just waited.

Amen. And so sometimes you got to look at your situation and say,

I am a part of God's protection and his love when it feels like things are being delayed.

Stay faithful when God says stay.

That's what faithful actually really means. Continue to do the last thing God told you to do.

Don't move without the cloud and don't camp without the fire.

Did you get that? Don't move without the cloud and don't camp without the fire.

Say it after me. I will not move without the cloud and I will not camp.

Without the fire.

As you know, we started True Life Fellowship Church in 2011.

We started in a middle school with nothing.

Literally just a word from God. No speakers, no equipment.

We were in a stinky, smelly band room.

It was hot and it you know teenagers had a little odor in there right but we

brought our own Lysol praise the Lord.

We started there, and then we moved to Butler High School, and we moved into

that band room. And it was hot.

It was stinky. It was smelly. And in the summertime, they would not turn the AC on.

And we had to complain and complain. Come on, you need this AC on. We pan. Turn it home.

It was so hot one time that one of my elderly members could not stay.

They needed to go home. That's how hot it was in there.

Then we were driving. We were believing the Lord to find a location to meet in.

That was our own that we could use.

And people were telling me, oh, the church was at that point,

we weren't even a year old yet. People were saying, oh, you don't want to commit

that kind of money to getting a location and a facility. Go ahead and continue to rent.

Keep renting because you could save money at the school.

Nothing wrong with renting at the school, But the Lord began to move the cloud away from the school.

And we began to, like, we're going to look for a place.

And I even got a realtor. And I said, and I didn't like this realtor.

Now, the one we got now I like. The one we had before, I didn't like him at all.

And so we got him, and I should have let him go.

But we got him, and we began to look. And he never found nothing. Okay?

But he's wanting to get paid, though. And so we were driving down the road,

and Stacey was in the driver's side, and I was in the passenger's side, which is very rare.

Never happens. Stacey never likes to drive if I'm around.

I have to say, I'm super sleepy. I can't keep my eyes open. I need you to drive. LAUGHTER.

Oh you can't look look look okay pull over goodness that's the only time she'll

drop then I get in the passenger and go to sleep,

we passed by the facility that we're in now and that was before this bridge

and all that was here it was open and we saw this big old for lease sign I said

let's check this place out we come to this place,

and there was two subdivisions there were two sides there was a side on this

side and a side on this side And we were like, we're going to get one side, you know?

It was a little more in the rent, but we're going to get one side.

But Stacey had a dream that if we just got one side, we would be like a goldfish.

And we would shrivel up and die because we couldn't expand.

So I was like, we need to find another building.

And the Lord said, no, you don't. Tear down the wall. And there was a wall that

went across in this building.

Tear that wall down. So I called the landlord, great guy, and I said,

hey, we want to tear down the wall.

And he was like, that's fine as long as you pay to put it back up if I need

to put it back up. No problem.

Right? So I said, all right, we can do that. We tore down the wall,

opened this up. If you look in the ceiling, you can see that's where the wall was.

I didn't clean that up because nobody looks up like that. Amen. Amen.

Food for thought. Don't worry about fixing anything high or low.

Nobody walks around like this and nobody walks around like this.

Amen. Fix everything like this.

Tore down the wall. That was going to quadruple what we were paying at Butler

High School to get in this building.

Quadruple. We're a brand new church, one year old. The Lord said, do it.

August 12, 2012, 2.45 in the morning. The Lord said, turn on the wall and get the building.

I thought, oh, Lord, how are we going to be able to pay?

And he didn't answer. So that meant he told me already what to do.

We came in here moved in this building did a lot of renovation in this building

we signed a two year lease the first one was a two year lease the old,

realtor said we can only do five years because he wanted a little extra money,

and I was like I didn't want to do five years and I said I need to talk to the,

owner personally and he was like we're not going to do five years we can do

a two year he said he told me that too Did you want to do a five-year?

I said, we need to get him out of here.

We did a two-year. You know, here I am thinking the cloud was just going to

stay here for two years, and we would move on to something else.

Well, two years went by like that.

And I came back, and I said, okay, we need to sign another lease.

We signed another lease.

The cloud's going to move after that.

The cloud didn't move. We signed another lease after it.

Well, the cloud's going to move. And then the Lord told me in 2021,

prepare to exit this facility.

He said, because the landlord's going to sell this building.

And that's when we started, how do you remember, the Exodus Project?

Believe in God. For $300,000 to come in, glory to God, that we can have this cash.

And as we begin to search for a new place of worship, we would have money that

we can put down on the building.

By God's grace, $300,000 came in.

Hallelujah. Glory to God. Thank you, Jesus.

He said, Exodus project prepare. And then the landlord called me after the Exodus project was completed.

He said, I'm selling a building. Do you want to buy it? I was like, nah.

I prayed about it, and I saw the cloud moving.

I said, nah, the cloud's moving. There's another place that the Lord wants us

to meet and worship, that we can impact lives and reach other people and help

teenagers and children and single moms and married couples,

and that we could become a church of 300 strong,

faithful, reliable believers in the place that people can see us,

recognize us. We're hidden where we are now.

And I said, no, the clouds moved.

So by faith, I told him, we're not buying the building. We could have bought it.

We could have stayed. How many know it was easier to stay?

It really was. The money, we could have negotiated. Easier to stay.

But the Lord said, no, I want y'all to seek me for a new place.

So I told him, I said, we're not going to buy it. He even dropped the price at $100,000.

I want to help y'all. I'll drop it 100,000. I'm like, oh, Lord, that sounds good.

I just kept hearing in my heart, the cloud's moving. Somebody say, the cloud's moving.

You got to follow the cloud. The cloud's moving. The Holy Spirit,

he's saying go. I said, no.

He said, okay, let's, here's what we'll do. I don't want you guys homeless.

And it gives me an opportunity to sell the building. He said,

hey, let's sign a six-month leave.

And by the end of the year, if I sell the building, then you guys have still

time. I won't, you know, make you homeless.

And vice versa, if we found something sooner, we would stay and so on and so forth.

Amen. He's a good man and the favor of the Lord was all over it.

Well, then we began to look. The first thing we did, you know what I mean?

You know, you got to be practical.

First thing we did was say, okay, let's go to a bank and just see what we can get approved for.

We got an approval letter. Pre-qualified. Woo!

Somebody say amen. Amen. So we begin to look for facilities.

Found a facility right away.

Really, really thought that's where the cloud is stopping. Really felt strong about that.

Then somebody came in and just completely outbid us. Right? I'm not getting in no bidding war.

And the Lord didn't say conquer through a bidding war. He said, I got a place. for you.

And we say, no, that's not it. Whoever want it, they want it bad.

Okay? Let them have it. We're going to move with the cloud.

Begin to look. How many know it can be discouraging moving with the cloud?

How many of you know following the Holy Spirit ain't always Doritos,

cupcakes, soda pop, and funnel cakes?

Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes you cry.

Sometimes you don't know what to do next. Sometimes you feel like God's forgotten about you.

Sometimes you feel like he's done blessing me.

This is it. We're looking. We're looking.

We're looking, Lord. Where is it? You said, I go to prepare a place for you.

I know he's talking about heaven, but I took that as here in the now. I go to prepare a place.

We find this place. We find that place.

And we're looking. And then it seems to be hindrance after hindrance.

How many of you know what I'm talking about in your own personal life?

Hindrance after hindrance after hindrance. You know, there are spirits of hindrances

that have been assigned to impede your progress.

And you got to speak to those spirits and command them to cease and desist in their maneuvers.

You got to shout, do not hinder me. Somebody shout that right now. Do not hinder me.

You got to say it like you mean it. You hinder a spirit, you don't hinder me.

And so we found another property. Glory to God, this may be it. Hallelujah.

Let's get ready to maybe put an offer in on it.

Our realtor, who's a spirit-filled man of God, he said, we need to get a new

pre-qualifying letter.

I said, that don't make no sense. We already have one. He said,

no, we need a new one. If we're going to put an offering on this new building, we need a new one.

And so I was like, okay, all right. He said, it just looks good if we had a

fresh new pre-qualifying letter. I said, oh, it was only three months old.

He's like, well, you know, they should be easy getting it. I said,

all right. So we contact the lender. They're like, yeah, sure.

Then they come back like, oh, we can't honor that first. What?

We're going to have to reduce it. Well, no, no. Income's looking great. Everything's the same.

How many know that when you are believing God for big things, big checks came in?

And so when they, praise God, yeah. So when they look at it,

though, they look at you're on a trajectory like this.

But how many of you know they don't come in every month?

So it looks like you're on the decline. Oh, the church is on the decline.

We're not on the decline. We have some big checks that come in.

If you just look at the numbers, it makes sense, right?

Oh, no, yo, we got to reduce it. Another hindrance.

Hindrance. Well, how many of you know we left them alone and we found another one? Amen.

I found some stuff. Like one time he sent me something, too,

and it had somebody else's name on it.

Yeah, like Pastor Josh Burgess. Like, well, wait a minute now.

My name ain't Josh Burgess?

And I told him, oh, that was a simple mistake. And my realtor said,

no, no, no, that's not a simple mistake. That's a big deal.

And that's when he said, we need to ask for another. How many of you know?

So we're working with a new lender.

But I remember Creflo Dollar. A Cruffle Dollar is a preacher in Atlanta.

When I was younger, I really missed a Cruffle Dollar a whole lot more than I

do today. But he said something when he built their building.

They built their church building debt-free.

And this is what he said. He said, we didn't build it debt-free because I was

such a strong man of faith.

He said, we built it debt-free because nobody would loan us the money.

He said, I went to bank after bank after bank after bank.

Nobody would loan us the money, so we had to do it debt-free.

And I thought, that makes a lot of sense.

Amen. I was listening to recently a guy by the name of Andrew Womack.

And he said that he was believing the Lord for the purchase of property. He went to the bank.

He said the bank took them, if I'm speaking this correctly, the bank took them

something like 10 months to approve them or something for it.

He said in the meantime, he just started believing God, talking to his partners about it.

And then the money came in, and they came back and said, oh,

we can approve it. And he said, nope, I don't want your money no more.

Amen, nope, nope, we're good. Amen.

What am I telling you? I'm saying when you follow the cloud,

the cloud sometimes will lead you places you don't want to go.

And you experience some things you don't want to experience.

But in those experiences, I've learned some things.

I woke up the next morning when they told us they had dropped that amount I

was mad can I be honest I was mad I was like you know I'm going to go buy it

anyway and hold this up and take it to court this is what you said,

don't know if I would have won but.

I woke up next morning and I heard in my heart the Lord said this is my protection.

Glory to God he said this is my protection and then he reminded me I got something

for you, but in this process, there's some things that I'm teaching you.

Come on, somebody. You can only learn patience by your faith being tested.

You don't get patience by praying for it. Lord, give me more patience.

What you just asked for is more testing.

You only learn patience by testing, by waiting. Waiting.

And I said, okay. I said, you know what? God is not through with true life. Amen.

We ain't worried about what the world says that they can do.

Amen. God can get to us anything, from anyone, anywhere, at any time. Glory to God. Amen.

He started this work, and he's going to complete it.

The hand of the Lord is on us. Amen?

We ain't worried. Your pastor is not worried. I'm just following the class. And I don't have any ego.

No ego. I've just stripped myself of the ego. Well, we got to go here. No, no.

Lord, we'll meet at the Holly's house if we have to. Amen?

We'll meet at the Collins house if we have to. Amen. Hey, we're going to be

somewhere. That's right. Amen.

And God's got us. He's got us.

Even in your own life, if it feels shaky, unstable, you're just in transition.

You're just following the cloud. And it always don't feel right.

It always don't feel comfortable.

You don't always feel secure. I don't always feel like Stacy loves me.

But she does. Amen. And so who cares how we feel?

That changes. That's temporary. We just follow the cloud.

Romans, put that other verse on the screen, not Romans 8, 14.

What was the other one I gave y'all, guys? Yes, Psalm 32, 8. Watch this.

The Lord says, I will guide you.

He didn't say, I may guide you.

If you're good, I will. I don't like you no more. No, no, he said,

I will guide you along, not a good pathway, but the best pathway for your life.

I will advise you and watch over you.

That sounds like personal attention right there that he is giving us.

Look at it in the Passion Translation.

I hear the Lord saying, I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you

along the pathway for your life.

I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your God.

Watch this. So don't make it difficult.

Don't be stubborn when I take you where you've not been before.

Don't make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with me.

Amen. Come on, somebody put your hands together. Just don't make it. Just come.

The Lord's going to lead and guide you, but he never does it the quickest way.

Matter of fact, in Exodus 17, it said God intentionally took the Israelites

on the longest route to the promised land.

Why? Because there's some things that you got to learn in the process.

I wish that the things of God were like an elevator, that I can hit.

I'm on floor one, and I can hit floor seven, and I'm there.

But it's more like an escalator.

It's just slow it's like up up parallel up there that that's how the things

of god are and you learn some things i was talking to sean before the service

and there's some things that she said i'm not even worried about and i'm worried

that i'm not worried about it i said don't be worried.

Don't be worried that you're not worried about it. You're going to another level.

Another level of trust. Another level of dependency.

Another level of faithfulness. You're going to another level,

but it's going to take following the cloud.

And the cloud may stay.

And you're going to have to stay. You can't rush it. You can't make it happen.

You can't force it to happen. I told Stacy the other day because we was a-lookin'.

We both had our phones out, and we was all over town.

We was looking. And the Lord spoke to me, and I'm like, that's too small.

Oh, that's, that's, oh, there's a, Steve found a building for us that was in Marshfield.

That was, we can pay cash for it. Like, well, we ain't going to Marshfield.

Amen. We're not going to Marshfield, okay?

But I know, we're looking.

We're looking. And the Lord gave me a word, and I shared it with Stacey.

We're looking, and we're getting upset at each other.

Well, you already sent me that. Well, that ain't going to work.

Can I be transparent with you today? That's real, huh? Don't send me that no

more. That's the second time you sent me that.

The Lord said, now this word is for us. It's not for Perry, our realtor,

okay? He's going to listen. This is for us.

He said, you ain't going to find the building.

He said, the building's going to find you. I said, woo-hoo! Glory to God! Hey!

We didn't find this building. This building found us when we was driving. Amen!

We went to Butler. We didn't find Butler. Butler found us! Well,

how do you know the next one is, we ain't going to find it.

It's going to find us. Hallelujah!

Now, Perry, Perry needs to keep looking, okay? That ain't a word for Perry,

okay? That's a word for us, amen?

And God is going to lead us there as we follow the cloud.

Even in your own life, just follow the cloud. This is where the cloud is,

and this is where it's not comfortable. It's cold.

It's hot. I don't know where I am, but this is where the cloud.

How are we going to make ends meet? How is that going to work?

How am I going to ever find my spouse? Just follow the cloud.

How's it going to happen? Just follow the cloud.

How are we going to help our children learn responsibility?

Just follow the cloud. Just follow the cloud.

And the cloud will lead you wherever you need to go.

He already told us in Romans 8, 14. Let's put it one more time on the screen.

Those that are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons and daughters of

God. we're going to be led but we're probably not going to be led in a straight line.

Just know, I know we can preach supernatural acceleration. I believe in that.

I know we can preach things happening quickly, and I do.

I believe in it. But more often than not, things take time.

And you got to be flexible, adaptable, and adjustable.

Because things take time. Now, there's nothing that I can think of right now

in the moment that happened the way I thought it would happen.

Not one thing. I remember when I wanted to meet my wife, I wanted it to happen like the movie.

I wanted to roll up, you know, in the mall.

See this dime, you know, over there.

I come in, you know, La Suave.

What's your name?

That's how I wanted it to happen, you know.

I remember one particular time back in the day, I rolled up on this one. You know, I was single.

I said, what's your name? She said, why do you want to know my name? I turned and walked up.

I looked back. She following me. Why do you want to know my name?

I walked up. I said, look, I look back.

I said, because all your dreams are going to be made true if you just give me your name.

I didn't marry her, praise the Lord. I married the right one. Amen.

This is how you experience true life.