That's Not What I Told You | Pastor Brian Bullock

Genesis chapter 16.

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

And let's look at verses 1 through 2.

If you're new to Union Church and you're wondering, man, is this one of those churches where the preacher makes you turn to your neighbor five times, three times?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, I'm a turn-to-your neighbor preacher.

And uh and so I'm only gonna make you do it one, two, three, twenty times.

It's just it just is what it is.

But hear me, I have a great turn to your neighbor story, by the way.

A great turn to your neighbor story.

We have a married couple in our church, and uh I asked them, I said, Hey, how did you guys meet?

And uh they said, Well, we were sitting next to each other uh during a service, and uh they said that you kept saying turn to your neighbor.

And they said the guy said he said about the fifth time we turned to each other, and you said turn to your neighbor.

I turned around, I said, My God, my God, my God, my God.

So either you can do what I'm asking you to do, you can either complain or you can find your husband.

Anyway, it's up to you.

You make a decision, it's your choice.

Whatever you want to do, whatever you want to do.

Let's go to Genesis chapter 16.

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

Let's look at verses 1 through 2.

Midhill, let's make it do what it do.

It's the ESV.

It says, now, Sarai, Sarai.

I'll be referring to her as Sarah throughout the rest of this message because that's what God changed her name to.

But in the text it says, now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children.

She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.

And Sarai said to Abram, Behold, now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.

Go into my servant.

It may be that I shall obtain children by her.

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

The title of my message is, That's not what I told you.

Can you just be conviction for your neighbor and just look at them and say, That's not what God told you?

Come on, can you text somebody who you know is scared for their life and say, That's not what God told you.

That's not what God told you.

Father, open up our eyes and our ears that we may receive a word from you that will change and transform our lives forever more.

Hind me behind your cross, that your voice be louder than mine.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Everybody say, Everybody say, That's not what I told you.

Have you ever played the game in Hill Telephone?

Okay.

Anybody 30 and older, 40 and older, 50 and older?

The game telephone, you line some people up and uh and uh you you you tell somebody something, you you whisper it to them, and and then they're supposed to tell the next person and tell the next person, tell the next person, and the goal is to get it through everybody without the message having been changed.

But how many people know when you play the game telephone?

If you're dealing with anybody, five or more people, you realize that I start to say a message, and by the time it travels to the next person, to the next person, that message done change three, four, five, six times.

Anybody ever played that game?

I mean, you literally whispered into a person's ear, bacon and eggs.

Bacon and eggs.

And by the time it makes it to the last person, they said, What did I say?

You said shaking my legs with a bacon cuda sandwich on the beach.

And you're like, What?

That's not what I said.

Who changed that up?

What I've learned is that that doesn't just happen in a game, it happens with your life.

That God has spoken a dream to you, He has spoken a promise, He has told you about your future, He has shown you something about your life, He has told you about an assignment, He has placed a dream on the inside of you, and what happens is while you're waiting for the dream to happen, delay whispers something in your ear, pressure whispers something in your ear, pain whispers something in your ear, frustration whispers something in your ear, disappointment, whisper something in your ear, and before you know it, you are now following something that God never told you to do because the message got messed up during time.

Push your neighbor says there's gonna be a real good message.

You should lean in.

There are some of you in this room, you are successful, you you have a good life, you you you you've built something very impressive.

Here's the issue: what you have built is not something God assigned for your life, and you got to get to a place where you have to ask yourself, is this what God told me to build?

Is this what God told me to do?

My desire is that you experience the dream, but I want you to have the dream that God has for you, not the dream that you came up with on your own.

We're in a series called Dream Again, dream again, and it's my assignment to awaken that dream in you.

Some of you, the dream died years ago, some of you, a dream is like Lazarus sitting in a tomb for three days, and I gotta tell that dream to come back to life.

I I want you to know that the dream that God whispered in your ear when you was 10, the dream that God told you when you was 21, the dream that God spoke to you when you was 30, God says that dream is still alive, but here's the problem.

The problem is that it hasn't happened yet.

And because it hasn't happened yet, you are starting to question, did I hear God correctly?

Remember back in the day, they used to have the commercial.

Am I coming in clear?

Can you hear me now?

Right?

Can you hear me now?

Can you hear me?

Sometimes it's like God, did I hear that right?

And here's what I've learned.

When you're not sure if you've heard God right, you will fill in the blanks with your own narrative.

When you're not sure that you heard God right, you will fill in the blanks with your own narrative.

And what I gotta do is I gotta get you back focused on what God called you to do and not things that you created in your mind.

That's what's happening in the passage with Abraham.

God speaks to Abraham.

Abe is talking about he needs a son, and God says to Abraham, Abraham, I'm gonna bless you with a son.

Now, please don't sit on this.

Please don't think that he just wants a son so that he can have a great uh baby shower on Instagram.

Don't think he wants a son so he can have cute pictures.

Don't think he wants a son so that he can have a bow tie, and a son can have a bow tie, and they can go on bow tie trips together.

That's not what this is.

In that day, you needed a son.

A son represented your wealth.

They were going to be the one that was gonna take the family business.

They were gonna be the ones to make sure that as you got older, that you would be taken care of.

In fact, social status, social acceptance, social honor, it came from being able to have a son.

Don't be one of them women who didn't have no child.

You're barren, you were looked down upon.

They would talk about you at the water cooler.

They would say, So and so, did you hear so-and-so?

She can't have no man, so-and-so, barren.

That was you were you were frowned upon socially.

So when Abraham's asking God for a son, he's saying, God, there's a dream that I really need you to bring to pass.

And the Lord says to Abraham, Yes, you're gonna have a son.

Which essentially what she's saying is, Hey, that dream is gonna happen.

And I came to tell you what God told Abraham.

I don't care who you are in this room, God got a dream for your life, and that dream shall come to pass.

Say, I receive it.

I don't care if you're 18, God got a dream for your life.

I don't care if you're 60.

Don't be the you did I don't care.

No, your age don't make no difference.

Don't be up in here 65 and don't have no dream for your life.

Or passing them dream things is for them young folk.

No, if there's breath still in your body, then God still got a dream, He's working through you, and it is not over.

And I came to tell somebody that God's got a dream for your life.

Turn to your future husband.

I'm sorry, turn to your neighbor, say God's got a dream for your life.

God's got a dream for your life.

God, God, hear me.

God's got a dream for your life.

God, God's God, there are some of you in this room, you you knew the church, you've been away from God, and there's some of you feel like, does God even see me?

Does God even care about me?

Does God even know me?

Let me make this loud and clear.

God has a dream for your life.

Matter of fact, if you ain't got a dream for yourself, don't worry, God got one for you.

Don't worry about it.

And I promise you, it's better than anything you could have come up with on your own.

So he's got a yes.

This ain't no no sermon.

This is a yes sermon.

Here's the problem.

The problem is year after year after year after year after year after year after year.

Nothing has happened yet.

Think about it.

Every month they go take a pregnancy test, and the test says she's still not pregnant.

So now, what do you do when what God said and what I see don't add up?

What do you do when what He promised and what I'm experiencing in my present reality do not line up?

That is the challenge of the day.

That is the challenge of the passage, that is the challenge that is happening with many of us in our lives.

Things just don't add up.

So, what did they do?

Sarah came up with an idea.

Okay, she came with an idea.

Okay.

I got kids here.

Uh so I'm gonna speak in cold.

Um Sarah said, Abe, you killing me.

You you honey, uh, you're you're you're alive and well, God, God's blessed your life.

But I'm tired.

I'm exhausted.

Truth is I'm tired.

So she said, we we gotta we gotta come up with something else, cuz, cuz this can't be it.

This we let's let's do something else.

And so, man, you shouldn't be laughing.

This ain't even funny.

This I'm just trying to tell you she said, so here's what we're gonna do.

Here we're gonna do.

I have a maidservant.

Yep, her name's Hagar.

Yep.

Take that energy, bring that over there.

Go ahead, brother.

Go ahead.

Now, now and Abraham, you gotta respect Abraham, you gotta respect Abraham.

Abraham said, I I I I I don't know how I'm gonna do this, but I I'll try.

Abraham said, I if it's for God, if it's if it's for our future, I'll go in there and give me my best shot.

Now, now now before this is crazy, now before you judge Sarah, please know that this was not an uncommon practice in that day.

Don't look at this through an American filter.

Oh, she's nasty, that's nasty.

I would never let my man do.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No, that's not that you you are here in America.

But but in Jewish culture in that time, it was very common that if the wife could not have children, or even if the wife could have children, that the maidservant would add more sons to the family, continue the family legacy and bloodline.

It was not uncommon.

In fact, it was culturally acceptable.

Here's the problem: the problem is that just because it was culturally acceptable, don't mean that's what God said for you.

And I came to preach to some people in the room, you are doing things that society says it's okay and gave you a thumbs up.

But heaven said that's not the assignment I have for your life.

That is not what I called you to do.

And just because everybody else around you gets to do it, don't mean that you get to do it.

Some of you are frustrated with God because you like, how come my friend get to do that?

And they get to do that, God said, because that's them.

God said, But what I'm asking you to do, it don't matter what culture says, you got to know what I'm calling you to do.

Oh man, heel, this is good.

Uh I I believe, I believe that the greatest threat to a dream is not opposition.

Some of you, opposition don't bother you.

You've been fighting your whole life, all my life.

I had to fight.

Yep.

Here is the greatest, greatest threat to a dream.

It is an alternate plan that you came up with that's different than what God said.

The greatest threat to a dream is some type of shortcut, some option B that you created in your mind to accomplish what God told you another way to do.

And so Sarah came up with this idea, but we've got to stop, Sarah.

And this is my first point.

It's what I'm saying to her, but it's also what I'm saying to you.

Every good idea is not a God idea.

Oh, you're not gonna like me today.

Oh, you're not gonna like me today.

Every good idea is not a God idea.

Sarah, your plan is reasonable, it's legal, it's culturally familiar, it's successful, it's just not what God said.

And at some point, you have to sit down and say, This is good, but is it God?

Is this what God said?

Let me tell you something about your pastor.

I I got ideas for days.

I eat ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I always got ideas.

All day I was sitting just thinking, and I was sitting there just thinking, maybe I should write a book.

Maybe I should get a Patreon, maybe I should start a podcast, maybe I should start an e-course about starting a podcast.

Hmm nobody's done that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Maybe I should go ahead.

Maybe I should record that album just this Friday.

My hit song's coming out.

We on the move.

It's coming out this Friday.

Pastor, what song are you going?

We getting up out of here.

That's the song I'm sick of.

Yeah, maybe maybe I should start a seminar.

Maybe I should do a seminar.

Maybe I'll do a seminar on how to preach.

So maybe I'll do a seminar on how to plant a church.

Maybe I'll do a seminar on how to grow a church.

Maybe I'll do a seminar on how to get kicked out of a county.

That's right.

How to get kicked out of a county seminar.

I'll teach you how to do it.

We've been kicked out.

But hear me.

And guess what?

I'll tell my friends, and they'd be like, Yeah, man, that's good.

That's good.

Yo, that's good.

Yo, that's so good.

Oh, that's good.

Yeah, but is it God?

Who are y'all mad at me today?

I know y'all so mad.

Because not every good idea is a God idea.

And I don't want you spending energy on something God ain't even involved in.

Ain't nothing worse than climbing a ladder to success only to realize it was connected to the wrong building.

Abraham cost his life so much stress because of this good idea.

I mean stress upon stress upon stress because of a good idea.

How much of your life is stressful right now because you're in a good idea?

Some of you are dating a good idea right now.

Just look straight ahead.

Don't even turn to the right or to the left.

Just say, I don't know what you're talking about, huh?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You you you driving a good idea right now, can barely make the payment.

Oh yeah, that trip was a good idea, yeah.

And you've been you've been you've been drowning ever since you went on it.

There's some of you in this room, you you are you are doing something that was just a good idea, and everybody cheered it, and everybody said it was cool, but God said, I ain't in it.

God said, That ain't me.

God said, That's not what I told you.

That's not what I said.

Here's the problem.

Lean in, lean.

Here's the problem.

The problem is that a good idea and a God idea look like identical twins.

You can't always tell the difference.

They, they, they, they look the same.

By the way, the enemy knows this and he capitalizes on it.

Do you know that the Bible calls the devil a deceiver?

Which means he don't just bring you bad stuff.

That's not deception.

Deception is to bring you something good that ain't God.

So, so so I got men in this room who I'll say, I'll say, hey brother, when you gonna get married?

And they say, Man, P, I'm just looking for what I'm looking for, I'm looking for a dark-skinned, long-haired woman with nice teeth.

And and she said, She right here.

And turn to your neighbor.

Anyway.

What the enemy will do, and I'm gonna talk about you, but what the enemy will do, the enemy say that's what you want.

Is that what you want?

So, so instead of getting one of God's daughters, he'll get one of his treacherous.

I mean, he gets one of his treacherous girls.

Hey, come on over here, girl.

And he brings her by you in the mall, in the store, in the and you're sitting there saying, Oh my god, dark skin, long hair, nice teeth.

Oh my god, how the Lord did, the Lord did it.

All of us out here.

I see, here you go.

I mean, you just so have look at look at what the Lord has done.

I've never looked all in that little hey, and it looked good, but God said that's not enough.

You're gonna have to get somewhere.

That's why you need Holy Spirit, that's why you need to come to church, that's why you need a prayer life, so you can say, All right, she got everything I think I want, but I've got to find out is this something that's good or if this something that is God, because if it's not God, all right, watch this, watch this, watch this, watch this, watch this.

She might be good.

Let's say she's not one of the treacherous ones.

She might be good, she just might might not be good for me.

Yeah, let that out.

Let that out of your spirit, let that out of your because not every good door is your door.

I'm preaching, I'm preaching.

Not every good opportunity is your opportunity, not every good thing is your thing.

Okay, let me give you an example.

Let's say you're talking to somebody, they say, Man, I was so sick.

I was sick, man.

I was I was hurting.

Um, and I went to the doctor, they prescribed me some medication.

I went to the store, I got the medication, I took the medication.

Man, sooner to that medicine, I feel I feel like a brand new person.

Whoo, I feel so good.

The worst thing you can do is say, Can you give me some of them pills?

Give me some of them pills.

If because if it if it did that for you, my God, what could it do for me?

Well, the same pill that made them feel good is making you throw up.

Why is it making you throw up?

Because it was not prescribed for you, it was prescribed for them.

Forget the pill, give me the name of the doctor because it sounds like the doctor knows how to prescribe the right thing for the right person, and what is menacing for them is misery for you.

And I came to preach to somebody, don't worry about the pills.

I got a doctor that can show you the prescription directly for your life, and he can tell you exactly what you're supposed to be doing.

Whew, this is not this is not the first time we've seen this, y'all.

It's not the first time we've seen this, we've seen this before.

We saw this in the Garden of Eden.

Remember Adam and Eve?

Look at Adam and Eve, Genesis chapter three.

Manhill, y'all can't say this, holler at your boy.

Genesis chapter three, verse six and seven.

It says, When the woman saw, remember God told Adam, don't touch the tree.

I'm sure Adam told his wife, don't touch the tree, don't eat from the fruit.

What happens?

Why did Eve eat from the tree that God said, Don't eat from?

What happened?

What happened was when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was what?

It was good.

She's thinking, if God don't want me to touch it, then it will be bad, it'll be poisonous.

But it was never bad, it wasn't poisonous, it just wasn't what God wanted for them.

So, what happens?

It says, Does the tree look good for food?

It said, pleasing to the eye, desirable for gaining wisdom.

She took some and she ate it.

Don't we all wish it stopped right there?

Why didn't it stop right there?

Because the spirit of petty rose up on the inside of her.

Look at the next verse.

And she also gave some to her husband.

It said, she also gave some to her husband.

Who was with her, he ate it.

Watch this.

And the eyes of both of them were open.

And they realized, oh, I'm naked.

And what happened because of shame?

It says, watch the next verse.

They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

You know what happened?

They ate the fruit and said, oops.

And I'm trying to save you from keeping saying oops.

How long are you gonna keep saying oops?

You are 45 years old.

We gotta stop saying oops.

At some point, you gotta say, this is God or it's nothing at all.

I am tired of doing good stuff and then saying oops when it falls apart when I should have just did the God thing from the beginning.

You too old to be saying oops.

Oops is something I was a child, I was young, I didn't know, I wasn't educated, I was ignorant.

That that day's done, and now you gotta say, I'm too old, I'm too grown, too many people depending on me.

My health is on the line.

I can't keep saying oops.

At some point, I can't be no, I gotta start doing what the Lord's called me to do.

Push the neighbor, say he's preaching to you, not me.

This is all about you.

Man, he'll tell him I'm preaching to you.

Slap the person in front of him, say he's talking to you, slap him.

Then he'll slap, okay.

Push the person in front of you, say he's talking to you.

Put your finger in you.

Okay.

Some of y'all are so discouraged.

You're like, Pastor, this is horrible.

This is a horrible sermon.

This is horrible.

Okay, I'm gonna help you.

I'm gonna help you.

I'm about to give you six questions you need to ask before you make another major decision in your life.

Okay, they're gonna throw it on the screen.

Okay, number one, this is before I make a major decision, I gotta ask.

Number one, does this align with scripture?

Don't tell me that it's God, and it's nowhere in that Bible.

Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, so let a word be established.

You cannot just come up.

Any anything that's just based on your word is heresy.

It's Bible when I know that it's confirmed through scripture, and give me two or three verses at that.

Okay, am I acting from prayer or panic?

Is this just you panicking, making a decision, or are you doing this from prayer?

Number three, does this require me to compromise my values?

If I have to compromise my value, if I gotta lie, still cheat, manipulate, hide, hold information, can't tell nobody, secret, if I gotta do all that work to do this, then it can't be, it's not a God idea.

Uh number four, will this still appear wise after my emotions settle?

Will this still will this still appear wise after my emotions settle down?

Will I still say, Thank God I did that?

Number five, have spiritually mature people confirmed it.

Get some wisdom.

And if you don't have access to people with wisdom, then you you're in the wrong rooms.

You need to be able to have some phone numbers, and you need to be able to have some access to people that I know there's a spiritually mature person.

They pray, they talk to the Lord, they ain't perfect, but I know that at least they're sober-minded when it comes to the things of God.

And I know if they hear what I'm saying, they can they can spiritually say, uh uh-mm, uh-uh, or let's pray.

Number six, am I pursuing obedience or merely trying to make the discomfort stop?

Am I pursuing obedience or am I merely trying to make the discomfort stop?

You know why you want a God idea, not a good idea?

Because a good idea requires your hand.

But a God idea requires God's hand.

And I've just determined if my hand gets me in the room, then my hand has to keep me in the room.

If my hand gets me through that door, then my hand gotta keep me through that door.

But if God's hands open the door for me, then I don't have to do anything but rely on the hand of God, He will take care of the rest.

Any room God gets me in, God knows how to keep me in.

Do I got anybody in this room that just determined in your heart meant heel that I don't want to go into another room or opportunity that I gotta do it myself?

The next thing I walk into, God's gonna open the door, God's gonna breathe on it, God's gonna say yes, and I will wait on God until He shows up on my behalf.

Somebody shout amen.

You want to know the truth?

Here's the truth, here's the truth.

The truth of the matter is that Sarah was just straight up frustrated, and and so are you.

I know what I'm talking about.

I know it's quiet.

I know because y'all don't church, y'all church people, charge people get on my nerve.

How you doing?

Bless not stress, call not a pause.

Blessing is sitting in the field.

You didn't even know what field what field you blessed in.

Blessing is sitting in the field.

And God knows after you do all them church sangs and all them rhymes, you frustrated.

Matter of fact, I'm gonna let you have a moment with God right now.

I'm gonna let every man here, I'm gonna don't worry about your neighbor.

Just say to God.

Say, I'm frustrated.

Go ahead, say it, say I'm frustrated.

Some of you need to say it, some of you need to say it.

Come on, I'm frustrated.

I'm frustrated because a dream that you put in my heart has not happened yet.

I'm frustrated.

I'm frustrated.

And you know what God's saying?

God saying, I know.

I know.

Your little rhymes and church sayings didn't do nothing to me.

You sharing your little Monday motivational meme.

God knows how you really feel.

You can do that for them Instagram followers, but I know you're frustrated.

I know how you feel.

Let me tell everybody who's frustrated.

Here's my second point, and it is for Abraham Sarah.

Don't let frustration be your motivation.

Man, I feel like preaching in the place today.

Don't let your frustration be your motivation.

Can I get an amen?

I got you.

Control your frustration or your frustration will control you.

I'm gonna hurt your feelings so bad.

Put on your shoes, I'm about to step on your toe.

When frustration becomes your motivation, relief becomes more important than obedience.

I got you.

When frustration becomes your motivation, relief becomes more important than obedience.

Here's the problem with relief.

It looks like peace, but it's not.

Relief and peace are two different things.

And some of you got tired of waiting for peace, so you settle for relief.

No, no.

I'm slowing down on purpose.

Relief, many of them hear me.

Relief is the pressure stopping.

Peace is God holding you steady while the pressure continues.

Relief says, do whatever makes this feeling just go away.

Relief is immediate.

Relief comes.

Relief comes when I take control.

Peace comes when I surrender control.

You want to watch out for frustration because frustration makes you vulnerable to counterfeit fulfillment.

Frustration makes you vulnerable to counterfeit fulfillment.

It feels like it's fulfillment, but it's not.

It feels like it's peace, but it's not.

And if you're not careful out of frustration, you'll just do stuff that God didn't ask you to do.

I I got I got parents in here, and moms, y'all particularly uh feel this, but but I got parents in here where you've said to your child, go in that living room, pick up them toys, pick up them clothes, pick up that bag, pick up that stuff, go in there, pick up those things, clean it up, get in there, and then by the time you got to the room and it wasn't done yet, you said, fine, forget it, I'll just do it myself.

And then you just start picking up stuff and grabbing stuff and doing it.

That's what you're doing to God.

God, are you done with that dream yet?

Fine, get out of the way.

I'll do it myself.

And you just start working on your dream, and now rather than trusting God, you're assisting God.

Push your neighbor and say he's talking to one of us.

I don't know which one, I can't pick it up.

Can I hurt your feelings?

Y'all not like y'all not gonna like what I'm about to say, man.

But I'm yelling on purpose.

Because this is we gotta stop playing games.

Hear me.

You're not gonna like this, but you need this word.

Live with frustration.

Live with it.

You grow.

You're in a job.

You grow up.

You're not a job.

Live with frustration.

It's a part of life.

Get over it.

This euphoria world.

Well, I'm never frustrated.

And everything comes to me exactly when it's supposed to come to me as I that don't exist.

Down here.

You have to live with frustration.

Girl, aren't you frustrated?

You ain't had a man in years.

Aren't you frustrated?

Yep.

Yep.

Aren't you frustrated, sir, living in that same apartment?

I thought you were gonna get a house here.

Aren't you frustrated living in this apartment?

Yep.

Aren't you frustrated right now?

Because you your job right now is kind of, don't you?

Didn't you say you want to do something more?

Aren't you frustrated at this job?

Yep.

Aren't you frustrated in school, Pastor?

Don't you really want to build a really bad?

Yep.

So what you gonna do about it?

Wait on the Lord.

I'm just gonna stay here and wait and be frustrated.

I'm gonna praise while I'm frustrated.

I'ma worship while I'm frustrated.

I'ma tithe while I'm frustrated.

I'ma shout while I'm frustrated.

I'm gonna take care of my kids while I'm frustrated.

I'm gonna provide for my home while I'm frustrated.

I'm gonna go to work while I'm frustrated.

Why?

Because God is not gonna give up on me and I'm not about to take a shortcut just to skip this season of frustration.

Matter of fact, ladies, the next time your girl says, Aren't you, aren't you frustrated, waiting for a man?

Say, yeah, but I see you got one, and I'd rather my frustration than your frustration.

Can I get somebody in the room?

Say, thank God for my frustration, because I don't want your frustration, because your frustration got no God in it.

My frustration at least comes with peace.

My frustration at least comes with joy.

My frustration at least comes with the hand of God.

You frustrated with an alcohol bottle.

I'm frustrated with the hand of God on my life.

Can somebody open up your mouth and say, God, I will wait on you in this season of my life.

So what?

Keep moving.

So what?

Keep waiting.

So what?

Don't take no shortcut.

This is why the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 35.

Hebrews 10:35

So do not throw away your confidence.

It will be richly rewarded.

There are some of you, you are waiting on God.

You can take a shortcut right now, you can skip the process right now, but because you're waiting on God, you have confidence in Him.

God wants me to tell you that it will be richly rewarded.

The fact that you haven't compromised, the fact that you haven't showed your soul, the fact that you have let this thing happen and you have not tried to get ahead of God.

God says it will be richly rewarded.

People are criticizing you, people are laughing at you, group chats are talking about you, but your confidence will be ritually rewarded.

You feel a little embarrassed sometimes, you feel a little ashamed sometime.

But God says, if you keep waiting on me, you will be ritually rewarded.

Is there anybody in the room that can give a 30-second frustration praise break?

Pastor, let me show you what frustration looks like.

I'm open up my mouth and praise him while I'm frustrated.

I'm gonna say yes to God.

Do I got anybody?

Where's my musicians?

I need somebody to come and play a keyboard.

I dare somebody in the middle of a frustration season to give a black eye to the enemy and say, You're not gonna steal my joy, you're not gonna steal my praise, you're not gonna steal my worship, yeah, you're not gonna steal my shout.

This is still the day that the Lord has made.

And I will still rejoice and be glad in it.

I will rejoice in the Lord always.

I'm rejoicing while I'm frustrated.

I'm rejoicing while I don't have it.

Can I get somebody in Midhill to open up your mouth and say, Yeah, I'm frustrated, but I still love you.

Yeah, I'm frustrated, but I still praise you.

I ain't going nowhere, you're not going nowhere.

We're gonna be in the valley of the shadow of death together, but I'm still not fearing no evil.

This ain't your first rodeo.

This ain't the first time you've been in a tight situation.

This ain't the first time you had your back up against the wall.

This ain't the first time the bills have been tight.

This ain't the first time your heart been broke.

This ain't the first time you were waiting in between a blessing and a miracle.

This ain't the first time you were trying to figure out what to do.

And the same God that blessed you back then is gonna be the same God that's gonna do it now.

Do I got anybody who knows if he did it before, he can do it again?

He did it before, he can do it again.

He did it in my 20s, he did it in my 30s, he did it when I was unemployed, he did it when my heart got broken, he did it when I was graduating school, he did it at the last city, and he's gonna do it in this city.

Because God, you will not give up on what you said you're gonna do.

God said, Check my record, check my resume.

Remember what I've done in your life.

Go back.

This ain't the first time, and it may not be the last.

And the same God that did it in is the same God that's gonna do it now.

Here's what I want to say to Abraham.

Here's my last point, it's prophetic, and I want you to preach this to your neighbor for me.

It is literally my last point.

That's what I want to say to Abraham, that's what I want to say to Sarah, is what they eventually figured out.

Here's what they figured out what God has for you.

Really is.

It really is, it really is, it really is.

I need you to turn to your neighbor and say, I don't know why God put us next to each other today, but I need you to preach to your neighbor and say, neighbor, look him in the eye.

Say, I don't know you like that, and I don't know you fronting, I'm fronting, but what God has for you, it really is.

It really is yours, and it really is for you.

I don't know what he's got for you, but whatever, whatever, whatever God's got for you, I promise it's really yours.

I promise it's really yours, and I came to announce to you that the dream is not canceled.

Here's why you ought to shout over this first, because they did it the wrong way and still got the dream.

And I came to preach to somebody who said, Pastor, I didn't do it right my whole life.

God said, don't worry.

If you start fresh today, the dream is not canceled.

Pastor, I just think I messed up too bad.

No, God said you start today, the dream is not canceled.

Your age didn't cancel it, your mistake didn't cancel it.

Whatever God has promised you, that thing is going to come to pass.

If I'm talking to you, open up your mouth, lift up your voice.

Genesis 21, verse 22 says, Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.

Genesis 21:22

God's about to be gracious to you.

You don't deserve this, he's gonna be gracious.

You didn't earn this, he's gonna be gracious, you didn't work for this, he's gonna be gracious.

You didn't, you didn't, you this is not you.

He's gonna be gracious.

Look at the next verse.

Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age.

Watch this.

At the very time God had promised him you are about to give birth to a dream at the very time that God, oh God, I feel the Holy Spirit has promised you.

I told you the story of my daughter.

My daughter one Christmas, my son and my daughter run to the tree, and my son picks up the first box he sees.

He can't read a lick, and he's just so happy that he got a present in his hand.

And he's like, Look, my present.

My daughter, with all the anger in her heart, she went and snatched that box right out of his hand.

And he said, He said, Give me my box, give me my gift.

She said, No, this is my gift.

He said, No, it's mine.

She said, No, it's mine.

She flipped it, she said, Look, it's got my name on it.

I wish I could preach to somebody.

But say, I don't want nobody else to step up in here.

The only stuff I want is the stuff that got my name on it.

I don't want your marriage.

I want the marriage that got my name on it.

I don't want your kids.

I want the kids that got my name on it.

I don't want your business.

I just want the business with my name on it.

I don't want your building.

I just want the one that got my name on it.

Can I get somebody in the room in here to open up your mouth and say God every promise that got my name on it?

Every miracle that got my name on it.

Every breakthrough that got my name on it.

I just want the stuff that you got from me.

If I'm talking to you, open up your mouth, lift up your voice, and feel the power and the princess of the Lord in this place.

Come on, come on, say, wait on the law.

Wait on the law.

Wait a little Wait on the Come on, say we don't really Wait on the way.

Some of you are upset because you see other people with a gift you believe is supposed to be yours.

But God said, stop comparing.

That ain't got your name on it.

I bind the spirit of comparison.

Where you're getting jealous of somebody in their lane.

Don't be jealous of another person.

What God has for them, that was for them.

What God has for you is for you.

It's for you.

Every time I saw another church get a building, I would send twenty dollars, thirty dollars.

$40,$100.

What was I doing?

I was in a frustrated season, but I said, God, I'm gonna celebrate other people who are getting what I'm believing for.

Because my time will come.

Your time will come.

Your time will come.

Abraham, your time will come.

Sarah, your time will come.

So what has been 20 years?

Your time will come.

So what has been 10 years?

Your time will come.

So what has been five years?

Your time will come.

But wait on the Lord.

Wait on the Lord.

Because He's gonna renew your strength.

He's gonna renew your strength.

Because God honors people who wait.

God blesses people who wait.

God respects, honors, uplifts, and blesses people who can wait.

So everybody be seated in the room.

Everybody repeat after me and say, Holy Spirit, speak to me.

Your servant is listening.

Man, the presence of the Lord is in this place.

I don't know what breakthrough just took place in your heart, but something just broke in your spirit.

You're leaving out of here differently.

With tears in your eyes, you're leaving out of here differently.

The season's not gonna break you.

The season is not going to break you.

The season will not break you.

God's not done.

God's not finished.

This season is a season, which means it has a start date and it has an end date.

Just make it to the end date.

So right now, in the name of Jesus, I pray, Holy Spirit, you speak to every person on the sound of my voice in North Meccan, Mint Hill, YouTube, wherever people are.

I pray right now in the name of Jesus that God, you would give us the ability to wait on you.

Lord, I'm asking right now that we would not take any more good ideas, but you would give us God ideas.

Speak to us.

God, I pray that you would inspire us by your Holy Spirit.

If anything we're in right now that you're not a part of, reveal it to us.

If anything that we're supposed to be stepping into that we need to know, reveal it to us.

Father, bring clarity where there's confusion.

God, bring vision where there is blurriness.

Father, in the name of Jesus, may we hear your voice loud and clear.

If you're in this room, if you're in Mint Hill and you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are like a Sarah.

You are trying to live life on your own without God.

It's a good idea and you're doing good stuff, but God said, Hey, I want to be a part of being the Lord and the guide and the direction for your life.

Mint Hill, right now, if you need to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, we can do it before you leave this room.

All you got to do is just say yes in your heart and do me a favor.

Every head bow, every eye closed.

If you want to give your life to the Lord today, do me a favor with nobody looking around.

Can you throw your hand up and put it back down so I can see your hand?

I see your hand, brother.

I see your hand, sister.

By the way, God sees your hand too, brother.

God sees your hand.

If you heard me, Mint Hill, if you want to give your life to the Lord and you're saying today's my day, if you are right there in that auditorium, I want you right now, just lift your hands right now, put it back down.

Come on, Minhill.

Lift your hands, put it back down.

Say, Pastor, that's me.

That's me.

That's me.

By the way, God sees that hand.

God sees that hand.

Maybe you're already saved, but you're not living a life in abundance.

You're not following through what the Lord has called you to.

And you know that today I gotta make a decision that I gotta rededicate or recommit my life to the Lord.

If that's you, can you raise your hand and put it back down?

I see that hand.

I see that hand, brother.

I see that hand, sister.

I see that hand and say, Hey, today I'm making a recommitment.

I'm making a rededication of my life to the Lord.

Come on, Minhill.

Come on, Minhill.

Just put your hand up, put it back down.

If you raise your hand on any one of those invitations, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer of salvation and rededication right now.

And uh, if you're in this room, I need everybody, all of us praying together.

Come on, Minhill, say, Father, thank you for loving me, thank you for sending your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for me.

Today, I believe Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus rose again, and Jesus is coming back for me.

I surrender my heart, I surrender my plans, and I surrender my life.

Jesus be my Lord, be my Savior.

I am yours, and you are mine.

Yesterday is gone, and today's a new day.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Everybody shout amen.