Revival Nights – New Not Improved

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason Burns and Access Church in Lakeland, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

Hey, turn your Bible to Acts.

Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

I've got a word for you today.

Can anybody do with a word from the Lord today?

Acts chapter 9, they'll throw it up on the screen.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Where are you going?

When you stop playing, it's like the Holy Ghost leaves.

I'm going to read this opening text real fast.

Okay, I'm lying.

I'm not going to read it fast, but I'll read it.

And then when I pray, then you could sneak off.

And uh I got it from there.

Thanks.

Come on, you feel the Holy Ghost?

Are you kidding me?

I'm going to throw up a quick picture of my family because I just got to show you why I am more blessed than you are.

And I know it sounds mean, but I'm more blessed than you are because my family is better looking than your family.

Once again, that sounds mean, but don't blame me.

Blame your mama.

Standing next to me is my firstborn.

Her name is Zoe.

She is the joy of my life.

Sitting next to me is my twin.

His name is Roman.

He thinks he's faster than me.

And every time we race, I just pick him up, throw him on the ground, and I walk to the finish line.

He may be faster, but he's not stronger.

Sitting on my lap is Jade Mariah.

She controls her father.

She uses her good looks for evil.

Sometime tonight, if you could say a prayer for Jade, she's not a Christian.

And she acts like she's not a Christian.

And then standing behind me, I call her my African queen, my beautiful wife.

Of 10 years, y'all.

We made it 10 years.

Best seven years of my life.

It was.

She hails from Sierleone, West Africa.

And uh God's done a lot through my life.

I'll tell you this: there's not a greater joy than what you're seeing in that picture.

It is truly evidence of the favor and blessings of God.

Y'all ready for the word?

You have Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 9, verse 10.

Acts 9 · chapter mention Acts 9:10

Reading out of the New King James Version, because it makes me feel spiritual.

And him the Lord said in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Here I am, Lord.

So the Lord said to him, Arise and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas, for of one called Saul of Tarsus.

For behold, he is praying, and in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight.

Then Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

And here he has the authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.

But the Lord said to him, Go! It's never good when God starts yelling at you.

It's like your mama saying, You heard what I said.

Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake.

And Ananias went his way and entered the house, and laying his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

I'm down south.

I get to say, Holy Ghost, where I come from, it's Holy Spirit, but they act all siddy.

Verse 18 immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once.

And he arose and was baptized.

I want to preach for to you from the topic of new is not improved.

New is not improved.

Father God, we're grateful.

We're thankful that this is revival.

This is a place where dead things come alive.

This is a collision between heaven and earth.

So, Father God, we say have your way, do what only you can do.

Heal, deliver, transform, download.

Take us one step closer to the plan, the purpose, the destiny that you have for us.

And we'll be ever so careful to give you all the glory, honor, and the praise.

Father God, I thank you in advance for the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl victory.

We praise you in Jesus' name.

And all the real saints said.

I uh I come from what I would consider a large family.

I've realized large family, the definition of it is relative to how you grew up.

Some of you grew up with two siblings.

There's three of you.

I believe God sent me to let you know that is not a large family.

That is, you are just doing your civic duty.

You are barely keeping up with the world's population with three children.

I'm one of five.

I'm one of five.

I have an older sister and then uh three younger siblings, which is a relatively large family.

But when you compare it to my father's family, my dad is one of 14 siblings.

Somebody say, help us, Jesus.

And every time I say that, I must clarify same mother, same father.

Because when people hear 14, they begin to think grandpa was a rolling stone.

No, grandpa was a follower of God, honored God, and uh had 14 children with the same woman.

I've got 13 aunts and uncles.

Last I counted, and honestly, I've stopped counting.

I've had 35 cousins.

We're now on a third cousins, and it's getting ridiculous, y'all.

It is getting ridiculous.

I've just said I don't want to meet any new Chandlers.

If if there's a new Chandler, just tell them sit down, get out of my way, don't eat my piece of chicken for Thanksgiving, and we'll get along famously.

It's so bad.

I have a seven-year-old named Zoe and Zoe Chandler, and she has a cousin named Zoe Chandler because we ran out of names to name all these humans, so we just started recycling.

It's really gonna mess up their credit when they get old.

But if you come from a large family, you just know there's certain things that you should expect, and there's certain things that you should never expect.

If you come from a large family, you expect to always have a best friend.

And I have four siblings, I've always had a best friend.

Now they've switched every single year.

Because I like you this year, I don't like you next year, but I like the next one, and I can go through four of y'all, and I'll come back to you every five years.

If you come from a large family, what you do not expect is to be called by your real name.

Anybody from a large family know what I'm talking about?

There's just too many of you to remember your name.

My grandfather's name was Clement.

If that is not an old school name, I don't know what it is.

And my grandma would nickname him, she called him Clemsby.

But because she had 14 children and 35 grandchildren, there were too many of us for her to remember all of our names.

So what she started doing is if you were male, your name was now Clemsby.

So when we would go up to New Jersey where they live for Christmas or Thanksgiving, and she needed help opening a jar or climbing up on a shelf or whatever it may be, she would look you in the eye and say, Clemsby, come help.

And I was kind of new to this, so she's looking at me saying, Clemsby, and I'm like, Okay, who's that?

I've not even learned all my aunts and uncles' names, so I'm trying to figure out who she's talking to.

I know my mama and my daddy named me Stephen, so she can't be talking to me, but she's getting angry as she's calling me Clemsby, and she's gesturing, and I'm like, Well, let me go.

Maybe she's old, maybe her memory's gone, maybe she just forgot my name.

And I go and she smiles, and I picked up really quickly.

Clemsby is who you are if you are in her presence.

It's so bad.

Y'all, I've only got three children, and I don't know what's wrong with my memory, but I'll look at my three kids and I'll say, look at Zoe, and I'll call her Jasmine.

I don't even have a kid named Jasmine.

That's my sister's name.

And I get mad when I say, Jasmine, come.

And she's like, Daddy, who are you talking to?

That's not me.

But I thought my grandmother was losing it.

I'm not gonna lie to you.

But I realized maybe she had something going.

Because as I read scripture, I noticed God had the same tendency.

He would look at somebody and not call them their name.

He would look at a man named Abram and say, Your mama named you Abram, but I don't like that name.

I'm gonna call you Abraham.

Your mother named you father, is what Abram means.

I'm gonna name you father of your wife's name.

It doesn't work for me.

I'm gonna call her Sarah.

You will see over again over and over again.

It was a man by the name of Jacob.

Jacob doesn't work for me.

They had a little UFC wrestling man.

God takes Jacob up and slams him on his back, dislocates his hip, and says, Your mama, no, he said, I'm gonna call you Israel.

You guys know Joshua?

The one that took over after Moses.

You know Joshua's mother did not name him Joshua.

Joshua's mother named him Hosea.

He was born a Hosea.

You know what Hosea means?

In need of deliverance.

God says, no, no, no, no, you're no longer in need of deliverance.

You've come out of Egypt.

You've crossed the Red Sea.

I don't need to deliver you any longer.

I'm taking you into the promised land.

You need a new name for where I'm sending you.

I'm gonna call you Joshua.

Moses renamed him Joshua, which means the Lord has saved or the Lord has delivered.

You know, Peter, Peter's mama didn't name him Peter, she named him Simon.

God says, that don't work for me.

I'm gonna name you Peter.

And I'm reading all these name changes in Scripture, and I'm wondering, God, why is it that you keep on changing people's names?

And I feel like what the Holy Spirit said is, Stephen, who they used to be is not who I need them to be for the destiny that they're getting ready to walk into.

The destiny that I made for them is not the destiny for the old them, the unredeemed them.

The destiny that I made for them is the redeemed version of them.

There's gotta be a name change because I need a new person walking in.

The problem is God didn't explain this to Ananias.

So God comes to Ananias and Ananias says, Hey, what do you need from me?

He said, Hey, there's this guy by the name of Saul.

I need you to go pray for him because I'm gonna bring scales from his eyes.

I'm gonna heal him and use him in a great way.

And Ananias said, Nah, bruh, you've got the wrong one.

You see, you must have forgotten.

By the way, and we do this all the time, it's never good when you are giving God information that you think he doesn't have.

God says, Man, you're gonna get married, and you're like, Well, God, no, you ain't been down here in a while.

But let me update you.

The dating scene is ghetto down here, God.

It's it's just this, you know what?

I think I'm just gonna be happy by myself.

Man, I can't wait.

I can't wait, God said, to you have a child and you're building your family, and you're like, Yeah, God, I don't know if you missed a doctor's appointment.

The doctor said it's medically impossible, it won't happen.

Never be in a position where you're giving God information that you think he doesn't have.

And Ananias here says, God, I know you haven't seen what's going on down here, but this guy, Saul, that you want to use in a great way, he's a murderer.

He kills people.

Not only does he kill people, he's very selective in the type of people that he killed.

Matter of fact, he only kills Christians.

And you're telling me that you want me to go and lay hands on him and commission him into the ministry to preach to people that he's sworn his whole life he's gonna kill.

I like sometimes God says, I'm not repeating myself.

Go do what I told you to do.

And as you know, his mama named him Saul, but somewhere along his journey, somewhere in Acts 13, his name got changed to Paul.

And here in Ananias, God was saying, you are judging Saul based on who he was and how he operated before.

I know who I've called him to be.

I know the anointing on his life, and I'm sending you to call out the future him, not the current him.

God didn't send me with this word for everybody, but there's some of you in this room that people have judged you based on your mistakes, based on your hangups, based on your missteps, and because they've judged you that way, you've judged yourself that way, and you've said, hey, I am a sum of the worst decisions of my life.

Hear me, God sent me to let you know He does not see you based on where you've come from, He sees you based on where you're going, and you're going into purpose, you're going into destiny, you're going into calling.

Here's the thought.

We get to the beginning of a year, and everybody gets their vision boards out, and they start their goal setting, and they get their full focus planner.

God bless Michael Hyatt.

This is gonna be the most organized year of my life, and three steps to a better marriage, and five steps to being a stronger leader, and hear me, Access.

We do not serve a God of improvement, we serve a God of brand new.

We do not serve a God that takes something and makes it a little bit better than it was before.

We take we serve a God that takes nothing and creates something out of it.

Three quick things, if you could jot this down.

The first one's pretty simple.

New is not improved.

New is not improved.

Do y'all remember when the iPhone first came out?

And I'm looking around the room, and some of y'all were not, especially over this section over here.

You don't even know what America looks like without an iPhone.

Well, let me explain.

It was a dark place.

It it was a sad place.

You actually had to speak to people that you live with.

It was.

I remember when the iPhone first came out prior to the iPhone.

We used to leave the house with a cell phone in our pocket, a camera in our hand, and an MP3 player.

I don't know if you've ever tried to walk out of your house with three things in your hand and your car keys, but it's stressful because you would always drop one of the three, and one of the three would crack because they didn't have crack resistance screens back then.

So what you would start doing is you say, hey, I've got to prioritize.

I'm only taking two out of the three.

I can't travel without music, and I need my phone, so I'm leaving my camera home.

So you would literally only take your little digital Sony camera when you were going on vacation.

Then all of a sudden, Apple said, How about we take it all and put it in one?

And when I tell you iPhone 1 came out, lines wrapped around the building.

Months you had to wait for the iPhone.

iPhone 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10.

Uh, when they picked me up from the airport, they said, Hey, my phone is dead.

Uh uh, do you have a charger?

And he said, Do you have the new phone or the old phone?

I said, No, no, I've got the old one.

I stopped upgrading after about 12 or 13 because it's not an upgrade anymore.

iPhone 19 coming out.

Brand new camera.

Wow.

Last one had a camera.

And the one before that, and the one before that.

This isn't new, it's just improved and barely.

For some reason, especially when we're praying, we expect God to improve our life.

God, my marriage isn't bad.

God, if you can make it just a little bit better, that'd be great.

Man, God, I'm grateful for my career.

If you could just take me to the next level, that would be amazing.

Man, God, I'm loving you.

If you could just take me to the next level of my faith.

Wow, Access Church is amazing.

God, can you take us to the next level?

Can I challenge you?

We don't serve a God that takes people to the next level.

Jeremiah chapter 18, it talks about the potter and the clay, and when he was not satisfied with what the clay was, the Bible says he made a brand new something out of the marred clay that was in his hand.

Jeremiah 18 · chapter mention

We don't serve a God that improves gradually or makes things just a little bit better.

We serve a God that does brand new, a new marriage you've never seen before, a new level of career that you've never seen before, a new faith in him, a new revival breaking out at Access Church.

Somebody say amen.

Every time I preach, I love preaching to the skeptic, not just to the person who agrees with me.

So there's probably some Bible thumper in here that says, no, you're wrong.

Because the Bible says that God moves us from glory to glory to glory to glory.

Sounds like levels to me.

Can I talk about glory to glory to glory to glory?

There was a man, many people believe that it was actually Paul that says, I was caught up in the third heaven.

He was talking about I was caught up into the heavenlies, into the supernatural realm.

Which means that there's three heavens.

Actually, the first one is what we see, it's the sky above us.

Then above the sky is uh space, tracking with me.

And then I'm not saying that geographically heaven is above space, but the heavenlies is the third heavens.

Y'all tracking with me?

So you've got the sky, you've got space, and then you've got heavenly.

Am I nerding out too much?

Are y'all with me?

Tracking?

Sky, space, heavenlies.

It sounds like levels, right?

Glory to glory to glory.

Here's the only problem.

When I go from sky to space, it may feel like I went to a new level, but all the rules have changed.

You tracking with me?

When I get to space, I can inhale, and I won't get what I got from an inhale on level one.

There's no oxygen up there to inhale.

Down here in the first heavenlies, we got this dumb thing called gravity.

That if I step off this edge, I'm if I get up to that second heavenlies, there's no gravity anchoring.

What am I saying?

Yes, it may be above level one, but all the rules have changed.

And access God is looking to take your marriage, your faith, your career, and this church to another level of glory that is not an improvement on what you're walking through and experiencing right now.

It is a whole new realm.

The Bible says in Isaiah 43, verse 19 see, I am doing a new thing.

Isaiah 43:19

Now it springs up.

Don't worry, miss this word.

Do you not perceive it?

Somebody say perceive.

I am making a way in the wilderness.

In streams in the waistline.

You are getting ready as a church, as a people, to step into a season that is not just a little bit better than the one you're coming out of.

God is getting ready to take your business, take your marriage, take your relationships.

Not to a place that's a little bit better than it is right now, but to something that is unrecognizable, something that is brand new.

Somebody say amen.

Can I attack the Bible thumpers again?

The Bible says that I'm doing a new thing.

Can you perceive it?

Somebody say amen.

But in Ecclesiastes, it says, nothing new under the sun.

You ever felt like the Bible contradicts itself?

God says, Behold, I am doing a new thing.

Can you not perceive it?

But then in another book, he said, there's nothing new under the sun.

And I'm sitting here, and by the way, whenever you read scripture and scripture contradicts itself, just hear me.

The issue is you, the issue is never the Bible.

And I'm saying, God, here you said you're doing something new, and here you said there's nothing new.

What am I missing?

And he said, Read it again.

I read it again, I didn't get it.

He said, Read it again, I read it again, I didn't get it.

And then finally, the Holy Spirit, it's like he took my face and is like, look at that.

There is nothing new under the sun.

Tracking with me?

First heaven, second heaven, third heaven.

There's nothing new under the sun.

He didn't say there's nothing new.

He just said there's nothing new under the sun.

What am I saying?

God is saying what I am getting ready to do new in your life, your five senses are not going to be able to pick up on it.

Gone are the days where I'm going to be able to plan my way into the new thing that God has for me.

Gone are the days that I'm going to be able to prepare and five-step my way into the next marriage or the new marriage, not new marriage, but improvement.

Same person, just yeah, be careful.

If you're the type of person that you have to intellectually understand everything, you're going to miss what God's getting ready to do.

If you're the type of person that has to have the why answered before God is able to do what he wants to do, you're going to miss what he wants to do.

That's why I said I'm doing a new thing.

Can you not perceive it?

Hear me, church.

God is looking for people who know how to close their eyes, get down on their knees, open their ears, and say, God, what are you saying to me for my family?

I know where we want to live and I know what we want school to look like, and I know what my five-year plan is.

But God, I submit and I surrender this family to you.

What have you called us to do?

Hear me.

God is looking for some business leaders that understand the economy, they understand projections, but they also understand how to close the office door, get down on their knees behind their desk and say, I still believe that you are creator, God, and that you've got ideas.

What would you have me do?

God is looking for people that are willing to seek his presence and say, God, what is it that you are up to?

The book of Amos, chapter 3, verse 7 says this Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets.

Amos 3:7

God is looking for a people that say, God, I don't need to understand this intellectually.

But God, if you would unpack what you're getting ready to do in this church, in my life, in my relationships, in my family, God, I'll be used by you.

Second thing is just write this down, write this down.

Transformation is required.

Acts chapter 9, verse 18 says this.

Acts 9:18

Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once, and he arose and was baptized.

So the whole way that Saul got into this position of needing Ananias to come pray for him is he was actually on a horse with a company of people heading to the city of Damascus, getting ready to arrest Christians to have them executed for their faith.

He's on his way to Damascus.

You ever heard of that phrase to knock off a high horse?

Oh, they got knocked off their high horse.

They got humbled.

Well, this was not a colloquialism, this was reality.

Saul is riding to Damascus, and God literally took the dark side of his hand, not the light sign, but the dark side of his hand and knocked Saul clean off his horse.

Only I could say that.

And he said, And he said, Saul, Saul, why are you working against me?

Don't you know I've called you?

And as you may or may not so know the story, Saul heard the voice of God.

He gets up and he did not realize he lost his eyesight.

He was led by his hand into the city that he was going to.

Ananias came and scales fell.

Here's the mind-blowing thing.

Saul ended up in the exact city that he wanted to get to.

But when he got there, it looked completely different.

Sometimes we're in a situation that we're asking God to change.

And God says, it's not the situation I need to change, it's how you see it that I need to change.

Some of us are in a marriage that we've spent the last three, four, five years praying, God, change my spouse.

And God says, I've got that covered, but if you would just let me change the eyes that you see your spouse with, you'll look at the same situation in a completely different way.

Some of us are sitting here saying, as soon as I turn 18, or as soon as I turn 22, I'm out of this city and I'm never coming back.

Not realizing it's not about the city.

It's about the eyes in which you see it with.

And God says, if you would let me change you, if you would let me transform you, what you see around you will not dictate what I'm able to do through you.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

There was this old song that we used to sing that said, God, take my heart and mold me.

Take my mind, transform me.

Take my will, conform me to your.

Come on, y'all grew up in an old school church, but y'all know that one.

God changed me in who you've called me to be.

My wife, her name is Zy.

Her name is actually Zy Nav.

She hails from Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Her name is Zy.

When I met her, she was Zai.

When I married her, she was Zy.

Her name is Zai.

We've been in the Maryland area, both her and I, for the last 30-something years.

We're in elementary school, middle school, high school there.

And every random day, we'll be walking through the mall, and she'll run into one of her old classmates.

And the first two times it happened in our marriage, I didn't say anything about it.

About the fourth time, I said, Woman, you got some explaining to do.

Some friend from high school will roll up and then go, Xina! And I'm like, Zina Warrior Princess says in the show, like, who's Xina?

And she'd respond, How's it going?

Good to see you.

And then the person would leave and we'd keep going.

About the fourth time, I said, Hold up.

Who's Xina?

She said, Oh, that's what they used to call me back in high school.

And I was like, Well, the Xena I know is from the television show, and she used to kill everybody.

Can you explain to me why they?

Well, you know, I used to throw hands a little bit in high school.

I beat this one boy up, and next thing we know.

She said, But that's not who I am anymore.

Now we're here, and then she started taking a boxing class.

And I said, I think I'm really in trouble.

Some of us have an old version of us.

It may not have come with an old nickname, but it came with an old demeanor.

It came with the old way of responding, it came with the old way of believing.

It came with an old way of trusting or not trusting.

And hear me, God has something new for you, but the current version of you is not the new thing that he has for.

It's gonna require a new you to step in to the new destiny that he has for you.

And it can seem a little bit intimidating of I don't even know how to become a new person.

I don't even know how to transform myself.

Well, first and foremost, you don't transform yourself.

God does.

Somebody say amen.

And second, the way you transform, the Bible says, is by changing the way that you think.

Romans chapter 12, verse 2 says this.

Romans 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world.

Can I say it the way Stephen would say it?

Stop acting like you're ratchet friends.

If you're a follower of God, your life should look different than people who do not follow God.

It says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your.

Oh, I'm gonna speed up in a second.

Can I slow down real quick?

Transformation doesn't come from praying longer.

Transformation doesn't come from how many times you go to church.

Transformation doesn't come from I'm gonna not smoke and not chew and avoid people who do.

Don't do that, by the way, I'm not endorsing it.

Transformation comes when I say I'm gonna start thinking the way that God thinks.

God, I say, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and then you'll be able to test and approve.

Your life will be proof.

Somebody say levels of the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Glory to glory to glory.

Earth, space, supernatural, good, pleasing, perfect.

Most Christians never get past the good that God has for them.

Most Christians have never stepped into the pleasing that, more or less, the perfect will of God.

And since we're having fun, the word perfect in the Bible doesn't mean without mistakes.

The word perfect means fully mature, walking in the supernatural destiny that God has called you and ordained for you before you were formed in your mother's womb.

There's a level of living that God has set aside for you, and it requires the changing of your thinking.

Can I give you some things that need to change you?

You need to begin to think like Abraham thought.

Where it says Abraham believed and it was credited to him by faith.

You need to begin to think, hold on, my faith shifts things in my life.

My faith literally has the ability.

I remember.

So we've got crazy healings that have broken out in our church.

And what's so weird about them is I don't feel a shot of the Holy Ghost down my back when they happen.

Somebody came up to me in the lobby about two months ago and they said, Hey, I just got to tell you this story.

I had a traumatic brain injury where after that injury, I had debilitating headaches to the point where I would throw up and pass out.

And every day of my life, I would see spots of dust in my vision.

She said, One night I came to one of your worship nights and you said, Hey, God is healing migraines.

And she said, I leaned over to my spouse and I said, Yeah, that's probably everybody in the room.

She said, I was cynical.

And then you said you're specifically talking about somebody that has specks of dust that they see.

And she said, I screamed in the middle of the worship night because that's exactly how I described it to my husband.

And you said, if that's you, come up forward.

Now here's a bad thing.

Don't judge me.

I have no recollection of this whatsoever.

And she said, It was at the April worship.

She said, I came forward.

She said, You laid hands on me and I fell on.

And she said, I have never had a migraine sense.

I've never seen specks of dust before.

You know what I've begin to learn?

That if I declare that God will do something and it's according to his word, and I believe by faith he's gonna do it, he's gonna do it, whether I feel goosebumps down my spine or not.

But here's what I've discovered: I'm not unique, I'm not anything special under God.

It's just somebody that dare say, God, use me.

What if your mind started to shift and you realize wait, if I declare stuff according to his word, if I begin to speak what he said in his word, that he's actually gonna bring it to pass.

You need to have the mindset like Sarah, where Sarah realized it is God that gets the last laugh.

When I heard the crazy thing that God wants to do through my life, it made me laugh.

Not only to realize that God always gets the last laugh.

Someone tonight, you're feeling humiliated because of a mistake that you've made, and there's people that are talking about you.

They're actually finding humor over where you are.

You've got to understand the God that you serve.

You serve a God that will always get the last laugh.

You serve a God that says, I take things that are not and make them something.

I'm a God that makes all things work together for your good.

You need to put your shoulders back and stick your head up straight because you now have the mindset.

It may not be looking good right now.

I may not look like a genius right now, I might not look like I have it all, but God will get the last laugh from this situation.

Last thing, write this down.

Leave yesterday where you found it.

I think I will leave, leave yesterday where you found it.

Philippians chapter 3, verse 13 says this, brethren.

Philippians 3:13

I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things Let me slow down, let me not get excited.

Forgetting those things which are what's that word?

Behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ.

You know who wrote this?

Saul the murderer.

And by the way, I can't wait to see Saul in heaven.

Many feel they'll just believe he was not the tallest guy.

And I know there's no violence in heaven, but when I get to heaven, I'm gonna punch Paul right in the face.

Because the first person he murdered was Stephen.

Bruh, why?

Why?

Why not James?

Why not Peter?

Why Stephen?

Paul said, I'm forgetting those things that are behind me.

And I'm pressing forward to take hold of that which Christ has taken hold of me.

Why did Paul say I'm forgetting?

Could you imagine how tormented he must be after he met God and realized all the evil he had done?

And even the fact that God was using, he literally raised the dead.

And there were still some Christians that say, No, I know who you used to be, and I will never let you past who you were when I first met you.

Paul had some of the most shameful past you can imagine.

He also had some of the greatest victories you could ever imagine.

And Paul said, My good and my I'm forgetting it because I know there's so much more that God has ahead of me.

Let's laugh real quick, we'll cry, and then we'll be done, okay?

I got this two-year-old named Jade.

She's not a Christian.

And she steals.

The good thing is, she doesn't steal money or or jewelry, she steals applesauce.

Out the cupboard.

I don't know why my wife went on this, like, let's organize the cupboard deal, and she brought all the little containers and everything matches, and there's wicker baskets on whisk wicker baskets on wickets, but it's all at the height of a two-year-old.

Jade said, This looks like heaven.

So every day she'll go in and she's tall enough to get in the cupboard and she'll grab an applesauce and she's figured out how to open it up, and she just, I mean, living her own life like she pays rent.

So I said, This is unacceptable.

So I moved the applesauce out of her height reach.

So she now has to ask.

This lasted for about two weeks.

Two weeks after I moved it, I came home.

I saw her in the living room, sitting on my sofa, watching Bluey on my television.

Eating an applesauce.

I said, Zoe, who gave that to you?

She lied.

Said mommy did.

I asked mommy, mommy didn't give it to her.

Now I'm confused.

Mom didn't give her the applesauce, dad didn't give her the applesauce.

She's not tall enough to get the applesauce.

I left it.

Three days later, I come back.

Guess what she's doing?

Sitting on my sofa, watching my TV, drinking an applesauce.

Babe, did you give it to her?

No.

I'm in listen, I'm out there like Sherlock Holmes.

I'm interrogating every Did you give it to her, Zoe?

Did you give it to her, Roman?

I said, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm gonna catch her this time.

Next time I give her an applesauce and I watch her.

She drinks half of it, looks around, sticks it under the sofa.

Child's a genius.

Goes off.

Came back the next day.

I moved it.

Looking for the applesauce that she stashed.

She's like, if these people ain't gonna feed me, I'm gonna feed myself.

And then I start to notice, I'm promising you, we're not dirty people.

We just play dirty people on TV.

This child has half-eaten apples, half-eaten cheeses.

She has stashed half-eaten food all over my house so she can go back and get it whenever she wants to, and doesn't have to ask daddy for a new miracle.

I wonder how many of us God did something great last year and we've stashed it somewhere that whenever we want to celebrate all the goodness that God has done and have a moment as we go back to an old miracle and an old moment and something that he did way back when.

Hear me, what he did back there is amazing and it's great, but we serve a God that does a brand new thing.

Can you not perceive it?

And if we get all of our energy consumed in praising him for what he has done, there's no room in our faith for what he's gonna do next.

Some of us, it's not an old miracle that we go back and eat on, it's an old embarrassment.

Some of you have been forgiven by God, but you've not been forgiven by you.

God said, as far as the East is from the West, He's removed your transgressions from you.

But even in your prayer life, you pray as if you don't deserve the favor of God.

Because yeah, I love God, but there's this mistake in my past.

Yeah, I love God, but there's this thing that I can never forgive myself for.

Yeah, I love God, but there's this moment where I let myself down, where I let my family down, and I can't get past that moment.

I believe that God sent me here today so that you can have your last goodbye to your yesterday.

So, can we practice that for a second?

You go ahead and play, I'm done.

I'm gonna give you one last shot.

Can you praise God for every miracle of 2023, every door that he opened, every body that he healed, every moment of favor, everything that you didn't pray for and still saw?

Can you take a look?

Can you praise him for real?

Can you thank him for all that he's done?

Because hear me, after this point, it's not that we're ungrateful, but our eyes are, God, we praise you for 2023.

God, we praise you for the miracles, for the healing, for the open doors.

But God, we're looking for you to do something new in our lives.

If you believe in somebody, say amen.

Hop up on your feet.

Now, here's a big one.

Can I give you a moment to say goodbye to every mistake that has been tormenting you up to this moment?

Paul said, I'm forgetting what is behind me and I'm pressing forward to the things that you have called me to.

Paul said, I'm gonna remind myself that my past is redeemed, that God's blood has canceled it, and it is no longer on my record.

Just take a moment and wave goodbye to that mistake.

Take a moment and wave goodbye to that humiliating decision.

Take a moment and realize that may have been who I used to be.

But it's not who I am anymore.

The old has passed away, all things have become new.

The last thing that may be a little bit weird is I need you to say goodbye to the current version of you.

You may be saying, but I like me.

I think I'm kind of cool.

I like how I think, I like how I walk, I like how I talk, and there's nothing wrong with who you are today.

The only problem is your destiny for tomorrow wasn't designed for this version of you.

Your destiny for tomorrow was designed for a version of you that's full of faith, that knows that what God calls me is greater than anything that this world can cause me, that knows that the God that I serve, He's opened a door that no man can shut.

And if he shut a door, no man can open it.

Hear me.

God is getting ready to take you into a space and a moment that is above and beyond all that you could ever ask, think, or imagine.

Come on, right where you are, can you just take a moment?

Can you close your eyes?

Can you lift your hands?

Can you just begin to declare over your life, God, I'm receiving the new that you have for me.

Come on, you know the specific area in your life that you want to see the newness of God.

It may be in your relationship with God, it may be in a marriage, it may be in your business, it may be whatever area that is, just take about 30 seconds and just begin to declare, God, you're doing a new thing.

God, I'm giving up the mind a little bit better.

Can you fix this?

Can you fix that?

God, can you start with me?

Can you do a new thing in me?