Lord God, in this room, we magnify your holy
name. You're worthy, Jesus. Worthy, Jesus. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Yes, Jesus. Yes, Jesus. Almighty
God, we magnify you today. Lift you up today
in this place, Jesus. You're worthy. You're worthy.
Come on, somebody cry out to Jesus. Tell him
that he's worthy. Tell him how much you love
him. I love you, Jesus. Hallelujah, Jesus. Oh,
thank you, mighty God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank
you for your touch from heaven that's in this
place, mighty God. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Yes, Jesus. Yes, Jesus. Yes, Jesus.
Thank you mighty God for showing up in this room.
Thank you Lord for showing up in this place.
He's an on time God. He's a faithful God. Wherever
you're at right now in life you're not alone.
The Bible says that he is our very present help
in time of need. He's as near as the mention
of his name. In fact, his name simply means God
with us. And so when you put the name of Jesus
in the midst of your life, it's more than just
saying a name, but it's bringing the creator
of the heavens and the universe smack dab right
in the middle of your situation, right in the
middle of your life. And so whatever you're going
through, all you got to say is Jesus. You may
not be able to say anything else. That's all.
right if you can just say Jesus it's all I got
it's the only word I can say but it's the only
word you gotta say Jesus Jesus Lord we magnify
your holy name you're worthy worthy Jesus worthy
Jesus hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thank
you Jesus thank you Jesus What a great honor
it is to be here with you here in Heavenview,
North Carolina. And you'll have to forgive me
if I'm a little slow this morning. Right now
it's 5 .51 on my body. That's 5 .51 in the morning,
not in the evening. And so I am trying to get
my brain functioning. I've already had half a
Red Bull, and I'm hoping that'll kick in in just
a moment. But my wife says, be careful because
you don't want caffeinated Dane. It's a little
different than uncaffeinated. And so I can get
a little hyper. So if that happens today, you
know why. I've had a little bit of a Red Bull.
But I just want to say thank you so much for
your hospitality, this amazing church. As soon
as I walked in Friday night, I felt a kindred
spirit. I felt what I feel back at home, which
is an amazing experience that we can travel halfway
across the nation and still feel the same presence
of God that I feel in Los Angeles, California.
When I left Friday, early Friday morning, the
day before was 87 degrees. It was 87 degrees
in Los Angeles on Thursday. No cloud in the sky.
Beautiful. And we come here, and I'm thankful
I found winter. We only had two weeks of winter
this year, so it's nice to find winter. When
I say winter, I say 40 degrees. That's our winter.
So we had two weeks of winter, but it's such
a great honor to be here. Great to be here with
my friend and his wife, Brother Harold, Sister
Lisa, Linda. They are amazing people, and you'll
hear maybe some stories today, but it's a great
honor to be here with him and this amazing church
family. I don't want to take too much time today,
but we're going to the Word of the Lord, the
book of Joshua, the third chapter. The beginning
of verse 1, my wife would be here with me today,
but she is eight months pregnant. And so she
is at home with expecting our fourth child, which
happens to be a girl. We've got three boys and
now one girl on the way. And my middle son is
traveling with us. So Levi, I'm glad he came
with me. And so he's my little travel companion
this trip. And that's lots of fun. He gets to
wake up too super early. And he's trying to figure
out what time it is as well. But it's such a
great honor to be here. Joshua chapter 3, beginning
with verse 1. Joshua 3, verses 1 to 5. And I
have been praying concerning my time here in
North Carolina. And as I was on my plane ride
over, I felt like the Lord is sending me here
with a purpose. That He's in this. I'm not just
showing up. I'm not just here to be here because
I want to come see all you amazing people. But
I believe that God has sent me here for a reason.
And when your pastor told me that there were
two services on Sunday and a daughter work, I
did not put together in my mind that it was two
services back to back. That it was two same services.
Because... Our church, we did two services for
15 years. And now it's been about six years since
we've done two services. So my brain didn't even
register that it was the same service. And so
the Lord gave me two separate messages. So I'm
like, all right, Lord. And I woke up this morning.
Are you sure this is what you want, Jesus? I
just want to double check because I can preach
the same message. That's the easy way, God. I
can work with that. No, it's two different messages
today. So that's where we're at. And I'm just
going to obey him and do as he's asking. Joshua
chapter 3 beginning with verse 1 says, And Joshua
rose early in the morning, and they removed from
Siddam, and came to Jordan, he and all the children
of Israel, and lodged there before they passed
over. And it came to pass after three days that
the officers went through the host, and they
commanded the people, saying, When ye see the
ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and
the priests, the Levites bearing it, then you
shall remove from your place and go after it.
You shall remove from your place and follow it.
We each have our own place. We each have our
own comfort place. We've been here a while. We've
grown accustomed to it. In fact, we're okay here.
But where the presence of the Lord leads is sometimes
not in an area of comfort, but in an area of
the unknown, impossible discomfort. You've got
your place, Joshua says. But when the timing
is right and you see the presence of God go,
you've got to leave your place and you have to
follow the presence of the Lord. And yet there
shall be a space between you and it about 2 ,000
cubits by measure and not near unto it that ye
may know the way by which you must go. For ye
have not passed this way heretofore. You haven't
come this way before. And Joshua said unto the
people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the
Lord will do wonders among you. The Lord's going
to do wonders if we can simply remove ourselves
from our place. So for a few moments here today,
I want to speak to you on this topic. We go where
we focus. We go where we focus. Let's pray. Lord,
in Jesus' name, I thank you for having your way
in this room already. Your presence is here.
Right now, I just ask you, mighty God, to move
into this vessel. And Lord, use this vessel right
now that your spirit can move through me, God.
Uninhibited, Jesus. Unrestricted, Lord. That
your divine word would be spoken into this room,
Jesus. That lives would be changed and transformed
by your word. Help us, God, and be with us according
to your will and purpose. We magnify you. We
worship you. We lift you up right now. In Jesus'
name, and everyone said amen. Amen. As you're
seated, tell somebody around you you love them.
Tell them you're glad to see them today in the
house of the Lord. Congratulations for being
here. You're part of the early crowd, the 9 .30
a .m. crowd. I hope you're awake. I hope you
had your Red Bull. I hope you had your coffee.
Everybody awake? I hope I'm not the only one
awake out here. I'm barely awake, praise God.
It is so good to be in the presence of the Lord.
I give honor to the musicians and the singers.
Everywhere I go, I honor singers and musicians
for their hard work. You are blessed. You are
blessed. Never take it for granted what you have.
Many churches do not have what you have, which
is an amazing music team that puts forth time
and effort and practice, and you can sense it,
you can see it. And so when you see them, honor
them, thank them for their hard work. They're
working just as hard as the preacher, and then
at times harder than the preacher, depending
on what kind of event it is, right? Because if
you're at a camp meeting and you've got... 13,
15 songs that you're going over, the preacher's
going to come in and minister, but the band's
going to be practicing weeks and months ahead
of that getting ready for that service. So when
you see them, thank them. I love you. Thank you
for your ministry. Thank you for being consecrated
to the Lord and allowing his spirit to flow through
you because the reality is the music prepares
our heart to receive God's word. If there's no
worship, my heart is not prepared. It's not cultivated
to receive what God is wanting to speak into
my life. There is a preparation period that God
takes us through before he gives us what we need
and before he speaks directly into our lives.
A lot of times it's this preparation period in
our life where we struggle and we get discouraged
and we don't like the preparation period. Hey,
if I could just get the six pack without the
preparation. Right? If I could just look the
part without the preparation. If I could just
stay skinny and continue to eat Dario's every
single day. If only. And if I could have it three
times a day, that would be amazing. If only.
But you know if you have Dario's three times
a day every single day, you know what's going
to happen to you. I'll see you next year and
you would have gained about three sizes. But
you'd say that food sure is good. I like my food.
I sure do. To this day, we have a fast food restaurant
called In -N -Out in California. And yeah, somebody's
had In -N -Out in the room, right? It's good
stuff. Delicious food, right? And so when I was
16, I drove a white Tacoma pickup truck, Toyota
Tacoma. And I would go to In -N -Out three times
a day. I would pull up to the drive -thru and
they'd say, okay, your food will be ready at
the window for you. That'll be $4 .28. They knew
exactly my order before I got there. I'd go up,
I'd get my order, a number one spread only with
a seven up. That was my order, which a number
one is a double -double. That's a meat, double
meat, and double cheese. And spread, oh my word,
praise God. That spread is next level, heavenly.
You could say I gained a few pounds when I was
16 years old because what I chose to focus on
was that delicious meat. I could not help myself.
I dreamed about it. I constantly thought about
it. And it was years before I went to In -N -Out
ever again because I was afraid if I ate In -N
-Out, I would blow up again. So I stayed away
for many, many years. You see... In this idea
of moving forward and going to what God has for
us, we have to focus on where we're going. Because
ultimately what I focus on, that's where I'm
going to go. You see, we do not go where we intend
to go, and we do not go where we wish to go.
We go where we focus. It's what we focus on.
That's where we end up. In fact, every week back
home, we ride bicycles. We have cycling days
where we get out and we exercise. We have to
do this. And so when we cycle, if you are going
to see a rock in the road or a piece of glass
in the road and you look at it and you're saying,
I'm not going to hit it, I'm not going to hit
it, I'm not going to hit it, guess what? You
hit it. Because that's what you're looking at.
That's what you're looking at. I know when we
get on the motorcycle, your bike goes where your
head goes, right? So wherever your head goes,
that's where your motorcycle goes. And so your
eyes are going to take you where you are wanting
or not wanting to go. So whatever you're focusing
on, that's what you're going to become. It doesn't
matter how strong you are. If you're focused
on something that's going to compromise your
faith, it's going to compromise your faith. It
doesn't matter how much you read your Bible.
If you're focused on something that's going to
destroy your spiritual life, it's going to destroy
your spiritual life. We become and we go where
we focus. And so when we look at this idea of
focus, I want to look primarily at the people
of Israel because they are a great example of
what to do and what not to do. They give us both
sides of the coin. And so we can see the story
of Israel as they were bound in Egypt by slavery,
by the Egyptians. God eventually delivers them,
and we're thankful for that delivery, but it
took... the 10 plagues to raise their faith enough
to prepare them to walk outside of their slavery.
You see, God could have moved them out without
a single plague, but God said, you've got the
slave mentality inside of your spirit and inside
of your mind. And before I can take you into
what I've got for you, I got to reshape the way
you think. I got to reshape the way you feel.
I got to change you before I provide the blessing
I have for you. You see, he's got the promise
ready. He's got it prepared, but he's trying
to get us ready. To step into what he has for
us. It's not that he can't do it. No he's just
trying to prepare us. And make us ready for the
great work. That he has prepared. It's already
been prepared from the foundation of the earth.
He knows what he's doing. He's got the right
time. He's got the right space. He's got the
right place. But he's just waiting for us. To
get ready to receive what he has for us. Israel
has come through the Red Sea. God has worked
many miracles in their lives. And now here they
are standing on the precipice of the promise.
They're looking into the land that God is going
to give them. And Moses sends out 12 spies. They
go out to spy the land. They are looking at the
land. They are inspecting the land. And Numbers
chapter 13, 31 through 33 says, but the men that
went up with him said, we are not. able to go
up against the people for they are stronger than
we. How are they stronger than you? Haven't you
been in manual labor your whole life? How are
they stronger than you? They haven't faced hardships
that you've faced. Why do you perceive them to
be greater than you are yourselves? And rather
than bringing up a good report, the Bible tells
us they brought up an evil report of the land,
which they had searched unto the children of
Israel, saying, The land through which we have
gone to search it is a land that eateth up its
inhabitants thereof. And all the people that
we saw in it are men of great stature. And there
we saw giants, the sons of Anak, which came of
the great giants. And we were in our own sight
as grasshoppers. And so we were in their sight.
I want to tell somebody right now, you're looking
into your promise and you think it's impossible
to obtain. You think that you're overwhelmed.
You think it's bigger than you are, but you got
to recognize in the spirit, you're not some small
grasshopper. You're actually a giant in the spirit
that God's spirit moves through and flows through.
It's not you that the enemy of this world sees,
but it is the God inside of you that every spirit
in this earth witnesses and knows who you are.
step into your promise you gotta recognize who
you are you're a child of the king you're a child
of the creator he made you into his image into
his likeness you are stepping into his power
and his authority it's not by your might but
it's his might that moves through you I'm tired
of seeing God's people bound by sin bound by
struggle bound by infirmity I am expecting to
see the church of right now this generation to
rise up and become what God has called us to
be it's time to stop tiptoeing around situations
it's time to navigate in faith and believe that
if God is for us there's nobody nothing that
can stand against us I'm going to begin to activate
who I am in Christ I'm not of my own I belong
to somebody greater I'm a son of God I'm a child
of God and as such I've got power and authority
come on Israel you got a promise This promise
is not just yours, but it was given to your father,
Abraham. This is a generational promise. This
is a legacy promise. It's not just a promise
for this generation. I believe this church has
a promise from God, but it's not just for this
generation, but it's been for the generations
before. This is a legacy promise that God is
trying to bring to pass in your future, in your
present. If you can just hang on to it, God is
going to honor his word. of his word and even
though we may think it's slack or he's slow his
timing is perfect you see Israel did not enter
into the promised land because they were not
able to no they were able they were not entering
into the promised land because they focused on
the wrong thing rather than seeing the great
God that had just brought them through the Red
Sea and rather than seeing the great God that
had brought them out of Egypt, not only did he
bring them out of Egypt, but Egypt once a world
power was decimated by the power of God. They
lost their land. They lost their crops. They
lost a whole generation. And the Bible says that
before Israel left, God allowed them to plunder
the Egyptians, meaning they took their wealth.
If that was an injury and insult enough, let's
go ahead and take their whole army too. Oh, you
want to enslave the people of God. There is a
day of reckoning. People have been doing you
wrong. Vengeance is mine, say it the Lord. You
just take a step back. You pray. Eventually,
there will be a day of reckoning. You mark my
words. You can take the Bible for his word, and
you can reckon, yes, God is going to have vengeance.
God is going to fight for you. You may be going
through it right now, and somebody might be accusing
you and might be unjustly treating you, but there
is a God that keeps a record of everything you
go through, and even though you may suffer right
now, there is a joy and a glory that's coming.
So if you will just endure, you're going to make
it through. To him that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. It's I'm not the strongest
and I'm not the fastest. No, I'm just the dumbest.
I'm just dumb enough to just keep going. I'm
never going to stop. I'm staying focused. I'm
moving ahead, believing that God is for me. I'm
going to follow him with blind faith, knowing
that he's with me. I got to know he's with me.
I got to trust he's with me. You see, so God,
because of their lack of faith and because they
were bound by fear, God said, it's not time yet.
You cannot enter into the promise. But eventually
they did change. Eventually they were able to
enter into the promised land. It just took 40
years. Because they had a wrong perception. In
fact, between the 40 years that they first went
into, they didn't go in, but... They looked in.
They saw a glimpse of what could be. And it took
40 years for that glimpse to become reality.
You see, between that 40 year span, the land
did not change. The enemies did not change. What
changed was their focus. When they first looked
into the land, their focus was, we're small.
We're insignificant. God is distant. And when
God responds to unbelief because of a lack of
focus, it's different than his response to our
faith because of our focus. Numbers chapter 14,
22 and 23 says, Because all those men which have
seen my glory and my miracles, which I did in
Egypt and in the wilderness, have tempted me
now these ten times. Not hearken to my voice.
How many times has God been speaking into our
lives? Asking us to surrender. Asking us to submit.
But yet we struggle so much. We want to hang
on to what we think is important to us. We want
to hang on to what means so much to us. Not realizing
that God has a greater blessing in front of us
if we can just let go. If I can just let go of
Egypt, God's got a promise. If I can just let
go of what's happened in the past, God's got
a promise in my future. He's asking us to surrender,
but can we? If we can't, if he wants to have
us bad enough into this place of promise, he
will force us into it. I shared a little bit
with Pastor Brian the other night and Aaron,
and I was talking about how when I was starting
this journey into, I was executive pastor there
in Bellflower in the church that I grew up in,
and the Lord had been dealing with me to surrender
the bass guitar. And I'm a bass player. It was
my identity since I was 18 years old. Before
I was a preacher, I was a bassist. And so that
musician runs deep inside of me. That's why I
appreciate our musicians and our singers so much.
The Lord was dealing with me. He said, you got
to give up the bass. I said, no, God, I can't
do that. So a couple months later, you got to
give up the bass. Okay, God, I can do that. But
yet I was still playing at altar call when I
should have been praying with people. I should
have been holding the altar as a place of sacred
and allowing God to use me in the giftings and
the callings that he had placed upon my life
and stepping into what he had for me. But I couldn't
let go of what meant so much to me. You see,
bass was more than just an instrument. It was
my identity. It was my comfort zone. It was the
place that I was most comfortable. In fact, it
became a safety blanket. I can worship God as
long as I'm hiding behind this instrument. I
can connect with him as long as I've got something
to help me connect. So God was like, no, you've
got to let this go. And I was like, okay, okay,
got it. And then it was the Thursday before Easter
2017. I was changing out camera lenses in the
church, and I climbed up the ladder. I've been
on ladders hundreds of times. My first job was
a roofer. Hard to believe. Yes, scrawny me, roofer.
That was my job. Torch down, tile roofs, all
kinds. And so I was used to ladders. And so same
time, like every other hundred times before,
lock that ladder in place, camera in one hand,
video assist in the other, and climb up the ladder,
no hands. So I went up the ladder. Free hands
got to the 13th foot. Ladder came unlocked. I
threw the video assist forward and held onto
the camera lens, and I fell down 13 feet face
first. And bent the ladder in half, messed up
my shins, my elbows, but the biggest thing that
happened to me was I shattered my fretting hand.
I could not turn my wrist. Went to the doctor
after the break, and I said, how bad is it, doctor?
He says, well, in my 42 -year career, this is
the worst break that I've seen, second to worst
break I've seen. And I said, will I ever play
the bass again? He laughed at me and said, no,
there's no way. He said, you're lucky if you're
going to move your fingers again. I was like,
okay. Went home, and I sold all my basses except
one. I kept one that's so special, and I'll hang
on to that one until the day I die. That one's
very special to me. A buddy of mine made it,
and he engraved the back of the headstock, and
now he lives in Alabama. He used to be in California.
Now he's in Alabama. I'm praying one day I'll
get to baptize him in Jesus' name. But great
friend of mine, great base. I'm like, man, I
got to keep this thing. And so I kept it. And
then I was in my prayer time six months after
the fall. And at this point in time, I couldn't
open a water bottle. I couldn't drive because
I was driving a stick shift at the time. So I
couldn't, very difficult to drive one -handed
stick shift. And I couldn't move my fingers.
In fact, it was so bad, I had to ask my wife
to put on my deodorant for me. You think about
it. How do you do that? Anybody want to try?
It's like, one, I can't get there. So I'd have
to say, okay, love, remember, ten swipes each
side. Make sure you get ten. You've got to make
it even, okay? And I was just in a place of despair.
I was so broken. I mean, I couldn't do anything.
And so in my prayer time, I said, God, I don't
know what the deal is. Just if you'll get rid
of this thing, just chop it off. I'm done with
it. I can't do it. This thing's just dead. It's
not doing anything. It's annoying at this point.
I'm so tired of it. And the Lord simply said,
can you give me the bass? And I said, excuse
me? He said, can you give me the bass? I was
like, huh? I was really dumbfounded. Can you
give me the bass? I'm like, God, if this is what
it takes, I'll never have to play bass ever again
in my life. I don't have to do it. You can have
it. Take it. And I didn't just give him a bass.
I gave him an identity. I gave him Dane the bassist.
I said, God, why? Why do you want this? He says,
because I haven't called you to be a bass player.
He says, I've got something for you. But in order
to get there, you've got to give up something.
You've got to give up your identity that you
think is free and it's actually binding you.
The identity you think that you can live in is
not the identity you can live in. That's the
identity you will die in if you allow yourself.
He said, it's time for you to step into a new
identity. I said, okay, God, I give it to you.
I surrender. Now, I surrendered. I mean, I looked
horrible. I had snot and tears. I mean, I was
a mess. I was a wreck. I really gave up my identity.
I let it go. And at the end of my prayer time,
the Lord said, thank you. I'll give it back.
I'll give it back. So fast forward another six
to eight months. Doctor put a bridge plate in
my wrist. He looks at me, takes an x -ray, pulls
the bridge plate out. He says, this does not
make sense. He said, don't ever break it again.
I don't ever want to see you again. If you look
at my x -rays now, there is no sign of a break.
No scar tissue. God regrew bones out of nowhere,
bones that were gone. God put it back into the
wrist. There's fingers that move. There's a wrist
that moves. It's not as good as it used to be.
There's a constant reminder that I didn't obey
God, right? He will leave us a reminder so we
don't do it again. So it's not 100%, but at least
there's no metal in my wrist. At least I can
play the bass strapped in on the body. But not
only did he give me the bass back, here's the
thing, when we truly surrender to God, he's got
so much more for us because not only did he give
me the bass, but he gave me the guitar, he gave
me the piano, he gave me the drums. Everything
just opened up as soon as I surrendered what
he wanted. All of a sudden, the blessings that
God had and everything I'd wanted to try to obtain
and reach for, God just said, okay, because you're
willing to surrender. Here you go. Here you go.
Now, if you would have asked me now, wouldn't
you have just rather responded out of your own
free will instead of God causing you to fall?
Oh yeah, I would. If I could go back and say,
okay, God, I'll give it up. You don't have to
make me fall, Jesus. I'm good. I'm good, Lord.
I don't have to go through that. I'm okay. Oh
man, if I could go back and change that, I would.
I would do that. Why did Israel not get into
this promised land? God had it. God had it for
them. It was way better than anything they would
have had in Goshen. You see, God had to remove
those that had their lack of faith. For 40 years,
they wandered in the wilderness, but they didn't
just wander just to wander. No, they walked for
40 years in one big circle. Imagine that, 40
years, just one big circle across the peninsula
of now modern -day Saudi Arabia. Stuck wandering
for 40 years just in one. big circle. Why? Because
they did not activate their faith when God asked
them to. They refused to align themselves to
God's promise and to his word. You see, God had
it for them, but they said, no, we can't do it.
We're not good enough. We're not strong enough.
We can't obtain it. Rather than seeing what God
could do and what God was going to do, they saw
their own limitations and refused to align with
his word. In fact, they continued to refuse.
And God said, okay, if you're going to continue
to refuse, I've got to eliminate you until we
get to a generation that does not remember Egypt,
that does not remember who you used to be in
slavery and bondage. You see, what Satan wants
to do is remind us what we were once bound to,
how we were once in bondage. But God has set
us free. He's made us free indeed. Anyone that
is in Christ, he has made to be free. He set
us free. I'm no longer bound by yesterday. I'm
not bound by the mistakes of last year. I'm not
that same person. God changed me and transformed
me. I got to look forward into what God's going
to do, not where I've been and not what I've
done. I got to activate the faith that God has
given me, that measure, and let it grow into
great faith and believe that God can and God
will do his perfect work. You see, the promise
was still there and it was still going to happen,
but not with the original focus. God had to change
the focus of the Israelites. He had to change
the focus of where they lived and what they struggled
with. You see, he's got to change our focus from
our own self -will and rather faith. I've got
to step into faith rather than my own will, my
own desire. I've got to begin to see myself in
this place of a unified promise that God's promises
are going to come to pass. It's not a question
of if. It's a matter of when. It is going to
happen. If God promised it, it's going to happen.
His word is not returned unto him void, but it's
returned unto him fulfilled. your life, if he
spoke it into your family, if he spoke it into
this church, it is going to happen. According
to his will and purpose, his word will be fulfilled.
I just gotta believe it. I gotta receive it.
I gotta activate my faith and hope for it. I
gotta live for it. I gotta move forward into
the promise that God has for me. So rather than
the old focus of we're not good enough, we can't
do this, we're too small, the land is too great,
God redefines their focus to now we are able.
Poor Joshua and Caleb, they had the same perception
40 years before. But here they were tied together
with the Israelites, they were stuck in the wilderness
too and it wasn't their fault. How many of us
are stuck in situations that are not our fault?
We didn't cause them. We didn't ask for it, but
here we are. I didn't do it. I'm innocent, but
here I am. Why am I stuck in this place of no
promise? Why am I stuck in this place of brokenness?
Yeah, God, I know that you can do it. In fact,
he did it for the Israelites. He changed their
focus to where now faith said, oh, it's not that
the giants were gone. No, the giants were still
there. But when faith begins to activate, your
situation's still there. Your problems are still
there. But when faith begins to activate, it
redefines them. No longer are they seen as giants
and an obstacle, but they're just simply seen
as something God can take care of. Let God do
it. Some of us are facing generational curses
right now, and those curses are not our own.
In fact, when we look at Goliath and David, Goliath
was not David's giant to defeat. He was Saul's
giant to defeat. Some of us are facing giants
right now in our life that are not our own. But
if you don't slay them, who will? Are you going
to leave it for your children to slay or does
it stop with you? I'm slaying giants. I'm slaying
giants that aren't my own. But here's the thing.
If I'm going to slay somebody else's giants,
I've got to be strong enough to slay my own.
Right? Because Goliath was not David's giant.
No, lust was David's giant. So yeah, he could
slay Goliath, but he sure couldn't slay his desire
for Bathsheba. You see, yeah, we can help others
slay our giants and we can help others slay theirs.
We can slay the giants from the previous generation.
But what about the giants that I have right now
in my life that are my own? Can I slay those?
See, God's got a great victory for you. God's
got a great victory for you. But we just have
to activate our faith and see that God is going
to do it. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 1 says, Fear,
least a promise being left us of entering into
his rest. Any of you should seem to come short
of it. If we can look forward to it, if we can
find him in our faith, we will obtain the promise
that he has for us. But we have to activate faith.
The promise is still there. The promised land
didn't go anywhere. Yeah, Israel had to wander
for 40 years, but the promised land was still
there. The promise was still there. The promise
is still in your life. God's just trying to prepare
you for it. The reason why you feel like you've
been going in circles and haven't been able to
move forward and step into what God has, it's
because God has been trying to get you ready,
trying to get you into this place to receive
rather than constantly be focused on the ministry
rather than the God of the ministry. I got to
focus on him. And see, that's the thing. Some
of us could get so... stuck in focusing on the
promise that we forget the God of the promise.
If we'll just stop focusing on the promise and
start focusing on the God of the promise the
promise will come. But it's when I focus on the
promise that I try to make it happen. I try to
force it. I want it to happen. I want so badly
for it to happen. I've got to be ready. I've
got to be prepared. My heart's got to be prepared
for the promise. I've got to get ready for it.
But the reality is I have still got to look to
the God of the promise to fulfill the promise.
I cannot force the promise to come to pass. I've
got to go through the process. I've got to endure.
I've got to continue even when I don't want to
and I don't feel like it. God, I can't do it.
I can't survive. I can't make it any longer.
Lord, I'm done. I've got to throw in the towel.
I know you've got a great promise. I know you've
shown it to me. I know you've blessed me. But
God, I just can't continue any longer. The great
promise that God has for you, it comes at a price.
Everything has a cost. It's not free. If you're
going to get into the promise that God has for
you, it's going to require great faith. And God
has a great work for this church. What you've
experienced and what you had, it's just the tip
of the iceberg. This is not the final note. This
is not the final place. God has more. There is
more for you. But you're going to have to activate
faith and look to the God of the promise rather
than the promise itself. I can get so focused
on the promise. I'd get so distracted. The year
was 2021. I had been pastoring for a year. We'd
reached that point again at Bellflower Campus.
We'd saturated the building, standing room only.
And I looked out of the congregation on one Sunday,
and I said, in two weeks, either God's going
to open a door for us to go somewhere, or I'm
going to take a sledgehammer to this side wall.
And we had built an outside auditorium. for COVID
because we had to have church outside. So I was
just going to knock the wall down, have church
half inside, half outside. I mean, we live in
LA. It's perfect weather year round. Why not?
You know, let's just do it. I said, we're knocking
the wall down. Two weeks, a week and a half later,
I got a call from a church that my mom would
go sit in that parking lot and pray for 25 years,
asking the Lord to open the door. I got a call
from them saying, hey, if you'd like to rent
from us, we've got space for you. That was a
week and a half later. Within two weeks, we were
at that property, renting that facility where
we still are today. Right now, in just a few
hours, that congregation will be meeting at that
property. And it's only by the grace of God.
But here's the thing. When I walked into that
property, the Lord told me, he says, everything
your eyes touch is yours. Oh, I started looking.
I was opening up cabinets. I was looking at pots
and pans. I mean, I was looking at everything.
I was like, what can I see? What are you hiding
behind there? I got to go look at it. You got
chairs and tables? Where are they? I got to see
them. You got vehicles? Where are they? I got
to see them. You got a bus? Where is it? I got
to look at it. Everything your eyes touch is
yours. Oh, amazing faith. Yes, we got that. Oh,
praise God. First Sunday was amazing. The following
Tuesday, I get called into the office of the
pastor. He says, you know, we're so sorry. We
had actually started charging you $8 ,000 a month,
but we're going to have to take you to $12 ,000
a month. I was like, excuse me? I said, we're
barely doing 8 ,000 a month. That was for one
service a week. They said, no, you're going to
go 12 ,000 a month, one service a week. No, no,
no, warning, nothing. I'm like, God, I thought
you said everything my eyes touched. We've been
there since 2021. We've asked for a place for
our kids to have church. They won't give it to
us. We've been faithful renters for three years,
still outcasts, outsiders. In a place that's
not our home. And I wonder, God, I thought you
gave me a promise. Lord, I thought that you told
me this is what was going to happen. But here's
what happened in the last couple years. Is I
got my eyes off of God and started focusing on
the promise. And when I focused on the promise,
I got frustrated. I got upset. I got angry. And
the whole, not only just me, but the whole staff
felt my discomfort. Felt my frustration. And
then they become frustrated. They become angry.
And all of a sudden it starts to work through
the whole congregation just because we're so
focused on the promise that I forgot the God
of the promise. You see, if we're not careful,
we can get so focused on what God is going to
do that we forget about the God who's doing it.
And if we can just focus on God, he's got the
promises, but the promises are in his hands,
not our hands. It's in his timing, not my timing.
It's according to his will, not my will. So we
got to continue to walk by faith. Is it any easier?
No, it's not. But I'm not going to complain about
it. Yay, Lord. It's your work. It's your church,
God, not mine. Lord, if you want us here, we're
here. If you don't want us here, we're not here.
God, if you want us to go to a park, we'll go
to a park. God, if you want to give us a property
for $25 million, you'll give us a property for
$25 million. And that's the reality. We're looking
at a property right now, $25 million. Jesus,
really? That's a lot of money. Praise God. I'd
be paying that off for the next 10 generations.
My goodness. But to the Lord, it's just a number.
There's no value there. We put the value on it.
And he says, if it is or isn't, God can do it.
But we just have to focus on the promise. God's
got a promise for this church. He's getting ready
to open doors, but we have to focus on him, not
the promise. I have to keep my eyes on him. He's
got a promise for your life. He's got a promise
for your home. He's got a promise for your family.
But we've got to keep our eyes on him, not on
the promise. It is going to come to pass in his
timing, according to his will. It's going to
happen. But, Lord, help me not go through the
wilderness. Keep me on my knees so I don't have
to go through the wilderness. I'll journey with
you, God, in your perfect time, in your perfect
will. going to happen. I'm going to trust you.
I'm going to trust you. I'm wrapping up. Musicians
can come. I'm going to trust him in all things.
In all ways, I will trust him. I was eight years
old. My dad had just taken the church in Bellflower.
I was a St. Louis, Southern, born in Alabama.
Moved to St. Louis. I was a Midwestern kid thrown
into Los Angeles. And when we first moved, we
didn't move into a house. We went from a very
nice house in St. Louis to an apartment in L
.A. Not just any apartment, but an apartment
in the hood. I'm serious. I mean, there was a
college kid across the street. He was going to
the houses asking for money. My neighbor opens
the door and stabs him to death just because
he was asking the wrong person. I was walking
home one night after church. My mom, she had
just parked the car in the garage. We were walking
to the front door, and there were two guys running,
jumping over the fence, throwing knives and trying
to get away from something. I don't know what.
It was crazy. It was like the Wild West. I was
like, good night. Where did I come to? I was
nice in St. Louis. It was nice and cultured,
safe there. I was safe. I'm good. Bring me to
L .A., God, what are you doing? My mom hated
it there. My mom kept begging my dad to go. Go
back to Oklahoma. Go someplace. Get away from
L .A. But the reality was it was my mother's
sickness that took us to L .A. It was the only
climate type that she could live in. Six different
types of arthritis. When I was born, my birth
triggered that disease inside her body. She had
that disease 38 years bound by pain. Crippled.
No joints in her fingers. No joints in her toes.
She's losing the joints in her neck. Doctors
said all it would take was one accident and her
head would fall off basically. Dealing with sickness
my whole life is something I'm accustomed to.
I'm accustomed to the hospital, even though every
time I go in there, I faint. I can't do hospital
visits. I have other staff members do it. If
I go, my wife has to go with me, and she passes
me a piece of gum when I'm getting ready to faint.
I just hold on to her, please don't let me go.
And eight years old, God filled me with the gift
of the Holy Ghost. It's kind of like God saying,
okay, I'm going to get you here, and I'm going
to show you what I can do for you. I'm going
to get you into this place that's uncomfortable,
that's unfamiliar, and I'm going to do something
for you. Eight years old, I received the Holy
Ghost. It was right after that time period where
my parents were in spiritual warfare. It was
common to have spiritual fights in my house.
My dad had a physical fist fight with a demon.
Walked into the room, and there was glass everywhere.
Like, Dad, you just killed Mom's china set. What
happened? The devil had manifested in that china
set. That china set was gone. These physical
altercations, these real spiritual moments, exposed
to it at an early age. And not only that, but
God began to show visions. And one of these visions
that he gave me when I was eight was a pulpit.
My dad standing behind the pulpit preaching.
And then like a camera looking at the pulpit,
it began to rotate 360 degrees. And as it rotated,
the amount of people that were in the room multiplied
and grew. By the time the camera came back to
the front of the pulpit, it was no longer my
father standing behind it, but it was me. Since
I was eight years old, I knew I was called to
pastor in Los Angeles, California. Since I was
eight years old, I knew that I was called to
take over my father's church. In fact, the Lord
called and told me many times, he says, I didn't
bring your father to L .A., I brought you to
L .A. Eight years old, I know God's going to
do great things. I know God's going to do great
things. It's amazing what God's going to do.
I cannot wait. 15 years old. I go on a missions
trip to Africa. So powerful. It was amazing.
One of the highlights of my life. I'll never
forget it. I learned Swahili. They used to sing
a song, which means, I run to Jesus, my Savior.
I run back, and I run to Jesus, my Savior. Such
a powerful experience. It was in the middle of
that experience, I got a call from America. Really?
Missionary Drake hands me the phone. He says,
hey, it's from America. I pick up the phone.
My dad says, hey, don't worry about this, son.
We'll handle it when you get home, but just here
you go. So I get on the phone. My mom's there.
I left. Everything was fine. Everything was good.
When I left, pick up the phone. My mom says,
you okay? Shaky voice. You okay? Still got your
fingers, still got your toes. Nobody's hurt you,
have they? You're okay. I'm like, this is absurd.
What's she talking about? My dad grabs the phone.
He says, don't worry about it, son. We'll talk
about it when you get home. I said, okay. Week
and a half later, I landed back in LAX. The mother
that greeted me at the airport was not the mother
that sent me off. In two weeks, my life was turned
upside down. In that two -week period while I
was gone and away, my mother had decided to quit
taking a sleeping med, cold turkey, because she
found out she was only supposed to be on it for
two weeks and she was on it for two years. So
she was afraid of it and just stopped taking
it. Well, that caused a chemical burn across
the outer layer of her brain and caused her to
be schizophrenic manic depressive. In two weeks,
my life turned upside down, changed forever.
The mother that once loved me more than anyone
else in the world. was the one who would try
to take my life. She'd put a machete to my neck
at night, my father's neck at night, because
the SWAT team was after us and it was better
for us to die than to go to jail. Everywhere
she went, she saw cops after us. You get her
in the car, she's trying to jump out to commit
suicide. This brain just totally warped into
an alternate reality that wasn't real. Complete
falsified reality. And we were just along for
the ride. God, what are you doing? I just came
from the most amazing two weeks of my life, and
now I come home to this. What are you doing,
God? I thought you gave me a promise. I thought
you gave me a promise. I thought you were going
to do great things for me. I thought that you'd
spoken to this in my life. I thought that you
were in control. I thought that you loved me.
I don't know what to do with this, God. I don't
know how to respond to this. I don't know how
to handle this. The only thing I knew to do was
turn to Jesus. So I did. At age 15, 16 years
old, I did the only thing I knew to do, and that
was to turn to my creator and say, God, I need
help. I don't get it. I was so embarrassed of
my mother. I hated her. I hated that she could
not love me. I hated that she could not be there
for me. I hated that she was no longer my friend.
I hated that she was there, but she was gone.
And to walk through that season in life was the
most difficult season I thought that I would
experience because it got worse. The Lord healed
her when I was 24 from schizophrenia, but the
manic depression stayed. It was always there,
but at least she lived in this reality. At least
the Lord brought her back. And then I had to
go through the process of forgiveness and accepting
her again as mom and trying to work through that
and work through those emotions. navigate that
struggle. And then when I was 27, I got married.
Most beautiful, amazing wife. She would be here
today, except for she's carrying our little baby
girl, and it's just too close, so she's at home.
But she wishes she was here. One day she will
be here. And I got married, and now... because
of the neglect my mother experienced from her
father because he left them when she was two
years old for another woman, broke the family.
She's dealing with neglect and she saw me as
a source of her neglect and saw my wife as the
reason I neglected her. So the mental illness
targeted my wife. To where I was stuck in the
middle of trying to please my parents and trying
to navigate this new thing called marriage. And
I thought it couldn't get any worse from when
I was 15 years old, but it can get worse. Because
now it involves your wife and it involves your
children. God, I thought you had a promise for
me. Lord, I thought that you told me that this
was going to happen. Many times my wife said,
we need to leave. We need to go. We got to get
out of here. We have to leave. I can't do this.
I can't do this anymore. Yes, I know we can't
stay, but we also can't go. You can't stay. You
can't go. You're stuck. Stuck. You say, God,
I don't know what to do. I shared last night
with the married. I went to the house of the
Lord and I prayed and I just threw my hands up
to him and I said, God, I can't do this. I was
a lot more transparent last night than I care
to be right now. I can't do this. I can't make
it. But still I trust you. You're going to help
me, Jesus. I trust you. Went through that season.
It was 2019 when it all came to head. When I
had to remove my mother from my life permanently.
Because in 2019 is when she called Child Protective
Services on us and I was moments away from losing
my children. Thrown into the government system
of foster care. Just because my mom had this
idea that I was abusing my children. The mother
that loves me, the mother that raised me, accused
me of beating my children. The one that's supposed
to look out for me, the one that's supposed to
care for me. I had to deal with the situation
and, oh my God, how much darker can it get? I
thought you gave me a promise, Jesus. I thought
you showed me a vision. I thought that you were
going to have your way. I thought that it was
going to work out. What's going on? 2020 COVID
hits. I go to my dad. I say, dad, you got to
handle this. You got to get behind it. You got
to take care of it. At this point in time, my
mother was living in a home, a care home, a full
-time care home, which is what she needed because
she was so far beyond me or my dad. It was turning
into elder abuse because my dad just couldn't
handle her. She'd run up and down the street
in the neighborhood with her robe on yelling
at people. So finally got her into a home where
they could care for her. On that fateful night
in 2019, we took her to the mental hospital for
what would be the last time. Never again would
she step foot into her home. She passed August
13th, 2022. But before she passed, she got to
step foot into that building that she prayed
for for 25 years. Before she passed, She saw
a prayer answered. You see, because when I was
born, she prayed, God, whatever you have to do
to me, save his soul. Whatever you have to take
me through, save my son's soul and use him. It
was her sickness that God chose to use to save
my soul. The very thing that I hated, the very
thing I struggled against was the very thing
that God was using to save me. The struggle,
the uncertainty, that's what kept me on my knees.
That's what kept me praying. That's what kept
me focused. That's what kept me determined. September
2020, 30 years later, I was voted in as senior
pastor at International Pentecostal Church. It
took 30 years of shaping to prepare this heart.
For what God had promised. God's got a promise
for you. He's got a promise for you. He's got
a promise for this church. And what you've been
going through, it's not by accident. But God
has been shaping. He's been preparing. He's been
making us ready for his great work. So what I've
got to do is I've got to turn myself over to
Jesus. I've got to trust him and I've got to
trust that he knows his promise. He knows his
word. It's going to happen. Lord God, I'm going
to go into the promise, Lord, with faith, knowing
that you're with me. I'm not going to be bound
by what I've gone through. I'm not going to be
bound by the way I think it should happen. But
Lord, I'm going to trust you 100%. I'm going
to trust you with everything that I am. Let's
all stand in this place. The Lord is in this
room. He's speaking. He's ministering. He's moving.
It may be my story, but it's your story too.
It may be what I've gone through, but you're
going through it too. You're going through your
own hell right now. In fact, if you're going
to experience the power of what God has for you,
it comes through suffering. It comes through
sorrow. It comes through pain. As I journey with
God, I'm stepping into what he has for me. But
I've got to go through the process of his shaping
before he's going to give me what he's promised
me. Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 says, being
confident of this very thing, that he which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. The work that he's doing,
it's going to be completed. What is this present
suffering compared to the glory that's going
to come? Because what I go through now, There's
a reason. There's a purpose. There's a reason
for what's happening in your life. And you're
not alone. God is with you. He knows right where
you are. He knows your struggle. He knows your
pain. But rather than running from the pain,
it's time to embrace it and get into it. Walk
through it. The Bible says that we walk through
the valley of the shadow of death. We don't live
there. We don't stay there. We go through it.
This pain is not meant to destroy you. This pain
is not meant to hinder you or stop you. No, this
pain is meant to take you on your knees. That
God would receive the glory for what you're going
through. The promise is going to come to pass.
You just have to trust the God. God of the promise.
This altar's open if you want to respond. God's
nudging at your heart. This altar's open. You're
going through it. God's got a promise for you.
He's with you. You're not alone. He's with you
right in the midst of what you're facing. You're
not facing the situation by yourself, but there's
an almighty God that loves you. He loves you
more than anything else. He knows right where
you are. He knows exactly what you're fighting,
and he's not letting you fight alone, but he
is with you. He's present with you right now
in this moment, right now in this season. He's
with you. Oh, Jesus, I trust. Trust you. Mighty
God, I trust you, Lord. I walk with you. I journey
with you, Jesus. Your word.