Acts 6

All right, 3 bars up. Stop right there. Call on the name of Jesus. There's no name greater. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Father. Oh, thank you, Jesus.

We are worshiping. We are worshiping.

I just want you It's time to lock in. Fix my eyes to the Lord, the author and finisher of my faith. Looking unto Jesus, looking unto Jesus, looking unto Jesus, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. I look to the hills from which cometh my help. My help cometh from God.

You focus on where your help comes from, where your strength comes from, where your peace comes from. If you realize that that's your source, I think it's worth paying attention to. That's my source. That's where my hope, my life, my breath, my existence, everything that I am. Paul says, I am what I am by the grace of God. Your grace makes me, it finds me.

Your grace turned my life around.

I was saved. We are worshiping.

You are your worship leader.

Let's just talk to God and let's bless his holy name. Are there any intercessors in the room?

There are people who need to be praying for. There are people you need to be praying for. Pray like your auntie is right next to you. Jesus is so good.

Do you feel his presence?

I was telling Trey, it don't matter what room we enter, we bring the presence everywhere we go. Abandoned buildings to churches, it don't matter what the physical infrastructure is like. There's a spiritual infrastructure that we bring with us. Everywhere we go is the tent. In our homes, in our cars, in our workplace, in our schools. The presence of God is not limited to any one place. So everywhere I go, I go with the presence of the Lord.

He's here, he's here, he's here. We can worship him. Nothing else will do.

Oh, I just want to have nothing else, nothing else.

I feel my spirit to say something.

I feel the prophetic grace. Oh, are you ready to hear from the Lord?

Anybody want to sing? Jesus. That's my prayer right now. I just want to—

he's enough, he's enough, he's enough. He's enough. He's enough. He's enough. I'm going to keep saying it until you believe it. You don't need anything else. You don't need anything else. You don't need a man. You don't need a woman. You don't need another job. You don't need another dollar or dime. All you need is him. He's sufficient in all his ways. He's enough.

He's enough. He's enough.

I stand in the presence of sufficiency.

He's enough. Not here for blessings.

If you don't believe those tongues will be interpreted tonight, he was not in that morning pray. We are anticipating the Lord speaking, and there are too many voices in the room for him to just speak through my own. Can somebody bless the name of the Lord? Oh, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, have mercy on our soul. He's in the room. Y'all couldn't come through this weather and not leave with something. I have a mission. You will not leave here empty-handed. As God is my witness, as God is my witness, the Bible says that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. I will seek you through the mountains, through the valleys, through the rain, snow, wherever you are. I choose to go. I will not wait. Not until you tell me go. Somebody's singing in this room. Hey, this is my testimony. Lift up your voice. Do you believe this?

Nothing else.

What happens when a group of people just want Jesus?

Just want Jesus. We are laying a foundation of prayer. Nothing.

Lift up your voices.

Let the Lord hear you.

Let the kingdom of God may be coming.

Who is this kingdom of God? Who is this King of Glory? The Lord mighty in battle.

Who is this King of Glory?

Who is this King of Glory? Who is this King of Glory?

The Lord He is the King of Glory. We crown him King of Glory.

There's glory in this room.

Do you perceive the thickness of the glory of God filling this place? You feel something compressing you.

That's the glory of the Lord. If you feel something hugging you tight, that's the glory of the Lord. If you feel an embrace right now, that's the glory of the Lord. Stay in that embrace.

You're safe there.

You're safe there.

You feel something wrapping you, that's the glory of the Lord. That's where you belong. You belong in the arms of the Father. You belong in the arms of the Father. The world cannot have its hands on you, not when God has his hands on you.

It can't be both.

I pray the Lord place his hands upon us tonight. I pray the Lord place his hands upon us. There's glory in this room. Can somebody begin to just pray and thank the Lord God Almighty?

Lord, we exalt you in this place. Father, you are welcome here.

Yes, Lord.

Lord, we want your glory.

Father God, we thank you, God.

That we don't have to sneak past the veil of the Lord. There is none, Father God, that we have access. Go before the Father with boldness, y'all. Go before him with boldness. Press into his presence. Press into his presence because he's worthy. Press into his presence to encounter him. Whatever you experience today, we lay it down, Father God. Lord, we repent, God, for being distracted from you. Father, we, we repent for, for dividing our devotion towards you and giving some over here and giving some over there and giving you what's left over. Father, we repent. Lord, we come before you right now, God, asking that you purify us, Father, asking that you would sanctify us, Lord. Lord, only you can give us clean hands and a pure heart. So Father God, we ask that you will penetrate us in the depths of our soul, Father God. Lord, I ask that as the consuming fire you are, that you would burn up every impurity that exists within us right now, Father God. We want your glory, Lord God, and we want to be holy as you are holy, Father God. So help us to be consecrated in this moment, Father. Help us to be undistracted. Help us to be wholly devoted to you, Father God. Open our ears to hear you, God. Increase our faith tonight, Father God. Lord, let there be teaching in all, in all that, that you want us to learn tonight, Father God. Lord, may you work all of our mouths, Father God. Lord, we ask that in all of our getting, you will help us be understanding, Holy Spirit. Lord, we just saturate this place with praise because you are worthy, Father God. Lord, you are worthy of our attention. You are worthy of our love, God. You are worthy of our praise, of our worship, Father God. Lord, we lay down our lives right now as living sacrifices, God, and we lay them on the altar, Lord God, totally for you, God, in whatever it is that you want to do, Lord. Look at your children who are gathered, Father. Look at your precious babies, Lord God. We come before you with childlike faith, Father God. We come before you and we lay down every altar, Father God, that we have set up against you, Lord. And by your fire and brimstone, Lord, we demand, God, we ask that you will burn it right now, Father God.

Let it be no more.

Father, we repent, God, we repent. I just feel repentance. I feel like we need to repent from something, y'all. Whatever is dividing your attention from the Lord, repent. Whatever is making you love him less, repent. Whatever is taking up space that belongs to him, repent. Whatever words have come out of your mouth that have been cursed with his breath, Repent, repent, because God, you are merciful. You are merciful. You are mighty. You are just, Father. Lord, I thank you that you are a God of justice. Lord, I thank you that we lay down every worry, Father God, of what someone has done to us and feelings that we might need to get our get back. Father, we lay that down right now in the name of Jesus. Lord, we are entrusting what you said in your word, that vengeance is yours. But God, we ask that you just have mercy, Lord. You have mercy on your children. You have mercy on those who know not what they do. Father God, cleanse us, Father. Cleanse us, Lord. Only you can do it, God. We stand before you as your bride. We stand before you as your bride, God. We thank you for loving us in a covenant, God, where you would never divorce us and you would never leave us, even though we have been unfaithful to you, Lord. Thank you, God, for not separating yourself from us. Thank you, Lord, that we have been reconciled to you. Lord, if there's anyone tonight who has not accepted the access that you've given us through faith to be reconciled with you, Lord, I pray that they would accept the reconciliation, Father. Lord, I pray that you will unite our hearts tonight, unite our minds tonight, God. May we be on one accord tonight. Fill us with your spirit like no other, Father God. Lord, I pray that your fire and your heat, it falls upon people where they can physically feel you, Father God. Lord, I pray, I pray for Pio. Lord, I pray that as you cover him and as you fill his mind, Father. Lord, I thank you for this vessel who has totally yielded in time and resources time that he could be spending with his family, time that he could be focused on other things, God, time that he could be focused on his own ambition, Father, he has laid it down for you and only you. So God, we praise you for his life, God. We praise you for Christine, Father God. We praise you for their union. And Lord, as he prepares to teach us and walk through this text, Father God, verse by verse. Fill him up with your mind. Fill him up with your understanding, God. Whatever it is, Lord, that you want him to say, may he not miss it tonight, Father God. Whatever it is that you want him to hear, Lord, I pray that you will cleanse out his ears, Father God, and he hears you afresh, Lord. I pray that the breath that you put in his body, the Ruach, Father God, that every breath that he breathes out, that it anoints us all, God, that that his words are impartations, Lord, from you to us in the name of Jesus. Lord, may none of us leave here the same tonight, Father God. However we came in, Lord, may we not leave here the same. God, we thank you for your precious leader. God, we thank you that you have given him the mantle, Father God. We thank you for trusting him with us. We thank you for trusting him with our faith, Lord. Lord, we know that those who teach, God, that they will be judged more critically, Father God. But I thank you, Lord, that we know that you are well pleased with your son as we are, Father. And so we thank you for his life. We thank you for the tent. And God, I thank you that you have brought every person here tonight. God, we could have changed our minds. We could have changed our minds. But God, you feel drew us in. And God, I know you drew us in because we're going to encounter you like no other tonight. So God, we accept the invitation to power tonight. We accept your invitation to greater understanding tonight. Father, we accept your invitation to access tonight. We accept your invitation to greater works tonight.

Thank you, Lord.

You deserve the praise.

Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Lift your voice. Praise worthy is your name, worthy is your name, Jesus.

You deserve praise, worthy is your name.

Lord God, we say thank you. We say thank you.

Hey, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who are we that you are mindful of us, that you hear us, that you dwell with us, that you make this earthen vessel a dwelling place? Lord God, we yield to you.

We submit to your authority. We submit to the Holy Spirit. Lord, have your way now, Father, or until Christ comes, and the church said amen. Amen.

Somebody celebrate Jesus.

Go ahead and welcome somebody around you. Introduce yourself. Say hi. Man, this is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. That's a big statement. You'll find out why. Is this a fan? No, it's this. I thought it was a vacuum cleaner. So in Acts chapter 6, the context here is we're coming off of Acts chapter 5. We saw Peter giving advice to the rest of the spiritual leaders 5. So I guess the biggest point is that like you can't fight God at all. You can't fight God in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, when they lied to the Holy Spirit. You can't fight God when they were trying to send the apostles to prison. You can't fight God when they were trying to tell us to stop preaching Jesus. Emilio, which is the teacher of Paul, he said, hey, no one touch these for. If it's not of God, it's not going to work. If it is of God, you going to end up fighting God. So it's best that we just back back. And that takes us to Acts chapter 6, and it's 15— it's 15 verses. So we— I think— I'm not going to say it's going to be a quick study for the week. We all know You said we, right? You say me?

We got to stay.

I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Pio. Um, I do stuff. I talk about God. That's my life. That's activities of a lot. All right, let's read Acts chapter 6, 1 to to the end. We're going to read together. 15 verses. 1, 2, 3, let's go. Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, Um, we're going to take it in one context. We're not going to break it up. 15 verses, I think. Um, I'm going to read some a bit because the Lord has ministered to me a lot about this scripture, and there's a few things that I want to make sure that I, uh, mention in the next 10 minutes or so. I've written down these texts, and we will jump in. Um, if you're taking notes, write this down on the surf tables. Serve tables, 2 multiply. 1, serve tables, 2 multiply, and 3 power. Serve tables, multiply, power. This one makes sense by any extent. We are on a mandate right now with the tent. We had a long stretch last year where we were doing some pretty cool things. We were traveling, we were having our own program. Then in November, the Lord was like, shut it all down. No more doing your own thing. And the instruction was, for the next 1 year, we would just help other ministries. And the revelation behind it was, in this case of Stephen, As the church was growing, there were some problems that arose too. There were widows, and the contention was there were Jews and there were Hellenists. Hellenists were the Greek-speaking Jews, right? They were a part of the church that was not authentic. I'm using that word very lightly. Now, what occurred was at this point when the church was growing, there was some pride in being of the Jewish descent. Now think about it. You're from the tribe, you're from the lineage, from the group of people that Jesus came from. You're probably walking around the church like— contentious, prideful. But the pride got to such a bad problem that when they were doing the daily distribution of food, the Hellenistic widows were not receiving their portion. Now, the 12, as mentioned in the text, they have a mandate: prayer and the word. This is not to say that the feeding of the widows was not But the context is that they can't be at two places at the same time, so they had to multiply the merciful one. Somebody say multiply. Now that's a problem when— I taught this in my leadership training at my church— anything that you can't be is not properly built. Anything you can't be is not properly built. Imagine you're building a house. and you just gotta hold it up. I can build the house, you build all the things, you gotta hold it up. Anybody ever play Jenga? You know how some people cheat, they be holding up the Jenga? And what happens the moment they let go? Unfortunately, this is how many churches are built.

The moment the man of God steps away, Don't nobody show up to church.

I didn't say it, y'all. But the instruction was like, okay, if they have the opportunity, they will have love to serve widows. But because they can't be at two places at the same time, they needed to raise up people. That's discipleship, to serve tables. Now, one of the things the Lord shared with me about this is— thank you, Jesus— when they were picking the people to serve the tables, let's read those names again. Let's see if people can figure something out. Starting at 5, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, Nicolas, Antioch. If you notice something about those, those are all Hellenistic names. Those are all Greek names because the best people to solve this problem were probably the same people that felt the pain of the problem. The original Jews were the ones that were causing the problem, so when they were looking for people that were passionate about making sure that the Hellenists were able to receive their food in a new portion, many a times the people in the community are best equipped to serve them. So now you have these Hellenistic Jews, and there's one person in particular named Stephen. Now they chose 7, and they were looking for not just any 7. Like, think about it, you about to serve tables. They're not asking you to preach a serving. They're not asking you to lay hands on anybody.

They asking you to serve tables.

And what were the requirements that they were looking for?

Verse 3: Seek out from among you 7 men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, that we may appoint them.

You are serving tables, and they're just like, man, if you're not full of the Holy Ghost, you have no business touching these tables.

If you're not full of the Holy Ghost, you got no business ushering. You're not full of the Holy Ghost, you got no business in that drum booth.

Many times you have people serving in some capacity, but they don't have the good reputation. They don't have the Holy Spirit. They don't have the wisdom. A lot of times we put the requirements for ministry for the pastor, but if you're an usher, your requirements are pretty high too.

They are serving tables.

Now something powerful happened. Stephen, they described him full of faith, so many things, but by the time you get to verse 8, there's one more thing they said that he's full of. Somebody say power. Now how did he get here? It's a hard question. He went into service. He wanted to serve faith, and everybody around him knew that he was capable of doing this. His reputation was solid. He was full of faith. The apostles laid hands on him. Boom! Impartation. The next thing we read about this man is that he's full of power. And see, the Lord of faith and power did great wonders and signs among the people. Now the reason why I'm bringing this up is because the path to power is through service. That's the only route. Jesus said, if anyone amongst you want to be great, let them become a servant. So I believe in my whole heart that all the ministries that we are helping— I told you, if you come to this gathering, you're a minister or higher— all the ministries that we are having, that we are helping out, that we are serving these tables—

if serving tables come in verse 3, 4, 5, and 6, by 2027 you're going to see us in verse 8.

I promise you, 2027, just wait and see. See what's on the other side of the surface. That only happens through service, discipleship. It only happens with people who have this heart posture that I have. Lift up others. I keep telling people, you can't lift people and stay on the ground yourself. That's not how it works. So what we going to do now, we going to break apart the scripture. What were the 3 things that we written down?

Serve tables, multiply, and power.

Serve tables, multiply, and power. Remember, we're studying Acts in the context of what should the church look like. You never get into church with one We never been to any church, take our Bible, we go into the wilderness, we read that book of Acts and all the letters, the epistles and the gospel, and we start a church, would that church look like the church that we attend to? And if not, what can we do to reconcile that? Particularly in this context, when it comes to service. What makes a good servant? What makes a good servant? In your church, there are a lot of times where more than a message, it's like the usher that preaches. Like, we all have to contribute something. Multiplication. How do you multiply leadership? How do you build a system and structure where a man of God can pray and study and not be evident to all people. See, and this is on my heart heavy. I'm just like, everything that we're doing here, I'm very confident right now that I can walk away and be accepted. And I can't— I don't want to say I can't wait for the day that the Lord pulls me away from the tent, but I know it's going to happen. I know. And you know what? There's going to be sneezes. There's going to be noses.

Full of power.

Elastic power. Trying to do industry without power is like trying to drive a car without gas. Trying to drive a car without gas is tough. And I want us to now unpack this. So we're going to read it one more time, and then I want to talk about what the Lord is ministering to me about this as it relates to service, serving tables, multiplying leaders, multiplying disciples, and power. Let's read it one more time. 1, 2, 3, let's go. Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the 12 summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you 7 men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicolas, apostles from Antioch, whom they And they sat before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. And a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. And there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Cireneans, Alexandrians, and those from Sicilia and Asia disputed with Stephen, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. Amen. Then they secretly induced men to say, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. And they stirred up the people to hell with them with stripes, and they came upon them and seized him and brought him to the council. He also set up false witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us. And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel. So as you read through that, you underline, take notes, put when—

and I switched over to the NIV— but verse 2 talks about how the 12 disciples gathered and they said that it wouldn't be right for them to neglect the ministry of the word of God. And I circled neglect and I wrote down delegate. And I think that there's something to be said about, um, leaders, right? And even how you just spoke, at some point, right, you can't do it all. And I think what they knew is what the Lord had graced them to do, which was to focus on the ministry of the word, to give their attention to prayer as well. And they delegated and had the humility to say, I can't do it all, we can't can't do it all, and then to share with those that they selected. So that's something that stood out, which is like delegating as leaders and knowing when to pass on responsibilities and not do it all. And not as a leader— I just wrote that down. Oluseun Arowolaju said, I also wrote down delegate, and then you spoke and said delegate people's making decisions. Oh yeah, just tripping now. Uh, and just having that confidence, like, I know what God called me to do, and I'm— we have to stick to that. And we empower other people to say, we're looking for people to do the other work that needs to be done, um, and not shine a light. I think sometimes At least being like, oh, I don't know if God wanted— I know this is what he wanted, but I don't feel like he did. You know, like, so not being shaky about where God is placing you, but they were able to say confidently and not cocky because everybody else agreed and was like, yeah, of course, that makes sense. So being able to communicate that comfortably but not cocky. Yeah, so this past Sunday when I went to church, Bishop actually talked about the power of partnership, and that's what it made me realize from reading Acts 6. So I think you read from Exodus 17:10-4 where there's a battle going on, and he's just basically saying how everyone has a role to play. And how do you want to be remembered in your church? What is the purpose in your church? How you serve in your church? And I feel like it's ironic that we're going over this today because, like, um, Brenda said, they couldn't preach and tutor, so they picked people of good faith to serve, to handle what they couldn't do. And I just thought that was good.

Yeah, I want to piggyback off that real quick. I'm going to come get Destiny because, man, I'm going to say this One of the sneakiest attacks of the enemy is to make the church feel like they're acting like the world when it comes to excellence. You will hear things like, "They're running the church like a business," and, you know, "Why is this thing so produced?" And, you know, and when I think about that, it's just like, the world does not own anything. The world has made nothing. It's created nothing. There's like— stealing from the world makes no sense when they don't own anything. It's just the perversion of it that we gotta be careful of, right? So in that, in the— when we think about the word delegate, my brain thinks corporate America immediately. But even before we get to Acts, when you go to Exodus and Jethro was speaking to Moses, and Moses is carrying— mind you, here Moses is a pastor of 3 million people. There's 3 million people that he helps come through Exodus, and he by himself is the one attending to all of these problems. You're like, why you kill yourself? He's like, my point was, said, amen, each according to their need. We need to delegate these responsibilities so that you can focus on the most pressing matters. So the most important thing about leadership— I don't even know why the Lord is taking us there, but like every day when you wake up, your go. Number one question: what is the most important thing to do? That's, that's how I do my day. I wake up and I'm just like, what's the most important thing to do? Because your to-do list is always going to be long if you're being used by God. I'm telling you right now, if there's a grace upon your life, there's a demand upon that grace. If there's a grace upon your life, there's a demand upon that If you're the person that everybody always comes to advice for, like for some reason you just, you got this word of wisdom as a gift. If you have that grace, people will seek it out.

You don't even gotta ask, you don't even gotta advertise it. People gonna be like, man, I'm going through it again.

Your responsibility is to figure out what's the most important thing to attend to, and then secondly, who can in our race to help alleviate this burden. Because now, if somebody trusts me to preach this word of the gospel, and it's just like, I'm not available, but Shelton will preach, because I made that recommendation, the authority that I carry now gets transferred to her. And that's what happened with the impartation of the apostles. They were just like, we affirm these, these 7. Here's our hands. Here they are. As you see them, you see us. That's what we all got to get to. If you're not replicating yourself, you're not discipling somebody. And if you're not discipling somebody, you're not keeping to the commands that Jesus gave us. So meditate on that. That's this one.

I think I just felt like that kind of just showed the power how humble like the 7 were.

You cracked the volume up.

Sorry, because I feel like if that were me, I'd be like, oh, you're just gonna sit there and pray? Like, I want to do that. Like, I don't want to listen to the tables. But they heard, they were like, oh no, we're pleased with that. Like, that's a good— that's a good idea. Like, nobody was like, oh no, you shouldn't do that. Or like, you're like, why do you get to do that and not me? That they like understood, like, oh, like, okay, you do that and I do this and I'm still gonna get power and stuff and they made grace and they were happy with that, like having that role. Like, and I think because of that, like, humbleness is why, like, they got— why, why Stephen was, like, so spotlighted.

It's like David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than sitting in the council of wicked. Sometimes serving the Lord is the most powerful thing you can do in the world.

Ain't no small work in I was, um, just thinking about how we're not talking about kingdom. I mean, you spoke about how the world might see the church even as a business. Truly, if they are with its Holy Spirit, it's actually a kingdom, but Not everybody is kingdom. Not everybody knows me. Not everybody understands how a kingdom operates, especially in America, because we don't operate under a kingdom. So I just feel like, I don't know, that's something I have to get in my mind and start picturing myself, like, kneeling before the Lord and receiving my assignment for the day, my duties, and taking that and running with it. Um, so yeah, I just thought about that. I love how in 5 it ends with, um, in 5:38 where it says, now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them along. For if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing. But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you even be found to fight against God. And I feel like we got to see that directly in chapter 6. Like, even though Stephen had good reputation, they were still able to stir up this group of people and do all that. But it ends with them still seeing the face of Kind of going back to the leadership proportions of our congregations, it reminded me of 1 Corinthians 12. So 12:31, my Bible says, one body with many members. And essentially it just talks about how if you could imagine every single part of essential. Like the eye can't tell the nose, I don't need you. The ear can't tell the knee, I don't need you.

And so on and so forth.

And so you may even think about it from the human body perspective. We don't view any part as more or less necessary than the other. There are several portions of our body that are working underneath the surface that are the reason why we breathe. Like we can't see our lungs, we can't see our heart. Only we can see what's on on the outside, but those can be— those are pivotal parts that keep us moving. Same with ministry, right? Like, there are people that are behind the scenes, whether it's they're in the media room or, you know, they're going to ask for a prayer or they're ushers or whatever the case may be that keep ministry moving. And so it just reminded me of the necessity of diversity inside of the congregation.

Like, what—

how would it be helpful to move the ministry forward if every single individual is praying and preaching the word but nobody's serving or nobody is, you know, going out into the community. And so it made me think of that.

Yeah, I think one thing I love about that, to come to, to, is that scripture that you just said, that like, that I'm the senior parts of the body, but I'm more than the senior parts. And I feel like you really embody that. Like, I feel like you're kind of backwards, just like and every— anybody who's visibly in ministry, we're just like, that's the man of God. When, like, you never see my heart. But if my heart not functioning, my mouth don't matter. If my heart not working, who— what am I talking about? My lungs not working, I'm not even breathing. So I just want to say that I want to invert this mentality that like you're only doing ministry when you're visible. Like, I just don't feel that, you know. So I have something for you.

I wrote down as we were reading and praying, I have this to read and I want to respond to what you said as well. And as I wrote this, I was convicted. y'all may be convicted as I read, but it says, serve your local church at all costs. Everything ugly will come up and out of you. The word ministry means to serve.

Serve.

We all have appointed positions, tasks, and assignments. Ensure that you are in the right position. No matter how hard it gets, be sure to fight through. You are being refined by fire. And God brought me to Isaiah 48: Isaiah 48:10. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. Be still and know that I am God. Go through the fire. Your service births your ministry. A strong foundation is built. You will be refined into the image of God as you serve the local church. Let Satan find a thing in you, whether it's pride, jealousy, lust, insecurity, fear, it must be uprooted, and it's uprooted through process. Stay through the process. The power, the miracles, the signs and wonders, the wisdom comes through process. Do not despise your process. And then the Lord also brought me to be strong and courageous. Fear not, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God, he is the one that goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake and that is Deuteronomy 31:6. So in all honesty, stay put in your assignment. I know for me, I was like thrown into ministry and thrown into ministry with a lot of seasoned saints, and I saw a lot of ugly things that were hard on my heart. But that's the attack of the enemy, to harden your heart and get you to step away from ministry. But once you begin to deal with those difficult things in ministry, you're being refined and you're being molded into the image of God. So God will place you in difficult situations so the difficult that's in you can come out. And so in order for all of us to do our kingdom assignment, our kingdom mandate, we have to go through that refining process because the Bible says that once we are refined, we come out with fire, and fire is birthed in affliction. And to go back off of your comment, um, I think what I wanted to say is that the church is not just run by the pastor. If you look in Corinthians, it talks about first appointed apostles, then prophets, then teachers, evangelists, and pastors. I believe to have an effective church, your church needs to be ran by the fivefold ministry. And if gifts are being suppressed and we're not stepping into our assignment with it because we're afraid or it's too hard, we're depending on ourself and not God, then the church is not functioning because it's more things than just a pastor.

Yeah, I have a pastor friend of mine, he says this, he says, whoever wants to attack you is when first day you outside the church. And one, this power over me, absolutely. Two, your covering is on your side. I know, I know that might sound like— no, hey, wait, let me tell y'all this. I don't know how many times I wanted to just leave the church. We were about to pack up We are all like— there's so much attack that came from what I believe the Lord is doing now, right? And when SWAT plugged into the local church and we keep saying this, like, hey, if you're here plugged into a local church. If you're not plugged into a local church, the context of our gathering won't really make sense to you, because the place that you take this is back to the local church. And if you don't have a local church to go to, then you're not really getting the fullness of the context that we are presenting. Now, um, I want to ask Answer a question that I think may be asked: what if you are around seasoned saints that don't afford you any opportunity to serve? It's a real problem. You're trying to be like, hey, we should start using Google Docs. They like, what you talking about? You know, it's like, it could be very frustrating. And I've been there.

The tent exists literally because there were things that I was trying to do that I wasn't able to afford it. I was looking at you, I'm like, I'm going outside, because it must be done.

But you know, I'm still part of the church, gospel experience. But possibly there was some stuff he talked about when Jesus was born in a destination and how there was two donkeys present. There was a donkey and then a foal of a donkey, which means that the coming and the entrance of Jesus came upon two generations. As young and as much zeal as we have, there are some lessons that we don't need to learn by experience. If you're learning everything by experience who are learning the hard way. I sat with my mom one day and I was telling her like, man, I feel like— I feel this sense of despair sometimes when it comes to ministry. It's just like I get done with the loan, like I'm not supposed to be doing it, I'm not supposed to. And then she began to read me receipts of things that she's been through in 30 years of ministry. I'm just like, all right, let me stop. What do you do if it isn't cross-generational?

You!

Well, then why are we all here?

You know what I mean? Like, somebody told you about God one time. Like, we're born— I think God's grace— hey, we don't deserve this. But like, we really don't deserve it. He bestowed this power onto us from before we were even born. Generations beforehand existed with the sheer purpose of us existing, having to carry this on. And he doesn't even ask for anything. You could just, you could just leave and nothing would happen. You could just turn around and leave the church and not tell anybody about anything that you learned today, never talk to anybody else in this room, and it could just be over.

He's not gonna stop you.

You can go out in the rain if you want to, but why? The whole reason it exists, like, the whole reason it exists is so we can carry it on. You know, like, there's no other purpose beyond carrying this work word into generations that continue to change, worlds that continue to change, but look what persists.

This.

It's this. Regardless of the translation, regardless of— like, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know, it's just like, this is so important to me especially, like, just because I was re-reading Genesis this past summer, The first thing that God did off the jump after he created man is create a companion. Because he knows that humans by nature are community-oriented people. We gather, we just do that naturally. We build hierarchies and make it all complicated, but yeah, like, it's kind of curious to have in the room.

Yeah.

I don't know why I felt so compelled. [Speaker:WOMAN] I don't know if this is going to come out, but I was circling it in my head. But as you were talking and you were just talking about the tension of like, in some sense, that impossible contradiction, right? Like, I should have had to do more work to be here. I should have had to put in more reps in order to be looked at the way that I am. What came up for me is just like, it is grace that calls us into these spaces that we're not qualified for, or by human standards shouldn't be in position for. It is the grace, it is the seed that has been planted from those who have come before us, who prayed over us, and who have like labored to make this easier for us. What we're doing is making it easier for the next generation generation. And so it clicked in my mind. I struggle a lot with imposter syndrome. It clicked in my mind that like, no, you're supposed to be here. And you hear that, but like something about what you just said like clicked in a different way that like, no, this— there were people before you that set the stage, that broke down the barriers. Like all the things that we're trying to do right now, justice work and all the stuff that we're doing with that Like, it is to make it easier for the people who are coming next, and that has happened, and we have God's grace on us. And so with that, like, and we need to be in these places and not feel like we don't belong. Like, that's how it should be. The seeds were planted. It should be easier. It should be easier for the folks that come up after us because we've done what we've done. It kind of reminds me of motherhood. Like, this is my first time— this is our first time having a child. I also didn't grow up in the church, so like no one in my family is a believer. I'm the only believer, which that's already a burden on its own. Um, but so with that in mind, like, I didn't grow up with a praying grandmother. I didn't grow up with, you know, praying mom. I didn't grow up with my father. My husband, like, his life is completely different, right? And one of the things that I think is so beautiful about this season is how our daughter isn't even here yet, but she's already saturated in spaces for prayer, like, 4 hours of prayer, or spaces like this, or us playing worship music in our house, or us praying over her, whatever those are. Like, those are literally seeds that one day we will see manifest. Where for me, you know, it took so many years of trial and error and all these different things to come to Jesus. But because of all the things that I went through, like you said, some things you literally learn by just going through life, which is what I had to experience. But there are so many things that our daughter don't have to experience because she has parents that have wisdom, that have the Holy Spirit, that are surrounded in spaces so that when her time comes it's not like I have to go through the world and be amazed and you have to deal with all these things. Like, it's already going to be rooted in her. It's already rooted in her now. And so it made me think of that. Like, so many times we think about like the older generation, but also younger generations too. Like, there are people our age, even people younger than us, that don't know Jesus. There's so much exposure to so many things in this world that Children should not be exposed to that. If there's nobody ministering to them, if they're not in a children's church or they don't have praying grandparents or their family, you know, aren't believers, they're going to have no choice but to learn it the hard way. And so it just reminded me of just like the beginning of this season, how there's so many times I'm like, Lord, I had to go through all of that to get here. But it's also good because my daughter will not go through those same things.

That part, that part. Like, you know, as you were speaking, I received this word. Um, sin can't be the only thing you pass down to your children, as much as they try. Like, the word of God— God speaks to me in revelation a lot. Like, the moment something just drops, I'm like, yeah, that's you. Like, sin can't be the only thing be passed down from Adam. The only thing that was passed down from generation to generation was sin. Since Jesus— since Jesus— since Jesus, what you pass down now is grace. And we have to be conscious of what the people under us are going to inherit. Like, if the only thing you leave behind for your children is money, you're a terrible parent. I hope they inherit prayer. I hope they inherit studying scripture. Like, y'all saw that video in the prayer gym? Angelique, she had this video of this toddler worshiping. I mean, like, praying. I mean, like, on her knees, forehead to floor. I'm like, man, scripture says seek the Lord while he can find you. Seek him early. I'm telling you right now, there are some things that would not be affecting you if you would have found the Lord sooner. So now your responsibility is find someone early in their life and make sure those same things don't affect them.

So I can't remember, I think it was you that was talking about, um, like, kind of like moving legacy. Um, so something that came to mind for me was like I was playing basketball overseas and I was trying my hardest to stay somewhere over there, but God wasn't going to let me. And so as soon as I got back here to the States, vibes started pouring in, but I'm like, okay, Lord. So everybody always asked me, oh, where you going next? Where you going next? Where you going next? And I couldn't answer the question because I just wanted to give them an answer I didn't know what I wanted to go to. And so I finally, you know, I did a fast, and it was a really powerful fast. And so at the end of the fast, um, I ended up getting a new car. I didn't tell my family the first time, you know, so my family was upset. Why you ain't tell me? But I needed to have that, at least that one gift the first day to myself, because if I would have told somebody, I would have missed out on the revelation that God told me. And, you know, he told me that, you know, I'll be married, I will be fruitful and multiply. And so I always thought the fruitful and multiply meant, oh, now I can have kids, okay. But it's being manifested in Like everywhere I go, like I'm always speaking to somebody about the word. And it's always like one of my favorite parables is the parable of the sower. Like planting that seed. One man plants, another man waters, but it's God that gives the increase. And so for me, I've always been somebody that likes to sow. Like, hey, let me tell you about the Lord. Hey, let me, you know, and for me it's like That's part of my legacy. Yeah, I don't have a husband yet, I don't have kids yet, but right now my legacy is— I didn't think I was going to be a teacher. That's part of my legacy, right? But according to my staff, according to like the students that have— we started a Bible study at the school and that's been thriving as well. And so it's, it's really hard with the, you know, the school systems, the charter school just to be able to do that. I'm a sponsor for the kids. They go on, and I'm like, man, like, I want to see generations like that. But it started with, hey, I gotta stay here. If I wasn't obedient, it would have been, you know, who would have known? You know, God would have sent somebody else, but I'm glad he sent me.

The, the first one specifically, say, it's not real life. So the wording tells me that, um, Stephen was already prepared by the time the problem came, and timing was what came back to me. Stephen was ready for an assignment. but the sound isn't there. So this whole time, sat down, it's like Stephen was there and just, you know, probably just be around, right? He could have, he could have just went somewhere else and not be around, just, hey, not this time, maybe more of a good place to be. But he stayed, he stayed around, um, around where it was happening, and then God said Hey, there's a problem coming. I'm going to accept it. There's no two ways to do this. And that spoke to me in a sense of, hey, I should be ready no matter where my assignment comes, even if I'm not on assignment right now. He's so good.

Um, adding to that, and then I'm going to tie into what you were saying about it might feel like sometimes at your church there isn't a space for what you feel you've been led to do, or just like what God has put on your heart. And our pastor always says— not always, but she mentioned it all the time— that like, if you notice a problem, it's your job to solve it. Like, you know there's a problem for a reason. So just going to that, and like the timing, we have multiple like ministries or groups at our church, and none of them really— it literally made sense for me to be in any of them, just like thinking about it. And a few years ago, like, people just kept asking me, like, okay, like, what are you going to join? Like, what are you doing? Aren't you doing anything? And I was sort of just like, no, I don't really know. And a few weeks ago, like, me and Fiona and Oluseun were talking about just The Google Docs is my first experience. And it's just like, from an organizational standpoint, we're missing so many things. And like, we have— like, we go to a powerful church. Like, you can't really deny that if you've been there and heard the testimonies that people have had. But I feel I feel like if we could just fix like our organization and like our communication, we would be able to reach so many more people. Like they would see, okay, they're doing this, they're able to communicate this clearly, this is happening. Even from just things like having a church directory, like I feel like that would really help because then people could know who these people are. Like you don't have to talk to them, but you would know, oh, this person's a member, I probably asking for something, or like, they probably know what's going on and what events are coming up, just things like that. So that's something that the back of the notebook, but I'm like, I can't— things that we just need. And there are things, but I can tell that a lot of people's focus is prayer, like deliverance, getting that, like working that muscle. So they're not really worried about everything else. And like, that's necessary, you know what I mean? So for me I think that would be my little department. You may not know what's happening, but once it's done, when people come in, like, they don't know what's going on. Like, even when Stacy mentioned sometimes, like, it's, you know, they're like, okay, but like, she's your charge person, but it's like kind of hard at first to like grasp really what's going on if you don't know like who to ask or where to look for because we don't have that system built. So for the future Mercedeses of our church. That's what I think of. And I also want to talk about what you were saying, and just like having something to show your child so they don't really have to experience anything that you experienced. There's one couple who has been to every— like, back when we used to have regular, like, tent worship nights, they came to every single one, and they have a little baby girl on the first one she was got to be like 5 months old. And it's just been basically like seeing her grow. And then they're at the 12-hour prayer, and just knowing that even just like the foundation of worship, like she might not really know what's going on, but as they grow older and as they continue to attend events like that, that will be the norm for her. And just seeing that, and then the video that we saw talk today, and like even Pio and Christina's kids, like one of them was like, you were just hearing in the other room, like singing a song at the top of his lungs, hallelujah, everything. This should be the norm. And just knowing that because this will be the norm for them, when they grow up, they'll be doing things like defend, they'll be doing things like defying the system, where they're able to be out to other people because to them it'll be weird not to have that support, you know what I mean? And we can try to reach out to younger generations, but we don't really have that in— like, we don't have— we don't know what, like, makes them tick. We don't know, like, what they're looking for, but we can speak on, like, our experiences. So in being able to show the younger generation, okay, this is where I started, this is where I am you can just skip that and get to there. Look, I'm doing great. It may not be easy, but like, just knowing that you can just skip all the hard stuff and just get to having the comfort that God is with you and whatever comes may come. But I think it's just really nice for women to set those examples, even though we don't have— even though we don't all have kids of our own, just being in those spaces and like, there are even times for the tent event where people would message us and be like, "Oh, like, our kids are allowed?" I'm like, "Yeah, bring the kids!" You know? But it's just kind of funny that even in spaces that are for God, people don't always feel welcome to bring their kids.

That's just like a thought.

Like, that's just like a thought that it's kind of sad that they they have to ask that because we initially say, oh, just bring kids. Like, kids are allowed, but it's kind of weird that that's something that they need to double-check beforehand. Um, that's just my opinion, sorry.

But, um, I want to say a few things. I want to pray. Um, I'm a bit out of it from the last couple of classes, but one of the things that interests me Spirits do not care about age. One of the things that we're trying to incorporate, we want to continue to increase, is including our children in spiritual activities, in prayer, in worship. Like, their conscience might not be fully matured in those things. That's all that matters, because once their conscience matures, their spirit gets in the spirit, into their language, or they try to recognize the Lord. What I'm saying is very deep. When you read scripture, you will find someone like Josiah, who was the king in 1 Kings 12 and 13. You don't think that's spiritual? When you learn about Samuel, Like, I know there are some prayers that I prayed in my childhood, and I benefited from that. What fact? So if we understand this, then we're not going to treat people like they're too good for us to disciple. And this generation coming up, I'm telling y'all, if we don't solve this problem now, we We gonna suffer. We gonna—

what?

If we don't take care of this early, by the time they become your employees, by the time they become workers in your churches— man, I'm reading statistics, like, this is one of the worst behaved generations in history. I mean, like this. I mean, who's a teacher in here?

Who teaches?

Teaches like pre-K through— y'all speak to us. Like, what are y'all seeing in these rooms with these gen alphabets?

I feel like I'm constantly in places— I feel convicted because I need a personal step up. Like, in every space I'm drawn to teens. Like, at our church, I could definitely be doing way better than I am now. But like, I work with high schoolers that can't tell time on a regular clock. Something as simple as that, it's like, in high school, it's, it's— and now you have to have them pass on because it's state law. It's difficult. Inside the system, I was like, I was in the school system for like a year, year and a half. Like, outside the school system, it's— I was with like the littles. I was with like 3, 4, 5, 6-year-olds, like 3K, kindergarten. And honestly, like, I think also people, like the adults that were in those spaces, The behavior they were modeling is like— even like, I was teaching like special needs kids, or like kids that were on the spectrum. There was one time where there was a teacher that was like subbing in one of our classrooms, and they were like set up at the post with one of the stations for one of the kids, and she looked up at us and she asked, "Does he talk?" Just like, in front of the kid, and I'm like, just talk to him. Like, try—

I don't know why.

We were having a conversation at length about the important— like, how our country especially does not care about the beginning, does not care about the end of your life. If you're a kid, you can kick rocks. If you're a senior citizen, you can kick rocks. And it's just like, if you just sit down and go through your a 3-year-old and just like ask them what's on their mind, they'll tell you. They see everything. They see everything. And we always talk about boldness. They have that boldness just built in. You ever heard a 3-year-old hold back on something?

You're bad.

What if I said I didn't like their sweater and they just said, "That's the ugliest sweater I've ever seen. Why is it here at my house?" Like, they don't look bad. And, uh, there's been a heavy burden on my heart lately to pray for kids, um, particularly to pray for teenagers. Um, I think it is very easy for us to sit in the seat that we are in and criticize and judge and read data and talk about what we see, but those of us who are in positions to mentor and to coach and to disciple, we're not doing it. And And so I'm putting this out there to all of y'all that if you're not working with youth in some capacity, I highly recommend it. It always is a mutual exchange. It just is. Because it gives you insight to pull this data off the screen and say, oh, this is why this is happening, right? How can I intervene? So that is my call to y'all, and then my ask is that we can pray tonight fight, but also that we continue to pray for our youth because there is an attack on them right now. Technology is not helping. The adults that are in their lives are not helping. And so there has to be an intervention.

And obviously, for those of us who are in position to do so, we need to intervene.

I, I was going to go back to ask I just felt a burden from the Lord to ensure we understand what grace is, because what happened is that the apostles, they understood their grace, which was— my apostle, he defines grace as the ability of God God. So like when we say, Lord, give me more grace, it's really give me more of your ability, like empower me in this area. And so they knew that the ability that God had given them was to minister the word and to pray. But then in the NIV version, in verse 8, it says, now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power. And I just like The reality that we have to understand when we say like, Lord, give me grace— sometimes we might understand that as the same as favor or the same as mercy. But grace is, it's those things as well, but it's really the ability of God. And I think that what would help all of us is if we ask the Lord to help us understand where he has graced us. Because that's a big thing too. We're talking about schools and youth programs. It could be a lot of adults in these programs who are not graced to be around children. And like, it's— we need to clarify, Lord, what grace have you given me? And then go in those areas and be effective, knowing that it's him who's empowering you. Like, if you struggling in an area, it's possible you may not be graced for that area. Or sometimes the Lord, he will lift the grace off for a season when it's time for you to transition into a next one where his ability, it wants to lead there. And so I, I wanted to share that just because I think like a big part of like everything we see the apostles do, it was all through the ability of God and what he had given him.

One of the things I'm going to go back to what I said, because like sometimes, um, sometimes like your grace catches up to yourself. Like you could be graced for something, right? It could very well be that somebody had this with me this entire time, right? This entire time. But until, like, an opportunity to minister came, all the graces that we pray for, it's only used to minister unto others. If you think God's going to grace you for you to sit down by yourself and do whatever it is There's a saying that says that like a tree never eats its own fruit. So like, I think, I think the biggest thing that I want to just pray out is that like it really goes back to serving. Like if you don't— if you're not serving in some capacity If you're not serving in some capacity, there is something that you can give to someone else. This is why I keep trying to encourage people to leverage these gifts. Like, you got word— like last week, we're doing our Bible study, we're praying, and I'm just hearing in a loud voice, they're like, someone needs to come forth, but you can't call them What do you mean? What do you mean when the Lord tells you what is supposed to happen and tells you you're not going to do it? If it wasn't— so it's just like— and I'm saying this to say there are some things that you are graced for that you can't tell other people to do.

It's you.

It's you.

You are the person that God has given the authority to do this thing.

And as long as you are waiting for someone else to do it, you're waiting for someone else to do the assignment given to you, which by saying is God take this assignment away from me and give it to somebody else.

And he will. He will.

with your tent. I feel like this passage is so encouraging to me because it's just like I'm looking at it from the lens of not only if you're just serving, but if your serving is not transforming lives, just like what you're doing. I thought back to the passage that you referenced talking about like, you know, I got to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, in my tent, with the devil or with the enemy, and I remember just like from my childhood growing up here, I remember like doorkeepers, like they would say that scripture all the time, like they were proud of doing it, you know, they were faithful, they would show up every day, but it was just like when you think— when I look at this passage right here and it's just like he's being called to lead the food program, it's just like you wouldn't think of somebody being called to lead a food program to be full of God's grace, power, but also performing amazing miracles and signs. It's just like, that would be something that you would maybe attribute to like a pastor or something like that. It's just like, for us, no matter where we are, not only do we have that calling to serve, but we have to be continually like seeking the Lord because our serving is for transformation. It's not just to be seen It's not just like to be comfortable where we are, just like, oh, I'm in the, you know, serving the door of the Lord. It's just like, nah, I'm here because some way somebody that I'm supposed to meet at the door is supposed to be transformed. Yeah, like, come on, the same grace that you are using to serve the same table is the same grace that you're using through the signs and wonders.

It's coming from the same source. It's coming from the same place.

So the only difference is our perception of it. We're looking down on this person because we like to see the platform, right? We like to look in the faces of men. We like to look at outward appearances. If outward appearances led to the choosing of a king, David would have never been anointed king.

It can't be external.

It can't.

So the work that we're doing, man, nobody may know your name, nobody may ever thank you, you may never get a reward for it, but you're going to get to heaven and God is going to say, well done, my good and faithful servant. What would you rather hear? Would you rather say, man of God, you've been one of the things, one of the The dangerous things about being a preacher— I'm gonna be honest with y'all—

I know exactly what to say to get people clapping.

I know exactly what to say to get people on their feet. I'm a communicator.

I'm an orator.

This is my gift. But if I'm not saying what God told me to say, I'm not doing nothing.

I know what to say. I promise you, I can set this place on fire right now.

Honest to God, you think I'm playing? I know exactly what I'm saying. But the discipline of a preacher is you don't say all the words.

My tongue is the pen of a lame writer. That discipline is what kept me from making an altar call because if I would have said it, I would have stole the grace that God made available for it. God judged me for having taken it from his ministry. Y'all need this stroke. I need you— listen to me— you need to know exactly where God has placed you, and you need to go minister there. Because if you're not ministering there, there's a chance that that there's a vacancy in that ministry. And we need all of us. We need all 5. If God give you the prophetic grace and there's no prophetic grace being used in your church, you like, God needs to send somebody.

He sent you.

He sent you.

You have the grace that's missing and you're telling God to send someone. Does it make sense? Your friendship gives me the boldness. It's like I need somebody to come fix my house and you're married to a carpenter. That's disrespectful. Can you imagine somebody's bleeding out and the doctor is They say, is there a doctor in the house? Come on, somebody is passed out on the floor and the doctor is saying, can anyone help? Man, let's go and do some CPR. You want me to reach that person out?

You call for a doctor.

God already sent you.

Some of y'all need to answer some assignments tonight.

It's not a grace problem. Uh-uh. We not about to blame God.

Have you risen to the occasion? Have you been a reflexive player?

We keep saying God sent people.

I'm just going to open it to the room. Like, everybody knows that Paul works with— anybody confused about that? Does everybody know, like, you know? If you don't know, if you don't know and you are still like not sure, raise your hand. Okay, because like we're talking about farming, conserving, all these things. but I think we love it. And then that function and all that stuff underneath it. So some people, they probably do want to step into it because that function. Some people are called to church, some people are called out. So there's so many things to it. I just don't want people to leave here feeling like, "Oh dang, I don't know what to do. Like, my church won't accept this. I don't know what to—" It's okay. It's okay.

The Bible says to give to the man who will rule. Like, I'll give you guys just one, one bullet about how to find a grace. What do people struggle to do that you do? What do people struggle to do that you do? You got one? I saw this dude presenting at my job. I mean, the man almost passed out. He gave a 5-minute presentation.

I'm like, man, who put that man up here, man? Like, you can't be misassigning people. If it ain't they grace, it ain't they grace. Like, I know what I'm not good at too.

Are you good at it, or did God send somebody that's good too?

Moses was like—

Moses was gifted in leadership. That's what God was asking.

He was just like, but I can't speak. But is that what he told you to do?

He said, if that's what it is, I'm going to send you in there, cuz you going to do this regardless.

I'm telling you, if y'all heavy, God will do less.

He will take every excuse you have away.

If y'all mad, he will take every single excuse away.

Like, you want to know an excuse that I've been making?

Oh man, but I'm not good at marketing. Oh, but I'm not good— I've been shouting them up, and all of a sudden it's just like, well, now I don't got no excuse.

We can't hide behind these excuses because it's not your ability to begin with. Grace is his ability manifested through you. This thing is powerful, man.

The moment that you allow allow God to work through you. You don't— he's the one doing it.

You can relax. Like, many times we feel like it's us doing it, it's this, it's that. I'm not talking about these gifts and skills like these are our abilities. These are things that you might not have never learned in school, never studied in your life.

Is God-given. And we're going to do a workshop.

I think we need to do a workshop on this, on giftings, assignments, callings, and the differences between those.

Because we do not— we can't—

I can guarantee everybody that's in this thing, I can bet my entire life Step 1, finding that out. I'm still in the season right now, currently praying. I'm still right here, trying to ask God, what do you want me to do? Question.

I think also one way you can identify the grace of God on your life is when you hear people always saying about you.

Because he just said he be asking God what to do, and I'm sure we can all answer something for him that we know it, it makes sense. But it's also, if God is in us, right, especially if you are a Godly community and you always hear somebody say, who's Mercedes? Like, like, oh, you know, you're, you're so kind, like, you're light, you know, you're, you're this, you're that. At some point, you got to believe that and say, maybe it's like you walk around all day, you're not looking in the mirror. I could have something on my face right now, I won't know until y'all tell me. And so I think it's the same with grace. Sometimes you may not know until the Lord is trying to speak to you.

It was the people around that referred to me as the decider. They was just like, it's like if we all came together and we had to choose 7 of amongst us that we thought was full of the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom, of good reputation.

If we all had to I guarantee you there's something that they need to continue for somebody in this room.

So you might need to go tell them. Like, I wish we had time because we would activate—

you pray, you perceive what the Lord is telling you concerning somebody else and go tell them. Go tell them. I believe that the Lord is gracing you in this area of your life. Maybe we do that next week. But seriously, like, it took me too long to figure out what I was good at. Way too long. I hated my gift. My gift was poetry, writing, speaking.

I'm like, God, the world didn't pay for that. I'm like, what you talking about writing poems? Until one day somebody told me 33% of the Bible is poetry. I'm like, why have I buried this thing? 35% of the Bible is poetry, and I'm like, poetry sucks. It's because I was listening to the world for something God was trying to tell me. The world ain't going to tell you what you get today. I'm telling you right now, you just going to break your feet.

last week, but I came across a quote that said you have been wishing for another position where you can do something for Jesus.

Do not lose anything of the kindness that you are serving.

Can we just make that a prayer right now? Father God, help me to serve you where I am. Help me to serve you from where I am. That means everywhere I go, I will still serve you.

Every room I enter, every season of my life, Lord, I pray that service will always remain available unto you. Let my hands be available, let my feet be available to you, Lord. I want to be your hands and feet, Lord, wherever I am. Even if I'm uncomfortable, even if I'm unliked, even if I'm insecure, even if I feel like an imposter, Lord, I will I talk about the abilities you have given me, Lord, help me to serve. Lord, if the widows in my church are having issues and I have an answer, Lord, if you need to send someone to me, Lord, if you need to send me to someone, Lord, help me to serve. Help me to ask what the needs of the church is. Is anyone hungry? Is anyone needy? Do I have an abundance of what somebody has a lack of? Do I have more than enough if someone is lacking? Do I have too many clothes and someone does not have? Do I have too many shoes and someone does not have? Lord, help me to meet the needs of people by your grace. You should believe that you have given me. There's no prayer department in my church. Lord, help me to start one. You have gifted me with kindness, and the children around me are unkind. Help me to disciple kindness in the lives of people. What we need is disciple-makers. Lord, help me to live a life that will help to solve the problems of others. Help me to live a life that will prevent mistakes in the ones coming after me. Help me to alleviate the pain of those around me, O Lord. Help me to feed the hungry, to heal the sick. Help me to visit those that are in captivity. But I pray, Matthew 25, that the life of each and every one of us— help us to find the vulnerable. Help us to seek the ones that were neglected. The ones the government don't care for. The department that the pastor never speaks on. Send me there. You see, all of us want to get sent to the pulpit. Everybody's not going to have 100,000 followers. Everyone's not going to be a millionaire. But we still need you. We still need people to teach the kindergarten. Everyone won't be a professor in college. Everyone won't be a doctor, but we still need nurses. We still need nurses. Don't let people talk you down from being a CNA. No, wherever God has graced you, I pray that you stand there with the boldness of God. Lord, where you Place me is where I shine the brightest. I don't shine because people applaud me. I don't shine because people pay me. I shine because you put me there. I shine because you've anointed me there. I shine because you've placed me there. Lord, place me wherever you would like to shine. Everyone won't be a president. Everyone won't be in City Hall. But wherever you send me, you send light. You send light. Everyone will be a preacher, one body, different parts. The eye can't tell the hand, I hate you. No, I need you. We need each and every one of you, all of you. And all of your past. We need all the trauma you've been through, the pain, the burdens. We need it all because the suffering you endured can alleviate the suffering of someone else. Do not despise the day of your youth. Don't look down on your past. Your pain has a purpose. Don't let people talk down about your upbringing. I don't care what neighborhoods you lived in. I don't care what side of town you from. There's a purpose in every aspect of your life. God didn't make a mistake when he put you in Chicago. I know you want to move, but where you are right now, you can minister life. I know you want to change your job, but while you are still there, you can save a soul. I know your family frustrates you, but God knew you would be a part of that family before you will pull on. Wherever I am, Lord, help me to minister. Lord, I won't just see the darkness. I will see that there's an opportunity for light to shine. I won't just see black. I will see an opportunity because everywhere there's darkness, oh, there's a chance for a miracle. Everywhere someone is in pain, there's chance for healing. Everywhere someone is blind, there's an opportunity for a sight to be given. Lord, I won't just stay in my comfy corner. Send me to where you need me. Send me where you need me. Send me where you need me.

Send me where you need me.

I may not have all the boldness. I may not have all the courage. I may still lack some confidence, but I trust in you, O Lord. I may feel like an imposter, but I know greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. You are greater than my emotions, greater than my feelings, greater than my insecurities, greater than my opinions about myself. We're talking about the God of Heaven, the God of all grace. Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God. Grace makes me, it changes me, it molds me. If you need grace in an area of life, there's an opportunity to receive it. The Bible says that you approach the throne of grace with boldness. There's a throne of grace that you can step to, that you can walk to, that you can approach and receive help in your time of need. That you approach it, it's available. God gives you access. There's no veil. There's no man of God in between you and the calling of God upon your life. No, no, there's no degree in the way, there's no seminary in the way. Wherever God sends you, that's where he will prosper. Lord, help to plant me, plant me, because everywhere the Lord plants, it must grow. If the Lord plants you on stony ground, you will still grow there. If the Lord plants you in the wilderness, there will still be fruit there, because if the Lord plants it, it must prosper. So Lord, plant me. Too many of y'all are planting yourselves. Too many of y'all are choosing your own careers. Too many of y'all are choosing your own spouses. Is the hand of the Lord upon that relationship? If not, then end it.

Wherever the Lord plants me—

the word of the Lord to Joshua: everywhere that the sole of your feet, everywhere that the sole of your feet shall touch, shall he give unto you. Paul said that Joseph prospered in everything. Lord, wherever you plant me, help me to stay there. My next prayer, I pray the Lord that the enemy does not shift me from my place of assignment. Don't let him lure you away. Don't let him entice you out of your assignment. Don't let him think that more money— oh Jesus— don't let him think that more money means a higher calling. The Lord has called me in a season where I make less, but it's a higher calling. My salary is lower, but the anointing is higher. The Lord can do it, and yet all of my needs are still being met. Don't let the world fool you and think more money is more status, and more status is more anointed. There are people that have a lot of money and no oil. Lord, help me to stay. That's what we say at the tent, right? That's our saying. We stay, we stay, we stay with the Prince. We stay in his presence, we stay in his face. You stay where the Lord God has put us.

Lord, I stay, I stay, I stay.

Some of y'all, you want to quit your job, but the Lord says, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet. Don't go out there if we don't send you. Don't go out there if we don't send you. Don't go out there. You could be in Egypt and still living in Goshen. Everything around you can be in darkness, but you go, shit, there's still light. Stay in motion. Stay where the Lord has prepared for you. There's sustenance there. Lord God, help us to stay where you plant us. I was there. I wanted to leave my church. I did. The Lord said no. You got to go through it. You got to go through it, because where there's the most pain, that's where grace is available even more. So now I'm boasting my weakness, because where I'm weak, he's strong. Stay there. I know you feel tired there, but there's rest there too. You feel weak there, but there's strength there too. You feel poor there, but there's abundance there too. You are going to the other side.

I know you're tired, but weariness is just a great opportunity for you to cast your cares on him.

Maybe the Lord makes you tired so he can show you what rest really feels like. Maybe—

The Lord wants to do something in her life. Y'all, we need to tap into this fire that she has right now. She's on fire for the Lord, and she has this ability to preach the word.

The words that she speaks are not ordinary. And we believe in lifting people up around us because your gift is not for you, it's for your family, it's for your bloodline, it's for your heritage, it's for your mother and your father-in-law. We lift her right now. We use her as a point of contact. May we remember our first love. May we remember when we first came to the faith how happy we were, how excited we were to read the Bible. Lord, may we multiply this. May we recreate and remake and reshape and reproduce this. Lord, may we continue to produce people that come from the outside and they come into the good grace of the Lord and become allies for faith, Lord, I pray that you lift her. Lord, I pray that you lift her. Lord, I pray that you teach her not to rely on her intelligence. And intelligence is a gift, but it's not a grace. It's not by power, it's not by might, it's by his Spirit. By strength shall no man prevail. It won't be because you're smart enough, no. But it won't be because you're good enough, no. It's because you're loved enough. It's because you're loved enough. It's because you're loved enough that you are loved by God. It's the love of God that's going to make the difference in your life. It's not another degree, it's not another job, not another career. Is you receiving and embracing more of the love of Jesus. The love of God is an endless ocean. There's more of it for us all. Lord, we baptize her in your love right now because you told us that we should love our neighbor. So we love her and we pour love in her life wherever she is lacking love. I don't know where you are looking for love and you're not finding it. The Lord is telling you that you will find it in him. It may not be from anyone else. It may not be from mother and father, but you will find it in the love of God and the love of his people. We lift you in the love of God. We lift you in the love of God. Because love covers a multitude of sin. Love is kind. Love is patient. Love never fails. Love endures all things. The love of God will sustain you. No demon in hell can stop you. Nothing will separate you from the love of God. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. No darkness, no demon, no devil, no life, nothing to separate you from the love of the Father.

Thank you, Jesus. Lord God, we just want to say thank Lord God, we just lift up your name right now. Lord, as we go, as we go, Lord, I pray that you appoint a discovery session for us all. Help us to discover and rediscover what you have kept inside of us the whole time. You see, some of you guys are looking for things that the Lord gave you when you were 8 years old. You're looking for it and it's always been there. We tear this veil. We tear this veil. We tear this veil.

—no matter where we are at, you still fill this space. And we have not had a gathering without you talking to us, so I just want to say thank you. I want to say thank you for our work, because we come here as one person, but we leave offering a new person as well. I just want to say thank you. Thank you that you continue to grow the other sisters in this movement. I pray that each and every one of us heard that grace that you put upon our lives. And if we haven't, may you put it into our dreams in the mighty name of Jesus. May we continue to rediscover ourselves, Father God, as we grow closer to you in the mighty name of Jesus. May we continue to strip ourselves anything that is of flesh, anything that is not of you, Father God, strip it in the mighty name of Jesus. Father God, I pray for each and every one of our hearts as we read your word, Father God, as we pray to you, Father God. I pray that each and every one of us will have a purified heart in the mighty name of Jesus. May we know what it means to love our neighbors. May we know what it means, Father God, to forgive. May we know what it means, Father God, to seek you diligently. I just want to thank you, Father God. Anything that we missed tonight, may you fill those gaps in the name of Jesus. Any word that should be spoken, should has been spoken to any person in this room, Father God, that wasn't spoken, may you meet them there in the name of Jesus. Feel our love, Father God. Give us the power to execute the purpose that you have for each and every one of our lives. What seems minuscule to us, Father God, I pray that you show us a move.

And the reality of this is that it's not going to be like past moves when they occur on pulpits. This move is going to happen in places that are not frequented. It's going to be in places that people don't go too often. You see, the reason that God moves is— scripture says that for this reason, so now is he manifesting, that he might destroy the work of darkness. So wherever the Lord moves is wherever James and I are. That's where God moves. And the reality is there's a lot of light in our churches. The moves that we see in our churches are a fraction, a fraction of the moves that we will see out in these streets. And I mean these streets I have lived in, these streets. You're going to see people that never stepped foot in church all of a sudden find this urge to go.

Amen.

See, in this move, it can't be the preachers. The preachers have their assignment. They have their place. They're not going to be out there in the streets. The pastor's not going to be at your job. He's not going to be in them schools. If we keep restricting the move of God to just preachers, then we never going to have a It has to be you. You don't got to say nothing, you don't got to do nothing, you just got to live the life that God wants you to live. You step into rooms, the presence of God begins to minister. You will minister. You're going to get to the point where you don't even have to go up to people, they going to come to you. I'm telling you, when people are living in such darkness and they see light, they have to get closer. I'm praying that people will see something in you that will draw them into the faith. People are hurting out there. It makes me weep. People are Sometimes I don't even argue with people. You know, I'm on social media and I'm just like, man, there's a spirit of delusion out there. Like, hey, my people are deluded. There's no point— don't argue, see? There's no point debating. This thing is only— this thing is deeply spiritual. It's not intellectual debates. No, these people need to see how. They got to see things they can't explain away. So I want to leave you with that. There's fire coming from you. Like, this is radiating fire energy. And you just got to speak to that. And don't do it by yourself, that's the quickest way to be murdered. So yeah, I'm going to decide to be— I don't say that ever, Lord knows I don't really have— but I'm going to decide to murder. I'm going to decide to murder.

right? Some people are seated in the office, right? And I believe that God has posed this question. There's a point in time for appointed office, and we are all excited for it.

I want everybody, as a post-COVID church, that our community comes back, it was broken too. So, I think it's essential that we put I don't have enough faith in this stuff by myself, but there's really— I'm going to keep calling it out. The moment I see a gift, there's no way you going to hear from me. I'm not shy, I'm not insecure. I will love if I'm the least in this room. Cool. So let me pray for y'all. Lord God, I just want to say thank you, Lord, But we rebuke the storm.

We speak to it and he steals.

Do whatever you want when we get home, but for the time being, safe passage for us all. Lord, we come to seek you, and you say you are reward of them that diligently seek you. We pray for those that are gathering with us for the first time. Lord, we pray that they continue to be light bearers and fire starters. Lord, we pray for this space. Lord, we pray that even upon our leaving here, that your glory stays. Lord, we pray that our contribution to this space be more than physical. I pray that any business down here will be fruitful. I want to pray that even in this week, there will be an increase, oh God. Why? Because we need spaces to gather to. So, Lord, we pray that everywhere that we go, we may go with your love. We bless you, Lord. We love you. We thank you. We thank you, we thank you so much. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forevermore. Amen. The church said—

Wait, come on!

That's why we don't be going.

I just want to say that I love y'all. I really do. Each and every one of y'all in here. Um, and yeah. I just wanted to share, um, I have some insight, and I'm sure some of you also do too, like how hard they work behind the scenes for the tent and the ministry, like building it out. And some of the most, like, selfless people that I've come to experience— some are self— I'm like, y'all can't get rid of me. but I do want to share that like what we walk into is something that is stewarded well by two people who love God and love us. And this is week 6, and one thing that I would like for us to do— two parts— I would like for you to go home and pray more about where God has graced view, but also like if there is something of grace that should be applied here. Because if they continue to expand and grow, there will be an opportunity for more intercessors to come forth and more prophetic people and pastoral people and kind people, but also the marketers, the people who work in finance, the people who work in partnerships, the people who have corporate skills that will apply to the kingdom of God. So I want you all to pray and talk to God about that. And then the other thing is, next week I would like for us to give to the tent. It will be the 7th week, and so I would love if we could just all come back. There's not a particular amount, but you got a week to pray about it and save about it and see what the Lord says. So I just wanted to honor the both of you and how you all steward it, stewarded this so well. And it's my prayer that we can all, um, ask God for the grace to stay.

I would love it if you just keep coming back.

We want to do ACT all year, but also the grace to give and figure out what that looks like. So can you—

Um, Acts 7. Remember, April, we're not— we're not gathering April. We're taking a break. You got to go through everything. So we're going to be doing some community stuff. We're going to be giving— we're going to be street preaching. I want to do like a pop-up thrift store. So like every idea is to do some community outreach, all about community. And then we'll gather again. Oh, give me your WhatsApp.

6:30, 8:30, 6:30, 8:00 tomorrow. Yeah. I, I don't touch this. But I don't know if Christine wants to keep it though. I don't think you would, huh? Do you push finish? I don't touch nothing.

Yep, you could finish. Yeah.

Oh, she's just standing there with her belly out in broadcast.

Yeah.