Jentezen Franklin - It's Time to Move
Hello, I’m Jentezen Franklin and I’m so thankful that you’re joining us today on Kingdom Connection. I really appreciate you watching because I believe today, I’m gonna get the chance to build your faith to a whole new level. I wanna build your faith up in the word of God because that’s what can change things, and when God moves, He does it suddenly. And when He does, there’s no time to prepare. And that’s what the text that I’m gonna preach about today from Exodus 12 and Acts 12, they both are saying the same thing, that there is a God who is able to change your life in a moment. And I believe this, no matter what the circumstances are in your life, God is ready to move and He’s ready to do a new thing in your life. Some of you have been yearning for that and looking for that. Well, this message is gonna fill you with expectation like you’ve never had before. Get your heart open, get your mind open, sit back. Just get all the distractions out of the way if you can and listen to this message, and I’m gonna come back and pray with you. I believe that you’re headed for miracle territory.
Exodus 12:8, «And they shall eat the flesh on that night,» this is Passover night, «Roasted in fire,» talking about the lamb, «With unleavened bread and bitter herbs, they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire its head with its legs and entrails. And you shall let none of it remain until morning, what remains until morning, you shall burn with fire». Verse 11 now, «And thus you shall eat it,» listen to these strange instructions, «With a belt on your waist,» that was because they had robes and long garments, all of the people of that day. And if they were gonna go fast, they would have to gird up their robe and link it to their belt. It would come up to their knees, so their knees were free to move fast.
And then, he says you are to, «With a belt on your waist, with shoes or sandals on your feet, you’re to eat this meal, and with a staff in your hand. So that you can make haste and eat it in haste». So that you can make haste. «It is the Lord’s Passover». He didn’t just say eat the Passover meal, but he said, «I want you to be ready to move because when I move, I move quick. When I move, I will make it happen suddenly. And you won’t have time to prepare. I want you to be dressed for your deliverance. I want you to be ready to move from bondage to freedom. I want you to move from sickness to health. I want you to be expecting to go. So, while you’re eating with one hand, you get your staff, you get your shoes on, you get your robe pulled up, and everything hitched up so that you can move quick when I tell you. 'Cause I don’t want you to miss this move. There’s something that is about to shift, and I want you to be ready for it».
Then in Acts 12:8, it says this. Peter is in prison, this is New Testament. And here’s the angel, and he’s saying the exactly same thing, «Gird yourself. Get your legs free. Get ready for movement. Get ready for change. Get ready to come out of this prison, and this addiction, and these chains. Get ready for it, get positioned for it». And then, he said, «Put your shoes on because you need to be ready to go when God says go». And he said to him, «Put your garment on and follow me». So today, what I’m preaching is, in other words, something’s changing. Something is shifting, and it’s time to move. You need to be ready to move and you need to expect God to lead you out of the past into the new season, and a new level, and a new beginning, and a new miracle that He has promised that He would do in our lives.
You see, people can become so used to being in a certain place that you just accept it. The scenes in your story are about to change. Don’t get so stuck in the scene you’re in, that when God says, «Let’s go,» that you’re not ready to go, and you’re not prepared to go, and you are caught unexpected, and you are in a place where you have to search for your shoes. Which Murphy’s law is, if you’re ever in a quick movement that you need to really get going, one of those shoes is gonna be missing. And you’re not gon' be able to, it’s been so long since you’ve had any movement in what you’ve been praying about that you put your staff up, and your stick up, and it’s in the closet somewhere out there in the garage somewhere, and you don’t have it ready, and God said, «You don’t even have a belt that you can gird up and move. I need you to expect that when you fast, and you pray, and you believe, that I am able to move you from one place to another place».
Turn to somebody and say, «It’s time to move». Get ready to travel. Get ready for change. There’s an address change coming, hallelujah. We’re getting out of Egypt, we’re getting out of poverty, we’re getting out of weakness, we’re getting out of bondage, we’re getting out of debt, we’re getting out of the enemy’s camp, hallelujah. We’re getting out of chains. Let’s get ready for it. Let’s put our shoes on and get our staff in our hand. I’m bringing my family with me, hallelujah, I’m bringing my joy with me. I’m bringing it all with me. Hell can’t have any of my babies. Glory. We’re not staying here. As a church, there’s a new season coming. Praise God. «Aren’t you satisfied»? No. There is a new level coming, hallelujah. Oh yes, it is.
Tell somebody, «You’ve stayed here long enough. You need to put your shoes on, and you need to get your staff in your hand, and you need to pull your little garment up, and show your knees 'cause it’s time to move». It’s time to run with the vision, hallelujah. Glory to God. Cast off your burdens of your last season. Cast off your grievances of your last season. You know, in the south we have certain sayings that people in the other parts of the country don’t understand. I really have to shift things and change even sermons a little bit when I go out to our church in California because they don’t understand southern slang. They don’t understand. Some of them come just to hear me talk. I know they do. They’ve told me that. They said, «Your southern drawl gives me peace».
And one of the southern things that you won’t understand, if you ever come the south, God’s promised land, if you ever come and you’ve never been here from the north or from the west coast or wherever. And you’ll hear this little saying. Sometimes, you just walk in somebody’s house, and they’ll say something crazy, they’ll say something funny. They’ll say, «Hey, take your shoes off and stay a little while». And if you don’t understand that saying, you won’t know what in the world is going on. It’s just like some, you know, some, when we say in the south, «Bless your heart». They’ll say out in the west coast, «Thank you». No, you don’t understand. That means something’s not quite right with you. «Bless your heart. Bless your little heart».
That really means something bad. But I think sometimes as believers, we just accept so much less than what God wants and intends for us to have. And if we’re not careful, we take our shoes off, and we stop expecting a change, and expecting a breakthrough, and expecting God to do a new thing. And now, it will spring forth. And we just take our shoes off, and we just get comfortable, and we just let our toes wiggle there and realize, «Well, nothing’s ever gonna change. This is how it’s been for many years».
And that’s what God was saying to Israel. They had been in bondage for so long, for so many generations, that they had just basically given up. And he said, «I know how y’all are now. You’re real settled, and you’ve accepted this mess. You’ve accepted and got comfortable with this addiction, and comfortable with this sin, and comfortable with this discouragement, and comfortable with depression and fear and hopelessness. But I want you to get your shoes on, and I want you to get your staff in your hand, and I want you to get your garment fixed so you can move. 'Cause when I do it, I’m gonna do it quick. I’m gonna send it suddenly. If you’re not ready, you’re gon' get left behind because I’m ready to move».
There’s a transition coming. You don’t have your shoes on yet, and the Lord sent me to tell you to get your shoes on right here, right now in this service. Transition has to be prepared for. Some of you keep tripping over your garments of heaviness. You just keep living in the past, and you can’t move because you keep tripping over where you’ve been, and all you’ve been through, and all the mess you’ve been through. But there comes a transition time. There comes a time to move. There’s a shift on the way. There’s direction on the way. There’s a turning of the corner that we’re at as a people, and as a church, and as a ministry, and even in the body of Christ, and even in the nation. Something is coming, and it’s bigger, and it’s better, and it’s greater, and we need to get our shoes on, and we need to say, «I’m done with this. I’m done with all of this mess. I’m moving forward in Jesus' mighty name».
Tell somebody, «It’s a new day». There are divine moments of change. There are divine moments of transition, and deliverance. The judgment has lifted. The trial is terminated. The valley has come to an end. Here’s what I’m trying to tell you today, and you need to receive it. There is victory in your future. That’s why He said, «Get your shoes on, and get your staff, and get your garments right, because I’m taking you out of this land, and I’m taking you to a land that is flowing with milk and honey». There is victory in your future. The curse is broken, hallelujah. The addiction is broken. Shame is over. The drought is over. I hear the sound of an abundance of rain.
And anybody can sing and shout when you’re crossing over, and you look back and see the enemy being swallowed up by the Red Sea, «But I want you to begin to praise Me before it ever happens,» the Lord would say. Sing and shout in praise before it happens. Put your shoes on in expectation. Get your garment in your hand. Isaiah 51:11 says, «Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come singing into Zion». They’re not waiting till they get there. When God says, «Go. I’m returning, I’m restoring. I’m turning you free from the chains and the oppression that you’ve been under». He says, «I want you to start singing and have your outfits on so that you’re ready to go and sing before you even get into it».
I love this. And he said, «You will return unto Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon them, and they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning, and grieving shall flee away». Let’s throw it all off this morning. Let’s take that old garment off of Heaven as it keeps tripping you up, and put on the garment of praise. Say, «I’m moving. It’s time to move». When you get there, you ought to already be singing, hallelujah. Miriam, anybody can praise the Lord when the water is parting, and anybody can praise the Lord when Pharaoh and his army is drowning. But I want to see you break your timbrels out, and your tambourine out, and your cymbals. I wanna see you break it out when the devil’s nipping on your heels. I want you to break out into a praise when it looks like you don’t have anywhere to go yet, but you know that you got your staff in your hand, and the God of Moses is your God, so help me God.
I went yesterday, and I was walking, and I want my staff. I don’t know where you are, I want it. I went, I went walking and I found this is in the woods. I can’t make this up. I threw it in the back of my pickup truck, 'cause I got a pickup truck, and I love it. I love every inch of it, hallelujah. It’s got big ol' tires, 'cause I’m a big ol' boy, amen. Hallelujah. And I threw it in the back of my truck, and I forgot about it yesterday. And when I got to preaching this morning, I thought, «I got one of these yesterday». And it never hit me till I was preaching. And you know what? This means I’m going somewhere. I believe the Lord has given us the rod of God, the rod of authority to say to every Red Sea, «You can’t stop me no more». To say to every devil, to every Jericho wall, «You’re coming down in the name of Jesus».
Get your shoes back on. I’m trying to preach somebody into faith. Get your staff in your hand. Get it on the seat of expectation. Say, «I’m expecting a Exodus». Glory. I said glory. Quit saying, «I don’t know when my baby’s,» get your staff in your hand, get your shoes on your feet. You’re coming out and your family’s coming out too. You receive that? Do you receive that? See, you thought a season was the story. But the season was not the story, the season was just a chapter. There’s more to your story. So, getting your shoes on, and getting your staff in your hand, and pulling up the robe so that you have mobility and you’re not tripping up is really about your, really an expectation, expecting to travel, to move. I’m headed to a new place.
There are too many people who are barefooted people. You made yourself comfortable in your hurt, you’ve made yourself comfortable in your bitterness, and your unforgiveness, and your resentment. You’ve made yourself uncomfortable in your misery, and in your depression, and in your addiction. You don’t expect anything to change, that’s why you don’t put your shoes on. You’re comfortable in it. But we’re getting ready for a scenery change. We’re getting ready for the Lord to move us out to the new place. We’re not staying here, we’re not living here, we’re not raising our kids here, we’re not staying in the house of bondage anymore. Hallelujah. You see, when you understand what I’m preaching, you’ll find your staff and you’ll find your shoes.
And we’re gonna make a statement this morning that says, «Concerning the land of bondage, I’m done with this place». And I love that he said, «Eat the meal,» listen to what he said. Said, «Eat your last meal in Egypt and eat the lamb, and eat the bread, and eat it with bitter herbs. This is the last bitter meal from this land, and all these problems, and all the things you’ve been dealing with, with this situation, it is your last meal. Get your shoes on, get your staff in your hand, pull your garment up and helmet up on your belt so you can move, 'cause we are done with this place».
Anybody feel that way? Anybody just feel like it’s moving time? He’s saying it’s the end of something and it’s the beginning of something. And it’s the beginning of bigger things, and it’s the beginning of better things. It’s the beginning of a new level, of a new season. It’s the beginning of a new thing, and it’s gonna happen suddenly. I don’t know where we’re gon' end up, but I got my shoes on this year, I got my staff in my hand, I’m going places. I’m gon' do some traveling this year. And wherever I go, His angel goes before me.
Oh, I believe that it’s time for us to get expectation. I told the first service that I felt like the Lord wanted us, concerning all of our family members that are not saved, that He wants us to give Heaven praise breaks because the Bible said that the angels in Heaven rejoice over one soul that is saved on earth. So, this year, we’re gon' light Heaven up. We gon' give Heaven praise breaks right in our families, hallelujah. And I believe we’re gon' see a worldwide revival, and they’re gonna have to employ angels all day long to do nothing but shout and rejoice that the lost have come home. The blind can see, the dead are alive again. Your sons and your daughters. Get your shoes on. It’s time to move. Get anything out of the way that’s prohibiting you.
See, some of you, you get going and you keep tripping. You keep tripping. You keep tripping out over stuff in the past. But throw away the old grievances and let it go. It’s time to move. We’re headed home. Hallelujah, Cast it away. Joy is the outward expression of an inward expectation. It’s an outward expression, «I’m going somewhere,» Of an inward expectation, «This is not all there is». It’s time for breakthroughs. It’s time to move. So, get your shoes on, spiritually. Get your staff in your hand. Glory. Get your garment fixed because we’re moving on.