Michael Todd - Bamboo SZN, Unusual Acceleration - Part 3
Hey, what's going on friends? I am so glad you're joining me today. We are about to have a good time 'cause this message is gonna transform your life. We've been walking through an incredible series called crazier faith because we believe God takes you from glory to glory and faith to faith. A kingdom mindset calls for us to have crazy faith. See, when we sow a seed, it doesn't always make sense in that moment because it takes time to see the harvest, but it is worth the wait. Somebody needs to hear that, feel that, see that, say that, it is worth the wait. Are you ready to grow in some crazier faith? Let's go to today's message.
God says, "I've given you something, steward it well so that I can unleash unusual acceleration". See, the only reason that God's blessing Transformation Church, is 'cause we decided to steward well what God gave us. I have no idea how when I came into this ministry, that God was gonna bless us to the point where we could bless others, but all I knew is what he had given us, I had to do something with the first thing. Tammy sitting there on the front row, who's been our business manager since I've been in Transformation Church before, we love you, Tammy, everything would be bad without you.
The first thing I came in and told Tammy is that, "Tammy, I know that our church gives, and I know that we bless people and we help people benevolently, but God has given me a strict instruction, that 10% of every dime dollar and penny that comes in here, we have to give it away in that year". And she was like, "Well, we usually do this and that". I said, "It can't be loose. It's got to be exactly 10%". And when I said it, I heard a gulp in her throat, because we had up until that point, been living by faith, but just having a couple of just in case measures. And God said, "Believe me, and I'll do unusual acceleration".
From that day until this one, there has not been $1 dime or cent that has come into this church that 10% of it hasn't gone out to further missions that have nothing to do with us, to insects trafficking, to get showers for the homeless, to be able to help people that are in Lebanon and help people that are in Afghanistan and in Hungary. Y'all don't even wanna shout with me. We stewarded well in a season what was not working well. And now God has allowed us to live in abundance. It was unusual acceleration, why? Because we stewarded well. Wasn't working well. I need everybody this week to go evaluate what have you not been stewarding well. This is where the message becomes practical, because some of you are not stewarding your body well. Well, I'll just keep going to the doctor and I'll keep breaking down and I keep... it's the burger. It's the cake. It is the ice cream. No, it is. And it's in your family line. It's generation.
Why are we crying that big mama died of diabetes and she ate... I'm talking to black people right now and she ate, and Indians, and she ate soul food. That's what my wife and my family. I'm talking to all of them. That's what you ate every weekend for 42 years, and now we're asking God for a miracle. I wish I could be real as a pastor, and when people ask me, "Can we pray"? And I asked them, "Well, has this been, no, I'm not praying for that. I'm not praying for that. I'm gonna pray for something to actually get to see some results". You wanted this to happen. You did not steward well. They gonna be mad at me on this, we believe God can do the impossible. Why are we still believing for impossible situations, when if we acted in wisdom. I'm not answering emails this week. Steward well. What's not working well.
Let me show you another point, verse three. I'm gonna have to get out of here quick. I need security going out. Some people mad and salty, it's the truth anyhow. "Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon its owner to push it out into the water". Hold on, that means if we're gonna see unusual acceleration, God may ask us to do something. He doesn't just step into the boat and do it all. He didn't push the boat out himself. He asked the owner and the other thing I love about here, I'm gonna preach the points, but I'm gonna preach in between the points too, because I keep seeing stuff is just coming alive to me as I'm sitting here. He had a choice whether to step in his boat or not, 'cause the Bible says there were two boats.
So if God chooses to come speak to you, chooses to show you a sign, chooses to use you, chooses, the truth is he could have chose somebody else. He asked the owner, "Push out into the water". So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. If you wanna activate unusual acceleration, let God sit in what you have. We don't know what type of boat this was. We don't know if it was a cruise liner, the best ship of the day, or if it was a little, it ain't even worth naming. And that's how some of us feel in our situation. Our business is not even worth. This is not even, and God said, "I didn't ask you what type of boat you have, I asked you cannot sit in it".
Can I sit in your marriage? I don't care how many moments of infidelity that there's been, can I sit here? Can I sit in the addiction? I know it's been 14 years and your dad was like it, but can I sit in your boat? And today I just came to tell somebody who doesn't feel worthy to have the Savior of the world in your boat, that that's what he made the boat for. He made it so that he could sit in it. He used all of the crevices and cracks of your life and said there still something in there that can contain me. He could've stayed on the shore and talked this message, but he decided to get in somebody's boat. And all I'm asking you with all your deficiencies, with all your scars, with all your mistakes, let God sit in your boat. Some of y'all he's been trying to sit in your boat for years. He's been trying to dwell in and habit it, and you keep rowing out every time, "My bad, Jesus I'm not ready".
Then you come back to the shore and he's like, "Can I sit in your boat"? And just when you're about to sign up for a small group, just when you're about to serve, just when you're about to start giving him, and God said, "Would you just". And the thing about God is every time you come to the shore, he's coming to see if he can get on your boat. Some of y'all he's been chasing you for years, and that's why you say stole far away from him, out at sea wandering, deserted, lonely and you know that nutrients are at the shore. And as soon as you come up, Jesus is like, "Hey, waiting on you. Love you. How was it? Can I get in your boat now"? Decades, aren't you tired of rowing? Aren't you tired of rowing away from God. Aren't you tired from trying to patch the boat up while you're still on the sea? God's saying, "Would you let me sit in everything you're trying to hide from me? Let me sit in your boat".
I am proud of Simon 'cause he didn't have a bunch of questions for Jesus when it came time to sit in his boat. It literally goes from, and God asked him to push away. Like he got an assignment. Oh, I love you, thank you Holy Spirit. He got an assignment as soon as he let God in. See, so many of us want a lot of time before God tells us to do anything. That man let Jesus on his boat. He said, "Do something for me, push away from here. Partner with me". This is why I love the Word of God, because men tell you, you need all of these degrees and you need all of these qualifications, and you need all of these things, but when I read my Bible, if God is in your boat, if you have a real encounter with Jesus, just ask Paul or Saul as he was known, when he had a Damascus road experience with God.
This man went from killing Christians one week to proclaiming the gospel the next week. It wasn't no long drawn out possible process, and God refined them along the way. He had to take away his sight for a season, but then when he saw again, he partnered with God. Some of y'all won't let God on your boat 'cause you scared he gonna use you. You know if he started using you, you got to change all of that. So look at your neighbor and say, "Let God sit in your boat. Let God sit in what you have". Verse four, "When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, he gonna ask him to do something else? 'Now go out where it's deeper'".
What is the word of the year at Transformation Church? And we discussed that in January, that we out here in the deep. He literally told him the miracle that I wanna show you can't happen in the shallow. The thing that I want to do on the inside of you can't happen in the shallow water, so I need you to go out where it's deeper. This is the thing I want everybody to see. It was Simon's decision. He wasn't forced to go deeper. It was an instruction and he had to obey it. What I'm telling you is God is a gentlemen. He's not forcing you to do anything. He said, "Go out where it's deeper, make a decision, and then let down your nets to catch some fish".
Now, this was the funny moment of the story 'cause I see things in movies, is because Jesus is a professional carpenter. He can make a chair. These men were professional fishermen. They knew how to catch fish. Jesus is telling professionals how to do what they already tried to do and caught nothing. I think he did this to show us eternally that God will use the foolish things or the crazy things to confound or confused people who think they got it all together. And I bet they were gracious to Jesus 'cause he's like, yeah, we see you do the miracles like and stuff like that, but we know what we doing, man. We've been in relationships before. We know how to handle money. I mean, we know the type of house we need to live in. We know how to pick a city to go start our business in. And he gives them an instruction that is completely opposite of what their profession teaches them.
Can I prove it to you? It tells us that they were out fishing all night. Why were they fishing at night? Because if you're a fishermen, you understand that the fish can not see the net at night. So you go when it's dark, you let down your nets, and it's easier for the fish to be caught because it's cool, so they come closer and you're able to catch them 'cause they can't see it. They are in broad daylight, fishing in the deep, not the shallow. The exact opposite of what makes sense. Shallow, dark, daytime, deep. This is what crazy faith instructions look like. Go to the north side, plant a multi-ethnic church, when it would be much easier to stay on the south side and plant a white church. Bishop and pastor Debbie, why would you give me this crazy faith? This is exactly opposite. And God says, "Because it don't make sense, but it's about to make a miracle".
And somebody needs to hear me, I keep saying it because this is the mark of unusual acceleration. The instructions do not make logical sense, they make miracles. It don't make logical sense for us to come in here six years into us pastoring and make a decision that this season is about expansion. Do you know how comfortable it would be for me to say, "Team, we're good. God's done it, we got the arena. We got the other building. We got the towers now, let's just chill out and see what God is doing". And you know what he gonna tell me? The exact opposite. Huh, God just wants us steward well. You start to use the word back on him. It's working with you. I mean, it's working, so I just wanna steward well over what's working.
And he said, "Michael, this year, I want you to prepare to take transformation outside of Tulsa". I said, "To visit? See, I'm giving you a little vision". He said, "This place will always be the hub of what I'm doing, but when I gave you the vision in 2015, I told you four things and you're three fulfilled right now". And I said, "Okay". He said, "Go back, listen". Said, "Multi-generational", got that. The oldest person on our staff, I think is 70, 71. Youngest is 18, okay, got that. Multiethnic. If you look out in the crowd right now, you don't know what kind of church this is. There's a black, white, Hispanic, there's all kinds of different things. Got that. It's multiplying. There are millions of people. Somebody from my team told me just in the crazy faith series on YouTube, not what's counted on Sundays or anything like that. Over 2.8 million people have watched this series so far in this. Y'all multiplying. I'm good with those three. But he told me, he said, "It needs to be multi-campus".
I don't, can I be honest with y'all, don't tell God. I don't really want to, but my feelings don't matter, my obedience does. So I'm telling you, I didn't know I was gonna share this today, but part of the reason that we're about to give in this crazier faith offering, is 'cause in the next two years, God has told me we got to leave this place and plant another campus in a completely different state. Will you start talking crazy in faith? What does that mean for me? No, what did God say? What does that, how does that affect? No, how is it gonna affect? What we're about to do, mark my words, is obey God and plant another campus in another state. We're not going to Oklahoma city. We're going to a whole other state. Somebody just started praying right now in the chat. Somebody said, "Lord, please, Arizona, please, Minnesota".
All I'm telling you is, why would God bring us this far and not complete what he said? Can I tell you the principle that activates this type of acceleration? Look what it says. When he finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Now go outwards deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish. They had a rebuttal, kind of like I had master. We've worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing, but if you say so, I'll let down the nets again". The reason you have to understand that you got to obey is because what activates unusual acceleration, write this point down, it's trusting that if you say so. Y'all, the things that God showed me, Devin, I don't have any reason to even want them. Like I don't have any desire to go after it, but my only reason why I'm following the instructions, is 'cause I trust them. If you say so.
Some of y'all, this is gonna be the only explanation to what God is going to tell you to do in this next season. It's not gonna be, it makes sense, and I can see how that happens, and I know that that's going to work out. It's going to literally be, help me, if you say so. I'm telling you there has been more miracles that have happened in my life because I put my faith on God say so. If he tells me to plant it and let down the nets in the middle of the day on the other side of the boat, that's still be God. But if you say so. I don't know who this is for, but some of you have been looking for a guarantee and God is going to give you an opportunity. No guarantee, just opportunity. And all you need to rely on is God, if you say so. Give him that money, if you say so. Serve that person, if you say so. Leave the music industry and go run sound for a church.
I'm on this stage today 'cause I didn't go to New York or LA with opportunities. I don't know how long, it's been a minute since I shared this story, I got a contract from a major record label, and when I was 24 years old, to get $100.000 for one year to produce for this record company. And I had the presence of mind to pray about it, and God told me, listen to how distinct this instruction is, "If you go, you will be successful, but I will take my hand off of what you're doing". Why did I stay? 'cause he says so. Or saying no, he didn't say so, he gave you an option. No, not for me. I'm kind of like Moses, if you don't go with me, I can't go. If you're not go, I'm staying at right here, 'cause I know I'm not good enough to do this thing on my own.
And so when he said, "You can go, but I ain't gonna be with you". That was already a no. I was like, if you say so, I'm staying right here. And it was months after that, that I started serving as the sound man. And I went from the sound man of this church, to the music director, from the music director to the youth pastor, from the youth pastor to the executive pastor, from the executive pastor to the lead pastor, and now I'm standing here with you. How did I get here? On God's say so. If you want unusual acceleration, let try it again. Do it again. It didn't work last time, but if he told you to do it again, do it again.