Michael Todd - Bamboozled By The Blessing - Part 1
Hey, what's goin' on friends? I am so grateful that you joined us for today's message because I know someone has tuned in just to hear what God is going to say through this program. And we are in a series called Crazier Faith, not just crazy faith, but crazier. Don't forget the er faith, because we believe God wants to do greater things. He takes us from glory to glory and faith to faith. And God has so much more in store for your life, for you to experience than what you've experienced up to this point. See, the seeds we plant we will reap in a fruitful harvest, and as long as we continue to trust God amazing things, or crazy things can happen. Are you ready to see what God's going to do through your life? Let's go into today's message.
This principle truth and lifestyle can change everything in your life. When you start living, walking, acting, and loving in crazier faith it changes everything. And around here if you're just joining us, I'm sorry, but I have an announcement to make. It's bamboo season at Transformation Church. And if you don't know what that is, it is a season of unusual acceleration. Somebody say that with me. Unusual acceleration. I believe that in this season in this time in this moment God is taking things that took a long time and he's accelerating them. Things that you may have sown and things that you may have saw or things that you may have tried to see before, God's saying, this is the season of unusual acceleration.
And a lot of people don't understand why would you call it Bamboo Season? Because a bamboo tree goes under and is planted for three years and literally when it breaks forth, somebody shout at me, break forth. Y'all didn't shout it at me. Somebody say "Break forth". When it breaks forth out of the ground, out of the position of being under, out of obscurity, it has the ability to grow two inches every single hour. That is unusual acceleration. Within 24 hours it can grow four feet. God told me to tell Transformation Church prophetically and anybody who has the faith to believe it, that this is your bamboo season. We have less than 50 days left in 2021. God only needs three to change the whole world. You all missed it. He only needs three to do the greatest miracle ever. What could God do in the next two months in your life?
Somebody shout at me, "Bamboo season". I found a scripture that I want us to stand on in this season of unusual acceleration. It's found in Genesis, chapter 26, verse 12. It says, "And Isaac sowed in the land and reaped in the same year". What? Hold on, he sowed, it usually takes some years. It said he sowed in the land and reaped in the same year 100 fold and the Lord blessed him. When I see stuff like that that ties in the last two weeks' messages together like that, I got to go look it up in the Amplified version. And when I seen this in the Amplified version it pulled these whole things together. Look at Genesis 26:12 in the Amplified. It said, "Then Isaac planted seed". Remember we talked about having faith like a farmer. "In the land as a farmer and reaped in the same year 100 times as much as he had planted and the Lord blessed and favored him".
This ain't for everybody. But, there's some people that in this season of an open heaven where there's unusual acceleration God said, whatever you sow you're about to see 100 times that thing in the same year. This is bamboo season. And I'm coming to encourage you, don't stop sowin' now. I want you to be a serial sower. Don't stop sowing your time, your talent. Oh, you all thought I was just talkin' about money. Your time, your talent, there are things you can do right now for people that you just stingy with the gifting that God's placed in your hand. And God said, sow it now, sow it now, 'cause 10 years from now, two months from now, 10 days from now, there needs to be a harvest for you. And you cannot get the harvest if you have not exercised the spiritual faith gift of sowing the seed.
So, as I begin to look at bamboo season I got excited 'cause even this week I've started hearing testimonies of people that have sowed in different ways and God is payin' off debts and openin' up jobs and giving scholarships and promotions and realigning family. I'm not talkin' about stuff I'm thinkin' about. These are actual people that these things are happening. And then, God, as a pastor, I get all pumped, I'm like, yes, no. I rejoice with those who rejoice and I mourn with those who mourn, so I'm goin' and God said, Michael, I'm 'about to open the flood gates and pour out blessing they don't have room enough to receive. I said, let's go, God, it's bamboo season. And he said, remind 'em of the back side of the blessing. I said, no, that's not as fun as tellin' everybody it's bamboo season. He said, but you're responsible to make sure they're prepared.
So today I need us to walk in a way that prepares us for this season of unusual acceleration and blessing. Is anybody believin' for God to do something that is extraordinary, not ordinary, I said extraordinary? So today I have to prepare you for that, because as we yell it's bamboo season, today I want to let you know that there are many people in bamboo season that get bamboozled by the blessing. Matter of fact, that's what I'm going to call the message today. Write that down. Bamboozled by the blessing. See, 'cause we talk to people about what to do to get the blessing, but we never prepare them of what your action steps are to do after the blessing comes, after you get the house, after your emotional stability comes back, after the family is restored, after you get the car, after you wifed up, after they recognize you and you get the promotion, after the loan clears, what do you do after the blessing?
And most people today pray, fast, believe, sow, get the blessing and then they get bamboozled by the blessing. The word bamboozled means to be deceived or tricked. What happens when the very thing you pray for tricks you out of intimacy with God? Uh oh. What happens when the very thing you believed for, God, we needed the house, we needed more space, and then it broke up and isolated the family? Now you got 5000 square feet and no intimacy. Bamboozled by the blessing. I cried out, I prayed, I drove from Texas and Kansas and California to get my crazy faith offering and God did the miracle. Now what? And if we don't prepare for what God is going to do we will be left in the trap that humanity gets in over and over. We get bamboozled by the blessing.
Have you ever been bamboozled? Now, maybe it's just me, but there's some people that have tricked me before. And the crazy thing about being bamboozled, most times you don't know you're gettin' bamboozled while you're bein' bamboozled. It's not a sudden like, I am about to exploit you and take advantage of you. Nobody's doing that. It's the people that get close to you. Ah, you all want to be fake today. It's the people that you once called best friend. It's the people that you gave a position to. It's the people that you put on. And then somehow you look up and. I might be a little too close to home this morning. But, I remember this one time, I'm going to make it a little lighter 'cause some of you all just really just went back. The crazy eyes just came out. You just start thinkin' about, I'm going to find him. Calm down.
I remember this one time, one of my best friends, John, he actually styles me and does all this stuff, so we've been into clothes for a very long time. And we were into clothes when we were broke and what that means is that all the stuff you want to buy you can't buy 'cause you ain't got no money. So any time you see something that's gently used or maybe a size or two bigger or you know what I'm sayin'? You make it work. Has anybody ever grown up makin' it work? Now some of you all bougie all your life, but there's some of us that had to take somethin' that was not even, and make it work. Well, there was this one time where we been sneaker heads a long time and it was the first time these new Yeezy shoes were comin' out and John comes up to me and he was like, Mike, I found a plug. And John's my friend.
So, when my friend comes up and tells me like, I found a plug, there's like questions I don't even ask 'cause you're my friend. You... Like you my... So, he's like I found this chick on Instagram. She can get the Yeezys for 350 and send 'em right to us. I said, bro, you lyin'. You know them is like $900 on the after market. He said, bro, I promise you, look, here's a picture of her. Shows me a picture of this lady. I was like, oh, okay, and she kind of cute and she workin' for this line of shoes. Okay, cool, cool. I scraped together every dollar, dime, nickel, penny that I had. You know when you broke when you start goin' to the couch to look for the money. Just hold on, like, loose change, other people's car ashtrays, I was everywhere.
I got my 350 together and gave it to my friend with full confidence. I'm talkin' about I was imaginin', you talk about see it before you see it, I saw myself with them shoes. I had started planning outfits based on. One week goes by. Two week goes by. I mean, shipping, you know, shipping. Three weeks go by. And we start encouragin' each other. Like, bro, you already know they on the way, bro. You know, and we doin' all this other. Four weeks go by. I said, John, I missed some meals because of what I gave to this endeavor that we're on right now. Have you heard anything? Bro, I dm'd 'em, I let 'em know and they promised me they'd be here next week. Five weeks goes by. Six weeks goes by. Now I'm a little aggravated. John, he's like, bro, I got my money in it, too. You dumb too?
We end up findin' out that it wasn't a young lady, it was a man that posted a picture of a young lady at a shoe store. We sent him our money and that man disappeared. For at least three weeks me and John felt worthless, 'cause as grown men who paid taxes and had wives, this wasn't like, like I'm married at this time. Like, at least there should be some. I felt bamboozled. If I see that person today I'm stealin' him out on sight. But, what I begin to understand about this moment of being bamboozled is I let the idea of what I thought was going to be a blessing distract me from deception. Write this point down. 'cause you all are about to come into blessing you've never seen before. You're 'about to come into relationships that you've never seen before. You're about to have resources and access like you've never, nobody's believin' it with me. You're about to have resources and access like you've never seen before. But, never let the blessing become such a distraction that you fall into deception.
I was so distracted by the blessing that was coming that I didn't even look and see that the person only had two pictures on they Instagram. You know when somebody has two pictures on they thing, it's a scam. But, I didn't look at it one time til after I had been bamboozled, after I had been taken advantage of. And God is telling you, the blessing's on the way, but when the blessing comes don't be so distracted by the house. Don't be so distracted by the new relation. Don't be distracted about who they work with and who they done music with and what TV show they've been on and who they know. Do not be distracted to the place where you fall into deception.
Can I bring it real spiritual? Don't let the promotion keep you from prayin'. Uh oh. Now you got it, you prayed for it and now no more relationship with God. Don't get distracted. Don't let the new house harden your heart from generosity. Don't let, uh oh single ladies, single men, don't let the relationship cheapen your routine with God. You used to have a routine with God. Oh, let me talk to married people. Oh, it's the kids and it's the thing. And God said, I still gave you 24 hours and somehow you managed to binge watch Netflix, but you had no time to be with me, and in the morning you're going to need me to go back to that job, but you gave me no time to give you what I needed. The reason why you can't be distracted by the blessing, even though it's good, watch this, is because distractions, distractions jeopardize discernment. When you're distracted you can't discern what's going on. When you're distracted you don't pay attention to stuff that's obvious.
Have you all ever seen your friend go into a relationship that was going to end in disaster before it even started? Oh, come on, but they can't see it. Why? 'cause they distracted. Well, he love me and he buy my nails and he did the opposite than my last boyfriend, Jerome, and this and that and the third. And you like, I don't know, this look like Jerome in a different outfit. But, their discernment is down because their distraction is up. What I'm telling you, the reason you don't know what college to go to is 'cause the distraction is up and the discernment is down. The reason why you don't know if you're supposed to put 'yo kids in that school or that school is 'cause the distraction is up and the discernment is down.
This is how people get bamboozled by the blessing 'cause they can't discern any more. I just did somethin' and it worked. So then, I go, whew, and that's when the enemy creeps in and says all I needed them to do was exhale. I just needed them to get off of it for a second. I just needed them to stop fasting. I heard a man of God once say, he said, don't fast every once in a while. Live a fasted life. He said, because at the moment that God does the victory it's not a time to say, whew I'll do that again. 21 days of prayer and fasting next year. That's a lot of time that my discernment is down where I'm not as keen to hear the whispers of God. And some of the blessing that you're about to come in, you got to hear every direction.
The steps of a good man and a good woman are, I got to be able to hear the whisper of God. I got to be able to hear, stay in that lease for six months and on the 7th month I'm going to bring something to you. You've got to be able to hear the details. The level of responsibility I walk in now, the details matter. And if we lose our discernment as a church, if we lose our discernment as a body, deception is just around the corner. The biggest blessing in the world, and God's like, it's okay. It's okay that I did that once, but my plan wasn't to have one season of unusual acceleration. I wanted this to be your life.
And I don't know who I'm here to encourage today. This is the kick in the pants that lets you know like, hey, stop being distracted and get your discernment to another level. God is speaking to some of you all right now and he can't even get a word in, because CNN, Fox News, 'yo Instagram feed, what happened at Astro world, what happened on this celebrity? Will and Jada again, it's this, that, third, new, and God said, I've been speakin' the whole time, but your discernment is distracted. Can I show you a picture of somebody who had something amazing happen to them and then their discernment just shut off? This is what most of us look like after we get the blessing. Check this out.
- Hey dad, think fast.
- Listen, that child is going to be a pro athlete.
- Oh!
- You were supposed to catch it.
- I wasn't ready.
- We were just throwing it.
- I wasn't ready.
- Perfect landing.
Did you all just see what happened? He tells his daddy, think fast, throws it to him, like ah. And his mama says, that boy is going to be a, bam. What he told his dad to do, think fast, he didn't have the discernment to think the ball was coming back. And many of us, God is telling us to do something and then we stop doing the thing that gets us in a place of, watch this, protection. He didn't even put his hands up, Charles. He was so caught off guard by that, he had no discernment that it was even comin' back. And some of you all been tryin' to hold 'yo laugh in. That was funny. That little boy got knocked, and he will always, forever have a mark. He will never forget the time that he was distracted by the compliments of his mother. Don't this sound like us? This boy, this girl, this employee is going to. And just for a moment he was so distracted by the blessing of encouragement that he lost all discernment.
I do not want you to be bamboozled by the blessing. The Bible says when God blesses we still watch and pray. Let me move on. See, because the back side of the blessing, whatever it is, if it's your business doubling, if it's the promotion, if it's you being able to be in emotional stability for the first time after decades of emotional trauma. God said, I'm going to bless you with it. But, the back side of the blessing always comes with three things you have to watch out for. It tries to give you an opportunity to walk away from God and to establish independence, identity and entitlement.