Michael Todd - Bamboozled By The Blessing - Part 3
Hey, what's going 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.
David was one of those people that in his journey of faith, crazier faith. He had several bamboo seasons. He had season after season of unusual acceleration. You all remember when David is in the field, just doing what he has been called to do, tending to the sheep. They throw a party, don't invite the bro. He not in there trying to be like, yo, what's up I heard the music. He's not trying to be in nobody's business. He's minding his own, doing what God told him, staying at the last place God told him and spending time with God. And in that place, they call for him. And when they call for him, Samuel's standing there in front of all of his brothers who despised him. He anoints him, the king of Israel. And then they sent him right back to the field that he was in before.
What happens when God puts you in another stratosphere by anointing, but sends you back to the same job. I'm trying to teach you what happens when he calls you by name and gives you great things in your future and then sends you back to the same crazy family. Lord, as you're upgrading, everything, would you just upgrade my family? Lord, just give me another one. This is what happens to David. And then look what happens in 1 Samuel 16:14. I'm going to help somebody today. Ooh, multiple seasons of unusual acceleration. I don't know who that's for, but this ain't going to be a one off. This ain't going to happen one time. God said, I want it to keep happening. It says, now the spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. I can't even stop and preach that. But if you look at that, that's going to mess with your theology and an evil spirit from the Lord, tormented him.
Let's keep me moving. Saul's attendance said to him, see an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. They said it, they even recognized it. So everything bad that's happening to, it's not the thing that's going to take you out. It's the thing that's going to develop you. What God was trying to do to Saul before this moment is work the fruits of the spirit in him before they were called the fruits of the spirit. When he was not waiting on Samuel to come, he got impatient and God was saying the delay wasn't a denial. I was trying to give you something that you would need in the next season, but he never got it. And that's why the evil spirit came to torment him from the Lord. He said, I got to make room for the next person who's actually going to do it.
Did you all know we were never supposed to meet David? Everybody talks about David like Saul wasn't chosen by God. Saul, if he would've been able to be the one to do what God called him to do, we would've never had David defeating Goliath. And I know it's your favorite story, but David was the backup. And because this man did not stay in his place, God had to call up the third string quarterback to play for the team. And some of you all the reason God's giving me this word to tell you right now is cause you're walking in pride. And because you're walking in pride, every time I say it something changes on the inside of you. Yeah, well it's not in every area, but in that one area, if you don't address it, it will keep you away. And because he was walking in pride, God said, I got to find another one. And he said, the evil spirit was tormenting him. Verse 16, let our Lord command his servants. There's that word here to search for someone who can play the lyre or the guitar. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you and you'll feel better.
Have you ever noticed when you read this story that David's first time to the palace where he would ultimately be seated was not in a position of status. It was in a position of service. So this is where you're going to be. But I'm going to send you in there without authority first, I'm going to have you serve somebody who has characteristics and things that you are going to need in a different season, but I'm going to allow your voice to be muted. Cause they don't need to hear you right now. You need to go into that position and you need to shut up and serve. I know they don't teach like this no more, but some of us are so ready to be seen that we won't shut up and serve. And the greatest lessons I've learned is not when I was being on a platform, being great and showing people what I had it was when I shutted, when I shut my mouth and I served the people that God placed in front of me.
See, when he asked you to serve, he's testing your heart, your honor and your humility. Oh my God Luke 16:12. And if you have not been faithful and who will give you away as your own? Now this scripture is talking about finances and different things like that. But there's a principle here that I learned a long time ago about serving other people's visions. If you won't serve somebody else's vision. Why would God trust you to bring anybody else to your little thing? When my LLC and my business and my nonprofit, God said your hands is so fresh. No scrapes, no cuts, you ain't got dirty with nobody else. And you want me to open the flood? You didn't sow service. You didn't sow serving so you can't reap it. You never did it for anybody. Why are you expecting to come up? And God told me, he said, what will one day be your seat will always start out as your service.
David goes into the palace serving and the place where one day he will have a seat. It started out as his service. Can I have my people come up who going to help me demonstrate what service looks like? See because if we would ever be ones to really get in a place and to stand and to come into a place of service, what would end up happening is we would change the way we wait. See anything that you do as a server at a restaurant. Your job is to wait on the person that you are in front of. And the thing that God told me to tell Transformation Church is your wait is ugly. The way you are waiting has no posture to it. The way you are waiting and your character and your attitude, you might as well not even be here cause of the way you're serving. All of these people pull up here are standing in a certain position at attention, waiting to serve.
And most of us don't look like this in the spirit. We should be saying, God, whatever you want me to do at your service, how do you want me to help the people? You want it to be a little hotter? You want it to be a little colder? I'm talking too much, I'm not talking enough? Well, Lord, I'm an introvert, but you need my purpose to come out. So I'm going to allow my purpose to override my preferences. God, however you want me to do it. You want me to serve in the children's area, but I don't like kids that much. Oh, give them the name tags? I can give them the name tags, I will serve. We're not going to get a lot of amens on this one, but you are blocking the season of unusual acceleration, cause you've been bamboozled by the blessing. You thought God gave you that position so you could stunt? He gave you the position so you could serve.
So let me just very quickly, cause we got to get out of here. Some of you all can't take no more of this, seven steps to kingdom success. I didn't say to worldly status, seven steps to kingdom success. Let me just spell it out for you. Seri, no, excuse me. Service, service. If you serve it'll change everything. The seven steps to kingdom success is service, s be submitted. Could you step down here for me Chad? You charming gentleman. Could you take this off please? Yeah. See what ends up happening is he listened to instructions that I gave him and he was sub to the mission. Submitted gets such a bad rep, especially in church because of toxic people who've never found their identity in Christ, but just because people have done it wrong and bad does not mean it's not a principle that we have to be, everybody say it with me. It's a cuss word to some of you all, submitted. You got to be submitted, you got to be sub to somebody's mission.
Whose mission are you under? A submarine, the reason they call it a submarine is because it goes under the water. Whose vision are you under? Now I know you start to think about everybody abusing you and everything that could go wrong and all that. God, when your heart is open and ready to be in a place of service, he will send you people, show you things that you are supposed to be submitted to. That's why I tell people don't just go to any church. I'm glad you watch here at Transformation Church. But if God is telling you, you need to be in a local church, get sub to somebody's mission. You can watch us every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Well I just want to be at the house cause Transformation Church is my church, some of you all that's the truth. Others of you all are lazy and you do not want to be bothered with people. And you've been allowing your preferences to override your purpose. And God told you, six months ago, you were supposed to be back in somebody's church, but you saying, well transformation, nobody does it like us, I'm like they ain't got to do it like me, but they can have an anointing that will cover your life that'll, ain't no pastor saying this. I don't care that you be a part of this if it's not where you're supposed to be.
I think about over my life, there has been four strategic people that God has made me sub to their mission. And I want to show you this practically, there was a guy named Terrell Taylor. He was my first youth pastor back at higher dimensions. And Terrell came to me one time and said, Michael, I want you to help me start this gospel group called one generation of praise. And literally I would go to Terrell Taylor's house and I would sit there and he introduced me to the mpc 2000 exhale. And he introduced me to the in sonic and we had this and all this other stuff and he would have me doing stuff and finding sounds and all this other stuff. And I found myself at 14 years old sub to his mission. It wasn't my idea to come up with a group. It wasn't my idea to come over there every day after school, but something in me had the audacity to serve. And I can't tell you how this man serving with me and me serving with him, prepared me for my next level of service.
There was a man named Wayman Tisdale that God called me to serve. He saw me playing at one of the last Azusa conferences and he found out who I was, I was playing drums and he said, I need you to come be my studio musician. I need you to be my studio drummer. I was in 11th grade and literally we never talked about money. He didn't pay me. He never said be my studio musician for this rate. I could have had a job at Wendy's, it would've not prepared me for what God had called me to do. Oh, get your bag. The bag is not always the biggest form of blessing. I'm telling somebody something right now, what they not just going to use me. Do you know what you can get in certain atmospheres that money can't buy? Dale is my witness. I would come over there every day after my 11th grade year, had to give people vision. I had to convince my dad to take me to mingle and 41st, every day after school, and then come pick me up at 10 o'clock at night. Why? Cause I was sub to the mission. And he ended up taking me all over the world.
In my senior year I only went to school from Monday to Thursday, cause every Friday he would come and get me. And in a different season, not the season I started out in the season that was after that season, he started paying me $1.000 for 45 minutes of doing what I loved. I played drums for 45 minutes as a senior in high school. And I got paid $1.000, staying in my own hotel room or having per diem every day. You all know how fat I got. Ordering milk shakes and cookies and cream. I didn't have to pay for none of that on my own, flying first class getting picked up in limos. Why? Because God was trying to show me what would happen if I served. And then it went from Wayman to my parents and some of you all like, well, your parents, you always served them. And some, see this is the one thing, there's things that you have to do.
And then there's things you choose to do. Like at 18, many of the people that were a part of my life, at 18, they stopped fooling with their parents like 18. And the sad thing about it is a lot of people's parents stop fooling with them at 18. I just have to, this is something I just got to get on, black parents. Why do you keep putting your kids in a position to start from where you started from? When you 18, you out of here. We are the only race that put our people out at 18, whether they ready or not to be able to, I'm just telling you right now, if you want to see the blessing of God in your life, maybe you should serve them a couple more seasons. I'm going to have to, that ain't just for black people. I just, I could talk to them cause that's what I look like this, but some of you all acting crazy too.
My parents started a church in 2009, I believe '08, '09, I was so unbothered by them starting a church, spirit and truth praise and worship center. The name was too long, the services were too long. The everything. I was like, this don't make no sense. But my parents, when they hear a word from God, they do not care who thinks anything about it. They're going to follow God. I thank God for that. I did music and my parents would never ask me. But one day the Holy Spirit convicted me. He said, you need to go help your parents with the music at the church. And this meant on Sunday nights. So when I'm usually waking up from a semi comatose golden corral induced cowboys about to lose the game coma, cause that was happening in that season. I would have to get up and go to rehearsals and do this thing. And God said, become sub to the mission. And I started serving at spirit and true praise and worship center not knowing that almost two months after I would get there.
My mom would come to me in this prophetic voice and say, God told me, I'ma wire hands in. The Lord told me. You are supposed to do something with the youth. I said, you got four other sons. One of them can do something with the youth. I'm about to move to la and New York. I'm about to do the music. Then she said, God said it was you. Two weeks later, not wanting to do it, but because I was sub to the mission, I started in a circle that we called so fly. I would not be standing here today had I not been submitted, excuse me, if my parents would've been submitted to God to start the church that didn't look like it had any possibility so that I could to get into a place where I was submitted enough to serve. I was sub to the mission, which led to me being submitted to Bishop McIntosh. And I started, I'm just trying to give you all practical.
This is how I got here today. Not being prideful, being humble and serving. I started out as the sound man at this church. And I went from the sound man and the bishop came to me and said, why don't we do something with the youth? The church has merged together. I became the youth pastor. I didn't know that that was going to happen. I wasn't trying to actually get stuck youth pastoring. And that's how I felt, I wasn't trying to do that. But I was sub to the mission. Then he said, I need this culture to come in the mornings. And he said, I'm going to make you the executive pastor. And I was sub to the mission. Now I need you to be in finance meetings and I need you to do stuff that you don't like doing. I need you to write stuff down, type stuff out, be on time. What? But I was submitted.
Today I stand in the position of status that God has allowed me to stand in. Not because of strategy. Not because of a system. It's because of everybody say it with me, submission. The secret to having kingdom success is get submitted. Aaron, would you step down here? See cause the thing that happened in David's life is he wasn't just submitted to what Saul said. He was excellent. Excellent. Could you take that off from me? Oh this what the church is missing. You didn't practice the song but you want to sing in front of everybody.
Well the Holy Spirit's going to cover. We heard that. And he left you out there. That was trash. And you would judge it if it was on the American idol stage and you would judge it if that's the concert you went to, but because it's for God, oh just woo. Wasn't the spirit high. I would've rather been high than listened to that, was horrible, cause we don't bring excellence. 1 Samuel 16, I'm trying to give you the keys to kingdom success, excellence. It says, so Saul said to his attendance, find me someone who plays average and bring him to me. Find me someone who does not prepare and bring them to me. Find someone whose mama gave them a participation trophy and bring them to me. It says find someone who plays well. Find me somebody excellent. If I'm going to do this over and over, could you please find me someone who walks in excellence when you serve? My question is are you serving in excellence?