Michael Todd - You're Officially Ordained
Well, I have a word in the house today. If you’re ready for the word, I need you to put some likes, some comments, some praise hands, and some amens. Make some noise! Now, I need to let you know that I’ve worked on some new technology. There’s nobody in the room right now except for my mama, Charles, and the worship team, but I can feel your holler back at me. Okay? I’m spiritually asking the Holy Spirit to help me feel your presence because there are some of you watching in Africa right now, in Georgia right now. Dallas is in the building, Houston is in the building, and Cali is here right now! Wherever you’re watching from, all I’m asking you to do is this: if something resonates with you, I need you to act like you’re in the building because I can feel it. The better you help me, the better I’m going to preach right now. Okay? So can I get one big Amen from everybody? Come on, can I get one more big Amen from everybody? That’s what we’re saying!
So, being well, we are starting week one of a brand-new series that I’m entitling «Who is the Minister Here?» The honest-to-God truth is I’ve been planning this series for two years, and there is no way I would have known that we’d be at this crossroads in society at this moment, but God did. He wanted me to challenge every person watching and hearing this broadcast, this message, this playback, to really evaluate if you have truly answered the call that God has brought you to this earth for. I know that some of you right now thought your job was your calling, but when they laid you off last week, you found out that you were expendable. That’s not why God called you; that wasn’t your source; that was a resource. But at the moment when everything is scaled back and movie theaters are closed, and sports are shut down, and all of our honestly distracting purposes have now folded up in one week, God’s asking, «Now can I have your attention so that you can do what I created you for?» I’m about to come all in your business today.
So let me, okay, we’ll stop, Mike. Okay, let’s bless them, let’s get them started, let’s play a little game right now. I want to play a little game called «Who’s the Minister?» Okay, I’m going to put a picture on the screen, and I need you to see if you can identify the minister in the picture. Let’s try this: Who’s the minister? Does anybody know who that is? Okay, some of y’all said T.D. Jakes, okay, I hear you. Some of y’all are like, «I don’t know, who is that?» All right, let’s try another one. Who’s the minister here? Does anybody know who the minister is? Okay, I hear somebody saying Joyce Meyers, and other people said, «That’s my Aunt Sally.» Okay, that ain’t John Salley.
Okay, let’s look: Who’s the minister here? Now some of you said Pastor Steven Furtick, okay. Others of you are saying, «That’s the guy who does my laundry every week.» Okay, here we go: Who’s the minister here? Now, some of y’all might say, «That’s you.» When I think about the question of «Who’s the minister here?» many of you, if you knew the people in the pictures, identified the pastor or the teacher in the picture, but you did not identify the minister. See, if I were to ask you right now, and if you were in this building with me, and I said, «Hey, who’s the minister here?» four thousand five hundred hands would point at me, and at that moment, I would say, «And your own!»
See, I’m not the minister here. Write down point number one of this series: You are the minister here. Some of you are saying, «Pastor Mike, no, I can’t be the minister, 'cause you don’t know what I deal with. You don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know where I come from. You don’t know what things I’m still fighting with.» But the problem I see in the body of Christ right now is that it’s so fragile because the weight of the whole purpose that God wants to accomplish has been resting on a few. Let me give you an actual picture of this: What’s happening right now is this: as many of the people that you think are ministers, or «That’s Pastor Mike, that’s Pastor T.D. Jakes,» or «That’s my pastor at First Community Church, that’s my pastor,» you must understand one thing: I don’t care about denominations. We think it’s the pastor, the prophet, the apostle, the teacher.
Then something happens in culture and society where the church is supposed to hold the weight, but when you put it on somebody like this, they get crushed; they can’t hold it up. Then something else happens, and they get crushed again. It’s because there aren’t enough people who are full and able to hold up the weight. When society has questions and people are asking, «Where is God?» there are a few people standing up. But God said every child born of me should be standing up and not ashamed of the Gospel. But there are too many people who have not been identified or accepted the call that they are the minister. What would happen if people working in schools, in arts and entertainment, at the bus stop, in daycares, and stay-at-home moms all took their place as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? When society comes to crush us, we would be the ones who can stand.
Somebody say, «I’m the minister here!» And what happens if you get into your place, and when somebody has a question at your school or job, they don’t have to come to the church because we are the church? I feel this thing! When we step into their world, we can get other ministers to rise up in areas like finance and the stock market; when other situations arise, we will be the ones who can stand, no matter the circumstance. We can teach our children how, in the midst of a pandemic, we don’t lose our faith. In the midst of being laid off, we understand that that job was a resource, but God is my source. He was Jehovah Jireh, my provider. All the way back to Moses, He brought water out of rocks.
What you don’t understand about this example is that these ministers who have been holding all the weight are actually empty. If ministers would take their place and be full of the Holy Spirit, it would give people who are empty the opportunity to stay in a place long enough to heal while still being part of what God wants to do, not being thrown off because they lack enough within them. What I’m saying to everybody watching me right now is: God is saying, «Will I have to look for another, or can I use you to be my minister at that soccer field, on that campus, or online?» Right now, as social distancing takes over, can you use your text message thread—not to sext people—but to actually lift up the name of Jesus? Could you use it not to complain and gossip, but to spread the Gospel? Can I get somebody to be my minister?
Somebody say, «I’m the minister here!» Come on, somebody say, «I’m the minister here!» That’s what I want everyone to know! So I want us to go to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. I’m preaching harder than y’all were in the building. I feel this thing right now. I see God doing something, and somebody’s faith is coming alive right now. You’re realizing that the reason God hasn’t let you off that job is because He sent you in there as a secret agent. You were the minister at that place. The reason you’re trying to step into this other lane and God says, «I need you right there,» is that if I could get enough of my ministers spread out in government and in every mountain of society, then my banner could be lifted up in the kingdom of God, and we would be expanded.
Somebody just shout at me, «I’m the minister here!» Look at Ephesians 4:11, 'cause some of y’all are like, «That doesn’t make sense! Rev, you’re the minister! Bishop, you’re the minister!» I think that this has been a misnomer in the body of Christ that has messed up people’s theology and responsibilities. What ends up happening is you leave the four walls of the church, and you think, «Oh, this pandemic is happening; I hope the pastor’s doing something.» «Oh, wow, there’s a crisis in the land; I hope those people are praying.» And God said, «Hold on! I’ll let you see that post. I’ll let you come in contact with that homeless person. I’ll let you be born into that family to stand up and be the minister there.»
See, some of y’all are mad right now, but I’m trying to call you to another level of responsibility and calling. Look what Ephesians 4:11 says: «Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church.» Now listen to what He gave to the church: He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Now watch their responsibility: «To equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.» Another translation says, «Their job is to equip the saints for the work of ministry.»
So my job as your pastor is not to minister to you; it’s to equip you to minister to others. Did you just read it in the Word? You have been thinking, «I’m cold! Yesterday, Pastor was just ministering to me. Hey, he did his work; it was God!» No, no, no, baby! You were here supposed to be taking notes! You were here trying to take the scriptures I said, translate them in your mind, and share them with others because you’ve got to give what you learn away and minister to somebody else. God said the reason I gave pastors, prophets, and apostles was not to glorify themselves; it was to glorify me and equip others. That’s why I gotta come against this religious spirit that tries to make pastors, prophets, and all these people on this pedestal like they’re something special.
Listen to me: Their greatest role is as servants. We are built and called to equip people to be able to go out. If you’re a pastor or a prophet and you’re the only one who can do what you’re doing, you need to move because the goal is that other people would be able to do greater works. Even our Jesus said, «Greater works!» Now if Jesus, the only man who lived a sinless life, had a plan for the ministers to do greater than Him, why are you the greatest person in your organization, ministry, or church, and you’ve been there for 20 years? I’m going to get hate mail for this one, but it’s the Word anyhow. Some of y’all are sitting there like, «Okay, so a pastor’s job, a teacher’s job is to equip me.» Yes! You’re the minister! I’m the minister’s Mr. Miyagi!
Now, I don’t know if y’all have ever watched Karate Kid, but in my heart and my mind, when I get up here, when I study all week, when I’m trying to get a revelation, it’s not because I’m about to have to go fight the owl. Remember Karate Kid, where Daniel’s son and Mr. Miyagi were there? Mr. Miyagi was teaching Daniel how to wax on and wax off, and it didn’t look like it had anything to do with the battle they were about to face and the opposition they were about to encounter. But what he was trying to do was give him reps in something that he would be able to use later. I think that’s what I’m supposed to do: tell you, «Yeah, keep honoring God first in tithing, even during a pandemic.» Wax on and wax off! Stop downplaying when you come around your family! Come on!
I want you to keep on reading your Word and meditating on my Word day and night! I want you to turn off Netflix and get in my presence! All I’m trying to do is teach you the principles that, when you come up against a pandemic or your Aunt Pam—whatever you come up against—God is saying the things that you learn from the apostles, the prophets, and the teachers are the very things that will allow you to get in the middle of a battle and win the war. I don’t know! I see myself as Mr. Miyagi. I’m the minister’s help! Until you get in your place, I don’t have anybody to actually equip. We have a whole bunch of people that are tuning in right now, hundreds of thousands of people, but I wonder how many people have answered the call of minister.
I wonder how many of you are still sitting there like, «Oh, he’s saying some good stuff!» What I’m trying to do is push you out of your place of complacency and let you know that in the gated neighborhood that you live in, you’re the minister there! Huh! So I need you to understand this: My job is to equip God’s people to do His work and build the church! I like that: Equip God’s people to do His work and build the church! What’s my job? What’s my job? I said, «Equip God’s people to do His work and build His church!»
Come on! If someone was sick, equip God’s people to do His work and build the church! So we need to break those three things down, because without understanding, you don’t know what that really means. So let’s answer those questions: Who are God’s people? What is His work? And how do you build the church? Let’s start with number one: Who are God’s people? Look at Romans 10:9. It says, «If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.» You just became God’s people!
Some of y’all are like, «That’s too easy!» You need to change; you sound like that was something from yesterday. Hold up! One second! Just hold up; back up for one second. This is the same way that every one of us is saved! If we were out clubbing last night, if we were drunk or high last night, if we were lying last night, if we were in our alternate lifestyles sexually last night, it doesn’t matter! Because at the moment you do what Romans 10:9 says, God says, «It’s the same at the foot of the cross!»
Christians and believers try to make there be big sins and little sins, but everybody is even! He says all you got to do is believe I sent my Son! He died for you and rose again, and it said you are saved! And I know I’m fighting that religious spirit right now that’s telling people that ain’t what I believe, but I’ve got a scripture for you too.
Look at it in Mark 2:16, because religious people who are judgmental aren’t new! That’s been around since Jesus walked the earth. There were some teachers of the religious law who were Pharisees, and they saw Him—that’s Jesus—eating with tax collectors and other sinners. We are all sinners without the grace of God! Then they went up to—not even Jesus—they went up to His disciples and asked Him, «Why does He eat with such scum?» I don’t know why my voice just went to that right now, but that’s what it felt like: They just sound bougie and high-pitched.
and look what he did. He said, «Y’all need to know one thing about your boy: I’ve come to call not those who think they are righteous.» Oh, they’re good, because some of y’all right now are sitting next to people that you would consider yourself better than. But God says our righteousness is like filthy rags in His presence. That’s why we need God. He said literally, «I didn’t come to call those who think they’re righteous but those who know that they are sinners.»
This is the good news for everybody that knows you’ve been wildin' out; you know it. And if you know that you’ve been far from God and that He’s calling you to another place, and you don’t want to keep living your life the way you’ve been living it because it’s not given you the results that you think you needed and wanted, He says, «Come to Me.» All you have to do is receive what I have done through My Son by faith. Everybody say, «By faith!» This is not by works. This is not about how many times I do good deeds, or how many times I didn’t cuss, or how many times—I mean, this is by faith. Everybody say, «By faith!»
When you receive by faith, you’re God’s people. So who are God’s people? I’m going to give you the MLT—just the real definition real quick: Sinners who receive Jesus as their Savior—point-blank, period. If you are a sinner and you have received Jesus as your Savior, you’re God’s people. That is why this church exists—to represent God to the lost and found for one reason: transformation in Christ. Everybody may not have the right view of this, but I want you to see something: The found are God’s people, but just as importantly, the lost are God’s passion. That’s why the Bible says He would leave the ninety-nine—those who are God’s people who have already been found—to go after the one.
And I don’t know who you are, but I feel like there are some ones watching right now that think, «I’ve done too much. My track record is too long. My body count is up. I can’t do certain things because of what has happened to me.» And God says, «I will leave My people to come after My passion, which is you.» All I’m saying to you is you can be a minister by the end of the day. If you receive Jesus today, I feel the presence of God because somebody’s wheels are turning right now. Maybe I don’t have to live my life how I’ve been living it; maybe I can be a minister. And God says, «That is what I want. You’re My passion.» So, no matter if you’re God’s people or God’s passion, you’re a GP.
It reminds me of an old Kirk Franklin song. Don’t leave me hanging out here, CP! Are you with me? Oh yeah, we got detention; we ain’t going. A GP, are you with me? Oh, we got the— one more time! So, GP, are you in? Man, oh yeah, we got the church; we ain’t going nowhere! What I’m saying is God’s passion and God’s people are supposed to be found in God’s church, and today you can make sure that happens.
Let’s look at the second question: What is His work? Because it said that the pastor’s job is to equip ministers to find out if they’re God’s people and to do His work. So, what’s His work? Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. This is Jesus talking to His disciples before He ascends to heaven. He says, «Jesus came and told His disciples, 'I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.'»
So, He’s the man; He could say this! «Therefore, the one instruction that I want to give to all My ministers is to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all My commands that I have given you and be sure of this one thing: I am with you even to the end of the age.'» Do y’all know that when you’re a minister of Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter if it’s ours, if it’s Ebola, if it’s COVID-19—when you’re a minister and you’re going out and you’re telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ, He says, «I will be with you to the end of the age»! Somebody needs to get excited about that right now because you’ve been walking in fear, and God says, «Why are you walking in fear? I’m with you.»
The one thing about my daughter, Isabella, is we’ve been going through this stage where she likes to sleep in my bed. I need everybody to pray for me because, you know, it’s hard. But what’s ended up happening is I found out that sometimes she gets scared of the dark, so she’ll come into my room. What I used to do is I would turn on all the lights in the house all the way back to her room, because that would allow her to see where we were going. But then I said, «No, no, she’s got to know that she’s okay.»
So the other night when we were going to the room, I kept all the lights off. She said, «Daddy, I can’t see.» I said, «It doesn’t matter that you can’t see; I’m with you.» And she said, «Daddy, I can’t see.» I replied, «But you feel me right here with you, don’t you?» And she said, «Yeah, I do.» So the next night she went to say it again— I feel the Spirit of God, He’d be talking through stuff. She said, «Daddy, I feel you.» She was about to go back to her natural reaction: «I can’t see what’s happening. I don’t know what’s up ahead. I don’t know; it’s dark in this season.» But instead of saying, «I need to see it,» she just said, «I need to feel you. I just need to know you’re around; I need to know that you’re close.» And what God is saying is, «My work is that you would go out and make disciples.» The thing you need to know is that no matter what season you’re in, I am with you. Somebody say, «God is with me!» Come on, somebody needs to believe that in faith: «God is with me.»
So what is His work? Spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. So every minister—that’s anybody who’s accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior—has a job to do. Not the one that pays you on the 1st and the 15th; the one you were coated with purpose before you were in your mother’s womb. He said, «When you took that vow to be covered by Me, you got a new responsibility as a minister of Jesus Christ, and that’s to share the good news.» He took into account that you’re an introvert; he took into account that you don’t like public speaking; He took into account that you break out in cold sweats when you have to do something you didn’t know you had to do, and He said, «And I still built you with the ability to share the good news that Jesus has come to seek and save those who are lost and hurting.» And that is His work, so now it’s our work! Somebody just say again, «I’m the minister here!» I’ll fill this thing.
But you know what? In this season right now, the whole nation, literally the whole world, is focused on containing something, but God is focused on spreading something. He wants His news right now, while everybody’s in fear and wondering. He said, «This is the perfect time for the Prince of Peace to invade situations! This is the perfect time where people don’t know where money’s coming from that Jehovah Jireh—your boy—is running to show up on the scene—the One who goes before you! I want to be there, but how will they know unless somebody tells them?» And so many times we’re so selfish and focused on what God is doing in our lives that we won’t share the joy that we already have.
I do not know how people that are not walking with God are making it through this season. Do you know how much fear and anxiety is coming from CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, your local television station, your Instagram feed? But as believers, we have our hope anchored in Jesus Christ. The thing that you need to do is tell somebody else. Now, I can’t believe this, but y’all may be able to identify, especially some of the ladies, and yes, I’m a man, but I do like shopping, okay? So let me just put it out there. This jacket is bad, and I found it on my own while shopping. The one thing I want you to know is that anything about a real shopper—not a stingy shopper—because some of y’all are stingy shoppers. You find a sale, but you won’t tell anybody about it because you want to be the only one to wear it! Don’t even look that good on you! Anyhow, no, I’m just playing; you look beautiful!
What I’m saying to you is that when someone is a real shopper, you love to see people get deals. When you find something, the first thing you do is tell other people. When you really find the 50% off, the 70% off, the 80% off, you’ll be taking pictures for other people saying, «This ain’t my size, but this would look cute on you,» and you’ll send it to somebody else. What I’m saying is if sale shopping is good news, why isn’t the fact that God has redeemed humanity much better news? That you don’t have to be in the place that you’re in and stay there? We have good news, and it’s our job as ministers to share that good news.
But you cannot spread what you haven’t caught, and you cannot give what you don’t have, and you cannot omit what you don’t own. That’s why I’m preaching this series because too many people think that I’m the minister—the person on the platform is the minister—and you haven’t owned that you’re a minister at that job, with those kids, on that soccer field, on that basketball court. You are the minister, and God is trying to equip you to not have to be confined to a building. He’s giving you a free pass to use your authority wherever you are, and until you get this, we don’t get to be the full expression of the body of Christ.
So the last question we need to answer is: How do you build the church? I want to camp out here for just the next 10 minutes so that you can understand. I think there’s a fundamental problem in how people have viewed the church. See, people think that the church—this building—is the thing that God cares about. But write this point down: The church is not an organization; the church is an organism. The church is you! And until you get this, in Ephesians chapter 4, He said the pastor’s job, the prophet’s job, the bishop’s job is to equip the ministers—His people—to build the church. It wasn’t talking about building buildings; it was talking about building people.
So that’s why it doesn’t matter if this building God gave us never opens back up; the church is still expanding. When you look at Acts 2:42, it says they were meeting home to home, sharing meals, sharing everything they had, and their numbers were growing daily because they weren’t building brick and mortar; they were building minds, bodies, and souls. What I’m asking you is, if you stop focusing on the organization for a second—because honestly, the organization has been a lot of our excuses. «Well, that church hurt me.» «I’m never going back; they just want my money.» And we’ve blamed organizations. If we can be honest, it was one or two organisms who really messed with you. It was some people who hadn’t given God full control.
On behalf of those people—who were pastors, leaders, and people in your life—who you thought was the church, and that’s why you haven’t come back to church because you saw somebody do it wrong and they fell short of the glory of God, I want to apologize. Because I know that has hurt you. The only thing that can hurt another organism is an organism. And we’ve blamed it on the church, but now we can’t blame it on an organization; that was a person. Would you please not hold all of us responsible, or even hold God responsible for what somebody did? Would you allow forgiveness to flow through your heart?
I feel this thing deep down in my spirit right now. There’s somebody right now who’s getting healed because you’re realizing the church wasn’t this big organization that forgot about you or isolated you or downcast you when you had a baby out of wedlock or when you had the abortion—that wasn’t the church; that was a person or a couple of people or a group of people. I’m asking you to let them go because that poison is killing you right now! What God wants to do is heal you and, look at the greatest thing, make you a minister so you can go back to the very people who feel like how you felt, and you know that deep despair and that isolation, and go back and share the good news that God took away grief and He took away shame on the cross and that you can walk free and be His minister. Somebody needs to thank God with me! I feel healing flowing in this room right now.
So how do we build the church? How do we build people? I want to show you a story where Jesus does this with one of His staples: Matthew chapter 16, verse 13. It says, «When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi…» I feel this thing, asked his disciples, saying, «Hey, I have a question for everybody. All of you coming around here who don’t mean to say that I am, but what are the people saying in the streets? Uh, I think some people are saying that you are John the Baptist, and another one says, 'You know what, Jesus? Some people are saying you’re Elijah.' I don’t know why everybody’s forgetting right now. Others are saying, 'No, sir. Everybody’s saying you’re Jeremiah, you’re the Prophet.'»
Then Jesus switches it up on everybody, and I think this is the question that COVID-19 is making everyone answer right now. And then Jesus said, «'But who do you say I am? ' Yeah, I know what the government is saying, and they’re saying we can be in this. You’ve heard everything from 18 months to three months to two weeks, and all this stuff. Yeah, yeah, I know what you say they can do for you and what a vaccine could do for you, and what these people could do for you in terms of help and aid and all this stuff. But who do you say I am right now in the midst of this? What are you saying? Because it really doesn’t matter what everybody else is saying; it matters what you believe and what you’re standing on right now.» And He asked them, «Who do you say that I am?»
Look at one disciple who could have been quiet and shrunk back in the background, like many believers do when they’re in a group or an organization, but he stepped forth as an organism. Look at what he said: Simon Peter answered and said, «You’re the Christ, the Son of the Living God.» And it hit me right here because if you are going to be the minister, you have to—write this down—be open. See, there are many people in this room that are not open to God making you a minister. You would rather stay back. But for him to answer as an organism—not an organization—he had to step forward and be open to give an answer.
And it hit me right now that some of you are so set in your careers; some of you are so set in your plans that God is asking you, «I want to make you a minister, to go into places that people have not even been able to go and represent me rightly.» Are you open to it? Are you open to going into crafts and arts and being my minister there? Are you open to going into the music industry and being my minister there? Are you open to going into the judicial system and being my minister? I feel this, because somebody’s faith is rising. Are you even open to stepping from among the crowd of people who are in the organization of Christians and believers, and would you step forward and be open to me doing something through you? And Simon was open.
Somebody say, «I’m open!» No, say it again, «I’m open!» Because if you are going to be a minister, you have to be open. And this response threw Jesus off. Look what it says: «Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.'» Verse 17: Jesus answered and said, «Hold on, blessed are you, boy! You’re blessed, Simon Bar-Jonah! Look at the name you’re called! For flesh and blood or your experience or just being here right now hasn’t revealed this to you, but it was my Father who is in heaven who divinely inspired you, because you were open.»
What I’m trying to tell you is that all throughout history, God is not just looking for people who are perfect; He’s looking for people who are open. He’s not looking for people of extraordinary ability; He’s looking for people of availability. It goes back to Moses when Moses had a speech problem, and he said, «I can’t talk for you.» And God said, «If you’re open to me using you, I’ll fill your mouth, and you’ll be my minister at the highest level of government.» And this is why, if you’re open and you step away from the organization, and you say, «God, you can use me, if you can use anything, Lord, you can use me,» then God will start revealing things to you that your education couldn’t see—that your pedigree couldn’t teach.
Do you know I’m a pastor with six months of high-quality education from Tulsa Community College? The revelation that I get is not because of something that man gave me; it was because I was open when God visited me in a Hampton Inn in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at 4 a.m. and God called me into ministry. I was open to it, and He said, «As long as you’re open, I will reveal what I need you to do when you get there.» I need somebody to be excited because God’s saying if you’ll be open to being my minister, then I’m going to do something for you. So write this down: If you are going to be the minister, you have to hear from the originator. Too many people are not doing what this disciple did; he was open, but then he only said what God told him to say.
Jesus says, «My Father in heaven revealed this to you,» and too many people are self-proclaimed ministers not hearing from God. Just because you have a Facebook camera doesn’t mean that you’re effective. Let me stop. The truth is that I would not be effective if I walked up here and shared my opinion. The reason I’m effective is because I spend time with God and I hear from the originator. That’s why, in this time when many of you have more time than you’ve ever had, it’s so important that you start your day in the Word of God so you can increase your faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. But faith increases by whatever you focus on. So if you focus on the fear, it’s only going to enhance your faith in fear. But if you focus on the promises of God, it’s going to enhance your faith.
And that’s why I’m asking everybody, even in this time of corona, we are praying every single day at noon. I want to thank you because tens of thousands of you have been joining us every day that we’ve done it, but we’re going to keep going until we see miracles because we need to hear from God. If you’re going to be His minister, you’ve got to hear from the originator. Look what it says in verse 18; and He says, «And also I say to you,» watch this, He switches up His name: «You’re Peter.» Yeah, I know. That’s who you are. No, Peter! Now, I know they’ve been calling you Simon Bar-Jonah, but I’m switching your name. I’m calling you something different. And Peter means Petra, or the rock, and «On you, I will build my church.»
This hit me because up until this point, he had been called one thing, but when he got open and heard from the originator, his name changed. And what God says is, «Can I call you something different? Will you own your calling?» See, right now, you’ve been successful in business, but what if God wants to change your name? Would you own it? And that’s what I want to give you as the third point right here: If you’re going to be the minister, you have to own your calling. So many of you are going back and forth, vacillating, thinking, «What will my family think if I really start doing this? What will my friends say?» You might lose them. You might actually have to lead people to become something and then come back and get them.
Some of y’all are so worried about going to where God has called you to be with all of the friends that have been with you. There are times when you’re going to have to step out and be open to what God wants to do and Him changing your name. You get a word from Him, and you walk, and you own it. I think about it in my own life, man. When God called me, I had been in the music industry and doing stuff there; that’s where I thought my identity was. When I started working in ministry, I didn’t want to hold a religious stigma. I started doing youth ministry, and it was like, «Are you our youth pastor? Are you Pastor Mike?» I felt a little tinge of sarcasm when they said it. So out of my need to seem relatable, I was like, «Nah, no, no, no. Call me Pastor Mike. Call me Big Brother Mike.»
So the whole time I was a youth pastor, everybody called me Big Brother Mike. Well, many of you know my story; eventually I became the executive pastor of our church and then I became the lead pastor. And when I became the lead pastor and God called me to lead the church—not that I wanted to just do something—He called me to do it. I didn’t accept or own the calling. So, there would be people that would come around and say, «Big Brother Mike! Big Brother Mike! Big Brother Mike!» And God said, «You better stop answering to that, because that’s not what I called you. I called you Pastor Mike.»
Not that I needed somebody to validate and call me Pastor Mike—that wasn’t the thing—I hadn’t owned it. You could call me Michael, but I still wouldn’t own my calling. I was allowing the title to keep me from owning my calling, and God said, «If you don’t own it, I’m going to find somebody else.» And I don’t know who I’m talking to right now, but there are things that God has been trying to give you, and there are places that He’s trying to call you to minister in. But you’re saying, «I don’t really do that. I don’t want to be known for that. I don’t want to do that.» And God said, «I factored in all of your faults, all of your quirks, all of your nuances, and I still called you my minister. You better own the calling.»
I’m just making a decision right now, and I believe that I’m speaking faith into somebody who God’s already given a vision; He’s already given you a dream; He’s already told you to write it down, and you’ve been shying back because of what others have done. And God has changed your name. He called Simon something different; He said Peter, and he had to answer the call. I think about it like this: When I was young—my mom’s in the room right now praying for me—I love you, baby girl. And what’s happening right now is that God—I feel His Spirit translating through this screen right now. I feel this thing so strong.
When I was young, my mom made up a nickname for me, calling me Mookie. Ha, ha, ha, ha. But the crazy thing about it is, throughout my life, because she was the one who gave me the name, I would respond when she called me that name. But if anybody else called me that name—like my brothers would always try to make fun of me: «Mooji! Mookie!"—when they called me that, I wouldn’t respond. One of the things that God was telling me even in this is, «I’m calling you something different, but it doesn’t matter what I call you as much as what you respond to.»
So some of you have been responding to what others have called you, even if they’re calling you out of your name, calling you not what God called you; you’re still responding to it. So they can keep calling you that, and you keep walking in that until you stop responding to it. Some of you have been responding when anger calls out to you, and you answer. And God says you need to stop answering to anger and you need to start answering to anointing. When you hear that name, that’s what you need to respond to. Some of you right now have been answering too mad, but you need to answer to masterpiece. Some of you have been answering to flawed, but God wants you to know that you’re holy. You need to answer to the right thing.
And some of you have been settling for less than what God has been calling you. You’ve been answering to average, but God wants you to know you’re exceptional. That’s why my favorite part of this scripture tells us how we’re supposed to live once we own it, once we’re open, and if we’re going to be His minister. Somebody say, «I’m the minister!» Here, come on, just say it: «I’m the minister!» When you get open, when you hear from the originator, when you’re one of those who says, «I’m on my calling,» then you start living offensively. Go with me: If you are going to be the minister, you have to live offensively. Look at the next part of the verse. It says, «And also I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church.»
He makes this bold statement that the gates of Hades, or the gates of Hell, shall not prevail against it. I’ve always had this scripture messed up because what has happened is, I got a gate here that represents a gate of Hell, and what I thought is that the Church was inside of a gate being protected and that all the forces of the enemy were coming at you, but nothing could touch you because you’re protected inside the gate. So the gates of Hell won’t prevail; but I realized I just couldn’t read, and I didn’t understand it. Because it says «the gates of hell,» that means hell is the thing that has set up protection around certain things. Hell has set up gates around the entertainment industry. Hell has tried to set up gates around the education system. Hell has tried to set up gates around your family to keep you in generational cycles. Hell has also tried to set up gates in music, keeping people in cycles.
The reason that hell has gates is because it doesn’t want God’s ministers to get in, for if God’s ministers were ever to penetrate the gates of hell, we could go in and have the authority to make a difference. What has happened is that, because you haven’t accepted that you’re the actual minister, you haven’t lived offensively; rather, you’ve lived defensively. You’re just trying to make sure the enemy doesn’t harm you and that your kids are okay. God says, «I created you to score. I made you to go into hell and reclaim all the things that have been locked up: movies, entertainment, and government.» The enemy thought he had a gate set around it, but I am about to release ministers in the midst of everything that hell has set up against our gates. It is said that «the gates of hell will not prevail.»
The only reason this is working is because we haven’t stepped up and tried to go in. Who’s the minister here? You are, and you are already in place, but you’re not living offensively enough. When someone tells you that you can’t pray here, you back off. When they say you can’t have a Bible study here, you back down. God is waiting for someone to take the keys that I already snatched from the enemy. Do you remember those three days when he was crucified? I feel like I’m about to preach; I need an organ right now! During those three days, he was not just sitting there; he descended to the place of Hades and stole the keys of death, hell, and the grave. He gave all of us these keys.
Watch this! I just need you to see it: Matthew 11:12 tells us that we must live offensively. It says, «And from the days of John the Baptist until now,» everybody say «until now"—right now, as you’re watching this—the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking hell’s gates. I’m tired of weak Christians who are not answering the call of being a minister where you are right now. God says, «I don’t have to move a pastor into entertainment because you’re there. I don’t have to get someone into financial institutions because a minister is already there.» But you’ve got to own it and live offensively. So, what are you talking about? How do I have the keys?
Matthew 16:19— I love it! He says, «I will give you the keys to the kingdom, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.» I’m ready for an army of ministers, after this message, to take the authority and keys he already took from every demon and devil, and he gives them to us. From now on, in the name of Jesus, when we go into our jobs, when we use social media, when we go into education, it tells us that those gates that have been set up around it, we have the key—we don’t even have to fight for it! All we need to decide is to take our authority and take it off. Everything the enemy thought he could use is no longer a barrier. We can go into every area in entertainment; we can take it by force! We can invite other believers into it.
I can say, «Listen, government is open; are there any ministers who want to come and be a part of what I’m doing?» Hey, every soccer mom, you can start that ministry right here; get other believers involved in government in our homes. I know there are ministers, but until we live offensively—come on, I need more believers to step up! This is what the body of Christ is supposed to be! The picture is that when we walk in this, it’s not to church anymore. It’s saying, «No more church!» Y’all stand right there! I want you in the midst of education, in the entertainment and arts industry. I want you to start praying right now! Get in a circle and start praying! That’s what happens when ministers take their place: they open doors. I feel the presence of God. When they open up and come together, the Bible says, «Where two or three ministers are gathered in my name, I am in the midst.»
When they enter education, they enter the entertainment system, it says the gates of hell can’t keep us out if we would only own our roles as ministers. Today, if you would take the keys God has given you and walk in that authority, whatever you bind and whatever you loose will have to happen. My final point, thank you, guys: if you’re going to be the minister, you have to be ordained.
The word «ordained» means you are officially given authority to minister. Today, in your home, this is not a church service—this is an ordination. As you have understood what God is saying in your life, I want you to know the title of my message and the charge of your life: you are officially ordained today. You are the minister! God doesn’t have to look for another because I’m going to be open; I’m going to hear from the originator. I’m going to hold my calling, and I am going to claim my ordination to minister to others. We aren’t looking for anyone else; God isn’t searching for anyone else because he has placed you there.
Today, we stop chasing distractions that pull us from our calling. He has called us to be his ministers, to spread the gospel, to let people know that he loves them, that he lives, and that he can help them right now. You are officially ordained! You don’t need a collar for this; you don’t need a platform for this; you don’t need a building for this. All you need is to know that as you step up and be open, God will fill your mouth. He’ll show you what to do. He’ll show you where to give. He’ll show you how to love.
Today, if I am a man of God, I’m telling you that revival is about to break out—not because it’s happening in a building. I feel this thing so strongly! It’s going to happen because ministers are at every gate that the enemy thought he had locked. We will stand at the gates of hell, which will not prevail against us. Somebody give God the biggest shout of praise in this building! Hallelujah! It’s hard work, and it’s not my work alone. When I’m on this platform, yes, I’m your Mr. Miyagi; but when I come off this platform, I’m just a child of God who is also a minister. So I’ve got to go and share the gospel! I have to teach my kids how to love God, and I’ve decided that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Pastor, I don’t know how I’m going to do that.
Listen, Matthew 28:18 tells them, «I have given you all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.» Do you all know that with this pandemic happening and all the gods of this world being shut down—like sports, movie theaters—think about all the other gods: government, finances—everything’s been shut down! He’s saying this is the perfect opportunity for you to go and make disciples of all nations. Right now, as I record this message and speak life to people watching—some are viewing on rebroadcast, and some are right now in their cars—it’s in every nation, and I’m telling you, you’re the minister in that nation! He said baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: this is what I want to conclude with—be sure of it! I am with you always: during the coronavirus, always during the economic collapse, always during the Great Depression, always during slavery, even to the end of the age! If you’re going to be the minister, being alone is never an option! God says, «I need you to answer this call,» and I promise you, you’ll never walk alone. That’s why it says, «Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death"—that was how Bella felt when we went down that hallway. She thought it was a place of fear and darkness. He said, «I don’t have to fear because you are with me.»
All I want to tell you is that God is with you. He’s with you in the midst of your hurt. He’s with you in the midst of your pain. He’s with you in the midst of uncertainty. He’s with you, because he’s not with the church as an organization; he’s with the church as an organism. I need you to declare by faith—when somebody asks you, and you’re trying to figure out, «Who’s the minister here? Who needs to pray? Who needs to do something?"—you’ll be able to step forward boldly and say, «I’m the minister here!» Somebody just say it in faith: «I’m the minister here!» Come on, one more time: «I’m the minister here!» And I believe that the greatest revival the church has ever seen is on the brink of erupting, because we will not be lulled to sleep anymore, thinking it’s somebody else’s job.
Do you all see this? This whole time, I’ve been preaching; this thing has been stirring because it wasn’t just one or two ministers in place! It was multiple ministers doing what God has called all of us to do, and the weight of the world could be on our shoulders, but if all of us are in our spots, nothing can stop us. I want to pray for you right now, because some of you have just answered the call. God has changed your name. Hands lifted all over this place. In your living room right now, in your car—some of you are on the beach—lift your hands right now!
Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray that your Holy Spirit is transmitting through every device, bringing people into the saving knowledge of who you are. Father, I thank you that they are answering the call to be ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I come against the lies that have tried to disqualify people. I come against the pain that has tried to paralyze people. I come against, Father God, even the frustration that has tried to frazzle your people, and I speak life and faith into every minister right now in the name of Jesus. I declare and decree that we will all bend to you, Father God, that we will hear from the originator, that we will own our calling, that we answer and accept that we are ordained, and we will never walk alone! Today, I declare that something is rising in the earth, and the enemy has made a mistake because this is the church, and we are built for this! The gates of hell will not prevail! We trust you, we believe you, and we thank you in Jesus' name! If you agree with that, say amen!
Give God the biggest—oh come on, give him the biggest shout of praise you have! Some of you right now are watching this, and you need to do the first thing: you’ve been far from God, but today, you heard God whispering, calling, compelling you. I just want to share the good news with you: you can become God’s people right now! I was in the same boat as you; I was a liar, a manipulator, and addicted to pornography. I had all kinds of bad things going on in my heart, and all I did was what Romans 10:9 says: I believed and confessed that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again just for me. That day—my goodness—the Bible says, «Behold!»
When you make that declaration, the old passes away, and everything becomes new. If you’re in this room and want to make the greatest decision of your life, switching your position from God’s passion to God’s people, I want you to pray this prayer with me. You don’t have to confess your sins to everybody; God says he hears you and sees you right now. At Transformation Church and in Transformation Nation, we are one big family, and nobody prays alone. So everybody who’s watching right now is going to pray this prayer with you, but I want you to mean it from your heart, because today, your life is changing, and you are going to answer the call of God on your life. Everybody, just lift your hands and say:
God, thank you for being my Lord. Thank you for living and dying and coming alive again just for me. Today, I receive salvation. The old is passing away, and everything is becoming new! Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m yours! In Jesus' name, amen!