Michael Todd - The Anti Drift
Come on, good morning, Transformation Church! I dare somebody to give God the greatest shout of praise! Oh, come on, let’s give God what He’s due and what He deserves! You’re worthy, Lord! You’re worthy, Lord! I don’t know about you, but I am glad to be in the house of the Lord this morning, and I believe that God has something specific for you. I don’t care how you got here; the one thing you need to know is that we have been praying for you. We’ve been praying that all week, all the situations would line up, that you saw a post, that somebody would invite you, that you would be reminded, that God would draw you, so you could have a moment where He touched your life.
Today, we are grateful for every person meeting in their home all across the world. Some people are snowed in, some people are at the beach, some are running on a treadmill right now. Where you are is holy! Somebody say, «Here, it’s holy!» Right where you are is holy, and God is going to speak to you there. So, I’m grateful. If you’re excited, just one more time in your home, let’s give God a shout of praise! Hallelujah! I’m ready to preach today! I want to start off by saying happy Valentine’s Day, happy Love Day! You know, Transformation Church doesn’t need an excuse to talk about love because one of our culture codes is a culture of love. We don’t celebrate it just today; we celebrate it every day because God is love!
Today, I am just grateful for the impact of Transformation Church. I want you to feel loved by God. I want you to feel loved by the people around you, and I want you to grow in your love. The way we talk about that is by getting into God’s Word. God has done something so spectacular at Transformation Church. He allows little things that happen here to go out and represent to the world and impact the world. I just want to share a testimony with you.
As we celebrate Valentine’s Day, three or four years ago, in 2017, I did a sermon series called Relationship Goals. When I did Relationship Goals, it became one of the greatest evangelistic tools our church has ever had. Literally, people started watching because of Relationship Goals. If you started watching TC or heard about TC because of Relationship Goals, I need you to put your hand up in your home and put it in the chat right now! Come on! We have interns around the building right now. We have staff members in this building because of Relationship Goals. I asked God, «Why did you do that?» He said, «Because I want people to understand love. I want them to understand relationships, and I want them to understand how much I love them.»
Nobody could have predicted how popular that series would become, but we wrote a book last year, and I think this is an awesome moment to give God glory for what has happened. We wrote Relationship Goals, and it came out at the end of April. We also created a study guide and did a challenge as a resource. I told Natalie that if I ever got a platform, I wanted to help people win in relationships; they just told me this week—y’all get ready to shout with me—the message that God allowed to be published in book form is about to be produced in six different languages! Y’all, I don’t even know how to speak the languages my book is in! This week, they told me that Relationship Goals has resourced over 500,000 copies! Oh, y’all don’t hear me! This message has reached 500,000 families, 500,000 relationships. When the vision is to represent God to the lost and found for transformation in Christ, 500,000 children may have a different example. Y’all missed it; y’all thought it was about books sold. It’s about transformation!
Today, on Valentine’s Day, I want to encourage anyone who feels stuck in the same cycles and relationships. Maybe you’re in a happy relationship, but you need to elevate it, or maybe you have children and don’t know how to communicate with them about their relationships. I’m giving grandparents and parents the cheat code right now—you need to get this book, understand it, learn it, and then you will be able to impact others. Today, on Valentine’s Day, I want to thank God for allowing this message of Relationship Goals to impact the world, and I pray that every message God gives to our house will do the same. The thing you may not understand is this book is full of biblical truths. People who are atheists are getting saved because they thought it was about a relationship with a person, but our number one relationship goal is with Him.
I’m just grateful to be part of a church that represents like this, so I want you to know that resource is available so you can win in relationships. The other thing I want to do is shout out to my relationship goal, my baby mama, Pastor Natalie—I love you today! Somebody’s like, «Why is he doing all of this?» I’m preaching! Click it off if you don’t want to, but my baby mama, I would not be here without you, and today I just want to honor you in front of everybody watching.
There are so many people who feel like they got to where they are on their own, but I know, and you know, that there is no me without your prayers, your encouragement, your intentionality, and your correction. Today, I just want to honor you in front of everybody. You are the mother of all my kids. You are the one that makes my toes curl. Girl, I’d drink your bathwater, you hear me? Let me stop; I’m going to go too deep. Y’all know you better quit. But today, I want to say happy Valentine’s Day! If you are around somebody you love, just tell them you love them right now! Come on, just tell them you love them! Just type it in the chat. If you’re on the couch, tell them, «I love you! I love you!»
Well, are y’all ready for the word this morning? Today, we are starting week six of a series we’re calling «Help Me Hank.» Y’all, I put on my suit today because I’m ready to preach to you! I really do believe that God has given us, at the beginning of the year, a mandate to be anchored this entire year. Somebody say, «I will be anchored!» Now, the truth of the matter is many of you just lied. The truth is, this is exciting during the sermon series, but as soon as we switch to something else, you will forget what God said about being anchored. Today, I just want to give a caution: this is not merely a sermon series; this is about a disposition. This is not just a catchphrase or a word for the year; this is about a decision. All throughout the year—in May we will be anchored, in July we will be anchored, and if every state and city is open and COVID is gone, we will be anchored Christmas 2021. I’m telling you this because God gave this prophetic word, and I want us to look deeper into this.
As we look at this, I thought today we would examine a character whose life has been anchored through all the different situations, circumstances, and trials he faced. Sometimes Bible stories can feel really ethereal, but there are a few that I relate to as if I know that person—I feel like I would have been friends with them if I had been there. One of these characters is Paul. Y’all know Paul. Today, we are going to journey with Paul because he was truly anchored through everything he faced. Let me give you some understanding of who this man Paul is; everybody thinks Paul is just a great Bible character. No, no, no! Paul was a gangster! He was like a representative mascot who was killing Christians, and then he had a Damascus Road experience where God touched him. People were shocked because he transformed his life—the same way some people will be shocked as you transform your life. Someone needed that prophetic word right there.
Then, a man named Ananias was praying, and God told him, «Yo, go lay hands on Paul!» You’re talking about Paul? You mean the Paul who tried to kill me two weeks ago? He said, «Yeah, I’ve changed his life.» He asked, «Are you talking about Paul from Damascus?» In my mind, he is «P. Diddy» because he was Paul from Damascus! You want me to go lay hands on P. Diddy? Yes, I want you to do it. He literally had a moment where his eyes were blind, symbolizing salvation—your eyes were blind, and then you were able to see. Then Paul, because God touched his life, went on a mission to represent and tell people about the gospel.
The reason I relate to Paul so much is that Paul didn’t attend seminary; he didn’t go to school for it. God touched Paul’s life, and Paul thought, «I’ve been transformed, so now I need to help transform somebody else’s life.» I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, but some of the qualifications people say you need to fulfill to do what God has called you to do are not necessary. Yes, you need to study to show yourself approved, and yes, you need to rightly divide the word, but just telling someone, «I was here last week, and now I’m here this week,» that’s your testimony! We overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the words of our testimony. Paul didn’t take two years to start sharing what God did in his life. If you’re going to live in the deep, that means God changes me on a Tuesday, and I’m telling somebody about it on Wednesday.
Paul began this journey, and because he was so radical for Christ, he faced persecution everywhere he went. When you’re in the deep, persecution comes. When you’re in the deep, they want to make posts about you. When you’re in the deep, they want to have conversations about you. This is why many people swim back to shore; they don’t want criticism for obeying God. But if I look back at the Bible, not everyone will agree with your decision to move. Not everyone will agree with what you gave up. You will not have unanimous decisions on the calling God has placed on your life. Paul faced persecution because he was walking in purpose. Don’t pray for purpose without knowing you will encounter persecution! That’s not even part of my message!
Let me tell you about Paul. I am setting you up to understand who we’re talking about today, and maybe some of you can relate to him. Paul had a rap sheet. He had a price on his head. He was beaten 39 lashes five times. You know the scourging we watch at Easter that everyone closes their eyes for when they see Jesus getting beaten? Paul went through that five times! I want you to understand he was beaten with rods three times. He was stoned once. Have you ever walked outside and gotten stoned? I need everyone to understand that! He was shipwrecked three times—three Titanic experiences! Who goes through drowning three times? Paul did! He got robbed; he had rats around him, people who betrayed him. He had opposition everywhere. He had opposition in the town, opposition in the city—he even had insomnia! The man couldn’t even sleep! He needed some melatonin gummies like we give our kids! I’m trying to tell you, he faced all of this on top of all the regular issues that people deal with. But Paul was so anchored in his faith in Jesus that he wrote one-fourth of the New Testament. He probably wrote some of your favorite scriptures in between beatings.
What are you doing between your losses? I’ve got to step back for a moment. What are you doing between your disappointments? What comes out of you in the trials? Oh, I feel this! There are too many of us waiting for the right situations to produce, but Paul was so anchored that in moments when he wasn’t in trial, he was producing something for God. In moments he wasn’t being shipwrecked, he was giving something that God placed inside him. What I ask you is, yes, you went through a hard season, and yes, another one might be ahead, but what are you producing in the middle?
I want to shake you out of the thinking that there’s a right time for you to produce, and God says, «Produce in the areas that seem like you should be retreating.» 2020 made people retreat when God was looking for you to produce. What I’m saying to you in this moment is that Paul was so anchored that he said, «God, whatever you want to do, however you want to use me, if I only have a small amount of time—was he in a prison cell when he wrote this? Was he being beaten when he wrote it?» But he said, «I’m always going to produce.» I’m going to tell you that some of your favorite scriptures were written because Paul was anchored. Can I show you this? Romans 5:8: «But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.»
Guess who wrote that? Paul. Colossians 3:23: «Whatever you do, work with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.» Guess who wrote that? Paul. Philippians 4:19: «And my God will supply all of your needs according to my riches in glory in Christ Jesus.» Guess who wrote that? Paul. 2 Corinthians 5:17: «Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.» Guess who wrote that? Paul. Was it between Beatings 1 or 4? Was it between Loss 2 or Loss 6? «Don’t be anxious for anything.» What? Paul wrote this? He literally tells us, «Don’t be anxious for anything, but in every situation, pray.» «While I’m getting stoned, pray; while I’m getting robbed, petition God; while they’re talking about me, stand firm and continue to confess and talk to God.» He said, «But don’t just pray—pray and petition with thanksgiving.»
Why am I thankful for this? He’s trying to tell us what happens when you’re anchored. He says, «With thanksgiving, present your requests to God.» Philippians 4:6: Guess who wrote it? Paul. «Love is patient; love is kind.» Oh, it’s Valentine’s Day. Guess who wrote this one? «It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.» 1 Corinthians 13:4. Guess who wrote that? Paul. Let me give you one more. «Let’s stay together, loving you whether times are good or bad, happy or sad.»
Guess who wrote that? Al Green wrote that; that wasn’t Paul. What I’m trying to say to you is that Paul produced in the midst of persecution. I came to declare and prophetically tell somebody that no matter what happens to you this entire year, no matter if your bank account doesn’t go up, no matter if anybody verifies you or not, no matter if you sell a hundred thousand copies of the song or not, no matter if you start the business, you will produce. Even though you are being persecuted, you will produce. Even though you have not seen the promise, you will produce. Even though it seems like problem after problem, somebody say, «I will produce.» But you only produce when you’re anchored to something that is not moving. The truth is the only reason Paul was able to produce like this is that Paul was anchored.
I want us to go into one of these situations because I believe God has something for me to share with you based on this word we’ve been gathering our faith around all year. This word is going to keep you all year long. Now, I don’t say that often. I don’t say, «Hey, this is the word that’s going to keep you all year.» I want you to turn to Acts 27. At this moment, for context, Paul is a prisoner. He’s on his way to Italy. He’s traveling by sea. He’s out here in the deep, deep waters. They’re having difficulty on this journey, and Paul is still being used by God in chains. Where do you feel chained? Some of you feel financially shackled; some of you feel relationally shackled; some of you feel like nobody sees your worth. It just feels like a prison where you’re at. You just go from this job to that job, and it feels like a cycle.
But God, while Paul is in prison, is using him. They’re on a ship, and Paul notices, «This is not right for us to be here. We should drop our anchor.» He literally tells the captain of the ship and the person running the ship, «Hey, we need to stop. Stop right now.» The same way I believe God at the beginning of 2021 is saying, «Stop! Stop everything that’s going on.» Everybody say «stop.» No yelling at me—say «stop.» We need to stop what we’re doing right now and drop anchor. He tells them, «We need to stop and drop anchor,» and it says the crew and the captain ignored his warning. Look at Acts chapter 27, verse 10. «Men,» he said, «yeah, it’s beautiful right now, but I believe there’s trouble up ahead of us if we keep going this way.»
Isn’t that how some of our situations are looking right now? It looks fine, but if we keep going and don’t drop anchor right now, there may be trouble up ahead of us. It says, «If we go on, I see a shipwreck, loss of cargo, and danger to our lives as well.» But look right here; it says, «But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship’s captain and the owner than to Paul.» Write this point down right now: Ignoring God’s warning always leaves you wrecked. If God is warning you, «Anchor. Get out of that relationship. Stop working with them.» Well, it’s sunny skies right now. We’re killing it right now; the numbers are up. And God says, «Warning! Stop. Anchor.» Keep coming to church. Stop watching that series, because season 8 of that series is going to lead you, in episode 4, onto a path of thinking that will have you drifting.
Well, everybody else is telling me, and we watch it with our friends and all that stuff, but «The Bachelor» right now is making you depressed, and God said, «Stop.» Oh, you don’t want to hear about it? I’m not saying that anything’s wrong with it; I’m saying it’s not right for you. Nothing’s wrong with it; it’s just not right for you. And if God says, «Stop. Anchor. Warning!» Do you go past the warning of God? I’m just going to tell you, like Paul was trying to tell them, ignoring God’s warning always leaves you wrecked. Paul is sitting here at the precipice of something; it hasn’t happened yet. We haven’t lost anything yet. This is the grace of God when He sends a word when you don’t need it.
Most people think God only sends a word at the moment of need, but God’s grace sends a word before you need the word, and then it takes faith to obey Him. Right now, for many people, it doesn’t look like the word of the year should be «anchored,» but what God is doing is sending a word of grace and saying, «Right now, while everything is good, while nothing looks bad, while all your relationships are working, I’m telling you: stop. Drop anchor. We shouldn’t go any further like this. We shouldn’t keep moving like this.» I’m telling you, whether you see it or not in any situation, ignoring God’s warning always leaves you wrecked. I can think about it personally in my life; the times when I wrecked all kinds of things, I always stepped over what God had told me. Many people are high-stepping the Holy Spirit. You feel no peace, and everybody in your circle is telling you, «That’s not it.» And somehow you’re still like, «But I just know it’s right,» and you high-step the Holy Spirit.
Some of you are in houses where you high-stepped the Holy Spirit. Uh-oh! Some of you are going to drive cars this week because they approved you, but you didn’t ask God whether you were supposed to do this. He told you to stop and keep driving that beat-up car, anointing it with oil every day. But you wanted to look good for other people, so you high-stepped the Holy Spirit. And He said, «I wanted you to anchor, because six months from now you were going to be out of debt, but now you added another debt onto the thing that I told you not to do.
Now you’re out here praying for a miracle, but I was trying to give you a warning.» Some of you don’t see the warning of God as a miracle, but it’s a miracle in preform—it’s the miracle before you need the miracle. Obeying God’s word—oh, I’m preaching right now—is God’s favor on your life before you need it. And I’m telling you, stop and anchor on what God said. Stop high-stepping the Holy Spirit! Paul was trying to get these people to listen to him, and the crazy thing is they didn’t listen to him. This looks like most Christians, especially those who watch Transformation Church. What they do is they listen to Pastor Mike, but look what it says. It says in verse 11, «But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship’s captain and the owner than to Paul.»
It’s not about whether you hear the right thing; it’s about what you’re hearing more of. Your decisions are affected by what you’re hearing more of. He said he listened to Paul, so he was literally sitting there like, «Paul, what do you think?» «Yeah, we should anchor; we should keep doing this; we should stay right here.» But then he started listening more to voices that were not anchored in God. I dare say that many of the things that have happened to our lives are because we’ve not just not listened to God—most of us are listening to God. You tune in every week; you have your devotion time. The problem is, if we look at the time you listen to what God’s word says and the time you listen to what culture says, who are you listening to more? They’re not going to like this one, Charles, and I may get a few messages on this one.
What I’m saying is, you’re a product of what you’re listening to more. I don’t want to call your favorite R&B singer and your favorite depressed pop singer out right now, but when you’re in a bad mood and you don’t go to the word of God, but you go to the music that feels right and connects with your soul and makes you feel good about the situation, and they just get me, they understand. Then you’re asking God, «Why can’t I have joy? Why can’t I be walking in freedom? Why don’t I have that?» It’s not that you didn’t listen to the Bible app. It’s not that you didn’t turn on «Relationship Goals.» It’s that you didn’t listen to the Word of God more. You are a product of what you listen to more.
These men are about to start drifting because they listened more, not to the voice of God, but to the voice of the people who were in culture. That’s why I believe God gave us the word «anchored» this year—that we will not be able to look to anybody in culture and society, no matter how much money, no matter how much status we have to anchor. Everybody shout at me: «Anchor!» We are anchored this year! In my time away in July, when God gave me this word, He gave me the expansion of this word, and I want you to write down this: 2021, this is a prophetic word: is the year of the anti-drift. 2021 is the year that we are anchored, but there’s a reason: because we cannot drift. That word «anti» means no. Everybody shout at me: «No!» Come on, you’ve been saying it to your husband and your wife all week. Say it like you mean it: say «No.» Okay, and «drift» means to be carried away slowly.
God spoke to us, «No, being carried away slowly.» No anti-drift! What the enemy would love to do to you and your family is that by the end of 2021, you have slowly drifted away from the things of God. What he would love to happen is for you and your business to stray from integrity and good business practices because you don’t have the same business you used to have, and the trajectory doesn’t look the same—that you would slowly drift. And God said, «No, drift! No talking to those people. That’s not your wife; that’s not your husband. Don’t drift down there! Get off that website! Unfriend them! No drift! Don’t even entertain that! No drift!» Stop letting your kids go to those people’s houses. You see their attitude changing every time they come back from spending the night over there, and you just want a day off. I gave you those kids to raise them in my ways. And every time you send them over there so you can have a break, they’re drifting. This is the year of—everybody say—"No drift! Anti-drift!»
See, what happens is it’s carried away slowly. The picture in my mind is that of a little boat that starts going. And it says it’s carried away from truth slowly, carried away from integrity slowly. Watch this one: purity—slowly. Yeah, the drift—it’s nothing abrupt. But what the enemy wants to do is make it so consistent and so intentionally undetectable that you’re carried away—from consistency slowly, carried away from serving slowly, carried away from being generous slowly. Everybody say «slowly!» Yeah! What I found out, as I began to think about this and God was saying, «This is the year of no drift, Michael! Don’t drift in the values of this church!» Don’t drift in the standards of this church. I’ve given you a bigger platform, but I’ve given you the same message: no drift. Don’t drift!
When I tell you to talk about it, you talk about it. You talked about it when there were 35 people coming, and I want you to talk to them when there are 35,000 people coming. No drift! Don’t drift! The reason I’m saying this is because if you do drift, you’re being carried away from something, and being carried away from something always means you’re being carried to something else. The thing about the drift is that you can begin to get carried away from the truth, but then you start drifting into lies. You’re carried away from integrity, and you start drifting into deceit, carried away from purity, and now you’re drifting into perversion. When I went into the years and the muck of the mire of pornography and perversion, I didn’t just wake up one day and say, «I want to be addicted to pornography.» It was a drift. It started with going to Barnes & Noble and seeing the section that had the—can I be real today?
Okay. Like, it was going to Barnes & Noble after school and moving from the kids' section to the sports section. I loved the ESPN magazines, and while I was looking at the shoes, I saw some magazines with plastic on them. I pulled one up, and it was a young lady with nothing on but covering, and it invited me in. I put it back that time because I thought somebody was looking, but then I asked my mom and dad if I could go back to Barnes & Noble the next day because it didn’t start in the perversion. My purity started to drift, and I went back. Back then, ESPN made huge magazines, so I was curious and clever enough to take one magazine and put it inside the ESPN magazine, going back to the kids' section because I wanted to be in a surrounding where nobody would suspect my perversion. Just want to be real. I would sit next to Dr. Seuss while looking at double D’s.
Do you hear what I’m saying to you? I was sitting there, and what the enemy did for an entire year was take my purity on a slow drift. I know this may not be your issue, but what issue do you have where you didn’t just end up in insecurity? You didn’t just end up overeating. You didn’t just end up gossiping. It was a drift. You drifted from «How can I help you?» to «What can I get from this?» You used to be so generous; you used to want to help people; you used to want to be the one that didn’t need any credit, and now you won’t do it unless you know where your name falls on the roll sheet. How did you get there? It was a drift. You went from being generous and drifted to being selfish. This is the big one: you even went from being humble and now you’ve been carried away, drifting into pride—the one thing that God says He can’t even be a part of.
Now, some of you didn’t recognize it, but now you’re getting it: my cameraman started drifting slowly away from me, and now on your screen there is a view that is not desirable. You can’t see the whole thing because my cameraman drifted. The problem is he didn’t just drift in position; now he’s drifted in focus. What was clear to you has now become very blurry because somebody you don’t even know drifted. What I’m saying to you right now is that nothing’s wrong with your screen; something’s wrong with the person who’s operating the thing that helps you see, and you don’t know them; you don’t know their name, and you didn’t even know that they would affect you, but because they began to drift off-center, drift off-focus, drifting from humility into pride and can’t take correction.
The thing about it is the camera people in the back are telling them to do something else, but he’s so prideful that he will not drift away from what he is doing right now to correct something for somebody else. What if I told you I have 45 more minutes of the message, but you had to watch it like this because somebody else drifted? This is what your life looks like: it happens slowly, but it affects everybody. God said that 2021 is the year of the anti-drift; somebody shout it to me: no drift in your marriage, no drift in your finances, no drift! I’m speaking this right now in our church: no drift! This will not be a season where we try things to see what people think: no drift.
This is not the year of experimentation; this is not the year of «let’s see.» This is not the year where I’m going to do it on a whim. This is the year: if I don’t have a word from God, no drift. Why? It’s because the myth of the drift—I’m going to give you the myth— is that it happens suddenly, but it always happens slowly. Your drift in private affects others in public. Do you understand that when you drift in integrity when nobody’s there, it affects children who aren’t even born to you yet? The drift, the little drift—the little line you do on your taxes—is going to pass down for four generations, and your last generation is going to end up in jail for tax fraud because you started claiming a dependent that no longer lives in the house. It was little for you, but it becomes a lifestyle for them. The reason God’s saying «Don’t drift» is because what’s little for you becomes a lifestyle for them.
It is time for the church to stand up and say it doesn’t matter what culture says; it doesn’t matter what society says; it doesn’t matter what our family members say that aren’t anchored in the word. We have decided that the word of God and Jesus Christ is our anchor. We are tied to it; our soul is anchored, and we will not drift! I dare somebody making a decision right now, that they’re not going to drift in 2021, to yell at the top of their lungs, «No drift!» You’re going to be able to walk to people that work with you and watch TC, and they’re going to leave work early, and you’re going to say, «No drift!» Let’s bring it very practical. You see them leaving 30 minutes early? No, that’s not integrity; they’re paying us to be here for this entire hour—no drift! What happens when you have accountability? That’s why you have to be around people.
Paul was trying to give them the ability not to drift, but they didn’t listen because drifting in position and focus affects everything. I’m telling you right now, God told us at the beginning of 2021, «Don’t drift! Stay anchored!» The reason why drifting has to be something that you divorce right now is because we need to be able to separate the people who are drifting from the people who have decided, «Can I help you?» Because somebody just heard me talk about drifting, and you’re like, «Yeah, I slowly got there.»
Some of y’all didn’t drift; some of y’all decided! The storm you’re in right now wasn’t drifting; you didn’t know slowly you were going to go there; you decided to go there. What I want you to understand is that if you’re in a destination that is not destiny, it was either a drift or a decision. Some people are claiming, «Yeah, I just—I don’t even know how I got there.» Yeah, you know how you drifted into their bed. You didn’t drift; you decided. They called you, told you their intentions, told you it was Valentine’s Day, «What you trying to do tonight?» Because some of y’all are going to face that right after this service! Oh, I just came as a prophetic word to you right now: some of you, you’re going to be in a storm tomorrow, but you didn’t drift there—you decided to go there.
Oh, some of you need to make sure that you write in your journal this year that I decided to get into this bad relationship. I decided to walk out on my marriage. I decided to stop being faithful with my finances. I decided it wasn’t a drift; you decided. I have to make that distinction because some of us drifted into it and others of us decided a lot of things. I wish I could stand before God and stand before you and say I drifted into it, but I decided it, and that takes humility to be able to say that. It wasn’t something that slowly happened; it’s something I turned the ship into. Can we be honest? Oh, are you going to be fake with me right now? There are some things that you’re asking God to get you out of a storm, but you drove 90 miles into it. I just have to give them Scripture, Charles, because some of them are looking at me like they have never. Yes, you have.
James 1:13–15: «And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, 'God is tempting me.' God is never tempting us to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.» Listen to this: temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away or make us carried away or drift us away. It was my decision, from my desires, that caused me to decide and drift away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. Hold on. My desires—no, no, no, no—you just told me my desires and my decisions have babies. My desire is Valentine’s Day, go with me. My desires and my decisions come together, and they make sinful actions. I want you to see this principle at work in the Word. Oh, I just drifted there? No, no, no. There was something in there that I got because I was focusing on the wrong thing too much.
That’s why you’ve got to watch your eye gates and your ear gates. You have to watch what you focus on because I didn’t even do it, but I desired it, and because I desired it, and then I had an opportunity, and I decided it, then it birthed sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, some of you have toddler sin, teenage sin. Oh, you thought this was—some of your sin is asking you to borrow the car. Some of your sin is a result of the desires and the decisions that you made, and it was just adrift when it started. It was so little. It was when I was in college; it was just something I started. It was just on my birthdays; it was just in the—it was adrift. But now the drift became desires, and the desires led me to make decisions, and now my desires and my decisions have birthed sinful actions. And now my sinful actions need college funds.
Now I provide for them. Now I set up condos for them. Now I’m in a relationship or in a marriage, but I have to go out of town for business. Now I’ve provided, and God said that wasn’t me. I didn’t cause you to do that. I didn’t drag you away. It says these desires give birth to sinful actions, and when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. The reason why so many things are dying around what God has called to live in your life is maybe because we are not just drifting but have decided on some things. And today, no matter where you are, even if you decided or you drifted, today is a turning point. I came to let you know that today is your time to turn, and that word turn, biblically, just means repent.
How I want to bring you into this moment is God says, «I don’t care that you drifted or you decided; you’re not too far away from me,» and today is a turning point. I know there are people watching this, and the enemy is trying to convince you that you shouldn’t watch anymore because you’re feeling bad and you’re feeling defeated. You’re feeling different things because of the things that you’ve done, and that’s why I’m telling you today is a turning point. God sent me. God sent Transformation Church. You’re sitting there with your family, you’re sitting there all alone in this moment right now because God’s saying this is me. That thing you’re feeling in the pit of your stomach—that’s called conviction—and the Holy Spirit is drawing you from waters that you’ve drifted into without him, and he’s saying if we’re going to be out in the deep, be out in the deep with an anchor.
Be out in the deep with me. Be out in the deep with Jesus, and I’m telling you today is a turning point as we come into this moment. Somebody is starting to feel faith rising. Somebody’s starting to believe, «I’m not going to drift.» Yeah, no, I have drifted. Come on, okay, can we bring the temperature down right now? How many people in the last year have drifted in an area of your life? Come on, you’re 400 pounds; you know you’ve drifted in eating. Don’t do that to somebody else. You’re in—what is it? —in credit card debt; you drifted in your spending. Don’t be self-righteous in this moment. Transformation Church is a hot church: Humble, Open, and Transparent. There are areas I drifted.
Can I tell you? One of the areas I drifted in was the way I was eating. That’s why you see Pastor Mike working out every week and trying to do that. Last year, this time I was 240 pounds or something like that, and I was feeling good. Literally, right at Christmas time, I got to—I was 263 pounds, and the Holy Spirit allowed me to step up on the scale and say, «You drifted.» I didn’t need a prophet. I didn’t need anybody else. I drifted. God said, «So what do you do? Do you stay out in the deep without me, or do you invite me into this situation?» I got accountability. I put it out there, and this is one thing I had never done before. I asked God to help me anchor in my health. «God, would you help me?» I asked him to help with my son and help with my marriage, but I thought this was too minimal for me to be anchored in. God was like, «I’ll help you in everything.»
Proverbs tells us that we acknowledge God in all our ways—from the things we need in our marriage to the things I need for my weight. I wouldn’t be able to fit in this suit without popping buttons if I did not have an anchor at the beginning of this year. God said, «You’re reeling it back in,» and today, as you’re sitting here in this moment, you’re deciding, «I’m not going to drift.» But when God tells you something, I need you to understand. God told Paul to tell these men something, and they disobeyed it. Write this point down: drifting begins when obedience to God ends. Anywhere God tells you to be obedient and you disobey, drifting started. Drifting just started at that moment.
Look at it in Acts 27, verse 13. He tells them we should anchor, and then they were like, «Nah, we’re not going to do that.» Verse 13: «When a light wind began blowing from the south.» It wasn’t a heavy wind. It wasn’t a big wind. It wasn’t a storm. It wasn’t a gust. I want you to think about the shipwreck up ahead; it starts with a light wind blowing from the south. Look at the thought process of the sailors. The sailors, after getting a warning, thought, «We can make it.» «I mean, it’s just getting tipsy on my birthday and holidays; we can make it. This isn’t that big of a deal. I can still be saved. I mean, I can mess around with a couple of people.» «Well, I mean, it’s okay that I talk crazy to my kids. They know I love them.» I mean, it’s just—and what happens is we feel like it’s not that bad. It’s just a little bit, compared to them, with—in light of all—and we start making these little drift decisions, is what I call it, because it was a light wind, and they thought they could make it.
Write this point down because somebody needs to hear this, and it really helped me. Arrogance is the primary ingredient that will make you assume you can take action without God. Arrogance. That’s actually what it is. You think you’ve got this, and you know more than God. That’s why your drift turns into a drown. Many people drown because it started with the drift, and you were arrogant enough to think you could go into that job, to live that marriage, to have that business plan, to work with those people without God. And my question to you is, how arrogant are you? What are you doing right now that God is nowhere a part of? Not because he doesn’t want to be but because you never asked him to be? See, the thing about drifting is it starts with arrogance: «I can do this without God.» Especially with Christians, we rely on our gift more than our God.
See, because the gift God gives you—some of you have gifts to administrate, and some of you have gifts in music, and some of you have gifts, and so you’re like, «Well, God gave me this gift, and I perfected this gift, and I went to school for this gift.» People see you, and they mix the anointing with the gifting and God’s nowhere to be found. But you can sing your butt off, and you can play your butt off, and you can write and make movies and do all of these different things, and God said, «I’m over here because you’re doing that in yourself, and you are arrogant enough to think that you can do that without God.» This is the myth of your drift: If you start being arrogant and think that God is somehow a side dish to the main course of your life. «Yeah, I’m going to take a career with a side of God.» No, no, no. I want a bomb relationship and just drizzle a little God on it.
That is arrogance—it’s the arrogance that Saul had. Y’all remember Saul? When God anointed Saul as king, and Samuel the prophet told him, «You wait here because we’re going to do this ritual, and we’re going to offer this offering to God together.» It took some days, and Samuel wasn’t there yet. He thought that he was going to get defeated, and so in arrogance, Saul stepped up and said, «Well, I can do this by myself,» and he offered the burnt offering by himself. Samuel walks up and says, «What have you done?» And because you’ve done this, you’re out. That’s when God called on David in the field. We would not know David if Saul didn’t drift. Everybody wants to be David and be marked, but what would have happened if Saul had stayed anchored? Your replacement is not needed if you stay in place.
The problem is that too many believers get arrogant and think that you can do business without God, that you can run the church without God, that you can have a marriage and raise kids without God, and God said, «Now I have to raise up your replacement because you got too arrogant to stay anchored.» That’s a whole other thing—too arrogant to be anchored. I’m telling you right now that you have to decide that your accolades don’t mean you’re anchored. Just because you’re anointed doesn’t mean you’re anchored. Just because somebody famous affirms you doesn’t mean you’re anchored. A blue check doesn’t mean you’re anchored. Zeros in the bank doesn’t mean you’re anchored. Your kids getting full-ride scholarships doesn’t mean you’re anchored. You have to decide not to be arrogant and stay anchored.
I feel this thing right now because they started assuming—assuming always leaves you looking like the first three letters of that word. Because they started assuming, it led to wrong actions. I’m on one today; I need to get home right now. Can I keep going, y’all? Can I keep going? Because I’m trying to help somebody not drift. This is the year of the anti-drift, and I’ve got to shoot it to you straight because I wish somebody would have told me like this. Because of your arrogance and assuming that you could do without God, it leads to your actions. Can I just put another reminder? This is why you pray every day. You don’t pray every day as a religious activity or to check some box. You pray every day because you’re acknowledging that you need God in every one of your days.
I heard it said like this: A day without prayer is a boast against God. What that means is when you don’t pray, you’re basically saying, «God, sit back. I got this day. Don’t worry about it; I got this day.» I’m telling you why Transformation Church has decided and anchored that prayer is our sauce. Y’all don’t see it, but on Monday nights before every staff meeting, before everything that we do, we invite God’s presence into everything that we do because we are anchored on prayer. And when you become anchored, it’s saying, «I’m not arrogant. I’m not going to be prideful. I’m not going to be puffed up that this is me, and this is the LED screen, and it’s the water. No, no, no, it doesn’t matter about any of that if I’m not anchored to God’s Word.»
What happened is these guys— they weren’t anchored; they didn’t listen. They didn’t heed the word when the light wind began blowing from the south. The sailors thought they could make it. So what do you do when you think you can make it on your own? What’s the word of the year? I said, «What’s the word of the year?» What do you do when you’re so arrogant that you think you can make it on your own? Look, so they pulled up their anchor. Arrogance leads to dumb actions. You think you can do anything in 2021 without God? Go on, pull up your anchor! I feel like an old-school person. You know how my family’s from Louisiana? Some of y’all might be wondering, «What is that?» It’s like, just go ahead and do it! Like, go, go, go! Unplug from the church, stop serving, and think that everyone who held you accountable in the last season—those you trusted—has turned against you because they are saying something that goes against what you actually want to do.
Now you leave them, saying they all turned on you and nobody understands you. Now you get a whole new group of friends that looks good on Instagram but is bad for your character. Pull up your anchor! When they did, look what happened—they sailed close to the shore. Hold on! They weren’t reckless enough to pull up their anchor and go to the deep because they knew it was dangerous out there. But they pulled up their anchor and sailed close to the shore because they wanted to be near what saved them but not actually obey the instructions they were supposed to follow. They weren’t supposed to go that way.
It sounds like many of us when we don’t do what God has asked us to do. We don’t drop our anchor; we stay close enough to God but don’t fully align with what He says. This is what I came to tell you today: close obedience isn’t good enough. In this year of anti-drift, they thought they would be okay. It was a light wind—no big deal. We’ve seen this before. We’ve always drank; we’ve always had sex on the side. We’ve always done shady things with money. We’ve always gossiped. My mom gossiped; my great-grandmother gossiped. It’s just who we are. And God said to drop your anchor. But because they were arrogant and didn’t want to do it with God, they pulled up their anchor, thinking they could stay close enough to safety to be okay—just in case anything happened.
I watch Transformation Church and, you know what I’m saying, I give twice a year just to let God know I’m here. And God is saying close obedience isn’t close enough. What has God told you to do that you’ve been close to doing but still haven’t fully obeyed? Do you know the time we live in right now? We are in a storm: a godless country and world. And God is telling His church to anchor down. It looks a lot like 2 Timothy 3:1. Look at it: «But know this: that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to their parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.» This is the most devastating part: «having a form of godliness but denying God’s power.» Close to obeying, close to God’s power, close to His word, but close obedience is not enough.
And the craziest thing is when people live like this, it says, «From such examples, from such lifestyles, from such leaders who lead like this, from such churches who open their doors but have no power, people turn away.» That’s why we represent—that’s why God has called us to be the light in the darkness. That’s why we need to be in every sphere of influence: in education, in entertainment, in government. They need somebody anchored in those places, and God is calling you! Somebody said God’s calling me.
These men didn’t anchor; they tried to be close but not close enough. Then look what happened in verse 14. Because they were drifting, they thought it was okay to be where they were, but the weather changed abruptly. The wind, with typhoon strength called the northeaster, burst across the island and blew them out to sea. Their drift took them to a place where they were susceptible to being blown out to sea. What I’m telling you is that the little things you’re doing right now and not being anchored leave you open to the opportunity of being blown out to sea. It said the sailors couldn’t turn the ship.
Isn’t it crazy that we always want to turn things around when it’s too late? We want to make changes when it’s too late. The marriage is about to fail, and we want to turn it around; we say, «Give me one more chance!» That was like nine chances ago. We always want to forgive when it’s too late. Do you know how many people cry over gravesites, saying, «If I just had one more moment»? God said you had so many moments, but you let that arrogance prevent you from acting when I told you last year during Forgiveness University to actually write them a letter and go to the Christmas gathering. You let that thing drift you away, and now they’re gone. It said the sailors couldn’t turn the ship into the wind.
This is the saddest part of the story: they gave up. They just let the wind blow them anywhere. That is what grieves me the most as a pastor in 2021: that Christians, believers who drifted in one season, have now been blown out to sea in different areas of their lives. Now they’ve just given up, and anything can come and blow them away. They’re like the walking dead—they literally don’t care anymore; they’re just waiting for a moment to end it all. And they’re leading other people down this path. And God said, «I just want you to be anchored.»
Today, I came with every bit of passion I have to tell you—to beg you, to plead with you—don’t give up just because you’ve drifted into a storm. Whatever storm you find yourself in today, don’t throw in the towel. You didn’t obey God; it didn’t work out as you planned; you decided it didn’t matter. Don’t give up because you’ve drifted into a storm. God wants you to know He sees you in the storm and will provide for you in the storm. He will help you in the storm. If you’ve decided or you’ve drifted, don’t give up.
I don’t know who I’m talking to right now, but someone is about to decide to give up on life. Someone wrote a letter saying that if one more bad thing happens, they’ll take their life. Someone else decided that this marriage is over, and they’ve already contacted a divorce attorney. Someone else decided they are no longer living in this house and are running away. I know you’re in a storm, and I know it hurts. I know you don’t want to take it anymore, but don’t give up. The ship is being overrun with water right now; your family seems like it’s drowning at this moment; your dreams look like you’re seeing them from underwater. All God is saying is don’t give up!
I came to declare it until it connects with something inside of you. You have not seen the best days of your life yet! Even though you’ve drifted far away from God, He is calling out to you and saying don’t give up. These men gave up, but Paul was still on the boat. Somebody anchored was still in the place of grace when everybody else gave up. That’s why it’s so important that you stay anchored because you may be the reason somebody else is saved who is about to give up. God is saying, «But I have one of my agents on board who is anchored.»
Look what ended up happening—read through the whole account; I don’t have time to go through it all—but in Acts 27, after days of storms, these people who didn’t listen to the Word of God before began throwing cargo overboard. They started throwing key components of the ship, declaring, «We need to get this out of here!» I need to pause here to give you this point; somebody needs to get this: what matters in calm does not matter in crisis. Some of the things you’re caring about right now, when you get into the storm, you’ll be ready to throw them over. Take inventory now! Don’t put it on the boat if you’re going to have to throw it off later. There are some relationships you shouldn’t be placing on right now because you know six months from now, you’ll have to throw them overboard. You need to take spiritual inventory, relational inventory, and financial inventory. Don’t put it on the boat if you’re going to have to throw it away in crisis.
In calm, everything looks good, but in crisis, it’s useless. Then what happens in verse 21 is my favorite: «No one had eaten for a long time, and finally, Paul called to the crew, 'Hey guys! It’s been a few days of storms, huh? Everything’s jacked up, huh? Yeah, your relationships, your businesses—how was 2020 for you? ' They should have listened to me in the first place when I told them to anchor down. I hope that’s not me in 2022 saying, 'The word of the year is…' For everybody who didn’t anchor in 2021, I really wish you would have listened to me when God told us in January and February to anchor down.»
Look what he said: «You should have dropped anchor when I told you; you would have avoided all this damage and loss.» The damage and loss from this year come if we disobey the Lord’s instruction to stay anchored. If we don’t heed God’s word today, everything will be messed up next year, and you will ask God for a miracle to fix it. Everyone say «anchor.» But look at the grace of God! «But take courage,» Paul said, «none of you will lose your lives.» Hooray! Even though the ship will go down! Hold on! See, there are consequences for disobeying God. Nobody likes to preach about this because they fear nobody will come back next week. But I feel like I’m talking to a bunch of anchored people who are saying, «Pastor, we need you to give us the truth so we can know how to live our lives.»
There are consequences for disobeying God, but you won’t lose your life. That should be an encouragement as well as a warning. None of you are going to perish. I can just imagine Paul saying, «The ship is going down, but it’s okay; you’re not going to die.» What if that’s the prophetic word for your life this year? Because you didn’t stay anchored, you’ll lose the house, but you won’t lose your life. It’s crazy how we value things. You think the house is worth more than your life. The amazing thing is that, right now, you’d rather have people’s perception of you and your persona than actually live in freedom. God said you’re going to lose those Instagram followers because I’m going to have to blow this whole thing up, but you’ll keep your life. Some of you are thinking, «Is it better to stay in a facade and be two-faced for the next decade than to let it all blow up, wreck the ship, and actually live in freedom?»
I’m telling you, God does not bless who you pretend to be; He blesses who you really are. This is the year God is saying to stay anchored! But if you don’t, the ship is going to blow up. But don’t worry; His grace is still sufficient and you will live! Whoa! I feel this right now! Somebody needs to know—your business may not work, but you’re going to live! At this moment, we face the conflicting tension of God’s word: we want to celebrate a miracle and shout for crazy faith, but crazy faith starts with crazy obedience.
If God says be anchored and we don’t obey Him, I’m telling you this because I’m going to watch this message back ten times, needing to make sure I know God is not playing with us right now! You can tune out, but His word remains unchanged. He sent a word through Paul to stay anchored. They thought they could drift off, bringing them to the storm, and then God’s grace comes to calm the storm.
Take this down: take courage; the loss doesn’t mean you lose! Yep, I got a word from God that there is going to be a loss, but your life will be spared. You’re not going to lose. The first marriage didn’t work; you lost time and trust. You lost assets—you lost all that—but you’re not going to lose. This is the most encouraging thing! I know there are some super-saint Christians out there saying, «No weapon formed against me shall prosper.» This is Paul, who walked with God, saying, «We’re about to lose the ship. The ship is going down, but you’re going to make it!»
How could he be so confident in saying that? How could I be so confident in saying this to you? Even the loss this year doesn’t mean you truly lost. Even the loss doesn’t mean you lost. This is because Paul had a word from God, something he had to—mark my words—go back and watch week one of this series for more insights. The angel of God came to me. I belong to the God I serve, and He stood beside me and said, «Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar. What’s more, God, in His goodness—that is His grace—has granted safety to everyone sailing with you. Because one person was anchored, everybody got spared. So take courage, for I believe God.»
This is Paul speaking. «Take courage, for I believe God. It will be just as He said. Mark my words: we will be shipwrecked.» I love how his faith remains intact even though he is going into a shipwreck. He ordered the people, in verse 43, who could swim to jump overboard and get to land. The rest were to get there on planks; another translation says pieces of the ship. In this way, everyone reached land safely. This is a prophetic symbol of what our lives will look like at the end of 2021 if we don’t get anchored. I had to show you practically—this is your family, your business, your dreams, your goals. That’s why this is not just encouraging; it’s a warning. This is the year of no drift. I am not drifting in my ideas about God; I am not drifting in my commitment to His Word; I am not drifting in my service to the church; I am not drifting in my generosity; I am not drifting in what I watch; I am not drifting in how I love.
I am not drifting. This is the year of anti-drifting. God is saying, «In 2021, I am so good that I’m sending you a warning through the story and the life of Paul. The ship will wreck, and I’m still good. The business you put your life savings into that you would do without Me will wreck and cost you, but I am still good.» And my encouragement to you, who already feels like it isn’t going well, is this: I don’t need 2021 to go by; this is where my life is right now. This is how my relationships feel right now. There is encouragement here: you can have peace with just that peace. My peace is no longer in the ship of how I thought it would look. The ship wrecked, but all I have to do is hold on to the pieces that I have because they are going to get me to safety again.
I don’t know who I’m talking to right now. God said the relationship wrecked. God is saying to you that the business wrecked. God is saying you messed up with your kids, and the trust is wrecked right now. But hold on to the peace that you have. Just keep holding on with everything floating around you. Keep holding on to the peace that you have because God has given you a word. You can have peace with just that peace.
Pastor Mike, what does that look like? This is what I’m holding on to with my son, MJ: just a piece of hope. This doesn’t look anything like I thought it would look, but God said all of my help comes from Him. I picked up the piece of the Word I know and the piece I have when he smiles at me. God just says, «Hold on to that piece.» You can have peace knowing that the ship will be lost, that the last five years of him not talking won’t come back. But you have to know that you are going to see land again. You have to know that the pieces I’ve given you are enough to get you to safety. The peace that God provides is not a peace that you have to worry about holding up.
See, the thing about these boards is that if they were on the water, they would be buoyant, and they would have the ability to hold up something heavier than them on land. But in the water, in the storm, they had the capacity to hold me up. What I’m telling you right now is that the Word of God is strong enough; just a piece of it. You don’t need to know the whole Scripture. Grab one of those Scriptures that Paul wrote, grab a piece of it, grab a piece of community, grab a piece of this church, grab a piece of worship, and hold on.
Because God is promising you today that if you feel like you’ve drifted and the storm has shipwrecked you, grab a piece of peace. Grab a piece of Jesus. Oh, peace has a name—His name is Jesus. One of the Scriptures says He is the Prince of Peace. Paul tells them the ship is going to be wrecked, but you are not going to lose your life. I don’t know who I’m talking to, but if the drift has gotten you to a place where you feel shipwrecked, grab a piece of peace. What I’m telling you is that as long as I have a piece of the peace provided for me on the cross—y’all missed it—when He went to the cross, He provided the peace that gives me peace.
And this will be the prophetic sign for anybody who feels shipwrecked: hold on to the cross. I don’t know what’s going to happen in this situation, but I’m holding on to the cross. I have a piece of peace. I made mistakes in the marriage; I messed up the relationship, but I am going to hold tight to the peace that I have. And this peace that He gives, the world can’t give, and the peace that He gives, the world can’t take away. This is going to get me to shore. I may lose the ship, but I won’t lose Him. Don’t drift.
I pray prophetically that by sharing what God has called me to do, somebody is making a decision: I won’t drift. Somebody just say it: I won’t drift. Say it one more time in your home: I won’t drift. Come on, somebody say it in this building: I won’t drift. And there’s somebody watching right now; I feel the presence of God right now. You’ve drifted, and the ship has wrecked, and now you’re deciding, «I’m going to hold on to my piece of peace.» Hands lifted all over this place, come on, stand up. I want you to say, «My help comes from You, God.»
Say it! Somebody is grabbing the pieces of your life right now. Say it comes from You, God. Somebody needs to get understanding right now that He is the peace that we need, that we are not going to drift. Say to You, God, «I’ll take the pieces of my life, and I’ll give them to You, God, and I’m going to hold on tight.» I feel the presence of God in this place. Come on, just sing that one more time. If your life is a wreck, God is coming to help; He’s saying, «Hold on. Hold on to the pieces. Hold on to My Word. Hold on to My promises.» Say it comes from You, God.
Today, I pray that somebody would grab the peace of peace, grab onto the Prince of Peace, and just lift this up. Just say, «You are the One.» I feel the presence of God; you’re going to make it. The loss doesn’t mean you lose. Come on, somebody say, «God, right now, You are my God.» I will trust. Say that prophetically: I will trust. Say that again: I will trust. Say that one more time with my pieces. I need somebody to hear me say this: God is the only one who can take your pieces and make a masterpiece. If you’ve drifted, if you’ve lost, God says: turn your anchor on Me. Grab the pieces; you’re not going to lose.
Write this last point: Jesus is the only one who gives peace in the storm. He’s proved it over and over and over again that when economies fail, when people fall, He’s the only one that gives peace in the storm. Today, make a decision: I won’t drift. Say it prophetically: I won’t drift. Come on, say it like you mean it: I won’t drift. That means God is going to give you things you need to do, accountability that you need, and you’re going to have to obey. But somebody say, «I won’t drift.» I prophetically agree with every word that they’re saying. Hands lifted all over this place, God, I declare that they will not drift—not in one area of their lives. You told us that we would be anchored this year; we believe Your word, and we declare it’s going to happen just as You said it would.
Father God, I thank You that at this moment is a turning point. It’s a time of repentance. It’s a time where we drop our anchor on You. Everything that has made us drift, we disconnect from it and we anchor to Your Word because it’s the only thing that’s everlasting. I declare right now that You’re going to give people practical wisdom about who to cut off, who to let go of, who to stop listening to. Father, You’re giving us the ability not to drift and You are giving us, Father God, the courage to obey You. And now in this moment, we declare that we have our peace. Thank you, Jesus.
God is ministering to people right now. Some of y’all want to rush off, but right now He’s mending people who have had shipwrecks and He’s solidifying those who are deciding, «I won’t drift. I won’t drift. I will trust in You. I will trust. I will trust.» Oh, I feel that. I will trust; You sustain. You stay in the middle of it all; You remain the same through the rain. Still, You say it with faith. Somebody’s getting faith right now: just say it with your pieces. You’re going to keep me, God, no matter what happens, even if I lose the ship.
Just one more time: somebody just needs to declare, «Say You sustain.» Somebody’s getting faith. God, You’re going to keep me with my son, with my family, with this church, with my friendships. God, just declare You sustain. Come on, somebody say, «His promises always come true.» Lift it up. So what is your confession? Say, «I will.» Whoa! Come on, lift it up.
Your promises; I’ve got to trust You. I’m going to say, «Anchor, Lord.» So, I will declare at one side: say, «I,» I want you to tell God. Don’t tell me; don’t tell the TV; tell God: «I’ll trust You in the storm. If You said I’ll lose the ship, but I won’t lose my life, God, I’m declaring in crazy faith: I will!» I’m holding on to Your Word, Lord; I’m marching on Your Word, God. I’m anchored in You, God. Somebody say, «No drift! No drift! I trust You, You sustain.» Come on, no matter who left me, I know no matter how I’m feeling, You’re an anchor in the middle. I’m standing here on Your Word with my pieces. God, here we are, and Father, we’re not going to lose because we are now trusting You.
If you’re watching this right now, I believe this is a divine moment for you to drop your anchor on Jesus. See, we’re not just saying to be anchored to anything; we’re saying our anchor is Jesus. Somebody say that: «My anchor is Jesus.» Come on, say it one more time: «My anchor is Jesus.» And today, I want to give you the opportunity, if you’ve been drifting in life, if you’ve been going into the deep and you’ve been in storms without Jesus, your anchor, today, the greatest decision you could ever make is to allow Him to anchor your life.
In just a moment, we are going to pray a prayer, and this whole day, you’ve been drawn to God. At this moment right now, you feel like I need to give my life to Jesus. Right here at the end of this series, I’m going to do one more week next week, and I’m telling you, it’s going to be the practical version of everything that we’re going to do as a ministry. But next week, it’s too long. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the moment where God has lined up all these circumstances to give you His love, and even with the peace you need to have peace.
If you’re saying, «Pastor, I want you to include me in that prayer,» on the count of three, I want you to lift your hand wherever you are, whatever is going on. It’s the greatest decision I ever made. It took me from being a liar, a cheater, a manipulator, addicted to pornography, a bad person on the inside, and it did not make me perfect. But it made me progress into the man that I am today, and I’m telling you: I’ve decided not to drift because I have an anchor in Jesus and I want that for you.
One: it’s the greatest decision you could ever make. Two: I’m proud of you; but more than me being proud of you, your name will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life for eternity. Three: shoot your hand up all over the world if you’re making a decision for Jesus Christ today. Come on! Listen, there are so many people—hundreds, if not thousands—who are deciding whether you’re watching this live or on rebroadcast. God is saying right now in this moment: I want you to be in relationship with Me, and I want you to be anchored to Me. I will never leave you or forsake you, and today, Transformation Nation, you already know what it is—nobody prays alone here because religion would want you to think I need to change this and do that. God said, «I’ll take you shipwrecked, and I’ll take the pieces, and I’ll make a masterpiece.» So we pray all together for the benefit of those who are coming to Christ. I want everybody, everybody in the room, everybody watching: I want you to say this together. Say:
God, thank you for sending Jesus as my anchor. Today, I know I need Him. I believe He lived, and You died. And You rose again just for me. I give You my life; change me, renew me, help me, transform me. I’m Yours, in Jesus' name, Amen.