Michael Todd - Clearly, The Vision For Invasion
Today is Vision Sunday at Transformation Church. Let’s give God some praise! I’m so excited about this because vision is my passion. If God were to say that I could only do one thing for the rest of my life, my choice would be to receive His vision and then inspire others to believe in it. I feel anointed for this purpose; I feel more fulfilled on Vision Sundays than ever before. I stood in this exact spot when nobody was in this church and prophesied where we are today into existence because God gave me that vision. I was bold enough to declare it to others, even when it seemed impossible.
Yesterday, I drove one of my pastor friends, who came into town this weekend to spend time with me, to all the locations in Tulsa that we have. I showed them all the buildings that you may not even know I’m planning for our church to subdue, rule, and dominate. We’re going to see His Kingdom come and His will be done. We need to provide jobs for people coming out of incarceration; we need housing for the homeless. We’re not just looking to give them a shower; we want to provide them a home for six months. I’m revealing too much right now, but we need to take this outside of Tulsa. Right now, it might seem impossible, but when God gives you a word or vision, you can call things that are not as though they have already happened.
As a church and as a pastor, I want you to know that I have the vision thing down. I’m living in the vision God showed me. However, a true mark of leadership is that the people following the visionary also live in the vision God has given them. I will not stop preaching vision until every person connected to this ministry is walking, living, breathing, giving, and standing in the vision God showed you in the night season. Does anyone here have a vision? The reason this topic isn’t discussed much is that, especially in Western culture, we are conditioned to only build someone else’s vision. We have not been taught to believe in what God has placed within us. Today, I want to empower you to stand in the vision God has given you and declare light in the midst of darkness as God enters your situation.
I’ll share something personal with you, and then I will tell you the word of the year for Transformation Church because, at Transformation Church, vision is of utmost importance. I want to say something a little controversial: vision is more important than people. If you don’t have a vision for the people, the people will suffer. May I suggest that many are hurt by the church not due to bad leaders, but because of a lack of vision? Your marriage may not struggle because you’re with the wrong person; it may be challenged by the absence of vision. The job you’re currently in may not be the wrong job at all; you are meant to be there to solve a problem. The reason you keep your two weeks' notice ready is that there is a lack of…someone say it, vision!
I need everyone to give me the next few minutes to unpack the Word of God for everyone here. Are you ready? In the chat, let me know; in the building, are you ready? Today, I softly titled this whole Vision Sunday «Clearly.» Everybody say, «Clearly!» This title didn’t come from a very spiritual place. You know I’m hot, humble, open, and transparent, so I’ll share everything I know. In 1972, a man named Johnny Nash wrote a song called «I Can See Clearly Now.» As I prepared this message, I suddenly remembered this song after not hearing it for years, and God began to let that melody rise within me. I thought, «I can see clearly now; the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark nights that had me blind. It’s going to be a bright, bright sunshiny day.» That felt good, didn’t it?
As I listened to those words, God told me that the past two years have been like rain in people’s lives. He said they need to prophetically declare, «I can see clearly now that the rain is gone. I can see!» All together now, «I can see all the obstacles in my way.» It didn’t say the obstacles wouldn’t be there; it only said that now I can see them. Some of you have had friends whose true nature you could not see. You were befriending obstacles without realizing it. You were unable to see clearly because of the damage, frustration, hurt, pain, and trauma, but now God is saying you can see clearly—the obstacles, that is. When you see the obstacles, you can navigate around them.
It says, «Gone are the dark nights that had me blind,» prophetically declaring in crazy faith that it’s going to be bright like the sun coming into my situation. I began to wonder if there are any scriptures about things that were blurry being made clear. God told me, «Michael, the issue for many of you hasn’t been a lack of vision; you have vision. The real issue has been that you haven’t seen the vision clearly.» You may know where you’re supposed to be, but you don’t see it clearly.
«I know I’m called to ministry,» you might think, «but should it be full-time? Should I quit my job?» We start making poor decisions because we don’t see the vision clearly. Many of you may feel your season of being single is coming to an end, but should you date him, or her? Should you move? You need to see the vision clearly. God told me to tell you that the problem isn’t the vision; the challenge is clarity of vision from God.
For many of us, we have a vision we want to manifest in our lives, but the question I must pose to you today is, «Is it from God?» Where did that idea come from? If the vision came from your father who had a high school dream and now wants to live vicariously through you because you share the same athletic ability, but you feel a tug in your heart toward academia, maybe you should stop playing basketball in high school. You might hesitate because you know it will sever your relationship with him, as he hasn’t dealt with his insecurities about his unfulfilled dreams. I don’t know who this applies to, but God is asking you: did this vision come from Me, or are you trying to fulfill a vision that you’re not meant for?
The problem is not vision. Some of you are at colleges you shouldn’t be attending; you joined fraternities and sororities that distract you from God’s purpose. I’ll just say it: some of you chose majors for a potential salary instead of considering if it suited you. God knows that many of us live in visions that don’t align with His. Let me provide some biblical context for it: Proverbs 29:18 states, «Where there is no vision, the people perish.» The Message version indicates it more clearly: «If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves.» The reason you’ve tripped is that you don’t see God clearly.
When you focus on what He reveals—not what’s trending or culturally popular, but what God is revealing—those people are most blessed. I want this church to be most blessed, which means I need to challenge your vision. I must ask you a question that many avoid: are you making enough money? In this culture, people equate money with success and success with purpose. But those ideas are disconnected! Just because you have money doesn’t mean you’re successful. Many people you see have lives that look good from the outside, but if you truly examined their lives, you wouldn’t want any part of it. So, money does not equal success, and success does not equal purpose.
For example, King Saul was the ruler of an entire kingdom, yet he was out of purpose because he wouldn’t wait on the Lord. I want to encourage you to see the vision clearly! Someone shout «Clearly!» That’s what I’m praying for your family, your marriage, your business. In this year, you would see God’s vision clearly. However, that may require you to correct past actions. This is why we will walk through this all year. I can’t wait to give you the word of the year I’m feeling led to share; it will anchor us. The anchoring didn’t stop in 2021; it’s building on what’s already been established.
I need you to continue anchoring yourself while also seeing the vision clearly. Let me ask, how many of you wear glasses? How many four-eyes do I have in the room? God bless you; make some noise if you wear glasses! Here’s my confession: I don’t actually need glasses, but I like wearing them because they make me feel studious. The downside of glasses, especially in various environments, is that they disrupt my vision when the environment changes drastically.
For instance, when I wear glasses and carry a mask in COVID times, they often fog up, creating obstacles in my line of sight. I made an acronym for FOG: frustration, obstacle, and gap between me and what I need to see. Many of you may not wear glasses, but think about being in a car with a big windshield during a weather shift. When that windshield fogs up, it creates frustration and a gap between where you are and what you need to see.
A practical example for married individuals: when sharing a shower with your wife, you may need to communicate, but obstacles arise. My wife and I have had moments where we saw each other, and I heard her, yet there was no clear communication because we couldn’t see each other clearly. Many lives operate with everything in HD one moment, yet the detail vanishes the next.
Fingers, how many am I holding up? Come on, tell me, how many fingers am I holding up? Most people don’t know, not because they can’t see that I’m holding up my hand, but because they cannot see it clearly. And God says, «This is what your 2022 looks like.» Currently, you know you’re around the place you should be, but there are no details. I’m about to preach hard on this: there are no details to the directions, no intentionality to the instructions; and the only way Natalie and I can communicate clearly is by seeing each other. Everybody shout at me, «Clearly!» We cannot see each other clearly until there’s a touch. When my wife puts her touch on that foggy situation, it clears up. I’m about to preach this! Now, how many fingers am I holding up? How many fingers am I holding up? He is the only one who can touch your situation and take it from a foggy place to one that is clear.
You should be asking God to touch every area of your life this year. Touch my marriage, touch my attitude, oh, touch the pain. Somebody shout at me, «Clearly!» Because when we can see God’s vision clearly, it changes how we respond, react, and worship. So, today, I need to let you know that we’re not going into 2022—we are 16 days in. I think we can’t go another day without a touch from God this year. I’m not going to live a foggy, frustrated, obstacle-driven life. I’m asking God to touch my situation. Why do I want God to touch my situation? Write this point down: because one touch from God can bring clear vision. One touch!
In 2022, I’ve decided I want His hands on my plans. Hey, I want His hands on my plans! It doesn’t matter; I want His hands on my plan. What plan have you made without God? Some of you have vacations planned that you didn’t even ask God about. Was that the time you were supposed to go? See, what He was trying to do was give you vision and relationship in the plan where you were going on vacation. He was going to change something in your life. Whatever plans you have made, you need to decide, «I have to see this clearly.» I want His hands on my plan. Y’all know how bad I want to make that into a song right now. You feel that? Y’all can do it on your own time—amen! But that’s why we have to do what Proverbs 3:5-6 says: I’m going to acknowledge God in all my plans, in all my ways, in all my decisions; and then He will direct my path.
All I’m trying to do, church, is help you value vision, because most people don’t value it. Can I say it? We value viral. We would rather something be big than be God. We value verification; we would rather be verified by a social media platform than by God. And God is saying, «Will you invite me into all of your plans so that I can clear up everything that has been hazy and foggy in your life?» Why do we need it to be clear, Pastor Mike? I know the general direction. Let me help you. What’s not clear always becomes confused. What’s not clear will always be confused. The reason you don’t know where you stand in your relationship is that it’s not clear.
«Are you all together?» «I don’t know. He’s just… you know, sometimes. I mean, he kind of… whatever. I mean, he took me to…» But are y’all together? Are y’all exclusively together? «We’re just trying to give each other space to know… you know, give time for the Lord.» Okay, but you all have been showing up together for the past three years; you don’t know what you are? I’m messing up some people’s situations right now, but it’s okay, because if it’s not clear, I promise you it will be confused. And if you don’t get clear on your position, on your role, on where you’re supposed to be, and what God has said, what He told you to do, and what He told you not to do—if it’s not clear, it’s going to be confused.
And here’s the thing: what’s not clear will always be compromised. So, the reason we have to get clear on the vision that God has given us this year is that if we don’t get clear vision from God, this church will become compromised. Transformation Church doing all of this other stuff—y’all read about us four years from now: «Pastor Mike then fell off, and Bella started an OnlyFans.» Oh, I’m telling you what’s happening to other people. This happened, and that happened, and this happened, and that happened. Why? Because we lost sight of a clear vision. The only way I fall off, the only way I do the things I know I don’t want to do is because I lose sight of the vision.
Can I bring this into a practical light for you? Y’all know I’ve been on this workout and health journey. The only time I fall off and eat consecutive nights of Blue Bell cookies and cream ice cream is when I lose track of the vision God gave me for my health. One thing God practically told me to do is, «Every week, I want you to take a picture of yourself in your underwear.» Lord, you know what I’m saying—I see the progress, but I’m not fully Adam-and-Eve comfortable. Oh, y’all are going to be fake. Okay, I’m not fooled; I’m more of the naked and ashamed type, you know what I’m saying? And God says, «I want you to do that every week so you never lose sight of the vision.» When I see that and then I get a craving, I tell myself, «I’m not going to set back what God has already set me up for.»
I don’t know what it is for you; I’m probably being too transparent right now, but what I’m saying is you only start drifting when you don’t see the vision clearly. Somebody shout at me, «Clearly!» There’s a story in Mark 8:22 where Jesus heals a blind man. It says they came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to do what? Touch him! He had no vision. But the only way they thought the vision could become clear is if Jesus touched him. And if you want your year to be everything God called it to be—with no vision, or blurred vision, or wrong vision—the only thing you can do is ask Jesus to touch you.
I have to say this because there are people watching right now, and you don’t have a vision, and you feel ashamed because of it. You’ve been alone; you’ve been in depression. I need to let you know there’s only one place to go when you can’t see. There’s only one person to turn to when you can’t see. I need to be very clear about this. Some people have vision in one area of their life and fool you into thinking they have vision in their entire life. Some people have a vision for their career but no vision for their family. Some people have a vision for health but no vision for consistency. So, don’t be surprised when those who have strong vision and success in one area fall short in another. Because where there is no vision, the people perish. They cast off restraint; they don’t develop or accept divine vision.
I cannot look at somebody’s Instagram feed to find out if they have a vision from God because there are areas that I don’t see. And God is saying, «I need you to get clear vision all the way around.» I need clear vision! Somebody say, «All the way around!» So, if you don’t have vision, this is what you need to do: You can go to Jesus with no vision. I need to encourage somebody right now. «I just got out of college. I just got out of high school. I just got out of middle school. I just got all my kids out of the house. My whole life for the past 20 years has been about them. I’m retired, God. I’ve been frustrated. I’ve been angry. I don’t know who I am if I’m not doing this. I do not know who I am if I’m not the life of the party. I’ve been so conditioned to fix, to plan, to organize, to orchestrate that when you call me away to just be with You, I don’t have a vision for a devotional life. I don’t know. They talk about 21 days of prayer and fasting; I’ve just been starving the past seven days because I don’t have a clear vision.»
And Jesus says, «Come to me, all who are burdened and heavy laden. I will give you rest because I’m going to give you a… somebody shout at me, 'vision! '» Okay, so they bring this man to Jesus, and look what verse 23 says: He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Hold on! Can’t You just heal me right here? Can’t You just give me vision where I’m comfortable? Can’t You please give me clear vision where it’s convenient? I would really like You to give me a clear vision where I’m comfortable. But what He did with this man is say, «You want vision? Brent, come here! You can’t see—give me your hand. Let me take you somewhere that may be unfamiliar. Let me lead you outside of your comfort zone.»
I’m telling you, for many of us in 2022, this will be the season that God leads us out of our comfort so He can give us clear vision. Oh, I just said a mouthful! He’s going to lead you out of your comfort so He can give you clear vision. Stay right here! This is the point I need you to know: vision comes outside of your comfort zone. When God gave me the vision for Transformation Church, it was outside of my comfort zone and all my skill set. I was a music producer, and God took me by the hand. He led me. Do you know how I got to this church? I produced the music for their conference! That’s how I got here. He led me. «I’m going to use what’s comfortable and make you take a step.» I’m just doing music for the church. «Oh, y’all need a soundman? Oh, y’all need a music director? Only you need a youth director?» He led me! He didn’t give me any vision about Transformation Towers and the building while I was over here producing music. He had to lead me!
Oh my God! Some of you, the vision you’ve been believing for is outside of your comfort zone. He led this man outside of the village. Oh, do you know what else that means? He led him away from people. The village is where the people are who know you. And God is saying we don’t know where He led him to. We don’t know if there were other people there. But what we do know is He had to leave the people and places he was normally around to be in position. He hasn’t even got the miracle yet; he hasn’t even seen it yet. This whole year is about positioning and posture. God is trying to say, «I want to give you something, Paul. I want to give you something, Evan. I want to give you something, Jules. But if you are not in position and posture, it has no authority to come into your life.»
Okay, come back, blind man, because let me show you how most of us would have acted. He would have said, «Come with me, let me take you…» and they would have started pulling back, saying, «Hold on! I don’t know you. I’m not sure where you’re going.» And some of you, this is what you do when you get uncomfortable: you just sit down on the situation. And God said, «I’m not dragging you this year! You don’t want this vision. I’m not dragging your marriage into wholeness. I’m not dragging this…» I got a purpose! Many are the plans of man, but it’s My purpose that will prevail. But if you sit down on me trying to take you out of what’s comfortable, I’m not going to drag you!
I’m going to hold your hand again and invite you. This is many of your invitations to get clear vision. This man doesn’t explain to the blind man what He’s about to do. The blind man had to have—shout at me—faith! Y’all know we’re a church of faith, and we’re a church of crazy faith! And this is the thing you’re going to have to use when God starts calling you from what’s comfortable to give you a clear vision. You’re going to have to have faith to step! Yes, some of y’all are going to have to have faith to get up, 2020 and 2022 made you sit down, and some of y’all are still sitting down when God is holding your hand and saying, «Get up! I’ve called you for more. I’ve called you to do things that the world hasn’t seen. I did not want you to be taken out. That was an obstacle you were supposed to overcome. That was supposed to create something in you to be able to change the world. But I’m not done with you yet.»
Here’s your invitation: let’s walk outside of what’s familiar and who’s familiar, and then watch what happens because the story gets crazy right here. It literally goes from, He took the blind man’s hand and led him outside the village. When He had spit on the man’s eyes and put His hands on him, Jesus asked, «Do you see anything?» Hold on, wait a minute! You gonna call me outside of my comfort zone and then spit on me?
Can I tell you what «spit on me» actually means? Let me break it down. You’re going to do something to me that seems, to the natural eye, degrading—something lower than me. I don’t do that anymore. I used to work in children’s ministry, but God, don’t spit on me! Don’t put me in a position that degrades. Do you know who I am? Do you know how much education I have? Do you know how long I’ve waited? I’ve been pure. Whenever you see Jesus spit on something or somebody, because there are several times in the Bible, just remember, this is Jesus, y’all. Just don’t let nobody else spit on you, but I’m just saying, this is Jesus! This was a mode of healing people by putting them in positions that others would consider degrading, but actually was their upgrade. The way up is down! The way you’re going to see this vision clearly is to let God spit on you.
Uh-oh! What do you mean, Pastor Mike? Let Him put you in a position you never thought you would go back to. Let Him put you in a position of what is not popular. Let Him put you in a lower pay grade. Let—y’all missed it right now. Well, I’ve always made $85,000 a year. He said, «But this next year, you’re going to make $40,000. Let me spit on you for a second.» But I’m the God that will supply all of your needs according to my riches and glory. I’m just trying to see if you’re humble enough to carry this miracle. Oh my God! Some of you in 2022 have not been humble enough for the miracle you’ve been praying for. The reason why God’s going to allow the demotion, the reason why—nobody wants to hear that word—the reason why God’s going to allow them to walk out of your life is because He has to make sure you have a heart to handle the miracle. He leads him outside and watch how good God is. He doesn’t embarrass this man because He doesn’t spit on him in front of everybody. Y’all don’t really— that’s the same Bible.
We read the same Bible, right? He takes him out. You thought when God separates you, it was a punishment, but it was really protection. The reason He took him out of the village, thank you, Holy Spirit, was because the work He was about to do others would misinterpret. So, He had to get him outside of what was comfortable, so that the level of submission and humility that was about to happen—He wasn’t going to not spit on him, but He just didn’t do it in front of everybody because He didn’t want their reputation or his reputation to be tarnished by what he had to go through to receive the miracle. Jesus said, «You good, brother?»
Now watch, he can’t see, but he can hear. This is the moment where many of us are: God is doing something and we hear Him changing. We hear Him even in your prayer. In this time, He’s changing something, and you don’t see it clearly yet, but you hear it. This is where most people would not face Jesus anymore; what most people would do is turn away. What I’m telling you is, just as He’s physically standing here knowing what’s coming, God’s saying, «Can you physically and spiritually and emotionally stand when getting the vision or receiving it might get nasty?» I’m going to say it just like that: receiving vision from God might get nasty. You mean, God, I just bought in crazy faith! I just bought my dream car, and now You’re going to ask me to sell it back and ride in the hooptie again? Yeah, because the vision I’m about to give you might get nasty.
Do you hear and see the responses of the people? What I’m telling you is how you just reacted is how the people in your life will react when God is doing what it takes for the miracle. What are you saying? This man was blind, and what He was trying to do with this man is give him His DNA. What I just did was take—do y’all know how they prove if somebody’s related? They get a swab of their saliva because the DNA on the inside of this person can tell me if these two people are related. God said, for me to change your situation that is blurry and unclear, I’ve got to put My DNA on your situation, on your 2022, on your plans. And literally watch this—watch this! He’s blind!
And so many of you right now are so bothered; literally, some of y’all can’t even look! How many of y’all can’t even look right now? But this is what it will feel like when you built the house and decorated it fully, and God tells you to downsize this year. Uh-oh! Yeah! This is what it will feel like when you finally bought your family that vacation, and God says no vacation for two years. When you spent five years on a major and God tells you in the last semester to change it, and I’m going to give you four more years of something else. When you’re a senior pastor of a church and He tells you to close down the church and go serve as a youth pastor at a neighboring church. The thing about Brentham, the thing about the blind man, and the thing about us, if we want to see clearly, we have to allow Jesus to do it. That man allowed me to put my spit on him. He could have fought me! Y’all see this?
My little brother—just for everybody that’s like, «I’ll never go to that church,» because he’s—okay, like this is my real little brother. But at the end of the day, he’s bigger than me, stronger than me. He could have made sure, just like God can make sure, and just like you can make sure that God doesn’t do it. He allowed that. This year, God told me to tell you prophetically: I will only do what you allow Me to do. You want to see clearly? Allow Me to humble you. God, why won’t You just take that person away from the job? That’s your spirit. I need you to work with them seven more months because all I’m trying to do right here is make sure you can handle—you’re going to see clearly soon if you can handle this moment of humility. Oh, can you handle the humility? Jesus asked the man, «Do you see anything?» The man looked up and said, «I see people.»
Now, everybody doesn’t understand how much of a miracle this is. This man’s blind, and then—Brent, open your eyes! He did not remove what God put there. Oh wow! He didn’t wipe it off; he had to open—oh shoot! He had to open his eyes by faith! That’s what I’m trying to tell you: open your eyes by faith! He could have told Jesus right then in that moment, «You know I can’t see! You know I’ve been blind this long! You know they never choose! You know my family never supported me! You know I’ve never been chosen to lead! You know that I don’t have the education!» But by faith, he opened his eyes.
I don’t know who I’m talking to, but God is saying that this year, when I ask you to do it, I know you did it before. That man probably practiced opening his eyes a hundred thousand times, but after Jesus touched him, he had to open his eyes again by faith. When he opened his eyes, he said, «I see people, and they look like trees walking around.»
This tells me two things. The first thing it tells me is that this man has seen before. «I see men; I see people,» but they look like—how do you know what a tree looks like if you have never seen it before? God is saying to you, there have been seasons where you had vision, where I showed you clearly what it was supposed to be. You stepped out in faith, where you knew it was Me. Because of the cares, the trauma, the hurt, and the pain, you were blinded. Nobody knows when this man was blinded or where it happened, but God said that this is the year that you’re going to see what you used to see. You’re going to see what you used to see. Some of you used to have vivid dreams.
Some of you used to look at places and ride down streets, saying, «I know I’m going to live there.» Some of you felt the presence of God. Some of you used to see sick people and could say, «In the name of Jesus, you will be healed and recover.» Some of you used to see your family and declare, «They’re all going to be saved. They’re all going to declare the works of the Lord.» You used to go into impoverished areas and say, «I’m going to buy up the block, and I’m going to bless these people.» You used to see it. When God touches you, He gives you vision. He gave this man vision and said, «Yeah, because you didn’t leave My presence.» Most people would have stopped there with the miracle; they would have been okay believing with blurry vision. They would have been fine saying, «At least I see tree men. Hello, Mr. Tree, Mr. Oak, Mr. Pine.»
Most people would have been like, «God, thank You,» but he lingered long enough. Why are we doing 21 days of prayer and fasting? We don’t want a quick miracle. Some of you don’t even know what’s happening, but at Transformation Church, every year we set aside 21 days to say, «God, we’re not moving without You. We’re not going to do this without You. We want to see the vision clearly.» Some of you need to join this. Tomorrow is Day Eight, and you can get right here. Why? Because we need to stay in His presence long enough for a second touch. Let me just go to the Bible. «Yeah, I see men that look like trees.» Verse 25: «Once more.» I think 2022, Regina, is the year of «once more.» Once more, Jesus puts His hands on the man’s eyes. He said, «My DNA is already on you. I need to spit again.» All I need you to do, some of you are like, «Please, thank You, don’t spit again,» but what you need to do is stay submitted long enough for Me to touch you.
Do you remember the example I gave you? It went from blurry to clear; it was a touch. This is the prophetic symbol of your year—that if you stay in the place where God can touch your family, your situation, your hurt, your anger, your business plans, your entrepreneurial ventures, your serving status, if you would just allow God to touch it again. Brentham, I feel this for you. God used you as an example on purpose. God’s touching you if you would allow Him to touch you. You only get touched in the privacy of His presence. This is not a platform situation; this is in my quiet time when I make time. When I cut off Instagram, and when I unplug Netflix, this is where, when I take it away, God will not prioritize to touch you when you have not made His presence a priority. He touched him, and look what happened to this man.
All in one swoop, his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything. What’s the word? He saw everything. What? And he saw his marriage, his family, his business—God’s not trying to touch you just to see some things clearly. When you allow God to touch you, then you see everything. You’re going to be able to identify your childhood trauma when God touches you. What the therapist could not pinpoint, when God touches you, you’ll be able to go to the exact date in Mrs. Miller’s class where your identity was shattered and sever that generational lie. God will show you everything.
Somebody shout at me, «Clearly!» This is what God wants to do for us this year, Pastor Barbara. He wants us to see everything clearly. In that moment, God gave this man vision; He gave him clarity, and He gave him direction. Let me prove it to you. Verse 26: After this man saw everything clearly, Jesus sent him home, saying, «Don’t even go back! Don’t go back to the comfort of where you came from. Go home! Go back to the place where it’ll be the biggest testimony that I changed you!» Because at home, people really know you. He said, «Don’t go back to the place where you were looking for validation from them. Don’t even go back there.» Because that’s what most of us would want to do: to go back to the place where they knew me one way and flex on them. «I can see! I can see now! I’ve got money! I have a family now! You missed out on me!»
Now God said, «I don’t even want you to go back there. Don’t go back to the church. Stop talking about them. Don’t go back to those people who aren’t you. Stop that! Just go home! I want you to get used to this new thing that I’m doing in you! I want you to see everything!» Somebody shout at me, «Clearly!» Okay, so that was my intro, and we really have to go. But when I asked God what the clear vision for Transformation Church is, He said, «Pastor Michael, I need you to tell the people that this year, I need the vision to be so clear.» Because watch this title: The vision is for invasion. God wants us to invade places! This isn’t the word of the year yet; I’m just setting you up right now. But the vision He’s giving you is for invasion. You are supposed to, as a child of God, invade the school, invade the government, invade the music industry, invade the construction facilities. You are supposed to invade entertainment, invade media marketing, invade the hospital systems.
Somebody shout at me, «Invade!» God wants to give you vision for invasion! He has declared that this is the season of the church—no longer playing defense; it’s time to play offense! When you are invading, that means you are the aggressor. I came to tell Transformation Church we are no longer getting vision to maintain what God has done. Bree, we’re not playing defense; we’re not playing not to lose. We’re playing to win! We are going to invade Tulsa with the love, generosity, and kindness of God! We are—y’all better hear me! I’m talking vision right now. I’m glad they’re recording it because one day you’re going to see! We’re going to invade every area that God calls us to. We’re going to invade entertainment. We’re going to invade social media. Y’all better hear me! We’re going to invade the economic system! We’re going to invade the housing system!
You better mark my words! We’ve seen the vision clearly. We are going to invade religion. You thought it had to be one way? The Kingdom of God is here, and we are here to invade! But you can’t invade without a clear vision! Okay, y’all are getting it, so let me give you the ingredients real quick. I know we’re not eating cake right now, but the real thing about a good cake or a good meal is you have to have the right ingredients. Okay? So I’m going to give you the ingredients quickly for impact, because we don’t want to have a vision that has no impact. A vision without impact is trash! Why are we doing this if it doesn’t impact anything? So we want a vision for impact. This is so invaluable! I wish someone would have sat me down at 19 and 20 and given me these keys I’m about to give you because they allow me to know what I’m doing and know what not to do. Because we need vision clearly!
So, clear vision, number one, has divine inspiration. God wants to drop on you in 2022 ideas that came from Him. It’s just divine inspiration; it’s an idea from God. You know that you’re talking about an idea from God. Everybody’s cell phone was an idea from Heaven. You don’t believe me? But the Bible tells us every good and perfect gift comes from above. Our Father is the one that originates these ideas and these thoughts. What He’s wanting to do for the people who believe is allow them to have the faith to believe that He can give you a God idea. I don’t want a good idea this year; I want a God idea this year! I don’t want to just start a podcast because everybody’s doing a podcast. Maybe you’re not supposed to start a podcast. Maybe you’re supposed to go back to cassette tapes. You’ll miss it!
There may be a vintage craze that comes back three years from now where cassette tapes are worth three thousand dollars a pop! You don’t know what’s going to happen! Some of you are buying Jordans for two thousand dollars; you don’t know what’s about to happen. You gotta get clear vision from God! When I got the clear vision for Transformation Church that the Spirit Bank Event Center would be Transformation Church, that was not a Michael idea. That wasn’t me sitting around dreaming up what could happen; that was a God-inspired idea. Okay? Can I tell you something that nobody’s probably told you? You have several God ideas waiting for you to receive! It’s not just for the pastor; it’s not just for the elite; it’s not just for those people who seem to have a deep relationship with God.
There are things that God wants to do in the earth, and they will not happen unless you get the vision from God for them to actually come to pass! For some reason, God decides to do nothing on this earth without the participation of a human. And there are inspired ideas from the Divine, He created us out of His ideas, and He wants to give you those ideas and visions this year. So you want a clear vision. The first thing you need to be praying for is divine inspiration. The second thing that you need to be able to see this invasion vision is you need to use your imagination. See, after you get a God idea, and I know some of y’all’s imagination died in the third grade after you figured out that people wouldn’t support your wild ideas—forget that!
Imagination is a tool given by God. When you get imagination, it’s an incubator for a God idea. See, after God gave me the idea that the Spirit Bank would be Transformation Church, then I started imagining it enough that I went to Google and got an image. Then I started going over there. I drove 30 miles from my house maybe three or four times a week, and I would walk the property and see if the doors were open. I started imagining myself in the building. I took a picture with Bishop in the building. Why? Because I wanted to keep imagining what God could do with us! I literally walk into that building every week now with what I imagined becoming my reality. And God’s saying, «I am no respecter of persons! If you want to be able to see Me give you a clear vision that changes everything, get divine inspiration, and then start using your imagination!»
Imagine your house being able to help families who are in broken situations. That’s why you need a larger house—not just so you can stun on people. Imagine yourself being able to bless people! Many of you have not imagined it because you need it, and God is asking you to step outside of your comfort zone and imagine what you need for others. I can’t even stay on that long. Okay, so after you get divine instruction, then you need to use your imagination. And then you need to go to my favorite—intercession! The only way that you can get all your wild ideas into a distilled form is to go to prayer. The reason, again, we’re in 21 days of prayer and fasting is because we’re asking God for divine vision. I’m using my imagination, writing down all this stuff, and then God says, «Don’t skip this step! Come to intercession!»
Because intercession is the thing that purifies all impurities. When you take your wild ideas to God, then He purifies. I see it like a strainer. Y’all know when you’re making food, and you have to put the food in the strainer, and it lets all the little impurities come out and only keeps the real thing? When you go to prayer, it purifies your motives. When you go to prayer, it purifies your ambition. When you go to prayer, He shows you yourself! Many of us get these visions from God, and we never go to intercession. God is saying to this church, and specifically to me as a leader, «Michael, you have to live a fasted life. You have to live a life of intercession», why? Because the vast vision and divine inspiration that I’m giving you will need to be continually purified. Many of you have the right vision, unfiltered, but it still contains too much of you in it.
Well, I’m going to be on the main stage, and he’s like, «Yeah, you are going to be on the main stage,» but it’s not so you can be on the main stage; it’s so you can open doors and be the light in the midst of darkness. You may not even see that your vision still has too much of you in it. Let me leave that alone. After you come out of intercession, I’m trying to give you the ingredients right now; you don’t leave intercession until you receive instructions. See, a lot of people say, «I prayed about it,» and then they still go do what they want. If you pray about it, wait until He speaks to you. Instructions illuminate the path. One thing I’m really bad at, and let me confess that to you as your pastor, is reading instructions.
When my kids get toys, and I don’t know if I’m the only father out here who thinks, «Okay, yeah, it’s 39 pieces; that goes here, and that goes there, and that goes here,» I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put something together and there are still three screws leftover and two major pieces, but it still looks like the box. I tell my kids, because they don’t know, «It’s good,» and I let them play with it. Around day four or five, something that it was supposed to do doesn’t work because I did not follow the instructions. It can look like it works, but at some point, it will malfunction. Can I say you can look like you work, you can look like you’re paid, you can look like you’re doing good, you can look like you’re pure, but if you do not follow the instructions—where are the instructions? From the Word of God. It is the manual we are supposed to live our lives by.
If you do not get intel from the instruction book, at some point, it will not work; it will malfunction. I’m tired of seeing—let me be very clear right here—people who have presented themselves as men and women of God stop working and malfunction because they actually weren’t reading the instruction book. They hand it to everybody else. You posting your YouVersion Bible app doesn’t mean you’re obeying the Word. I made a decision this year; I don’t just want divine inspiration or to use my imagination or take it to intercession. I have to get instructions. That blind man gets healed because he follows instructions.
Okay, now this is where the Word says in Psalms 119:105, «Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.» What are you saying, Pastor Mike? This year for everyone a part of Transformation Church, you’re going to have to read the Word of God more than you ever have in your life. For the amount of vision that is for invasion, God said you must be anchored in my Word. You’ve got to know; you’ve got to have instructions on how to deal with people. You’ve got to have instructions on how to love your enemies. You’ve got to have instructions on how to be patient and kind and all these things. I need you in my Word. And after you get instructions—now, this is one that people don’t often follow—you have to follow your intuition.
Now, I know this is one that people don’t talk about, but have you ever felt something telling you, «How did you know they were the one?» I don’t know; something just told me. Let me help you; the intuition is the Holy Spirit. It’s that innate thing inside you telling you to do that. I don’t have any education to know to do that, and the Holy Spirit says, «Do that.» It’s the instant answer from the Holy Spirit for an intentional decision you need to make. A lot of times people ask me personally, «How did y’all get Transformation?» There were so many times I had gone to prayer, I had read the Word, I knew everything I needed to do, but when I got in the moment, it was my intuition. I don’t know why I’m saying we’re supposed to do that, but that’s what we’re supposed to do.
Well, Pastor Mike, how do you know? I just know, because the God inside of me is speaking; the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. He’s telling me. Some of y’all are like, «Well, how do you know?» He will tell you. Jesus said in John 16:13, «When the Holy Spirit comes, He will lead you into all truth.» You’ll find out if it’s the Holy Spirit if it works or not, but too many of us are not following that gut feeling we have. God’s been saying, «Go talk to that person.» I don’t know them. «Go bless that person.» They look fine to me. God’s literally telling you, «Hey, give up that.» «Well, you know how long I’ve had that?» God said, «Follow.»
When you start tuning yourself into the Spirit to follow the Holy Spirit like that, then you have to make a decision. I have three more points here; I’m giving you the playbook for the invasion that you need to get. But it comes from vision. Then you have to make an investment. Anytime that God tells you to do something, He never pays for it in full, except for salvation. Salvation is the only thing He pays for in full; He requires you to do something every other step of the way. I know people don’t tell you this, but if He’s going to use you in mighty ways, you’re going to have to put some skin in the game. You’re going to have to sacrifice something; you’re going to have to give up something; you’re going to have to leave somebody. He’s saying, «Where’s your investment? What are you going to do?»
No, no, no, no, no; I need something from you. When you invest, it is the action you are taking that ignites your faith. When you invest in something, you believe it’s going to have a return. «Lord, I don’t know if this is going to work, but I’m putting my faith out there.» Some of y’all have been believing, been praying, been using the Holy Spirit, and won’t invest anything. You’re so scared to lose the little you’ve got that you want to hold on to it. God says, «I have so much more for you this year, but what are you willing to put in?»
The thing is, like, everybody would invest in Amazon now, oh God, but the people who are receiving the huge impact from investing are the ones who invested when it took faith. It doesn’t take faith to invest in Amazon now; all it takes is facts. God said the investment I’m requiring in 2022—I’m prophetically speaking to you all— I need you to hear me right now. I’m not trying to give you three points and a poem. I’m giving you instructions for your life this year. It’s going to take an investment where it seems like a desert. If you would have crazy faith to invest in people who don’t look done—Charles, that’s what we’ve got to do. What we’ve been believing for, we’ve got to invest in people who don’t look anything like what they’re going to be. You’ve got to invest your time, your talent, and your treasure. Yes, sir, you’ve got to invest it. You want the school systems to be taken care of?
Adopt a teacher this year. No, not your church, not your small group; you take your shoe budget and go to a teacher that God leads you to and tell them if they need anything for their class, «Call me, and I will pay for it.» Invest. See, y’all don’t want to do this. The investment in that one teacher will give you access to the school system. God’s not going to put you in high places to make decisions when you won’t invest in the low places that nobody sees. So many people in 2021 wanted the validation of the investment when it blows up, and God is looking for somebody to invest and be obedient in the darkness. Once you start investing in the right things and God starts making that thing multiply, then He gives you this next piece of the vision for invasion: He gives you influence. And influence—many people have messed this one up—all influence is, is an instrument used for God’s glory.
See, a lot of people don’t know why God gave me influence; they can’t figure it out. Why in the world did this dude, who has six months of TCC high-quality education, this brother had almost a felony case for car insurance fraud, who tells us every Sunday he was a liar, a manipulator—addicted to tornado—why would God give him influence? Because He knew if He gave me influence, I would use it for His glory. My question to you right now is, if God did everything you’re praying for, would you use the influence that God gave you for His glory? I can tell you that as God has allowed and expanded our church—and some of my team and staff will tell you—we’ve been at closing tables with billionaires buying property, doing different things, and every time I walk into those rooms, because God’s given me influence, and we just paid them for money and all this other stuff, I still take their time, and I tell my testimony.
In every one of those board rooms, people that don’t believe, people who are in a homosexual lifestyle, people— it doesn’t matter who you are—you’re about to hear this story for God’s glory. And it has happened time and time again, and for some reason, God keeps putting me in these positions because He can trust me. The question is, can He trust you with the influence that He’s given you? You’re thinking about people with money, and He gave you three kids. He gave you that cousin who for some reason has an affinity towards you. He gave you those coworkers, and you’re waiting to have influence on a large scale, and God is watching how you steward influence right where you are.
Okay, let me move on. Here we go. After God gives us divine inspiration and imagination, we take it to intercession, we get instruction, we use our intuition, we make an investment, we get influence, then it’s time for invasion. See, it takes a bunch of people having influence so that many people with influence who believe the same thing can invade an area. The reason the church is weak in a lot of areas is that not enough of us have influence to actually invade. We could build our own school systems; my God, they don’t even think like we could have whole communities literally built for people and have them pay for six years, and if they keep up their payments, we give them the house. I’m talking crazy right now, but somebody’s connecting with what I’m saying. If there was enough of us in purpose—not begging—if there were enough of us, a single mother needing a car, nobody in our state could look at our church and say, «If any single mother needs a vehicle, go to this church.»
If there were enough of us, we could invade, but we can’t invade without a clear vision. God said to me, «Michael, I just want to make this vision very clear.» This year, Transformation Church is about to invade, and everybody connected to this is about to invade spheres of influence: government—you need to receive this right now—entertainment, the schooling system, education, and the church arena. We are about to invade. Invade the music industry; we’re about to—God is about to drop such clear vision that we’re about to invade therapy. No, I’m talking about we’re about to invade science and medicine, we’re about to invade social work, we’re about to invade art.
I need y’all to hear me; this church is about Transformation Nation. God is about to strategically place you in positions of influence because He’s going to give you the vision to invade, and He’s going to take you through all these steps, and we will be able to invade places where they’ve kept believers out for years. We are about to invade politics; we are about to invade the public square; we are about to invade every area of building. We’re about to invade. No, I’m telling y’all; we are about to invade. Somebody say invade! We are about to invade. I’m telling you, somebody’s making your baby jump right now; we’re about to invade homelessness; we’re about to invade sex trafficking; we’re about to invade. I don’t know what I gotta do to get somebody to believe, but we are about to get vision for invasion. We’re about to invade. That means we have to see the vision clearly.
So that’s where I’m at. I’m going to tell you this: every year, God has made the vision very clear to me. The one thing I can say is I can’t do a lot of things well, but the one thing I can do well—and I put that on my mama, and she’s sitting on the front row—is I will go away and I will get vision from God. I will not sit up here and fake it till you make it. I can’t do that because it’s too imperative that I see clearly. In 2015, when I became the lead pastor of this church and took over from a white gentleman in the hood of Tulsa with about 350 people here, some people in the room were here on this platform, where he handed me the baton, and tons of people left, and tons of people came, and all this different stuff happened.
And God said, «Yeah, yeah, yeah.» In 2015, Michael, I just want you to survive. That was the word He internally gave me: survive. What happens when God just tells you to survive the season? Just survive it; not conquer or achieve success. Surviving! Many of you, I feel prophetically, survived the last season you just came out of. In 2016, the finances were about the same, the people were about the same, and God gave me another private word: He said, «Michael, maintain.» That’s not sexy; that’s the clear word from God: survive. And then you’re going to give me the next year, «maintain.» But He was building something in me. In those two years, I lost almost all of my staff; it was just Tammy and me. I would literally walk in the back of this building, and I would come in on Mondays with nobody here. «Good morning, John! Good morning, Tim!»
I would just start yelling out people’s names, and Tammy would be cracking up in her office because all I had was a vision. The thing that kept me going was the vision God showed me when I stood right here, 19 inches above the ground, and said that Transformation Church would be a multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multiplying, multi-campus church. We were none of those things. I said it would be diverse and we would be generous, and we were giving. I said all of these different things, and I lost my whole staff. I was sitting here holding on to an invisible truth. Y’all didn’t hear what I just said—it was the truth; it was just invisible. So I kept walking in it. «Good morning! Good morning!»
Then God told me, as I went away on sabbatical to seek Him for the word of the year for 2017, «Michael, this is the year you’re going to go beyond.» He said, «We’re going beyond!» I was like, «You know I can do beyond, to infinity and beyond! Let’s do this!» And the church grew almost 400 people; we had 400 families, we had 396 salvations, and the budget grew by $400,000. Couldn’t nobody tell me nothing in 2017—we went beyond! It was the first time I saw a little glimpse of what God wanted to do here. Then guess what He said. 2017 was beyond, but in 2018, guess what He told me? «Hit the brakes; you’re about to strive!» Because I started to become ambitious about helping God do what He wanted to do in our church.
He said, «You’re not going to strive (S-T-R-I–V-E) into this. Use all your effort and energy; you’re going to trust Me, get a vision for invasion, do that process, and you’re going to stride (S-T-R-I-D-E).» That means to walk in long, decisive steps in an intentional direction. «Michael, you’re a runner; start walking!» What happens when God acknowledges who you are and tells you the opposite? «Hey, you talk a lot—shut up!» That’s the equivalent. But the one thing I did was obey Him. I literally canceled things. We were in a room on December 5th and 6th, having a strategy meeting. God told me to do this. Demario, Jules, y’all remember this? I stood up, and I said, «I don’t understand what God’s saying, but He’s saying, less is more.»
So we’re canceling this; we’re canceling that; we’re not even going to do a big Christmas service. And y’all know Christmas is when you pull out the Santa Claus, the lights, and the camera. We canceled and had a regular service. They took away my illustrations that year. Tammy’s laughing because she knows we didn’t have the budget for it. I was up here every night until 2 o’clock in the morning, building my illustrations so I could get up the next morning and preach. We went to the shout-out; they said, «No more illustrations!» Tim Ross looked me dead in my face and said, «In this season, you’re going to do less.» He said, «You’re going to have to stand flat-footed and preach.»
It felt like they took my snuggie blanket from me. But God was teaching me; at that moment, I obeyed. See, you don’t have to understand to obey. I didn’t understand, but I still obeyed. This is a word for somebody: you don’t have to understand to obey! I obeyed. It was December 23rd or 24th of 2018 when a young lady posted a clip of me pouring some water into some orange balls in a series we called «Relationship Goals.» That clip, on Twitter, that I didn’t even have at the time, reached 2 million people in 48 hours. And God said, «I was just making sure you knew you weren’t running fast enough to make this miracle happen. I needed to slow you down so I could get the glory.»
God told me that year to take only two speaking engagements a month. I told Bree and the team, «I’m taking only these two speaking engagements.» And they said, «You only had four requests last year, and you took all of them.» I took every single one of them! But in my secret place, where I went back to get a vision and I took it to intercession, during the 21 days of prayer and fasting, God said to take two engagements a month for the rest of this year. By March, 1,800 speaking requests had come in, but God was setting me up to continue to stride. Then the following year, what did He tell us, church? In 2019, He said, «Release!» In 2019, God said He was going to release us from stuff, release us to stuff, and release us into other things.
That’s when we got the Spirit Bank Event Center. He released us from this location into that location. We weren’t even supposed to be there yet, but God prophetically at our conference said, «You can’t go back.» We literally planted our feet in crazy faith there and paid the building off five months later! Y’all, I can’t make this stuff up. Clear vision allows you to see miracles. He released us into another stratosphere of understanding, revelation, wisdom, and influence. In 2020, God said, «This is the year I’m gonna make you stronger.» Nobody knew it was the pandemic year. See, we thought stronger meant some form of accelerated something. He put pressure on us because the only way to get stronger is to lift the pressure. Some of you have been about to give up, and God says, «I’m trying to make you stronger, so I put weight on you so that you can lift it.»
In 2020, our church exceeded every expectation—not because we thought it was going to come the way God intended, but because the Holy Spirit helped us lift the burden. Can I tell you one statistic from 2020 that changed us forever? When we said we were going to get stronger, we went harder after people finding transformation in Christ and being saved. In the year 2020 alone, 29,273 people gave their lives to Christ. Can we celebrate? Oh, y’all better come on! Almost 30,000 people in the year we thought was gonna take us out—Jimmy, God populated heaven! Then last year, y’all know what He told us? «Get angry!» And God said, «I’m completing a sentence: I need you to be anchored, because things will come to make you drift. Don’t do 21 days of prayer and fasting; don’t keep giving in generosity. You got haters and people making YouTube videos about you. Don’t be bold—come on, just cut it back a little bit; stop doing what got you here; play it safe! You’ve got too much to lose.»
God said, «No, just anchor to Me! If you anchor to Me, we can go into deep waters. If you anchor to Me, I’ll take you places that nobody could ever take credit for. I promise you, even if storms come, you won’t drown!» We stayed anchored! I just want to shout one more time. In the year 2021, do y’all know how many people got saved because of the giving, the service, the invitation, and the love of the people that are part of this church? 47,978! So y’all better celebrate! Almost 50,000 people got saved last year! Let’s give God a shout of praise right there! Hallelujah!
Heaven is being populated; we’re invading. See, because the greatest invasion is when we invade hell and populate heaven! Y’all think we’re backing up now? In just 16 days into this thing, they told me almost 3,500 people in the past 16 days have given their lives to Jesus Christ. Oh, we’re on a trajectory to see the most people transformed in Christ this year than ever before in our church, Invasion! But as I began to pray about what the word of the year is for 2022, the Holy Spirit said, «Michael, I’m closing the chapter of this book; it’s the end of an era.» He said, «I’m not giving you a word this year; I’m giving you a phrase.» I said, «Okay, Holy Spirit, you’re giving me a phrase.» He said, «Michael, what I want to do in My people’s lives and in this church is going to be amazing, but everybody is so focused on there—when I get the influence, when I get married, when I get the business, when I have the money.»
He said, «My people have been focused on the future, and it’s making them negate the present.» He said, «Michael, I want you to tell My people and teach them that the phrase of the year for Transformation Church is, 'Here is Holy! '» I said, «What?» He said, «Tell them, 'Right here is Holy! '» Somebody say it with me: «Here is Holy!» Say it again: «Here is Holy!» With your flaws, «Here is Holy!» With everything you’ve got, «Here is Holy!» God said, «We’re not going to focus on there—I’m there because I’m the God who was, is, and is to come!»
Hey, can you put that pen on the screen? I’m not going to preach it this week, but next week, if you don’t get here, you’re going to miss how this thing is going to unfold in your life. Anytime you’re on a map, this little symbol tells you, «You are here,» and many of us have not been located on the map of your mission. You’re missing on the map of your mission! Nobody can locate you! God said it’s because you didn’t like here; you’re frustrated about why you’re here. You’re so mad that God let you come here; you don’t see the value of here. «I don’t know why God would put me with all of my talent, gifting, and everything that He’s told me. Why would He let me be here?»
This whole series that we’re about to go into is going to flip your perspective upside down because God wants you to know if He placed you there, «Here is Holy.» He’s about to use this place and separate you to do great things that you never thought were possible. But you’ll never get there if you do not reverence, respect, and release yourself to embrace here—where your family’s at, where your emotional state is at, where your money’s at. God said here, «Yeah, your company, you want it to grow?» And He said, «But right here, I’m still going to do a miracle!» «Well, nobody even knows I sing.» Yep, but right there, there is taken care of, but right here, I’m developing a song in you that the world will sing! «Here is Holy.»
Even as I’m standing here right now, it’s a holy moment because the enemy fought me so hard, Clifford, to not share this word because it’s not sexy. This word takes sacrifice. Can I give you the subtitle of this year? This is going to be fun! The phrase is «Here is Holy,» but the subtitle is, «This is the year of intentional limitations.» The limitations this year will not be imposed on you; they will be set by you. We’re maturing this year! The limitations aren’t going to be a punishment; the limitations will be proof that you heard from God. There will be things that you could do that you won’t do—not because you can’t do it, but because you heard from God clearly and you set the limit.
This is the year: «Here is Holy» because this is the year of intentional limitation! Oh, I feel God! And I’m telling you, I’m about to walk us through. I have next week’s message, the message after that, the message after that—God has told me to take you on a journey that is about to change the trajectory of your life. Because if we get it right here, we’re going to be fine over there. But there is in jeopardy if I don’t handle here! Somebody say, «Here is Holy!» Father, I did what You asked me to do.
So today, on Vision Sunday, as I’ve told people, You want us to see vision clearly, and God, You want to give us vision for invasion. Father, before we storm anything, You’re saying, «Take this whole year of 2022 and consecrate it to Me and call this place holy. Here is Holy!» Whatever You want to do for this year, God, we’re open! Come on, hands just lifted in a posture to receive all over the world right now. Just, «God, I’m open!» Some of you, you need to get in a kneeling position; you need to stand. Just change your position right now, wherever you’re at. Just change your position because that’s what’s happening prophetically right now in your life. Your position is getting changed right now; your heart posture is getting changed; your perspective is being rearranged!
However you want it—wherever you want to kneel, you want to stand, just don’t be in the same position you were in. I want you to put your hands out and say, «God, whatever you want to do, wow, whatever you want to do.» God, I’m saying what you’re saying here is holy right now. God, I’m going to let you change my character right here. God, I’m going to let you change my ideas right here. God, I’m going to let you refine me right here. God, I’m going to allow you to help me forgive because here is holy. God, I’m not going to run from this like the blind man. I’m going to let you do this, even if it feels like a demotion or feels hard. I will not come out of this year without everything you’ve asked me and considered for me to have. Right here is holy.
Father, I pray that you would give our church the faith to trust you this year more than we ever have before or feel the presence of God. God, give us the ability not to go back into the village and try to find our miracle. Let us stay out here in the holy place, the separated place, the place where you want to give us a fresh vision. We are declaring here is holy. Father, I don’t know what you’re going to do with all of this. I’m standing out here in crazy faith, but I’ve seen you do it over and over and over again. So, God, I’m just asking you, could you blow our minds? Could you literally rewrite our family history through our obedience this year? Father God, we will acknowledge even when we don’t understand. We will obey even when it doesn’t make sense that here is holy. We say holy, holy, oh holy, Lord God.
Come on, this is a holy moment right here, and you’re the God that sits right here. Here is holy; sit right here. You need to declare that no matter how you’re feeling, sit right here in the midst of my frustration.Say it right here while I feel the presence of God. You are releasing me to be content right here. Here is home; I’m going to receive everything I need. Sit right here, come on. I’m just going to sing that a couple of times. Somebody say sit right here. Do you feel the presence of God? God, we worship you because you can do the miracle right here. If the situation doesn’t change, I will right here say my storms are songs. I can trust you, come on; I can trust you.
God, you’re my holy home wherever you are; I have a home. Father, my storms are not going to mess me up. God, I’m not going to move off of what you said. I’m declaring that this place, this moment is holy.
God said right here. Somebody needs to declare that right now, where I’m at right now. God is going to do the miracle right. Father, we accept what you’ve said and however you want to flesh this word out all of 2022. Somebody say, I receive, I accept, I will obey this word from God. Caleb, can you do «He that dwells»? So just receive this. God is about to do something on the inside; he’s about to dwell; he’s about to teach you how to dwell. Yeah, he’s about to teach you how to dwell. Turn Matt up, and Caleb, just do this real quick. We’re getting in His presence this year. Somebody say, here it is; sit right here. This is going to be our declaration all year: sit right here. I can feel the presence of God already.
Charles, sit right here, right where I’m at. So, like I said earlier, God’s not going to drag you into giving you this fresh vision. You’ve got to receive it and accept it, and I’m so grateful for the church that I get to lead because every year there have been tens of thousands of us that have taken this journey to believe through this little tattered vessel what God has said. I don’t know what he wants to do this year, but he told me to tell you and to believe for myself that right here is holy. He’s not going to do something in the future that’s going to outweigh right here because he’s here; it’s holy. I’m going to try to walk us through this, y’all, but I don’t know if we’re going to get out of this series for a minute because of the revelation that he’s showing me—how we have to divorce our identity from «there.»
When I lose the weight, when I do this, when you love it, you’ve got to love what he’s put right here. Yeah, it’s progression; we’re going to do that, but God said you’ve been devaluing here. The fact that you’re here, the fact that you’ve got your right mind, or at least half of it. This year we’re divorcing ourselves from the future because the Bible tells us clearly, don’t be prideful and say, «Tomorrow I’m about to do this, and the next day I’m about to do that.» He said you should say, «If it’s his will.»
Many of us have been so arrogant, he said that you have not reverenced here. They call it the present; that means it’s a gift. Got that from Khan Food Panda, but it’s so true. The present is our gift; here is holy. Next, we’re going to unpack it, but if you don’t value vision, this meant nothing to you; you logged off 30 minutes ago. But for the 20,000 people who have heard this word clearly, this is the vision for us to invade. Well, Pastor Mike, I need to do more to get there? Whenever God tells you to stay here, that means he’s moving and working up there. When God tells you to focus on here, that means he knows what it takes and what you’re going to need there, and it becomes a miracle instead of our muscle this year. He’s saying right here. Father, I thank you that we receive your word.
There are some people that are here, and the Holy Spirit’s been pulling you all day. It’s like a tug—something on the inside of you that’s trying to lead you to truth. That’s the Holy Spirit trying to lead you to Jesus. Literally, this week over 2,000 people gave their lives to Christ every night in prayer; it’s just been nuts. But today, this moment is for you. If you’re here and you’re watching this broadcast or you’re watching a replay, the Holy Spirit is with you right there in the room you’re in, and he’s drawing you. He’s trying to grab you by the hand like Jesus grabbed that man by the hand and lead you into a new life so that you can be everything that God has called you to be.
Today, I want to tell you the greatest decision you could ever make is to surrender your life right here and say, «God, I want to give my life to you. Invade me, change me, transform me, turn me into the person and give me the vision you want me to have.» Today, I’m telling you as sure as I’m sitting here and sweating that God can take a broken, hurting, backward person like me and change you to the point where you’re not perfect but progressing, and you can help other people become who God’s called them to be. I was a liar; I was a manipulator. I was addicted to pornography, and I had a felony case for car insurance fraud. God found me at my lowest moment and said, «Michael, I’ll still use you.»
I surrendered to him, and today is your day of surrender. I feel the presence of God. I need y’all to start praying. The enemy has been trying to snuff your life out and take you away from the purpose that God has called you to, and you have not seen the vision clearly. But today, God comes to restore your vision and touch you once again, giving you the opportunity to walk into his plan for your life. Today is the day of salvation; here is holy. If you want to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior, it’s very easy. You’ve got to repent; that means turn from how you’ve been leading your life, what you’ve been going to, and you need to turn to Jesus. According to Romans 10 and 9, you have to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and that he died for your sins, and you are saved.
Today, I want to give you the opportunity to transform your life, and the great thing about this is wherever you are, all of heaven is in anticipation of just one person accepting Jesus today. I believe there will be hundreds, if not thousands. I feel an anointing on this moment right now, that people who have been far from God, you have been wayward. You’ve been trying to self-medicate; you’ve been trying to do things to soothe yourself and live another day. God said, «I am the answer. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I want to take you to my Father, but you’ve got to come through me. I’ll walk you straight to the throne of grace and give you mercy, but you’ve got to acknowledge that here is holy.»
Today is your day of salvation. If you want to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, we’re about to pray, but you’re saying, «Pastor Mike, I want to be included in that prayer. Today is my day of salvation.» It doesn’t matter who’s sitting next to you; it doesn’t matter what you did last night; it doesn’t matter what you are planning to do tomorrow. God’s saying, «I interrupted, I invaded your life to transform your life.» If that’s you, and you want to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, on the count of three, I just want you to slip your hand in the air wherever you are—in your car, at your cubicle, running on the track, watching in the living room, or in a church service.
I want you to lift your hand. One, you’re making the greatest decision of your life. Number two, I’m proud of you, but forget that. God is going to write your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and your eternity is secure. Three, shoot your hands up all over the world. I feel the presence of God right now. This is what we’re going to do at Transformation Church; we’re a family—nobody prays alone. So for the benefit of those coming to Christ in this holy moment right now, I want us to all say this prayer out loud together:
God, thank you for getting me here today. I’m giving you my life. I believe you lived, you died, and you rose again with all power just to save me. Today, I surrender. Take over, make me, mold me, change me, transform me. I’m yours because I believe you lived and you died just for me. In Jesus' name, amen.