Michael Todd - Here I Am
Welcome to week one of a series we are calling «Here Is Holy.» If you’re excited, let’s give God some praise right there! Hallelujah! All right, I’m about to walk you through how we arrived at this phrase of the year that God is allowing us to gather our faith around. If you’re new here, welcome! We’ve prayed for you this week. We want you to know that we don’t care what you were doing yesterday, last night, or what you’re planning to do tomorrow. We believe this has been a divine interruption in your life to give you divine revelation. You are not too damaged; you have not gone too far to be outside of the grace and love of God. The one speaking to you has messed up and erred thousands of times, but somehow, in His love, God continues to use me over and over again. And today, I want to let you know that I’m living proof that you are not too damaged for God to use what’s left.
I need to let you know something’s tugging at me. This is not even where I intended to go, but God told me to tell you that you feel like damaged goods right now, but the value is still inside of you. God is going to do something so strategic and unusual with your life if you would just give Him a big yes today. My prayer is that, for whoever you are and for all of us who are playing church, being religious, and lukewarm, we would give God a complete shout of yes!
I feel like my assignment today is going to be more of a diagnosis of where we are so that we can actually get the right prescription next week, and we can start a process of healing after that. The problem with the church is that a lot of the time, we heal what’s not broken. We’re prescribing medicine that doesn’t actually touch the pain. I believe that God, like a doctor or a physician, has shown me where we are and what we need to do for the rest of 2022 so that we can understand the purpose that God has called us to. That means we need to recognize some things. Everybody say, «Here!» That’s going to prepare us for «There.»
Let me take this back to December 11, 2020. I didn’t think that day was going to be amazing or anything; I just woke up thinking it would be another day of God’s faithfulness. We gathered in an Airbnb right here in Tulsa with some of our worship team and staff, and God told me, «This is the season when I want you to begin to write songs that the world will sing, but I want you to write them for your church. I want you to write songs that speak to where the church is. Don’t think about any charts; don’t think about any other worship bands. I just want you to write what I give you.» So, we got in that room, began to pray, and literally, the first song that came was «Here Is Holy.» The song you just heard was the first song that God gave us.
I didn’t think much of it because that was one of ten songs we wrote; I’m talking about good songs. We wrote ten songs in two days, and anyone who’s heard them knows they are fire! Transformation Nation, wait on us because «Here Is Holy.» I didn’t think anything of it, but it was a seed that God knew I would need. He gave me something in a season that I wasn’t even paying attention to. Now, 408 days later, we are 408 days from when God first said «Here is Holy» to me.
Every year, I go on a sabbatical, and I begin to ask God what He is saying for the church for the next year. You see, this church is built on strong vision because where there is no vision, the people perish. So, I asked, «What are you saying this year?» If you don’t know anything about us, every year, God gives us a word, and we center all our faith, giving, and instructions around that word. For seven years, it has been spot on. God said, «I’m giving you what I already gave you.» I was like, «God, I don’t want a warmed-up word; I don’t want a microwavable leftover word.» He said, «No, no. You’ve never eaten this one before. I showed you what it was, but you haven’t digested it. The word for this year is 'Here Is Holy.'»
I said, «God, there’s a problem with that. It’s not a word; it’s a phrase. That’s more than one word!» And God, for what you’re doing, is out of the norm. You see, the other words have worked well for promotion and branding. And He said, «Do you want My words or do you want your words?» I said, «Okay, I got you. I’m going to take Your words.» And He said, «Here Is Holy.»
I tried to ignore it and hoped that God would give me something else, something catchier to brand because, you know, people are going to ask, «What are y’all talking about, 'Here Is Holy? '» People don’t even have a concept. And God said, «I’m about to make an example out of people’s lives who get the words that I speak. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work branding-wise; it works for transformation, not the church, but your life.» I said, «Okay, God, 'Here Is Holy.'»
In September, He confirmed it. I was in a hotel fasting and praying, and God said, «This is how strong it was to me, y’all: If you ask me again what the word of the year is and I’ve already told you, it’s not going to be good.» I called Bri at that moment and said, «The word of the year has just been upgraded to a phrase—'Here Is Holy.'» She said, «Oh yeah,» acting like she knew what it meant, but she didn’t because I didn’t!
I want you to know that God is not committed to your understanding; He’s committed to your obedience. And somebody needs to hear that very clearly right now. He will reveal understanding if you are obedient. It was getting printed on shirts for staff in advance before I had full revelation of what God wanted to do through this. Then, He started walking me through this.
I need you to write down these definitions; we’re going to class today. I promise you, if you take good notes today, you’re going to get a fast pass in heaven—not that it matters, but that’s what Pastor Charles says! You’re going to be able to understand and refer back to the instructions that God gives at the beginning for the rest of your year.
Here’s the definition of «here.» Check this out: in this place locally—my favorite definition right here—"opposed to there.» Here is the enemy of there. If I’m focused on here, I don’t give any attention to there. It is the opponent, the opposite, the antithesis of there. You cannot be fully committed to here when you’re giving your attention to there. Somebody shout «here!» Oh, I’m about to preach this!
Then He said, «is holy.» Okay, holy means set apart, completely other than, declared sacred. Like, if something is holy, it is set apart. You cannot be liked by everybody and be holy—uh-oh! You cannot get committee agreement for all your ideas, situations, assignments, and be completely set apart. He said, «I’m declaring this year, everybody shout 'holy.'»
So, let me give you the working definition for «Here Is Holy» for this series. We’re going to come back to this every week. «Here Is Holy» is the awareness that your current situation is sacred and being intentionally used by God to prepare you for your purpose. It’s opposed to there. «Here Is Holy» means I’m aware that, no matter what my current situation is, God is using this situation sacredly and intentionally to prepare me for the purpose He called me to that I don’t know about yet. You will not know your purpose before you’re prepared for it; the training comes before the reigning.
We’re looking to have a position, and we lack preparation. What God is saying is, «I want you to consecrate all of 2022, separate it, declare it sacred. Move yourself and remove yourself from thinking about there and focus on here!» Because if you do not focus on here, you will not be ready for there. And the truth of the matter is I’m coming to prophetically tell you that many of you are praying for what you will never be prepared for. You’re believing for what your character does not have the ability and foundation to hold up.
I’m telling you right now that God is so good that He is trying to give us a pause. Can I say it how I feel it? God wants to take the hustle out of His house! This thing that’s always trying to hustle—the next thing, and the next thing, and «When I get here…» God says, «I have never been in a hurry to do anything. I have always been strategic about My movements, and I’ve always thought about every step because the steps of a good man, a good woman, are ordered by the Lord.» He says, «Step here, and then step here.» He’s not worried about there. Because if you take care of here, you’ll end up there. Somebody shout «Here Is Holy!»
Honestly, I have a problem with this in the natural. I’m talking about as Pastor Michael right now, but I can’t stand here. Can I be honest? My whole life, I’ve hated here. Am I the only one? When you get in a situation, it’s good for 30 seconds, and then it’s like, «All right, come on, listen. To the left, to the left!» I’m trying to give me something else, give me a new goal—I want to go to the next level! The problem is, I hate it here, and the truth is most of us hate it here. If you look at your real situation, all the stuff you’re trying to do right now is to get you there, but you tolerate here. You’re not excited about here. You’re not joyful about here; you tolerate it.
My whole life, I’ve just tolerated here. I want to go to the next! I want to upgrade! How many people like upgrades? Come on! How many of you, when you were young, wanted to be adults because you thought you could make your own decisions and do what you wanted to do? Now that I’m here, adulting sucks! But how much did we miss? Some of us were rushed too early. Some of us were exposed and violated because we were trying to get there. Now we’re working through problems, issues, and generational cycles that were built up because we went there too early.
We went there because they went there; we went there because it looked like the cool thing to do, and God is saying, «I’m trying to do a work on you here.» Let me just say it: the problem is that the church has done a bad job at indoctrinating all of us with the theology of there. «My situation’s turning around today! God is about to turn it right now!» What if we said, «Well, God’s going to turn this in seven months»? Would you still shout? Would you still praise? The problem is we’re so worried about getting out that we do not consider what God is trying to bring out of us here.
This is for the big kids' table; this is the meat! This year, we’re going to mature. «When I get there, how much money will I have? What house will I be living in? What will my network look like? I can’t wait until I get married because this is what we’re going to do.» And God says, «Michael, I need you to stop escapism evangelism.» What we’re trying to teach people is to escape here, and we’re evangelizing people; no, no, no, no! We’re not even going to act like it’s a problem.
You don’t need counseling; you need deliverance. «Come here! You’re healed!» That may have been the seed of my healing; that’s real, but it took me 35 years to walk in this level of dysfunction, and it may take me a little time to walk out of it. The problem is if we do not stop evangelizing escapism, we will never sit and let God do the work here. What if you had to go in for major surgery, and you lay on the table, and the moment it got uncomfortable, you had a group of people saying, «You don’t have to stay there! Claim your victory! Run up out of this place! Stand up and walk!» You would literally kill yourself trying to escape what is meant, watch this, to heal you.
The adversity is meant to heal you; the pain is meant to heal you. I know you don’t hear a preacher like this all the time, but I’m in a whole new place right now, right where you are, and you hate it. It may be the very operating table that God is using to heal you of pride, to heal you of comparison, and to heal you of insecurities. But you’ve got to stay here. James 1, verse 2: «Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind—any kind, any kind—come your way, consider it an opportunity for what?»
I thought I needed to consider this an opportunity to go off on somebody, but you said in your word to consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. This is the part I don’t like, so let it grow. Stay here and let it grow. Many of us are potted plant Christians. God would love for us to stay somewhere long enough to actually get roots. Look at your neighbor and say, «Let it grow!» Type it in the chat: «Let it grow!»
You can’t grow it on the move; you can’t grow it. «I was in this church for six months, then they didn’t treat me right, so I left.» You haven’t been among people long enough to be seen; you get to represent yourself every time you go to a new group of people because nobody knows the last struggles you went through. Stay there long enough to grow. Many of us are in a season, in a place right now, where it’s uncomfortable to stay planted. You are trying to get out of that job with all your might, and God says the reason no doors are opening for you is because that place is holy. No, no, no, no, no, it’s not lucrative; it’s holy. It’s not comfortable; it’s holy. You’re going to look back at this moment and say, «That’s where God made me. That’s where He did the work that would never be undone. That’s where God changed my name.»
And this is why I’m telling everybody: listen to me. Here is a prerequisite for there: you’ve got to go through here to get there. Here is preparation for there; here is a qualification for that. You will not be qualified for there if you do not let God do the work. Everybody shout at me: «Here!» Okay, hear this—the one I really want you to get. This is the one He’s been working on me all week: here is sanctification for there. Now, this is a word we don’t use in church that much anymore, but it actually means something very powerful for your life. Sanctification is the action of making or declaring something holy. I do not become holy unless I go through whatever God has for me to go through here.
If I ignore marriage counseling, my relationship does not get where I want it to be because I don’t know how to communicate. So for us to get there, God said every week, «Come here.» «Can I watch a video? Is there a mix that I can get? Can I—» All of society today, especially, is trying to find a shortcut. But here sanctifies me for there. And the truth of the matter is, the problem with there—I know I’m setting this whole thing up, and it’s going to make sense to you in just a second. The whole problem with there, everybody shout at me: «There!» The whole problem is that there devalues here. If I focus on there, it makes me think this is trash. If I focus on there, I don’t value what God is doing here. There distracts from here.
God wants me to do something powerful right here, but if I’m always focused on there, I’m distracted. There discourages here. I’m trying to show you why there is not where we want to focus in this season, especially when God is saying, «Here is where I’m at. Here is where I want to change you. Here is where I want to develop you. Here is holy.» So there diminishes here. There dilutes here. There diverts you from here. Y’all are so excited about opportunities that’ll make you go there, and God said, «I don’t care about opportunities; I want you on assignment.»
Don’t divert from here. There—watch this—when I become a better leader, when I get this, when I have this, when I—oh, I got a—when I weigh this much, when my body— you better love what God has given you. I’m not saying devalue the temple that God has given you, but some of y’all are being robbed of life because you will not accept where you are right here. Matthew 6:31–34: So don’t worry about these things, saying, «What will we eat there? What will we drink there? What will we wear there?» These things dominate—watch this—the thoughts of unbelievers. Unbelievers focus on there because they have to escape here. «I gotta pop a pill so I can go there. I gotta drink that alcohol so I do not have to be here. I gotta go to pornography because I can’t deal with my lust here. I can’t go back to that home, so I get a mistress so I don’t have to be here. I serve my church more than I serve my family because I can’t deal with failing here.»
Unbelievers allow what there looks like to dominate their thinking. But your heavenly Father already knows what you need there. He knows what you need up there, so seek first the kingdom of God here. You cannot seek the kingdom from there. The only way you can see God is from where you’re at, as broken as you are, as busted as you are, the liar that you are, the proud person that you are. God said, «Just see Me from here.» Like, here is holy. I’m not asking you to become a future version of yourself to then start to seek Me; you can only seek Me from—shout at me—"Here!» And He says, «Above all else, live righteously here, and He will give you everything you need.» Hold on, there is taken care of if I live righteously—not perfectly—here.
So don’t worry about tomorrow, which is there, for tomorrow there will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for you: dealing with them kids right here, working that job right here is enough. You can’t even deal with tomorrow; stop even thinking about there because you don’t have it in you to deal with there. You have to be focused on here. Okay, so if you want to walk in crazy faith, I want you to say this statement with me. It’s going to be a crazy faith statement, because some of y’all this is not how you feel, but this is how I pray that you will feel by the end of this series. We probably have four, five, six weeks in this; I don’t know. We’re gonna go until this is so deep in us that we can look at any situation that looks busted and disgusted, unfavorable or uncomfortable, and be able to declare this statement right here: «I love it here!» Say it like you mean it: «I love it here!»
Some of y’all lied, but «I love it here!» is a statement of faith in God. «I love it here!» It’s uncomfortable here, but «I love it here!» because you allowed me to get here. Do you know how many people didn’t get here? Uh-oh! Do you know how many people did not make it here? Do you know how many wish they could have had another day to do something here? But «I love it here!» This is a hard statement to say. Can I be—for me, that was a hard statement to say all week. And y’all know I can’t preach anything that God is not walking me through. It’s been the same since there were 300 people here; God was walking me through. I was in a place with some of my friends, and they were like, «How do you feel?» And God said, «Declare you love it here.» I said, «I really haven’t.» He said, «Mike, say it like you mean it.»
So, «I love it here!» I was like, «I love it here!» Why do I say «I love it here?» This is what God whispered to my heart: «You can say 'I love it here' because you are loved here.» I need everybody to hear me say this. I know this is not probably what you were thinking, but the reason I can stay is «here» is holy because I know the One who sent me here, allowed me to come here, and is sustaining me here and will walk me out of here. I can say, «I love it here» because I am loved right here. Somebody needs to hear me say that because you’ve been trying to polish yourself up and get yourself in a place to be presentable to God and others, and God says, «Stop all of that; you’re wearing yourself out.» He said, «Even though your situation is unfavorable, you are My favor. I’m looking at you dead in your eye with the baby out of wedlock, with the miscarriage, with the third failed business, and you can literally say on your way to bankruptcy court, 'I love it here' because I’m loved here.»
This is the human’s greatest need: to know that wherever they are, they are actually loved. And I came—if you turn this segment off and you never watch again, the one thing I hope you get is that you are loved. You are loved by God. He loved you so much that He made a plan to reconcile you back to the Father and give you eternal life. With all of your flaws, with all your mess-ups, with all the broken pieces in your life, you are loved. «I love it here,» even though it hurts, even though it’s frustrating, even though it’s not true. «I love it here» because You put me here, and I’m loved right here. Somebody say that: «I’m loved here!» Say it like you mean it: «I’m loved right here!»
Just one more time: faith is coming to somebody. Somebody say, «I’m loved right here!» See, I’m loved right here; that’s why I love it here. Because I’m learning here, and I’m living here, and I’m losing everything that can’t go with me. Y’all missed it! See, the reason I’ve got to stay here is because I am losing—I’m losing everything here that cannot go with me into the promised land. You know, that’s why the children of Israel had to go into the wilderness: because they had to lose. Everybody talks about that escapism thing, that the evangelism of escaping. No, no, no, no, no. The Bible tells us that we’re going to have to lose some things to possess the promise. They don’t like this: you’ve got to lose your attitude to be able to actually deal with the people over there. You’ve got to lose your pride to be able to actually ask for help over there.
Some of y’all would be running out of gas and won’t even ask your brother or sister for gas money, walking all the way home because of your pride. My question to you today is: what do you need to lose here? Well, this is just me—that’s you here. But you’ll stay here until you lose it because you can’t take that over there. Okay, Romans chapter 8, verse 35: «Can anything separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble, calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?» Go to verse 37: «No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us.» Our victory is in His love.
Now, I know you want the victory to be in your works, but the victory that you’re going to have—the way you never lose—is find yourself lost in His love. If I succeed, I’m loved. If I fail, I’m loved. If I mess up, I’m loved. And if I’m on a mountaintop, I am loved. Verse 38: «And I’m convinced that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God; neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow; not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.»
No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. You have to see yourself here, loved here. The reason I’m telling you this is because the training and the preparation will make you think you’re not loved. The trick of the enemy, all the way back to the garden, was to trick Adam and Eve into thinking that God was keeping something from them. He was keeping them for something; He was making them holy. But they were convinced by the enemy that, «This place? Ah! I’m not loved here. If He really loved me, He would let me eat from this tree. If He really loved me, I wouldn’t go through this.»
I remember being in basketball, and when we played basketball, the first few weeks were called hell weeks. I didn’t really understand it until I started participating in it. Because what happens in hell week is you don’t really play basketball. Hell week has nothing to do with basketball; we honestly never even touched a basketball. Hell week was about conditioning us and preparing us for when we had to endure and actually play basketball. When we went through the training of suicides—I hate suicides! Burpees are from the pits of hell! Y’all know what a burpee is? Like the height—show us! No, not today; I already worked out this morning. I’m already sore up here. But I questioned my coach’s love for me because of how he prepared me. Could it be that our preparation, the season of training, the uncomfortable places and spaces are uncomfortable on purpose? Because the coach, God, knows what’s up ahead.
And if we look at how we feel while we’re being trained, we could be lied to that somehow God doesn’t love us because this training sucks. «God doesn’t love me because I lost the family member», I want to come to real stuff. God doesn’t love me. Why did He even let me get pregnant? Why would He allow us to have a son if he was going to be diagnosed with autism, and we would have to go through daily therapies and teach him how to do things? Why, why, why? This is the question of humanity. Why am I here? Why am I 36 and single? Why am I here? Why? Why did I give my life to that church and not even be seen as someone valuable? Why am I here? Why? Why in the world would You have me go and apologize to my father and not even respond to me? I was hurt as a child, and You’re going to allow me to be here again? Why am I here?
This can only be solved here. It doesn’t change when you get there. The only thing you take with you everywhere is you. So if you’re broken here, you’ll be broken there. If you’re frustrated here, you will be frustrated there. There is no amount of money that can take away the anxiety of here. You have to let God, therapy, community, and the Word wash over you. You have to do it here because, at some moment, there turns into here. I know I’m in the matrix right now. I know someone is thinking, «What is heaven? They’re here, or there, or everywhere.»
I know that’s what you’re thinking right now, but at some moment, the revelation is going to click with you because any time I come from here, I take all of me with me, and whatever I was trying to get to turns into here. So why don’t we just deal with it right here? Why don’t we get whole right here? Why don’t we walk in purity right here? Why don’t we become generous right here? Why don’t we start loving people right here? Not when they apologize; we love them right here. This is personified in our text, Exodus chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, about a man named Moses. Moses is about to have a life-changing experience. This is why we titled the whole thing «Here is Holy,» because Moses has one of these moments, and I’m believing each one of us is going to have one as we open our hearts in this series.
It says in verse 1, «One day"—everybody say, «One day»! Say it again, «One day!» One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness—oh, I don’t like that word—and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. Everybody say, «One day.» This wasn’t a spectacular day; this wasn’t a day where something amazing happened. It wasn’t a festival; it wasn’t anything that happened; it was just one day. I like that it said «one day» because you never know when God’s about to move in your life. It could be today, tomorrow, the next day. But it’s just one day. It’s not on your birthday; it’s not on New Year’s Eve.
I know we always talk about how God’s gonna come through in 2022, but it could be literally June 22nd. Everybody say, «One day.» Oh, the reason this is important for you is because God specializes in making the regular spectacular. He can take a regular day and turn it into the thing that’s going to be the catalyst for every miracle you’re remembered for—one day. I’m prophesying over you that your «one day» is coming, that there is something about to happen in your life; not everyone is going to be around. Moses is in the wilderness right here. This is not something on Instagram; this is not something on a platform; this is on the backside of the mountain. And one day, God turns the regular into the spectacular. And how do we know it’s a regular day? It says because he was just tending to the sheep. He was doing what he normally did. He was just taking his kids to school.
I want to bring it to real situations; he was just checking his emails. One day, he was just going to pick up dinner. And God takes a common situation, watch this, to invite him into an extraordinary calling. What God’s trying to do this year—you have not seen anything yet with your life. I just need someone to hear me say this: your greatest win looks like nothing compared to what God has planned for your life. Somebody needs to receive this by faith. This man grew up in a palace, and God said, «You haven’t seen royalty yet. I’m about to do something in your life.»
And I know it seems like a far cry from what you’ve been through, and many of us have been trying to live in the glory days. Because it’s not just about going forward; there is a past, too. God said, «I need you to focus on here, because there was not the good old days. There was not the pinnacle of your ministry. There was not the greatest song you ever wrote. There is where God was really using you. Here is holy. You have to divorce yourself from there—in the future—and there—in the past. How do I come in here and minister with this much fervor?»
Transformation Church’s best days are here! They’re not, «Oh, God! They’re not when 'Relationship Goals' went viral, and they’re not in the future with something that God is going to do; it’s right here. Here is holy. My faith is that God is with me here. And that’s why I write this down: God will use common situations to invite you into extraordinary callings. Write it down: God will use common situations to invite you into extraordinary callings. You know how I became the pastor of the church? A very common situation. I produced music for Greenwood Christian Center’s Big Idea Conference. This is how He started inviting me into this extraordinary calling. It wasn’t, „Oh, God! I see myself on a platform preaching.“ No, it was common. It was, „Turn the mic up,“ y’all’re missing it. „Roll up the cables. Make sure the drums are tuned.“
This was my invitation into the extraordinary. I didn’t see it when Tony Mason was telling me to turn the reverb up. I didn’t see what God was doing. He used a very common situation. What could you be missing that is God calling you into something extraordinary, but you won’t stay here long enough to even notice it? There are relationships right around you that are going to be pivotal to the next decade of your life. But you think because of their title right now that they have no value in your life? You better look around! You better look around and see who’s around you because God may be putting something very common in front of you, inviting you into an extraordinary situation.
It says Moses was tending to the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He had the flock, he led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai. Hold on! A desert place, an isolated place, a wilderness. Why in the world would God use a wilderness? Let me help you. God will test your willingness in the wilderness. I’m not telling you this from an idea; the fact that I’m standing here today is God testing my willingness.
Mike, He played back for me all the things I said: „Mike, you said you would serve me no matter what. You said you were here to represent me to the lost and the found for transformation in Christ. You said that nothing would stop you from ministering to My people. You said you would do anything short of sin to reach those who are far from God. You said last week you don’t care if anybody else comes back. So now I’m going to test you. I’m going to test you! I’m going to test your willingness to be faithful in the wilderness. I’m going to strip you of everything that insulated your identity. I’m going to say that again: I’m going to strip you of everything that insulated your identity, and now I want to see are you willing to serve me when they don’t see it. See, many times we think the wilderness is a punishment, and it’s honestly a test for our willingness. You cannot actually see“.
Somebody told me, „It ain’t love until it’s tested.“ Like, everybody’s talking about, „I love God.“ You don’t love God? What’s wrong with you? They’re always talking about that, but you only know if you love God when you go through a situation where it’s like, „Um, I don’t know, I don’t know! Oh no, this isn’t fair, this isn’t right.“
But do you still love me? The rest of this year, your wildernesses are not punishments; they’re tests. Some of you are going to play this back every week because you’re going to need to be reminded that here is holy, and God will take you into a space to test you. Ask Jesus! Jesus, our example, literally a whole town comes out to be baptized by His cousin John. The Holy Spirit literally ascends like a dove. They hear audibly, „This is my Son, in whom I’m well pleased.“ He’s affirmed, confirmed, verified—all that—and then the Bible says that He is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, not the devil. He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tested.
What if this year you’re going to be tested by the Holy Spirit? The reason I’m smiling is that some of you are about to leave here right now, and God’s trying to give you instruction here, and because you don’t like what it looks like here, you’re about to leave! And there’s somebody that’s about to log off! I’m telling you right now: get this instruction. Here is where God’s going to test you because it’s going to prepare you for there. Do you know what Moses goes on to do? Moses goes on to confront culture. He goes to the highest person in the land, Pharaoh, and has to tell Pharaoh what God said. The only way he could tell Pharaoh what God said there is that he got confirmed in his calling here.
There was an angel of the Lord, verse 2, that appeared to him in the blazing fire from the middle of the bush. The Bible tells us, as you study out scripture and theologians agree, that this was Jesus in the Old Testament. He was the angel of the Lord, and it says Moses stared in amazement, though the bush, watch this, was engulfed in flames; it didn’t burn up! Put me a fire in a bush up here. This is what a bunch of our situations look like: on fire—families, finances, internally—but Moses is watching this bush burn, and I need you to understand this was common in the desert.
There were brush fires all the time. The difference about this thing is, when it was burning, it still had full leaves. It still had fruit. It still was not disintegrating. It still was standing, even though it was on fire. Hear me because this encourages me when I listen to this story: if God is in the fire, that’s what it tells us—that God was in this fire. If God is in the fire, you won’t look like what you’ve been through. If this were another situation, the leaves would have burnt up, and everything would have crumbled and fallen. But because God was in it, it was sustaining.
The thing that was supposed to be burning—I’m about to preach this thing! It looked like it was supposed to be gone and turned to ashes, but God was sustaining it. I don’t know who you are, but I’m preaching to you from my experience: when God is in the fire, you will not look like what you’ve been engulfed by. Ask Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When culture told them to bow, they said, „We will not bow!“ And what did they do? Oh, I love their stand! They were so fearless. They said, „We know our God can deliver us, but even if He doesn’t…“ Do you know how brave that is?
„Even if He doesn’t deliver us, we won’t bow!“ They threw them into the fire and said, „Turn it up!“ They turned it up so hot that the people who threw them in dropped dead. Come on! But when they stood there, they said, „Check on them: what do you see?“ „Uh, the fire is on. Yes, the fire is on; it’s really big! We threw a couple extra in there, yeah, yeah. But I see one, two, three, four…“ Ricardo, how many people did we throw into the fire? It was three, right? Three! Okay, one, two, three, four…I see four people in the fire, and one looks like God! Because when God is in the fire—oh, y’all better help me—when God is in the fire, He will sustain what should be burning. He will preserve what should be desecrated. God is in the fire!
What are you trying to say, Pastor Mike? The place that is on fire in your life is actually a meeting place with God. God uses every burning bush to get your attention. He’s trying to show you something. I don’t fully know what God is trying to show me in the situation that happened in the last week, but I am fully aware that this burning bush is a meeting place for me and God.
Now let me break that down for me practically. You know in the Bible when it says, „And Jesus withdrew often“? What I did as soon as the spit hit the fan and it started going everywhere, I told my wife. We were in a hotel last week on Sunday, just to rest without the kids. I talked to some people in my community, and they said, „Let’s get out of here! Turn your social media off and spend time with God.“ If you stay in this place and listen to those distractions, you will miss what God wants to do here. So, what you have to do is withdraw and meet with God!
The whole situation was on fire, and I was praying through it all and worshiping. I don’t even know all the news media outlets we were on, and I don’t need to look at all of them. But what I did was get to a place where the fire could consume me. I’m looking at my situation that’s on fire, and I need there to be a fire that consumes me—a fire that consumes my pride. We sing the song „All-Consuming Fire,“ but what happens when you ask God to burn out anything that’s not like Him? Show me my errors, Lord. Show me what you want to do—burn in me, God! And Moses sees this fire, and it was a meeting place.
Can I tell you? Any area in your life that’s on fire—God’s trying to talk to you through it. If your relationships are on fire, He’s trying to tell you something. If your business isn’t working, He’s trying to tell you something. If your family is in chaos and you haven’t gotten along for years, He’s trying to tell you something. And the crazy thing is that when God wants to talk to you, He doesn’t just want a transaction; He wants a relationship.
This is the hard part, especially in our social media age. Everything is transactional, not relational. Back in the day, you had to go sit down and talk with someone; you had to meet them and make time. Now, I can just DM whoever I want to and see if they respond. But God is saying, „You can’t DM me! I’m not trying to be transactional. God, if you could just bless my situation, then I’ll acknowledge you when I accept an award and say, 'All praises and glory to God.'“ He said, „I’m not transactional; I’m relational. I want a relationship.“
And the problem is that people want His provision without wanting His presence. They just want what they need quickly so they can get on with their lives. They want His resources but not a relationship. But God wanted to meet with Moses. So what happened in verse 3? Moses said, „This is amazing! Why isn’t this bush burning up? I must go see it.“ Moses was intrigued! He might have been confused in that moment, but he was curious.
Now, let me tell you something about how confusion works. If I see a confusing situation, I might just want to walk away. I say this because we are a multi-ethnic church filled with many people from different backgrounds. Let me tell you something about the nature of mistrust. If a community sees something confusing or alarming, they might just run. But Moses does something very different, and I believe it’s a sign for all of us as we go through these fiery situations where God takes us to the wilderness and it doesn’t look like we thought it would.
Watch this: Stay curious, even when you’re confused! This week, I’ve been asking God, „Since I’m in this situation, what are you trying to teach me? What are you trying to expose about me? What are you trying to show me?“ I don’t care what everyone else thinks; I care what you think, Lord. Show me. Most of us do not stay curious when we’re confused. When we’re confused, we try to solve it; we try to escape.
Moses doesn’t bring water to the burning bush; he doesn’t try to intervene, because this isn’t his moment. He just moves a little closer and stays curious about why God brought him to this moment. Why did God take away the things I was good at to make me learn a new skill? Why didn’t God use any of my degrees? I’ve got more degrees than a thermometer, and yet He won’t let me use them. Why did God allow me to go through that situation but still ask me to write a book? Stay curious, even though you’re confused!
This is what Moses does right here: „And when…oh, I love this—when it’s confusing but you stay curious, look for confirmation. Look for God to say something to you.“ Watch this: „When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, then He spoke.“ God doesn’t speak until you step toward what He’s already showing you. He literally set a situation ablaze, and if Moses had just stood there, God would have stayed silent. But it says, „When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look,“ that’s when God spoke!
Write this point down: When you step, God speaks. I’m trying to help you with this. Step toward the thing you don’t understand. Step toward the people you don’t usually get along with. Step toward the thing that makes you uncomfortable but you know is what God’s calling you to do. I’m talking about meetings and business dealings I’ve hated for a long time.
When you start talking to me about numbers, charts, and if the whole page is black without any color, that’s overwhelming. But the moment I step toward it—"But God, why would you call me to be the pastor of this church, and why would you call me to lead multiple million-dollar organizations? Why would you take me out of my comfort zone?"—that’s when God starts speaking to me. He starts showing me that there’s a genius within me. He starts revealing my calling to restore things that have been broken down. It wasn’t until I stepped toward it that He began speaking to me.
What instructions are you missing because you are not stepping forward in curiosity toward what God is doing? Okay, I have to get out of here. God called him from the middle of the bush: «Moses! Moses!» Say your name twice! Repeat after me: «Moses! Moses!» The reason why God called his name twice is to confirm that He was talking to him. What I’m telling you is in this place where we’re going to be here—don’t doubt your calling! Don’t doubt it! Somebody say, «I’m called!» Some of y’all didn’t believe that! Somebody say, «I’m called!»
God called Moses twice, and the reason He had to call him twice is because Moses had insecurities; he had what some would call deformities. He made big mistakes, and usually, when God calls most of us, we think, «He must be wrong.» And God is so good that He says, «No, no, no, Michael! Michael! With all my stuff, with all my history—I was a liar, I was a manipulator, I was addicted to pornography—you still have a call for me. You still want to do something with me!» God calls your name twice! One more time: God is saying, «Don’t doubt your calling! Don’t doubt what I put inside you!»
Look at Moses’s response: «Here I am!» The reason why this is the most profound response to what God invites Moses into is because many times, God will call your name specifically, and we still do not surrender to what God wants to do in our lives. This whole week, my confession has been: «Here I am, whatever you want to do. I’m available; I’m usable. They can walk on me if it’s for Your namesake! If you can use anything, Lord, you can use me!» I didn’t know it would feel like this—here I am! This really feels unfair, but here I am! I haven’t cried in a long time—here I am! No matter if I’m a small piece or a big piece—here I am!
See, this is not just a statement of location; this is a statement of heart posture. «You want to take me from making this much a year to making this much a year? Here I am! People wanted to be near me two weeks ago; now you don’t want to be seen with me? Here I am!» If you don’t understand that level of availability in your heart, you will always negate the power of «Here I am.» Somebody say, «Here I am!» «Here I am» is the proper response when God calls you. And some of you—God has been calling you, and you’ve been saying things like, «Wait a minute. Just let me get a few things together. Let me have one more wild night.» God is calling you by name, and you’ve been saying, «Give me until next year.» He’s saying, «I want you right now!»
God, I don’t want to be uncomfortable, but for myself and Transformation Nation, our response this entire year will be «Here I am"—verse five. This is all my introduction to this whole series, so come back next week because I’m going to preach this story into the ground. But I had to set up «Here is holy.» God speaks now. When He—okay, thank you, Lord—in this year, you don’t respond? No, no, no, excuse me. In this year, you respond; you don’t react. Reaction is different from response. God says to him, «Michael! Michael! Moses! Moses!» He responds; he doesn’t react. He says, «Here I am.» And I just hear this for so many people: you have been reacting your whole life, and God said, «Would you stay here long enough to respond to Me?» This is how you respond. When God gets you in this place, you wait for Him to speak again.
Look what it says: «Do not come any closer,» the Lord warned him. «Hold up; this guy’s serious! Real quick, take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.» In other words, «Here is holy.» See, the thing about this that really bothered me is that God showed me so clearly. He said, «Michael, you’ve got to take off your protection in this season.» See, sandals or shoes were the thing that protected them as they walked on all different terrains. The shoes would keep them from experiencing thorns and sticks and rocks and all different types of things, and God says, «Stop! Take off your protection because I need you to feel this.» What? I’ve got to take off my shoes? Because there is something in between you and the ground that has you too high, so I need you to take that thing off, and I need you to let Me touch your soul.
You know what they call the bottom of the shoe? The soul (S-O-L-E). But I believe, spiritually, God is saying, as we declare that «Here is holy,» we’re going to begin to take off our protection mechanisms—the people, the places, the things we’ve run to—and we’re going to begin—oh, hold on, no, I can’t do that. I can’t expose my vulnerable areas. See, the thing that you don’t know about my feet is they are ugly. I mean, they’re the only ones I’ve got; they’ve served me well, but I don’t want anybody else to see the vulnerability of this next season I’m walking into. I don’t want you to judge me based on a vulnerable area. That’s why I always wear good shoes and cool shoes, 'cause you know the feet are there, but you never see them. I don’t want to get that vulnerable to show you, and God is saying, «But here, don’t come another step if you’re not going to be vulnerable. Do not move unless you’re going to expose the areas that you’ve been trying to protect for the last 35 years.» Here! Here is holy!
Now, the thing about my feet, I’m going to go ahead and let everybody know, since I’m out here. So, my feet, um, they’ve been through a lot. Like, um, my feet, um, actually, I’ve played drums since I was two years old, and I was not professionally trained until I was 12. When I played drums, the front of my foot on the kick pedal and the hi-hat pedal I would push against. Like my foot to kick, and it literally laid all my feet have this little bunion thing, which is what you call a hammer toe. The first time that made me feel bad. The first time I ever heard that? Yikes! And, um, which side? Okay, y’all see that pinky right there? That’s kind of cocked up in the air. I’m just being vulnerable.
You see this one right here? This one right here? Ain’t nothing—it doesn’t even touch the ground! Look at that; that mug don’t touch nothing. This was another traumatic experience in my life where my mom told me to stop chasing my brother around the living room. And, um, moment of prayer—woman of faith, powerful prophetess—I hit the side of the chair, and my pinky went straight up, and it’s been like this. She’s laughing on the front row. This ain’t funny 'cause when I went to her, I cried, like, «Mom, my foot!» My dad! She said, «You should’ve listened to me!» and didn’t even pray for me! I lost feeling in my toe, obviously, and now—put it back on! Put it back on! People don’t know this unless I show them. People would never see this.
This toe has been in the air for over two decades. It’s a part of me now. It didn’t have to happen, and it shouldn’t have happened. I could’ve got it corrected, but now it’s who I am. I know me more with my toe in the air than I do without it. This part of my toe is rubbed off due to the fact that my pinky’s up in the air. Now, all my shoes feel different when they’re on this foot than when they’re on this foot. This foot hurts in certain shoes, and this foot feels comfortable. There are moments where there are areas in our life where it feels comfortable to do it this way but not that way because of the injury, the trauma, or the hurt. And God’s saying, «Take your shoes off; this is where I want you! Because here—this is the vulnerability I want! This is where I need to touch! I don’t bless who you pretend to be in them shoes; I’ll bless who you really are.»
This is where I’m loved—pinky in the air—that’s how God sees me and says, «That’s my child! That’s the one I love!» And this is the thing I need you to understand: when Moses took off his shoes, I need you to understand what he was saying. He was saying, «Every step I took to get here doesn’t matter anymore because where I’m at now feels different than every other place I’ve stepped.» See, if he stepped in donkey poop or sheep poop or—or—went through dirt, it was all on the soles of his feet or the soles of his sandals. But when he took them off, it was a new beginning. It’s a representation of salvation. This is something new! I’ve never been this open before; I’ve never been this sensitive before. It’s actually scary to be out here this vulnerable, but here is helping me bring it out. I think I’m going to preach the rest of this sermon series barefoot.
When I was in those shoes, I didn’t feel the stage; there are all kinds of crevices, nicks, and cuts, and it’s actually making me feel good because it’s colder than being in my shoe. I miss a lot when I’m not vulnerable. I miss a lot here! I miss the reality of what I’m actually standing on if I don’t get in a vulnerable place. See, because what kept you back there is not allowed here. When God told me, «Here is holy; take off your shoes,» He said, «Everything you took off is not allowed here.» Anybody have a house where you’ve got to take off your shoes to come in? Yeah, some of y’all know! Like, when you take off your shoes, it’s because this is a home; this is the place that’s sacred.
And here, I want you to feel. I’ve got to talk to some people who’ve been so calloused by church, by community, by Christians, by people who are supposed to love you, that you have not been able to feel. And God said, «Here is holy; take off the offense that’s on your soul. Take off the offense that’s on your mind, will, and emotions—that’s what your soul is! Take off the unforgiveness on your soul. Take off the bitterness that has tried to convince you that it’s protecting you. Get in a vulnerable place and declare, 'Here is holy.'»
Hey, Brent! Charles, come here real quick! Charles, take off your shoes! Here is holy! Yeah, yeah, yeah! Take off your shoes! Here’s holy! Brent, keep your shoes on—y’all come here to the land of your life. See, on the land of your life, there are obstacles that will come. On the land of your life, it may seem like kiddie things, uh-huh. But that stuff that happened to you when you were a kid—the stuff that they didn’t affirm in you—creates things that we try not to feel. So what ends up happening when we start trying to move from here to there is, Brent, go ahead and walk from here to there as fast as you can. It doesn’t matter what happened because he’s still protected. But when God says, «Charles, go from here to there,» watch this.
Now stop! He has to be so much more intentional, careful, and slow because wherever he steps could potentially damage him for life! Are you saying, «Oh, it’s just kiddie things?» Go, go, go back, Charles! Come back! Run back! See, don’t be surprised when people are running past you; they’re so protected that they don’t even feel the success! That’s why they keep running after every other success! They don’t even feel the joy! They have a mansion as a house, but they don’t have a home because they can’t feel! Oh, but I put away the childish things. What are these? Oh, I like these Captain Crunch! So now when I’m walking across, see what you can’t hear is every step he’s making is crunching. Wow!
That means that everything he’s doing is loud! Everything! God may be trying to hide him, but he can’t hide! God may be trying to preserve him, but he can’t! Because he starts stepping with no care for here! But when Charles has to step, he has to watch every movement and be intentional! Brent, run back and make Charles feel insecure about where he’s at! Because this is what we do on Instagram: we see people running, and God’s saying, «Charles, right here is holy! The step that you made right here is holy! Just stay right there!»
Because then what we do is we get the nasty stuff—syrup—and we get into lust, perversion, delusion, and confusion! Oh yeah! This is what it looks like when we have the seeds of unforgiveness and bitterness, and they surround us because our family was like that for our whole life, and it seems like something that has us trapped! Hey, Brent, show everybody how you run through a sticky situation when you’re not vulnerable to God! Now, the bottom of his shoes bear the marks of what he’s been through, but he still can’t feel it! So then he has kids and says, «You wear the same size as me!» And they put shoes on children because they never dealt with the soul of the issue, and now you’re talking about generational habits and generational cycles. It’s because y’all been wearing the same dirty shoes! And God is trying to get you to understand, if you’re going to get out of these sticky situations, you’ve got to acknowledge! Here, take a step, Charles, without stepping in what’s been there! Yeah, don’t step in it—go over it! Oh my goodness!
Now watch this; stay right there! You have to be in tuned with every step because if I carelessly start stepping at any moment, I can potentially damage, ruin—watch this—not even where I’m at right now! See the next season is about you giving it away to somebody! And so now you’ve been in sticky situation after sticky situation, and God calls you to lead people, lead a family, lead a business! Hey, Brent, run across here! Hey, Brent! It looks like we can tell where you’ve been because of what’s on you! I wasn’t there when it happened, but now you talk like it happened, you act like it happened, you love like it happened! We can all see where you’ve been, and see it’s not all fun things!
Sometimes it’s rocks and glass—stuff that cuts you—that looks like the kiddie stuff that was already there! See, it’s hard to tell the difference between this glass and rocks and the Captain Crunch. But this stuff can get stuck in your feet! This stuff can cause you to bleed. The words of people can cause you to bleed. The opinions of others—let me just say it real—the opinions of your family members, that father and mother, that abuser, that coach. And God’s saying, «I need you to recognize every place you step, because here is holy!» Bring—run across here. Matter of fact, back pedal! Do a dance! Do a dance! Like, «Yeah! Shimmy! Yeah, yeah, yeah!»
Okay, culture thinks Brent’s doing better. Culture will tell you that he’s up, he’s winning! We can see him winning, we can see him dancing! While the only thing God is pleased with? He’s not even paying attention to what Brent’s doing because he hasn’t even gotten vulnerable enough to feel what’s here! God’s going to let Brent continue to run across here all 2022 until he gets vulnerable enough to take off his shoes! And he was going to before the incident! «I can’t follow that pastor no more! He was helping me grow spiritually, but he was about to take his shoes off and get vulnerable with God!»
The culture started speaking: «I can’t give there; I can’t serve there! I’m going to just go back and do my own thing!» And God’s saying, «Hold on, hold on, hold on! Don’t forfeit Me bringing you to this place where I want to talk to you because of others that don’t understand the wilderness! I told you here is holy! Say it with me: here is holy!» Oh, can you bring this? Because now it’s random stuff—situations, circumstances! «I’m an adult!» And people still acting like kids—obstacles, problems, situations! And God’s still saying, «Here, take two steps forward and one step to the left.»
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord! Stand on one foot for ten seconds! Nine, eight—it’s uncomfortable—it’s not what I thought. I’ve been walking with two feet, but you’re going to tell me three, two, one. Everybody might not have understood it, but that’s where God said, «Now take that foot, don’t put it back down, and step forward.
Now rest there, rest here, because for the next six months, it’ll look like no movement. But what I’m doing is protecting you. I’m protecting you from the love of money because a lot of people are going to start throwing money at you, and if you step into it, it’s going to ruin what you prayed for. The money—I told you, seek first the kingdom and right standing, and all of this is going to be added. But I need you to stay right there, even though it’s available; even though you could go make a bunch; even though you could do what everybody else would do—I told you six months, and I’m going to put the bucket in front of you. Don’t move, don’t take any. Well, I’m about to lose my house—lose it. But obey me.
This is what it looks like to live a Christian life. This is walking in the ability to be available to the voice of God because what you don’t understand is when the nails and screws of life come to really ravage you, and the crazy thing about it is that the thing that can hurt you most is seeing the least. I can’t see those as much as I can see the money. I can’t see those as much as I can see the toys, but these can damage me way more. Run across there, run back—it doesn’t even matter if he steps on anything.
Let me say it like this: it doesn’t even matter if he steps on anybody; he can’t feel, he can’t feel. So you can go to the comments and talk about anybody because you don’t know what it feels like. You can write people off because you don’t truly know what it feels like. But at the moment Charles steps on anything in here, he will know what it feels like. This is why Jesus came to earth and downgraded Himself to humanity—because He wanted us to know that He knew what it felt like. He wanted us to serve a God who knew what it actually felt like to be despised, to be accused, to have them one day screaming „Hosanna“ and the next day screaming „Crucify you.“ Hey Charles, take two steps in the blank areas, and you may have to stay on your tippy toes.
Yeah, yeah, and get to the end and avoid the pitfalls of your life. No, no, no, no, come here because I want to use it as a testimony. So he just went through it, and I want you to step up here real quick. There may be something on his feet. Go, go, go to the camera and show them his feet. He does not look like what he’s been through. I’m preaching to somebody right here that needs to understand that God is telling you, „Here is holy,“ because He wants to take you into a space for His glory that when you look at what you’ve been through, your vulnerability before God, your ability to feel now has given you the connection point with people who’ve never walked through what you’ve walked through and with people who have. Moses’s job is to lead two million different people. He had to go through this wilderness so he could relate.
The wilderness wasn’t even for him; it was for who he would lead. When you stop worrying about your wilderness affecting you, you’ve been qualified for it to transform others. Here is—hey Brent, come here—just come stand up here. Can you show them what you’ve been through? Go ahead, put it on the screen. This is what many of us look like as we come to serve God, praise God, give Him our lives. You can have everything except my vulnerability. I’ve been hurt too much; I’ve got to keep protecting me. But do you know the crazy thing about this situation is that when you come into salvation, Jesus gets in a low position and He begins to untie you from all of the situations, things, patterns, everything you’ve been through, everything that’s tried to hurt you, everything that’s tried to make you embarrassed.
He takes the shame, and He takes the guilt, and He says, „You know what? You ain’t got to deal with that no more.“ And He said, „You may be ashy, because you’re ashy, and your feet might stink. Can somebody bring me some water please?“ But what God does—what God does when the world would humiliate you, when the world would make you feel like something, in the same platform that people tried to make you feel embarrassed—when they spit on you, then God will literally take you and, in front of everybody, lift up your feet. He will begin to wash. He will identify—I feel the presence of God with your affirmation—and He will clean up in a humble position with what the world said was humiliating.
Because here I am—come on, lift your hands all over the world. Here I am, God. If you tell me to take off my shoes, you tell me to get vulnerable, here I am. Here I am, God. I’m broken. I’m embarrassed. I don’t know what to do. Here I am, though; I hear you calling me. I’m not going to keep on my protection. I’m not going to act like I didn’t feel it. I felt it, and it hurt, but you said my steps are ordered by you. So if you told me to walk through this crap, here I am, God. When you say—listen to me—when you say, „Here I am,“ everybody say it, „Here I am.“ It is a declaration of availability. My little daughter Ava, she doesn’t know how to play hide and go seek yet; she loves it, though.
The reason why she doesn’t know how to play is she doesn’t understand that the point of the game is not to be found. So she’s little, and she gets great hiding spots, but if it’s taking too long for somebody to find her, or even if she hears you in the vicinity, she jumps out and says, „Here I am!“ And God says that’s how I want you to be, all here. When you feel me in the vicinity, don’t make me find you; jump out and say, „Here I am!“ While I was trying to deal with your pride, you didn’t even have to come search for me. I was prideful—here I am, God. I’m not going to hide. Yeah, there was wrong motivation in me doing that. I wanted to go on that vacation and take those pictures to stun on people—here I am. Change my motivation—here I am. Help me love people who hate me—here I am. Because I’ve never been disciplined in my life, but I’m going to finish this 21 days of prayer and fast strong—here I am.
When you say, „Here I am,“ say it one more time—here! It’s a declaration of availability. But when you take off your protection, it is a sign of vulnerability. You could hurt me now because my shoes are off. If I had to go through this, I would have to be very intentional on every step because I can feel. You either protect yourself or feel, but that means you don’t just not feel the lows; you can’t feel the highs. And that’s where God is saying you don’t get to live a full life if you can’t feel. You don’t live a life faithful if you do not feel. I had to feel what I felt this week to know how good God has been to me. Me feeling what I felt this week let me know how faithful He’s been in every season because I’m vulnerable enough to feel. I live a faith-filled life, and the just shall walk by faith.
What good is faith if you can’t feel? So it’s „Here I am"—availability. Take your protection off; check your soul—not just s-o-l-e, but the s-o-u-l—your mind, will, and emotions—the feeling. That’s vulnerability. And the last one—listen to this—is when you become aware of His presence. When you become aware of His presence, this is what I told somebody the other day: you don’t ever have to say again, «God, come fill this place"—He’s already there. It’s our awareness of God being there; it’s our availability, our vulnerability, and then it’s us being aware of what He is doing. It’s our awareness of His presence. «Here is holy.»
Would you stand all over the world? Just put your hands out in a posture to receive. What I want everybody to do—where’s my phone? That’s my phone. What I want everybody to do is this week—it’s going to take some vulnerability—but I want you to take your shoes off. Some of y’all can do it even right now. I want you to take your shoes off, and I want you to take a picture of where your feet stand, and I want you to declare. Some of y’all are going to go to your job, because that’s the place of your frustration, and you’re going to get in your mirror. I know this is unconventional; this is crazy faith. If you want something else, you can go somewhere else. But right now we’re declaring for our soul, mind, will, and emotion to line up. Your house has been a place of confusion.
I want you to take a picture, and I want you to declare, «Here is holy,» with all the dysfunctions. Put it back on my feet real quick— with all of the—look at that foot! There’s that toe in HD—I can put this phone under there, and it isn’t even touching! But that’s the only one I got; that’s the only pinky toe I’ve got on that left foot. I don’t want to get rid of it. I don’t want to amputate it; I still need it. Even though it may look dysfunctional, here with all my flaws, it’s holy. Hands lifted everywhere—holy hands sitting right here. Come on, in this moment, I want you to declare right here; come on, out of your mouth, sitting right here: «God, I’m surrendered right here. My words are weak; my words are weak. Your word is enough.»
Somebody say, «Your word is here! My faith is fading, my faith, but I still feel your love. You are loved right here. I’m exchanging my burden for yours.» Why? So I can hear. So I can hear. God, in this moment, you’re inviting me into a major calling. Somebody sing the second verse; say, «This is in this right here, this my anchor, my foundation. I’ve built my life on it.» 'Cause why? God’s ministering to somebody right now; He’s showing you the places where you need to get vulnerable. Stop waiting for something else to happen in the service; right now God is saying, «I want to meet with you right here!» Hands lifted right now—three more minutes said: «Why? Show me me! I’m available; I’m vulnerable, God—right here! You can do it! You can do the work right here!»
This is where I need everybody to get to a place where they run to God. The Bible says, «He that dwells in the secret place"—that’s a separate place, that’s a holy place. That’s not an Instagrammable place; that’s not a Facebookable place. That is a place. I had my friends tell me, he said, «Michael, you’re healing right now. You don’t have to teach people why you heal. You don’t have to show everybody everything while you heal.» This is a place where God’s going to reveal as He heals. That means I’ve got to call this place holy.
So I’m asking you this week as you watch this message back two or three times. I’m challenging everybody; there’s going to be new revelation every time you watch it—new revelation as I’m snapping my fingers. That’s how the revelation is going to come; you’re going to see your life at full throttle. You’ve got to watch this back at least two times this week because God is going to begin to reveal what He wants to do right here. But it’s about getting in His presence. Okay, look: «He that dwells». I’ll say it a couple more times—receive right here; He’s speaking to you right now! Hands lifted, everybody say, «Holy, holy, holy, safe, merciful.» Come on, somebody say, «Blessed, oh God! Holy, holy, oh God, we reference you right here!»
God, I’m giving you everything—Father, Son, Holy Spirit, thank God. 'Cause right here—I can feel you, God! Some of y’all got to leave, but this is a moment. Encourage them, Destiny, that their storm—come on out—worship team, come on! Our foundation is sure! Hands lifted everywhere—Father, here we are! Somebody say, «Here I am! Here I am!» Father, I did what You asked me to do today. Now I’m thanking You that this seed goes down into the hearts of Your people and You will reveal what it means for them—for their individual life, for their family—that they’ll be able to say, «I love it here because they’re loved here!» That they’ll be able to acknowledge by the end of this year, «You know what? That was the most set apart, that was the most God-ordained, that was the most strategic year of my life, because right here, here is holy.»
God, I thank You that Transformation Nation would mature this year, and we will become the believers to be modeled after, that people would follow us as we follow You. But Father, that means we’ve got to get vulnerable, and we’ve got to bring our feet, our situations, our vulnerability, our availability. We have to bring it to You and say, «Right here.» Just for every person who has never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, the reason I’m here today is to introduce you to our anchor—the One who is speaking through the fire, the One who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the One who’s in the middle with you. Man, I’ve been through some crappy situations in my life; God has been through every one of them with me is because I invited him in, and many of you are about to take this journey on another year of putting God as a priority in your life. I sprinkle Him on when I need Him; when the thrills of life aren’t hitting me right, I just put a little bit on.
God says, «I want to be the main course of your life; I want everything to fit around Me.» It was the greatest decision I ever made; it was a holy moment, a separating moment when I invited Jesus into my life—not for show, not because I felt I needed to do this to feel better about what I did last night. Not that I’m available now and vulnerable, but you can take everything; you can change me; you can renew me; you can transform me. You can take me from being a liar, a manipulator, someone who is addicted to pornography, a bad person with all kinds of evil things in my heart, had a car insurance fraud case against me, all this other stuff, and you could take all of that and give me a new life. Today, I’m telling you, as surely as I’m standing here walking through the fire, I would never want to take one step without Jesus with me.
Today, I want to give you the opportunity to take your shoes off, to get real in your soul, your mind, will, and emotions, and invite Jesus to be your personal Savior. That’s the first step; then He wants to be your Lord. When He’s your Lord, that means He takes on responsibility. That means He’s going to speak; you’ve got to obey; you’ve got to obey the steps. But then He takes full ownership, and He transforms your life in ways I can’t even imagine and tell you about. Today, I’m just living it. If you’re tired of walking alone, this is holy; this is your burning bush moment. This is the moment where God says surrender, and your response—not your reaction—but your response should be, «Here I am.»
Somebody say, «Here I am.» If that’s you, on the count of three, I want you to lift your hands because we’re about to say a prayer for the benefit of those coming to Christ and even rededicating their lives to Christ. Today, I feel in my heart this is going to be a demarcation moment for people. This will be a different time where everything changed in you on this day; I feel that so strongly. You’re going to mark this; this will be a marked date in your life. What’s today’s date? The 21st, 23rd? January 23rd, 2022. This will mark the day you stopped and heard God’s voice and said, «Here, it’s holy.»
Whenever you watch this on rebroadcast, all through this week, ten months from now, this is your moment; somebody say, «Here, it’s holy.» Here we go! If you want to give your life to Jesus Christ, one, I’m so proud of you; two, heaven is celebrating over just one person willing to give their life to Christ; three, lift your hand up in the air right now! There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people right now. Now listen, let me tell you, you’re in good company; y’all get ready to clap right here! Since January 1st, there have been over 4,200 people—oh, y’all missed it! —that declared, «Here!» Y’all better help me! In less than 23 days, over 4,000 people have said, «I’m giving my life to Jesus,» and here is holy! We are robbing hell right now in this moment. So if that’s you, let’s pray! At TC, we’re family; nobody prays alone, so we all pray this together for the benefit of those who are coming to Christ. Everybody just say:
God, thank You for seeing me here just as I am and giving me Jesus. Today, I believe that He lived, He died, and He rose again just for me. I’m vulnerable, so take me, change me, use me, transform me. I’m Yours. In Jesus' name, Amen.