Michael Todd - Cuffed to Convenience
I am grateful for everybody who is joining us in the third week of this series called «Cuffing Season.» Now, I want to go ahead and admit that this series causes a lot of, um, pain. If you’re actually listening to this series with your heart open, this one hurts a little bit. Okay, some of y’all are just watching like, «Let me see what’s about to happen.» Your heart is closed; it’s fine. Right now, I’m asking you to open your heart because, in week three, I just want to let you know the two past weeks were the warm-up. The level of revelation and clarity that God is giving me in this series about being cuffed to things that we love but that don’t love us back, the things we’ve been doing since we were young, the things we say and think are funny, but which are actually tearing down our future—uh-oh—the ideas that we embrace around our family and familiar people that are robbing us of the future God has planned for us.
We’ve been cuffed to things that are killing our calling, and so many people want to know God’s will for their lives and wonder, «What has God called me to do?» The truth of the matter is that many times, the answer is not in what you pick up; the answer lies in what you let go of. I just want to help somebody because a lot of people have been praying for God to do something, but God is asking you to let go of something. You don’t have enough room to receive new vision—uh-oh—you don’t have enough freedom from certain things to actually be able to invest in the next thing that God has called you to do. I believe it’s my assignment over this series, and I don’t know, we might do this series for real for 20 weeks; I don’t know, because the level of «C» words that I have that correlate with the Bible right now is tremendous. Do you hear me?
I am cuffed to everything because I keep seeing it in people’s lives, and I’m tired of the body of Christ losing battles. I’m going to say it to this side: I am tired of the body of Christ losing when the fight is already fixed. You are supposed to win this, but the truth is that many of us are cuffed to things that have become—let me say it in biblical terms—idols. See, an idol is not just a statue that people worship; an idol is anything that has taken the place of God. Okay, for some of you, you have idols that you’ve birthed, some that you live in, some that you drive, some that are celebrities. For some of you, it’s taken the place of God. When they say do it, you obey.
My mind—okay, let me stop. When they say lift your hands to give an offering, you pay a hundred-something dollars for the ticket. What do you all think they do at concerts? And every time you go in, everybody puts their hands up. What is this, the sign of surrender? Y’all, at every game when they score a goal, grown men with their shirts off, painted blue on one side, red on the other. He’s a lawyer during the week but a fanatic on the weekend. Doing what? Giving, serving, making time for in community—uh-oh—it has become an idol. What God is saying in this series is that this is a deliverance series, and I want you to cuff from everything that has been an idol in your life, everything that has taken My place. The truth is most of us don’t know we’re cuffed to it; it’s just what we think is normal, but it’s killing our calling.
So, through the rest of this series, I need everybody to buckle up. I’m just a messenger. I’m getting whooped with this from Tuesday to Sunday. God won’t let me get up here and preach anything to you that He is not taking me through in my own life. So today’s message hurt me before it hurt you, and I feel like it’s going to change you the same way it’s changing me. I want to be able to say that because I need to give pastors, leaders, and parents just a little more leeway. Leadership is just being one step ahead of somebody; it’s not having it all figured out, it’s teaching them what you just learned. Every parent that acts like they’ve known—there’s no manual when they give you your kid and send you home with them. You’re going to fail at some stuff, and I just want to let you know as a pastor, I’m going to fail at some stuff.
If you make me an idol, you’re in trouble. I know everybody wants to fan them, but please don’t put me in the place. I just gotta listen to the pastor. I’m like, «No, you need to listen to God.» Okay? You need to make sure that I’m just a vehicle here today; I could be gone tomorrow. I might go on tour with Fred Hammond. If he calls me, I’m out of here. No, I’m just fine. But what I’m saying to you is please be careful to put any man in the spot that only God can occupy. Today, the truth of the matter is we need to—everybody say «uncuffed.»
As we’re going into the summer, you know, the summer is the dumbest time. It gets hot; we start making irrational decisions. I don’t know about you, but when I get hot, I just ate, and then there’s more skin out, and then it’s just— it’s just like now sweet things that are cold seem a lot more appetizing. There’s just a lot of—when I was in high school, I made a lot of dumb decisions in the summer. It’s because I came out of structure. Even though I hated getting up for school and I hated going to classes and I hated doing all the homework, the structure, the discipline, the consistency kept me out of a lot of stuff I would naturally get into. But when the summer comes, if you didn’t have parents that created structure for you, sometimes you just make random, ignorant decisions. How did I start doing that? You knew it because people would change from the last day you saw them at school to the first day of summer.
Like Geraldo changed—know what I’m talking about? Taniqua is different; Susan is crazy different. A lot of times, we would be talking about development and all these different things, but the truth of the matter is they had an experience outside of structure that changed who they were. There are so many people in the church that have left the spiritual structure. You come to a physical structure, but you don’t pray every day. You don’t read your Word; you substitute spending time with God to listen to your favorite preacher on Instagram. You haven’t even listened to the whole sermon; you just took that one minute they clipped. That’s my word for today. That’s to entice you; that’s an appetizer to get you to go listen to the whole thing so you can have context.
Information or content without context will actually leave you in a catastrophic position. You like them seeds? What I’m saying to you is we have to get back to some level of structure in our spiritual life so that you have the ability to uncuff from things. What I found out about structure and this series, God is telling me to do the uncuffing. The truth of the matter is I’m just helping people come in because I have a real word for you today. This series is all about alignment; it’s all about bringing things that are out of order into order. I have a natural example of this. We showed a video today of a beautiful woman getting a brand new smile from a dentist, and that’s my dentist—Dr. T. Shout out to Dr. T.
This is his transformation; the church and the office are beautiful, and what God is doing through them is ministry. He is representing in culture, and it’s beautiful. Well, when I met Dr. T, the truth of the matter is I thought my teeth were great. I thought they were so great that when I released my first book, I put my whole face on the book smiling. Can you put a picture of «Relationship Goals» on the thing? This is my first book; I mean I am cheesing from ear to ear, and it wasn’t until I went to see Dr. T that he said, «Yeah, I saw something on your book.» Excuse me? Yeah, you saw greatness on the book; you saw the Lord on the book. No, no, he said, «No, no, I saw—» and then he pointed this out. Could you go in a little closer real quick? He pointed out that one of my teeth had gotten scared of my lips and started pushing in, and I never noticed that before.
It wasn’t until someone told me the truth. I was so confident in my non-braces that looked like I had braces because two people gave me that compliment when I was in ninth grade: «It looks like you had braces.» I said, «Yeah.» And for the rest of my life, I’m walking around just hanging, not realizing that somewhere around the 11th and 12th grade, one of them mugs was like, «I ain’t doing this, » and started pushing back in. I said, «So, Doc, what are we going to do? I don’t really do well with pain.» He said, «We’re going to bring your teeth into alignment.» Okay, so what he did was give me Invisalign. He said, «What I’m going to do is make a mold of your teeth where they are today, and then every month I’m going to tighten. I’m going to structure; I’m going to put a little pressure on; I’m going to make you a little uncomfortable so that you can align with what the vision is.»
The truth of the matter is this process worked for me, but there’s another process after the process, and this is the process where everybody messes up. Because after your teeth get straight, they say every night you need to be disciplined to put in what they call a retainer—uh-oh—which tells me that the level you reach has to be not just maintained; it has to be retained. I don’t care how old you are or how long you’ve been living this Christian life; God is saying you’ve got to put some discomfort on your spiritual walk so that you can stay in the place I put you in. Truth is, I haven’t put these in in a week and a half, and anybody that knows what happens when you take a break from being retained, it still fits, but it’s very uncomfortable.
Oh my God. Oh God, what I feel now compared to what I felt 30 seconds ago is uncomfortable; it’s changed my speech. It’s changed the way I feel; right now, I’m not thinking about y’all. It’s hard to be distracted when you’re in a season of restraint. It’s hard to be worried about what everybody else thinks. The reason I know people are in the comments commenting on everything is that you’re unstructured; you’re unrestrained. There’s nothing keeping you in the place you’re supposed to be, so you comment on everything, but you’re not committed to anything. What God is saying to some of us right now is, «Will you let Me put the restraint on you? Will you let Me make you uncomfortable in that relationship?»
Every time you have an argument, you say sorry first—clean restraint—or the Bible calls it meekness. When your kids come to you, don’t punish them because they embarrassed you; discipline them. Explain it to them, then sit with them until they get it, and then do something that takes it away or shows them a different path. But no more punishment! For some of y’all, that’ll be the hardest thing in the world because punishment is done out of emotion. You’re mad that they embarrassed you in the store because you’re actually insecure about being a parent, and you don’t want anybody to think anything bad about you; but you’re actually causing trauma for your kid that, at the end of the day, the only person in that store they’re thinking about is you and how you treated them and how they feel isolated from you, the only person that was sent to protect and cover them.
But you’re worried about the cashier that doesn’t care anything about you, and you’re talking about, «Don’t you do that!» «Don’t you touch that!» I’m in your business. And the truth of the matter is because you can’t exercise any restraint. And God is saying there are some things we have to come in here and uncuff from, and this is what alignment is. Alignment is when your commitment and your conduct are congruent.
So, where have you made a commitment that your conduct doesn’t match? It’s not congruent. God is saying to all of us in this room that everything you’ve committed to in your heart, it is time to make your actual conduct the same as what you say. And this is going to be rough because some of us lie all the time. «Where you at?» «Up the street.» «You haven’t left?» «Come on, let’s meet.» «Come on, y’all.» «You ready?» «Almost.» «What? You still have a bonnet on?» Somebody just needs to put your hand up if there are at least three areas in your life where you need your commitment and your conduct to line up. I need both your hands in the air right now. Lord, there they are, okay, Lord. And so that’s why we have to make a decision as believers to live comfortably uncomfortable.
I’m going to say this comfortably: get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Stop saying things like, «that just ain’t me yet.» Well, I’m not really good with people yet. I don’t know how to handle money yet. I don’t like small talk yet. Many times, what we’ve been accustomed to is keeping us from the next level of what God wants us to do. So I’ve made a decision, and as a church, we’re making a decision. The reason I’m going to keep preaching this series is that I’m going to make everybody here comfortably uncomfortable—that’s who I am. Here’s the thing: when I wake up every day, something is going to happen that makes me uncomfortable. You know when it really changes? It’s when you’re not waiting for something uncomfortable to happen to you, but rather, you put yourself in uncomfortable situations.
Do you know what kind of energy comes from the heavens when they see one of their children stepping out of their comfort zone, doing something they don’t naturally do? Remember what the Bible says: His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Some of you haven’t seen God’s strength because you’re not uncomfortable enough to feel weak, and you’re believing God for something He can’t help you with because you’re already strong in that area. You don’t need fresh oil there; you know how to handle that without Him. But to actually step out and start the blog, to write the book, to go up to your neighbors and witness, you’re going to need His strength in your weakness. That’s why we have to live comfortably uncomfortable.
I was talking to Bishop, who is 71 years old, and he told me to give a message to all the seasoned saints. He said there’s a difference between living a stressed life and being comfortable. I asked him to explain that to me, and he said most people, especially in their more seasoned years, are trying to get to a place where they’re comfortable. But at 71, he said, «I still have a calling.» He said, «My calling didn’t expire; it didn’t get old; it didn’t get crusty.» He believes he has sown enough seeds to not live a stressed life, but not living stressed is an entirely different thing than getting comfortable. He said, «Michael, I’ll never get comfortable because I’m going to finish and reach my calling.»
I started to think that this is what God desires for all of us, which means we cannot cater to our comfort. Everybody say, «I will confront my comfort!» You all didn’t even say that with any energy because you don’t want to lie to yourselves, but by faith, I want you to say, «I will confront my comfort!» One more time, say it with conviction: «I will confront my comfort!» You’ve just spoken something into existence that’s going to produce the greatest version of you, but now you have to do the work. This means you cannot cater to your comfort because catering to your comfort is not Christian.
Luke 9:23 says, «If anyone wishes to follow Me as my disciple, he must deny himself, set aside selfish interests, and take up his cross daily.» Everybody say, «daily.» This expresses a willingness to endure whatever comes and follow Me, believing in Me and conforming to My example—not just in speech, but in living. If need be, if the situation calls for it, suffering or perhaps even dying because of faith in Me. This is the call God has given us as believers, meaning we have to confront every bit of comfort.
Let me ask you a question: When you think of the word «cater, » what comes to your mind? Food? Somebody might think of Jeffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, who catered to that family. But when I looked up the word «cater, » do you know what it actually means when we cater to our comfort? It means to pamper your comfort, gratify your comfort, indulge your comfort, spend money on your comfort, prioritize your comfort, make time for your comfort, provide for your comfort, spoil your comfort, supply your comfort, and listen to this—minister to your comfort. This is the dictionary definition of «cater.» Minister means to attend to. Some of you are doing more ministry to your comfort than you have ever done to a person. But when you confront it, you flip the script. You defy your comfort, engage your comfort, oppose your comfort, resist your comfort, face off with it, stand toe-to-toe with it, and stand up to it. This is the faith attitude you have to have in this next season.
«Pastor Mike, why are you going so hard on this?» You will not be able to withstand your next blessing if you don’t develop the stamina. For many of us, this is a season where God is forming us on the back side of the mountain, and what you’re praying for—you’re not ready for. So God says, «I gotta get you to be uncomfortable.» Do you know how uncomfortable it is to know that you’re in your purpose, speaking every Sunday, and then having thousands of people judge what you say, writing critiques of what you did, what you wore? If I focused on that, it would make me step out of my calling. But I learned a long time ago to be comfortably uncomfortable with people talking about you. If you’re going to make a difference in anything in life, God is trying to fortify you for your actual future, and you are literally repelling it because it’s uncomfortable.
Some of you, it’s going to be uncomfortable to forgive; it’s going to be uncomfortable to go to counseling. «They don’t need to know my whole story.» Who does? You don’t even tell your mom everything about them or your best friend. Remember that weekend in Miami? What I’m saying is that it may be uncomfortable to face the truth. I need you to know that catering to your comfort is not Christ-like, but confronting your comfort, listen to me, takes courage. Today, I want to encourage you, because for some of you, you saw the messages, and some of you didn’t even want to click on today. You didn’t want to come to church because it’s like, «I feel the challenge, and I’ve had a hard week. I just want to cater to my comfort again.» And God’s saying, «I know it takes courage to do this. I know it takes courage to admit that there are areas that still need work. I know you spent a lot of time making a facade so no one would see it, but God is saying, 'I see it.' So today, I want to give you courage.»
I think Joshua 1:9 is fitting for this moment: «Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid of confronting this issue. Do not be afraid of saying 'I’m sorry.' Do not be afraid of telling the truth. Do not be afraid of saying, 'it hurt.' I acted like it was fine, but when you left, it actually hurt me, and I’ve never had a real friend since then because I thought you abandoned me.» God said, «Be encouraged; you don’t have to be afraid of that. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.»
Today, I want you to know that you can uncuff from things that have kept you from your greatest calling and that God will be with you wherever you go. Let’s go to the Bible. Last week, we were talking about David, who, in this particular story, God was displeased with him. Why? Because in the season when David was supposed to confront something, he was catering to his comfort. The Bible says that when the kings usually go to war, he was at home relaxing, and then he saw Bathsheba. He got compromised and, knowing she was married, slept with her. He then found out that he was the father and planned a great cover-up. He called her husband, Uriah, who was on the front lines, back to try to cover it up.
He told Uriah to go sleep with his wife. Uriah wouldn’t do it because he was committed to his calling. David sent Uriah back to the front lines, ensuring he would get killed, and he did. After Uriah was killed, Bathsheba mourned. After the mourning period, David brought her into the house and made her one of his wives. This is where Scripture picks up in 2 Samuel 11:26: «When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son, but the Lord was displeased with what David had done.»
For many of us, this is the moment where you will have to confront your comfort. Why? Because comfort is not the only thing that binds us. I’ve discovered that comfort has a twin, and anytime you’re comfortable, convenience comes along with it. Last week, we talked about being bound to comfort; this week, I want to challenge you, because many of us are bound to convenience. Anything that is easy is what we choose. Anything that doesn’t require much effort—that’s the choice: do you want to do it in 10 days or 10 hours? Ten hours? Why not? We don’t even consider what we lose by choosing convenience. We eat unhealthy meals from convenience stores; we grab fast food because it’s easier, while simultaneously praying for a miracle regarding our cholesterol and diabetes. But on the way home from the doctor, we think, «It’s too late to cook; I need something convenient.»
Comfort and convenience are killing your calling. I had to amend myself many times before coming here today. I don’t need no help; me and the Holy Spirit are standing firm because someone has to tell you the truth. You’ve been bound to convenience, and it’s killing your calling. God told me to challenge you because being bound to convenience always leads to conception. That day, David was comfortable. He saw Bathsheba, and she was convenient; they conceived and had a child—something that was never meant to be, because comfort and convenience came together. The truth is, if you have a calling, don’t expect it to be convenient. There is nothing God has ever called anyone to do that’s convenient. Ask Noah—do you think building an ark when it never rained was part of his business plan? You need to obey; it’s not going to be easy.
Some of you are in careers that you were never meant to be in; the only reason you’re there is that it’s convenient. «I have six more years until I retire.» God said, «I meant for you to make more money than you would ever make in retirement, but you’re spending those years building in a place I never called you to be.» You know why my hand is not there? Because I’m not there. Every time you keep praying for me, I can only provide where there is purpose. You’ve been thinking you were helping me because it was convenient, but it’s killing you!
Telling you, comfort is not Christian, and convenience is not Christ-like. This is why I have to live comfortably uncomfortable. God will ask you to give away something you want. Ah, golly, He’s trying to make you into His image. So, it will not be convenient when you actually have a calling. If your life is completely convenient right now, you are out of the calling God has for your life. All right, I’m going to prove it to you. Second Samuel, chapter 12 — we’re going to go to the Bible because some of you are looking real mad right now.
So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story. Listen to this: there were two men in a certain town; one was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle, but the poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day, a guest arrived at the home of the rich man, but instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb—the only one he had—and killed it to prepare for his guest.
David was furious. «As surely as the Lord lives, » he vowed, «any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole, for having no pity.» Then Nathan said to David, «You are that man!» I’m Nathan today, and I came to tell you the very thing you would be outraged at if it happened in someone else’s life. If you saw your friend, your cousin, or someone else, and you got outraged, saying, «I can’t believe they would ever say or do that, » you are that man. You are that woman.
There are two truths that I want to pull out of this to help us all because it wrecked me all week. The first point, write it down: the truth is uncomfortable. Nathan told David the truth for the first time. Dr. T told me the truth for the first time, and I was almost offended; it had the opportunity to change my life. There is a thin line between offense and opportunity. Many times we always talk about «my haters, » «these haters, these haters.» I hate when people talk about their haters because sometimes the haters are actually for you.
The people you are labeling «haters» are often the only ones with the courage to tell you the truth. You’re getting arrogant. How do these haters come up? No, there’s a stench of pride in everything you’re saying right now, but you won’t hear it because they don’t hate you. They don’t have what you have. If they were in the Gucci and the Louis and the bullying, you start making all these barriers for people to tell you the truth.
How many barriers have you put up to the truth? How long do people have to serve in your life before they can tell you something and you actually receive it? Some of us are so prideful that God would have to send a Nathan to tell you a story to make you outraged about it happening to someone else, then flip it on you and say, «That’s you.» How did you not see that you’ve been gossiping this whole time, but you hate them for gossiping? You do it with your family; they do it on Instagram. It’s the same thing.
How are you mad at them for not coming into work, even though you’re their supervisor, but you take an hour and a half break when it’s supposed to be 45 minutes? How? It’s incongruent. What has happened is that the truth has now become so offensive that people will not even entertain the thought of it possibly being able to impact their lives. This especially works for people who’ve had kids and their kids are out of the house.
Some of my older saints, you all are stubborn. I have to say it because people have been trying to tell you things, and your response is, «I’m grown.» That doesn’t mean you’re not making mistakes. You’re in debt up to your eyebrows, and you’ve been done with money. Now, when somebody tells you something else, your response to potentially the truth is, «I’m grown.» That doesn’t look good on you.
What you’re talking about is what I fit into? Huh? Look at all of it. We try to poke holes in people’s honesty many times and classify it as opinions. «Well, that’s your opinion.» So, everyone has an opinion, just like everyone has to go to the bathroom.
The thing I’ve started doing over the past five years and want to encourage you to do is whenever you hear something that is offensive, extract the truth and leave the hurt. Hear me: extract it! Is there any truth? Is there anything I’ve been blinded to? Is there anything you’ve been trying to show me? Is there anything you’ve been trying to agitate out of my anointing? Is there anything you’ve been trying to put friction on to smooth it out? Is there any truth to what you’re saying right now?
What I need to tell you is that the truth is never comfortable, but the truth can uncuff you. That’s why the Bible says in John 8:32, «Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.» It’ll uncuff you, and I’ve heard it interpreted this way: «Then you will know the truth, and the truth you know will set you free.»
It’s not enough to hear the truth; you have to know it’s the truth. Too many of you hear truth and will not even evaluate it long enough to see if it is the truth. David had descended. That’s why God had to send Nathan to speak to David and tell him the truth. That’s why we have the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit’s job, if you read the Bible, is to lead and guide us into all truth.
I know people don’t speak to the Holy Spirit because the truth of the matter is you don’t even see yourself. You are, let me just say it like this, you are so aware of everyone else but not self-aware. How are you so aware of everything? David was so passionate about this made-up story that he said that man should die and repay four lambs and couldn’t even see this was a story about him!
Why? Because comfort always clouds your convictions. When you’re comfortable, your convictions are cloudy. You don’t know what you believe. You don’t know when to pull it out. Do I believe in cursing people out or do I believe in turning the other cheek? When you’re comfortable, your convictions get blurry. You’re the youth minister of the year, but if somebody steps on your shoes—what then? Oh, you all have things. You better not sit up here and act like I’m the only one.
During your birthday weekend, you turn up every year! Why? Because it’s comfortable, and you have not learned how to reconcile the disappointment of where you are in your life. I’m going to just say it: you haven’t learned to reconcile the disappointment you’ve had in your life with where you actually are, and you’re kind of mad at God.
So, every time around the same area of your life, you start a cycle of getting drunk, hooking up with people, and going places you know you’re not supposed to go. It’s incongruent with who you’re trying to be all the rest of the year! But it’s a place of comfort. Can I talk to some parents? Your kids are grown; they need coaches, not parole officers.
If you raised me, the Bible says, «Raise a child in the way he should go.» But you have to give me an opportunity to pick myself up. So, if you’ve actually raised me, now you have to give me the chance to do what you’ve raised me to do. There are so many parents that are supposed to be right next to their kids during the seasons of their lives. What a privilege it is to be someone with both parents or a parental figure to walk with you through situations.
But the truth of the matter is, even when you’re there, most will not come to you because you haven’t learned how to separate the conviction you had when they were 12 from the conviction you have when they’re 32. I’m trying to really help some people. Our connection is not close anymore because you’re mean to them and treat them like they’re not adults. They pay bills!
Let me say, God, this is the burden of pastoring a multigenerational church. I feel both sides, and God’s saying, «I gave you a new conviction not to boss them around, but to pray for them daily.» Because you’re comfortable being a parent, I know he’s not going to bring that little girl over here and dab back together. She’s not in my house.
Why, every Thanksgiving and Christmas, do you act up? There are some of you who start this drive right now because this is your real situation. You have wisdom to pass to the next generation. The Bible says the older should give and impart to the younger, but your comfort of being the boss has now created separation.
It might be uncomfortable for someone to eat different food at the holidays. You’re not making the mac and cheese this year. I want to come down to this because you will be offended and mess up the entire day. They won’t see you again until Mother’s Day because you acted a fool. You’re comfortable being the boss.
I don’t care what’s going on in my house—he can get out! He’s been out, but you’re now pushing him out, and the woman he marries actually needs your wisdom. Okay, I got to get out of here because I’m being too real today. Like David in this moment where his vision is cloudy because he was comfortable, he had passion about the wrong thing.
There’s nothing worse than being passionate with poor perspective. Have you ever met someone who was passionate about the wrong thing? Like, that’ll never help you in life! Like, why are you so passionate about Pokémon cards? What? I’m just using that example because it came to my head. People have all the facts about something futile.
They have strong opinions but have never been through the same obstacle. Or they can call out others but have never had to care for anyone. David couldn’t see himself, and my question to you, which I had to ask myself because I’ve been cuffed to convenience, is: has your convenience clouded your ability to see you?
Everything is set up around how you want it, when you want it, where you want it, and how it feels good. «I don’t do that because I don’t have to.» Okay, but do you do it because you need to? These are questions that the Holy Spirit has literally been asking me to examine.
«Get up in the morning, Michael. Good morning! Good morning! Good morning! What are you doing today?» This is how my spiritual life has been, like, «Good morning! Good grace and mercy—new every morning! You ready? Okay, and don’t eat that!»
The Holy Spirit says, «You’re in training, though. Michael, I told you.» He said, «2023, you will be prepared for the blessings, the callings, the platforms, and the transformation I’m going to do.» But you never prepare on a platform. You never get on a platform and prepare. It’s always done in the dark!
Some of you, because you want to be comfortable right now, know you’re in a season of hiding. You know God has not blown it up where it needs to be. You know He’s somehow keeping the cap on things just to make sure you have enough time to develop what is in you so you don’t turn back. You are still choosing comfort instead of your calling.
This is what David did. First Samuel, chapter 12, verse 7. Y’all, this is so good to me. It says, «The Lord, the God of Israel, says, 'I anointed you king of Israel, and I saved you from the power of Saul.' You remember you were ducking Saul all those years? I saved you. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms! This sounds like I saved you from that broken home. I brought you into a different mindset. I surrounded you. I let you graduate college.
I let you get into that neighborhood. I provided those vehicles. I brought you into this community!» This is what He’s telling you: remember! And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Oh, it is a sad day when God says, «Now I’m about to hold back from you because you committed to comfort.»
What if the greatest thing that God wanted to do was not held up because you weren’t qualified, but it was held up because you were committed to comfort? It’s not even that you need to know how to do it. God is good at supplying every need! Needs, like you can’t talk. I’ll bring your brother Aaron. You’re like, I would! I’ll make it come out of nowhere. You’re like, that’s what God does! But if you’re going to sit back in comfort, He said, «I had so, so much more for you.»
Why then have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? Why did you cater to your comfort? I began to really get stuck there and ask, why? Everybody say, «Why?» Have you ever asked yourself why you do certain things? The truth of the matter is most of us don’t ask ourselves that; we ask other people, like, why would we? Why would we all just go and scab out Chris? All the conversations are speculation about why. I’ve had more conversations; I’m just using that example because everybody knows that. I’m using it as an example because everybody’s trying to figure it out. But you haven’t asked yourself, why do you keep getting into relationships like that? You’ve never asked yourself, why do you always shrink back when God’s already put it in you?
You’ve never asked yourself why you keep claiming to be shy when you’re not shy. We just end up rolling with what’s comfortable. Lord, help me help you, people. The truth of the matter is that the question «why» is a gateway to transformation. When I went on this journey of losing weight, the thing that sparked it—I’ve tried so many times. If I’m honest, I’ve tried so many. Today I’m not eating at all, just water. Y’all know, I don’t know if there are any people that go to the extreme. It’s like if the day before you were eating food, cakes, and burgers, and pizza, and then the next day it’s like nothing but air. For me, that was yummy; like, it was like, «What?» I’ve tried.
Do you know what flipped the switch for me? That is, I asked myself why I don’t ever complete what I started. It wasn’t even about the workout; it was deeper than that. When I started to think about the why, the reason David did this was convenience. But the thing that was deeper than that, Amberley, the core of it—that’s what I’m asking you to find. Nothing changes on the topsoil if you have a tree or a weed that’s growing. If you just pull it out, you ain’t done nothing because it still has all of the ingredients to grow. This is why you’re cuffed to it because it’s in the core. If we’re going to pull out the core of why we are cuffed to convenience, the only thing that I saw in this entire story, over and over again, is that he was cuffed, and the reason he did it was because of selfishness.
Convenience is fueled by selfishness. Comfort is fueled by self. If everything you do is about comfort and convenience, you are selfish. Hi, my name is Nathan, and I just came to tell you, you’re selfish. If you never do anything that makes you late, that makes you not have it how you want to have it, that makes you have to sacrifice—if you only do what’s comfortable and convenient, you’re selfish. There are so many spiritually selfish people, and you’re watching now. Hi. The truth is you could be up at a church serving right now, but you chose, «Well, Pastor Mike, you’re the only one to give me the word.» He’s the only one that you know what I’m saying? Most pastors would never say this because they want you to tune in.
I want you to transform. The truth is you can watch this all week; we post this every Sunday at five. You can have the same experience and make it your church time at 5:00 PM every Sunday. But the reason you’re not at that church right up the street from your house is because you’re selfish. They need you in the children’s ministry. They need you at the front. There’s a pastor right now praying for somebody with your skill set, and the only reason you’re sitting here is because of comfort, and you’re in your pajamas right now, eating your favorite bowl of cereal. You didn’t want to do your hair; you did not want to get out. You did it for the world all week, but you won’t do it for God’s people. This is what I’m telling you right now: if you are committed to comfort and convenience, you’re selfish.
Ding ding, round three! Here we go. Catering to your comfort is centered around selfishness. You don’t need to get paid for everything God’s placed in your hands. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I got Bible for this. Pastor Mike, bring the camera right here, come on, right here, because I got to talk to him. I’ve got to. The Bible says a workman is worthy of his hire. They need to hire me and pay me. The Bible also says whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might as unto Him. How many times does God have to place something in front of you that you won’t do unless the paper is right? There are things you were supposed to pay for out of your pocket that would have given you the connection for your next thing and purpose. But God could not even trust you with the simple task of using what He gave you because you’re selfish, and you are committed to comfort and convenience.
So now God has to literally allow tragedies to happen to get your attention instead of Him speaking to you and you obeying. If it ain’t about the paper, y’all better stop listening to all these rappers and all these people out here saying it’s about the coin. No, it’s about my calling. If God has told me to do something, and if He’s given me a burden for it, and if they don’t have the money to pay me for it, I will obey what God has called me to do because I am committed to my calling over comfort. Somebody say calling over comfort! For many of us, we want it to be convenient. David saw Bathsheba and could have had any other single woman in the kingdom, but the reason he took Bathsheba was that he was in a comfortable place, and he saw something that was convenient. «Go get her.»
Don’t go look for all of the beautiful women in the kingdom; that would take too much work. I’ve already seen what I want. «She’s married.» Doesn’t matter. «She’s got standards.» Doesn’t matter. «This would ruin my character. I’m the king. I’ve earned this. I’m comfortable, so give me what’s convenient, and we’re going to conceive something, and we’re going to act like God’s going to be pleased with us living comfortably and conveniently.» We’re going to post our Bible scriptures, but we’re not going to be an active member of any community or church. We’re going to hop from place to place. We’re going to do only things with our family that cater to us. Thanksgiving ain’t about nobody else; you ain’t bought a Thanksgiving meal for nobody ever.
We invite some people over; you got that big old house to entertain nobody. You prayed that God would bless you with that house for what? So you could take one picture with a key in front of your house with your realtor, and then nobody ever comes there? I got the keys! You need people, but that would be inconvenient to clean up after them. You got work in the morning. You know that kid needs a ride home from school every day, and you see him standing there with your kid, and you won’t give him a ride because you got things to do? Their parent can’t even be there for them because of unforeseen circumstances, but God sent you because you have just the right nature and just the right nurture. You could be. You don’t know who that little kid is and who they’re going to be and where the platform is.
God sent you into their life. Yes, when you stop and get your kid’s Chick-fil-A, you’re going to have to pay every day seven dollars for their Chick-fil-A too, and you better not complain about it because I gave you a raise at your job, and I blessed you so that you could be a blessing. But you won’t even be my hands and feet on the earth because you’re committed to comfort and convenience. Being comfortable is usually convenient, y’all. This is easy. I want to challenge you today: don’t do what’s convenient; do what’s a part of your calling. In our culture, we want everything convenient. We want a microwave miracle, but we serve a crock-pot God. God is cool with taking His time. You good?
All right, I’ll be back in the next three years. Just keep doing what I told you to do. And we say we’re singing, «I’m expecting a miracle. I’m expecting a miracle.» It’s a fresh miracle; there ain’t no fresh miracle coming. Obedience: stay right there. No, no, no. Your friends upgrade people you don’t know, but you see them on Instagram. «Mary, be obedient.» «Where are you, God? I feel like I’m in the desert; I’m lost without you. Where are you?» And God said, «I’m right here. I just asked you to do—remember, like it’s seed?» Uh-oh, some of y’all remember the message; it’s helped me see. So, time. We don’t know how long the time is, and there are too many people because you are cuffed to convenience and comfort. You don’t like the time.
You sing, «I’m going to wait on you, » but in the meantime, I’m gonna do what I do. Some of y’all got relationships; you should have never met the person you’re healing from hurts that you were never supposed to experience. Why? Because it was in the time. And we don’t serve a microwave God; we serve a crockpot. Okay, what’s your favorite food holiday? Yell it out at me! Put it in the chat! What’s your favorite holiday to eat? Help me! Thanksgiving? Christmas? Easter? What y’all do at Easter? I never heard that one. Usually, Thanksgiving and Christmas; those are the big ones. Okay, all my Christmas eaters, you like Christmas! Hands in the air, hands in the chat! All my Thanksgiving eaters, come on, hands! Dang, Thanksgiving.
Okay, Coco, what is the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving? The turkey! For some people, it’s chicken; for some people, it’s ham; some people, y’all got turkey, but around the world, it’s a turkey. Now, it’s crazy; in my household, we only got turkey two times a year. It wasn’t like unless it was like sliced turkey or something for a sandwich; nobody was cooking a turkey on a Thursday. That just wasn’t happening at my house. But we knew at Thanksgiving and at Christmas—whether it was nasty or not—there was gonna be a turkey on the thing. What I could expect every other day of the week was food when I got home from school that was convenient. Can I show you what I grew up on? This right here! My mama, like, «What is that? Something you didn’t cook?»
This was a hot pocket! Look at her; she tripping on the front! What about my brother’s? Y’all remember eating these hot pockets? Thank you, mama, for trying to be like, «That is not the truth!» Yes, it is! Hi, my name is Nathan; mom, we ate hot pockets! Okay? This right here with some ranch dressing, and the best part about a hot pocket is at the moment you got hungry, you could pull it out the package, hit that microwave, put it on one minute. See, there’s nothing like this little timer right here because this little timer gives me an expectation, and most believers want this little timer: «When am I getting married? When does it change? Okay, 34 more seconds? Okay, when I turn 30, yeah, yeah, I’m just gonna stay here. No, no, no, I’m just gonna stay here and wait until what God promised me is done.»
God has no visible timer, so what God does will never be as convenient as a hot pocket. He’s holy; He’s sovereign, and He wants you in…Does that mean what I put in is ready? «I prayed; God, I fasted; I gave in the crazy faith offering, so it should be ready by now!» We want to pop this thing open and hang on, «Run out, oh, to eat this!» I have to take out alignment. I have not eaten a hot pocket in probably 20 years. Don’t do it. What are you talking about? This thing is hot, and I’m hungry! Oh, this is convenient! I am hungry; I’ve worked out today; I deserve something to eat. But it would take me 15 to 20 more minutes to wait to get what’s in the back prepared for me or to eat what is currently convenient. Most of us, because we are committed to comfort—it’s nostalgic. I remember this. So many good days of watching «Hey Arnold.»
Y’all, I would watch «Hey Arnold, » put a bunch of Hidden Valley on this mug! Give me a shout! Y’all remember the fruit punch? Ain’t nothing like a cold fruit punch! That stuff, that was like alcohol to me! Oh my God, it’s still good! Let me help you understand something: it being convenient doesn’t mean it’s not good. Having sex, I don’t care who it’s with, God meant for that to feel good. Y’all see how quiet it just got right here? Doing things in secret and getting away with it? To our flesh, it feels good. How do you know? You could do the same thing with the person who wants to do it, and it don’t feel the same with the person you’re in covenant with. It don’t feel the same.
You get a better high out of sneaking and telling them you’re going to give your friend twenty dollars because the wrong guy’s stuck on the side of the street in Bixby, sneaking over the old girl’s or old boy’s house. Making it…there’s something—oh, you’re cuffed to the climax! Yeah, I’m gonna do that series too because you’re chasing a high that God never promises you because it’s not holy, and you’re trying to feed something that will never be satisfied. I don’t want to get up here and preach to you that the things that your flesh like don’t feel good. They’re just not good!
Okay, who come close? What is this? Have you ever opened up a hot pocket? What they said, «pepperoni» on the thing, but actually like—what is that mush? What is that thing? Like, what am I actually eating? I don’t even ask, and I don’t even care what’s nourishing me because it is… Everybody say it with me: convenient. But do you know what would make me very upset? It’s to come to Thanksgiving. Y’all know what would piss me off? Sometimes you got to prepare for Thanksgiving like you don’t eat certain things the day before. Preparing…there are two things that would make me mad: if I came to the Thanksgiving dinner at the Todd household, and there was no turkey, no dressing, no mac and cheese; it was just a stack of hot pockets. I would be livid!
You know the other thing that would make me mad is if somebody tried to cook the turkey and took something that’s supposed to be in the oven for a certain amount of time and decided, «Let’s do what’s convenient, » and they put the turkey in the microwave. How long do you cook a turkey in the microwave? For real, put it in the chat. I need your help. How long do you cook a turkey in the microwave? Three minutes? Three minutes? That’s what I heard from the crowd. So, when I hear things from the crowd that I didn’t hear from the manufacturer, which one am I going to listen to? Somebody said, «Cook the turkey for three minutes, » while others said «seven to nine minutes.»
What am I supposed to do? I’ve already committed to three minutes, and they’re more popular than you, and they have more followers than you. I actually like their aesthetic, how they look, how they worship, where they live, and where they take vacations. So, I’m going to listen to people who are not qualified because it’s comfortable and convenient? Well, I can’t wait to see what type of salmonella is on this pizza. Look at it! I put my own timer up here. Oh, you see what happened? I set the timer so many times. Convenience is what we choose because we set the timer. So, God says something, and we say that’s uncomfortable and not convenient. I’ll do this thing that looks like it’s actually working, set the timer and just wait, act like everything’s good, and act like God is blessing, and sing, «Heaven bless, bless, bless, » while God’s saying, «Why have you committed to convenience when it tastes so much better when you would experience something completely different if you just committed to doing what is—everybody say—uncomfortable?» Yup.
Convenience is usually a counterfeit, y’all. Anything that’s convenient usually ends up in a counterfeit. Catering to what’s convenient—write it down—is always going to have consequences. My microwave turkey now needs to feed people, no matter if it’s done or not. This was intended to nourish people, so it’s going to be consumed by others no matter how I prepare it. Your kids didn’t pick you, and if they could have, they would have sent you back. If you live your life inconvenienced, the turkey’s done. Let me get the presentation together. Yes! Does anybody have a knife? I need to carve this. Look at that. This is what we present to God—ready to preach to the nations—character undercooked. You can still see it; it’s smoking hot. They’re popular; they got views, but still bleeding on the inside!
I know I’m cold. Yeah, the potential is here, but you’re still underdeveloped because you were committed to comfort and convenience. God is challenging me to tell you today that this is unacceptable now, knowing what He’s placed on the inside of you. If you want to stay cuffed to this, this is what you want your marriage to look like? See, the truth of the matter is—listen to me, listen to me, listen to me—this has a calling to feed, but underdeveloped, it will make the very people they are called to feed sick. It would be better for some of y’all to stay frozen than to come out full of convenience and comfort. Does anybody want to buy? I’ll pay somebody a hundred dollars; so, this is the truth of the matter.
What is supposed to be appetizing is repelling because it was committed to convenience and comfort. Can you bring me the done turkey? Yeah, I don’t even need the plate. I’ve been hungry! Who made this dish? Brent, come here! Where’s Brent? Scotty, come here! Bella, come here! Come here, Bills! Come on, my baby; she likes to eat with me. Taste this. Tell me if it’s good. Just bite it—bite it like a little monkey. That’s good, huh, Brent? Come taste this! You taste that? That’s the bomb, ain’t it? Daddy, come taste it, y’all! Today is my daddy’s 67th birthday. This, your birthday present? That’s the—no, well, that example’s over. Oh no, it’s good! That turkey, for real, no cap, is the bomb! It was prepared by a master griller. It was prepared by someone who knew just the right temperature to keep it at and what seasonings needed to go in it.
What I’m pointing out is the friction that had to be put on it; it had somebody who knew exactly—watch this—what fire it had to be in. It had to be put in heat. Some of you, what you are going through is necessary for you to be fully developed in the calling God has. Stop praying away what God has given to make you! Sometimes, it’s the fire that develops the flavor. Boy, I’m preaching up here; I don’t care what none of y’all say! This is finger-licking good! Hear what I’m saying to you? We would have never experienced the flavor. Doesn’t the Bible say, «Taste and see»? People are tasting you, and you’re nasty because you’re committed to comfort. When you’re committed to that—listen, I gotta end—catering to what’s convenient always has consequences.
Listen to the consequences. After David makes this move, 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 10: «From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me—not even Uriah or Bathsheba—by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own. This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you.» Y’all know Absalom and all his children taking his throne? It didn’t have to happen. Absalom was born into a cycle that had God’s protection off of it. He didn’t have any restraint, so he came after his daddy’s throne. It’s not because of what Absalom did; it was David’s fault. He was on the run. Everybody’s preaching about the Absalom spirit; the Absalom spirit—it was his daddy who let it in.
Some of the stuff that you see in your kids, and you’re acting, «Where did that come from? How did that happen? I’ve never been that.» You let it in—not by your commission, but by your omission. You can disobey God by doing something and disobey God by not doing something. Some of y’all should be in church, serving, helping your community, but you’re comfortable and convenient. He said this is going to affect your kids because they were supposed to see service at a different level. They were supposed to learn what it meant to give, sacrifice, and do that. Absalom was born into the result of his daddy making this mistake. It was his consequence. He said your own household will rebel against you. «I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes.»
Now wait, hold on! Let me help you some more. «He will go to bed with them in public view. I’m going to make what you did in private happen to you in public.» This is real life! Luke 6:38: «Give, and it shall be given back to you, good measures.» Nobody wants to preach it like this—"shaken together and pressed down.» Verse 13: «Then David confessed to Nathan, 'You know what? I’ve sinned against the Lord.'» He had really been doing some self-evaluation. Nathan said, «Duh!» But this is the grace of God. Before Jesus, you got to see it in the Old Testament; there are types and shadows of what Jesus would become for all of us. Thank God that God isn’t putting decrees out like this because of the blood of the Lamb and Jesus being there as our advocate.
Some of y’all need to take two minutes and thank God for grace! Because some of y’all would have stuff taken away from you in public. Y’all not even excited about what God has done through Jesus. This is why we celebrate! This is why we worship, because our actions and our consequences do not match because of Jesus. But even in the Old Testament, He’s showing a type and shadow of Jesus. He said, «I’m going to let these consequences happen to you, but the Lord has forgiven you.» So, my forgiveness and my consequences don’t cancel each other out? No! This is why it’s better to live uncomfortably and do the things beforehand to stay in alignment, because God can forgive you, and you still have to go through the consequences. Go sleep with somebody else outside of your marriage bed.
It’s okay; you’re going to still go to heaven if you repent and ask God for forgiveness, but you probably won’t be going back to that house. Many times, we think God is not good because our consequences are not good. I gotta help your theology right there: the fact that you’re still alive and you’re not dead because of your sin—like when you did that—that’s one of the Big Ten! That’s one of the Ten Commandments! «Thou shalt not commit adultery"—that’s one of them! So, when you do that one, He said, «I’m not going to kill you; I just need you to go back to Jesus.» But it’s going to be a lot of work, a lot of truth, a lot of trust-building to go back to that family.
A lot of people give up when they should fight for their family. Man or God, you made a mistake, but that’s not who you are; that’s what you settled for when you were comfortable and committed to convenience. You need to fight for it. But the reason you’re not fighting for it is that you’re not conditioned to be uncomfortable. When you’re in the house, and she doesn’t give you a kiss because all she saw was how you walked in the house before, and it seemed normal, but stuff was happening in the background—now you’re really trying to do—and she’s like, «Get off me! You’re not going to disrespect me!»
Tomorrow, you disrespected her, and she’s trying to heal from a wound that you won’t even go to counseling with her to talk about. Am I being too real right now? At the end of the day, you will not be in a comfortable position probably for the next decade if you fully commit to fighting for the family that you know God gave you. You know that’s the wife that makes you better. You know those children’s worlds will be shattered if you walk out of this situation, and God’s begging you to commit to being comfortably uncomfortable! All you can do is talk about how you’re a grown man and how you can go out and get whatever you want to. You’re about to destroy your calling over literally pride or selfishness.
This is why all through Scripture, God is telling you to do—deny your flesh, kill your ambitions, stab all of the things that you want that don’t benefit anybody else. That’s all He’s telling us to do! The Word—why? Because if you’re not cuffed to convenience and comfortability, you will be one that reaches their calling! The comfort zone is where culture tells you to get to, but the comfort zone is where callings go to die. If you’re trying to get to the comfort zone, say bye-bye to your calling. Could you put the comfort zone up there? Because some of us are so cuffed to convenience; we just want people to see it. Yeah, this is where we want to live! It’s comfortable here; I can be seen here!
And God says, «Now go after the things that I’ve put in front of you—living a blessed life, being generous.» Just reach out and touch it. With all my might, I cannot reach it while still standing in the comfort zone. I really want to live a blessed life, but I gotta tithe and honor God, and that’s outside of my comfort zone. I really want to give to people, but I don’t have enough! But you could start with ten dollars a week that you spend on Starbucks—really for the picture! You don’t even like it, but you’re committed to the comments and cuffed to it. Maybe I’ll do a series on that! God said, «I need a church that will start stepping out of their comfort and convenience.»
Yeah, yeah! One step in the next direction. Oh, I want to be spiritually healthy. I want to be physically healthy. You cannot reach either one of those! As much as I stretch, I’m going to end up falling trying to maintain my position and comfort while going after the things. God’s saying, «Just step out! Step out of what you’ve been in! Just get uncomfortable!» Like, «I want to be spiritually healthy.» Put it back on these screens right here. «I want to be spiritually healthy!» Step out into it and then walk over here and get physically healthy. Then it makes you want to walk back over here. Step over the comfort and give and get spiritually healthy, and then it makes me want to step over the comfort and go back and get physically healthy!
See what happens is you are now turning a discipline into a desire. Everybody wants to desire it. It never starts out as a desire; it starts out as a discipline. It’s why I get up in the morning and I go work out, and then I go and I read my Word and I pray and I worship, and then I go back and I do my meal prep, and I walk, and I’m recording my steps! God’s saying what you’ve now committed to is going to be something you desire, and now what was used to be a dread, frustrating, hurtful becomes something that you know is making you better! I’m better uncomfortable, but that means I’ve got to divorce the comfort zone. Put those last ones up there—there’s a big one. I want to be an active father, I want to be an empathetic mother. This requires me to step out of my comfort zone, shaped by how I was raised.
I abused kids because I was abused, but my children know I’m there for them. They have the latest JAYS and everything they need; I have to work to provide for them. God asks me: «Would you step out of your comfort zone? Would you earn ten thousand dollars less a year for a lasting relationship with your children?» Doing so means I would have to renounce my confidence to wear those JAYS all year. My junior will be fine because I’m present, and I can teach them things they may not know. You get to coach them up, but that means stepping out of your comfort zone. Your daughters need you, yet you maintain a hard exterior to protect yourself from your baby daddy.
Every time you see your children, you see him instead, and because you haven’t dealt with the trauma he put you through, you’re using it as an excuse, creating barriers to empathy with your children. God says, «Tell them my experiences too. Tell them Mommy wasn’t always who they know her as; share the real story.» Avoid the sanitized versions—everyone makes mistakes, but tell them what you did, how it made you feel afterward, and how God redeemed you. Stop sanitizing what God saved you from. Listen to me—they’re going to find out anyway! Anything my parents tried to shield me from, I eventually uncovered, usually from the wrong person, not from a pastor or someone thinking from a godly perspective, but from people trying to pervert my thinking. What I’m saying is, could you step out of your comfort zone?
The last point I forgot to mention is that fulfilling purpose and making a difference can only be achieved outside of your comfort zone. You will never make a difference in this world if you stay in your comfort zone, and you will never fulfill your purpose by remaining static. So today, I’m asking you to step out of the dark and into a new level of light. I challenge you to confront comfort and convenience. Some of you have been chained to convenience, and I will provide very practical ways God uses to confront it—write them down because we’re going home.
Number one is community. You need a Nathan. If you don’t have a Nathan in your life to tell you the truth, you’re going to be in serious trouble when it comes to reaching your calling. Ecclesiastes 4:9 states, «Two are better than one, for they have a good reward for their labor. If they fall, one will lift up his companion; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.» The second thing God uses to help you confront your comfort and convenience is you focusing on your calling. Concentrating on your calling helps you think less about comfort and convenience. If David had kept his calling in front of him and gone out to war, he wouldn’t have faced these issues. This reminds me of Nehemiah, who, while building the wall, disregarded distractions, saying, «Please don’t bother me right now; the work that I’m doing is too great.» For many of you, the greatest discipline can stem from a calling from God that distracts you from convenience. What you don’t need is something new—you need to be distracted by what you’re supposed to do.
God employs your calling to keep you focused. Concentrating on your calling helps you avoid compromise. Number three: You need to commit to covenant. God uses covenant, especially the covenant of marriage. Marriage is one of God’s greatest tools to challenge your comfort and convenience. When you marry, it’s a commitment—you should approach your vows as though someone is asking, «Are you ready to endure for better or for worse?» Because the truth is, don’t get married if you’re not ready to sacrifice. I heard Levi Lusko say something profound: «How do you know you’re with the right person? Choose someone you’re willing to suffer with.» Because that encapsulates marriage; you can’t hide anything. You might deceive co-workers and claim you brushed your teeth, but your spouse knows for sure.
God uses the institution of marriage to dismantle selfishness. Do you know how many times I have to turn off lights, adjust the thermostat, or find the remote? I was comfortable in bed, but you forgot to set the alarm. While I’m the man, I sit confused because you’re the one asking for help. To those of you who aren’t married, this might not resonate yet, but once you marry, that core of selfishness will be challenged in covenant. For all my married folks who feel uncomfortable—it’s a process. I thought after 15 years things would be easier, but they’re just different; you’re no longer married to who you were 15 years ago. Yet, you stopped committing to the calling of serving, protecting, and loving, despite body changes or midlife crises.
When things get uncomfortable, it’s working! God will use those feelings to ask: «Bring that to me.» The next point God uses is that He allows those in covenant relationships to cultivate children. Cultivating kids is one of God’s most essential tools to eliminate selfishness. Raising kids is often thankless, with unappreciated day-and-night effort. Have your children ever fallen ill on your day off? Have you had to wake up in the middle of the night to clean up after them? Some of you avoid exposure, but trust me—kids embrace the unhandy nature of parenting. You’ll only understand the love of God by nurturing a child.
When I became a father eight years ago, my understanding of God transformed. The way my wife and I attentively respond to our children’s cries reflects a Father who listens and cherishes every tear. So there needs to be a re-commitment to parenting. If you commit to being entirely unselfish in that area, how you perceive comfort and convenience can change drastically.
I’ve got two more points before we conclude—I’ll give you one more. Your connection to Christ is the greatest tool God uses to confront your comfort. When you connect with Christ, He says, «I love you. I believe in you. I’m going to use you.» Ideally, at salvation, you should tell people: «Hey, I’m God. I love you and have had a plan for you since you were formed in your mother’s womb—a plan to prosper you and not to harm you. You’re to be used mightily, but first, you need to die. Are you prepared to die to your flesh, your wants, your preferences?»
How can you serve Christ while clinging to convenience or comfort? Many have misled the church—the act of attending church doesn’t equate to transformation. If you visit a place and aren’t changed, it’s merely exercise. Today, I ask the church to break free from convenience that steals your calling.
My favorite scripture? Philippians 2:13: «For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.» This scripture has guided me through every uncomfortable moment of my life to date. If I’m in a comfort zone and yearn to step out, dealing with addictions and trauma, God says, «Bring it to me.» I know change will be uncomfortable, perhaps inconvenient because yes, steps might require confession, counseling, and service. But God will give you both the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. I never need to approach anything thinking I must have everything figured out to complete it.
How did I become a pastor? By stepping out of my comfort zone. God says, «I’ll provide both the desire and the power to do what pleases me.» Today, I stand here because I stepped out of convenience. I’m comfortable making music, directing behind the scenes, and began as the sound man. God said, «Great, are you now ready to die? Step out of the sound booth, and I will make you comfortably uncomfortable.» Is it convenient to prepare a message every week? No, especially if I’m sick or if my wife and I aren’t aligned. Regardless, God equips me for my calling. A decision not to remain in the comfort zone is vital.
I feel like God is trying to reach out and pull some people out of all that’s been convenient. It’s been easy to rely on the same six scriptures you’ve known since 1972. God wants to give you fresh oil, which requires more time in His Word, more time waiting on Him. Are you willing to allow this new wine to go into old wineskins? Otherwise, it will waste everything. This generation needs you, but you’re too comfortable!
Today, I urge everyone bounded by convenience to break free, to uncuff yourself. If you recognize an area in your life where convenience has held you back from fully embracing your calling, if you’ve languished in the comfort zone, make a step of faith right now—whether you’re at home, on the track, or with your kids. Stand up, and this is not for me to see but for God to see. You’re moving in faith right now. Thank you, Lord! There are many people standing right now. In the end, this isn’t about me. When truth emerges, and you fail to recognize it, you cannot be set free. So, people will ask God: «Why didn’t you fulfill what you promised?» It’s not because He didn’t act; it’s because when Nathan arrived, you disregarded the message intended for you. Y’all okay, cool. I’m just letting you know that today God is giving you a chance to uncuff. Would you take the position of surrender right now?
All over this world, Father, there’s nothing I can do or say in my power, but Your Word says that You will give us both the power and the desire to do what pleases You. Today, God, we’ve been cuffed to convenience, and Father, we have set our lives up to be too comfortable in areas that You may be calling us out of, trying to make a calling blossom. So today, I’m praying for every one of my brothers and sisters. I’m asking You to do what You did for me this week: allow me to make a fresh commitment to You, that whatever You say, wherever You call me, whatever You want me to do, Father God, here I am. I’m Your servant, and I will allow my commitment and my conduct to align. Father, I thank You for doing the core work that needs to happen right now, where there’s pain, hurt, trauma, and the things we developed, Father God, just to make it. God, all of those areas that are no longer serving us, I’m asking You to expose them right now in the name of Jesus. Father, I thank You that You’re revealing the roots of these issues right now.
Come on, I need you to begin to ask the Holy Spirit, «Show me, God. Show me every area that I’ve been cuffed to convenience.»
Father, whether it’s in my eating, whether it’s in my habits, whether it’s in my speech, whether it’s in my work, Father God, whether it’s in my parenting or my business, I thank You right now. Father, that people in Your presence are becoming uncuffed. God, I’m asking right now that we would wait on You, that we would take the timer off of what You’re doing in our lives, and we would actually allow You to perform the miracle inside of us that may take some time. I bind the spirit, Father God, that makes us feel like we’ve missed our moment. Yep, there it is. I bind the spirit of comparison that tries to make us think that if we don’t see something moving right now, somehow we missed it. God, I thank You that this idea of convenience is not from You, and You would help us embrace confronting our comfort. God, I don’t want to tie this up in a bow, acting like everything’s done. I’m asking You, Father God, right now to start the work.
Yeah, just tell God, «You can start the work. You can.» Start it on me. You can start, God. I’m here; I’ll do whatever You say. Start the work. We’re uncuffing from convenience today. Oh God, I feel Your presence, and for everybody that was about to give up, God is saying, «My promises are still true. My promises always come true, not depending on me but relying on You. Your mercies are new every day.» So what’s your response? «I will trust You.» Sing that. «Your promises always come true.» Not depending on Him, He’s giving you the desire and the power. «Your mercies are new every day.»
So I will just say that again: «I will trust You.» Say, «I will trust.» Come on, hands lifted right now, because that’s what it’s going to take to give up convenience. You’re going to have to trust the Creator. «This job ain’t serving me right now. This relationship is getting on my nerves.» But God is saying, «Trust me; I’m the Creator. I’m the one that will curate it.» Somebody say, «Hey, I feel God starting to do a work right now on the inside of His people all over the world. We’re uncuffing from everything that’s been comfortable and convenient.»
Come on, we’re going to lift that up: «Your promises always come true.» Lift that up and believe it. God is saying, «My promises always come true; believe it by faith.» God is on Your Word. Come on, somebody respond and say, «Come on, this is us!» Come on, You’re bringing it together, God. You’re not always when I want You, but You’re right on time. Today, God is starting to do something. I see You on a surgery table and God’s starting to do the work on your heart. This is what you’ve been needing all year, and God says, «Here I am; I’m going to do the work, but don’t get up while I’m operating. This is open-heart surgery. Don’t jump up and try to be in everything. Don’t try to move like you were moving yesterday. Let me heal you; let me make you whole.»
And the first way to be made whole is to invite the Great Physician into your life. His name is Jesus. And I’m one of the most broken people in the world without Christ, and what I did was invite Him in. He came into my weakness and transformed me. He took me from being someone who was a liar, a manipulator, and addicted to pornography, who had all kinds of very dark things in my heart, trying to figure out life from culture and Christianity, and not knowing what to do. So my commitment to Christ and my actual conduct were not congruent. I was double-minded in all my ways, unstable, and I was hurting people in the process. There were all kinds of things, and when I came to God, He said, «Michael, this isn’t going to be comfortable or convenient, but it’s going to allow you to reach your calling.» And I said, «Sign me up, because this other stuff ain’t working. I’m tired of this.»
And some of y’all have that same sentiment. You’re tired of how it’s been going. You’re tired of feeling like the weight is all on you. You’re tired of trying to come up with a plan and having it fall through. And God says, «Could you give me a try? I want to transform you. I want to take all of your pieces and turn them into a masterpiece, but you’re the only one who can let Him in.» So today, I believe this message. Many people have not given their life to Christ because you didn’t want to be inconvenienced. And today, I’m just telling you that convenience is such an illusion. God is saying, «I want you to reach your calling. So invite Me in, and I’ll take what you have and do way more with it.»
If that’s you and you want your eternity to be satisfied, situated, stable, and aligned, today I want to give you the opportunity to receive the greatest gift. His name is Jesus Christ. I need the church to start praying because there are people right now; there are years of comfort that are warring. Some of y’all are like, «I’m not fake. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it fully.» And you’ve been at that place where you’ve been worn down because you know God is calling you, but you don’t want to do it if you’re not going to be real. And God said, «Today is the day of salvation. This is the moment. I’ve aligned the whole thing. Don’t leave this moment. He’s waited on you.»
Today, God wants to give you the opportunity to come into a relationship, a covenant with Him. So if that’s you, on the count of three, I want you to raise your hand. I don’t care where you are; I don’t care who’s around you. You’re going to have to be a little uncomfortable and be bold, because God wants you to claim Him. He wants you to experience His goodness as you display His goodness to others. So one, you’re making the greatest decision of your life. Two, I’m telling you, I’m proud of you, but more than that, your name is about to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Three: If you want to give your life to Christ, shoot your hand up all over the world right now.
I see and know that there are hands going up all over. We’re going to clap in a minute, but we’re about to pray now for the benefit of all of those hands. I believe there are thousands of people. This year, how many people have given their life to Christ this year through Transformation Church? How many? 15,000 plus people. Oh, y’all, I don’t know what y’all came to do. Fifteen thousand people, and that’s just the ones that we know of! God is doing a work, but it’s happening one person, one soul, one life at a time. And today is your day at Transformation Church. We’re family; nobody prays alone. So I want everybody to pray this prayer for the benefit of those who are coming to Christ. Everybody say:
God, thank You for sending Jesus to uncuff me. Today, I’m asking You to be my Lord and Savior. I believe You lived, You died, and You rose again with all power to uncuff me from all of the chains. Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m Yours. In Jesus' name, amen.