Michael Todd - Cuffed to the Comments
I want to welcome everybody to week seven of a series we’re calling «Somebody Say Cuffing Season.» Y’all doing all right after last week’s message? Somebody said «nope.» Last week, we taught a message called «Cuff the Cake,» and I spoke on a topic that many of us heard for the first time. I delivered an almost two-hour message on gluttony, and um, silence fell over the building. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being «I killed it,» how did you do this week? I didn’t step over the bite like I really heard the word, took it to heart, and acted on it. Ten being «I killed it» and one being «oh, it was almost like I didn’t hear the message.» Tell me what number you got; put it in the chat. Were you at one, or were you at ten? Somebody said seven, where were you? Seven? Six? Somebody said, «I was a three, Pastor. My father saw the Holy Spirit!» Three, okay, ten! Somebody said, «I killed it!» Garrett and Kalen all week! I want to reiterate that this message, and none of them, are spoken in the spirit of condemnation; they’re in the spirit of conviction. Replace the lie with love.
At the same time, we are called Transformation Church. If you hear all these messages and do the same thing, you have a hard heart. I need to say it; the Holy Spirit’s knocking at the door of your heart, but you’re barricading your soul in because you don’t want to change. I’m praying that your heart would soften so you could receive God’s word. I’m so proud of Transformation Nation! I saw people going to the gym who haven’t been since they were 10 years old. I’ve seen people walk past McDonald’s and literally pray instead of getting the whole McFlurry! I went to get my son some french fries, and the woman at the counter said, «Are those fries for you?» I said, «Ma’am.» She replied, «I just finished watching Cuff the Cake!» In the devil’s playpen—McDonald’s, where she works—a person said, «I was tempted by Cuff the Cake, the cookies, the custard,» and she started going on and on. I said, «You’re making it.» She said, «Not really, but it’s making people watch this word reconsider.»
It’s hard to repent if you never reconsider. The church always tells everybody to repent, but what if I like what I’m doing? The first step to repenting is just reconsidering; maybe it’s not better to sleep with all these people. My dad told me this was wrong, but maybe it is more manly to love one woman for years. We have to stop chastising people when they’re in the process of reconsidering. That’s why the church encourages: «That’s good; you’re going to make it. Next week will be better; this week, that’s who we are as the church.»
I heard this testimony and this story on Instagram, and I have to share it. This young lady posted this morning, «As you all know, I’ve struggled to lose weight for a long time, and if I’m being honest, it’s because I have an unhealthy attachment to food. Last week I weighed an amount that made me distraught. Then I watched I Am My Todd and Transformation Church teach about gluttony, and it changed my whole mindset.» She said, «It changed my whole mindset on how to intake food.» One of the many important points made was that «the bite over is sin,» you know, eating until you feel nasty full. So I’ve been asking the Holy Spirit to give me the strength to eat and not overdo it. I praise God to say that I did not overbite all this week and I’m down 10 pounds! Hey, Jennifer from Transformation Nation, just wanted to say we’re so proud of you! Can y’all let her hear it real quick? This is your family!
Hey, that’s right; that’s our church—we celebrate with you! To help you on your journey, Jinjin, me, and Pastor Knight are going to send you three thousand dollars for a personal fitness trainer this week, okay? We want to help you on this journey. I’m talking about real change. What would happen if we all committed to real change for the next six months? Not the Instagram kind, you know how you do one push-up just to post it—none of that. I’m talking about really doing what God’s asked us to do. Well, if you’re going to do that, it’s going to take today’s message. Somebody said «uh-oh!» Prepare your heart; it’s going to be good!
This is a deliverance series. When you’re coming out of something, there should be fruit from that transformation. A lot of people talk about change, but there’s no proof. I have to confront the notion that you’re a different person when you do the same things. There should be fruit from the change that has happened in your life. So write this down: the fruit of the Spirit should be obvious, not obscure, to all believers. If I have to guess if you have the gifts of the Spirit, if I have to search for the fruit of the Spirit in your life, it may not be as evident as you think it should be.
Have you ever met somebody who’s just full of love? When they walk into the room, it’s obvious they love people. Have you ever met somebody who’s really angry? That spirit isn’t from God, but it’s another spirit; it’s obvious too. It’s time for our fruit to be obvious, not hidden. I’ll say it again: people at your job should not have to find your fruit; it should be falling off you—love, joy, peace, patience—it should be falling. For too many of us who claim Christ, our fruit is hidden so it cannot nourish anybody when they need it most. The worst thing for us is to go through this series and talk about cuffing season, and I’m uncuffing, but where’s the fruit? Show me something! Let it be obvious.
That’s why I’m telling you, you’re going to have to commit at another level to discipline because fruit only comes through consistency. So watch this: you don’t get deliverance without discipline. I’m sorry, your marriage is never going to be better unless you consistently invest in your marriage. Keep looking at each other, saying, «I can’t believe you’re all nasty and fat, and you don’t do anything for me anymore!» Keep doing that if you want. But until y’all go on date night every week, until you talk pillow talk every night, until you go to counseling once a month, there’s got to be some type of discipline connected to whatever you want deliverance in. And too many people are so caught up in what it looks like to other people that they won’t be disciplined for their deliverance.
I’m telling you, you’re going to be asking God to change something next year that you could have changed with discipline now. Next April, you’re going to be saying, «Will you please change this relationship?» You need to be disciplined at not answering their phone call. You thought I was going somewhere else? You need to put a distraction in your phone. Every time they call, it needs to pop up with their face next to the devil and the word «distraction.» Because what you’re going to be asking God to deliver you from next year, you could cut off right now, but it’s going to take discipline.
Some of y’all are sitting next to him. Stay focused; stay straight. Right here, look at me! What if we didn’t have to pray for things that we could make a priority today? Y’all want to see signs, miracles, and wonders? Stop clogging up the lines with stuff you could do today. We’re praying for God; we’re praying that God will help us not do things we know are harming us when we could just ask the Holy Spirit to help us not do those things and make a decision. Get accountability around it; tell somebody. Be disciplined in this season. Admit when you mess up; be forthright about it. Get in the habit of it: fall, get back up, fall, get back up. The righteous man falls seven times, but he gets back up! That’s also for burpees too.
Do you understand? You need to go to the gym! «I don’t want to look stupid in there.» How do you think you look plugged into machines? My coach told me the other day, «Either you can know why you’re hurting through working out, or be hurting and not know why.» Discipline is a prerequisite for deliverance.
So today, I just need to come and tell you that Proverbs 25:28 needs to be an iconic scripture for us as Transformation Church as we move to do the things that God has called us to do. «A person without self-control or discipline is like a city with broken-down walls.» I’m going to read it one more time because some of y’all have no context for this right now. A person without the fruit of self-control (self-control is the fruit of the Spirit) is like a city with broken-down walls.
In the context of when this was written, the strength, the wealth, or the security of a city was based on the walls surrounding it. If you are like a city with no walls, you’re always available for attack. You’re indoctrinated with insecurity, always thinking, «What’s going to happen?» because you have no protection. You’re overwhelmed by anxiety; you’re not prepared for the future, and your legacy won’t last without walls. Let me remix it: without discipline, you’re available for attack all the time. Without discipline, you’re indoctrinated with insecurity. «Well, do I look good? Does anyone think I’m okay? Is what I’m doing okay?» Without discipline, you are overwhelmed by anxiety.
Without discipline—and this is the one that hits me—you’re not prepared for the future. Most of us, if God gave you what you were preparing for, you did not have the discipline in the last season to be ready for what you prayed for. «Right now, Lord, take me on tour so I can see the world and minister to Your people.» You would be incapacitated because of all the cake we’ve been cuffed to! The reason God may not have blessed you with the thing you have the ability to do is that your body doesn’t have the availability to do it.
The reason you need to go through trauma counseling is because when you start helping those people going through their trauma, if it’s not healed in you, you’re going to have a flashback; you might have an episode with someone you’re supposed to be helping. And you might suplex them like, «Oh my God, I thought you were the bully in sixth grade!» All that unhealed trauma might resurface. God’s saying, «Would you prepare? Will you discipline yourself? Will you commit to something?»
But if you don’t have discipline, you’re not prepared for the future. And this is the saddest part: without walls, or without discipline, without boundaries, without accountability, your legacy won’t last. Everything built inside a city was vulnerable if the walls weren’t up. My family is vulnerable if I am a man of God without discipline because the enemy is just setting traps—trying, trying. When I go to the mall, those leggings are a trap, but I’m disciplined not to look again.
Oh, you missed it! I have to talk real to my fellas right here. In the day and age of crop tops, leggings, and biker shorts, we’re supposed to be attracted to the opposite gender, okay? The problem is not the first look; it’s the second look. You can’t stop yourself from seeing something God created, but you can be disciplined not to look. See, I’m trying to give y’all real tips to help you stay free. It’s the discipline not to turn your head again. But without discipline, have you ever seen those people walking in the mall about to run into something? You do a full 360 looking at something you were never supposed to focus on!
I’m just talking to the fellas because that was part of my struggle in the past. But what I’m telling you is there are areas in your life that God’s saying, «Would you please commit to this?» Everybody say this cuss word: «discipline.»
So, when I started to think about walls and some of us being uncuffed from things, I thought that some of our walls are in shambles—just be honest. Some of the disciplines we need are not built all the way up to protect us for the calling God has called us to do. We can fake it in front of everyone else, but we really know that our walls are torn down. At midnight, it all comes crumbling down. We know our weak spots and all these different things.
I started thinking about Nehemiah and what God asked Nehemiah to do in rebuilding the wall. I’m not just going to talk to you about your walls being torn down; I want to encourage you that you can rebuild a life of discipline and uncuff from things that are going against your calling. I want us to read Nehemiah chapter one, and I don’t know if we’ve ever seen this before. I want you to think about your life as the wall he’s rebuilding. Don’t think about it just metaphorically for people back in the day; I want you to think about the areas in your life where you need to be disciplined and torn down.
Right now, God is giving us a strategy for it to be rebuilt. Some men arrived from Judah and started talking to Nehemiah. He asked them how things were going back home, and this is what they said: «Things are not going well for those who return to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace; the wall of Jerusalem has been torn down.» Now, it’s crazy they don’t say what tore it down because, the truth is, there are a lot of things that have torn down our discipline. Maybe it’s the environment; maybe it’s our family; maybe it’s some decisions we’ve made. The truth is, how we got here doesn’t matter. We’re here now, and I just need to bring that up because a lot of people make excuses.
«Well, if you had known my situation…» But since we’re here now, somebody say, «I’m here now. What are we going to do?» He literally says to them, «The walls of Jerusalem have been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.» Oh, this speaks to me because if the wall represents discipline, walls keep things out. The gates allow things in. So, the wall was supposed to keep things out, and the gates—eye gates, mouth gates, ear gates—are supposed to filter what comes in. When your gates are down, your discernment is gone; you don’t know what to let in. For many of us, the problem is that our walls aren’t just unbuilt; our discipline is destroyed, and our discernment is gone. Your gates and your walls are jacked up, so anything can come in and anything can get out.
That’s why you watch every new movie they advertise. You felt the Spirit say, «Don’t watch this after the first five minutes,» but you feel the need to tell everyone you watched it. You feel the need to post your rating on Instagram stories and say, «I give it a seven out of ten.» You want to give your opinion because the thirty-two people that might like it matter to you. And God is saying this is going to expose you to things you don’t need to see. Put up your walls; restore your gates. But the problem is, when your discipline and your discernment are off, it equals destruction. Let me give you the equation for destruction: no discipline plus no discernment equals destruction.
Apply that relationally: you weren’t disciplined to stay accountable, so you got into a relationship you weren’t supposed to be in, and you had no discernment about the spirit of rage they carried. You used to be the sweetest person in the world, and now, the people who know you best are asking, «Why is your cutoff game so strong? What happened?» It led to destruction because you lacked discernment and discipline. So, Pastor Mike, how do I change? I’m glad you asked: compassion and conviction. Now, watch; let me show it to you in Scripture. Nehemiah chapter one, verse four: when Nehemiah heard this, look how he responds. He sat down and wept. In fact, he didn’t weep for just a moment to give a pity cry; he cried for days, mourned, and prayed to the God of heaven. The first thing you have to have when you realize that your discipline and discernment are off is to have compassion. You need to feel something.
So many people in this generation are doing the wrong things, getting destroyed, and still feeling nothing. Yes, the worst thing, even more disturbing than being against something, is being indifferent. When someone else gets killed—what happens when the church stops paying attention? When your compassion has leaked out? When you become so callous that you don’t see things as God sees them? God is trying to tell you something, and if you’ve been watching this whole series and you’re kind of like, «Eh,» your heart is hard. You’ve lost your compassion, and I’m asking you to pray that God would give you compassion because when you feel something, it changes you. But feeling is not enough. Then you have to have a conviction. He had a conviction; there was something he acknowledged within himself that had to change.
Compassion without conviction leaves you in the same spot—sad. But God is saying, «I want you to have compassion, and I want you to have a conviction to do something. Acknowledge that something in you needs to change.» This is the hardest thing, especially for people in church who are not self-aware, because we will shout and never look at ourselves. «This is for them; Sally needs to hear this message!» Oh, Pastor Mike was talking about Jeff! Oh my goodness! All I could think about was Trevor when he mentioned that part. Remember when he said… no self-reflection? No awareness that the whole message was about you? Until the church gets holy conviction again, we’ll be sitting around talking about people in the world who are living worse than us.
Anytime God brings something into our view, the first place we should look is inside ourselves. That thing you hate about that person you saw on social media—why does it bother you so much? Because there’s probably a little bit of it in you. Okay, getting too real, and I haven’t even told you the title of the message. Write this equation down: No discipline plus no discernment equals destruction; compassion plus conviction equals a new commitment. Some of us, in this uncuffing season, need to make a new commitment. Some of us don’t know how to make a new commitment. I just gave you the equation: feel something and then get a conviction. Like, «Holy Spirit, I need to do something different. I need to stop people-pleasing. I need to not be there for everybody because I’m depleting myself.» You need to feel it, and then you need to ask the Holy Spirit for a new conviction. After you do that, give a new commitment.
Watch what happens to Nehemiah after he feels and hears that the walls are torn down, back at home. In Nehemiah chapter two, verse one: «Early the following spring, in the month of Nissan, during the 20th year of King Artaxerxes' reign, I was serving the king his wine.» Sometimes, with such big words, you just have to fill them in, you know what I’m saying? That helped me remember it. Now, I want you to catch this: Nehemiah was serving the king’s wine. He had never before appeared sad in the king’s presence. So, the king asked me, «Why are you looking so sad? You don’t look sick to me. You must be deeply troubled.» Then I was terrified, but I replied, «Long live the king! How can I not be sad for the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins?»
This is generational; these walls have been torn down, and it’s got my whole family at risk, and the gates have been destroyed by fire. The king asked, «Well, how can I help you?» With a prayer to the God of heaven, I replied, «If it pleases the king and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.» The first thing I need to point out is that God talks to nobodies to change things for everybody. All my life I thought Nehemiah was this big warrior character. Even when you say the name Nehemiah, I wondered what he did—like David or Abraham. But Nehemiah was a waiter; he was a cupbearer. I need everybody to see this: the dude that’s about to rebuild the wall for an entire nation only brought the king drinks.
In the kingdom structure, he was a nobody. His life was worth only as much as making sure that if somebody tried to poison the king, he died first. He wasn’t a dignitary or a council member; he was a waiter. But God gave a burden to a so-called nobody that was about to change the destinies of everybody. I need to take three seconds and talk to some people who feel like nobodies. Nobody notices me, nobody knows my gifting, nobody’s seen my potential, nobody knows what God has placed inside of me. It doesn’t matter; they don’t have to know as long as God has placed a burden inside of you. Call me whatever you want today, but what God is about to do through Nehemiah didn’t happen because he had pedigree; it happened because he had a burden. I’m asking you right now, as you are in the space searching for a title or someone to acknowledge you, that you’re in a different tax bracket. You don’t need any of that to change the world.
Okay, let me clarify. All Nehemiah did was obey the nudge of the Holy Spirit. The nobody who receives a nudge from the Holy Spirit can change everything. Somebody tell someone, «I’m a nobody, but don’t let me get a nudge from the Holy Spirit.» See, nobody knew me when I was in the sound booth back there. Nobody knew what I was doing; they didn’t know what God was going to do with Transformation Church. I was a nobody with a nudge from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit told me not to go on tour but to keep serving in this church. When Bishop asked me to take over the praise team, I said, «I’ve never done that before.»
The Holy Spirit said, «No, just trust in me.» Then I got a nudge from the Holy Spirit to start serving my parents in youth ministry at a church that had seven adults attending. It was kind of ridiculous; I was supposed to be in the prime of my youth, but God saw the beginning from the end. He knew nobody would get me into ministry except my mom and dad. So, when I heard that nudge from the Holy Spirit to help them with the music—because they’re my family—two weeks later, my mom looked at me and said, «The Holy Spirit told me you’re supposed to do something with the youth.» She said, «You have four other sons; let one of them do it,» and she said, «It’s you.»
I obeyed that command, and within three months it went from seven youth, some of whom are in the room today as adults, to over 200 young people coming without their parents. It was on Sunday nights, 15 adults in the church, 200 young people. My parents listened to the nudge of the Holy Spirit and started a church in their mid-50s. It was part of the calling. When a nobody receives a nudge from the Holy Spirit, watch out! You don’t have to know my name; God has been talking to me. You don’t have to know who’s backing me because the God of the universe stands behind what he has asked me to do. All I need is a nudge from the Holy Spirit. What is crazy faith? A nudge from the Holy Spirit! Nobody was shouting me down when I woke up and wrote down that the Spirit Bank Event Center would be Transformation Church; that was a nudge from the Holy Spirit.
Oh my God! All I’m trying to tell you—and I’m spending time on this because a lot of people think God only does great things with people who are already great—is I come to tear down or uncuff you from that lie. Even if you’re a nobody in man’s eyes, get in his presence, and all you need is a nudge from the Holy Spirit. So, this is what I want to say: Stop ignoring the nudge from the Holy Spirit. Some of you God has told you some things that you’ve been ignoring because you’ve been trying to figure out how it’s going to happen, who’s going to support you, where the funding is coming from, and who’s going to fund this. Nehemiah didn’t need a title; he needed a task. Some of you are so worried about titles; you need to stop praying for a title. You need to ask God for a task. Give me whatever you want me to do.
They can call me whatever they want, but God, give me a holy task that you have given me from heaven, so that every day I wake up, I know what I’m built to do. I feel this thing! I don’t care what culture says: if you tell me and I feel it in my gut, I’m going to wake up every day and do what I’m called to do. Some of you are so caught up on titles; you want to be the professor, the doctor, the superintendent. Who cares? The worst level of leadership is people respecting you because of a title. Oh, y’all missed it! That’s the lowest level of leadership. Oh, I’ve got to respect you? You want influential leadership? You want to walk into a room and have no one know your name, yet they say, «Who is that? What did they do?»
Just their presence in the room changes the atmosphere. Please remember this: You don’t need a title; you need a task. What has God called you to do that’s bigger than you? What have you cried and wept about that you’ve gotten conviction over and moved by? God did not die for you to have a career. He did not go on the cross so you could be raised with him to live comfortably in a career. This is where you’ve been cuffed to culture. You bought into the lie that somehow God just wants me to have a good career so I can bless people. That’s what I believe: just God bless me so I can bless people. And that’s the end of it.
They bless; I bless them; you bless me to bless them; so that’s it! Words they blessed, being blessed. Like, that’s how we… but what if the blessing is carrying their burden? Nobody talks about this. What if there’s never going to be a non-profit that supports you, but you’re supposed to make ten sandwiches for the homeless every day? We always want everything to be organized, with a committee, in a group, and somebody funding it. But you can go get a loaf of bread, some sandwiches, chips, and water, and you could wake up an hour and a half early to go to that place you pass every day. You know they’re out there begging for something. Well, it might be a scam, but who cares? You haven’t done anything to help them move, okay? Let me stop. All I’m saying is it doesn’t have to be committee approved; it just has to be a burden God has called you to fulfill. No business cards, no Instagram, no title, just a task.
So Nehemiah picked this mantle up, and the king gave him the ability to go. Nehemiah chapter 2, verse 11: «So I arrived in Jerusalem three days later.» Oh, I like that it didn’t take him a year! Well, first, you know, I just want to tell everybody I’m going to start a Bible study; this is my Bible study graphic. It doesn’t start for another two years; wait for me; I want to make sure I have the music and the graphics. Three days? Who are you performing for? The people are dying, the walls are torn down, your community is suffering. That business arena is going under; they have money, but they lack character. They need you in there, and you’re keeping up appearances. What I’m saying is, three days later, he said, «I slipped out during the night.» Oh, I love his stealth! Taking only a few others with me, I had not told anyone about the plans God had put in my heart for Jerusalem. Oh, you don’t have to tell everybody what God has called you to do before you do it! I thought it was a prerequisite to being used by God to let everyone know. He said, «We took no pack animals with us except the donkey I was riding.» No pomp and circumstance to do God’s call, no title to do it.
Verse 16: «The city officials did not know I had been out there and what I was doing, for I had not yet said anything to anyone about my plans. I had not yet spoken to the Jewish leaders, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or anyone else in the administration.» Write this down: «Your anointing is not for an announcement; it’s for action.» God is not anointing you for announcement; that’s why nobody liked the poster or reshared it. It wasn’t for them to know about it. Oh my God, it wasn’t for them to know about it! He said, «I need you to do what I ask you to do, and I’m anointing you to do it.» But this is not something you need to go meet with the mayor about first. No, you don’t! Baby, you need to get in your position and do what God called you to do. You don’t need to know the team owner; you can go to that one player who shows up in your coffee shop every day and start ministering to them. You don’t even have to know the superintendent; you can meet those three teachers you see at the YMCA league. Oh, y’all don’t hear me. You can start ministering right there. Stop announcing what God told you to take action on.
Yeah, yeah, we live in a culture of announcing. «I’m going to work out all week,» and then the enemy hits you with condemnation because you missed the first day. We don’t see you anymore for a month. The next time we see you, it’s like, «What happened to Sherry?» «I don’t know; last I heard, she was going to start working out.» Why do we do this to ourselves? Get a couple of days in at least! Damn! But since he was not anointed to announce, he was anointed for action. Somebody say, «I’m anointed for action.» That made me feel good.
Verse 17: «But now I said to them, 'You know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us, '» somebody say, «let us!» Say it with your chest; say it loud: «let us rebuild!» God’s not going to rebuild; the government’s not going to rebuild; the police force is not going to rebuild; our school system is not going to rebuild. The church, if we’re going to see what we believe God wants—heaven to come to earth—we always say, «heaven come to earth.» How is it coming? You think it’s going to drop down like a sci-fi movie? No! «Let us rebuild the banking system! Let us rebuild housing! Let us rebuild entertainment! Let us rebuild the school system!» All I need is six of y’all to get this: «Let us redefine what it looks like to walk into an area and cause transformation! Let us redefine church!» Somebody say, «Let us rebuild!»
Some of y’all are waiting for someone else to do what God said we have to do. He said, «Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem.» Watch this: «and end the disgrace.» The disgrace only ends when we rebuild. Apply this to everything. All of the disgrace ends when we come together and rebuild what’s been torn down. Black people—the disgrace ends when we come together with our brothers and sisters, no matter what color their skin is. As a multi-ethnic, multi-generational church, we rebuild. Nobody’s coming to give you 40 acres and a mule. No one’s going to tell you this because we’re going to be mad about this for the rest of our lives. Nobody’s coming to give it to you. A stimulus check isn’t going to change your financial situation. They can keep giving $3,000 checks for the next ten years; that doesn’t change anything if we don’t rebuild.
I don’t care what you think about me. What I’m telling you is the disgrace ends when we rebuild. Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me and about my conversation with the king. They replied, «Look what happened when the man with no title came into the room, had a task, and walked in his authority.» They all said, «Yes! Let’s rebuild!» So they began a good work. Oh, and this takes me to Zechariah 4:10, which says, «Do not despise small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.» Everybody in culture shouts when we’re done, but God shouts when it starts. He’s like, «Oh, first week they started working out!» Why? Because He’s the God that knows the beginning from the end. He’s the alpha and the omega. He knows if He starts the good work, He can help you finish it. Start it; do the good work.
Verse 19: «But when Sanballat the Arab heard of our plan, they scoffed contemptuously.» I don’t even know how you scoff contemptuously. «What are you doing? Are you rebuilding against the king?» I don’t even know; that’s just what happened in my mind. I need to let everybody know this: every start has a Sanballat. Every time you start, write it down. I looked up what Sanballat means; his name means «enemy in secret.» Every time you start something, you will have an enemy in secret. The same people that push you in the heart, the same people that were like, «All right, go ahead, try it,» the same people.
Every start has a Sanballat. Every start has an enemy in secret. And watch the tension, watch the dynamic. While God is rejoicing over the start, people will be out here retweeting about your start. You’re obeying God, and they’re giving their opinion while heaven is celebrating; they are hating. This is the tension of anyone who will ever rebuild anything. When you’re being uncuffed, please know you’re being discussed. When you decide to change for real—like, «I no longer do that.» Oh, «She thinks she’s different now; she doesn’t want to go out to the club anymore.» She doesn’t want to invite us to the club. «How in the world?» Oh, now she’s saying she doesn’t want to come out!
Somebody said, «How do you know?» Conviction. What I’m trying to say is I’m trying to teach you how to navigate this because people started commenting, but it did not change the calling. If you’re ever going to do anything that God has called you to do in this culture, you need to know this: the moment you commence, get ready for the comments. Start doing anything great for God; they’re going to start commenting about it. «Who does he think he is, going to come up in this city and build a church?» You can have one church, but two churches, three churches, four churches, national influence. «Who do they think they are, starting that little business?» When they call your stuff little, they don’t know who you are. «Oh, I see you with your little graphics business, your little cupcake.» I see you doing what you’re doing, but you don’t even know what I do. How are you going to call it little?
At the moment you commence—at the moment you start, at the moment you make the plan, at the moment you step out and get the loan, at the moment you open the bank account, at the moment you post your flyer—just know that at the moment you commence, there are going to be comments. So today, I want to give you the ability to uncuff from the comments. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Because you are going to forfeit the call God has given you if you are down in the comments, looking at what people who don’t know the plan, the purpose, or the pattern God set for you are saying and engaging with them about what God has called you to do.
Come about those comments! Some of y’all have been cuffed to the comments, and it’s been robbing you of your calling. Yes, I am coming for the Facebook freaks, the insecure Instagrammers, and the traumatized tweeters, but I’m also coming for the people who are people-pleasers, who have the mindset that they don’t want others to dislike them. The people who won’t follow God because they might lose followers, and I’m not just talking about on a social media platform. There are family members that would leave you and friends that would forsake you if you really followed the call God asked you to walk on. Okay? Somebody say, «Cuffed to the comments.» Yep! And the reason I had to say this is because God just began to speak to me.
This is one thing I’ve had to overcome when answering my calling. Anything I do, people comment on. If I post a picture of me and my daughter dancing, people are going to comment. Most of them are good comments: «Oh, that’s sweet! Oh, that’s great!» But there will be one random saved chick quoting John 3:16, who will say, «In Deuteronomy, it says that thou shalt not dance with thy daughter on Instagram.» Like, what? And then they’re going to write a full soliloquy—a whole essay—on how I’m a false prophet and create YouTube channels and do all this other stuff based on me dancing with my daughter.
When I first got into ministry, I was cuffed to the comments. Oh, can I be honest? Pastors don’t tell you this because they want you to think they float off the stage and go into a place of somber rest and regroup from the anointing that God gives. Meanwhile, they’re right on Instagram, «Was it good? Was the sermon okay? Did it resonate?» We’re human! I want to know what I do—what God called me to do—did it work? Did anybody change?
But I had an unhealthy relationship with the comments. I would go there, and for some reason, I was looking for affirmation instead of information. See, there’s nothing wrong with the analytics. There’s nothing wrong with knowing the impact, but when you start drawing from people’s comments more than what you were supposed to get there… Some of y’all are like, «I don’t even do Instagram; I don’t do Facebook. That’s not what I do.» But you’re looking for affirmation from that person on your job. You’re cuffed to their comments! «Good job, Sally! You stayed up three days straight, hopped up on coffee and Red Bull to out-position yourself with the partner in the firm so the head honcho could notice you!» You’re still cuffed to their comments.
This is for everyone of us that has something other than God we are looking to draw our affirmation from or that we’re getting distracted by. And God is saying, «I want you to be uncuffed from other people’s comments. If I didn’t say it about you, it doesn’t matter!» Oh, you see them clap? It’s because there’s somebody right here that you would feel better getting affirmation from than the God of the universe!
Yo, some of y’all would flip out if your favorite celebrity told you, «I see what you’re doing. You’re doing a great job, and I love you!» That would fill your spirit up! And God has been saying that over you for a decade since you were born. And it’s like, «God, I know that, but I need someone else to say it!» You want the creation to affirm the creation instead of the Creator to give you affirmation.
Oh, God, can I ask you a question—a serious question? Who are «they»? Because everybody has this group of people they always talk аbout: «They don’t really support me.» Who exactly are you talking about? «They don’t want me to go to college! They don’t want me to have that job!» I don’t know; this is a serious question. Who is «they» in your life? Got a defined day. Write this point down: what they comment does not affect your calling day. It has been controlling too much of your calling, and that’s why I’m challenging you with this message. Really define the day. Who are «they»? For some people, «they» are individuals you don’t know, like a side chick.
John 3:16, like, I don’t know what to say, but they’ll say, «sachik,» some of y’all watching—hey, stop commenting on my stuff. Um, this is what I’m going to say: there are people you don’t know, but many people pay attention to those they don’t know—attention they don’t even have time to give. You are so busy and tired, yet you are up worried about somebody you don’t know. Sometimes, as a millennial, I wonder what it would have been like to have been born in, like, I don’t know, 1956, because it would have been like 30 years without everybody having constant access to giving me feedback. Like, «Your hips look big in that outfit, pastor.» What? Oh, this is what I had to wear. I don’t know; I didn’t need your feedback.
Now I’m in the mirror like, «Oh my God, did I?» Y’all don’t act like I’m the only one. It can just take one person to give you feedback. «What’s wrong with your left tooth?» Now what? Oh, something’s wrong with my left… We weren’t built for this much feedback. I’ll say what somebody should have told you: my faith was not built for everybody’s feedback. Not everyone is supposed to have access to speak into my life, and I shouldn’t even consider it. You can have your opinions and your thoughts, but I have to set up walls, gates, boundaries, and lines so that the stuff y’all say about me doesn’t even reach me. My team knows not to bring me that crap. Don’t bring me anything that will distract me from what God’s called me to do. «Pastor, you know you’re trending!» Okay. «You know they made a post; it’s kind of funny.» Okay. «You know they’re talking about you!»
I wasn’t built for that much feedback. The feedback I desire is the one that comes from heaven. The feedback I need is what’s going to help me make my next move. And this is what happens when you don’t define your day: everybody becomes your enemy. I have to say this stuff that nobody else will say: not everybody’s hating on you, but you think they are because you don’t realize that you keep saying they don’t want our church to succeed. No, there are like 50 people in the community who are praying that your church actually makes it, but because you want to be a mega church off the bat and you want to have 2,000 people, you ignore the 50 people that God actually called you to raise up, who would be the leadership team for you to build this big thing God’s called you to do. They aren’t all hating on you! But if we do not uncuff ourselves from the comments, we will let three people give us a perspective on some of y’all. The day is your friend.
For some of you, the day is a hard one: your family. And let me go even deeper for just 30 seconds; stay with me. For some of you, the day that you’re talking about is the critical version of you projected onto other people, which stops you from being obedient. Because you’re so critical of others, you won’t even do it; because if they do it, you’ll make fun of them, talk about them, and do all that other stuff. So, because you know what you would do if you stepped out and it didn’t work out, you convince yourself you shouldn’t step out and obey God because you don’t want anybody to do that to you. Rewind that back five times!
Some of y’all have been in your own way of doing what God called you to do because you won’t extend grace to anybody else, so you can’t receive it from anyone else. Okay? Uh-huh, uncuff from the comments. I feel that. I feel Prophet DJ Khaled coming on me. Yeah, y’all know what he said; he said, «They didn’t believe in us—God did!» Somebody needs to get this. Oh, come on, somebody needs to get this encouragement. It doesn’t matter if they believe in you; God did! Nehemiah did not need everybody’s comments when he was called to that wall. Sanballat and all his homies didn’t believe he was called to do it, but he had the DJ Khaled anointing—God did! Somebody say, «God did!» What I’m telling you is there has to be an assurance that if nobody else believes in you, and if people are commenting about what God called you to do, you have to still be able to stand and answer the call in the face of comments. Okay?
Nehemiah chapter four. Um, let’s go, verse one. This is important because too many people are being discouraged in their calling because they’re cuffed to the comments, and I’m seeing it all over the place. We’re waiting for affirmation from people to do what God has purpose for us. So, now Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. Why are you so involved? He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends and the Samaritan army officers, «What does this bunch of feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they’re going to rebuild the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think…?»
These are the comments: «Do they actually think they can make something of the stones and the rubbish? Do they actually think they can go to the North Side and start a multi-ethnic church? Do they actually think he could be the pastor of that church and go to the other side of the city and buy an arena? Do they actually think they can go in when the government hasn’t done reparations and give away six hundred thousand dollars to people who were affected in the 1921 race riots? Do they actually think…?» Let me help you; write these down, the comments. First questions I want to tell you: what people who comment or the comments question in you—the first thing they do is they question your actions. Sanballat’s first thing was, «What are you doing?» And when God tells you to do something, people are going to comment and question your actions. Keep doing it. Keep going; do another event, host another podcast—do it again!
Somebody say, «Do it again!» We keep asking God to do it again; He’s asking us to do it again—do the miracles again, do the book again, do the signs, do the study, do a miracle, save your money—do it again! Somebody say, «Do it again!» Sanballat doesn’t have any reason to be in this business, but he’s questioning or commenting on their actions. But you’ve got to do it again. The second thing that comments question in you is your authenticity or your motives. He literally comes and says, «What are you doing?» and then he says, «Are you rebelling against the king? Are your motives to overthrow the government?» Oh, you have wrong motives; I know what it is. «Guys, they just want to be seen!» No, God asked me to do this!
Actually, I didn’t want to do this; I didn’t sign up for this. I had a burden. I just asked somebody how they were doing at a party, and they said they were doing badly. The walls were rebuilt, and then I started crying. I got emotional, and then I’m here. I didn’t ask to be a pastor. God did not consult with me and present three options of purpose: «You need to be a pastor, you can be a producer, or we can make you a botanist.» I didn’t get any options. It was obey God’s will or not. So, when I do the things God has called me to do, He put me in this arena. I’d be expressive if I were a FedEx worker; if I delivered your boxes, I would do so with such flair! It’s me. God doesn’t call you to change your personality to answer His purpose.
I just messed you up because a pastor is supposed to wear a suit, and do I? I ain’t wearing that! I’m going to wear these Travis Scotts; I’m going to have on ripped shirts. I’m going to do what I would do if I was working at…uh-huh. Don’t put me in your box because you’re scared to answer God and be yourself. Oh, so when God asked me to be a pastor, He just does too much; you get to see it, but go ask my wife. No cameras on; when I’m at the house, I’m a fool! Like 6 a.m., this is me! The greatest gift I have is I don’t have to be somebody else! Like, I watch some of my pastor friends; I watch people in business code-switch. They be like, «What’s up?» and then the next moment, «Hello, Sally, how are you doing?»
I walk into boardrooms like this. I make million-dollar deals just like this. Why? Because I’m who God’s called me to be. That doesn’t mean I won’t change; that doesn’t mean I can’t progress; that doesn’t mean if there’s an area that God wants to touch and heal in my life, He can’t move me forward in that area. But the worst thing I can be is an imposter in my own body. But people will come and comment about your authenticity. Oh, yeah, «He has to be doing something crooked; he has to be…»
I promise you, look at him—he looks too nice. Look at those kids; they have to be bad. People comment; these aren’t made-up things. But don’t let anybody challenge the motive God gave you to fulfill your calling for Him! The third thing the comments come to question is your assurance, because a lot of times you have to be sure before you do it, and then those comments start coming in, and you’ll be like, «Hold on; did I hear from God?» I thought everybody was going to cheer for me when I told them I was about to move to be a part of that church, and then, like, you know, we were in 24 hours of prayer, and they said, «God’s speaking to you!» and they believed me about that, but then they didn’t believe me about this. Then I don’t… it said he flew into a rage and started mocking these people and said it in front of his friends. He tried to embarrass these people and make them unsure of what they knew.
Have you ever been sure about something, and then somebody said something, and you weren’t sure anymore? And depending on how close they are to you, it’s like, hold on. The thing I want everybody to know is that not everyone prays about what God showed you. Okay? So some people use their authority to give you their comment or their opinion. But just because they have a title in your life doesn’t mean they went to God about what you talked to them about. And this is something that the church uses as manipulation a lot of the time. I just want to go ahead and pull the cover off real quick. If you’re going to ask me about it, what I’m going to tell you is, «Let me pray about it.» I’m not about to just give you an answer, but I haven’t been thinking about you all day! And you come up and tell me, «God told me to move to Nebraska?»
Okay, let me go pray about it. And the worst thing, though, is to have already made the decision, and then you come and tell your spiritual authority and all this other stuff what you’re doing. You don’t even ask them to pray; would you just pray? And it ain’t saying anything and all that stuff. Then go with what God told you to do! But this dynamic of unhealthy relationships between leader and follower—we’ve got to get this right in the church because it makes you question your assurance. Maybe God said it; maybe He didn’t, but that’s what the comments will do. The fourth thing I’m only going to give you five right here—fourth thing that the comments come to question is your ability. Like, «What do this bunch of poor, what feeble, what’d you say about my mom, Jews think they are doing?»
He didn’t have to add all the majesty; he was trying to remind them of what their reality was. When you start doing the thing God’s called you to do, people are going to comment and try to remind you of the reality of where you are. The truth is they were poor and feeble; that was true! But this isn’t the moment for you to tell me what I already know. I know I don’t have a college education; I know I don’t have the money to do what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to live by faith; I’m trying to obey God; I’m trying to do what He asked me to do! This is hard! Why won’t you encourage me instead of discouraging me? But if you’re cuffed to the comments, you’ll go in being sure that God is with you, and then they question who you think you are. «You’re from North Tulsa? How’s your church gonna touch the whole world, huh? What seminar did you go to?»
These are things people have commented on my life. «You ain’t got enough.» I know God’s with you! I’ve heard somebody literally say this: «I know God’s with you, but that ain’t enough!» Beware of listening and letting people in who question your ability to do what God’s told you to do. The last thing that the comments come to question are your assets. Watch this: «Do they actually think they can make something out of these stones and this rubbish, this charred heap of crap?»
If people always remind you of what you don’t have, you don’t need them as—. As somebody who runs an organization, when employees come to me and tell me what they can’t do because of what we don’t have and never have are solutions to what they did with what we do have. Your time is expired because what ends up happening is that what they’re doing is that they don’t want you to rebuild the wall. They don’t want you to reach the vision God has called you to. All they want to do is remind you of why it can’t happen. The same comments always come when you start. Look at this! I want you to see what Nehemiah’s response was. His response in chapter and verse 4: then I prayed. He did not respond back to Sanballat. The comments came, and he went to God.
«Oh God,» he’s talking in front of everybody, and Sanballat’s response is prayer. Look what it says: my first response to comments is to reach heaven through prayer. Write it down! My first response to comments, whoever it is—my mom, my dad, people I don’t know, people I love, people I respect—is to go to God in prayer. Reach heaven. Then I prayed, «Hear us, oh God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and make them themselves become captives in a foreign land. Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders.» Uh-oh! Did you see what he just did? He took it off of him. He didn’t say, «They have provoked me to slap the daylights out of them!» No! He said, «God, you told me to do this. So when they mock me, I won’t let them talk to you like that.»
«Hey, bro, did you hear what they said about us? I’m just out here trying to do what you said. Did you hear what he said? Look, look what it does. So many of us are concerned about our image and our appearances, and God’s saying, 'Put it back on me! ' God, they provoked you to anger in front of the builders. At last, the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm. So this little detail tells me: they’re hating, Nehemiah’s praying, and people are still working. Most of the time, we stop for all of those things. We comment about me. I’m depressed. No, I’m not coming to the meeting. No, I need some days to regroup. No, I cannot go out and do what God has called me to do because they’re commenting about me. I feel a little better today. I’m going to spend four days in prayer.
God, do you hear what they’re saying? God said you can do all three of those things at the same time. You can hear them talking. Father, in the name of Jesus, while I’m here, I thank you that you are moving every obstacle out of the way of my purpose and destiny. God, I thank you that as I build what you have called me to build, I am going to be steadfast and not give up. Father, as you do what you have called me to do, I can hear the comments, pray, and keep on building. What would have happened if they had done those things exclusively? Yeah, I’m going to be depressed for a little bit because they’re commenting. I’m going to take some time and pray, and then I’m going to get back to work. They were halfway done by the time the comments had ceased! In this moment, I just got to keep going. Master the art—watch this—of fulfilling your calling in the midst of comments.
I’m going to keep doing it! Somebody say, „I’m going to keep doing it!“ Today, there will be comments about the sermon. Yeah, people will comment good things, and people will comment bad things. They’ll be mad because I had a picture of my wife on my shirt in a bathing suit. „How is a pastor going to get up there tempting everybody?“ But if you go to Forever 21 right now, your daughter has on a shirt with somebody they don’t know in a bathing suit right now, and you did? I love her, and she wears bathing suits. First ladies wear bathing suits. Oh my God, I’m so done with church people! What I’m saying to you is comment on it. I don’t care! Next week, we’re going to Miami. We’re going to be at VU Conference, and I’m going to get comments, and I’m going to do what God called me to do. Oh, all over the screen, comments! But I’m going to preach! You’re going to see me like it don’t matter what they say or what they do. Master the art of continuing.
I’ll preach the rest of the message like this because you don’t even have to see me. What I really want you to see is Jesus, and if God has to use me and block me out, it doesn’t even matter. You can still hear Him through me. The truth of the matter is when people try to cancel you—that’s the new phrase, „cancel culture"—you can’t cancel what God has called you to. You can log off or do whatever, okay? But for every one of you, there are five more!
And if God has placed it on the inside of you to rebuild something, God has called me to represent God to the lost and the found for transformation in Christ. That is what I’m called to do, and it doesn’t matter who comments on it. I’m still going to do it. Even if I’m covered by comments, I need you to get a holy ghost decision of consistency on the inside of you that if they don’t trust you, you’re the worst at that. «You failed! Don’t talk to me! I’m disappointed in you! You let me down! You really messed up! What were you thinking?» And I’m still going to love you, and I’m still going to pray for you, and I’m still going to talk that talk and give you the word of God! Why? Because I’ve mastered still doing my calling in the midst of comments.
Pastor Mike, why are you telling us this today? Because God’s about to call some of y’all to do audacious things! Oh yeah, somebody needs to lift their hands and receive it right now! God’s about to call you to do some stuff that doesn’t make any sense. And right now, your life looks fine because there aren’t a lot of comments. But when you start doing what God calls you to do, the comments will fire up as soon as you tell them that you’re going to step out and do it—that you’re going to be the one to break this generational curse! «Oh, you’re an idiot! You really messed up! Now how could you do that?» But I’m praying that there would be a holy ghost contentment to stay the course that would come upon God’s people.
I’ll keep doing the podcast! I’ll keep doing the Bible study! I’ll keep showing up after school, no matter what they comment, no matter what God says about me being an intern, no matter what God says about me moving to that place. I will stay consistent in the midst of all the comments! Jeremiah 12:5. This one’s going to help you because it helped me. I read this book called «Leadership Pain» by Sam Chan before I started pastoring. It changed my paradigm. It prepared me for when the spit hit the fan because up until that point, everything we had done was winning. TMZ! I thought literally somebody told me TMZ covered the message. I thought, «Wow, God is about to use TMZ! Somebody was blessed, and they are going to spread the message to the world.» I was very wrong. They wanted to comment on a moment with no context, and that’s all of their right. We’ve got to stop trying to change the fact that it’s able to happen. Everything you do, somebody can give their opinion. My uncle said opinions are like—never mind. Okay, y’all know the rest. Some of y’all were raised with that same uncle. Okay, all I’m saying to you is this scripture is going to help you know what God thinks about your calling.
Jeremiah 12:5: «Oh, if racing against mere man makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?» Hold on! You mean what I’m going through with these comments and these people and all this other stuff ain’t even the highest level of endurance I have to have? It’s actually preparation for what God actually sees in me! Michael, if you can’t handle these comments, how are you going to handle when I do this in your life?
God’s saying to you, «If you can’t handle these relationship issues—if you can’t show up to work on time—if you can’t do this, how are you going to be the CEO? How are you going to believe for family? If you cannot run with these mere men, how are you going to run with horses?» Something with four legs is always faster than something with two, but God thinks that us, with His strength, could keep up with something He created to naturally outrun us! Have you ever thought about running with horses? I know you thought about riding on horses, but running with them exposes the character of God.
Watch this, y’all! God’s confidence in our capability is higher than our current capacity. God thinks so much more of you than you think of yourself! He said, «Stop being cuffed to these comments because this is mere men’s stuff. I want you to run with horses.» God’s confidence in me is bigger and better than what I even see as my current capability. When God had me go through controversy in high school while running for senior class president, that was the mere man stuff that would prepare me to be able to run with horses when I got to this next level. But this becomes mere men’s stuff for the next level, that God…and all I’m saying to everybody right now is the reason you have to uncuff from the comments is because they’re not going to stop coming!
Well, let me say it like this: comments stop when you forfeit your calling! Nobody comments on people who do nothing. Or let me say it like this: the only people who do comment are the people who do nothing. I’m too busy to comment on what you’re doing! What do I look like being 72 comments down giving you my spiel on what I didn’t even have the decency to ask God about? This is strictly my opinion, and God’s saying, «Would you run with horses? Would you do something different?»
We’re coming to a close: Nehemiah 6:3. Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of the enemies found out that I finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained. They were able to last, though we had not yet set up the doors in the gates. So Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of «Oh no.» I don’t know how you say that, but when I read it, I thought, «Oh no!» They wanted me to meet them in the plain of «Oh no!» But I realized that they were plotting to harm me. So I replied by sending them this message: «I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come down. Why should I stop to come and meet with you?» You can only engage in the comments when you’re not engaged in a great work. You only have time to be that petty when you’re not putting your hands to a great work. If you have time to be that petty, you need to ask God for a new purpose.
I’m going to say it one more time: if you have time to be that petty and comment on all of their stuff, critique everybody’s outfit, and explain why you didn’t like that movie or that music, you need to ask God for a new purpose. You obviously have a lot of time on your hands and not a lot of tasks! And you don’t need a title to do a task; you need a word from God. So I’m begging you: get off the internet for a little bit. Get out of that friend group for a little bit. Get off the corporate ladder for a little bit, and go to God and ask Him for a burden to be able to fulfill a purpose on this earth.
These enemies were persistent! Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply: «I’m doing a great work!» Do you know what it probably felt very minimal to Nehemiah when he was doing it? But he called it what it would be remembered as—not what it was. He called it a great work while they were still putting it together, brick by brick. Oh God, some of y’all, if you could see this by faith! I called this church a great church when nobody was here. I stood in this very spot after painting these walls black the day of my transition service, half asleep, because I wanted the people of God to be able to experience this place.
Everybody in here on the day of the commissioning was probably high because we just finished painting 13 minutes before this thing started! I mean, fumes everywhere! And I just wanted to give God my best. I stood up here with my knees shaking, and I said, «This church is going to represent God to the lost and found for transformation in Christ, and we will be multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multiplying, and multi-campus!» Everybody because God didn’t show it to him—we had 800 people here on that day because they wanted to see. They wanted to comment.
Next week, 305 people. It’s fine because I was committed to what God called me to, and I called it great. I said it was a great work when we couldn’t pay any employees. I called it a great work a year later when I lost the entire staff. It was me, Tammy, and Miss K, and I would come in here literally talking to the hallways: «Good morning, Jim! Good morning, Susan! How were the kids, Becky?» I was in her office cracking up because I had to faith my way to stay! Consistent, I called it a great work. I just would ask that you have enough faith in what God called you to do, even if it’s my nuke right now, to stop looking at the comments and call what God has put in your hands a great work. Mother, raising those three kids, what you’re doing is a great work.
Oh God, your highest title right now is mommy, and you don’t know what kind of world-changer you’re raising. But don’t let people put their comments on you, saying, «Oh, all you do is stay at home; it must be nice to not have to go into the workforce.» And then you’ll literally look at your blessing. John, I want to talk to you, and it’s like, «Hold on, wait a minute.» It’s because you were tied to the comments—one person’s opinion about you who doesn’t even know you changing the trajectory of your children’s lives. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Write this down: your commitment has to be consistent. He was consistent in what God called him to do. The fifth time they asked again, Sanballat’s servant came with an open letter in his hand and said, «I know you haven’t been opening our messages, you haven’t been seeing our DMs, so we’re going to come to where you are.»
And this is what it said: «There is a rumor among the surrounding nations that we heard—tell me, is this true? Are you and the Jews planning to rebel, and that this is why you’re building the wall? According to his reports, you plan to be their king. Is this true?» He also reports that you have appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim about you, «Look, there’s the king of Judah.» You can be very sure this report will go back to the king. Nehemiah said nothing, and he was basically telling him what was said and then told me about the report. «This report will go back to the king, so I suggest you come and talk it over with me.» He replied, «There is no truth in any part of your story. You are making the whole thing up.»
Sometimes, you just gotta—it’s not even worth going to pay—you’re a liar; you made that up. I wasn’t there; you didn’t see me; I don’t even live there. But do you know what I found out by this? What he was saying was that he was trying to trap Nehemiah. At this point, comments are a trap for you to lower your character. When you start engaging in comments, that first text is like, «Praise the Lord, brother.» I think you should just back up, and by that sixth text, you’ll be like, «Where you at, fool? See me outside; I’ll beat your mother!» Then they’ll be like, «What?» It’s a chance to lower your character, and God is asking everybody right now to stay out of the comments so you can have integrity in your character. Don’t let nobody screenshot a moment of insanity and use it against you in a season when you are elevated.
You don’t need to vent on FaceTime and Instagram Live; you need to get a counselor. I know it ain’t nobody, but I love you. I want you to understand this: they are going through the same crap; they can’t help you. You need to go to a pastor, an elder, a leader. You need to find somebody with wisdom; find somebody with some gray in their hair. Young people, find somebody who’s young; you don’t know everything. Just because you’re grown doesn’t mean you won’t ask somebody. Now, what does it mean? How can I…? You’ve got the juice, but you’re not relevant because you won’t ask anybody for help. What I’m saying to you is: don’t lower your character because you’re going to need that.
If I would have responded when the spit hit the fan how I felt, I wouldn’t be preaching to y’all right now because I would have said some stuff way worse. My character would have plummeted because of a moment of emotion. Can I have emotion? Yes. But when I put the emotion in the right place, within the right walls and gates they can handle, I re— I cussed. I thought it was unfair; I called someone «saved chick 399» out her name, but I didn’t do it in the comments; I did it in community. So when you express in community, they can point you back to God. So it’s not about not getting it out; it’s about you getting it out in the wrong place, and God’s saying, «I need you to protect your character.»
So when you have work issues, don’t talk to the people that work with you—three months from now neither of them is going to like you. And so then, «Well, she told me one time when she was going through this story.» You might need a life coach, a professional businessman— you may need somebody who has been in business for years to help you find the right outlet, so that you can communicate your feelings. But don’t do it in the comments because then you turn into what you hate. Verse 9: they were just trying to intimidate us. All the comments— all they are trying to do is intimidate you from doing what God called you to do. They were trying to intimidate us, watch this, imagining they could discourage us and stop the work. It wasn’t even about us; they wanted to stop the work. They don’t even really care about you because after me, there’ll be another one that God uses, and after then, there’ll be several other people. They don’t care about you as much as they don’t want what you have been given to give to the earth to actually happen.
So I continued the work with even greater determination. This makes me excited because I made a decision after the spit hit the fan. I hear the comments, but I can’t come down. I have a Nehemiah level of ignorance. Now say what you want to say, but I bet you, next week, we’ll be here building God’s people. Say what you want to say, but I bet you there’s a piece of property we’re going to buy. You might be— you might be about to get bought out. I’m telling you right now that as long as God is with me, as long as God is with us, we’re going to keep doing what God has called us to do, no matter what they say in the comments. Somebody shout at me, «I can’t come down!»
Then why did you—why did you stop? Why did you stop dreaming? Why did you stop believing? Why did you stop looking for your home? Oh, 'cause the economy is bad right now? Whose economy are you tied to? Whatever this world does, it doesn’t matter. Do you know where my source is? All I’m asking you is if you can’t come down, why has the work been stopped for two years? Why are you on chapter two of a book God gave you six years ago? You were supposed to have a volume of movies out, and you don’t even have a trailer. No, no, I’m being serious: God told you you’re going to turn this family around, but you won’t even get up early to bring your kids to church. Why did you—why did you come? Oh, you heard the comments. You heard that you don’t have enough to raise these kids; you don’t have enough team staff; there’s no way that you will be— and I’m just encouraging you like Nehemiah would encourage you: don’t come down; the work is too great.
So this is what I’m going to give you in closing: if somebody’s going to comment in your life, make sure they meet these three criteria, because I want you to know that people should have access to your life—the right people, not everybody, but the right people. Say the right people. And it’s so funny that what you need is what you should be. A lot of you are reaping what you’ve sown, so the reason you don’t have the right people commenting is that you’re one of those people commenting on everything. And so you’re just getting back tenfold what you’ve already sown. Okay, chats are going to be weak this week, so the criteria to comment in my life: just write that you’ve got to be committed to Christ.
Why am I listening to you if we don’t hold the same principles and values? If you want to comment in my life or Sheena, you’ve got to be committed to Christ. If you want to comment in my life, you have to have a connection with me. I am sick of people who don’t know my middle name trying to tell me how to raise my kids. We’re not connected. And church, take somebody out to coffee, to dinner, to lunch three times before you try to tell them that the way they’re living is foul. Y’all aren’t even smart; like that’s not even smart. You wouldn’t respond to that. That’s why you dodge the Jehovah’s Witnesses when they come to your door. You’re like, «We’re not home.»
The truth of the matter is if you would connect with more people, you could actually comment on their lives. Church has been horrible with the LGBTQ community—horrible! 'Cause you don’t connect with them. And the truth of the matter is this is where you have to really have your character together. The truth of the matter is some of y’all, if you walk over there and connect, you’re going to get turned out because your walls and your gates are torn down. But if you rebuild your discipline and discernment— they’re not going to like this one, but if you rebuild your discipline and discernment, you could actually go into that community and connect with people, learn their names, love them, be able to help them in what they do, and then maybe one day God will give you an opportunity to be there in their time of need, and you can say, «You know what? I do when I feel like this…»
But you want to comment from afar and say, «The Bible says…» Like, that’s not God’s creation too. Okay, we just lost 3,000 people. It’s okay because I can’t come down. I’m not going to stop what God has called us to do; I can’t come down. The truth is the truth even if you don’t think so. So, the criteria to comment in my life: you’ve got to be committed to Christ, you’ve got to be connected to me. Last thing: you’ve got to have compassion for others. Nehemiah was able to connect with a group of people that didn’t even know him because he was moved by compassion. My friend Will Bell is in Africa right now—where is he at? He’s in Tanzania, and him and a group called Asking for the Nations is building a school in a community that literally couldn’t— coming back to the States, raising money, and then taking weeks out of their summer to go over there and build.
They’ve been in the project for how long? Three years of being moved by compassion to go over and help people that can’t help them. He could take that money and that time, build houses here, and make money, but he’s deciding that he’s got compassion for others. So, for you to go into different arenas, different cultures, different communities, and make a difference, they’ve got to be able to see your compassion before they see your critique. Your compassion has to outweigh your critique. Well, if they had fathers in this neighborhood—oh, it’s a really bad— hello? Like, let’s come in with compassion. The Bible tells us Jesus was moved with compassion; that’s what made him meet the need.
And I’m saying if you want to come into my life and tell me, just do it with a little bit of compassion. Act like it could have been you. I know you didn’t do it, but think just before you start talking to me about how you would feel if you were in my shoes. Talk to me like I was your kid. Now, some of y’all are mean to your kids, so, oh, maybe you need a new heart. Do you know what I found out about these three things to actually comment in my life? Because some of y’all are about to take this role like, «I don’t need nobody; that’s why I don’t listen to nobody.» No, no, no. The Bible is clear that all of us need correction. So the same criteria to actually comment on my life is the same criteria that you need for correction.
If you want to correct me, you have to be committed to Christ. If you want to correct me, you have to be connected to me. Do not correct if you don’t connect. Some parents, the last time you connected with your kids was when they were seven and now they’re teenagers, and you’re trying to tell them what they can’t do and what they cannot do. You are drawing a chasm between you and them that will never be breached until you’re on your deathbed. It’s going to be three decades of them hating you, and you’re going to send them down a path where they actually need you.
And the truth of the matter is you’re so arrogant at this moment that you will not take the time to reinvest in them and connect with them again. Play the video game with them. I’m too grown for that. You’re about to lose your child. Take them to the skate park, get in a bathing suit, and get in the water. No, I don’t go swimming. I’ve heard people say, «My parents, I’ve never seen them swim.» You’re just on the porch, drinking a beer, just doing your thing. Connect, because when they need you, they’re going to the person they’re connected with. I went to the people I was connected with, even if they didn’t have the information I needed, and many times it kept me in the same cycles. So don’t correct if you don’t connect, and then have compassion for others.
I found this out about the comments on your phone: there’s this powerful little switch on everybody’s phone. If you have a smartphone, it’s an option you can switch that says «turn off comments.» There are many days when I do what God called me to do, and I call my social media team and say, «Turn off the comments.» They reply, «Okay,» because what God has called me to say and proclaim is not something I care to hear opinions about. That’s a powerful switch on social media, but it may be an even more powerful switch in your soul. Turn off the comments about what your mama said about you. Turn off the comments regarding what your daddy said about you. Turn off the comments from that teacher who didn’t believe in you.
Turn off the comments from that coach who wouldn’t put you on the team. Turn off the comments! Some of us are still living under the voice of comments from people who are no longer alive. We are allowing voices from the past to affect us in our present, even though they can’t speak to you in person. Turn off the comments: Nehemiah 6:15 states, «So on October 2, the wall was finished, just 52 days after we had begun.» It didn’t even take a year. That’s what I’m challenging you with. We’re at the halfway point of the year—do you know what we could have rebuilt by the end of this year? It took him 52 days to rebuild the wall, and when our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened. Oh, I love this! They felt humiliated; they realized the work had been done with the help of our God. Turn off the comments on anything that’s hindering your calling.
I remember going to Napa with my wife and two of my closest friends after things went awry. I don’t know if it was just instinct because I’m an eight on the Enneagram. Yes, that’s a good thing, but it can also be bad because I’m a fighter. I am ready; my words are sharp, and that’s why God had to purify me—I could hurt someone with my words. I felt my old nature rising up because I felt justified, but the Holy Spirit said, «Get off social media for the whole week.» I hesitated, thinking, «What?» I tried to give myself more credit than I needed to. «I got this, God! I’m a pastor—a man of God! I’ll pray for the people,» I said. He said, «I don’t even want you to see the comments.» People came to tell me, «Did you see you were on?» I said, «I’m in the gates and walls; what I’m doing is too great to come down.»
My mama called me and said, «Baby, how are you doing?» I replied, «I’m just trying to get all the venom out of my heart so I can return to my assignment. I will not come down off this wall.» My friends and my community said, «You know you don’t have to preach next Sunday; we can call Tim.» I called Tim, and he asked, «Do you think you want to preach?» He’s my covering. I said, «I’ve been called to this, and I wouldn’t do it if I thought God wanted me to back down, but He told me I have to return to my position. I have to rebuild this wall.» He said, «I’m there with you,» and I got back in my spot seven days after things went awry. I conquered every Sanballat in my life at that moment when the work did not stop because of the comments. Did we lose people watching? It doesn’t matter. Did some people have a negative perception of it? I’m human—I’ll probably mess up again. There will be something I do or that someone else does that will make you want to comment. But what I’ve learned is that to achieve anything great and fulfill your calling, you must do it in the midst of comments.
What am I trying to say to you, Pastor Mike? God is about to use you in a significant way. If you’re still bound to the comments, it will cause you to come down. The last point is that fulfilling your calling in the midst of comments takes courage. Today, I want to encourage you—or instill courage in you. When I was in the middle of this moment where I felt shackled to the comments, God said, «Turn them off. Turn off the comments. Turn off the lies. Turn off the misguided truths.» He doesn’t say to turn something off just to sit in silence; you’re meant to turn off the comments so you can turn to Him. Many of you have turned off the comments but haven’t turned to Him, and I’m asking you in this season to turn to God so that He can give you courage.
This reminds me of the courage Joshua needed to do what God had called him to do and lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land. In Joshua 1:9, it says, «Have I not commanded you? Did I not call you? Did I not move you to that city? Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.» Lift your hands all over the world; God is with you. Just close your eyes right now and envision God coming to you with the overwhelming amount of courage that you need to fulfill the purpose He has called you to.
Father, I pray over these people that they would be strong and courageous, that they would break free from every comment, every lie, every distorted truth. Father, everything that was true but is no longer attached to their future. God, I thank You that they would not be afraid or discouraged because You, our God, will be with us wherever we go. That’s why we can say, «Here is holy.» But I’m praying for Your people that each of us would be free from the comments that have kept us from answering Your call. No longer will anyone else’s opinion be more important than our obedience. Today, we take our compassion and our conviction, and we make a fresh commitment. God, change us so that we can change the world.
Today we are submitting and giving You our lives anew and afresh. We won’t come down—the work is too great. We won’t come down. If you’re in this room or watching online and you’ve never given your life to Jesus to rebuild your walls, today I want to give you that opportunity. God is ministering to people all over the world right now. We’re not going to rush this moment; we’re just going to flow in it. I just want to ask someone who knows their walls have been torn down and who finds themselves in a place of no discipline and no discernment. Things around you are just coming in and going out. It feels like you’re being plundered and overwhelmed. You’re always in this place of insecurity, and anxiety is overtaking you. You just know you’ve been living your life outside of the best that God has for you.
Today, I want to give you a chance to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. It’s the greatest decision I’ve ever made. It took me from being a liar, a manipulator, someone who was addicted to pornography, someone with a felony for car insurance fraud, and had many dark things in my heart—perversion everywhere. And God said, «Yes, with all of that, bring it to Me; I’ll use it. Don’t worry about the comments of others; I’ll clean you.» I gave my life to Christ, and it didn’t make me a perfect man; it made me a man in progress. I’ve never walked a day without God since I invited Him in. Right now, He is standing at the door of your heart, knocking. Some of you have been hearing that knock for years, ignoring it. God’s saying today is the day of salvation; let me in! Let me transform you, renew you, and remodel your heart—let’s rebuild your walls.
Today, if that’s you, and you know this moment is just for you and God, I want you to give your life to Christ for the first time or give your life back to Christ. If that’s you and you want to be included in this prayer we’re about to say, on the count of three, I want you to lift your hands. It’s very simple—just identify wherever you are, whether you’re watching it live or on a rebroadcast.
Even if you’re watching this five years from now, God is saying today is the day of salvation. One, you’re making the greatest decision of your life. Two, I’m proud of you. But that is really low level when God is going to write your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life and your eternity will be secure. Three, you’re saying, «I want to ask Jesus to be my personal Lord and Savior.» Hands in the room? I see you. Hands online? God sees you. At Transformation Church, we’re a family—nobody prays alone. Because we don’t care about the comments of the people sitting next to us, we’re about to make this declaration unashamedly and as a family. For the benefit of those coming to Christ, I want us all to say this together:
God, thank You for sending Jesus just for me. Today, I’m uncuffing from everything that has kept me bound, and I’m giving You my life. I believe You lived, You died, and You rose again just for me. So today, I’m giving You everything. Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m Yours. In Jesus' name, amen.