Michael Todd - Cuffed to Constant (Rest Is My Weapon)
Today, I want to confront something in our church and our culture that is going to challenge most of us. We’ve been in a series called «Cuffing Season,» and I’ve really been walking through what I’m calling a deliverance series because many of us have been cuffed to things for so long—watch this—that we think it’s normal. Some of the things that you have stopped praying about are not supposed to be a part of your life, and you’ve summed it up as, «This is just the way I am.» «I just go off on people.» That’s not good. «I just overeat.» I have my security guard, Scott; we travel everywhere together. Scott, I’m about to put your business out there. We’ve been gone for how many days? Eleven days. And we’ve been going strong, and Scott gets to see me at my best and my worst. He gets to see me when I’m on it, and he gets to see me when I’ve totally fallen off. He understands my interactions in different situations.
So, the one thing Scott gets the privilege of doing—and I call it a privilege because I think God has anointed me to do it—is that he gets to hear all my messages. The one thing about Scott is that he will tell me how the message impacted him, whether I want him to or not. So, when we’re driving in the car, Scott will say, «Pastor Mike, that was a good one.» We’re in Miami, and Scott and I made a decision together, because you need accountability, that we were going to do our best in a city that breeds vacation. If you go to Miami, it’s not about staying strict on your diet, being focused, and getting up every morning to work out. It just feels like a chill out—like, «Yeah, have some ice cream!» That’s what Miami feels like to me. We made a decision; we are going to work out, and we are going to eat right, even though we are in Miami.
So, we started that process, and then one day, Scott told me, «Pastor Mike, I messed up.» I said, «Scott, what did you do?» He said, «I ate a whole bag of family-sized M&M’s last night.» I said, «Scott, what are you doing?» This is what he told me, well aware of what we had committed to: «I’m still cuffed to cake, Pastor Mike. That gluttony message? I ain’t got it yet. It’s progression, not perfection.» Ain’t that what you say? And he keeps going on like… he said, «Yeah, that’s God.» He began to make his awareness of what he was cuffed to an excuse for his constant commitment to making that mistake. He said to me, «I ain’t got it yet, so I’m going to keep doing this until I get it.»
Now, Scott’s big enough to handle this, so I’m coming into his business right now, but I want you not to think about Scott. I want you to think about you. «I ain’t got it yet, so I’m going to keep doing the thing that keeps me cuffed, hoping that one day I magically get it.» The perspective, the thinking, and the ignorance in many of our reasonings is keeping us cuffed to things that we now know are killing us. I do not want you to leave this series with understanding and no action. «And all you’re getting, get understanding,» but faith without works is dead. It’s not enough for you to know. I’m sick of being in church circles and in a place where people can tell you why they do what they do but do not change any of the actions surrounding the environment of why they do what they do. «I just always end up with the wrong guy.»
Stop going to the club while you’re dressing in a mini skirt that, if you sneeze, we’re going to see your black meat. Let me stop. Oh God! And you keep attracting with the baits you put out there. You catch the same fish because you know that you’re getting the wrong results, but you will not change the environment. That’s the thing. «You know you’re a workaholic.» Yeah, let me come to some things because everybody can point out a struggle, but nobody comes for the businessman who provides the home. You are a workaholic; your value is in how much money you bring home. But you have a house, and you do not have a home. The truth of the matter is—let me take my glasses off—the job you’re working is going to kill you. Your soul is leaking; you no longer have any joy and no energy when you get home to the family you prayed for. Because you’re so attached to those dollar signs and that tax bracket, you will not let go of what is killing you every single day.
You know what’s taking away your intimacy with your wife, and you won’t let it go for a Jaguar or a house in a gated neighborhood. You would rather live in hell for the next 15 years, and your children not know you than to actually address the real issue you’re cuffed to. Oh, I know what it is: you’re cuffed to comparison. Because as long as your brother makes that much money, you got to make that much money. Since little league, you’ve been in comparison with him, and because you’re cuffed to that comparison, knowledge is not enough. If you know and don’t change—this is why the Bible says wisdom cries out in the streets and asks, «Please, use wisdom.» What is wisdom, Pastor Mike? Wisdom—watch this—is applied knowledge.
Most people have knowledge and understanding but don’t have wisdom because wisdom uses that knowledge and applies it. Some of y’all know you should shut up on Instagram, but you don’t use wisdom. Just by posting that thing that we saw, you just took away the next connection that God was going to use on something that is completely unrelated to what you’re talking about right now, but you just exposed your character. And because you didn’t use wisdom, you lost out on the next thing that God was going to do. I’m just begging us—this is the last week of Cuffing Season for now—come on, everybody say «For now!» I feel like God is doing something. I just don’t want you to have nine messages of notes and no action. If this summer does not drastically change your walk, then this was worthless.
Stop posting about what you will not do. Stop telling everybody how great service was, and you’re not going to do anything about it. I’m begging you; the reason the church is powerless in many circles is that you all talk with no walk, and I’m just done. I’m just done. I am not interested in leading a church that is a bunch of hot air with no actual power. You can keep all of that. Give me about 500 people who are going to walk this out. You can have a church of 50,000. Give me 500 soldiers. Give me Gideon’s 300. Give me people who will actually get down in the trenches and do the hard work to progress. I didn’t say be perfect; I’m messing up weekly, daily. But the reason I mess up is that I try. Your trying is going to come with failure, but the failure is going to produce in you other ways to try. Until you start becoming familiar with failure, it means that you have not triumphed in trying.
It’s time for the body of Christ to start triumphing in trying. Let’s switch the goal; let’s not try to win—let’s just try. Let’s not try to be the best—let’s just try. Let us actually do something beyond what we’ve done today. I’ve not gone to the gym—stop thinking about three months from now. You may not make it there this week; I just want you to try. I want you to go to the gym three times this week. I want you to get out and walk this week. I want you to say, «I’m sorry» to your husband or your wife. I just want you to try. Because when you try, you will be met with failure, but failure is going to teach you a new way to try. Church, Transformation Church will be a trying church.
And what happens when you start trying? Your trying turns into training. This ain’t a part of none of my notes, but the Holy Spirit just dropped this for somebody: some of you have not started trying, so you have been delaying your training. Everything I know came from trying, failing, succeeding, and trying again. You do that a few times; you look at it, and it’s training. It’s the thing that God is using over and over and over again. Don’t talk like that; don’t go into those types of situations with that attitude. «Hey, hey, hey, watch this, watch this,» and then take notes on it. «God, nobody told me to take notes; I haven’t done a report in 16 years! I’ve been out of school.»
I’m telling you to do this report. There’s information in this that you’re going to need. And as you start trying, you will look up, and you will have trained every room you walked into that God provided. I was ready for it because I was trying in another season, failing, learning a new way to try, and God called it training. Some of y’all are looking for a college to validate your training, and God said if you would just serve the people in the places I put you right now, you will find out that the training you needed did not come with a degree attached to it. Okay, let me stop. But some of us are cuffed to how we think it should happen. Today, I want to free you in an area that I said it before, but I’m going to say it again. This one’s going to be challenging for most of us because we’ve been conditioned against it. Okay, somebody say, «I want to be uncuffed.»
We’ve talked about being cuffed to comfort, cuffed to convenience, cuffed to comparison, and cuffed to condemnation. I’m asking everybody to please go back and watch these messages: cuffed to the cake, cuffed to the comments, and last week Pastor Jimmy Rollins preached us cuffed to the ground. Can we thank God for Pastor Uncle Jimmy Rollins? But today, I got one for you. Today the title of the message is «Cuffed to Constant.» Today I gotta confront you because you are cuffed to constant: constant grind, constant hustle, constant marketing, constant performance, constant work, constant feedback, constant scrolling, constant images, constant news, constant accumulation. You got more stuff; you don’t use—you don’t even remember when you bought some of it. You go through your things and think, «When did I—where did that come from?»
But there’s constant accumulation, and some of us in this room are cuffed to constant. Cuffed to constant shopping, constant emails, constant notifications. Why does everything have the ability to interrupt you at any moment? And you gave it permission! It asks you when you download the app, «Do you want notifications?» You got notifications for breathing exercises; you got notifications that somebody in a different country liked the post you made seven months ago. No wonder you can’t study the Bible! No wonder you can’t focus on your wife! You got that phone on the table, more concerned about the notifications from people you don’t know than with the person you committed to who is sitting across the table from you. Constant. It’s going to be quiet in here today, and it’s okay. Amen. Constant appointments, constant meetings, constant relationships.
Some of y’all, I don’t know—Facebook, Instagram, Myspace—they’ve jacked this up. How many friends do you feel like you can actually manage? No, no, no, for real—I want everybody, just off the top of your head: how many friendships, if you actually gave to them, spent time, answered their phone calls, texted them back? Oh yeah, yeah, no—we’re friends, but you don’t even answer their calls. They’re dying and you’re like, «Ah, not today.» No, I need y’all to yell out a number: how many friends do you think you can actually manage? Somebody said, «Two, three, four.» Come on, I need y’all in the comments: five, six—what? How many? One?
Okay, listen. The truth of the matter is what we call friendship and the dilution of that word through culture has now given us a warped view of how we pursue relationships. I need to be friends with them? No! I just need to be business partners with them. I need to categorize these relationships because I’m constantly networking, constantly trying to see how I can get in that room. I’m constantly trying to figure out how to get these people to like me so that they will position me. I’m gonna say it because you’re doing it: «Got another follower! Seventeen new friends!» No! And the ones who will actually be there when something happens are feeling completely neglected. Let me stop. But we’re trying to maintain constant relationships—constant, watch this, movement. Some of y’all, as my grandma would say, can’t sit still. You just can’t.
«What day is it? Thursday? What am I doing tonight? What am I doing tomorrow?» You will call people and interrupt their rest to create a scenario. «Well, I was just looking at Instagram and trying to see…» Because you were cuffed to comparison and you saw that other people were doing things. «Tonight is the night we should go! You know, I just love having plans!» And God was going to give you a plan for the next five years in that evening that you made margin for. But because you’re cuffed to constant movement, you have no margin. You know what margin is? One person said «Yeah.» Okay. Let me give you an elementary version: you know when you used to learn how to write in elementary school and they would say, «Put your name in the margin»?
All the other lines were very small, but the margin was a thick area because it was supposed to be made for titles, main points, and names in the margin is where God gives titles, main points, and affirms names. Many people have written a lot of purpose down with no title, no main subject, no purpose, and no affirmation of the name God has called you to walk with. It’s because we have made our lives little white lines, and we have made—no, everybody say margin—because we are cuffed to constant «what’s next?» What do I post next? Constant activity. Many of us are cuffed to constant worry, which leads to—watch this—being constantly weary. Constant worry leads to constant weariness. If I look around at the state of the body of Christ, what I see more than anything is weariness. People are tired—tired of praying for others to be healed, tired of hoping, tired of going to conferences, tired of yelling «Amen,» and yet there’s a hole in my heart. I’m weary.
Today, I want to give you the cure for constant weariness. Write it down: rest. Oh, I’m about to preach this message on rest as the greatest revelation that you think you know about, but it doesn’t show up in your life. If you actually rested, you wouldn’t be so weary. Some of you are hopped up on Red Bull, power drinks, and coffee right now. Your body was not meant to need all of that. I’m going to say some things that culture won’t say. Some of you turn into a different person without your Folgers in the morning. Can we be honest? The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup. No, no, no. The best part of me waking up is the Father giving me a new day filled with grace and mercy.
But that’s not how we feel because culture tells us you need to produce more, grind more, make more, and outdo the next person. If you’re Black, you need to be three times better than them to even get recognized. I’m just telling you what people have programmed, and that is not a kingdom mindset. I’m going to say what’s very contrary to say because I don’t care. I don’t care about you coming back; I care about you being told the truth so you can actually be healed and healthy. God is not requiring what culture requires. Yes, uh-oh, this is going to be good today. What you believe you have to do to stay relevant and current is not a kingdom requirement; it’s a cultural requirement, and it proves you don’t trust God. Write it down: culture is constant; the kingdom is consistent.
There’s a difference between constant and consistent. God puts patterns in place. Everybody clap with me! Say clap! Oh, come on, at home! Come on! Clap! Oh, the beat right here, yeah! It’s constant. Everything we’re doing in the place is constant. It’s constant; it’s constant. Everything we’re doing in the place is constant. We are in unity—hey! We’re in unity—hey! Right now, because I set a pace, we are all in different countries and different zip codes, yet we are all in unity because there’s a consistent pace. Oh, even the white folks are clapping! Look at that! Hey, hey! Okay, alright. She’s like, «I did it! I did it!» I’m just playing; I’m just playing.
Okay, listen. What happened there is because a pace was set. We were able to be in unity because it was constant. If I say, «Everybody clap, but follow me,» come on! My clapping was consistent, but it caused discord because it wasn’t constant. Some of us are doing things constantly—we’re tired. I’m sweating. All of that clapping took the same amount of work to be constant, but there was not as much fruit as being consistent.
So culture is constant—constant change, constant news feeds, constant grinding, constant hustling. Wake up, rise and grind! Get up before the sun—you’re beating everybody. Who am I beating? What am I working towards? Where do you find «rise and grind» in the Bible? Okay, Matthew 11:28—then Jesus said, «Come to me, all of you rising grinders who are weary.» It’s not that the «rise and grind» mentality doesn’t create or produce fruit; it just doesn’t produce lasting fruit.
See, a lot of people get messed up thinking, «This produced for me; this made it work for a season.» But there’s no way you can maintain that level of intensity for that long and not lose something. You may not even know what it is yet. Wow. Some of you are working so hard to get away from how you grew up that you are losing things that will matter 15 to 20 years from now. And the Bible says there’s a different way—a kingdom way. Jesus said this; it wasn’t a disciple; this was one of His homeboys. This wasn’t somebody who just spent time with Jesus. He said, «Come to me, all you who are weary.»
Watch this: you can be a heavy burden-bearer. Dang, leading that family as a single mother—that’s a heavy burden. Running a company, and you’ve never led anything before, and your daddy didn’t pass you the company. You started this by yourself. You don’t even know how to start a nonprofit; you don’t know anything about taxes. Who is FICA? Who is this person stealing from me every payday? That must be a heavy burden—being the prototype in a different perspective of living. And God says, «There’s a place for you. Come here; come to me, and I will give you work.»
Come to me with your burdens, and I’m going to give you work? No! I’m going to give you an anointing. Come to me, everybody who’s heavy and burdened, and I’m going to give you a platform. Come to me, and I’ll give you a prayer assignment. I want you to stay up for 48 hours and never eat, drink, or sleep. I want you to ward in the spirit? No! I’m saying the things that I grew up with that may have been anchored in us not fully having a revelation of trusting God completely. He said, «If you are weary and heavy-laden, come to me, and I’ll give you a gift.»
Out of everything I could give you, the thing that’s going to help your weariness and the heavy burden more than anything else is not me laying hands on you. Jesus could have laid hands on you and said, «Lift your hands; you’re weary, I feel that heavy burden. I’m God.» But it’s not that. Lift your hands. «Come here; I’ve got an instruction for you. Turn the email off, shut your phone off, go lay down on the couch.» That’s it! That’s too easy?
I’m glad you said that word—"Take my yoke upon you.» I know culture tells you, «You got to white-knuckle your way through this season and prove to all the haters that what they thought was going to keep you down, you can rise above.» Take my yoke, and let me teach you something—your parents didn’t teach you what your culture didn’t teach you, something that no school taught you. Because I’m humble and gentle at heart, you will find rest—not just for your body. Some of you are getting eight hours of sleep and still feeling weary. You’ve got a purple mattress, a cooling gel mattress, neck pillows; you are in good sleep, but you haven’t rested in a decade. Sleep and rest are two totally different things, and God says, «I don’t just want to give you sleep; I want to give you rest for your soul.»
I want your mind to rest. I want your will to rest. Watch this: I want your emotions to rest. Are you triggered by everything—every scroll, every governmental decision, every political party? Every decision that’s made? God says, «I need you to withdraw so I can give you the gift of rest.»
Watch this: rest is not a luxury; it is a necessity. And this is where I’m coming against generational patterns. Many of you have worked to receive affirmation, so you don’t stop because the thing you actually need—which is approval—will stop with the people around you if you’re not performing. I’m going to say it. No matter what your sense of value is that you need from a parental figure, a guide, or somebody above you, God builds us to need that approval. We need that «well done,» that affirmation that says, «I’m proud of you; you’re good.»
But it’s not supposed to be based on our performance; it should be based on our position—because I’m your son, because I’m your daughter, because I’m your student. Just because—before I do anything, there should be approval there. But many of us see rest as a luxury: «I’ll rest when I’m dead.» I hear people say, «I’ll rest when I’m dead.» Where did that mindset come from? Where is that engine that’s pulling you and grinding you that hard? You feel better than others, and it allows you to stumble into pride and judgment, looking at others who aren’t doing the amount of work you are doing. They’re not as constant as you, and so somehow you think you’re winning. But the whole time, you’re digging a grave.
Wow. We have to visit the trauma of where work became our engine for approval. Okay, yeah, this vibe is tight in the room right now. I’m going to read verse 29 again: «Take— I love this—my yoke upon you.» He’s not going to put it on you! «Brent, come here. Take this.» But don’t take it; he can touch it and still not take it. He can be close to it and still not take it. God is saying, «I’m giving you rest; you can have it.»
But it’s going to come down to your decision to take the gift that God is placing in front of you, and some of you, God has been telling you to rest for years. You keep pointing at it, like, «One day, God; just wait on me. One day I’m going to take the rest.» You think it’s something optional; you think it’s a luxury for people who reach a certain status. You think it’s a gift for the elite in God. But God says, «I’m giving every one of my children the ability—or, excuse me, the choice—to take rest.» Take it!
When you take it, God’s not saying, «No, give it back to me now. Work extra for it.» He says, «This rest has your name on it. Nobody else can claim this rest. This rest is built for you. Your mama can’t have it; your cousin can’t have it. If you don’t take this rest, then nobody gets to experience the blessing, the gift, the anointing that’s on this rest except you.»
Now watch this! This is why I found out over the past seven years of my life: this may be the most impactful revelation of your life—rest is a weapon. People ask me all the time, «How did Transformation do what it’s doing, and how did God bless the church?» I say honestly, there are a lot of factors that people could point to, but I’m going to tell you what I think it is. I said, «I’m not a better preacher than a lot of people. There are a lot of really good preachers. There are people who definitely can run an organization better than me. I only had one job before this.»
I want to be very practical—like, I wasn’t a Harvard Business School graduate who happened to come into ministry. Like, I went to TCC, Tulsa Community College, for six months and failed nutrition! But somehow, I’m leading organizations that are conduits of tens of millions. God could really have a much different person in here doing this. But when I got into this position, I had a mentor named Tim Ross, and Tim sat me down and said, «Michael, we’re going to do a couple of things: we’re going to practice principles that Jesus practiced.» I felt like that was silly for him to say; it’s like, «Duh, I’m a pastor! Of course, we’re going to practice.» He said, «Many people listen to the message of Jesus but don’t follow the method of Jesus. They know the message, but they don’t do the method.» He said, «So what you’re going to do…»
Many times in the Bible, it says, «And Jesus withdrew.» Before you can go study it, before most of His major miracles, the Bible makes a point to tell you that Jesus withdrew, and He went to pray. He said, «Michael, we’re going to pick up—watch this word—a rhythm of rest, and it starts this year.»
And I told him I became the lead pastor of Transformation Church on February 1, 2015. Many of you know this story. He told me that in June of that year—less than six months. I was taking a month off! I told him there would be no church to come back to; these people don’t even like me already! If I go away for one month, there’s no way. He said, «Michael, you’re either going to trust God in this journey or you’re not. Either this is God’s church and you’re His man or you’re not. You’re either going to handle this out of your works or you’re going to let God work His thing.»
He said, «So this is going to be—watch this—an act of faith, and you’re going to teach the people how to rest while God’s doing miracles all around you.» So I got up, my knees shaking, and said, «Transformation Church has been a great five months! Thank you for staying and being…» I’m committed to the mission. I said I am personally going to take some time to rest, recuperate, and seek God. Those people looked at me like, «You’re about to go on vacation?» No. I said, «I’m going to rest. You just plan to leave your post?» You know, I’ve looked in the Bible several times; I mean, you have to understand the pressure I’m under. And this is one of the things I realized: you can be doing the wrong thing and people will praise you for it because it’s tradition. Can we just have a real conversation today?
So many of my predecessors, Bishop included, will tell you he was in the back with me right now—Bishop, my bishop, never took two weeks off from this pulpit in 16 years. Can you imagine the burden he carried, burying his father, his mother, going through situations with his children? And people expected this man to have a heart attack? He struggled with back pain, but he preached powerfully. Y’all were trying to kill him! This man may be one of the most prolific leaders in our state and our country, but the expectation of people can overwhelm you. Nobody chose Bishop; God chose him. Nobody put him in place; God put him in place. Yet we spend our lives performing on platforms for people who will eventually leave anyway. When he decided to leave the church, the same people who were praising him for working himself to death left because they said he didn’t have a vision for the future. I’m trying to let you know that God does not require what culture expects of you. God wants you to break free from constant motion and enter into, say it with me, rest. Rest is a weapon.
Let me go all the way back to Genesis. On day one, what did God create? Light. «Let there be light,» and there was. Day two: heavens and earth. Day three: dry ground and plants. Day four: sun, moon, and stars. Day five: birds and sea creatures. Day six: land animals and us humans. On day six, boom! My greatest creation, He looked at it and said, «Daddy gummit, I did a good job! It’s not good for man to be alone.» Go to sleep; rip it out. Oh, there it is! That’s good. After God gives us the pattern of work, watch this, the first thing He doesn’t give us is a prayer calendar. The first thing He does not give us is a pastoral plan or three prophetic signs for the nations. The first thing God gives all of humanity is a pattern of work. Give me six days of work, and then I’m going to show you what you need to focus on because it might be the hardest thing.
He didn’t create man on the second day and let him watch Him work for four more days before taking a day off. He didn’t create man on the third day and say «now watch me work for three days.» The first thing we experience with God on the sixth day is that He creates us, and the very next day is a day of rest. He does not give us the names of the animals that day. No. He said, «The first thing I’m going to teach you how to do, because I know that you’re in a fallen world that’s going to try to speed you up, is how to rest for an entire day.» That is so good! The whole body of Christ has trouble doing the first thing God ever showed us how to do. Let me show it to you in the Bible—Genesis 2:1. «So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was complete. The work was complete. On the seventh day, God had finished His work of creation, so He rested from all His work.»
Now, listen, God rested not from doing things, but from all His work. He rested from emails, cleaning the gutters, and running errands. He rested from all His work. But watch this: God blessed the seventh day. There is no other day with a blessing on any of the other days of work. The only day that was blessed was the day of rest. Some of you have been missing your blessing. You talk about living a blessed life, but you think it’s only connected to the money you give. Your blessed life is connected to your rested life, and God is saying to some of you, «I cannot bless because you won’t be still—not booked and busy.»
Let me see, I don’t know if I have a booked and busy mindset. God is saying, «Keep doing that, and you will choke on the blessing I have for you.» If you would just rest—God said, «I bless the seventh day.» And watch this—I declared it holy. What if the only thing God wants you to get this year is a consistent pattern of rest? What if the reason the last thing didn’t work is that if it did, you would have started being busy again? God says that it’s not worth losing you, so I need to teach you the pattern of rest so that I can bless you.
When I tell you I obeyed the leadership of my oversight, Pastor Tim Ross, and even when I didn’t understand it, because my engine was constantly grinding, hustling. The fact that I’m preaching this message right now—I’m a living testament. Bree, stop laughing! Bree has been with me in ministry for almost 13 years; she knows I’m the pastor that would paint the stage on Saturday night, play the drums for praise and worship, preach, and then counsel people afterward. It felt like I had to do everything; if I wasn’t performing, I wasn’t good enough. My value was in what I did, not in who I was.
When I obeyed the command of rest and uncuffed from constant busyness, it was a process. Let me tell you, that’s not an easy switch to flip. I’ve been going like this for two decades, and then I got the revelation but hadn’t figured out how to walk it out, so I had to try. At first, during my sabbatical, it took me two and a half weeks to stop thinking about the church. It took me two and a half weeks to stop praying, «Oh God, please don’t let service blow up today! Please let whoever’s speaking do a good job!» I was praying more for the church on sabbatical than when I was there. Finally, I started to rest for a couple of weeks. I took my kids on a vacation, we went to the beach, and did different things. Afterward, I took my wife on a trip, and it felt like a sip of water after not drinking for days. You know that feeling when you’re really thirsty, and you can feel it go all the way down?
When I finished that, it was like, «Back to work.» Wow! That first year, nothing changed. That second year, I said, «Y’all, can we upgrade this from four weeks to six weeks?» Because it’s going to take me two weeks just to unplug. I didn’t know how to do this. Once those two weeks came, I started to relax and my son asked, «Are you thinking about the church?» «Not at all,» I replied. «That’s God’s church. I’m thinking about my family.» After that sabbatical, the first message I preached was «Relationship Goals.» That message catapulted our ministry and changed the financial future of my family.
I’m not keeping it a secret; the success of «Relationship Goals» has altered my family’s trajectory. I am truly blessed because God used the moment where I had margin to create a miracle for my children’s children. You missed it. But I’m telling you right now, it wasn’t in my performance; it wasn’t in my work. It was in receiving what already had my name on it, and out of resting and having the margin for a miracle. You don’t have the margin for the miracle yet. I came off my sabbatical, and God gave me «Relationship Goals.» It was the first series off of sabbatical. It was like God was saying, «I’m going to honor you for honoring my word, and I’m going to give you stuff that’ll go across the world.»
When we were in the prison, y’all, it was the most life-changing experience preaching to incarcerated men who were spiritually free. Oh my God, you missed what I said! Those men were so free, worshiping God, saying, «I’m no longer a slave to sin,» hands lifted, knowing they wouldn’t be getting out of prison for another 20 years. One of the men came up to me, said, «Pastor Mike, it’s such an honor to be here with you.» I was shocked he even knew who I was. He said, «We watch you every week on our tablets.» They had tablets through a program created by God Behind Bars. He said, «Guess what my favorite series is?» I said, «What?» He said, «F You!» It brought me so much joy; he explained how he had to forgive so many people while being incarcerated and that nobody taught him how to do it. But that series—five years after I preached it—was blessing people in prison because I had margin and I rested.
I’m just trying to give you the cheat code. You can work and grind from an empty place and never experience what you’re working towards. Okay, let me just say this: «And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy.» Somebody say, «Here is holy.» The reason He declared it holy, I love when the Bible emphasizes why, is because it was the day when He rested from all His work. Whatever day you choose each week to stop the constant motion and be consistent with the day of rest, that day will become blessed and holy. This is biblical. Some of you say, «I can’t do that! You don’t understand my job.» No, what I’m telling you is God can double your income when you obey His principles more than you can through work. You can have three jobs trying to make ends meet, and God says, «Just obey my principles.»
It’s going to take faith. Some of you have crazy faith for a house but not for resting. You’ll believe God for a car that will break down in four years but won’t believe Him for a sustainable lifestyle that will keep you alive for the next 40 years. Let me say it like this: This is the law of first mention. When you study the Bible, wherever God first does something, you see the principle He’s teaching us. That pattern needs to become our guide. So when God teaches us six and one, everybody say it with me: six work, one rest. Say it again: six work, one rest. God is not legalistic about this, but within a seven-day period, you should have one day where all work stops.
This means you’re going to have to rearrange your lifestyle. You’re going to have to break promises you made out of ignorance to sustain your life for legacy. You can’t coach your son’s team, be the PTA president, run the sound at your church, pick up cupcakes for gatherings, and host meals every night. You can’t do it all. There must be intentional limitations. This is not just the year where He says «Here is holy,» but it’s also the year of intentional limitations for our church. If you’re part of Transformation Church, God has given us a phrase and a definition for the year 2022: «Here is holy.» Wherever you are is holy, and this is the year of intentional limitation for some of you. It’s going to be your spiritual act to limit things so that you can have rest. The law of first mention is given to us in Genesis, meaning humanity is supposed to replicate this forever.
When you follow God’s principles, you will receive God’s promises. So this is where I want to tell you something nobody has ever told you: Rest is a gift of God’s goodness. He’s not asking you to do good before He gives you this gift. He’s not asking you to perform well. Most of us feel we need to earn rest instead of living from a place of rest. Most of us think, «I’ll work my tail off, and then I’ll rest.» But God said, «Who told you to do that?» I need you to work, but work from a rested place. Make good decisions when you’re not rested.
Oh God, my worst decisions occur in seasons when I stayed up until two, three, or four in the morning and had to get up for a 6 a.m. class. I made dumb mistakes because your body is designed to function off of a rested soul. So, I’ve got to confront a lie real quick because some of us have believed the lie in the pattern of performance and production. This is what you believe: performance equals approval and praise. So if I perform, I will receive praise and approval. The truth is, position equals approval and praise. Let me prove it to you. Should I say it? Parents, if you only praise your kids when they do well, you are creating a workaholic. You are actively shaping them because all of us need the approval of our parents. If you only tell them they’re doing good and they look pretty when they’re dressed up or handsome when they’ve had a haircut, if you only tell them that when they get A’s or when they do something good, you are creating a monster that will know nothing else except working for people’s approval.
When was the last time you praised your child in an extravagant way just for having your last name? When was the last time it wasn’t because they scored a goal, or brought something home, or cleaned the house? That’s my baby! I love how you cleaned your room! That’s what I’m talking about! Breath stinking, hair wild—just turn around and look at them. «I’m so proud of you!» to the point where they question, «For what?» «Because you’re mine. I’m so proud of you, and I love you so much without you doing anything. Just look at that smile! Look at the joy you carry!» The truth is, many of us did not receive what we needed, so we performed to get it. You’re out here every day at school, at work, in relationships trying to get what you need from somebody who did not have the emotional intelligence to give you that. Today, I’m asking you to put away and uncuff from the lie that performance equals approval and praise, and position.
Let me prove it to you in the Bible. Jesus—can we all agree that Jesus is our example? I said, can we all agree that Jesus is our example? Okay, Matthew 3:17. Let me give you some backstory. Jesus was born, spent 12 years with His mom and dad, went to the synagogue, and started rolling with the big dogs, saying, «Yo, I’m Jesus! This is what this means.» He forgot to tell His mama where He was going. At 12 years old, you don’t tell your mama where you’re going; trouble is on the horizon. Mary had to be a little upset because she was like, «Jesus, Jesus! Come here! Where you been?»
A word like that would have ended it for me, but she let Him talk. «Woman, don’t you know I was about my Father’s business? I’m in the synagogue.» And we don’t hear from Jesus after this moment. You can check the Bible; for 18 years, we don’t know if she punished Him. I don’t know what child abuse laws were back then; all we know is, Jesus comes back on the scene when He’s 30. Now when He pops back and says, «Hey, y’all,» that might have been the first time He got conscious. «What’s up, what’s up?» This is how I read the Bible, y’all. He’s literally at a wedding, and His mama says, «Hey, they’ve run out of the chardonnay! Jesus, do that thing you did at the house last week—turn this water into wine!» Jesus says, «It is not my time.» «Y’all do whatever He says to do!» He’s about to turn up—like, that’s in my mind; that’s what happened. Before Jesus performed one miracle, He went to John to get baptized in Matthew, and he’s baptized by John.
As soon as He obeys the commandment, it says in Matthew 3:17, «A voice from heaven said, 'This is my dearly loved Son who brings me great joy.'» This is the boy that’s mine, my only Son, and I’m well pleased with Him. Jesus did not perform one miracle. He did not heal the sick or lay hands on the blind. Yet, all He did was obey God, and God approved Him before He performed. It’s hard to rest when you don’t receive approval before you perform. I just want to acknowledge you that this is going to be an act of faith because God, like He did for Jesus, is saying, «If you never produce anything great again, I love you and I’m pleased with you. You bring me great joy.» Why, God? Because you’re mine.
And I’m telling you, it’s going to be hard to receive the rest of God if you don’t receive the gift of just His goodness. God’s just good like that. What did you do to deserve this? Nothing—just receive Him. And that’s why I want to let you know this: rest is God’s will. «God, I want to know You’re real for my life.» Really? Yeah, yeah, rest! Trust Him! Believe that He’s going to do what He said. And actually, stay focused on being consistent in rest. Some people are working far more and ending up with far less because your pursuit lacks rest. You’re doing so much to get so little, and you still don’t get the gift of rest. This is what you didn’t understand and I didn’t understand. Watch this: rest is a command. This is not an option! Oh God, thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not sleep with another man or another woman’s spouse.
We all agree like, «Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.» Thou shalt honor the Lord thy God and not make idols. Yeah, that really feels like what we should do. Everybody should take a day off! Is that like the extra bonus point? Is that like you put that in the Ten Commandments? It’s the longest—the Sabbath—because He knew we would be fighting it. It has the most literature out of all. You can go search it. All the Ten Commandments are sentences; the one about the Sabbath is a paragraph. They say, «Y’all ain’t going to know how to do this.» But it is the same level of sin as murdering somebody, okay? Resting is not just good for you and a gift from God, and when you don’t do it, you’re disobedient. Let me say something to you: it’s not noble to work harder than God requires. Oh, you know what I’m saying? All my life, all I know how to do is—what is this? What is this?
And God’s like, «I’m not applauding that! You’re disobeying me!» I didn’t make Exodus 20:10 because some of y’all are looking at me like, «Show me in the Bible.» But the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day, no one in your household may do any work; this includes your sons, your daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and anybody who’s foreign staying in your house. Everybody needs to take a break. The truth of the matter is, you don’t have control of your own life.
So when God puts a command in place, you come up with so many excuses to deprive yourself of a gift that would give you what you actually need. God is challenging all of us: me as your leader and everyone a part of transformation to take a day off every week. Okay. The level of faces that are looking at me right now is so interesting because many of you have been so built to think that you’re better than others because of the work you put in. If I take away your work, I take away your worth. I’m just trying to tell you, this was me. If you take away me doing everything, who am I? And God says, «Exactly, so I can tell you who you are! So I can redefine what has been defined for you.»
And this is what I’m asking our church to understand anew and afresh. Y’all, how many people love Chick-fil-A in the building right now? Okay, Chick-fil-A—say it like you mean it! I know we just did «Cuff the Cake,» but you okay. The Christian chicken! Do you know in a world of constant hustle, Chick-fil-A is one of the only franchises that is closed on Sunday? Because you know my Chick-fil-A closes on Sundays? Yeah, like, thank you! Yay for that! It’s a principle that has made them more fruitful than every other chain.
Now watch this: Chick-fil-A is open from, I believe, nine or ten in the morning to ten o’clock at night, six days a week—principle and pattern, closed on Sunday. Some of the other retailers, which I will not mention, are open 24 hours a day; they never close. Okay, and let me tell you, some of the service is very poor past a certain time. How is your ice cream machine always down? No, let me stop; y’all know it never works. Okay, cool. So the average McDonald’s franchise makes about a million dollars gross per year. The average Chick-fil-A franchise averages five million dollars—less work, but consistent principles. More work constantly leads to less fruit! Choose you this day whom you will serve: culture, or are you going to serve the King? This is a principle of getting. The reason why I’m methodically working through this is that I’m trying to tear down the ideas that you’ve lived by for so long, and now you’re forcing them on your kids. Can I?
I’m going to show you a scripture that actually scares me. God is so serious about rest! Everybody say, «Rest is a command, not an option!» Either you will rest willingly, or you will be made to rest. Where’s the camera? Look at me! Either you will be willingly resting, or you will be made to rest! Half the sickness, disease, pain, injuries, all the things, it’s because we do not rest, and God’s so serious about this in Exodus 23:10–11. He told His people—the people He loved, His chosen people. Look what He said: «Plant and harvest the crops for six years, but let the land be renewed and lie uncultivated. Don’t work the land the seventh year; don’t touch it. Then let the poor among you harvest whatever grows on its own. Leave the rest for the wild animals to eat.» The same applies to not just what happens in your business, but in your personal vineyard, your house, and your olive groves.
He told his chosen people, «This is not just a pattern for the weeks; this is a pattern for your life.» So, every six days work, and rest one day. Every six years work, and then let that land rest. The people didn’t listen because they were chained to constant activity. I mean, it’s good land; there’s still fruit there and still crops growing. So, do y’all know what God did? He said, «I’m not going to go against my word.» He allowed the entire nation to be taken into captivity and overthrown by a different kingdom to let the land rest. This scares me. He allowed them to be conquered so that the land could rest. Let me just ask you a question: What are you still working on that God needs to rest?
The reason why the business isn’t working, the reason why that relationship isn’t working, is that God says, «I need you to give it a rest for a little bit. I need you to come out of this.» And the point is this: Constant activity leads to captivity. Keep working what God says, but you need to rest. He said, «I’ll let you get into that horrible relationship and be taken into captivity for years because you will not listen to me.» He told you to stop hanging out with them. He told you to let it rest, but you wouldn’t let it rest. «Take them, take them!» No, no, no; this is what they wanted. I gave them the ability to accept the gift of rest, but they are so chained to constant activity that they won’t accept my gift. Anxiety? Take them. Depression? You can have them. They don’t want peace. I’m the Prince of Peace; they don’t want an easy yoke; they want to struggle. «Suicidal? Don’t take them!» I’m giving them a different option, but they won’t rest. So, if I’m in constant activity, I’m one step away from captivity.
Now, I have to say this just because I need to come to a close, because some of y’all can’t take much more right now. Your faces look like, «Oh my God, why did I come to church today?» To get healed, to get uncovered. Some of y’all are going to have to watch this so many times because it has to wash over you this word. But I’m telling you what the Bible says: «Now, now just for everybody who’s like, 'I heard about the Bible today, ' constant activity leads to captivity.» «I ain’t doing nothing!» Forget that trash! «It don’t matter; I ain’t doing nothing; I’m on my side.» This, I’m not saying. The prerequisite for real rest is real work. Rest and laziness are not the same thing.
Some of y’all have been saying, «I’m resting,» and you’re just being lazy. Like, anything that requires effort from you, you want to blame it on. And that’s why poverty has found you and why you’ve laid in that bed, and God is not pleased with that. It was six days of real work that was the prerequisite for real rest. Golly, we have to do the real work to actually experience real rest. But that’s why we cannot commit to laziness. We need to commit to legacy. When you’re not building for yourself, you know when you get up to work, this is for something beyond you. Do you think Transformation Church is doing all the things we’re doing for us? God has blessed; we’re good.
What we’re trying to do is pay off other people’s buildings. What we’re trying to do is go into the jail system and really reintroduce people into real life. We’re trying to help people beyond us, but that takes six days a week doing real work. But what we do for our staff is we tell them to take a Sabbath, take a day off. And some of them are disobedient. I’m telling you right now, we have 130-something staff; some of them came from churches and places where it was all about constant activity. They weren’t valued if they weren’t constant. And we’re telling them to take a break. We tell them to take their vacation. We’re telling them to take all their PTO. You have 18 days of PTO, and you just got here? Where they do that at? Transformation Church, we’re trying to create an environment with margin, and there are people that, in the year that work here, nobody thinks they did God’s work by not taking the gift that God gave them.
Here you are fooled; you have gone against the gift that God has given you, racking up. «I got 48 PTO days!» That’s dumb. Let me stop. They can fire you any day, and you’re not taking it. You’re mad every day you’re on the job, but won’t take a day off. Who told you? I’mma leave it alone, 'cause I just felt the urge to write this down: Rest takes crazy faith. Every year, I’m going on a sabbatical. This is my last week preaching until the fall. I’m outta here. Now watch, whether you like it or not, I have reaped the benefits of being consistent with the rhythm of rest. Y’all wouldn’t want to hear from me if I had an affair. But many people who are having affairs, it’s not because they wanted to; they made a poor decision when their souls were weary. They just did not rest. The financial situation they got into, they weren’t able to see a clearer path because they didn’t withdraw and rest.
So they got into bed with somebody who was a loan shark and a bad person. It’s not like nobody wakes up in the morning and says, «Today I’ma ruin my life.» Nobody. It’s what happens when you’re weary. This is my last Sunday preaching, and this is some of y’all’s, like, «Well, this is my last Sunday,» till you come back. Hold on! Where’s your trust? Is your trust that God can deliver a word to you through me? Because I’m going to tell you that’s a bad place to put it. I’mma just be frank with you: This mortal man is not where you want to put all your hope and faith. It’s in God, the one who can speak through a burning bush, the one who can speak through a donkey, the one who can speak to your cousin or co-worker or whoever we have on this platform.
One of the greatest signs of spiritual maturity is being able to receive God’s word from whoever the servant is He puts out there. If viewership and people’s participation go down, that’s not a sign of the meal we prepared; that’s a sign of the maturity of the person sitting at the table. Okay, let me stop there. At Transformation Church, every summer—if you’re just new here, every summer this happens—for eight years, we’ve been doing this, and I’m not breaking rank. Because when I come back, rested, recreated, having experienced recreation—which is recreation—when I withdraw, I make margin for God to produce in me the things that will generate miracles in this church.
And a lot of times, the miracles aren’t signs and wonders with me touching you; it’s a principle that I’ve adopted that we start filtering through this church. Then you start seeing the outcome in people’s lives and how it changes is because you cannot go where your leader will not take you. That’s why it’s very important what church you’re in. There are churches that preach against this. The tactic of manipulation is to work people to the point where they can’t function without them, and they’re watching people lose their families and their sanity. And when they go crazy, they’re not even there for them. I’m trying to break the cycle. Your pastor is telling you to take a rest, take a vacation, do something that will recreate in your soul a place and a space where God can give you margin, and you can receive a miracle.
Okay, last two things, and we’re outta here. Or just write them down, because I ain’t even got time to talk about them: Rest requires retreat. You can’t rest if you’re always doing everything. Some people’s birthday parties, you’re not going to. I got a strong birthday text game, and some people are like, «I can’t; I love you,» but the mental space it takes for me at this season of my life to remember everybody’s birthday and go to everybody’s baby shower and experience everybody’s everything is draining for me. I don’t have the margin, and I have a great mandate—not because I’m a pastor, but because I answer God’s call. If you’re a single mother, God has given you a great mandate. If you’re a father, God has given you a great mandate.
There are certain things you can’t do. And what I’m saying is you have to retreat. The Bible says go search every place in the Bible where it says, «And Jesus withdrew.» They were trying to crown Him king, and He was like, «Hold up, Lord, I don’t really want to do this anymore. These people are crazy out here.» But you have a purpose and a plan for me. You’re going to give me wisdom. Send them! I sent them out on the sea. Y’all seen them. «You about to hit them with a storm? You want Peter to walk on water? Oh, that’s why you sent me here to rest so that I could have the strength for the greatest miracle a man has ever performed.»
Okay, it’s 3 AM. Okay, let me walk on the sea. «Peter, is that you?» Before you just heard me call your name, «If it’s you, Lord, bid me to come.» «Come on out here, Peter.» Could it be that the miracle that Peter experienced was a direct connection to the rest that Jesus took before the miracle happened? What if Jesus was in the book signing line, taking pictures and selfies with everybody, signing their tablets, like, «What if He was doing all that and wasn’t rested?» He wouldn’t have had the power, being fully man and fully God, to be the example for what Simon Peter would do—the only man to do that. Rest is a weapon. Rest requires retreat. Watch this: Rest produces recreation. You will not recreate until you do something recreational.
Some of y’all don’t know how to have fun. So literally, if you take time off, all you’re thinking about is organizing. If you take time off, you’re trying to think about how to get ahead. When you come back, go do something that has no tangible result immediately. Go skating! I ain’t skated in 32 years, but I used to love it! I used to get out there and be like, «Ah, ah, go, go!» Go learn to swim! What do I look like, 50 years old out there with the kids with a floatie? Like, somebody who’s trying—like, you won’t even go on the cruise because you’re scared that if something happens, a Titanic moment, you can’t swim. But you want to go on the cruise, but you’re fearful 'cause you can’t.
So just start with, «Let’s just try to learn how to swim.» It might take you four years. And especially for Black people, I got to say this because I lead a multi-ethnic church where slavery intentionally taught you not to swim because most of the perimeters were surrounded by water, so they could keep you chained and captive if you did not know how to swim. So what they did was drown people to instill fear in you, and generationally, something has been passed down culturally. Even when you get into the '40s and '50s, they used to go to public swimming pools. When there was segregation, they would come because they did not want to share pools with white people, and they would dump acid you can literally research this stuff into pools, which made parents say, «You ain’t going to the pool no more; we’re not swimming.»
And now we’re in 2023, where people have pools in their backyards that they can’t swim in. Hot tub? We hot tub all day! A person would sit in the hot tub, and we will get a drink and relax and have a great day by the pool, watch the language, by the pool—not in it, but by it. It’s time. It’s time. I’m just saying, like, maybe some of this stuff ain’t as deep as you think it is. Like, it’s time to rest and recreate. Learn a new skill. Do something you’ve never done. Color again! When’s the last time you colored? You used to be the best at shading and outlining. Some of y’all know what I’m saying! Like, some of y’all could say, «How you make Scooby-Doo look like that?»
But somehow at eight, that sense of doing something that would never be shown in an art gallery but would be displayed on a refrigerator would recreate something inside of you. And I’m just asking you, that’s what rest produces. Do that again. Rest is a reminder that you’re not all that. When you leave the company, and it still runs, you’ll be like, «Damn, thought I was holding it together! Thought I was the big dog!» Every year when I go on sabbatical, around week seven I’m like, «Man, I bet they miss me now!» And God was like, «No, they’re fine! Sent words, sent messages, talked to people, gave…» I was like, «God, but you know—don’t bring a special twinkle!»
No, no, no! You’re important, but not that important. My work doesn’t go on without you? Stay obedient! This is a privilege, it’s an honor. It’s an honor to raise those kids; it’s an honor to love that wife; it’s an honor. Please don’t take this for granted. Rest is a reminder you’re not all that; it keeps you humble, which keeps God’s favor on your life. Let me say this one last thing: Rest is winning. The sign of health and wealth a hundred years ago was the time you got to spend with your family and in leisure. That was the picture of wealth a hundred years ago. The picture of wealth now is flying from one city to this city, private jets, high-rises, meetings—like, you’re wealthy when you got photo shoots and this and that.
Where did that come from? The enemy. The enemy said, «If I can take away their weapon of rest, I can keep them so delusional that they’ll accept anything.» What the enemy can’t confront and stop, he gets behind and pushes. Some of y’all have been pushed to the brink of producing, and God said, «Would you please uncuff from culture, follow my kingdom pattern, and enter into my rest?» Rest. Somebody say, «Rest is winning.» I couldn’t comprehend this because I thought while I was resting, somebody was beating me. «Well, God, I’m just sitting here.» He said, «Their movement does not equate to actual multiplication. Movement doesn’t equal multiplication. When I touch something, then it multiplies.» We don’t believe the Bible; promotion comes from God.
So, God looks at people who are doing it His way and not doing it their way, and He says, «Yo, I can promote them because they got the principle.» I am not that good; I just follow the principles of generosity, the principles of rest, the principles of prayer, and it’s like God blesses more while I’m doing less. Okay, they got mad at me on that one. Charles, just let me stop. Last one: rest restores. When you rest… I’ve been working out, and I’ve been on this journey, y’all, and my whole situation is changing right now. I’m having to buy different clothes now because the things that I really liked don’t fit anymore. I’m having to get stuff tailored. God’s doing a transformation, and your boy, okay, tucked in a shirt.
A year ago, this would have been… got my hoochie daddy shorts, how my wife likes them. Okay, while I’ve been in this process, discipline is turning into desire. Like, while I was in Miami, I was still working out. I found a trainer in Miami, like I’m working out and doing these different things. One of the things I found was when I was asking the trainer, I said, «Alright, how do I take it up to the next level? How do I go?» He said, «There are two things that you need to maximize your workout in this next season. You’ve mastered all of these things. Two things that are the secret weapon to achieving the physique you want: water and rest.» Say what? I thought you were going to say more weight, more burden, more struggle, more strain.
He said, «No, no. You’ve been doing everything consistently; stay consistent at that. The things you’re not doing are the things your body needs. They need to be hydrated, and you need to rest.» «How much rest should I begin?» «Eight hours.» «Hey, my body doesn’t even stay asleep that long!» «It’s because your mind is filled with things like, 'Let me get up, let me do this.'» He said, «Water and rest.» It was a revelation. Maybe your next level is not about more; maybe it’s not about addition; maybe it’s about subtraction. Say, «Stop drinking pop, stop drinking juice, just water, and you need a gallon and a half a day.» I said, «Do you know how many times I have to pee?» He said, «That’ll just be a byproduct of how you feel when you’re hydrated.» And he said, «Then I need you to rest.»
I started to think about how the rest in the water restores. It restores what I can’t even see. There are things inside of you that have been thirsty and needing a break, and God said, «Would you come to me, all of you who have had this heavy burden and are weary, and I will give you…» What is the word? You already know a lot of me and Natalie’s story. We have a son in whom I’m well pleased, MJ, and he was diagnosed with autism. He currently has autism, and he’s a miracle in motion. We’re believing God for a miracle, but as we believe God for a miracle, we do not deny our current situation. Faith is not acting like something real; that’s delusion. So, God’s doing miracles, but that took an extreme toll on me and my life in the middle of the church blowing up—in the middle of crazy faith and relationship goals—and we’re winning on the outside to everybody else.
Our soul is leaking because our only son was diagnosed with autism, and they were telling us all these things he would never be able to do. That opened up a window specifically in my wife to just childhood trauma and hurt and all these different things. And y’all, there was a season where I was like, «Hold up, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to be a pastor and walk through all of this stuff.» God sent me a great community, and I have friends who actually care about us. If we never were pastors, like I actually have people who don’t care how much money we make or if we got nothing—they’re not ministry friends because I’m Mike Todd; they’re just my friends.
My friend saw that we were hurting and called the counselor for us. They called the counselor for us and said, «Hey, you’re going to this.» I was like, «What are you talking about?» Because in my culture and family, like we pray about stuff. I don’t go to counseling; the Lord can fix this. And He can, but maybe the method is through counseling. Maybe I need to cry at the altar to start it, but I need to talk to somebody to finish it. I gotta say some stuff because there are just cultural things. Some of y’all, when I’m 60 years old, never go to counseling and you’ll die like that. You’ll die with that burden, and then you’ll leave your kids here to fight and struggle through things you could have just told them. That’s not what I meant.
Okay, let me stop. We went to counseling—intensive counseling. This wasn’t like once a week for an hour; this was five days, three hours a day, every day for the whole week. This was exhausting. It was work, and we went every quarter for two years. All of your favorite messages in between the weeks, I would preach to you on Sunday and I would fly out on Sunday night, and I would be in Colorado with my wife, with somebody else watching our kids for five days, talking about molestation, talking about being hurt, talking about where did this work engine come from.
Why do you like to have to do this? And there was a moment where I saw that my wife needed me to be the one to help restore her, and this was my assignment, and this is why God gave her to me. It’s not for relationship goals; the book is a sacrifice. We had a conversation and she said, «Mike, the enemy is tormenting me at night. I’m the pastor of this church, and my wife comes up to me—I’m just going to be transparent with y’all—she comes up to me and says, 'The enemy is tormenting me at night, and it intensifies every time you go out of town to preach to other people. I’m here, I don’t sleep, I’m getting worn out by the devil, and I need you to be here with me.'»
Tears in our eyes, and I’m thinking, «But I gotta go; I gotta work. I gotta get—this is my moment; this is what we prayed for; this is how we’re going to get out of poverty; everybody’s calling me.» She says, «I need you to choose me.» After that conversation, the Holy Spirit dealt with me so strongly. He said, «Michael, I need you to uncuff from constant. I need you to stop striving. I need you to start striding. Instead of running, walk, and I promise you I’ll give you everything you thought you were going to run to; I’ll bring it to you.» Y’all, but that was fine in theory, but when I had to call every person that I booked arenas and conferences for from July to December and tell them I was canceling my name on the flyer, that was not easy. But I made the decision.
I want you to see a moment that I don’t even know why I recorded this, but I recorded the moment that I sacrificed what I thought was my purpose for God to use resting with me and my wife to restore her to another level. Watch this video. I’m just documenting the journey. It’s been kind of going since God’s done this whole thing, and yesterday and this morning He kind of hit a reset. So, this right here is my 2018 calendar, and I’m canceling everything from July on just to focus on Natalie, focus on relationship goals, focus on the music, focus on the church, and just make room for whatever God wants to do. Striding 2.0. This is uncomfortable and weird, but I just know when I follow God, He does more than I could ever do.
So, I’m sorry to everybody we’re having to cancel on, but I just can’t be whited out of the purpose of God trying to please me. So now listen, before you clap—before you clap—the moment wasn’t over; that was a continued decision that I had to make over and over and over again. Some of the very people who told me to put family first got mad at me and never invited me back because I did what I knew I had to do for my soul to have rest. Me and Natalie just celebrated our 12th anniversary this past Sunday. I love you, baby. My wife doesn’t really do social media that much, but that video was on her phone. I didn’t have it, and I don’t know how many times she watched that video or saw that video, but she decided to post that video for our anniversary, and she said, «I thank you for choosing me.»
When I tell you that meant more to me than being on any platform, the level of restoration and healing that God has been doing in my wife, my family, and our home—we are the happiest. I literally would drink that woman’s bath water. No, I’m not even lying; I’ll do it on camera. I actually don’t care; I love her so much, and I would not be the man I am today if God hadn’t given me the opportunity to choose culture’s rhythm or kingdom rhythm. I chose rest. And I just want to be very practical with you. Your thing may not be my wife or my husband. Your thing may be cutting off Netflix a day a week. You binge-watch to find comfort, and God says, «Just, matter of fact, cut the service off for the rest of the summer. See who you are without the option.»
Some of y’all forgot who you were without streaming services; you forgot who you were without knowing the latest music. I don’t even know when everybody drops albums anymore, and I don’t care because I’ve got something God’s building through me that I can’t be bombarded with the constant. It’s so practical to me that literally every Sunday night at eight o’clock or nine o’clock, I turn off my phone and I have a Sabbath from eight o’clock on Sunday to eight o’clock on Monday. If you’ve ever called me on Monday and I didn’t answer, it’s because I didn’t see it. It ain’t everybody’s business, but I’m telling you that it’s practical.
Today, I have four Mondays with a flip phone. I told my wife this summer as I was coming back from the sabbatical, «I’m buying a flip phone.» She drove me to AT&T and she was like, «What are you doing?» I said, «I’m buying a flip.» I just told you I have two cell phones now: three, because I have a flip phone. She was like, «What is this for?» I said, «For me to prove to myself and to God that I’m going to be committed and constant in putting Him first by honoring a day of rest.» When I got that cell phone in my hand, too many people and too many things had access to bombard my soul. I don’t even know how to text on this thing. Look at the graph! Look at this! I know the green button is to call. And look, where’s the camera? Bring the up-close camera.
I want you to see there’s only two numbers in here. Okay, bring it right here. Hold on… back it up, Scotty. And my wife, Brie, also has this number. They’re the only three people that know this phone number because they’re the only people that can call me when I’m in a season of rest, and they already know it has to be an emergency, and I’m usually with my wife. And Scotty doesn’t ever call me except that one time he called me. What I’m telling you is it’s not spiritual until it’s practical. Okay, stop telling me what you’re gonna do. It’s not spiritual until it’s practical. I’m asking you, yeah, what is your flip phone? What goes against culture? What is your actual sign that you’re gonna honor God?
Well, I’m not telling everybody to go out and buy a flip phone; that may not be necessary for you. You may have the strength to put your phone down or actually not answer. Like, I’m not trying to act like I do. If too many—I just preached on Sunday to thousands of people, and I can get feedback like, «Oh, that was the message!» and, «I loved it!» I would be on Instagram all night looking at how it blessed people, and God said, «Cut it off.» Can I cut it off on Thursday, and nobody talked about it on Thursday? He said, «No, I needed you to cut it off at the height of where it could feed your ego.» No, I didn’t. And folk go change the diaper, and go on a date with your wife, and go throw MJ in the air and watch him count to a hundred. Now, when the doctor said he couldn’t… like, click. Blood’s like… the light.
Let’s do this. Something to recreate: let’s go get a pedicure. I started getting pedicures, and now I like them; I enjoy how they pamper my feet. It’s like I’m rediscovering who God has called me to be as I make room for miracles. As I’m preparing to go on sabbatical, God has instructed me to tell this church that the primary outcome of rest is revival. When you rest, you actually gain the stamina needed when God calls for it to perform miracle signs and wonders. The reason God doesn’t pour out His blessings on many people is that they wouldn’t be able to sustain them; it would be a flash in the pan. Your body couldn’t handle the weight of glory that God wants to use you in. If He called you on tour right now to travel from city to city, you couldn’t do it; your eating habits are working against your purpose. God is saying, «Would you just rest? Would you receive this gift so that I can birth the revival?»
Transformation Church, I’m telling you that when I return, we will start a revival that will upset the kingdoms of hell. I like you all. I’ve been praying; I’ve seen it from the time we reopened the building to the Version 2 Conference to what’s about to happen next. I’m telling you, we’re about to witness a move of God like never before, but I’m asking you to do the hard work that requires faith before we see revival. For many of us, the most challenging task will be preparing by resting. Resting doesn’t mean you don’t spend time with God; it means you spend more time with God. When I rest, you should see me on the beach; that’s where God speaks to me, because it’s the only place where I feel small.
When I look out at the endless ocean, the sunrise, and the sand—how it stops at one point, and how the gravitational pull of the moon causes the waves to roll in—when I’m out there, I feel minimal. It’s the only place where I feel like I can’t add anything to it. The reason I go to the beach is that it’s an atmosphere where I can truly rest. There’s nothing I can contribute to what God has been doing consistently long before any of us were here. It’s like my body just relaxes, and then I pray, read, love, examine, restore, jump off cliffs with Scotty, recreate, ride jet skis, look at my toes in the sand, and see how my pinky toe is still sticking up in the air while all the others are flat in the sand. I just allow God to work within me. I’m saying you don’t need a beach to do this; you may need a bench instead. You could sit on a bench in the park, go to a gathering place, or visit a neighbor, and let God overwhelm you.
Oh, I feel the presence of God right there! Let God overwhelm you with His creation; let Him overwhelm you with His goodness. You won’t even see how good God has been to you unless you take a break and rest. You’re in a house you never thought you could afford, you’ve been at a job that God brought you to after moving from another city, and you’re in a mental and emotional space you thought would take years to achieve, yet you haven’t paused to thank God because there’s no margin in your life. Today, church, I want you to break free from the constant busyness and accept the gift of rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 states: «There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from His.» Watch this: «So let us,» everyone say «let us,» come on, say it like you mean it—"let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest.» A lot of people think rest is simply, «Oh, I’m going to rest.» Yeah, it will take effort to rest, but it says, «Let us make every effort.» Set up babysitters, save some money so you can afford that, plan a staycation once a month, or if you can only go to Coweta for vacation, do something different; ride with someone else. I’m just saying that making an effort is important, and it’s not going to be easy. If it were easy, the enemy wouldn’t have so much control over your actions. Today, I’m asking you to rest. Would you lift your hands? I just want to pray for you. Would you stand? Yes, let’s stand up all over.
As a pastor, it is my job to teach you what God has taught me from His Word, and sometimes it’s my job to impart what God has imparted to me. Today, I don’t want to give you information; I want to give you impartation. I want to pray over you that you would receive the revelation of rest, that it would become practical, spiritual, and duplicable. The only reason my sister is back is that Transformation Church has been different because Bree has been on a sabbatical for the past two months. If you love our chief of staff at Transformation Church, make some noise! I love you, Bree! Come here! Now, this is her first Sunday back; give it up for Bree! Some of you don’t know, but she makes this place run. That’s my sister; we’ve been in ministry together for a long time, and we are getting better because we’ve developed the revelation of rest. This is one thing she texted me the other day; she said, «Mike, you’ve done some great things for me; I love you, you’re my brother and my boss, but the best thing you ever did was learn the revelation of rest.»
You can’t give away what you haven’t experienced. My sister is a one on the Enneagram; she’s practically perfect at everything and works hard. It was difficult for her to receive the revelation of rest, but when I got it and began sharing its benefits with her, we started reading some of the same books and discussing the advantages of rest. I was like, «Alright, it’s time to move past just me imparting information; I need duplication. Bree, you’re going on a two-month sabbatical.» I had no idea how I was going to manage this ministry for two months without my right hand, and God anchored me with two very strong women: Natalie and Bree. When we returned yesterday, I visited my sister and my brother-in-law’s house, and when I saw her, she looked different. It’s been ten years of hard work, and we didn’t even know how to rest.
I’m trying to give you the same duplication of what we didn’t know we needed so that we can do this forever. I said to Bree, «You need this sabbatical.» She even suggested that it might be time for Tammy to take a sabbatical too, and so in two weeks, our dear friend Tammy, who has been with me long before we became Transformation, is finally getting a break. I’ve had to fight with my parents, Brendan and Tommy Todd, because they are helpers by nature. If they’re not helping here, they’re out somewhere praying or lifting up another church; they’re constantly working. I told them on Wednesday that this August, they needed a sabbatical. I insisted, «No engagements outside of the city, no prayer conferences, just rest.» I felt like I was reprimanding them, and it was almost like a joyful moment—who knew that after 40 years in ministry, it would be in their 60s that they would finally take a month off? What if God didn’t require that?
Today, I want you to know that the leadership of this church is committed to prioritizing rest. Charles isn’t getting a sabbatical this year, but he will get one next year; just wait for it—coming soon! He has plenty of energy; he’s like 21! But what I’m trying to convey is that we’re not just discussing this; we’re modeling it. I refuse to be a pastor who hides on vacation. Most of my friends don’t even post their vacation pictures because they know you wouldn’t come to church if you knew they were resting. Forget that! We need examples of how to serve God and rest at the same time. Take a vacation, get a massage; these are good things! I’m saying this because these are the conversations we don’t hear in church anymore. They tell us to pray more, serve more, do more, and give more; I’m telling you to rest more and receive this gift.
Father, today, Bree and I pray that our church would experience the revelation of rest. Would you lift your hands right now? May they experience this revelation today. Father God, You had to teach Bree, Natalie, and me, and today we’re giving away the revelation—you taught us this, but it will still take people faith to practically embrace it. Lord, I ask that You be the Holy Spirit that guides Your people into all truth. There is truth in this principle, God. Would You help husbands and wives prioritize rest? Would You help people plan? Would You help people trust You enough to take the same faith that it took to start their businesses to now also embrace the concept of rest? Father, would You restore the years the enemy has stolen by making us rush through life? God, would You please perform a miracle in the margin of our lives? Please give us grace to run at a sustainable pace. Today, God, we surrender. Come on, lift your hands and say, «God, I surrender everything to You,» including my pace. Today, Father, I thank You that we, as a church and Transformation Nation, are uncoupling from constant busyness and committing ourselves to the principle of rest. We’re withholding nothing.
Hands lifted high, just say, «Withholding nothing!» Come on, believe with all your heart; I surrender! Let’s lift our hands all over this world. God, I’m disconnecting from constant busyness. I want to find the rhythm of grace, the rhythm of rest, and I’m going to need Your help. I’m giving You all of me. You can’t practice Christ’s principles without Christ; it might be a good effort, but you won’t be able to last. Today, there are people here saying, «Pastor Mike, I need to give my life to Jesus.»
Everything I’ve been doing has been through a cultural lens. Today, I want to try this new kingdom way. I want to give my life to Christ. I’m telling you, the shift in my mind, along with breaking free from my addiction to pornography and living in purity, came when I accepted Jesus Christ. Today, I want to give you that opportunity. I don’t care who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done—what you were planning to do after this. God is saying to you right now, «Come!» Everyone say, «Come!» One more time: «Come to Me!» I can see it in your eyes; you’re weary. I can see it in your attitude that you’re carrying a burden you don’t want to bear anymore. He says, «Let me give you a different yoke; it’s easy, and it’s light, and you can carry it.»
If that’s you, on the count of three, we’re about to pray. If you’re saying, «Pastor, I want to add myself to that prayer today; I want to give my life to Christ for the first time, or I want to rededicate my life,» lift your hands on the count of three. One, you’re making the greatest decision of your life. I’m proud of you, and I need the church to begin to pray—there are people’s lives in the balance right now. You’re making a great decision, and I’m happy for you, but your name is about to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life; your eternity is about to be changed and shaped. Lift your hands if you want to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.
There are people in the room; there are people’s hands going up all over. I believe there are hundreds of people now. Transformation Church, according to Romans 10:9, you have to believe and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we’re about to do that together. I don’t care who’s around you; this is the decision that’s going to change your life. At Transformation Church, we’re a family, so nobody prays alone. So, everybody, let’s pray for the benefit of those who are coming to Christ right now. Let’s pray this together. Everybody, just say:
God, thank you for sending Jesus just for me. Today, I’m committing my life to you. Take over. I believe you lived, you died, and you rose again with all power to save me. And today, I surrender all to you. Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m yours. In Jesus' name, amen.