Michael Todd - I'm Going Under (Covered By The Most High)
We are in week five of a series we’re calling «Worship on the Word.» Wow, wow, I love y’all so much! At the end of this series, we’re believing that everyone will be in awe of the revelation you personally have about what it means to truly worship God. I’ve said this in every sermon, and I’ve got to say it today: wherever you come from, thank you for being here. If you’re watching online, thank you for being here! I didn’t get a chance to mention to everyone from the platform yet, but today is Baptism Sunday! Y’all, if you’re getting baptized in that section back there, can you stand up and make some noise?
Let us celebrate! Hallelujah to everyone online! There’s a whole section of people who have decided to make their relationship with Jesus public. They don’t have a side-chick savior anymore; no secrets about their relationship! I want everybody to know who I’m in covenant with. And for some of you in here, you might be like, «I didn’t know it was Baptism Sunday; nobody told me!» Good for you! Transformation Church has prepared for you because we knew that today would be the day that some of y’all came in here. And you just got done yesterday, and your wig is on real tight. And right now, you’re feeling a prompting of the Holy Spirit like, «Today’s the day!» You’ve been asking for a new beginning; you’ve been believing me to mark your life.
And this is a sign: today is the day you need to get baptized. I’m not going to wait until the end to tell you because I want you to wrestle with this throughout the whole message. Some of y’all are going to be like, «That was the taco I ate!» No, that was the Holy Spirit; He’s drawing you to make a decision. I don’t care how much money you have in the bank; I don’t care how many times you’ve rededicated your life. Some of us need a fresh start today. If you’re in this room and want to go public with your faith, I don’t care what you did last night; neither does God. He wants today to be the day of salvation and the day you actually come alive in Christ. So I’m going to put it out there right now: we have extra t-shirts, extra shorts, extra bras—extra everything! You ain’t got my signs; we have something to cover you up today. Let there be no excuse for why you don’t publicly declare, «I’m getting baptized because I serve the Most High God!» Can we thank God for all the people who are getting baptized? Hallelujah!
All right, so y’all know I’ve been preaching a message based on every song that we’re releasing. Today, I have the privilege of talking about how good my God is. This is easy for me because, man, I’ve been through some crazy stuff in my life. When I start to think about how much God is removed from regular stuff in His thinking but how concerned He is about the details of my life, I get overwhelmed by God’s grace. Today, I’m just praying that there will be a fresh revelation for everyone in this room about how to worship God because of who He is. Let me give you the definition, in week five of this «Worship on the Word» series, of what worship is: worship is our love expressed to God as a response to His grace towards us.
I worship God not for what He’s about to do; I worship Him because He’s already done so much. The real thing that can keep you from worshiping is forgetting. So many people have what I call «Christian amnesia.» In a situation where it was so dire and desperate, we called out to God, and He did a miracle. Two weeks later, we forgot that God was good, and we start saying things like, «Why would you leave me like this? Where are you?» And God’s like, «Hold on, this is the same exact situation you put yourself in.»
Okay, I’m going to go to real examples—how many times did you pray because you weren’t pregnant? No, because everybody’s looking at me like, «Oh, okay.» I mean, okay, let’s go real. I saw everybody start getting stiff and real like, «Yes, I need God’s grace.» How many times were you late on what you said you would do and didn’t keep your word? But somehow, grace and favor were extended to your life. Do you not remember the mercies and goodness of God? The problem is, every time we come into the house of God, and many times when we’re at home, we try to get a fresh miracle so we can worship God. He’s just saying, «The fact that you’re breathing, the fact that you have a roof over your head, the fact that all your kids are still alive in the neighborhood you grew up in, the fact that greed didn’t take over your heart when pride was the centerpiece of your family—all of that should be enough reason for us to express our worship to God.»
So I started to think about it because I’ve been saying the same thing for about three or four weeks now. God said, «Michael, if they don’t worship, they probably don’t understand grace.» I was like, «What do you mean, God?» He was like, «Grace is the greatest gift I could give. I gave them unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor and kindness from me. If they don’t put an expensive price tag on My grace, they come into worship entitled.» So worship does not become something we give to God; it’s something we want God to excite out of us. «I’ll worship You when You do.» And God’s like, «Hold on! I already did the best thing you could ever have. I sent Jesus as a sign of My grace so that all the crazy stuff you would do, you wouldn’t have to pay the penalty for. But you want Me to do a new sign, miracle, and wonder that still pales in comparison to what I did through Jesus?»
Before you worship—oh, you want a thousand dollars? Somebody calls you out and says, «I’m giving you a thousand dollars,» and you jump and shout. But when you think of the sacrifice that Jesus gave, you don’t jump, you don’t shout, you don’t sing His praise. We need to reprioritize what should get a response in our lives! Oh God, I just said something! We need to reprioritize! How are you going to worship if you don’t even value it? The old folks used to say, «God, I thank you for the dangers that you kept me from seeing.»
And do you know it was the grace of God that you made it to this church in one piece today? It was the grace of God that your kids made it through another school year! It was the grace—oh y’all, I need to find somebody in this place who will just thank God for His grace: that my marriage is still here, that this church is still here, that my life still has purpose after all I’ve done. You can still use somebody like me! Somebody shout «Grace!» And if you ever forget about the grace of God, you become entitled in His presence. There are so many people who showed up in churches today wanting God to do something else when, man, He’s everywhere I preach! But you want Him to show up?
Hold on! We don’t want a God; we want a genie. We want to rub and worship the right way so that maybe we hit the jackpot. God says, «While you were yet sinners, while you were still sneaking in and out of those windows, while you were still lying on your taxes, while you were still claiming kids to be ages that they weren’t to go to Chuck E. Cheese and get a free buffet—while you were still a baby at 17…» No, he’s 13! He’s 12! Shut up! The baby’s got facial hair; what are you talking about? While you were yet sinners, Christ sent the greatest gift—something that will help you worship God wherever you are! It’s just stopping and saying:
God, thank you for the grace you’ve already given me. Thank you for saving me out of that abusive relationship. Thank you, Father, that even though I was molested, I didn’t turn around and perpetuate that predatory behavior. Thank you for breaking the curse. Thank you that even my kids weren’t raised with a father; God, that You sent men of God into their lives and gave them a foundation. Father God, he was a deadbeat, but You were a good Father! God, I was raised in drugs, but thank you for the grace to break the addiction. Thank you, Father God, that it’s been eight years—this is your testimony—that you’ve been walking in sobriety and you haven’t been addicted. Thank you for the grace You gave!
Oh y’all don’t hear me! Three seconds—thank God for the grace He’s already given! Thank you for Your grace! That’s why I call Him the Most High, because none of my bosses could break pornography addiction off of me. That’s why I call Him the Most High, because no crowd of people could help me stop lying. That’s why He’s the Most High. Somebody say, «He’s the Most High!» Because He saw me at my lowest and stepped off of His throne and sent the Holy Spirit to meet me in my despair. That’s why I worship God. Maybe today, you need to find a reason! Because at the end of the day, all of us were created to worship God. It was literally why He made you.
So, if you’re wondering, «What’s my purpose? I need God! I’m going away for 40 days to fast in Arizona; that’s the closest thing to the desert I can get, and I’m going to ask God, 'What is my purpose? '» There are some specific purposes that God will clarify for you, but there are other general purposes of mankind. One of mankind’s general purposes is to worship God. He says, «I made you to do it, but if you don’t, I’ll tell the rocks to start crying out and worship for me.» And this is why it’s such a burden of mine to teach the body of Christ that worship is not just a Sunday thing; it is not a slow song thing. Somebody say, «Worship is my lifestyle!»
All right, it is not a part of my life; it is my life. How I love my wife is worship. How I treat my enemies is worship. How I give to people is worship. If you keep it as the slow songs on your playlist, you will miss out on the protection, the renewal, and the revelation that God provides when you live a life of worship. When we wrote this song, «Most High God,» it was in a season where I felt a lot of people were experiencing condemnation. God told me that the joy of the Lord will be your strength and that I need to make a song that embodies joy; as soon as you put it on, it lifts your spirit. The first line that came out when we were in the studio was at 15:19: «This is my favorite line of the whole song. When I do the most, You’re the Most High God.»
Now, coming into a worship service, there have been times I’ve entered worship services knowing that I had done the most that weekend. Let me be honest, as a pastor—now, people won’t tell you this, but the enemy really tries to attack my marriage from Friday night to Sunday morning. See, they don’t even want me to be real right now, but he knows the only person that can throw me off my game is Natalie Diane Todd. No, no, no, no. There have been times when it’s like, «I forgive you because I’ve got to go preach,» and come on, see me. I’ve got some things I want to talk to you about, but I know it’s Saturday night; I’ma hold it until Monday. But no, we’ve got to meet, and I’ll be like, «Great, why are you telling me this?» Because if I don’t understand that life presents us with the opportunities to do the most, okay—I’m just saying we’re a humble, open, and transparent church.
How many people in here have ever done the most? Come on, stuff you weren’t supposed to do. Talk, okay? See, there are some judgmental, self-righteous people in here who think, «That’s for those extroverts, those people who are doing it loud and proud.» No, no. Some of y’all do the most in your thoughts. You’ve never said it, but the Bible says if you even think it, you might as well be self-righteous because you’re thinking so much. You’ve thought yourself out of your purpose and your place. Okay, no, no—that’s just for those people who wear loud pink sweaters and pink pants and pink suits. That’s for them. No, some of y’all do the most in planning. You plan so much that your family hasn’t had fun in years. You’re not flexible at all. «No, at this time we’re supposed to be at the ice cream shop. Are you guys having fun? Take a picture.» «No, Mom, we’re not.» But some of y’all do the most at talking.
«God told you—let me tell you what the Lord said! I’m a prophet to the shh; they need to hear what God said to me in time.» But right now, you talk too much. Some of us do the most in eating. «You know God’s been so good. Lord, I thank you that all these calories… would you bless them and make them nourishing to my body and my arteries!» And my heart palpitations—now, let me ask the question again: has anybody ever done the most? Okay, everybody’s hand should be up. And for those who are still sitting there tight-lipped, because I’m «saved, saved,» it’s by the availability. Some of y’all do the most in religious activity. You pray, but you’re judgmental if they don’t do all-night prayers; somehow, they don’t talk to God. But my Bible tells me that you can speak in the language of angels, but if you don’t have love, it’s like a gong, a clanging, annoying symbol.
Some of us, how are you doing? «Let’s learn highly favored, doing what God’s definitely doing in the world. I’ve got the food righteousness of God.» I say hello; say hi back! I’m just saying, like, it is in our human nature to do the most. How comforting is it, though, to know that when I do the most, it does not change the position of our God? Huh? When I have done the most, trying to fulfill the voids inside of me, God went like, «Oh my goodness, Mike’s messing up again.» He’s standing there saying, «I’m big enough for this, Mike. Bring it to me; come on, my grace is sufficient for that too.» And while I’m hiding in toil and torment because something happened to me and I want to keep it a secret, God’s saying, «I’m big enough for that. I’m higher than you getting in trouble.»
Oh God, I wish somebody would have told me it’s better to get in trouble and be truthful than to hide the truth and try to hold on to the lie. Oh my goodness, that’s freedom for somebody right there. You might as well tell your wife you DM’d your high school girlfriend. I just got real tight in here, y’all felt that. You might as well tell her and work on it in the truth, rather than letting another five years go by where she keeps asking you, because women have this like third—uh, Holy Spirit sense. They be in the other room like, «Were you on MySpace? Like, Davey’s doing all kinds of…» «What were you talking about?» «I was just talking to Dwayne; I was just— that was Dwayne from high school! Go Hawks!»
I’m just saying real things that put a wedge between us. And God’s saying to you, «I’m big enough to help you handle whatever you think is bigger than you.» Even when I do the most, He’s the Most High God. I want to tell you one more story because I just feel joy in this sermon today. I just feel joy. I’m going to tell you about the time I did the most. It was my son’s fifth birthday party at a trampoline park that we shall leave nameless in case I decide to sue them later. We’re at the end of MJ’s birthday party, and my friend, John, my tailor, the guy who helped design my clothes, is in the building right now. He comes up to me—I don’t know what possessed him—he comes up to me at the trampoline park and says, «Mike, do you want to race?»
We are 34-year-old grown men; our children are here. I just paid $450 for us to eat stale pizza and a bad cake. What would possess you to come and ask me if I want to race? Without even a hesitation, I said, «Bet, let’s race!» 34-year-old knees, 34-year-old ankles, 34-year-old not stretching at the moment—I said yes; I knew what I was doing. I could have said, «Nah bro, you know what I’m saying? We’re here for the kid.» No, but something inside of me rose up and said, «This boy is not about to beat me in this race.» Everybody gathers around, and something inside of me is saying, «Michael, do not do this! Don’t do this!» But I’m like, «Let’s go!» And cameras start coming out. All the kids cleared the trampoline. I’m there with my wife, my son, my namesake. I was like, «This is for you, MJ.»
Staff and leaders, family friends, and they say go. The trampoline was like a trampoline, and then the metal thing that the springs connected to, and then a trampoline, and then the metal things; there were like five of them. We had to run, jump over, run, jump over—set, go! I start dusting this dude! I get to the last trampoline, and you know how when you’re on a trampoline, if they hit at a certain time, and then you hit at a certain time, it doesn’t bounce? I hit at just the right velocity and momentum for my ankle to go back. It flipped me forward, and my whole butt came out, y’all. I’m not talking about a little crack; I’m talking about full moon action! I’m talking about a front flip! It’s like, «Oh!»
And just after I got over the embarrassment and the shame, I realized that there was an ache in my ankle. I got up; it stopped everything, and I was like, «Ahh, ahh.» You know how you’re trying to act like it’s nothing? I’m trying to walk it off, but I’m like, «Oh.» I acted like it was nothing for six months, started wearing an ankle brace to work out, and I just sprained a little ankle because I was doing the most in a moment where I should have sat down. It went from my ankle, and I found out that your ankle’s attached to your knee. If you don’t deal with ankle pain, you’ll start having knee pain, and my knee is attached to my hip. I found out through experience that when you don’t deal with what’s in your knee, it moves to your hip, and I found out that your hip is strategically connected to your back. And if you—I don’t even know what that was— but uh, for the past year and a half off one decision, when I was doing the most, I’ve had to cater to pain on my entire right side.
What if every time you did the most, you had to pay the penalty? What if every time you told a little white lie, it cost you your life? Because the Bible says the wages of sin is not communication, not a court case, not a debate; it’s death. That little example, when I was doing the most, made me so grateful for how God approaches us in our humanity—that every time I do the most, He still says they can’t pay for what that costs, so I’m going to extend to them grace they don’t deserve, haven’t earned, and do not merit. And this is where I want everybody to get your mind centered around God because many of the sins in your life have hurt you more than the pain that you actually experience in your body. Like, it may not have hurt you physically, but it has hurt you spiritually. Some of the things that I’ve gone through didn’t fracture a bone but fractured my faith.
Some of the things that my sin has done to me did not injure my life, but it injured the ones I loved. And until you start understanding that God is so good—that He’s made a way for us, even when I do the most. Watch this: in my sin, I know this is a word that people don’t talk about in church anymore, but sin—we all do it—and God has made a final payment for all of your sin. Because sin, I’ve heard it said, will take you further than you want to go, take you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. Don’t ever think about sin as something that I’ll just do for a second; it grabs a hold of you. Some of us have been habitually practicing a sin for decades, and now we just call it something that’s a plot. You know, «I’m just you know, you know.» And God’s saying, «That’s the stuff right there I sent Jesus to the cross for. That’s the crap I don’t want you to have to live with.» So God is saying to us, «Be secure; I’m not going to change even when you mess up.»
Today, I want to help you believe that God’s position is not moved because you’re a mess. I needed to know this, and I know there are some people in here that you’re feeling like, «Oh God, He’s so overwhelmed by my sin.» No, He’s not overwhelmed, but you’re overwhelmed by your sin. You can’t sleep at night; you can’t hold together the relationships. God is not moved by your sin; He’s actually waiting to take over it. Okay, okay, so all the problems that our sin creates—write this point down: my problems don’t change God’s position. My problems don’t change God’s position. Somebody say He’s the Most High. He will never not be, even if I leave the church; He’s still the Most High. I could cuss everybody out; He’s still the Most High. «I’m done with God.» He’d say, «Damn, I really wish you would stay with me.»
And I’m going to keep sending my love to chase after you. But my position does not change because your perspective of me has changed. We live in a world right now that thinks their perspective is bigger than the reality of who God is. All of us are going to get 80, 90, maybe 100 years on this Earth. God was before us; He’s stirring us, and He’s going to be. All of the problems that you’re facing right now—you need to know it does not change who God is. He’s still going to be the Most High. Malachi 3:6, «For I, the Lord, do not change.» This is good news! He’s filled with grace; I’m not changing. I’m not changing—I’m going to be consistent when people aren’t. Okay? He said, «For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.»
The reason that all of the sins you’ve been in haven’t consumed you is because I’m good, and I’m gonna stay good. It’s because grace and mercy wake up with you every day, and I’m going to keep sending them out to chase you down. I do not—I’m still the Most High. Go out, while out, do what you want to do; I’m still going to be right here waiting for you to receive the free gift of Jesus that I’ve provided for each one of you. So watch this—I’m just trying to wash your mind; get your mind to be washed over with the word, okay? Guilt will not consume you, and condemnation will not consume you, and regret won’t consume you, it’s because God does not change, so write this point down: when I do the most, God is not moved. As a young man, I thought that every time I sinned, every time I messed up, every time I did something that broke trust with God, He somehow went away from me, and somehow I then needed to convince Him to come back.
I’m messing with people’s theology right now; that’s why some people get saved every Sunday. That’s before you sleep. Lord, I just thank you for all the sins I committed today. God, I thank you that they are washed under the blood. I thank you, Father God, that tomorrow I am planning to sin again, but I’m just telling you, if I die in my sleep, I want you to know that I want to be with you forever. You may be laughing at that, but in our hearts, there’s a real misunderstanding of who God is. So, I gotta say it like this: when I do the most, God is not moved. Usually, when we do the most, people reposition. When I’ve ever done things that were outside of the will of God or a little controversial, the people around me moved; they don’t want to be associated. But I came to tell you that there is a truth you need to attach to your heart: do not put people’s reactions on God’s reputation.
I’m telling you, when everybody leaves, God will not leave you. When everybody has a new way of communicating with you, God says, «I’ll still be right here.» I tore the veil from the top to the bottom because I am the Most High. Nobody could do that; they would have to cut from the bottom to the top, but I did it from the top to the bottom so you wouldn’t have to have a priest or a bull. You can talk right to me. When they leave, I won’t. So many of us have put people’s reputations or reactions on God, but He’s not moved by your sin or your mess-ups. He’s not moved by your mistakes. He’s not moved by every time you fail or all your flaws. He’s not moved by that; He’s actually moved toward you by that. He doesn’t move away from you; He says, «They need me; there’s my child again.»
It’s like I don’t know if you’ve ever had your children in a class where they don’t allow the parents to come in, like in dance class or gymnastics. They put up this big glass and tell all the parents to stay outside. My daughter was in gymnastics for a while, and I didn’t like that I could not go help my daughter. Ava is going to do a flip and fall, and the little teacher is slow getting to her. There are a lot of kids; she’s not paying attention to mine. God is not standing behind a glass that keeps Him away from you when you fall. It is a father’s natural reaction to go toward their child. But the church has taught us that when we sin, we have dismissed God from our presence. He is mad at you; He is waiting for you to do a lot of religious duties to make it up to Him so that He can be emotionally satisfied, and then He can be your God again.
No, He’s a father that every time you fall says, «Hey baby, will you let me help you? There’s a better way to do this. Let me show you how to do this flip.» You don’t have to hurt yourself; let me spot you. Let me give you instructions on how to do this the right way. I know that feels good, but it’s going to end in failure. Let me show you how to do this. That’s the reaction of a loving father. People will change, but God won’t. People will reposition, but God won’t. And not only will God not reposition, He says, «I will give you redemption.» I don’t just leave you; I’m going to put you back in a better position than you’ve ever been in your whole life because He’s still—somebody say— the Most High.
Psalm 7:17: «I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness, not mine, not my right standing, not my right doing. I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness, and I will sing praises to the name of the Lord Most High.» Psalm 97:9: «For you are the Lord Most High over all the Earth; you are exalted far above all gods.» I love this because it acknowledges that there are other things in your life that could become little-g gods. I love it because the truth is there are things in our lives, like our job, that can become an idol or little-g gods. Things like our children can become little-g gods, and God says, «I’m over all the things that you can consider gods in your life.»
Look at Genesis 14. It’s all the way at the beginning, the first book of the Bible, where God refers to Himself as the Most High. It says, «And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. Now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, 'Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of Heaven and Earth.'» That’s where He’s the Most High. «And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hands.» The response is worship to God being the Most High and being a blessing to Him. Look at his response; this was his worship; he gave him a tenth of all he had. Hold on—tithing is an act of worship. This is in Genesis, before the law; he said in response to all the things that I’ve blessed you with, your generosity—all that is is worship to me for what I’ve already done for you.
Psalm 91:1—y’all know this one: «He who dwells in the shelter or the secret place of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.» Okay, watch this. That word «dwelling» caught me up; write this down: dwelling is a decision of where you will be positioned. A lot of people go places that they don’t dwell. We visit places, we sit in places, but God is saying if you want to dwell in a place where you’re covered, you’ve got to decide to do it. Okay, this is going to help you. The truth is, most people have not gotten under the Most High. We say He’s the Most High, but you have not submitted your life to get under His authority. So, the truth is He is the Most High; the question is, is He covering you?
All right, how can I depict this? Today, I need you to say this by faith: «Say the title of my message: I’m going under.» Somebody’s saying with faith, «I’m going under!» It’s time for you to go under the covering of God, the presence of God, the rulership of God, the anointing of God. A lot of people are like, «Yeah, the big guy upstairs,» and God’s saying you have to come under My authority to get the benefits of Me being the Most High. Okay, let me show it to you. Okay, oh God, God is the Most High. Have you decided to dwell is the question. I have come to the conclusion that you can have access to covering but not accept being covered. God is the Most High over everything, but the truth is most of us are walking around like this: It’s raining, life is life-ing, people are lying, things are hurting me, money is funny, and God said, «Would you come under My protection? Would you dwell under Me?»
And you’re like, «God, I do, God! I’m protected by You. Lord, I come to church on Sunday; cover me, God.» And this is a physical representation of what we think it looks like to be covered by God. Rain is pouring, torrential, in my relationships, kids going crazy, not sure of my purpose, in depression, and you’re like, «God, cover me! I read the Word: 'He that dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.'» This is reading the scripture on Instagram. You didn’t dwell; you didn’t plant yourself in God; you didn’t hide yourself in the Word of God. I came to church, and you walk out into the rain of life and wonder why you’re drenched. I wonder why everybody can see where you’ve been. Every step you take, you’re damaged; you’re leaving marks. It’s because life has covered you, and you haven’t gone under the protection, the presence of our Most High God.
Okay, let me help you because this is what I found out: you can walk in the rain holding an umbrella when life is laughing. You could be a good Christian; it’s a nice little rain out here; listen to my favorite Maverick City song and I serve sometimes, and you’re out here; it’s a monsoon in your life, and this is what we look like because we haven’t decided to dwell. No, no, no, no, no! I’ve been with God for a long time; I thought when I was a child, I put away childish things. I’m out here walking in His will; I’m out here, come on! And this is where most of the church stops; it’s enough for me. My whole family can’t fit under here, but I’m covered. I’m dwelling, and it becomes a place of judgment because we look at all the people who don’t have umbrellas. Thank God I’m not getting rained on; look at all you wet believers. Why would we not use what God has given us to actually cover somebody else? But we don’t dwell.
Look, look what the scripture says. There’s another word in there; it says, «He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will…» Watch this word: abide. Dwelling and abiding means that I’m setting up shop there. This is still mobile. Okay, somebody said, «No, no, no, Pastor, I’ve set it up!» Oh Jesus, sometimes it breaks down, but we fall down; but we get up. There it is, «Here I am, Lord. Send me; I’m going to teach them how to worship You. We’re going to dwell in His presence.» And God said you can get three or four people in here; «Come here, Charles; come here, Kurt; y’all come here.» We can get under here, and we can live a life with our four and no more. Yep, yeah! But still, this is circumstantial. This type of dwelling is based on the pastor or the leader. So, when I move, there are— but the truth of the matter is this is how the church looks today. The pastor dwells, and as long as I’m with my pastor, as long as I’m with my leader, as long as I’m with the thing, as long as they don’t fall, yeah, as long as they don’t mess up, that’s good.
But what happens if I, as the leader, fold up the tent and I sin and I make a mistake? Everyone attached to me now… If you don’t have a secret place of worshiping God for yourself, y’all don’t hear me. Sunday’s not enough; yeah, yeah, yeah! Your small group is not enough. You being on the Bible chat and the prayer call—that is not enough! You gotta have a place where you dwell by yourself in the secret place. You gotta go under, go under His word! Because man may fail you, and now everybody’s getting rained on because one person decided to lie. What God wants to happen, thank y’all, is He wants to set up a place for you and Him that is not circumstantial, that is not based on what other people are doing. He wants you to have a place that you and He can have communion, worship, conversation. You can vent; it can be therapy, and it’s not for anybody else but you and Him. This is where we get under.
Somebody say, «I’m going under!» Say it like you mean it: «I’m going under!» Today is a decision Sunday! Stop saying He’s the Most High, and you’re still not under His covering. Some of y’all are laughing because I still got these little—how dumb has it been for me to stand here all this time keeping these trinkets of ritual and religion? I’m used to this when God’s saying, «I have set up something that has enough space in it not just for you!» You hurt and get under; you feel broken, get under! Get in this place of meeting! In the Old Testament, they used to call it the tent of meeting, where it was the place of worship. It was the place where Moses went to hear from God, and anytime they would set up, he would go into this tent, and Aaron would stand outside, and he would meet with God.
Feel the presence of God right now. He would meet with God. Where do we go next, God? You need questions answered? Get in the dwelling place! You need to know which way to go? Get in the dwelling place! Set a time, set a meeting, and talk to God. «I’m too busy, Pastor Mike!» You’re too busy doing what? And somebody that’s watching right now said, «It’s hard to see you in here.» Yeah, that’s right; I’m covered! Oh, see, so many of us want to get outside the tent to be seen. Go step back up; matter of fact, you need to come down a notch! I don’t need them to see you no more; I need them to see me! Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’m bringing down some of the things that you thought made you—this is the last season I’ve been through. God said, «Yeah, they think you this, and they think you…»
That come onto the meeting place, I’m going to let some spit in an Easter play because I don’t want them to see you anymore. And where have I been for the last year and a half? You can still hear me, but you can’t see me. You don’t have to know what God’s telling me under here, but I promise you He’s making me into the man I was created to be before I was formed in my mother’s womb. You don’t have to know what my feelings look like, but my faith is being built in this place. This is the place where God said, «Michael, get under, get under my anointing, my instructions, my will for your life.» Forget them. They can leave the church, but as long as I’m with you. And what I’m inviting everybody who’s under the sound of my voice: come on under. Yeah, sometimes it feels lonely because everybody wants to be outside the tent, but there are some things that only God will speak to you. Well, what about my social feed? It doesn’t matter.
What about God? I don’t want to miss any opportunity. He said, «I am the one who promotes; I’m the one who lifts up; I’m the one who tears down.» This is what it looks like to get in the dwelling place, and the truth of the matter is too many believers don’t have this. They don’t have a place where the presence of God is the primary point of the meeting— not a miracle, not a change, not something I need you to do right now. God said, «Just come to this place, and just me, I’ll change your attitude.» Do you know this past year and a half, y’all, has been God saying, «Go under, Mike, go under»? But God, they don’t get it. But God, they’re misunderstanding. But God, He said, «I want you to say nothing; I want you to get with me.»
Somebody say, «I’m going under.» This is the new invitation for the people who are supposed to ride with you in this next season. Everybody loud and proud out here! Let’s do this. Okay, everybody that was ready to fight when other people were chirping: join me under! Let’s get into the presence of God! Let’s get in the face of God! Let’s get on our knees and say, «God, whatever you want to do, however you want to do it, whoever you want to reach through us, whatever you want to take away, not my will, but yours be done.» I’m going to be transparent. Charles—since the beginning of this ministry, I’ve had a pattern of going away to go under, having a sabbatical in the summer.
And I told Natalie this week, I said, «Ah, I don’t feel like I can go on my sabbatical.» She’s like, «Why?» I said, «The church is just getting momentum back.» I was like, «All this stuff, people are choosing whether they come in, whether they’re giving. They’re sick of talking to their families about this and that. They don’t repost stuff because they don’t want to have arguments, nothing this, that.» And I just start going through, transparently, all the things. I was like, «The numbers are down, the giving is down,» and this is that and thought. I was just, I don’t know if I can be this real in this place. Okay? I said, «I just feel like if I do what we’ve been doing and I go away for six, seven weeks and really get under, I feel like I don’t know where the church is going to be when I come back.» And my wife said, «Is it your church or is it God’s church?»
Oh, y’all didn’t hear me. And in that moment, God said, «Michael, I need you to get away with me. Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard. Transformation Church hasn’t even gotten started on what I’m about to do to impact the world. But I need you to have faith to get under, and I had to strip you of some things and strip you of some desires and strip you of some relationships that you thought you needed. You need none of that because you have the most high God, and I’m living this out in real time. Y’all, I’m about to go on sabbatical, and I’m about to go on sabbatical this year by faith, because the faith—the same faith you needed to believe God into something is the same faith you need to lay it down. And everybody talks about the faith to believe God for it, but nobody talks about the faith to take your hand off of it.
Some of y’all, there are relationships that God’s been telling you to take your hand off of, and you’re going to have to take your hand off of it by faith. And some of y’all, there are cities that God said don’t move there, and everything looks perfect to move there, and you’re going to have to lay that dream down by faith. This year, I’m going on sabbatical by faith because this isn’t my church; this is God’s church. We were just in the hood five years ago in a 33,000-square-foot place, and we were doing five services, and I would be happy if half of y’all had shown up. And the fact that we’re about to baptize over 400 people today, the fact that God is seeing people saved, that the numbers are in the tens of thousands—look at what our God has done! Oh, I am not about to try to start white-knuckling my way through what only God could do, but sometimes you have to be reminded: the same place He gave you the first vision; it’s time to go back under there.
I don’t want worship to be just a song; it’s got to be a place. I’m done. Have you set up your place to go under every day to raise those kids? You need to come out of a meeting with God, and I’m not talking about a little one. It could be in the shower. I want to be very practical. It could be you wake up early and are going to spend 15 minutes in your car before you go into that war zone that you call a job. You know it’s a war zone; there’s temptation. People got their videos all out trying to get you to fall in, and y’all know it’s the truth. Yeah, then you got a co-worker who hates on you, and then somebody to email. Y’all are going to go into a war zone and not have instructions from the God that is the most high, who looks over it all and sees everything. And that’s why I’ve realized—and I want to tell you very clearly—your truth does not change the truth.
In this day and age in 2023, I know that’s controversial because everybody says, „I just gotta find my truth.“ That is fine; you are 26 years old, you can’t even… never mind. And we’re so bent on our truth, but you can have that, but your truth does not change the truth. Jesus said in John 14—this is Jesus talking—"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.» He said, «Until you start coming this way, getting under the dwelling place with me, you can try other ways; it doesn’t change the way.» Philippians 2:10: «That at that name of Jesus, somebody shout with me, 'Jesus, ' every knee should bow of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth.»
I love that part! He makes the devil bow too. «And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.» Can I just give you a note? Don’t ever get under what can’t help you. When you think it’s over, don’t ever submit your life under someone, something, or some idea that cannot actually help you when you think everything is over. Jesus is the only one who can look at a completely dead situation and call it a resurrection. And so many of us, instead of worshiping God in a secret place, making time, making moments every day, we worship jobs, money, status, and um… I want to read one passage of scripture that has really changed my life, and I’m praying desperately that as I read nine verses—because this series is talking about worshiping on the Word—I’m going to read the Word of God, and I just want these nine verses to give you a revelation of the reckless love of God, and I’m hoping it draws you to set up a meeting place with Him every day: Romans chapter 5. I must start at verse 12.
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone’s sin. Yes, people sinned—watch this—even before the law was given, but it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even those who did not disobey an explicit command of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ who was yet to come. But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many, but even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.
And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of the one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God even though we are guilty of many sins. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many, but even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness for all who receive it. If they receive it, they will live in triumph! Oh, if you just receive the grace of God, you will live in this life in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Verse 18: Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone, because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one person obeyed, many will be made righteous. God’s law was given—oh guys, hear this—God’s law was given so that all people could simply see how sinful they were. All the laws, all the commandments, all those things were just supposed to be a mirror that says nobody can do this! Oh God! God’s law was given so all people could see how sinful they were, but as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Why do we worship? It’s because Jesus became the better sacrifice for all of us, and God gave us the great gift of his Son, and our response is to give God everything that we have. Pastor Mike, what are you trying to say? Okay, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done. God has extended grace to you today so you can make a place of meeting with Him. You don’t have to keep doing this ritualistic over and over, «Let me try again.» God says, «I’ll help you if you really just go under, get under My will; obey My Word; listen to the people I’ve placed in your life to help lead you and guide you.» Well, we’re so scared of sin. Like it’s like, «Oh, they be sinning.» Duh! What are we talking about?
«Well, they’re gonna come into church smelling like that.» Duh! «Well, they ain’t changing. How they gonna be an usher?» And I’ve seen them on Facebook still twerking. Duh! But where sin abounds, grace—the free, unmerited, unearned favor and kindness of God—it’s higher than your sin because He’s the most high God! If you don’t believe that, then you should start praising your most high sin. Let’s make sounds; let’s make songs about our most high sin then. But all the scriptures I’ve read have said He’s the most high God! So the grace is higher than your mess-ups. The grace is higher than your mistakes. There’s somebody in here, and you say, «Pastor, you don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know how bad it’s been.»
The grace is higher and more abundant and more available than all of the word curses you spoke over your life. The grace of God is bigger. It’s in your biggest failure. The grace of God is bigger than the infidelity in your marriage. The grace of God is bigger than you living in an alternate sexual lifestyle during your college years. The grace of God is bigger than you still being in a homosexual relationship right now. You don’t get many amens on that because people aren’t like God. But the truth of the matter is, at the foot of the cross, there are no big sins and little sins. There are no little things and no big things. When God looks at this Earth and sees us without Jesus, He sees sin.
And the crazy thing is, most of us have more faith in Adam’s sin than in Jesus’s redemption. We believe that everybody is sin, but we don’t believe that Jesus can resurrect people who are broken and lost and hurting into a new life today. Read one more scripture: I’m putting my life under the grace of God, and if you’re living outside of the grace of God, it must be exhausting. You must be tired! I know what it’s like to try to do every religious thing, and I know what it’s like to wild out. Both of them wear you out—the wild out and the religious; it wears you out. Could you just go under and get covered by the grace of God? Romans 6:1-4: «The title of beloved sin’s power is broken. Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace?»
Grace, because that’s where the religious people go. You’re giving people a license to sin. First off, nobody needs a license to sin; they’re doing it straight, no license, like every day. I mean, it even tells you in the Bible that before there were laws, people were sinning. Before the Ten Commandments, it’s in our Adamic nature. But this is what it confronts: should we continue in sin so that God can just cover us with His grace? Verse 2: Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten? Watch this; here’s the connection: when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism—hold on—in baptism we were joined to Him in death. Oh, you’re saying that the power of sin is broken, and there was a mark made that I’m truly under the covering. Because some of us claim to be living free from sin but are still controlled by it, and He’s saying right here, «No, no, no, no! Since we have died to our sin, we can’t continue to live in that. We can’t keep going that way.»
Did you forget that when we were joined with Christ Jesus, in—what’s the word? —baptism, we were joined with Him in death? Verse 4: For we died, and we were buried with Christ by baptism. Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, this symbolizes that we also may live new lives. Today, part of the delineation in everybody’s life needs to be water baptism. What are you saying, Pastor Mike? The scripture tells us that when the power of sin is broken, something happens when we identify with this symbol. After we’ve come under the covering of God and made a place for Him in our everyday life, He said, «Remember, this is the sign that you need to remember.» When you got baptized, you identified with Jesus Christ when He was buried. When you come up— or let me say it like this: when you go under, you come up different!
Somebody say, «It’s different now!» You may have known me before I went under, but you don’t get to define what God has put on my life after I go under and come back up. It’s a new life; it’s a new creature; it’s a new creation. And God is saying to everybody in this room, and even those under the sound of my voice watching this on rebroadcast, «It’s time to go under. It’s time to get baptized!» Somebody say, «Go under!» It’s time to create a meeting place with God that you go to daily! Somebody say, «I’m going under!» Just real quick, I want to show you something. When you create the meeting place, all my people—Aaron, Bree, everybody—give me like 10 people to come up here real fast. I just need y’all to come up here. When you create a life—come on, y’all, just come on—when you create a life that lives under here, yeah, give me a few more people.
Come on! What happens is your community—come on, y’all, get down here with me—becomes a place where, when Will was in addiction and didn’t have anywhere to turn, it becomes a place. When Scott was raised without his father and didn’t have anywhere to turn, when John’s sister tragically died, y’all get under here; there’s more than enough room under here. What ends up happening—come up here, John—when John’s sister tragically dies and then he has to take care of his sister’s three children and his three children as well—this is what the church should look like—a bunch of people who are under. I feel the presence of God! I can’t tell you how many times we’ve worshiped and cried on couches, creating meeting places.
My man is crying right now because he knows it’s nothing but the grace of God that he’s here right now. When Mo was in Miami, him and Connie were about to get a divorce, but he created a place where God could meet him. When Aaron and Bree were on the brink of giving up, they created a place. This is what it looks like! When Kaylee was working in our house and didn’t have any kids and Will was trying to figure out his purpose, we created a place where we could all get under. When Charles stepped into his pastorate and was overwhelmed with anxiety and depression and was having panic attacks in his bed, we created a place of worship. Me, Abby, Natalie, Bree, and Aaron went to their houses, set up a tent.
Brennan and Zoe just had to deal with losing their child. What did we do? We made a meeting place with God. The only reason we’re still here is not because we’re perfect people; it’s because we get in His presence. Sometimes we mess up under here. Sometimes we’re mad under here. Sometimes we’re hurt and depressed. The only reason we stay is that we know the love that surrounds us. But all I’m asking you to do is to get under. Go under! Make a decision. You’ll never live your life without being under the presence of God. When Natalie and I found out that MJ had autism, this was the only thing that kept us creating a place where we could worship God together, through tears, through pain, through frustration. And nobody was too big to get on their knees. Nobody was like, «Do you know who I am? Do you know what I’m doing?» No! Everybody said, «God, You’re higher than this situation.»
Today, we’ve got to magnify You, no matter how we feel, despite foreign people looking at us. Some of y’all need to create your own tents, your own places to meet with God. And guess what? It looks awkward when we get out of here. Well, I know some of y’all haven’t been on your knees in a long time. Come on, yeah, come on! It doesn’t matter what it looks like. Do you know how many destinies are changed because these people created a place? This is what living a life of worship looks like. Nobody appears perfect. When Kirk and his wife moved to North Tulsa and God told him she was supposed to help in the church, he wrote on his crazy faith, «God, I know You’re going to make a way for me to work at Transformation Church.» He was bold!
What God’s done through him and Mali is life-changing. What I’m saying is we’re all walking through all kinds of stuff. The only reason we’re sustained is that we’ve created a place for us to get under. We’re not covering up; we’re covered by God. Is that worship a place for you today? If you want Jesus to be the Lord, or the Most High God of your life, I’m making two calls today. The first call is for salvation. All I want you to do is say, «You know what, Pastor Mike? Today is the day. I’m no longer going to walk this out by myself. I’m going to receive—everybody say receive—the free gift of God, the grace of God through salvation.» And I need everybody who’s already done that to begin to pray right now. Yes, because there are people right now; there’s a war for your life going on, and today’s your day!
I believe that today could be the day of salvation for you, and you’re about to be covered by the grace of God. You’re going to make a place of covering where you worship Him and dwell and abide in Him. Somebody is going to make a decision that is different! The second call is for those who want to get baptized. It’s crazy; there’s a story of a eunuch man in Acts 8:36. He hears about Jesus, gets saved, and in the same moment—you all—he gets saved. He was like, «Aren’t there supposed to be something with some baptism and some water?» The church people were like, «Yeah, but we can do that at a different time.» And this man says, «As they traveled along the road, he was sitting there, and he said, 'There goes some water! Look! Here’s some water! What can stand in the way of me being baptized? '»
Even if you’re not in the room—1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8—there are nine pools. Look! There goes some water for everybody in the room! Look! There goes some water! What will stand in your way today from getting baptized? And for you who are at home right now, the Bible is so clear that the only thing you need is another believer to get baptized. Some of y’all need to go fill up that jacuzzi tub, and you need to call your cousin. «Sharita, I’m getting baptized today. You’re saved, right? I think so. Okay, make sure you’re saved, because I’m getting baptized today.» We make this a deep thing—Sunday morning, the certificate, and all this other stuff. This eunuch man did not have a crowd of people around to cheer for him. He just said, «Hold on! I have a chance to obey what the Word says! What stands in my way?» Somebody say, «Nothing!»
So the first call, if you’re listening, you’re in the room, you’re watching online, you’re watching on rebroadcast, and you want to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior—everybody just in the room, would you stand? Just stand. Nobody leaving, nobody moving. We’re about to have plenty of movement; we’re about to go. But this is a holy moment right now, and I believe God is about to do something. This is a decision of being covered. I’m going under! I remember when I made that decision: «God, I’m just going to stay under whatever You have for me.» Even if I want to tear the club up! I don’t know how else to say it— even when I want to do the wrong thing and then come back and say, «Jesus, forgive me!» Even when I want to tear the club up, God said, «Just come under here.» «He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High God…»
I feel the presence of God in this place! Eyes closed, heads bowed—if you’re in this room and you’re saying, «Pastor, I’m ready to go under. I’m ready not to lead my own life, but I want Jesus Christ to be the Most High God—not just someone who’s out there, but the Lord of my life. I want to come under His submission, His rule, His authority, and most of all, His love. Today, I want to make Jesus my personal Lord and Savior.» It doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done; God is saying like a loving father, «Come, let Me help you.» I even feel that there are people who have been in church, but your heart has been far from God, and God is saying, «Will you come back to Me today?»
If that’s you, on the count of three, I just want you to shoot your hand up. We’re going to pray. I don’t care where you are, what you’ve done, at home, watching on rebroadcast, or listening on podcasts—this is your time! Today is the day of salvation. Forget who’s around you; forget who’s standing with you. No, no, no! You will stand before God one day, and I want your eternity to be secure because you came under the loving grace of God. Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy! God is the only one who can take all your wrongs and bad habits and turn them into something beautiful. He’ll help you; you just have to come to Him! If that’s you, I want you to lift your hands on the count of one—I’m so proud of you—two, your name is going to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Three, I want you to shoot your hand up all over. I see you; I see you. There are people everywhere.
Transformation Church! I see you, sister; I see you, brother. Come on, whole families! Y’all, this is it! This is what online—We see you! Glory to God! I see you! It doesn’t matter if I see you; God sees you because He’s the Most High! Today, at Transformation Church, we’re a family; nobody prays alone. Today, we’re going to pray as a family. We’re going to believe God that every sin that has kept you condemned is now about to be thrown into the sea of forgetfulness. God chooses not to remember it anymore! The Bible says, «As far as the east is from the west, that’s how far every lie, every layer, and every limit is about to go.» Could everybody just lift your hands? In Transformation Church, let’s pray with our new brothers and sisters:
God, thank You for sending grace just for me. Thank You for sending Jesus just for me! Today, I’m coming under your authority, Your love, and Your instructions. I believe You lived, You died, and You rose again with all power just for me! Today, I surrender my life. I repent and I turn to You. I’m Yours forevermore. In Jesus' name, amen.