Michael Todd - Fresh Faith
I was going to end the series this week, and then the Holy Spirit said, «I didn’t tell you to end it.» I was like, «Cool, so what do you want to do?» He said, «You’re going to take this series for two more weeks, and you’re going to take it through Easter.» I thought I was going to do a different message for Easter. He said, «The title for the Easter message on Sunday morning is 'Fresh Start.'» I said, «God, what are you talking about?» He said, «My ending was everybody’s fresh start.» When I said, «It’s finished,» He actually gave everybody an opportunity for a fresh start. I said, «God, that’s good. You know better than me.» Then He said, «The week after that"—and I feel a little intimidated saying this because I don’t have the full message together—but the Holy Spirit told me to say it: the week after Easter, He told me to preach a message called «Fresh Fail.»
I’m not going to act like I know what that’s about yet, but the little bit that God told me is that your relationship with failure determines your relationship with faith. He said so many people don’t see what they want in faith because they’re scared to fail. He said, «But a righteous man falls seven times,» but what does he do? I don’t fully know what that means yet, but it’s cooking. Today, I felt I had to give you a core ingredient to make all of this fresh fruit stuff actually work. All year, we are declaring what God said over our church prophetically—that this would be a year of fruit—but it wouldn’t just be a year of fruit that gets stale. It wouldn’t be peace that we had in April but by October, we’re frantic and living in anxiety again. The seasonal peace, the seasonal love, the seasonal awareness of kindness—God said you don’t have to be like that.
In Psalms, it says you could be like a tree planted by the rivers of living water, bearing fruit in every season, like your leaves never withering. I want to live like that. He said that means you don’t just need fruit; you need fresh fruit. Somebody say «fresh fruit.» So today in week seven of Fresh Fruit, God told me very specifically, «Michael, give them the title at the top of the message; write it down.» Today, I am going to teach you how to have fresh faith because most people don’t see fresh fruit because they don’t have fresh faith. You’re living off of the faith of an old season, trying to ask God to do a brand new thing with crusty faith. You’re asking God for a new revelation with molded faith, and God is saying it’s not going to work because faith is literally the gasoline to the entire Christian life.
How do you get saved? By faith! He literally said, «Without faith, it’s impossible to please me,» not because you’re a bad person but because you can’t do this Christian life without faith. And if you want to please God, you’ve got to obey Him. You can’t obey Him without faith. Faith begins—watch this—where understanding ends, and most people—where your understanding ends, you end. Think about it: you stop walking, you stop talking, you stop believing. This doesn’t make sense, and you’re like, «Alright, God, come get me when it makes sense.» Some of you have been stuck since 1987, waiting for God to come pick you up—just waiting on God. That is the dumbest statement because people are like, «I’m just waiting on God.» He is waiting on you! I promise you there’s something in the instruction that you have not done to 100%. And you’re like, «Well, God, I asked one person,» and He said, «Ask ten.»
You thought because you asked one, «Yeah, I did what you said.» No, you partially did what I said, so partial obedience is what disobeys. Would you get a fresh faith? And this message is not just for new believers; this is for believers who have been toiling, working, persevering for years. I believe that God, by His Spirit in this message through His Word, is going to give you a fresh faith to be able to believe Him again. Some of us, the truth of the matter is, we saw God do something in one season, and we got tired of what it took to see that thing happen. So it’s kind of like, «Lord, if you want to do it again, do it without me.» Don’t act like you’re not here with me because so many times you’ll be in faith, like, «I did it in crazy faith,» «I moved in crazy faith,» «I did all this other stuff,» and now God asks you just to go talk to your neighbor.
You moved from another coast of the country, and now you can’t move across the street. It’s because you need a fresh faith. So today, I’m going to walk you through it because I believe this is one of the things I was talking to some of my friends earlier before service. I said, «I feel like faith and having a fresh faith is one of the unique giftings that God has allowed me to understand.» I’m always believing God for what is next. If you catch me on a Tuesday or a Thursday or after a bad day, you can ask the people that walk with me. They’d be like, «Mike, how you doing?» I’d say, «I’m here today, and I believe God’s going to do something crazy.» Why? «You just lost something!» «But God’s about to do something.» Why would I focus on losing when I serve the God who can do everything? Today I want to give you, I believe, four keys to keeping a fresh faith.
I found this story in 2 Kings 18, and I want you to turn to it; this is about Elijah. I’ll give you some context in a minute, but I’m just going to read it. So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel. He bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees to pray. «Go and look towards the sea,» he told his servant, and he went up and looked. The servant said, «There’s nothing there.» He said, «Seven times,» Elijah said, «Go back.» Somebody say, «Go back.» Say it with faith—"Go back!» The seventh time, the servant reported, «A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.» So Elijah said, «Go and tell Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'» That is a powerful Bible verse, and for most people, they’re like, «I missed it. What just happened?»
Let me give you some context right now. This man of God is just coming off of one of the greatest victories that has ever been seen in the world at that moment. Y’all remember the story of the prophets of Baal, where there were 400 prophets that believed in Baal and then there was Elijah? He said, «Hey, if God be God, let’s have a contest right now.» Y’all remember the contest where they set up the bulls? He was like, «Let’s have a biblical battle.» He said, «It can be 400 of you on this side, and you put out the bull and then ask your God to answer, and I’m going to put out the bull and I ain’t going to touch the bull because God’s going to actually answer me.» They’re cutting themselves, doing all sorts of different things and calling out to Baal. He never answered. Elijah gets bold with it; he says, «Throw water on the sacrifice. Do it again; do another one!» He did it three times because, you know, water is supposed to quench the fire, and then he just prays—boom! —the fire lights up, and everyone’s like, «Oh my God!»
Immediately, they all start serving the God of Elijah. So while everybody’s celebrating and turning up, what does this man of God do? He said, «As Ahab the king went to eat and drink, Elijah climbed to a secret place on Mount Carmel. He bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees to pray.» How do I keep fresh faith? Number one: you have to get a fresh perspective. Let me go ahead and help you with this. You get a fresh perspective in the presence of God. Elijah had an opportunity to go party with the king, and he chose to pray. Great! What do you do at the point of your answered prayer? What do you do when you actually win the victory? That’s good! What do you do after the platform expands? Most people go party when you need to go pray.
When God expands your platform, the truth of the matter is you didn’t get yourself there. What we will often do is start walking in pride after our platform expands. You think I’m talking about this platform, but your platform as a parent—you go from no kids to one kid. You have a brand new platform, and many times you don’t pray the same way you prayed to have a kid after you have the kid. «God, if you would just touch my womb, if you would just give me a father, if you would just…» And now they’re here, and you’re like, «Shut your butt down! I’m going to beat your butt! Lord, help me not to kill him!» That’s your prayer. Your platform expanded, but you forgot about the presence.
What I’m learning to keep fresh faith is that when God expands your platform, when He gives you the promotion, when you get one more person on your team, when you become the president of the PTA, when God allows you to expand in any moment, will you get on your knees in a secret place and posture yourself in a place of, «God, I can’t do this without You. Father God, I know the victory that everybody’s celebrating; I know that wasn’t me. God, I need You to answer me again. What’s next? Who do I hire? Who do I let go? Who do I transition? Father God, where should I live? I’ve got the opportunity to go. I’ve got the money to do whatever, but I will not move without You.»
Father, give me a fresh perspective. The problem is that many people will not take that posture after a win. How do you keep fresh faith? You don’t act as if what God did, you did. Most people, after what God has done here, would start a podcast about how to grow your church. Okay, let me stop. After what God has done here, most people that have experienced what God has done would start a masterclass on how to expand your influence. The reason I can’t do that is that I don’t have time because my posture is, «God, I don’t know what to do with all of this. If You would just speak one more time.» Somebody is like, «Why does he keep getting in that position?» Because the posture of prayer is vulnerable, and most of you are so concerned about how you look to people that you won’t get in the posture that got you to the place that God has you right now. Other people are so worried about how it looks. I don’t care how it looks to you when God is the one who orders my steps.
I have to stay in the place that He tells me to stay to get the perspective and the instructions that only He can give. Yes, sir! How do you keep your faith fresh? You have to have a new posture. If God expands your platform, don’t leave His presence. Most people, the song blows up, and the next time you hear about God is when they’re accepting an award in a thong—in front of thousands of people. They’re like, «First, I would like to give thanks to God.» No! Come on, y’all! You see it every day. The craziest thing is we talk about people that may be far from God doing that, but the truth of the matter is it happens in the church every day. Now you’re the leader over the greeters, and pride just creeps in. There’s no more presence. You used to be kind; that’s why you got the position.
Now you’re mean because you work with so many people. They come to me with all their problems. That’s what a leader is—a person that solves the problems. «I’m just dealing with all of these people and all these different attitudes and everybody asking for…» and you didn’t go back to the presence to get a fresh perspective. If you’re going to keep your faith fresh, you’ve got to see it differently. Trials become training with a fresh perspective. The trials you’re going through are just training, sir. This is God preparing me for something, but you will take a season that will make you lean in another season and you will count it as something that you have to hate and endure because you have the wrong perspective.
Do you know what all of this media attention has trained me to do? It has developed the skin that can handle adversity at a level that is uncommon in the church. I said, «God, why did you do this?» I told y’all last week that there are things happening in the pipeline that are going to put us into culture to bring people into the kingdom that my skin wasn’t ready for two years ago. If I saw these last two years as just something I have to endure—"I’m persecuted,"—no, it was training! The perspective changes the pain. Oh my gosh! If I’m going into the doctor, and they say it’s going to hurt but it’s going to heal you because they give you the perspective that you will be able to walk in another level of healing. The pain changes because of perspective.
Okay, it is preaching Mama Chloe, and my question to you today is: Did the platform kill your posture? Did the promotion kill your posture? I know people who were great volunteers and servant leaders, but they got a job and became trash. It baffles me how people excel in a job, but when we start paying them to do it, they become horrible. It’s not that they changed their posture. Did the answered prayer requests change your posture? Because if your only relationship with Christ is during a crisis, when there’s no crisis, your posture changes. See, this is why I have to break this theology that the only time we come to God is when we are in need. The church has thrived on that toxic mentality, which just draws in broke people.
What happens when rich people walk away from the faith? All we’ve taught them is to be with God when they need God. Yeah, okay, I can’t even touch this. I wrote it down as a point so I could be succinct: If crisis is the only thing that brings you to Christ, you are missing the value He brings after victory. The reason why Elijah goes to pray is that he just, in front of the whole nation, wins the biggest victory: 400 against one. God answers by fire, salvations are coming in, and my man says, «I can’t party; I’ve got to go get perspective.» Because if I listen to what you all are saying, your praises can throw me off, as well as your criticism, so I’m going to go talk to the One who actually called me to this. I just want us to see that it’s okay to come to God after victory; that is the posture of keeping a fresh faith. Somebody say «fresh faith.»
Elijah kept this posture that remembered the promise that God had given him. Now, watch this: if you’re going to have fresh faith, somebody say «fresh faith.» Fresh faith number two, you need to keep a fresh reminder. The reason I believe what God says daily is because I am always reminded of what God said and what He’s already done. Okay, let’s be humble, open, and transparent. Has anybody in the last two years had God show up in a way that blew you away? In any area of your life, He did something that was like, «Whoa!» How often do you think about it? Somebody said «every day,» while others said, «I just remember when.» If you want to keep fresh faith, you have to always keep before you a fresh reminder. Some of you need to put a picture on the refrigerator of the apartment you used to live in because you complain about the experience.
«I always have to clean this house by myself; nobody wants to help me.» And God’s like, «Hold on now, this extra square footage is what you prayed for! This is an answer.» Well, «I mean, I’m doing this Bible study, and nobody’s coming. I’ve been putting my little graphics from Canva up there, and nobody’s here.» Hold on! You asked for me to give you discipline, and now you’re mad because nobody’s showing up? But the discipline is not found in the results; the discipline is found in the obedience. You’re mad because nobody’s coming, but you asked for this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some of us need to literally get our phones out and set reminders: «You prayed for this! You asked me to provide this level of understanding. You asked me to be a light to my family. God, if you would just change me enough that I could be a light to my family.» He said, «Yeah, you are going to have to shine where it’s dark!» «Well, I hate going home for the holidays because you’re the only light in that darkness.»
You asked for this! And without that reminder, you don’t have fresh faith to believe that God can work in that situation. You become frustrated where you should have faith. How do you know this, Pastor Mike? Because we’re all the way down here in 2 Kings chapter 18:42, but in verse 1, God gave Elijah a promise. Let me show it to you: 1 Kings 18:1. After a long time—after how long? A long time—after how long? Okay, I just want to make sure we know it was after a long time. In the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah. It didn’t come to a group of people; it didn’t come to a family; it didn’t come to a word; it didn’t come to a small group. It came to him in a famine. It says, «Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.»
So, Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now, the famine was severe in Samaria. I like the setting of faith because the setting of faith is opposite of what you see. Oh God! Everybody’s trying to see what God said He’s going to say, and then you have to act like you see it. Wow. I just—that is profound! You missed it because some of you want God to show you. He said, «No! I said it. Now you have to act like you see it, move like you see it, talk like you see it, believe like you see it, and bring people into the vision like you see it. I said it! Now act like you see it!» If you see it, it’s easy for you to say it; that’s common sense. If it’s raining and He said it’s going to rain, you’re like, «Ah yeah, it’s raining!» But if it’s a famine and He says, «Get up and go tell somebody I’m about to send rain,» the setting is completely opposite of what you are saying! He said, «But when I say it, things begin to change.»
I’m just looking for a partner with faith to believe that what I said is sign, sealed, and delivered! I feel a Stevie Wonder anointing coming on me right now. I’m telling you that if you can believe what you don’t see, that is the breeding ground for God to do what He said. Okay, I might have to work on this for a couple of weeks because y’all are sitting here looking at me like you just drank lemon juice. I need you to hear—oh, that’s what it is. Many of us believe the lie when it’s dry—when there’s a famine, when there’s no money, when the relationship is cold. We believe the lies of the enemy when it’s dry. But this is what gives God glory: He speaks something into nothing!
Can we go back to Creation? In the beginning, what was there? The Bible says there was a void, emptiness, darkness, and He did not show them a PowerPoint presentation of what He was about to make! And the Bible says, «And He said,» and let whatever happened after happen because His word is that powerful. I came to help somebody to get a fresh perspective and a fresh reminder of the word God spoke over you. It can be completely contrary to what you are seeing right now. Your family can be so scattered, believing all kinds of stuff, but God gave you a word that your family would serve God together, and right now you have stopped praying for it. You’ve stopped inviting Him; you’ve stopped sending messages; you’ve stopped because your faith has waned. I get it.
When you haven’t seen anything in a long time, it makes you kind of back off, as you don’t want to feel crazy. But I know that there are a few people under the sound of my voice that need to have fresh faith today! If God said it, and I’m not going to convince you today, I’m just telling you how to keep your faith fresh. If you had an important meeting with the top person in your field tomorrow and found out about it right now in service, and this meeting had the opportunity to change the course of your life to the tune of eight figures—some of y’all just had your mind blown by the thought of eight figures. You don’t even know how much money that is. Just think of it hypothetically. But the only thing about this person is, they had to fly out of the city at 8 a.m., so the meeting had to be at 5 a.m. in the morning, and you’re not a morning person.
Someone may say, «I am!» Today, what would you do to ensure that you got up for that meeting? How? Somebody say, «Set an alarm!» How many alarms would you set? What did you say? Somebody said, «All of them!» You said the house alarm, the car alarm. Okay, now think about it: why would you have to set the alarm as a reminder? Some of you would go further than that; you’d tell somebody, «Hey, listen, call me. Call me! Y’all know! Hey, hey, hey! Call me at 4 a.m. If I don’t answer by 4:15, get in your car!»
Some of you would know to come to my house, beat on the door, and if I don’t answer the door, go to my window. You would be so intentional about being reminded because of the potential of what could change your life. Do you know the word of God that He spoke over you before you were in your mother’s womb? Some of you need to be reminded that He said, «Before you were in your mother’s womb, I knew you! I called you! I have plans for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.» And you won’t remind yourself of it! As a matter of fact, you don’t have a tribe that will remind you of it. Most of you have tribes of people: «Oh, they’re my dogs. That’s my girls! That’s my besties!»
You’re doing all these things, but they won’t remind you that you’re worth more than dating him. Do you remember the promise that God gave you? You would be a woman valued, cherished, and taken care of, and he won’t even claim you in the daytime? But they’re jealous that he’s not with them, and so they’ll let you stay in foolishness. I’m just saying, like business partners who won’t deal in integrity, thinking that once we get to a certain level, then we’ll start being integrous. No, you won’t! You’re practicing dysfunction! Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Many of our tribes won’t remind us we’re people of integrity. No, no, no, no, bro! We can’t do it like that! No! We’re going to lose in this first round. We’re not going to make any money, but we will have the blessing of God! Amen.
Oh God! Somebody say «fresh faith.» Fresh faith! The reason that everybody needs to get in a tribe—and tribes are open today! —and some are saying, «They are?» Yes! We did a whole video announcement! Did everything! Where were you at? But we want everybody in this church in a tribe! I don’t want you to just come to this big gathering because I can talk to you, but you can’t talk to me right now. Some of you need to say something back. Great! Great! In this form, it’s not the place, but there is a tribe where—Pastor Mike, what does it mean? All we are is together, talking and being transparent. We have taken out all the things like someone is about to teach me, but no, no, no!
There is something spiritual that happened in Acts 2:42 when people got together around food—cookies, chips, barbecue—and they just started sharing life together. «How was your week?» «Bro, I almost snapped on that person at work today!» «Did you snap?» «I did hit him! I hit him!» «Come on! Where you can be— I slapped him open-handed! And I don’t do that. That was better than the punch.» And so what I want to say, y’all, is I made progress. You need a tribe that will be like, «All right! Okay! Where’s the root of that?» «Bro, I’ve always been a fighter! I just feel like nobody will take up for me. So, at the moment when somebody disrespects me, I won’t be disrespected.» «Come on! Hey, today, bro, we’re not going to try to fix it. We’re just going to pray that God gives you peace that passes understanding when you find yourself in that situation.» «Anybody else going through something?» «Bro, I was looking at inappropriate things all week!» «Oh y’all! Okay! Y’all want to be fake?»
Because some of your marriages will be held together if there is a place where some of these people can actually say what they’ve been doing. «Did y’all feel the booties get tight? That’s so good! Oh my goodness!» Y’all want to be fake? That’s real! It’s not full-on pornography, but in my head, that’s real! What I’ve seen on the Explorer page! Wow! Everybody working out! Why are you working out like that? What is that working out? «Hey, bro! There’s this app that can let us know if you ever go to a website that’s illegal for the type of men of integrity we’re supposed to be. Would you be down to share this with a couple of us?» «BR, I’ll try!» And we’re going to hit you up like, «All right! Yeah, that’s good!» «Great! Where else? Where else are you going to find, as a 35-year-old grown man, where you can do whatever you want? Nobody’s going to force you to do this! Your wife is tired of asking you! She can’t stand that she knows your secrets, and she feels them every time you lie down!»
The bed with her, but you won’t get in a tribe of people who will actually tell you the truth and say, «I used to deal with the same thing.» They remind you of what God has brought them from and what He has brought them to. I’m using a male, and somebody’s pulling on me right there, but it’s for all of us. If you want to have a fresh faith, you may need to get in a place where faith is reminded. That’s why I come to church; it’s because my faith gets reminded in this building. I don’t get to stay in doubt and depression. It’s not that I don’t have it; it’s just that I don’t get to stay there. When I start to look at Destiny being up here, worshiping God after having cancer, or Osby leading worship when they said his baby would have to have a tube in her throat, and three weeks ago that tube was taken out. Y’all, it gives me fresh perspective.
Somebody say «fresh faith.» F-R-Faith. Okay, here we go; we’re about to end this. To have fresh faith, the one I love is that you must have a fresh expectation. When I look at this story, I find fresh expectation. See, remember you have to get a fresh perspective that comes in the presence of God through prayer. Then you need fresh reminders: what did God say? But then, when you remember what He said, you have to act like He will do it. Some of y’all remember what God says and act like He’s going to do the exact opposite, like He’s going to leave you hanging. It’s so crazy to watch people tell others to believe when they themselves don’t believe. Wow! When you get a fresh expectation, it makes you do things differently. Look at it: 2 Kings 18:43. He tells the servant, «Go and look towards the sea.» The servant, watch this, went and looked.
Now, put yourself in the place of the servant real quick. It’s a drought; it’s dry everywhere, clouds just beautiful, sun shining, it’s hot. «Lord, what do You want me to do? It’s about to rain.» Okay, so what do You want me to do? Send your servant to move from the place he’s in right now and go look because it’s about to rain. «There’s a clear sky over me right now; why would I have to move to see if it’s going to rain?» Tell him to go and look to see if it’s going to rain. «Hey, servant, I know you saw the prophet bell thing. God really did His thing back there, didn’t He? He killed it, huh? Fire, you know what I’m saying? Go look and see if you see any rain clouds because the Holy Spirit just told me it’s about to rain.»
Now, depending on the perspective of this servant, yes, depending on how this servant moves in faith, this story can go a lot of different ways. «Go look.» This servant literally does it. It says, «And he went.» «Let me go see if there’s some rain back here. Let me see if there’s a cloud. Oh, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him. I did what He said, Elijah; I didn’t see anything.» «Did what you said, I didn’t see anything.» «Elijah, go back, go back. God, go back! I just went, I just made a faith step; I just used the energy; I just used my money. Go back; let me go see what he’s talking about. Yeah, nothing. I’m going to count my steps, Elijah, nothing.» «Man, go back.»
Now, okay, this is where most of us would say, «Okay, all right, God, I did what You said twice; I haven’t seen anything.» It almost feels disrespectful at this point—come on, that You would ask me. You’re God, right? You know where the rain is and when it’s coming. Why would you tell me to go back when you know there’s nothing? Maybe it’s not about the rain at this point; maybe it’s about the attitude, disposition, and expectation of the person. At some point, this servant had to get the attitude of expectation that, like, «Hey man, if He’s going to keep telling me to go back, maybe this will be the time I’m expecting something to happen.» Third time? Well, maybe the third time is the charm.
«Darn, the third time is not the charm.» «Elijah, not four times, five times? Yeah, yeah, six times. Go look towards the sea,» he told his servant, and he went up and looked. «There’s nothing there,» he said. Write this down: nothing is the perfect breeding ground for something. Most people look at nothing and get discouraged, but people with fresh faith look at nothing and say, «Uh-oh, this is tons of space for something.» That’s the attitude of expectation that you have to get again. «No, there are no prospects for me to be married.» A lot of room; this is a lot of room for God to bring him. See, you’ve lost your expectation, my God. When you lose your expectation, what creeps in is, watch this, complacency. The servant just walks around, you know it ain’t going to rain, but he got me over here, all the time. I keep seeing it ain’t going to rain. It hasn’t rained for the third time, the fourth time, the fifth time, or the sixth time. But what would happen if, every time that God told you to do something, every day that you woke up, every day that God gave you another opportunity, you thought, «Maybe today is the day»?
Oh my goodness, another opportunity for me to see if it’s about to rain. Matter of fact, where are my rain boots? Matter of fact, where’s my umbrella? See, some of y’all missed it. I sleep with my umbrella and my rain boots next to me because I’ve gone six times and there was nothing. I’m not going to deny the fact that I keep trying this thing and nothing is happening, but if God—oh my God, I might have to do a whole new faith series. It’s been too long since «crazy faith» because some of y’all have lost the ability to believe what God said. «Sir, go back again.» Somebody shout at me, «Go back! Go back! Go back to the bank! Go back to the book! Go back to that elementary school that you know you’re supposed to help turn around.» I know they denied you before, but God is saying to somebody, «Go back.» And on the seventh time, my man was like, «Well, I guess today is the day,» because I’m full of expectation.
«Wasn’t nothing yesterday, but today it could be something.» «Hold on, hold on; wait a minute, is that Elijah?» Elijah, Elijah, Elijah! Why the communication of expectation? This could be nothing. But I love okay, hold on; this actually could not really have much to do with what I’m supposed to do, but I see a cloud the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea. What the servant was saying is, «It’s not much, but I see something.» Oh, that is the communication of faith! My relationship hasn’t turned all the way around, but I see something. Some of y’all need to start—my money has not totally flipped, but how I’m thinking about it, I see something. This church is not where it’s going to be, but what’s happening right now, I see something. Somebody shout at me, «I see something!» I see it. Many of you, the enemy would try to make you discount what you see. It ain’t the rain yet, but it’s something.
Oh God, somebody say, «It’s something! It’s something! Your family’s not healed, but they text you back. It’s something! Oh, where are the people with faith? This building ain’t filled yet, but it’s almost to the back of the building. It’s something! I don’t need everybody, but I need about 300 people to say, „I will not discount what God has shown me.“ Somebody say, „I see something!“ Most people would discount that little cloud, but because that servant—do y’all realize Elijah wasn’t going to see it? His act of faith was based on who was around him. There it is! How do you need a tribe? You need somebody to be able to look at your life and say, „Hold on, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! You about to discount that? No, no, no, baby, we see something! You’re a leader; you’re an owner! God has made you able to turn that situation.“ I see that!
This servant comes back with expectation. „I see your family being free. I see you getting healthy. Boy, you lost that 4 lbs; look at you! I see something! I see you being able to fit in skinny jeans.“ You better get the right people around you because, watch, Elijah’s response is based on what somebody else saw. Oh God, I don’t have time to go into this! Oh, but somebody say, „I see something! I see something good!“ So now, the fresh faith is at an all-time high. We’re about to go to the last point: to keep fresh faith, watch this—you have to have fresh, watch this, anticipation. There’s a difference between expectation and anticipation. Most people, when they see the little cloud, are like, „Oh my God! It’s coming! He did what He said He was going to do! Wow, this is great! Elijah must mean it’s going to rain!“ And then we wait. „Let’s wait on the rain.“
Do y’all see what Elijah does in this story? He tells him, he sees something, and listen, let me just tell you what anticipation means, 'cause some of y’all are like, „What’s the difference between expectation and anticipation?“ Anticipation means it’s a realization in advance. It’s a foretaste! You ever eaten a meal that’s so consistent and so good that when you make up in your mind you’re going to eat at that place, your body starts fore-tasting it? Y’all, now some of y’all don’t eat good, but there are certain meals that saliva comes out of your mouth. Yeah, you start salivating because you’re like, „Oh God, I’m going to get some of that!“ It be some of y’all like, „I feel it right now.“ But it’s because, watch, your body is now anticipating great—what you know is about to happen!
So Elijah, at the sight of the cloud the size of a man’s hand—remember, the promise is rain; he doesn’t see rain; he sees a cloud. Will you shout over the cloud? You missed it! Will you—how you start acting after the cloud proves you have faith? Y’all want the rain? You want the drip-drop, drip-drippity drop; that’s what you want? And He ain’t going to give you the rain; He’s going to give you a cloud, and now He wants to know, do you got faith? Now you got fresh faith. Watch Elijah’s faith; when he heard it he said, „Go tell Ahab, hitch up his chariots, and go down before the rain stops him.“
Do y’all see how big that faith is? „I just saw a cloud! Tell them it’s time to go!“ 'Cause if he doesn’t go now, the level of rain that’s coming will stop him from moving forward. Oh, all I saw was a cloud, but I got fresh faith to believe it’s about to rain, and it’s going to rain at a level that will stop you if you don’t move now. What Elijah was doing was anticipating the word of God. Where’s Fe? Is Fe here? Come here; I want you to be very clear about anticipating, 'cause expectation is great, but I want Transformation Church to live at anticipation. This is my real little brother, Fe. Okay, so if I told Fe, „Hey, I’m about to knock you out,“ now I want you to see what just happened.
I want you to see what just happened—at my word, his entire posture changed because he’s seen what I’ve done to my other brothers. He knows my track record. The power of my words changed his posture! I don’t know what—where you at, gangster bro? What you trying to do? I’m just here, I’m just here; I’m just looking. And if my mere word—that’s good! He’s never seen me knock anybody out; he’s never seen me in a fight, but because my word changed his posture, he’s anticipating. Will the word of God change how you posture yourself in this next season? Because I haven’t done anything to him yet, but he’s anticipating. Watch this; anticipation is the proof of expectation.
When I said, „I’m going to knock you out,“ Fe, his hands changed! „Give me a hug, Fe, give me a hug.“ Okay, he believes that now; I’m going to knock you out. Okay, okay, okay. Here, hear what I’m saying? Fe’s not just expecting me to hit him walking towards him. Man, he said, „Stop walking towards me, man!“ He’s not just expecting me to hit him; he’s—do you see how God has told you nine times what He’s going to do and it hasn’t changed your posture yet? This is the words of a mere man that can’t even really fight. I’m going to shoot you before I—no, I’m just being honest. We not about to be tell about—I’m no, I got shooters all around me. Hear me, no, I’m just funny; no, I’m not!
What I’m saying to you is, at my mere word he’s anticipating, but at the word of God you’re still sitting. You ain’t opened the bank account; you ain’t taking no meetings; you won’t read a book; you won’t get in your word; you won’t relocate to the part of town God called you to actually minister in. You won’t do nothing! You don’t expect God to do it because if you did, you would start anticipating it. Ephesians 3:20: If you really believed it, it would change the way you live today. „Now unto Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask, think, or imagine, according to not our power, but His power!“ That is at work within why he is choosing to use me, but to Him be all glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. I told you I was going to knock. Mama said, „Knock you.“
Okay, now what I’m telling you is that every movement I make, He’s moving. Why are you holding me so hard, baby? Just ready, man. He said, „I’m just—watch this—ready!“ If we could ever get a church that was ready for a harvest! Y’all are not even ready for what’s about to happen next week! You’re not even ready for the person you hate to show up sitting right next to you. You’re not even ready for that boss you’re praying away actually coming to know Jesus. You’re not anticipating God doing a revival in your school and in your church. Come on, come on, yeah, yeah, yeah! Thank you, Fe. If you actually were ready, you would anticipate it. How do you keep fresh faith? I’m anticipating, even when it specifically comes to Easter.
Who are you inviting in anticipation for what God could do in their life? Good! You don’t anticipate because you won’t even tell anybody. You won’t even post about it because it’ll mess up your aesthetic. My God! Well, I just want to keep the right image for my followers. Your followers—when you signed up to follow Jesus, the mantra was less of me, more of Him. But it’s been more of you and less of Him. I just want to make sure I keep an aesthetic that’s pleasing to both the believer and the nonbeliever—they’re crying out. Your art was a bridge to the Savior, and you’ve made the art the end goal. You’ve made whatever you sell the end goal. You’ve made how you look, how you dress, and how you come—the end goal. And God said the only reason I blessed that is so it would draw people who don’t know me.
So you don’t expect and you don’t anticipate. The truth of the matter is Elijah does all of this for Ahab. I want you to see that all the king was doing was eating. He was at a party while the person that God tasked with the faith assignment was on Mount Carmel praying. He had to convince and give vision to a servant to go look this many times, and as soon as he saw the cloud the size of a man’s hand, he got excited. Go back and send word to the party. I know you don’t care about this, and I know you haven’t sacrificed for this, but my faith wasn’t for me; my faith was to make sure you didn’t get stuck here.
So Ahab, get in the chariot, get off your stuff, and go because if you don’t, the rain that’s about to come is going to stop you here. All the faith was for somebody else. What happens when God calls us to live by faith but it’s not just for us? I hear that mantra that Jesus told the disciples: „The field is ripe. The harvest is everywhere, but the laborers are few.“ He’s telling the disciples this who probably have lost a little bit of their faith. They didn’t have a fresh perspective. They’re looking at all these people and like, „Jesus, we’re just trying to keep them away from you.“ And He’s like, „Do y’all see what’s around here? It’s just a bunch of harvest, but there’s nobody to actually have the faith to believe that they can be transformed.“
And then look what He does—He tells the disciples, „Pray to the Lord of the harvest.“ He’s sitting with them, yeah, He’s probably a little mad; He’s probably a little ticked off. „Why don’t y’all like prayer? Don’t you pray to the Lord of the Harvest that He would send more laborers, that He would send more people with a fresh perspective, that He would send people with faith to believe that I can transform anybody?“ Instead of being like, „Hold on, we can believe like that,“ they’re probably like, „Lord, would you send…“ And He was like, „Just go do it! Be the answered prayer! Stop praying that somebody else would come, and you show up!“ Pastor Mike, what are you saying? God’s about to give us fresh faith for everything in our life. You’re going to have to have a fresh perspective. You’re going to have to set reminders. I’m telling you this week, some of y’all need to set reminders on your phone: „I will live and not die!“
Every morning you wake up, „I will live and not die!“ You dealt with suicide in a different season, and the fact that you’re here right now, you should be reminding yourself, „I’m still here. I will live and not die!“ Somebody else needs to set a reminder: „I’m actually going to live pure today.“ The days the enemy robbed in perversion and thoughts—you can literally remind yourself. That keeps fresh faith. And then you’re going to get a fresh expectation, and then you’re going to upgrade that thing to a fresh anticipation. Today’s the day! Oh shoot, today’s the day! Standing all over this place! Y’all actually did it! Y’all actually gave me my extra 15 minutes. Thank you! Would you just please lift your hands? I want to pray for every person. Listen to me. Everybody, listen—whose faith has been tired? If your faith has been tired, I’m not saying that you didn’t have faith in a different season and lost it, but if your faith has been tired, would you lift your hands all over this building? Yeah, it was the right message today. Come on, online—your faith has been tired. Everybody—don’t leave this moment without getting what you need. I’m going to pray for you.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You today that You are renewing strength. Father God, where some of us have been at the party, we’re about to find ourselves in Your presence. Father, I thank You that You’re reminding us of Your faithfulness today, and You’re doing a work on the inside of us that nobody else could do—just You. Today, God, would You give us the ability to believe You like never before? Father, we’ve been hurt, we’ve been disappointed. Some of us have seen great victories. Father God, but today we’re making a fresh commitment to come to You and ask You for another measure of faith. Your word says that You give measures of faith. God, would You increase our measure of faith? Would You give us fresh faith to believe You for our families, believe You for the words You’ve spoken, believe us for the transformation? Believe You for the salvation, believe You for our children, believe You for our neighbors, believe You for what You’ve called us to do. Today, I thank You that Transformation Church moves from a church that just has crazy faith and expectation but, God, let us move into actually being able to make actions of faith. Let us live in anticipation of what You’re going to do. Let it change our posture today, God. We trust You, and I thank You, Father, that we’re moving this week. Father, would You give us a boldness this week that never goes away to be able to know that what You’re doing in our life is not just for us? Would You give us the boldness to invite the person at Starbucks, and the barista, Father God, and our cousin, our family, and our friends—not just to Easter, Father God, but to a meeting with You? Father, let our faith move beyond us. I thank You for a mobilized church—a church that doesn’t sit back and wait but will go, and we’ll have the faith to go seven times to see if You’re doing anything. Father, we might not see much, but we see something. God, I just thank You that this church will always be the one that believes in the cloud. Today, have Your way, is our prayer.
If you’re in this room and you’ve never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, today I just want to let you know that the greatest decision that you could make is to make Him the Lord of your life, not just your Savior. Listen to me, but your Lord. Amen. If that’s you all over this room, watching online, there are hundreds every Sunday. And today, today, today is the day of salvation for you. I need the church to begin to pray. There are people that have been walking away from God, who have been lost, who have been confused, who have been shunned from the church, and today God is saying I’m calling you back home. No matter where you are, today is a start of fresh faith for you, and God is the only one that if you give Him your heart, He’ll help you change your habits.
In this room, all over the building right now, if you want to give your life to Christ, on the count of three, I just want you to slip your hand in the air. You don’t have to confess everything that you’ve done to me or somebody else. Hopefully, you get in a tribe to do that. Hopefully, you’ll get healing when you begin to confess one to another. But today, I’m talking about your eternity being secure and you starting with a fresh faith. If you’re in this room, or if you’re watching online, or if somebody’s playing this in a rebroadcast, I feel the presence of God right now. This is your moment of salvation.
One—you’re making the greatest decision you’ve ever made. Two—I’m proud of you, but more than that, your name is going to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and God will change you from being somebody like me who was addicted to pornography, a liar, a manipulator. And He won’t make you perfect, but He’ll make you progressing. And I’m telling you today, God is going to transform your life. Three, if that’s you, shoot your hand up in the air. I see you, my brother. I see you, my sister. I see you, my sister. Come on, every age, every demographic. Transformation Church, this is what we celebrate! I see you, brother. Hey, put your hands down because now you’re a part of a community of everybody who’s walking in the level of transparency that you are. And we’re a family here—nobody alone. Everybody just say:
God, thank You for giving me fresh faith. Today I believe in Jesus. I believe He lived. I believe He died and He rose again with all power, all power just for me. I give You my life. Change me! Renew me! Transform me! I’m Yours. In Jesus' name, amen!