Michael Todd - Why Do I Feel So Out Of Control
Today, I wanted to preach a message, and I simply want to give you the title now; I’m going to remind you of it in just a second. I want to preach a message called «Why Do I Feel So Out of Control?» I know this is something we don’t talk about often, but there are areas in our lives where we feel like we just can’t gain control. Okay, we’re a hot church—humble, open, and transparent. Does anybody here have at least two areas in your life where you think, «Why can’t I get that under control?» Okay, all right, thank you, Holy Spirit, I’m in the right place. «Why do I feel so out of control?» This year, God told us this is the year we would maximize and focus on the word «fruit».
As we do that, I thought, «All right, Lord, how do we get fruit?» He said, «You have to sow the right seeds.» I’m not just talking about finances; I want you to hear what I’m saying. You cannot get fruit in the area of your marriage if you do not sow seed in the area of marriage. You cannot get fruit in the area of health and not sow seed in the area of health. You cannot become everything God has called you to be in a healthy manner without sowing seed in that area. I would just like to approach many believers and ask them, «Are you nuts?» because you are believing for something in an area where you have sown no seed.
Many of us want friends, but we do not sow seeds of normalcy. You won’t even say hello when they say hello. You won’t answer the text message when the two people you were trying to befriend text you. You’re busy and booked like that. But for some reason, I am just giving a very frivolous example to let people know this is not the year to believe for where you have not sown. Yes, God can supersede boundaries and do things you don’t deserve; that is not the common practice. That’s why He gives us principles in His Word. He provides these principles because sometimes He’ll pop out and do the unexpected so you know He can, but He is not about to pop out every time and do the unexpected when you won’t steward what He gives you all the time.
Okay, so why do we feel out of control? So many times, it’s because we have not sown the right seed in the area that will give us—watch what we’re talking about today—self-control. Okay, I need you to lock in. I need you to check in with me for the next 40 minutes because this one is going to scrape against your flesh. When anyone talks about self-control, they are actually addressing the parts of us that comfort us the most. The areas that comfort us the most are the places where we usually lack self-control.
Where do you go when you’re emotionally overwhelmed? Where do you go when you don’t feel like anyone sees you? Where do you snuggle when you lose? That is the place where we usually have not figured out how to let the Holy Spirit empower us, even when we have an excuse not to. So today, I just want to let you know if something comes to mind and you start feeling it on the inside—all of the faces you won’t make but feel—yeah, yeah, all of those things that make you want to click out and go watch someone else’s message that will speak to your blessing—what I’m telling you is God is blessing us in ways we can’t even feel it. Oh God, because we won’t get self-control. We won’t let the Spirit do the work on the inside of us to actually live and walk in self-control.
So today, I’m going to try to gently walk us through what the Holy Spirit provides for us at salvation. Galatians 5:22 tells us, «But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.» You didn’t even say it; say it with me: «self-control.» Say it like you want it! «Self-control!» Say it like you need it! «Self-control!» Why would the Holy Spirit produce self-control? I started to look at this and became confused because just by the mere word «self-control,» it feels a little perplexing; it seems it should be initiated by me.
So, is it Spirit-empowered, or is it me? Is it my self-control? Is it me just saying, «I’m not going to do this anymore,» looking in the mirror and telling myself that? Because honestly, I’ve done that before! Okay, how many people have told yourself you’re not doing it, told others you’re not doing it, wrote it on your mirror, put it on your refrigerator, set it all in your mind, and somehow failed? So, self-control—but the Spirit produces self-control. I went on a deep dive, trying to think about how to explain this, and how I can never let God’s people be seduced by the lie of the enemy that God cares more about what our wants than what the Spirit wants. I really believe I have clarity, and I found it in the Word of God. I’m going to give you a couple of scriptures that, if you keep them in your back pocket at all times, will save you. It will be a way of escape for you. Let me give you one that helped me and helps me to this day.
Proverbs 25:28 states that the wisest man, according to the Bible, Solomon, wrote this: «A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.» Imagine a fortified city from ancient times, the only means of protection—no cameras, no doorbells, no guard dogs. A city’s strength was measured by the strength of its walls because an enemy was always trying to take your land. Without fortified walls, you were extremely vulnerable and could be taken advantage of at any moment. Think of this word: protection.
This scripture indicates that lacking self-control is akin to being a city without protection. All your value is vulnerable at every moment if you lack self-control. One text message can set you back ten years, becoming ten years of mental, emotional, and sometimes physical abuse because you lacked self-control. You find yourself at the doctor for diseases that don’t even run in your family, asking God for a miracle for something that happened while you worked at the mall, eating at that food court every day for three years. I may be speaking too directly, but you lacked the self-control to walk past Auntie Anne’s, saying, «Oh my God! You’ve been following me,» because you couldn’t resist those sugar-dipped pretzels with sour cream and a strawberry lemonade.
Your vision becomes vulnerable. God may ask you to do something, but because you lack control, you’re like a city without walls—pillage, plundered, stolen from, not because you’re a bad person or don’t hear from God but because you have not allowed the Holy Spirit to cultivate the fruit of self-control within you. Think about the area where you experience the greatest loss and ask yourself: Do I have self-control in that area? Where is God trying to establish protection for you? When I read this, here’s what came to mind: write this down as a point—self-control is safety. If you could view self-control as the ability to not act on every impulse—to not buy everything you want, or go everywhere you feel like going—if you practiced this in your life, God says you’d be protected; you would be safe. Self-control is safety.
I wrote it down this way because I’ve never perceived self-control as a good thing, mainly because of the word «controlling.» Let’s be honest: when anyone talks about control, unless it’s Janet Jackson singing a song, I want nothing to do with it. You want to control me? You want to tell me what to do? You don’t know what’s best for me. But I bring a worldly thought to a kingdom principle. God said one of the nine fruits of the Spirit I want you to have is self-control. He wants us to have self-control. We’ve been controlled by people, trapped by systems, and manipulated by other things that weren’t in our best interest. Therefore, we apply worldly experiences to kingdom principles. Many of us shy away from self-control because I’m free to do whatever I want. But God asks: Are you really? If you have to drink to feel free, are you truly free? If you can’t resist that sale—no, no, no, but do you understand that Bath & Body Works candles are $10 right now?
Someone just felt guilty for real—you have 400 candles for an apartment, a candle for every square foot of the place you live. Think about it—then God asks you to do something with resources, and you have no cash, just candles. You feel too prideful to set up a table by the apartment complex to sell them. They don’t realize what genuine obedience looks like. God told you to do something, and you’re sitting there with your candles instead of cash, having spent 20 days with them burning at a time. I’m trying to paint the picture of how our obedience is sometimes delayed because we have not been protected by self-control.
Second Timothy 1:7 brings this revelation: we’ve quoted this scripture multiple times but haven’t connected it to self-control. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. If you check the original language or read it in the ESV version, it explicitly states: «God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-control.» Why would God give us self-control instead of fear? The opposite of fear is self-control, because fear consists of undisciplined thoughts. Fear is simply thoughts without self-control. You walk into a dark room and think, «Someone’s about to jump down from the ceiling. Someone’s coming for me. I’m dying right now,» but none of it is real. You simply walked into a dark room, and all you need to do is flip the switch. You have the power to turn on the light!
Without a disciplined thought life, you’re filled with irrational fears. God did not give us the spirit of fear, so self-control is a spirit empowered by the Holy Spirit. The spirit of fear needs to be replaced with the spirit of self-control. If you’re afraid of the future, you need to train your thoughts around what God says about it. If you’re afraid to marry because of what happened to others, you need to retrain your thoughts—this is invaluable.
Proverbs 16:32 tells us that it is better to be patient than powerful, and I could preach an entire message on this. The second part points out that it is better to have self-control than to conquer a city. A kingdom principle to write down is that self-control is better than success. Hear what I said: some of us look at social media and see others striving for success, posting quotes like, «What would a millionaire do today?» or starting new podcasts. I’m not trying to undermine anyone’s dreams, but God says that success shouldn’t be more important than self-control. Whatever men and women of this world consider success does not equate in heaven. Money is nothing in heaven; houses are irrelevant, as are Bitcoin, investments, and 401Ks. The Bible states: why store up your riches on Earth where they cannot accompany you? Instead, invest in the Kingdom—something eternal.
I acknowledge we all need money to live and support others—but if success holds priority over God in your heart, it would be better for you to have self-control in your small apartment than to run an entire city. This made me examine my motives, desires, and wants. Oftentimes, I don’t ask God for more self-control on my «crazy faith» cards. If I go back to the building and pull out those cards, I bet I’ll see requests for houses, debts paid off, and blessings for my mom in a car. How many of us ask God for the ability not to speak harshly? To treat someone who wronged us with kindness? That’s something money can’t buy.
Holy Spirit, I want to walk into a room, discern the people’s needs, and be led to the person you want me to speak to, providing them with accurate words of knowledge in a way that will encourage them to live. I’ve seen people write sonnets on various topics, but not about transformation. God says it’s better to have self-control over this than to run an entire city.
Why is this important, Pastor Mike? Because self-control is the only thing that combats compromise. When you have self-control, you are fortified, and you do not get played by the enemy when compromise tries to creep in. Many people misunderstand compromise. Has anyone ever gone to an event and received comp tickets? That word «comp» suggests free. When you experience compromise, you give away your promise for free. God may not want you in a relationship because being with that person could compromise your future marriage; you might give away your promise for free.
He doesn’t even take you to dinner; he sneaks you in through the back door of his friend’s house. He can’t pick you up, but he sends $15 for an Uber. You’re about to give your promise away under those circumstances. Compromise has people in church manipulating others to stroke their egos while sending them into cycles of depression and allegiance. Don’t you realize that being part of that got you compromised? The only thing that can combat compromise is self-control. You may respect someone, and believe they are fine, and possibly have faith, but if every interaction weakens your conviction that this is reserved for your spouse, things can become confusing.
I’m acknowledging there are areas of our lives that control us more than the Spirit. I do this to let you know you may need self-control. You might need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in you at a deeper level, so he can advocate for you in areas where you’ve continuously struggled. Some issues merely require a decision—you must decide not to engage in them anymore. Everything doesn’t require prayer or a prophetic word. If you find yourself attracted to places labeled with signs of temptation, you shouldn’t have to pray about it. However, some issues are generational strongholds and aren’t just yours; they could have been passed down to you from your family.
Today, let me reassure you—there is a remedy for this: the Holy Spirit. Let’s lighten the mood because some of you feel exposed—and you are—but let me clarify. How many of you people were alive when Atari Pong came out. How many people liked Atari? Okay, I need to know, some? Okay, how many of you all—um, yeah, 'cause I wasn’t alive when that came out either. But how many of you had a game system when you were a kid? Nintendo? How many people had Nintendo? Come on, Super Nintendo? Okay, alright, some of you weren’t here yet, so there are some people in here who are like, «What are you talking about?» Okay, maybe this will help you: how many people knew about the Sega Genesis? Yeah, Sonic and all the rings, okay? Yeah, yeah.
How many people knew about the Sony PlayStation? I’m not talking about this new thing that stands up; I’m talking about the great one, the box with the circles, y’all, when you had to take the CD out and lick it? Y’all don’t know nothing about that! Okay, y’all know what I’m saying. And how many of you know about the Nintendo 64 when the 64 came out? Okay. Then we go to Xbox, and then we go—uh, what are the other ones? GameCube? How many people had a GameCube? I have questions about it, anyway. Now, it’s gone to like the PSPs, personal computers, the Switch, and yeah, like, wow, PS5. You know what? We can all agree that no matter how much technology and the graphics have upgraded from Atari Pong all the way to the PS5, every system still has a controller. What it means is it doesn’t matter how much you upgrade; something will still have control in your life.
Okay, so this is what I’m going to tell you: write it down. The fight of your life is between sin control and spirit control. This is what’s fighting every day you wake up—to control you. My question is, who is controlling you? Do a serious evaluation of your life right now. When you wake up—ding, ding! —it’s a battle. Who’s going to win today? My spirit or my sin nature controlling me? Some of us have been living in one so long that we didn’t even know it was an option! We wake up, and it’s like, «Uh-oh, that’s natural,» 'cause we were all born into our sin nature. Okay, how can I show you this? Galatians 5:17: «The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants, and the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what our sinful nature wants.» Look at this word «nature»; that word means «natural.»
Our natural ideas will be sinful, our natural wants will be sinful. It’s because of the world we were born into after Adam and Eve disobeyed God. «Well, I am a good person.» Yes, you are a good person, yet your nature is sinful. I need everybody to hear me say this clearly: these two forces are constantly fighting each other. Watch this: you are not free. I just want to stop right there. The sin nature and the spirit nature are fighting every day, so you’re not free to carry out your good intentions.
Oh, this is good Bible: intentions don’t matter if you have the wrong controller. Can you put my example on the screen real quick? I need you to see this. 'Cause I was like, how can I depict to you what it looks like when you are controlled by the Spirit and when you are controlled by the flesh? I need everybody to hear me say this real quick: your spirit has to actually get strong enough to be able to defeat your flesh daily—not at church, not once a week, not once a year—every single day. Some of y’all need to change your alarm to a boxing bell—ding, ding, ding! Y’all don’t hear me! Just to remind yourself it’s a fight. I don’t hear some of us waking up so nonchalantly like, «Oh, today’s going to be a great day,» depending on who you let win. This is what I call the battle for my life, and every day that I wake up, I have to decide who’s going to win.
See, the problem is we all start here; everybody starts being led by the flesh. And this is the thing I came to actually tell you: when you get saved, your spirit comes alive. It doesn’t win; it’s like a newborn baby. This is why we read the Word; this is why we come to church. You’ve been led by your flesh for 32 years, and you’re like, «Why do I still struggle with these temptations?» It’s because your spirit comes alive, but every day, if you do not feed it the right things, it gets beat up. I need to say it just like that, 'cause some of y’all come to prayer, but that 45 minutes of prayer has not been leading your thoughts all day; the Shade Room has. You know more about what rapper is sleeping with what rapper and what government official has cheated on their spouse than about the Word.
And you know more about all of these different things, which is feeding a nature—gluttony, it’s nasty eating—and it doesn’t have to be that salacious. It could be a text message that says something like, «Did you hear about them?» Yeah, hearing about them! I’m over here trying to read Psalms, and Siri keeps texting them, «Tell me more!» And at that moment, «Well, I don’t know if it’s true,» but if somebody starts a sentence with, «I don’t really gossip, but…» and then tells you something, they’re not really gossiping! Last night, my daughter Gigi came to me with white stuff all over her hand while I was cleaning up something else. I said, «Gigi, what is that?» She said, «Daddy, it’s not paint.» And that’s how many times we look; 'cause I’m trying to hide what I’m telling you! Oh God! So when I wake up in the morning, I have good intentions, but I may be sin-controlled.
Watch this: sin control is making decisions based on what feels natural to your flesh. Your sin nature wants to do evil; your sin nature gives you desires, and your sinful nature is fighting for control. That’s where pride, selfishness, gossip, throwing shade, and judgment come from. But spirit control—watch this, write this down—is making decisions against ourselves. If you are spirit-controlled, you are making decisions against your natural inclination. I want to cuss you out, but Pastor talked about kindness last week, and you better be glad I watched that sermon! And guess who won in that moment? Your spirit won! My question is, how many battles do you forfeit because you don’t even try to let your spirit fight? You’ve already decided this is just the way I am; this is how my family is.
And I came to tell you, a person without self-control is like a city with its walls torn down. It’s just a moment’s notice that everything valuable in you can be pillaged 'cause you have not allowed the Holy Spirit to develop self-control in you. I heard this poem once that said, «Two natures beat within my breast; one is foul, and one is blessed. One I love, and one I hate. The one I fear will dominate.» There are certain movies I can’t watch, not because they’re not creative and not because I don’t like the trailer. I actually love the trailer; that’s why I want to watch the movie! I think sometimes Christians deny reality. Like, that’s stupid! Like, that arouses my flesh! I want to see if right when they were about to take the thing off, and then it cuts off, and then somebody punches somebody. I want to see how that all ends! I want to see how that materializes in real life!
Can we be honest? You want to go see that? Nah, bro; it’s all good, man! No, I don’t want to see that. Let’s go see Moana! Oh, this is real! Do y’all even bro? I’m not going out; you’re a girl! Man, I’m not about to go see Moana with you! Alright, cool, man. I can’t go. Why? You don’t understand; I used to be controlled by my sin nature, and my sin nature—I don’t know about yours—it doesn’t need much to eat to get very strong. Oh my God, I only need a little bit! I don’t need a feast; I just need a taste! And when I live on that line, when I get that close, I become compromised. I’m in a place where I can give away the promise for free, where all that God has done in my life—and one website could take away my credibility to stand up here and transform millions of lives. The reason why everybody in my circle has access to my phone, or can go in my email, is not 'cause I’m a grown man. I’m the pastor; I’m the leader. Mo could ruin me today—I’m putting it on camera just so y’all know! If anything happens to me, Mo did it! I just called him!
But I need to be honest. I live so openly with the people around me, and they can tell you because all my flesh needs is a little secret. All my flesh needs is a little side money. I don’t—it’s not wrong; other people do this all the time! But because of the call on your life, many can, but you cannot. And without self-control, I would throw away my marriage—I mean, 15 years, 24 years of knowing her—to satisfy my flesh. When I’m angry, I’mma throw away the model I’ve been to my daughters of how a man is supposed to treat and protect his family? You mean I’mma throw away what I’ve built for Bella and MJ for a moment at a club? But that’s where everybody’s connecting at, I guess. I’m not supposed to connect with them? Oh, these are real decisions I’ve made; oh no, the after-party at the club? Can’t go there! Oh, 'cause you’re a pastor? No, 'cause I’m a man of God!
See, this is the difference: there’s a difference between my position and my person. There’s a difference between my convictions, my calling. And without self-control, I am like a city with its walls torn down, and the saddest part about most believers is you can see where the walls used to be. God, I can hear in your voice where you used to have a conviction! I can hear in your voice where you used to have a boundary! I can see in the way you live where you used to draw a line, and all I see is rubble where there should be righteousness. Church, today I’m giving you an opportunity to choose.
What is the choice? Every day you wake up, you start neutral. This is why I start every day praying, because when I pray, it honestly becomes a habit. But habit can be a bad thing too, because every day I could get up and scroll. Okay, come on, y’all! If the first thing I do is see what everybody else is doing and not ask God what I should be doing. So maybe I don’t need a habit that’s negative; maybe I need accountability! Maybe I need that little Bible app to be like, «Ding, ding, Jude 4.» And maybe before I open my phone, or maybe before I turn on the news, or maybe before I do this, I just thank God and I pray and I spend a little time—not because I’m trying to be religious, but because I’m trying to be protected! Oh my God!
I need everybody to hear: there’s a difference between saying, «No, I got to pray, I got to pray, I got—God, Father, God.» You don’t care nothing about that! Your heart was not in that at all! But just saying, «Father, today I’m tired and I know I’m susceptible to anger. Father, I have been on edge about the financial situation I’m going through. So your Word says you’re the Prince of Peace, and today I’m asking that you would lead me to make decisions that would rest in your peace. And, God, also, I don’t feel good about myself right now. I got on the scale yesterday, and after the holidays, it had—I don’t know if it’s broken or not! But no, I’m talking about real prayers; like it had a few more numbers than I was expecting. And that actually has nothing to do with me being healthy; it has everything to do with how I see myself! And since I was young, I’ve always had self-esteem issues based on the way I look.
And today, could you just remind me that I’m beautiful? Father, I never had anybody tell me that I was beautiful without wanting something in return! So today, God, could you just remind me in your Word that I’m beautifully and wonderfully made? And last thing, God, today Thomas is going to be at the office, and I hate Thomas! Come on, y’all! See, y’all don’t want a real relationship with God! God, I know we’re not supposed to hate, but if the line is „strong dislike,“ I really hate Thomas! And today, God, I can feel it now. If he says one thing to me out of the side of his mouth—But I desire to be like you and look like you. And so it is going to be difficult for me to be kind to Thomas today. I’m not asking for the week, Lord; that would be too much! That would be an outrageous request! But today, Lord—come on, y’all— but today, Lord, our Father who art in Heaven, holy and hallowed be your name!
Thy kingdom come; your will be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give me this day enough for Thomas! Did you just see? Like, I actually displayed for you what a life led by the Spirit looks like. I’m just giving you an example, but all I’m saying is if you do not listen to the Spirit of God, it leaves you vulnerable. We are getting out of here. If you get accountable, watch this: your accountability turns into discipline. What you do in a disciplined life—I’m going to have to do a whole series on this. I might have to do a whole series on this thing and bring this chart back every week because I need to teach all of these. But what I’m just trying to get you to see today is the value.
There are certain things that have happened on my health journey that I would not have been able to do without a trainer. I had accountability; watch this: that turned into me being controlled by somebody else for an hour and a half every day. There is nothing that Victor tells me to do that I want to do. There has never been one time that he’s said, „Alright, do the burpees,“ and I was like, „Yay!“ There was never a time he said, „Alright, 20 pounds more,“ and I was like, „Amen!“ Every time, my flesh wants to rise up, but the accountability turned into discipline. So much so that last Sunday, Pastor Will and I worked out every Sunday morning together. Last Sunday morning, early in the morning, my coach called me and told me he wasn’t going to be able to be there.
Now, this is like 3:00 in the morning because we work out at 5:00 on Sundays. I almost called Will and told him, „Coach is sick,“ but the gym at my house and all the weights still work. But it was a test: had the accountability turned into discipline? I said to Will, „I can train us if you’re down.“ I was praying that he’d say, „You unqualified man of God,“ but he was like, „I’m down.“ And for an hour and a half at 5:00 a.m., with no trainer, my discipline turned into my desire. So, this is where we go on the last one. I don’t know when it happens. I’m not sure of the magical moment that God says, „Oh, the switch flipped,“ but if you are accountable long enough in the things that the Spirit tells you to do, it will become a discipline long enough that at some point it becomes your desire. Everybody wants to know when it becomes a desire.
I have no clue. I don’t know when you will desire to actually be content in the season God has for you to be in, but if God is telling you right now to be accountable with a budget and he’s saying, „Uh, that means you’re going to have to be disciplined with how many times you Uber-Eat this week,“ well, God, I don’t want to leave my house. You know what to do: I don’t want to. The truth of the matter is you’re tired of being single, but you don’t go nowhere to meet nobody either. It’s all connected. I just want you to know maybe Wingstop has your answer. I’m trying to make light of a very large subject, but I’m saying maybe God is trying to call you to something to give you something else, and at some point that discipline is going to turn into a desire.
It works the other way too, but I feel like I’ve said what God wants me to say today because I’m going to show you one more scripture, and this thing blessed me to the point where it has become a life scripture for me. Let me just show you the two examples of the spirit-empowered and the self-empowered, okay? Because somebody just needs to get this. Y’all give me seven minutes, and then we’re going to move to our crazy faith offering, and we’re going to get out of here, okay? Is this helping anybody? Can y’all just… okay, it’s a lot to unpack, but I feel very called to finish this. Okay, so listen: self-control. Does everybody see it? Self-control, this is what I’m going to say: self-control can be a spirit-empowered life of faith.
When you are self-controlled, that is a spirit-empowered life of faith, or you can have self-control, which, put it up, would be a sin-empowered life of the flesh. You choose either every day. I’m going to wake up and do the things that let me live a spirit-empowered life of faith so the Spirit controls me, or I’m going to live a sin-empowered life of flesh and sin controls me. This is why it’s important what you listen to. Well, I’m in the gym; I mean, I’ve got to turn up; I’ve got to put… there are certain things. The reason why TC has started making music and we just didn’t do worship music is my plan is, in the next five years, to give people so much good content that does not lack excellence and creativity, but still can replace some of the things that lead me to sin.
There’s only so many times you can listen to „Lay Your Body Down“ before you are no longer vertical. I don’t care, and I’m just using this as an example. There’s only so many times that you can listen to certain sonics with words, and you’re putting your spirit man in unnecessary fights. You’re going through real stuff, but you’re like, „I’mma clear my head.“ And what you put in your head—what is it leading you to? Why are you so angry? But you put on „Nuck If You Buck“ every time. What are you feeding? If you’re depressed, I understand it. I have empathy for you. I know it’s a hole that you feel like you can’t get out of, but if you continue to put in sad songs, if you continue to stroke that dis-ease, the reason I love this artist is that they resonate with me.
Do you want to keep identifying with them? Is this where you want to stay? I mean, I get that it feels good to be known and noticed, but sometimes we’ll settle for connection, which turns into compromise. Some of the things that comfort us are connections that end up compromising us, and God is telling you it’s time for you to get up. It’s time for you to be everything. I’m sending people in, and every time you get up just a little bit, you bring down because an artist has creatively personified your season. I’m just asking everybody; I’m telling you there’s a better choice to live a spirit-empowered life of faith—that’s self-control. So break it down practically, Pastor Mike.
Today when I’m giving in this crazy faith offering, this was not a decision that was informed by my sin nature. Matter of fact, my sin nature has been trying to tell me, „Boy, that’s the dumbest thing you could do. You know it’s Christmas time, right? And you know what’s going to happen next year. You do know what God said he was going to do the last time you gave? Have you seen all of that?“ Oh, maybe I’m the only one that feels trepidation sometimes when we step out in faith, but I bet Peter felt it too when Jesus said, „Come over the edge of the boat and do what nobody else is doing.“ If it’s you—I don’t know; is Peter now hearing everything? If it’s you, tell me to come. He didn’t say, „It’s Jesus, Son of David.“ The Bible records that Jesus gives a one-word response without identifying who he was. While Peter was on a boat with others, they all heard him ask the question, „If it’s you, tell me to come.“
All Jesus says is, „Come.“ He didn’t say, „Peter, come.“ He said, „Come,“ which leads me to believe he was talking to everybody on the boat. He wasn’t just talking to Peter, but Peter was the only one with crazy faith. Y’all all heard, and he didn’t go like, „Guys, didn’t y’all hear Jesus ask us all to come? Like, what are y’all doing? Get up; I’ll go if you go.“ Probably trembling, he watched somebody drown in this stuff before. I would have tested it. „Y’all, Jesus, this is… y’all, this is really working. This, this, this.“ And Jesus says, „Why do you stop looking at me? I told you to step out in crazy faith, and you started looking at your situation. I told you to step out in crazy faith, and you started looking at your account. I told you to step out in crazy faith, and you started looking at other people and what they were doing. Why did you stop looking at me?“ And he saved him. He said, „When are you going to get the faith that I know you have?“
This is what it looks like practically to live a spirit-empowered life of faith. I might not have any evidence from anybody else, but I still have to obey God. I believe that God is telling many of us in this room and area that the Holy Spirit needs to be allowed to develop self-control on the inside of us. Can you get that last scripture on the screen so I don’t have to run up there? That says, „Let the Holy Spirit…“ I’m forgetting the address right now. There’s one more scripture because this is the key to the whole thing, and then we’re going to give and we’re going to go home, but I believe this is going to transform people’s entire lives. When I saw this scripture, it changed the way that I found out that I could live a spirit-empowered life. Galatians 5:25: „Since we are living by the Spirit.“ Everybody say this next word with me: „Let.“ Say it with me: „Let.“
One more time: „Let.“ Since we are living by the Spirit, say it with me: „Let.“ That means somebody has to allow it. Since we are not living a life controlled by our sin, and we’re going to live a spirit-empowered life of faith, since we’re living by the Spirit—that’s what it is. He said, „Let,“ which means you have the control, and some of us have not allowed ourselves to follow the Spirit’s leading. Since we are living by the Spirit, everybody say „Let.“ Let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. I’m going to tell you something that is very exposing to me and the Holy Spirit’s relationship: I let the Holy Spirit dress me. This outfit today was not the outfit I wanted to wear.
I had another one that was a killer. I’m going to be honest: every time I get on this platform, I ask my wife and I ask the Holy Spirit what I’m supposed to wear because when I read that scripture—put it back on the screen—and see, some of y’all think this is too deep, but I just want to be honest with you about how I actually live this out. „Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.“ I haven’t perfected this. I don’t—I forget sometimes. Matter of fact, sometimes I wake up and I let my sinful nature control. I’m angry; I’m frustrated; I’m all that. But what I’m saying is in every area, I can remember, to my best, „Spirit, what am I supposed to do here today?“
I told my daughter Ava, who is… is she asleep? I love you! She was laying down; she was like, „Oh, Daddy, preacher.“ Okay, hello! It’s okay; I love you, baby. Ava rocks with me almost every Sunday morning from the 5:00 a.m. workout. She gets up; she loves being with her daddy on Sunday morning, and she makes me hold her in praise and worship. I only have 30 more days of doing that because she is getting heavy. But I love it! So today, I told Ava, „Today is our crazy faith offering, and we’re believing God for crazy fruit.“ She was like, „Okay.“ Ava has been carrying around a box of money she got from her birthday, and she is very quick to tell anybody how much money she has in cash and how much money she has in Target gift cards.
Today I said, „Hey, baby, you know we give as a family every year. I want you to pray. This is the first year you’ve had money when it’s time to give to God.“ Her eyes got big, and I said, „Ava, I want you to pray and ask the Holy Spirit what you’re supposed to give in the offering,“ okay? And she was like, „Okay.“ So she came to the church. I was getting dressed; she came into the bathroom and said, „Hey, Dad.“ I said, „Hey, baby.“ I said, „Did you pray about what God told you?“ She was like, „$20.“ I said, „Oh, you prayed about it?“ She said, „No, that’s just kind of what I…“ She was—my daughter’s going to tell me the truth. She said, „That’s what I…“ you know. She just kept going like that. I said, „Okay, if that’s what the Holy Spirit told you to give, I just want you to be obedient.“ She said, „$50.“ I said, „What? $50, Dad? $50?“ And she said it with an attitude. I said, „I didn’t do it.“
I’m being all gentle and quiet and soft, and she just yelled at me, „$50!“ I said, „Baby, this is what I said to her: Daddy just wants you to listen to the Holy Spirit and obey. And if He doesn’t tell you to give anything, don’t give anything.“ And she got surprised when I said that because what I’m trying to teach my daughter is that it is a pleasure to be able to hear from the God who created the sun. The fact that He would still talk to His child—I’m privileged that you would ask me for anything, Jesus, when the very breath that I breathe in is the breath you gave me.
Said baby, just obey God. I’m going to tell you like I told my natural daughter: from now until the end of the year, if God asks you to give something over and beyond your tithe to participate in this season where we believe that God is doing a work—not just on the church and the people, but in our hearts—in a season where everybody’s thinking about what they are going to get, we’ve decided to change the priority of what we’re going to give. If that means we have to sacrifice something to obey God, it’s worth it. Maybe the key to all of this is self-control. Maybe the Spirit wants to lead us in a way that has nothing to do with an amount, but He’s like, will they even listen to me? Last story: the reason I share these things is because I’m really walking this out with you.
This is not Pastor Mike, paid in a shade, with a $5 million contract to pass the transformation. I do not have an NBA contract; this is me believing God every day to do what He’s called us to do. There was one time when we first got in this building that the Holy Spirit challenged us to give the largest amount we had ever given, and I remember coming off this stage and coming right over here to give that amount. I looked at Natalie, tears in my eyes—not because I was hurting, but because I was scared. I’m not even playing: „Lord, either you’re going to come through, or we are going to be living at this church.“ Sometimes you just have to be honest with God. Scott came and got me. I don’t remember if you remember this, but Scott came and got me and said, „There’s this guy that came from Maryland who needs to put something in your hand.“ I said, „Oh man, God bless him.“
You know, people sometimes say, „God told me to do this,“ and he’s like, „I didn’t know if I was going to get to see you.“ Everything was literally 60 seconds from the time I put the money in the bucket to the time I met this guy. He said, „I don’t need anything; I don’t want a picture, I don’t want anything. God just told me to fly up here and be obedient.“ I go to the back; it was to the penny the exact amount. Mo, am I telling the truth? He deposited the check for the exact amount that I gave 60 seconds earlier. Okay, I don’t want you to clap because I got the amount; it could have been $3. You don’t know what I gave; you’re assuming it was large, but it was large for us. It wasn’t the amount; it was because I was obedient.
I realized that God had already spoken. He had already spoken to my answer while I was still in trepidation about obeying Him—so much so that the man had to buy a plane ticket, get off work, go to a bank in a different state, and draw out the exact amount. He had spoken to the solution while I still was deliberating about my problem. I dared to think: what would have happened if I would have, at the last moment, said, „No, we can’t do this?“ It wasn’t that the man wouldn’t have given me the money; he probably still would have. I would have missed an opportunity to understand God’s faithfulness. What I know now, nobody can take from me. The way I give today, the way I obey God today is from experience.
So today, if nobody’s ever given you the opportunity to believe God on this level, today’s the day. $600,000, $6—obedience is more valuable than the currency’s value. Would everybody stand all over this building today? I want to pray for you. I’m going to ask the worship team to come up. Hey, listen, we’re going to leave in just a moment. I don’t want anybody moving right now. Please do not distract anybody unless it’s an emergency; we understand emergencies. But I just want you to take this moment—I know we’re a little over time; next week we’ll be right on time—but I just wanted to let you know that this is a special thing, and I felt it was worth communicating in this way. Today, I’m believing for every family, for every person, for every inmate, for every addicted person, for every person that just gave their life back to Christ, for every person trying to figure out this journey. I just want to let you know that our God is in the business of blessing you beyond what you think is possible, and today I just want to pray one simple prayer.
Everybody listen to me: I want to pray one simple prayer for you, that in the area of self-control, when God asks you to do something, you would be one word: obedient. Some of you, He’s going to ask you to stop going to that place, and you’re going to have to refigure your life because your life is centered around that place and you know it’s going to lead you into sinful things. Sinful things are not an everyday thing; it’s a drift. If you take the anchor off of a boat, you can come back in 45 minutes, and I promise you it won’t be in the same location—not because a huge wind came in, but just a current that allows you to drift to the wrong place. Today we’re dropping an anchor on our firm foundation, and if God tells you to do anything, I need to be specific right now.
I’m not talking about the offering yet—if He asks you to do anything—if He asks you to give up fast food, if He asks you to go on a fast, if He asks you to start the Bible study, if He asks you to submit—if He asks you to do anything, you need to make a decision to obey. And when it comes to this crazy fruit offering, if He asks you to do anything, I just want you to do one word: what is it? Obey. When you obey God, the consequences of obedience with God—see, everybody thinks consequences is a bad word. Consequences are not a bad word; when you do the right thing, the consequences of obeying God are so amazing. I’m a living testimony, y’all. He doesn’t do all the things you want Him to do; He never will.
That would make a us and not God, but He does stuff that I don’t even think I would pray for. Today, I’m believing that as we write down on these cards—watch this: not just things. Put your things on there; I’m fine with that. But today I’m asking you: would you add to your crazy Faith card online and in the room the areas where you need self-control? See if by this time next year—by this time next year—God hasn’t given you more peace where there was grief. God has not actually let your words line up with the Word instead of your words lining up with your experience. Let’s use this moment to mature. Can I pray for you? Would you lift your hands all over this place?
Father, for every person under the sound of my voice, in this room or online, watching on rebroadcast or from a penitentiary right now, I’m asking that Your Holy Spirit would invade that place—not just the room they’re in, but their heart, mind, and spirit. Today, God, I’m asking that You would be so evident with them—not just in a church service—but You would be evident in every area of their life. Today, after hearing this message, we are deciding to let You lead us—lead us in our marriages, lead us in our finances, lead us on our jobs, lead us in our relationships, lead us, Father, on what we watch and what we listen to and what we wear. Lead us, Holy Spirit, because when You lead us, You lead us from things to things. You are a God that leads us from sin into freedom. You are a God that leads us from pain into promise. You are a God that can bring us from isolation into family. You are the God that can bring us from a dry place to a place with an abundance of rain. Today, lead us, Holy Spirit. I’m asking for every person that needs self-control—that what they really need is a Spirit-empowered life of faith. Let them take a journey in their faith, Father, that they will never recover from—like this crazy faith journey You’ve taken me on. God, I thank You for strengthening me to believe You today, even as my family and I are going to give. God, the only reason I have faith that You can heal any other area in my life is because I’ve seen You do it before. Yeah, You are a God that has moved before, and today, God, I thank You that I do not have to wonder if You’re still moving; I’ve got proof all around me. I’ve seen You move mountains, and today I believe You can do it again. So for anybody that is leaning into fear right now: You have not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and self-control. Make our minds sound today. We trust You. We believe You, and we thank You that You are our firm foundation. Transform us. And Father, for anybody that wants to receive You as Lord and Savior, I feel like I need to do it in this moment.
If there’s anybody in here that has been controlled by their sin nature, you didn’t even have the option to choose freedom; you’ve just been controlled by sin—today God is coming to set you free. No longer does that addiction, that abuse, or that mishap have to define your life. Today, Jesus enters in because of a sacrifice that was made, and if you just receive it, your whole life can be transformed. I need the church to be praying right now—the war that has been going on for your life. The enemy thought he had you, but today Christ is intervening. Hallelujah! Today, you will no longer be controlled by the sin nature; today you’re making a decision to be controlled by the flesh. Today, if you want to make a decision for Jesus, I just want everybody to pray this prayer with me. I want you to say:
God, thank You for sending Jesus to interrupt the plan that was set out for my life. Today I need You as my Lord and Savior. I believe You lived, I believe You died, and You rose again with all power. Today, I give You control. Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m Yours. In Jesus' name, Amen.