Michael Todd - I Need Peace (The Worst Gift Exchange Ever)
Well, look at your neighbor and say, «Merry Christmas!» Come on, no, you didn’t do it like I did. You gotta have energy and hold out the Christmas cheer! Merry Christmas! You gotta get into it! Come on, Merry Christmas to all the people who are in this room and all those who are online. I wish everybody could be here. The presence of God is in this room, but the beautiful thing is the presence of God is everywhere you’re at right now. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Today, if you’re joining us at Transformation Church for the first time, if you’re joining us for your annual Christmas service, or if you’re consistently with us in what we’re doing, I just want to say welcome. We have prayed for this service and for you. We’ve been asking God to push back the forces of darkness that would try to keep you stuck in situations that make you feel unworthy to be in the house of God, because the devil is a liar.
There’s nobody in here who is perfect enough to come before God. All of us have mess. Today, I just wanted to let you know that you’re welcome here. For those who have been searching for something different, and there’s a hole in your soul that feels empty, and you think, «Maybe let’s try Jesus today,» I’m excited for you because I believe that by the end of this service, you will have the opportunity to transform your life. The last person I’ve really been praying for today is the person who has become numb. I’ve been praying that the ability to not be sensitive anymore to what God is trying to do in your life would return. I’m praying for feeling to come back to your soul—that something in you will come alive again.
I just believe today is the perfect day for you to receive the gift that God gave to you. I’ve prepared a short message to end our series that we’ve been in, but more than that, I hope it’s not just a message. I hope it’s an encounter, a collision, a revelation moment for you to realize how madly in love God is with you and how much purpose you still have on this earth. Today, I’ve got to follow what the Holy Spirit is telling me. I have a bunch of notes, but these notes really were just to keep me focused. I’m about to flow out of my spirit in the message that God has given me. Now, for some of y’all, it may seem like he’s going rogue, but no, the message is so in me that I don’t want anybody to think that what I’m about to share is for you specifically. The only person I’m trying to impress today is my mama because she likes me wearing a suit, and I thought, «Christmas; it’s her birthday coming up!» Happy birthday, baby!
You know, this will be all five minutes after service. But the truth of the matter is, I don’t want you to think I’m trying to impress you; this is what I’m trying to do—I’m trying to compel you. I want you to know that I believe it so much that you’ll think, «Man, I should at least try it out.» You know, someone who believes in an establishment so much that they promote it all the time, like they work for them? And you can even tell them, «I don’t even want that; I don’t even like that,» but because of their passion, you say, «I’ll at least try it.»
Today, my heart is to convince you not with intellect, but today I just want to convince you through the word of God and what it’s done in my life. Who I am today is not who I was, and there are not enough people telling you that what you see isn’t even a glimmer of who I was when I was disconnected from Jesus. I don’t want anything from you today. I don’t need anything from you today. All I want to do is compel you that there’s a better way to live than everything culture is offering you. It’s not a perfect path, but it’s a path charted by the perfect one. Amen? Today, I have to finish a series that we’ve been in for 12 weeks. If this is your first time coming, you’ve got homework. We’ve been in a series about the fruit of the Spirit for 12 weeks. Why is that important? Because your scriptures mean nothing in the synagogue. Your scriptures mean nothing at this church. Your scriptures are only authenticated in the streets. Most people that claim to be Christians, you wouldn’t know it by how they act in the streets.
Okay, wow, you’re in here today, and this is fine. But for everybody, we’re a hot church: humble, open, and transparent. How many people have a few more Christmas gifts to get right now? Come on, hands lifted! Uh-huh, half of y’all are lying. If you get out in them Christmas streets—oh, those Christmas streets are ghetto out there, y’all! I went last night to pick up something unrelated, and I thought, «I’ve got to get out of here!» These Christmas streets are rough! Your faith does not work because you have a bumper sticker that says, «Honk if you love Jesus.» Your faith only actually works when somebody’s mad and frustrated, cuts in front of you, and flips you off.
Now, who are you? Does what God has put in you all year come out? Have you been planting anything? Have you been connected to the True Vine? If I’m honest with myself, there have been many times in life that I’ve done the religious thing, but it didn’t show up in any fruit. Today, I want to give you a gift that Jesus has provided for all of us, but I want to give it to you with understanding. I believe if I give it to you with understanding, it may allow some people in this room to unwrap a gift that’s been there the whole time. See, when you get Jesus in your life, you get a bunch of gifts, but a lot of people have left them under the tree, have left them unopened.
Today, I need to talk to you about a fruit that I believe all of us could use a little more of. Let’s look at Galatians 5:22. This is our anchor scripture for the entire thing, and I promise you want to stick around because at the end, we’re going to have a very sacred moment. We’re going to light candles and pray that this be the year that God does something in our worlds that lights up the entire world around us. I believe God showed me a prophetic picture that I want us to all participate in. If you’re at home and you have a candle or a lighter, that’s what you’re going to use. Okay, if not, cell phone! Here we go. Galatians 5:22: «But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives.» Can you help me say this: «Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.»
Now, when I look at what God provides, we’ve talked about everyone except one. We have not talked about—did you say it over there? Which one have we not talked about? Peace. I felt like the Holy Spirit made me hold this one topic because in the order it is love, joy, peace. The third week should have been peace, but I felt like when I looked at the calendar, the Holy Spirit said, «Save peace until the last Sunday before Christmas.» I asked, «Lord, why do you want me to save peace until then?» He said, «Because they’re going to need it.» It is actually the gift they keep leaving on the table because they’re thinking about providing for people, not standing, walking, living, or resting in peace.
How many people in this room, under the sound of my voice, let’s be honest right now, could use some more peace? That’s the first time they made noise! All surface peace! Yeah, what would you do to get it? What are you doing right now to get it? What do you go to have it? What do we give up for it? I can’t answer these questions for you. What do you watch to try to get an illusion of it? Everybody say, «Peace!» Who do you lay down with? Oh, y’all going to be fake with me today on Christmas? No, no, no, for real! How much do you put on? How much will you pay? Everybody say, «Peace!»
What if I told you that peace was something that God knew we would need, so it came included with our relationship with Him? What if I told you that you do not have to sell anything to get peace? You don’t have to drink anything to get peace. You don’t have to smoke anything to have peace. You don’t have to go anywhere. Do you need a vacation? Yeah, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with a vacation! How many people can use a vacation right now? I felt the spirit! You don’t need another job. Yeah, yeah, okay, come on! You don’t need another spouse, or do you want to trade them in? This is the 2018 model; I need the 2025 model! You don’t need anything else. What you really need to change the quality of your life right now is peace.
Somebody say, «I need peace!» And the crazy thing about it is if I asked you what you wanted for Christmas, you would say a thing. «What do you want for Christmas?» «Man, I’d love those new Jays!» «What do you want for Christmas?» «I’ve been working on my golf swing. I would love a new set of clubs.» «What do you want for Christmas?» «I saw these shoes; I saw this; I saw that.» But if God asked you what you wanted for Christmas, most of us would automatically go to debt cancellation. Oh my God! But I know people who cancel other people’s debts and don’t have peace. I just want to be honest with you, and some of y’all are like, «Well, let me borrow something and find out.»
Okay, since you want to do experiments and things! All I’m saying is maybe what we’re putting our hope in is actually not able to provide what we’re expecting. A new job doesn’t give you peace. Getting your kids out of the house doesn’t give you peace. It’ll give you more time! I mean, yeah, you don’t have them, but the same parents are like, «Get out of here!» Then it’s like, «I’m so lonely! Why don’t you call every week? I thought you didn’t want me here! But now you want to talk to me?» It’s because many times what’s removed from our life exposes what we lack. When we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to fill in the gaps of our life, we go searching for other things to fill those places. Somebody just say «peace» for me real quick. Peace!
I don’t want you to forget what we’re talking about today because when I started to look at peace, I recognized that the Christmas season is the antithesis, the opposite, of peace for most people. Can we talk about how stressful the Christmas season usually is? Can we talk about even if it’s not stressful for you, the people around you are stressful? Come on! Have you all felt the tension at your workplace? And then people start calling and asking you what you’re bringing, and it’s like, «I don’t even know if I’m coming! Why are you telling me what I’m bringing?» And don’t add kids to it, and don’t add bills to it! We’re not even talking about family drama, generational pains, and habits that show up around the holidays. We’re not talking about grief! And God, in His divine wisdom, said, «I want to provide my people with something they need all the time.»
What is it? Peace! I’m setting you up! I said, «What is it?» Peace! I’m just asking you right now: would you trade the chaos? I can’t magically do it, but I know somebody who could change your situation. If there was a possibility that all the stress and the strain and the feelings of tension right now could be traded for peace, would you do it? You know, it reminds me of a story that just happened over Thanksgiving. One of the most stressful parts of this Christmas for me—and I share, if you come here, you know I tell everybody’s business; I tell everybody around me. If you’re around me, part of your life is my life, and if I get on this platform and have nothing to use, guess who’s getting used? You!
So people I want to be around next to Pastor Mike! Okay, so what ends up happening is at Thanksgiving, my family started talking about Secret Santa. I don’t know if y’all know what Secret Santa is, but Secret Santa is a game that usually adults play to avoid buying gifts for everybody. They have one person draw a name out of the hat or do something similar, and then you get something for somebody, and they get you something in return. Well, we had a dispute in the Todd household about whether we wanted to do Secret Santa anymore because some people have feelings about who they keep getting paired with.
Now, I have five brothers, and I’m mentioning no names because Christmas is a few days away! We sat at the table for hours, and what it boiled down to is people felt a certain way. When they are good gift givers and get paired with someone who isn’t, the person who isn’t usually makes the most noise, talking about how they did their best and all that. It got to the point where we had two family members quit; they said, «I’m not doing it this year. We’re done!» The rest of us were like, «Forget you, we’re going anyway!» It was just a whole situation. I began to think about what would make someone not want to give a gift at all, because, after a couple of years, your gift was bad. At some point, it’s all going to even out; you’re going to quit. But it made me think about this concept of God giving us a gift, and it was the worst gift exchange ever.
I mean, I’ve had some good exchanges, where I went over the limit and blessed someone, and they felt good about it. I wanted to show my family how a good gift exchange goes today. Who wears a size 12 or 13 shoe? Hold up. Okay, not 12 or 13. I’m going to go with 10 or 10 and a half, because y’all know who wears that size. You wear a 10 and a half, bro? All right, come here. Give me my gift real fast. Here we go. Come on up here. He’s a twin; I only got one gift. I appreciate that he can share if he wants to. What’s your name, bro? Elisha? You’ve got a good smile, Elijah. You’re strong, too, boy. Would you be willing to give me your shoes right now for what’s in this box? Yes? Come on, brother. Wait, you got five seconds. Okay, come on, take them off. Thank you! Mo, put those in my car. Okay, open it. Brand new pair—show the people! Baby socks? No, hold them up proud! Yes!
Some of you would think that’s whack; the man just gave you his shoes. But this is not the worst exchange ever, I promise you. When God sent Jesus, this is cold-blooded, and I feel really bad about what I just did, because I’m not giving back your shoes! Oh my God! You’re walking home today in those pink socks! If you see him in the lobby or walking around the mall today in those, you’ll be like, «Pastor Mike, that’s whack! That was a bad gift exchange.» But when Jesus was sent to Earth by God as a gift, the Bible says in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He gave His only son. Did you bring some other shoes today? Oh, those are your only shoes? I just want you to see how bad it would be if I let him stay like this. Yet God sent His only son for you and me while we were yet sinners, as Romans says. It was all for a maybe. That’s pretty trash to me when it comes to a gift exchange.
How do you feel, brother? Give me a shoe. Your brother will give you his shoes. They’re just being twins right now; he doesn’t believe I’d never do that to him. I already planned to give you these before; go ahead and open those and see if they work better for you. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! There you go! I love you, bro, I appreciate you. Now, watch! Everybody clapped when they felt like the gift was worth the exchange. He even left! All I’m trying to say is that the only reason people were excited is that at some point, you felt it was worth it. At some point, it was like, «Okay, that exchange makes sense.» Okay, he wore those Nikes. It made sense! The exchange that God made for all of us will never make sense until you receive it.
So, I’m just trying to get you to see that if you need peace, God has made a way through the worst gift exchange ever to give you peace. He sent His son as a baby so He could grow up to be a king, living 33 years to die on a cross for every one of my missteps, mistakes, and mismanaged moments. All He required me to do is what that young man did just there: receive it. It does not matter how much a gift costs unless you open it. Today, I wonder if we could be the ones who open the gift of peace. Okay, go to John 10:10. If God gave the gift in John 3:16, He tells us why He gives gifts in John 10:10, because the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus says, «I’ve come that you might have life.» Everybody shout at me: life! And life to the full!
What is my life supposed to be full of? Watch this word: fruit. Your life is supposed to be full of fruit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Why is this important? Write this point down: the fruit of the Spirit is first developed in you for it to flow through you for others. One more time: the fruit of the Spirit is supposed to be first developed in you. Do it in me, God! Let there be peace in me! Let there be joy in me! Let me actually have self-control! Before your self-control comes out of you, it’s got to be in you. It’s in you, but guess what? It’s for you too! Everything that God gives you and wants your life to be full of, which is fruit, He wants it in you because He knows it’s the best for you. When you live a life of goodness, it’s not just good in you; it’s good for others as well. It creates an atmosphere where everybody loves being around you.
When you live a life of peace, that’s not just good in you; it’s good for others. The Bible says, «Blessed are the peacemakers,» which means you have to do something for peace to actually be activated. I’ve got to make it. How many people are making dinners for Christmas? A bunch of us! You can’t just look at the refrigerator and have a good meal; somebody’s got to do something to make peace. God says, «Any one of my children that have fruit in them, and it’s coming out of them, those are the people that I’ll bless.» Because blessed are the peacemakers. That means you might have to apologize even though it was their offense. I ain’t got enough of that, and I’m probably not even going to talk to them this Christmas.
God says, «Don’t just talk to him; apologize.» «God, I want blessings, but I don’t know if I want them that bad!» Because the truth of the matter is, the only way you could say, «I apologize that this distance between us has caused friction and I don’t know what it’s done to you, but it’s made me feel this way, and I don’t want to live like this anymore,» is if the Holy Spirit has been working in you. I might not be able to say that without the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit working in you creates a better life for you, and then God wants it to work through you. Somebody watching you and walking in the fruits of the Spirit gives them the audacity to try. When I walk in love, when people talk crazy about me, that encourages people to think, «Oh, I can go talk to Jimmy at work.»
Walking through that gives me faith to actually go and do something different. It’s for others to see what God’s doing in your life. The sad part is, there are so many believers who are not walking in the fruit enough for anybody else to eat off of it. The fruit of the Spirit should be in you, and it’s for you to take a bite first, but then it is supposed to come from you to others. I should be walking around daily asking, «Who needs love? Who needs joy? Who needs peace?» But most of us are trying to hoard what we feel like we won’t have enough of. This is why we stay connected to God, because He wants to be the source of everything in our lives. Today, I just want to focus on peace for one more second, because the fruit that you need is right here available. Remember, it has to be in you, and you have to know it’s for you, and then God wants to use it through you to give it to others.
So, this holiday season, what if this was the last selfish Christmas you had? I’m not talking about things; what if this was the last Christmas that you did not give what God has given you all year to everyone you come into contact with? This hit home for me because I had some situations this year that were just wrong—unfair, not okay, fighting territory. You’d better be glad I’m saved! The Holy Spirit said, «What are you going to give them this year?» I started stuttering. I sound like a child: «Give them?» I’ve got a lot of things I can give them. The Holy Spirit said, «Where’s all that fruit you were just talking about?» Because right now, when the situation’s not in front of my face, I’m like, «Give them peace! Give them love!»
There’s a situation right now that would be hard for some of us to show goodness. It would be difficult for some of us to turn joy into that situation. But today I’m going to challenge you to no longer look at peace as an ethereal thing. Write this point down: peace is a person. So, anytime you say, «I need more peace,» somebody shout, «I need peace!» Say it like you mean it: «I need peace!» What you’re really saying is, «I need Jesus!» Did y’all see that simple flip? Peace is a person. «I’m sick of this job; I need peace.» No! «I’m sick of this job; I need Jesus!» «I can’t stand how I feel right now; I need peace.» What you’re really saying is, «I need another level of relationship with Jesus.»
Pastor Mike, how do you know? Because Isaiah prophesied, and we say this at Christmas time all the time, but I don’t think we understand the context of what he was saying: Isaiah 9:6, «For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.» Peace is a person. I need three types of people to understand this. If you feel like you’ve lost your peace, know that you don’t lose your peace but you can disconnect from it. I need to talk to the second group of people: «Pastor Mike, why are you being so serious right now?» Hear me out! What changed my life is me stopping the pursuit of money, success, things, and escape to find what is in a person. I know your religion is trying to cloud it right now, but listen to me: Jesus cares about the things that are distracting your life from a life of peace. Today He says, «Don’t worry about that for a second; look at me! Come to me! Give me your life! Actually commit to me.»
There are some people who aren’t just saying, «I lost my peace.» There’s another group saying, «My peace was stolen. That violation stole my peace. That decision stole my peace.» I want you to hear me say, «Nothing can steal your peace, but you can give it away.» There’s one more group asking, «Is peace still available?» I want to encourage you: peace is one decision away. Because peace is a person, you could flip all of that and say, «I lost Jesus.» You don’t lose Jesus; you disconnect from Him. Some of us have lived a whole year separated—close to the power, but nothing going through. Have you ever tried to make something turn on and been like, «I’m sick of this thing! I’m sending it back! I paid all this money!» Only to discover that someone might have accidentally unplugged it? Today I want to plug you back into peace. Pastor Mike, how are we going to do this? Very simple, very simple!
Today, I need you to understand this one thing: having peace is not a subtraction problem; it’s an addition problem. Hear what I’m saying: most people think peace comes when you take something away. «If I get rid of this debt, I’ll have peace. If I get these kids away, I’ll have peace.» No, come on, y’all! «If I get out of this city…» I’ll have peace if I cut these friends off. Come on, like we always think our peace is dependent on what we need to take away. If I could take away these thoughts, I would have peace. I’m trying to give you the cheat code to actually walk in what was given to us by God through Jesus. You can have peace, but it’s not coming because things are gone; peace is only coming because you add Him in. Hear what I just said to you—let me give it to you in a point, because some of y’all are trying to figure it out.
Peace is not the absence of problems; it’s the addition of His presence. You want peace in your life? Add God to every situation that feels overwhelming. You want peace in your life? In the middle of an argument, start praying. I promise you that diffuses an argument. Now, you want to bring Him into this? Like, what I’m saying is, it’s hard to do. It’s hard to do because your flesh wants you to keep raging against what God wants for you. But if you want peace, add Him. Don’t subtract; add Him. Because the truth of the matter is, God tells us in this life we will have trouble. If you’re looking for a utopia where nothing gets on your nerves, where the way they chew gum is satisfying to you—because y’all know there are things that can disturb our peace that aren’t even practical—yeah, why do they wear the shirt like that? Y’all okay?
If I had more time… that hairstyle disturbs your peace? Why are trivial things taking your mind and your heart off of the things that God told you to do? You know why? Because the truth of the matter is, we’re out here trying to subtract things that would make our life good, make our life easy, make our life feel better, and God says, I never promised you that. Can I help you understand? Life is never good without Jesus. I’m sorry, because the church is trying to make you feel good. Are you going to have peace? No, no, no, no, no, no. As long as you breathe this air on this planet, you can wake up with everything you think you wanted, and there’ll still be a problem. I didn’t know when I didn’t have money that you’ve got to pay people to help you manage your money.
See, they don’t want to talk real. So when I didn’t have money, I was like, «Man, when I have money, no more McDoubles"—that’s when they were 99 cents—"I’m not going to be—» and then you walk into a situation where it’s like, «I’ve got to have another meeting. I’ve got to talk to them. I’ve got to trust somebody new. They want my bank information.» Problems are a part of this side of heaven. But why would God say we could still have peace if He told us in another scripture that there would be problems? Yeah, because His plan was to be with you in the middle of everything that you would call a problem. He said, «You’re trying to get rid of that, but you won’t add me in.»
What if this Christmas holiday is not about getting rid of the bad situation, the frustrating argument? We’ll deal with that. Why don’t our main focus be adding God in? Hear what I’m saying: if you’ve got a situation that won’t move, bring God into it. Peace automatically comes to the situation—not sometimes because the situation changes, but because your perspective does. Somebody shout at me, «Peace!» Peace! I said shout at me, «Peace!» Peace! I begin to think because I know there were some people that when I came to this part of the sermon would be like, «Okay pastor, you’re talking about peace and you’re up there in white trying to tell us we need to have peace in situations, but you don’t know my situation.»
Well, I began to break down what makes me feel like I have peace, and it’s three things. Y’all help me if this resonates with you. I usually have peace when I know the plan. How many people? The plan gives you peace! I know where we’re going, I know when we’re going to get there, I know who’s going to be there. Come on, because that might disturb my peace just knowing they’re going to be there. The plan helps my peace. Yeah, watch this—power helps my peace. I can decide to change if I want to. I mean, I know what you said, but I’m in control. I know what the church said, but they don’t run anything over here! Come on, let’s be honest! Yeah, yeah, yeah—the plan, power, and then this third one—it’s real to me. I don’t know if it’s real to you, but I feel more peace when I have provision.
I remember going to Cheddars and only having $30 in my bank account, and I’m trying to feel extra generous, and I tell them to order a couple of appetizers. I’m like, «Why did I do that?» Because I know I still want to eat the meal. And then they order the shrimp, trying to be nice, and the server comes out, and you know they ask, «What do you want to eat?» «Oh, I’m good with the spinach dip. I’m good with the spinach dip,» because you’re calculating. You’re making sure, «Is it free refills? It’s free refills, right? Free refills?» «No, I’ll have water. I’ll have water.» I’m just trying to paint a picture: when you have provision, you won’t even care, and for some reason, some little piece of you feels like things chill out.
«Order two? No, no, get that two, get it too!» Because somehow the plan, the power, and the provision make you feel peaceful. Could I submit to you that God’s place in all of our lives should be the one with the plan, the one who provides the provision, and the one who has ultimate power? So could it be that when we feel peace, it’s because we’re standing in God’s spot and not ours? I just— I just need—I’m walking you slowly. I know we’ve got a lot of visitors here. I’m just trying to help you understand; maybe the peace that you are looking for is because you’re in the wrong spot in your life. Pastor, what am I supposed to do with that? I’m the man of the house; I’ve got to provide. Remember what I said: when it’s time to provide, don’t subtract God out of it. Add Him in!
Proverbs says it like this: «Acknowledge God in all of your ways, and He, when you add Him in, will direct your path.» «God, I think I’m going to start a dog food business.» That’s dumb; don’t do that! I’m not saying that if that’s your dream—but I’m just giving an example. If some of us started a dog food business, if you would have added Him in, He would say, «You—that’s dumb; don’t do that.» The Holy Spirit will talk to you like that: «That’s dumb; the entrepreneurial spirit is right, but the field is wrong.» Some of us have spent seven years in pup-pow-pow doing all this—no, I’m just trying to get you to roll with me—wrong career, frustrated, and you found out three years in you’re allergic to dogs! And now you’re talking about, «God, I thought you were going to provide for me!» He said you subtracted; you didn’t add me in! Wow, you asked me to bless something that was already outside of what I wanted to do in your life from the beginning.
Don’t subtract that; add me! If you want peace, put my presence in it. Okay, here we go. I’ve got to end because I see some of y’all looking at me. Here we go—this is the gift exchange. John 14:27, «I leave"—this is Jesus talking—"the gift of peace with you.» I want you to see how direct this is. Jesus says, «I’m going to give all my people a gift, and if I could give them anything, I’m going to leave you with the gift of peace.» Matter of fact, just so you don’t think it’s some off-brand peace, some generic peace, some Great Value peace, I’m going to give you my peace—the same peace that I had in the garden when I knew I was getting sold out by one of my friends, and I was sweating blood, and I knew I was going to have to go to the cross. The same peace I had when they called me and told me that my boy was about to die, and his sisters came and said, «Lazarus, the one that you love, your friend, is about to die.»
The same peace that allowed me to stay there three extra days and let them know that even though you’re looking at a dead situation, I’m looking at a resurrection! The same peace! The same—somebody say the same peace—the same peace that kept Him on the cross, but the same peace that allowed His birth mother and His father—would you call him a stepfather? I’ve always wondered, is Joseph a stepfather or a spiritual father? Wow! We’ll talk about it later. But think about it. Think about how stressful Jesus was born into a situation that is chaotic. But the only reason Joseph and Mary, who was pregnant by the Holy Spirit—think about the chaos of the moment. Think about her walking around being like, «Oh my God— is it Joseph?» I mean think about the cultural time.
Think about Joseph. Watch this, watch this! Most of us, if this happened today, like, «Y’all, man, I was with Mary; she stepped out on me, bro, talking about some fool named HG, the Holy Ghost!» Yeah, bro, I don’t know. No, I know it’s Hernandez. I know I seen them. But having enough sense that God was somewhere in—watch this—this chaos! This problem was not meant for me to walk away. This problem had peace in the middle of it! «I leave the gift of peace to you, my peace.» And just in case you were unsure what kind of peace I’m giving you: it’s not the kind of fragile peace that the world gives. He’s making a direct comparison to everything we search for outside of Him. It’s fragile, it’s weak, it’s not able to hold you in the middle of a storm. He said, «I’m going to give you the kind of peace that can be sturdy.» It’s going to be—watch this—write this word down: perfect peace.
«Do not yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts; instead, be courageous.» Today, I just want to present to everybody under the sound of my voice Christmas perfect peace! It’s not something that will be fragile when storms of life come; it’s something that will be powerful in every season of your life! And this is what I just want to ask you: is what you’re calling peace just you not dealing with the situation? Hear me say this to you. Pastor Mike, make us happy today! I’m trying to give you something you can live with today. I want to offer you deliverance, not disassociation. I’ve been therapized; I’ve been doing a lot of therapy, praying, worshiping—therapy, praying, worshiping—I’ve been doing it a whole bunch. And one of the terms that I learned was disassociation. I don’t know if you know what that is, but a lot of people think they have peace because they disassociate from their real life.
So you were abused as a child, and you act like you weren’t abused. You don’t talk to anybody about abuse. Anytime you see abuse—can’t watch that! Going around a situation doesn’t heal you from it. Many of you, your defense mechanism to survive as a child was to disassociate. But now, you’re an adult, and God has given you tools and weapons to walk in peace, and many of us are still detaching! And now we’re seeing it in our kids! The thing that you should be able to communicate to them about that drive for success—you had that too—but you can’t tell them what it cost because you won’t even deal with it yourself. I’m talking about real stuff right now. There are proclivities and perversions and lusts and addictions that you won’t even approach because you feel like if I touch that, my life will be thrown into chaos. And He said, «I’m with you! I’m the Prince of Peace! Take me into the storm!»
You know what I do to storms? I sleep through them! Oh God! If you read the word, the disciples are in a storm that, watch this, Jesus sent them into, right? And He was catching a drool nap! «Yeah, Jesus, we’re about to die!» «Y’all ruin—y’all ruin that now!» For this problem, for this storm, for this care—"Peace, be still!» And the storm that was threatening their lives! This tells me that the storm that is threatening your life, that you feel like you’ll never get out of, that you feel like you’re going to drown in—j-jesus! The only thing that changed in their situation—and the disciples don’t get enough credit for this because Jesus was a little disturbed (but everybody is when they wake up from a good nap)—but do you see what they did? Instead of leaving Him out of the situation, they added Him in! Their situation changed when they added Jesus in! That’s great!
Today, at Christmas, I’m asking everybody under the sound of my voice: don’t do 2025 with Him on the sideline. All the religious people that think your education is going to get you to a place that will substitute a relationship with Him—He’s saying, «Add me in, and I will be the Prince of Peace!» Pastor Mike, how do I get peace? Philippians 4:4: «Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone: the Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer, supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Why are we going into 21 days of prayer and fasting? When we reach the beginning of the year, we are about to do this right here. And the peace, verse seven, woo, when you do all of this, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.
Would you stand all over this place? And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind. I found that peace is authenticated in the midst of problems. I have a lighter right here, and this lighter represents what Jesus did by becoming the light of the world. He came to my life and said, „Michael, if you’ll accept me, I’ll set your life to be a light to others.“ Now, if the lights were to go down just a little bit, what would happen? Bring them down even more. In darkness, the thing that would be most evident is the light. Bring it down just a little more. As a matter of fact, nobody move because you could get hurt. Go dark for me.
Now, the only reason that you can see is because of the little light that’s left. What if this is all we had to live by? What if this is all that Jesus gave to each of us? He gave us a reflection of Himself, His peace. The world will try to blow you out, and God said, „But I’m with you; I’ll light you back up.“ Oh, no, I think something’s happening around the room. I think what’s happening around the room is that the light I have, the peace that God gave, is the peace that I can share with Bishop and the peace that I can share with Pastor Debbie. It’s the peace that I can share with my father and my mother, and it’s the peace that I can share with Charles and the peace that I can share with Abby.
I want you to start sharing the peace that’s around you, and if anybody’s peace goes out, if anybody’s peace has been squandered, I want you to be the one to let your light so shine that it can be transferred to somebody else. I want you to see that what was once very dark is now beginning to illuminate this entire room. I want you to see that God’s plan for all of us is not to live a life that won’t light up every room we walk in. You’re that light. This is why Jesus came. This is why we celebrate Christmas. It’s the worst gift exchange ever, but it is the thing that allows our heavenly Father to see a reflection of Himself on this earth: peace on earth. What are you trying to show us, Pastor Mike? I’m trying to paint a picture that you’ll never forget. If we let our light go out because we disconnect from Him, others live in darkness.
So many people would get hurt in this room trying to get out of here if we blew out our lights. How many family members and loved ones would be affected if we didn’t shine today? I want you to know that this is what’s available for us: the peace God gives, the love God gives, the joy God gives. God, I’m praying for every person under the sound of my voice. I thank You, Father God, that the light You have given us would actually shine. Father, it was by a light that Wise Men followed the star to find out where You were, and the reason the Wise Men came was not just to say they found the Messiah; they came to worship You with their lives. Today, Father, as we look at this light, we don’t have to follow a star—we have the Light of the World available to us right now. And, Father, for all of us who have been disassociating, trying to keep You out of things, today we are adding You, the Prince of Peace, into this situation.
Today, we’re asking that You would be the God who changes every situation, the God who moves every mountain, the God who allows us to shine even in a world that is dark. Today, we call on the Prince of Peace. Today, God, we’re asking that this will be the last time we have to have the plan, the power, and the provision. Today, it’s Your light that will be the lamp unto our feet, Your words that will be the light unto our path. Today, we decide that we need more peace, but peace is a person, which means we need more of You, Jesus. Have Your way. In Jesus' name, amen. If you would, would you blow your light out on the outside but not on the inside? Now, before you move, I don’t want you to miss this moment. Turn the lights back out. I want you to see there’s one person, two people, three people.
Now, three people, one person, two people, one person, one person, two people, one person. It’s very easy in a dark room to see who’s still lit. Everybody that still has a light on, lift it up. No, not your cell phone light; put that down. One, two, three, four. I want to try something. Do you think we could all be lit back up by only four people? Five people? Six? Look, I don’t know; I know you’ve got to go. But could you just pass that light? I just don’t want you to miss how important your life is to this scenario. It’s dangerous out here for families without your light. It’s actually a hazard, not just to the body of Christ but to everybody around. If you don’t have your light, look how quickly, in 30 seconds—oh my God, I feel the presence of God. In 30 seconds of just a few people walking out of their row—oh my God—getting out of their comfort zone, coming from their place; it’s worth being uncomfortable.
What if the pastor didn’t have to light everybody up? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. What if it was the body? Yes, sir. What if— I just want to paint this picture—what if it was okay? We live in a world where, even if the man of God’s light went out, hallelujah! Come on, there would be at least a thousand other people who could come in and restore the light. Yes, sir. It came from four rebellious people, four people who were countercultural, four people who didn’t do what everybody else was doing. All right. It came from four people willing to represent. Uh-oh, my light went out. Uh-uh, Mo, don’t you come because they know that you’re going to come, but my sweetheart right here—hold on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I need you all to see—bring the light on me. I know it’s dark. I know it’s dark.
Come up a little bit. As she started walking, I need everybody to see what she’s doing; she’s protecting the light because she knows she still has steps to make. She’s not even talking, y’all. She’s barely breathing because her light, yes, sir, there goes, affects my light. What if this is not just another year of Christianity and religion? What if I invited you into becoming what Jesus envisioned when He gave us the gift of Jesus? Yes, sir. What God envisioned when He gave us the gift of Jesus is beautiful. He said, „If I give them light, there’ll be light.“ So today we celebrate the Light of the World. Ro, could you say it like this: „Light of the world, You stepped out into darkness and opened my eyes. Let me see the beauty that made this heart adore You. I say, 'Here I am to worship.'“ Say, „Here I am to worship.“ That’s what the kings did. „Here I am to worship.“
That’s what the wise men did. „Here I am to worship.“ You’re my God; You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful. Just one more time—something special has happened here. I am to worship; You’re the light of the world. I am to shine for You forever, God. Here I am to worship; You’re my God. You’re altogether worthy, altogether wonderful. Would you turn the lights up for me? I’m going to let it shine. I’m going to let it shine. In hard situations, you can declare, „I’m going to let it shine.“ In the midst of problems, yes, sir! During the shopping season, I’m going to let it shine. When you get with the family members who have caused you grief, you’re still—I’m going to let it shine. I’m going to let the fruit that God has placed in me for me, but through me—I’m going to let this be a picture of God’s goodness. Thank You, Lord.
Now, do not get burned. We’re not paying anybody; if you sue us, blow your candle out. Amen. All the rebellious people, He’s going to do it again. I’m done doing examples. Okay, it’s on now; it’s the smoke of the spirit. Okay, yeah, make it something else. But the truth of the matter is, as we get ready to leave here, that was a beautiful example, yet your spirit is still dry. So if you want Jesus to actually burn on the inside of you, all I need you to do—everybody listen to me—all I need you to do is receive the gift of Jesus. It’s the worst gift exchange ever, but you win because He did it just for you. Those shoes look good on you, boy. They do. They fit all right? Yeah, look at him smiling from ear to ear; he has 92 teeth. He’s happy because when you receive something you didn’t deserve, or you didn’t earn, or you didn’t work for, it hits different.
Hey, everybody under the sound of my voice, before you start moving, this is the whole reason for Christmas. If you’re in this room and you have never accepted Jesus as the light in your personal life, today I want to give you an opportunity. It’s what took me from being a liar, a manipulator, and addicted to pornography. I had a lot of bad stuff in my heart. It didn’t make me perfect, but it showed me the path to peace, and peace is a person. I need the church to begin to pray because there are people in here for whom this is the one time God has orchestrated everything in our lives to come to this moment. He knew you would be here today, and He changed the message and had us order candles because He knew it would take all of that for you to see it’s time. It’s time for you to shine; let me in.
Receive this gift. And if you need to rededicate your life and give your life back to God, and you’re making a dedication on our last Sunday here together in this room, you’re saying, „I’m going to give God my life.“ This is the gift you need to give to Him. On the count of three, I just want you to shoot your hand up in the air. I’m going to pray for you. You’re saying, „Pastor, I want to be included in that prayer.“ Whether you’re in this room or online, if you’re watching from a prison cell, the Spirit of God is ready to transform your life. One, you’re making the greatest decision ever. Two, your name is going to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and your eternity is going to be secured. Three, with faith, would you lift your hand in the room? I see you, my sister. I see you, my sister. I see you, my brother.
Oh, come on, whole row, whole families. I see you. Hey, Transformation Church, let’s celebrate! Hey, at TC, we’re a family. So proud of y’all! It’s a new day for you. Yes, Lord, God’s going to take everything the enemy thought he was going to steal from you. He called you for that example for a reason, bro—Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! He’s going to change your life forever. My God, today is the day of salvation. If, listen to me, if this whole service was just for you, it was worth it. I know, but your twin is sitting there making a decision with you today. Oh, y’all don’t know when to celebrate. I’m talking about transformation. This is what God does for us. Everybody lift your hands. We’re going to pray together as a family. Father, thank You. I want you to repeat after me:
Thank You, God. Thank You, God, for sending Jesus just for me. I receive the gift of peace. Thank You, Lord, for my life no longer being mine but it’s all Yours. Change me. Renew me. Transform me. I’m Yours. I’m Yours forever. In Jesus' name, amen.