Michael Todd - The Burden to Build It (Vision Sunday 2025)
Well, today is Vision Sunday at church, and I believe that God has given me a word that is not just prophetic, not just powerful, but timely. Yes, sir. You know the right thing at the wrong time is a curse, right? You know, if I gave my daughter, Ava, who just came up on stage, and I say this because some people might wonder why she was up there—she’s my daughter, and I want to be clear; I’m trying to cultivate my kids' gifts. This morning, she came to me and said, «Dad, I want to get on stage with you.» I asked if she wanted to say something, and she said, «No, don’t look at me, don’t talk to me, don’t say anything.» But she doesn’t realize she’s practicing for her future. So, I brought her up here, and she was worshiping. She looked at all of you, then back at the screen, and started dancing. It’s fine because what we’re trying to do here is allow all of our children to see what God can do with their lives.
As I look at what God is showing me about what I need to speak on today, He said, «Michael, this is not just powerful and prophetic; it’s timely.» With my daughter Ava, if I gave her the keys to the car that her mother and I want to give her when she turns 16, if I gave them to her today, it would be detrimental because she is not mature enough yet to make those kinds of decisions and handle that type of power. Many times when God has held back revelation from us, it’s because we didn’t have, watch this, the maturity to handle that level of power yet. But I believe as we step into this tenth year under Pastor Natalie and my leadership, I believe that God has opened the door; yes, we made it ten years! Y’all are shocked too; I’m shocked; I am flabbergasted! On February 2nd, we will be celebrating our church anniversary, and as I have been reflecting on how good God has been in this process, I’ve realized there are certain things I couldn’t speak about until I reached a certain level of maturity. It’s not a bad thing; it’s just how God works because He loves us.
So today, when I talk about vision, I need to let anyone who’s joining us for the first time know a few things about me and this topic. Vision—my thing, not thing (T-H-A-N-G)—vision is my thing. If I could only speak on one topic, maybe two, I would speak on faith and vision because everything you’ve ever seen from Transformation Church, Mike Todd, and Pastor Natalie all came from not skill but vision. I didn’t know anyone. It wasn’t about connections or money; I promise you, I was broke. But what I did have, come on, is vision and faith. Somebody say vision—vision—and faith—faith. I’m telling you the truth; I had vision and crazy faith.
I had the faith to believe what scared other believers. I had the faith to say things out loud that could make me look dumb five years later. You are watching me based on faith. I need you to hear me say this: the fact that this is being streamed around the world at this very moment is vision. My first act as the lead pastor of Transformation Church was to buy a camera. I want to let you know that in the face of people, watch this, who left the church because I wanted to upgrade, they said, «You spent $80,000 on cameras? Why would you spend that much?» Yet, God knew when He gave me that instruction that the only way the world would find out about what He was doing here was not through a mass email or an invite; it was through a relationship and a message that came through that same camera. All I’m trying to let you know is that if you have a vision and crazy faith, God can do things that were impossible a generation ago.
So today, I have to be honest with you. As I have been praying about giving vision—because vision is mine, know that I have to make a confession: when I talk about vision, everything I’ve been saying is true. I’ve been telling you that vision is what you see when your eyes are closed, while sight is what you see when your eyes are open. But the Bible tells us we don’t live by what our sight is telling us; we walk by faith and not by sight because our sight will lie to us. Your bank account will lie to you.
Some of y’all are saying, «I’m not eating ever again,» but hold on—stop. Yes, but God is going to make a way. Do y’all hear me? Sight is not the indicator of what God can do, and that’s true. However, I realize that what I’ve been teaching about vision is true but incomplete. So today, I feel, as your pastor, I need to take you into another progression so that vision is not something that just happens at your church. The worst thing in the world would be for this place to be blessed while your home is not a reflection of Heaven. Oh my gosh, the worst thing in the world is to get miracles in here and have a mess out there. In here is not where it counts; it’s out there when we lay our hands on the sick, and they recover—that’s when it becomes a miracle.
Okay, so I’m trying to give you accurate tools so you can work your faith around vision, and this is what I have found out. The Holy Spirit illuminated to me: vision is not only what you see with your eyes closed; vision is first about what you hear before you see anything. There it is; I could say it like this: vision starts with hearing. Most people are calling a good idea vision from God, and you have been mistaken because He never said it. You just saw somebody else do it and copied it. Your vision is counterfeit because it didn’t come from Heaven. Just because you cut out a picture and put it on a board does not mean God had that in His will for your life. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but a lot of your disappointment in life comes from mismanaged expectations.
You have stated something that God never said. You have told people something and even got a tattoo of something that God never whispered to you. You are out here claiming this is what God is saying, and now, thirteen years later, you are doubting the Creator because you created something He never cosigned. Vision is first about what you hear. That’s why in Genesis, before anything was created, God said, «Let there be.» He spoke something, and all the void responded. So what did it hurt? Y’all don’t hear me. If you have a void in your life, find what the word of God says about utter darkness. Find out what God says about nothing and speak His word. Everything has to respond to God’s word—even nothing. That’s so powerful. I know that is good preaching right there.
Sometimes you got to hear what I just said: everything has to respond to God’s word—even nothing. When there’s nothing there, faith is the substance of things hoped for. When there’s nothing, many of us have been so frustrated because we haven’t taken the time to hear from God about a vision for our life. «Good, Pastor Mike. Why is this important?» Because write this down: what we hear shapes what we see. If you were raised in an abusive household, the words you heard shaped how you saw all relationships. Some of you are still being healed and cleansed of the filth you saw in dysfunctional trauma bonding and abuse. You weren’t even in it, but you were around it. They didn’t hit you, but you heard the hits. They didn’t say it to you, but you heard how it impacted them, and you saw the tears. You were trained not by what you just saw; you were trained by what you heard. That’s why the Bible says faith comes by hearing what the word of God says. What I’m trying to let you know is that vision is attached to what you hear first because everything you hear shapes what you see.
So my prayer at the end of this message, and at the end of this series we’re about to start—I can’t tell you the title until the end—oh yes, oh yes, because I’m about to give you the word of the year. I’m telling you this: for anybody saying, «Word of the Year,» y’all keep mentioning this word. God literally shapes the focus of this local body by a word or phrase that allows us to gather our faith in obedience. Every year, we have ten years of consecutive proof that when God spoke it to me, and I shared it with you, and we obeyed it, He did exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask, think, or imagine. So if you’re waiting for it to be proven to you, take your time!
But there are some of us who already know that this word is going to be confirmation for many and an eye-opener for some. That’s why I have to build the value of vision for you because many of us are just existing, and we have no vision. The Bible is very clear about what happens to people with no vision. The Bible says that where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint. Another translation says they stop caring. Another translation says they wander around in circles. What has your life been like? Has it been a wandering circle? Relationships every cuffing season—different guy, different state, same circle. Business after business—same circle. I’m telemarketing now; I’m in crypto, and now I’m in this and that—get a vision! I’m not saying any of those things are bad, but you’re in the same circle.
What God wants to do for you today is give you the value of vision. So that by the end of this month, I’m praying you can say this statement right here, and I want you to write it down: I know what I heard. Somebody say it with faith: I know what I heard. See, when you hear God, you can’t unhear Him. You can try to ignore it; you can try to change it; you can try to twist it. But when you hear God—when God tells you something for real, when you know it wasn’t you, when it’s deep inside you, when you feel that thing, and it’s like, «I’d never say that to myself,» and God is like, «Uh-huh, that was Me.» I’m believing that God gives you a vision so strong that even in the face of opposition, your resolve is, «I know what I heard.» Y’all are leaving?
I’m sorry. You can’t leave because I know what I heard! You’re done with this relationship? I’m sorry, and you’re fine, but I’m going to stay here because I know what I heard! You’re not going on this journey of sanctification with me? I know we have great laughs, but you’re not pushing me toward destiny. I’ve got to part ways. Deuces, because I know what I heard! Until you can say that, you’re relying on somebody else’s word to make you stay in what God called you to. If I only did this based on what people said, I would have quit in 2022. False prophet? Look at Him up there! The problem is, I know what I heard! God told us to do Ransom, and I know what I heard. God told us to represent Him to lost people and found people.
However, the found people got mad because they’ve been hogging all the space for the last 20 years and don’t want lost people to get into the house. But God told me to represent Him to the lost, and if I know what I heard, it’s time to quit. I know what I heard! I know He told me to be a generous church! I know what I heard when I stood up there and we took an offering for $8,300, and we gave it away. Eight years later, we gave away $8 million! I know what you don’t got to see, and you don’t have to believe it, but I can stand and look myself in the mirror and say, «God is for me because I obeyed Him, and I know what I heard!»
If you can’t say that about something, I would challenge you; you’ve never gotten to the place where you’ve made God the priority of the vision you’re going to live in. Money can’t be the priority of the vision. Status can’t be the priority of the vision. You have to get a word, and once you know what you heard, then you can bring together what you see. Everything has been shaped by what I heard God say to me, and I lovingly submit to you that many of us are calling it vision, but it’s just a good idea. I want you to move from «I know what I heard» to «I know what I saw.»
So, when God allows you to hear something, then He allows you to see something, and this is where I’m submitting to you that many of us need to rip up our vision boards and start over. No, no, no, no, I’m just—I want to submit to you that you may need to retool your goals for this year after a significant time of prayer and fasting, because if you don’t get closer to God and see the value of vision, you make up a counterfeit one. And write this point down: you can get good ideas without God, but you can’t get vision without a visitation from God. I am not acting like you can’t get a good idea without God. Yeah, but when you get to the end of your life and you sit and show God all the trophies that you made according to cultural success metrics, and God says, «Man, that is so good that you did all of that, but all I wanted you to do was be a good father and raise that son, 'cause he was the one that was supposed to change his generation,» you gave him generational wealth as well as generational trauma.
Now he doesn’t even want to think about having a relationship with me because you showed him that wealth was more important than a relationship with God. You never had time for church on Sunday; you never made it an actual thing to pray with the family. Yeah, you built all of this and fumbled the assignment. Y’all know when people say they understood the assignment, and usually they’re talking about somebody’s dress. They’re talking about like, «Oh, she ate, and she understood the assignment, and her face is beat.» And why is all abusive terms when you look good? Like, dang, she’s beating—boy, that’s bad. But they’re like, «She understood the assignment.» What if you get to heaven and God cannot clearly speak to you and say, «They understood the assignment»? This is why I’m asking us to go back and hear from God.
Proverbs 19:21: «Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purposes, His will, His wants, His design, His desire for you that will prevail.» So today, when I thought about vision, and I thought about the story of this church, and I thought about you, the Holy Spirit told me I was supposed to speak about Nehemiah’s journey to building something. Yeah, because I believe it’s going to be a prophetic symbol of what God is about to build in your life. Some of y’all have not seen what God is trying to build through you. This next 10 years is about to shock some of y’all. Somebody has faith to believe me. You thought that up until this point, God had done something for you. Once you get in the will of God, when there is a vision that is from Him, that’s when provision comes; that’s when people come; that’s when money comes; that’s when connections come.
Some of y’all ain’t seen nothing yet. I need 13 people to believe me right now: you’re about to build something! Somebody say, «Build, baby, build.» Yeah, say it with faith: «Build, baby, build.» Yeah, some of y’all are about to get the most beautiful calluses on your hands 'cause you’re about to touch something. You are going to actually have the fortitude to see God move, and it be lasting. I had to go to Nehemiah’s story 'cause he was one that God called—watch this—off of another whole career path. He called him out of his comfort zone. He was working in a palace, living an okay life, and then God said, «I have need of you.» You think you’re living in a blessing?
Now it’s time to build. When I went to Nehemiah’s story, I was looking through the whole book of Nehemiah. You need to read it as we are in this time of prayer and fasting. In Nehemiah chapter 1, his brothers come to talk to him, and Nehemiah just casually asks, «Hey, how’s everything going back in Jerusalem?» 'Cause he’s a Jew, but he’s actually in a foreign land serving the kingdom there. He says, «How’s everything going back home?» And this was their response: Nehemiah 1:3. They said to me, «Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem, the protection of Jerusalem, is vulnerable; the wall has been broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.»
Verse 4: This is Nehemiah’s response to hearing the state of something that had already been planted in his heart but he now gets to see it without his intervention: «When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.» I want to introduce to you a biblical term that is not popular in 2025 but will be imperative for every person under the sound of my voice to have to get a vision from God. The word is—write this down—burden. The reason Nehemiah started to cry is that he got a burden. It didn’t affect him directly. Your burden is not necessarily your plight; your burden is not necessarily set up so it affects you; good, he could have heard things were going wrong back in Jerusalem and been like, «Good thing I’m here.»
Come on, think about it. Many times, when we hear things, some people are desensitized by seeing the stuff happening on social media and the news about LA, and it’s like, «Woo! Thank God I live in Tulsa!» Hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait! As a believer, we should have a burden for the lost, the disenfranchised, and the broken. But some of us, our hearts have become callous. What God was showing me about a vision, woo, is that a vision from God is always empowered by a burden. It’s not a vision if it’s not attached to a burden. If it’s just to make money so you can be good, it ain’t a vision. If it’s just so you can stunt or you can just not be like your daddy, that’s why I tell people all the time: being successful while running from trauma is actually a failure.
When you run from how your daddy was, and that makes you successful, it’s actually a failure because you didn’t actually see what God wanted you to do, and you could have actually been healed. Okay, so a vision from God is empowered by a burden. Nehemiah hears about what’s happening, and the wall is torn down in Jerusalem, and he gets a burden. This is what I found out: a burden makes you do stuff you wouldn’t normally do. When you get a burden, you’ll wake up at 3 AM and start praying. When you get a burden, you’ll fast. When you get a burden, you’ll give your last to it. When you get a burden, it requires something of you, and if what you feel like God has called you to does not require something of you, it is not a vision because it’s not attached to a burden.
Listen, hear me, 'cause going to that D1 school, playing ball, and doing all that other stuff could be a part of His will for you, but it’s the burden to get those young ladies or those young men saved; it’s the burden to be able to change financial education and literacy. Where is the burden? As I’ve watched the church today, I found a few things in life that I need to point out. I’ve seen a lot of people who have a vision to preach but no burden for people. How do you want to be up here telling people what they are supposed to do with their life, and you won’t talk to them? You won’t be around them? The man of God, no, you’re a man. I understand there are boundaries and securities and all different things, but if nobody can touch you, nobody’s around, you’re not accountable to anybody, not submitted to anybody, not subject to the mission of anybody, you’ve got a vision to preach but no burden for people.
I found a few other people—there are a bunch of people who have a vision for the beautiful family photo but no burden to sacrifice. How do you want her but won’t commit to her? I got to talk to these sorry men real quick who are actually—no, no, no, no, I said it; they didn’t say it, I said it. You’re so scared of commitment because you have been dibbling and dabbling in habits that have you unsure of yourself, and what you need to do is get disciplined and allow the Holy Spirit to give you a vision, and you need to hear, «That’s your wife.» What God—this one got this and this—you shouldn’t even know that you actually should hear what God is saying and then plant seed and water it so that you can grow the wife and the family that you desire. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I don’t know what just happened, but you cannot have a vision of a family and not have a burden to sacrifice.
Okay, I got to talk to all the would-be entrepreneurs. You have a vision to be a CEO? Listen to me, but you do not have a burden to be a faithful employee. Oh, I’m gonna buckle my suit on this one and stand ten toes down. How are you stealing from that company, coming in late and leaving early, writing your vision plan on their paper, not turning in your assignment, and not adding to the culture? God is taking away from it, gossiping and adding division! Sir! But you think that God is going to put you in a suite, and you don’t have a pin to serve where you are? David became king 'cause he served Saul well. When spears were coming at him, he was still playing his guitar, ducking. He still had a spirit of excellence, even though he was an employee under attack.
I tell every person that works anywhere, «You will always reap what you sow.» Be careful praying for a vision when you haven’t sown good seed. And I got to talk to my younger generation, whose—my generation has a burden to be famous but don’t have—they have a vision to be famous but don’t have a burden to bring God glory. God has no problem with you having eyes on you as long as you point them to Him. If the end goal is you, so good! It’s not a vision from God; it’s a scheme so you can be able to not live in the place you lived. But God is saying, «If I be lifted up, I draw them in.» What I’m trying to give you the value of is the value of a burden that then leads to a God-given vision. And when you have a burden that leads to a God-given vision, there is nothing that is impossible. Write it down in a point: a burden from God is fuel for when the vision fades.
See, many of us have not been consistent with the vision long enough to know that you don’t always feel like you felt at the beginning. Oh, I need some people who have built something to talk to me. I need some—dang, ain’t nobody in here. Okay, I need somebody—like, like what you saw in the beginning is sexy. Can I be honest? It feels good; people are clapping. Yes! When I hit my first New York Times bestseller, I got congratulations from everybody—everybody, Pastor, everybody this, everybody, «Oh my God, man of God, God’s hand is on your life!» And then the third one, I like—you see how I keep counting? See, because their congratulations didn’t dictate my actual obedience, but it made me wonder what happened. Because sometimes, when you’re moving a vision forward, the support, people who come and leave, the people who take credit, and then use what they know about you to try to make you look bad—it makes sometimes the vision start to fade.
I just want to be honest with you: there are times that I know God said it, what I heard—I know what I heard. Y’all ever heard it like that? 'Cause earlier we was like, «I know what I heard.» And then you gotta get up again, and it’s like, «Dang, I know what I heard.» But the only thing that keeps you going when you feel like that is when I walk out and I give a guy a hug at 50 Seconds of Friends, sir, this morning, sir, and I said, «What’s your name?» and he told me his name, and I could see in his eyes the pain. I don’t know when the last time he was in church, and I don’t know the next time he will be. So I took that moment, and I just wrapped him up. I don’t know if he’s ever had a six-foot black man hug him like I did. I didn’t care, and he cried on my shoulder in 50 seconds.
A friend is sitting right here, and I got another—those boys' tears pumped me up. If all y’all left and it was just me and him, I’d suit myself out not because the audience is big, but because I got a burden. What’s holding the vision together? It’s a burden! Ah! I gotta move! When I was looking at all of the things that are going on in LA, it’s devastating, but I thought about a man of God who got a burden and then got a vision. There was a pastor that almost 10 years ago, Pastor Matthew Barnett, got a burden to help the city of LA. That man started something that he saw, he knew what he heard: start a ministry, a nonprofit that helps drug addicts and homeless people, feeds and shelters. His burden for LA became the vision called The Dream Center.
This week, nobody could have seen the fires, but the Dream Center has become the epicenter of helping families who are lost, displaced, hungry, and in need basic utilities, not because he was reactive to something that happened yesterday. God had to speak to him a decade ago, and he got a burden. What if the burden was just for what happened this past week? But if you won’t take time to hear God, you can’t receive a burden; then your vision is invalid. Pastor Matthew, we love what God is doing in your church, and Transformation Church all around the world stands with you. So we’re sending you a check for $100,000 to continue—oh, come on, y’all, come on, Church! We’re sending $100,000 to the LA Dream Center to help with relief and everything that’s happening with the fire.
Oh, oh, oh! Which brings me to my next point—true vision from God always brings provision from God. He didn’t wake up knowing we were doing that today, but because he received a burden and had a legitimate vision, now God can send provision. While we’re at it, our other partner, Convoy of Hope, that’s on the ground in LA right now because there were over eight fires that happened, I want you to know there’s $100,000 coming to you as well. Come on, church! This is our generosity; this is us making a difference. Okay, now listen, listen, listen to the lie of the enemy that the church doesn’t need my money—that’s a lie! I didn’t just have to raise an offering and ask everybody with $10 to stand up and everybody with $50 to stand up and everybody with $20! We get to go home early because people already believed in the burden and the vision.
Why do we tithe? Why do we give offerings? Why do we honor God first? It’s because when there is a need, there will be food in the storehouse so that we can go and do this. We don’t have to manipulate or twist anyone’s arms; we already know what it is. Pastor Mike, we are the ones who have a burden. Everything I have comes from the Lord, but most people are reactive instead of proactive. What God wants everybody to do is get a burden, yes, so that they can have a vision. I ain’t done yet! Stop the music because you’re trying to close me, and that felt good, Zach, but uh-uh. I had to tell him he was trying to lull us out of here. Give me a second. Nehemiah, after he gets a burden, I want you to see what his action was when he got a burden.
Verse four: «When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.» But he didn’t stay in the weeping. «For some days, I mourned,» but he didn’t stay in the mourning; he fasted and prayed. We’re in 21 days of what? Fasting and praying. It sounds like we’re in just the right space. This is the right time to actually get a burden from God because we heard him. He sat down, he fasted, and he prayed before the God of heaven. This is what I want you to know: a point—vision is maintained in prayer. Some say, «I got a vision, but I can’t do anything.» You can pray about it. Most people think that prayer is some invisible treadmill exercise, that it’s a bunch of work but doesn’t get them anywhere. But God tells us that our connection with Him, our prayer life, refines the vision.
Our prayer life corrects us when we’re out of line. So why am I telling you this? Because all he did when he got the burden—if you can’t do anything, you can make a commitment to pray about it. «God, I don’t know what’s going to happen with the school system, but I have a burden for the school system. I have a burden for elementary kids. I have a burden for kids with autism. I have a burden, and whatever that burden is, I can’t do anything yet. I don’t know what to do; I don’t have a plan yet.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you that every step of my life will be ordered. Father, I thank you that I don’t just run into random people; I thank you that I run into the right people. Father, I thank you that you are bringing me education and wisdom. Let me watch the right videos. Let the right things scroll up on TikTok, at least until the 29th. Lord, give me something that I…
If you can’t do anything else, you can pray! Good, good! And once he begins to pray, it’s so funny about prayer. When you get a vision and you start praying about it, then movement actually does come. And what ends up happening to Nehemiah—oh, I wish I could teach this how I want to—when you start praying, be careful! When you start talking to God about something, be careful when you think somebody else is going to do it. Be careful when you think it’s the church’s responsibility to take on the burden that God gave you. I have more people saying, „When are we going to start the fishing ministry?“ We ain’t! That’s your burden. „When are we going to start the makeup ministry?“
God gave something to you! Do not try to farm out the responsibility that God has placed in your hands to everybody! You can’t wait for agreement when heaven is backing you. Oh my God, you can have all of them and still fail, but if God be for you, then who can be against you? Nehemiah began to pray, and when he began to pray, this was God’s response to him: „You got to go build something. You got to build it.“ He’s sitting in a different spot with a burden; now he has a vision, and God says, „All right, you prayed about it, now you got to build it.“
What are you praying about that God’s now calling you to build? Build it! Build it! Build your family back! Good! You start with therapy. If they won’t go to therapy, you go! Build your mental health back so you can deal with their fallout. If you’re emotionally mature enough to know they’re going to flip out right here, you don’t even have to respond to it. But as soon as they flip out—it’s your trigger—you’re ready to fight, and you curse them out too, and then you have to repent in the car. That sounded personal! What? What?
Come on, hear me! Build it! Build it! You think that the church should have better movies, and you don’t want to see this Christian? Build it! Come on! Yes, sir! What are you doing? The church has become professional critics on things they would never have the fortitude or courage to start building themselves. It’s easy to judge me up here because I put myself out here every single Sunday. I’ve put all my business in a book; you can read all of them. At least you have to pay to talk about me! What I’m telling you is, if God gave you something, it’s time to build it! Okay, let me stop; I’m getting loose. Write it down: God gives you a burden when He wants you to build. You will never have a burden, and He doesn’t require you to build some part of it.
That thing that you always drive past and say, „Why won’t somebody just…?“ We’re waiting on you! Generations are waiting on you! Why? Why do churches seem so broke? They don’t build what you’re supposed to build so you can have money to give! We wouldn’t have to take one offering ever if the people of God who have resources would just allocate what God said! But most people that would give are broke because they won’t build what God asks them to build. I’m not even going to stay on that because some of you just got offended. Some of your plight, some of the struggle is because you didn’t obey in a different season. You were outside when you needed to be inside. You were turning up off the coast when God was trying to get you to cultivate something, and because you did not, you’re in a season of famine when you should be in a season of plenty.
All right, shout at me, but in faith, somebody say, „Build it.“ All right, y’all are going to have to go home and read the rest of it. In chapter 2, he goes to the king he’s working for, and he asks for favor; he gets favor from the king to be able to travel and return to build the wall in Jerusalem. In chapter 3, he gathers a bunch of families who were there but didn’t have the courage to build, and he galvanizes the team. Families took portions of the wall to build, just like families in this room since the beginning of 1999 have taken portions of this vision and built it. I think of the McCarter family, Tracy and Leroy Gibbs, Oscar P and Tammy P, people that God has assigned. I think about Diane Mays, and I think, „Father, my mind is going.“ I think about Miss Kay and all the people you’ll never know who God gathered around this vision and said, „Don’t worry about the whole wall; build this, build this portion. Get a vision for this portion, and if you build this, and they build this, and they build this, we’ll look up and there will be a wall.“
In chapter 4, this is the part I had to get to, 'cause some of y’all are going to get out of here and be like, „I got a burden,“ but then you’ll get played when you face opposition. In chapter 6, that’s when the opposition comes. In chapter 4, it’s when opposition comes. There’s this guy named Sanballat who is, for all intents and purposes, a hater. In Nehemiah 4:1, it says Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. Why does this bother you? Why does it bother you that we do it this way? Why are you so intent and bothered by what we’ve been called to build? He was furious when he learned about them rebuilding the wall.
Watch: he flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends and the Samaritan army officers, „What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re going to do? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day just by offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from rubbish heaps? Do they really think they can make something of themselves?“ He said, „Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked the stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it.“ They were judging the quality of their work.
Then Nehemiah prayed. He went back to what he did when he got a burden: „Hear us, O God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land.“ My God, if you ever want to pray a prayer that’s not a curse but a biblical slapback, it’s in the Word. I have prayed this: „God, I am being mocked. May their scoffing…“ I get a British accent. No, I’m just playing. What I want to say to you is, write this point down: Don’t let the voices invalidate the vision. Can I say it to you this clearly? If the voice wasn’t with you in the valley, if that voice wasn’t speaking during the struggle, it cannot invalidate the vision God has given you.
In 2014, when the bishop told me that it was going to be 9 years and then he would give me the church, I wasn’t supposed to be the pastor of Transformation Church until 2019. So I said, „Bet, I got time to learn something.“ I didn’t know how to do any of this. I had time to go to seminary. I got in a time of prayer and fasting just like this. The bishop called me after one of the nights of prayer and fasting where he strategically had me lead every night. I was just the executive pastor, and he said, „During these 21 days of prayer and fasting, I need you to lead every night.“ I said, „Is everybody else sick? What the stamina that would take?“
But I was submitted. I had no idea; I wasn’t trying to become a pastor. The bishop said to me during one of the times when he heard me praying that God told him, „If he is not the pastor by February, it will not be good for you.“ That man called me and said, „Change your plans. We’re going to install you as the pastor on February 1st.“ I said, „Bishop, that’s not even a month; this could go very bad.“ But he knew what he heard. On February 1st, Natalie and I stepped in, and we started building what God called us to build. He said, „Michael, in 2015, all I need you to do is take the vision I’ve given you, and all I want you to do is survive.“
You know this is winning in certain seasons. „Started from the bottom.“ Some of you want to thrive in a season that was meant to kill you, and God said the vision for you in that season was just to survive. I had people coming up to me and telling me God told them to leave the church. There were 800 people that came for the installation; the next week it was 300. 500 people disappeared. Yes, I saw you, Mama Chloe. You were there probably in the same fur hat. Y’all are killing it with this fur. The mothers that are out here today—where do you get a pink furry fedora? Excuse me, I’m sorry. Y’all having fun at our church. Multigenerational. The whole auditorium can see you, Mama Chloe. Everybody okay? Look at the people in the back over there. There she goes! No, I just play. What I want to say is, listen, in that season, I know what I heard. Mama Chloe said, „I put this on 'cause I know what I heard.“ I love it!
What ended up happening in that first year? God allowed us to survive. For every person that left, somebody came. Yes, they did. I saw God divinely exchange hearts that couldn’t take me from being the youth guy to leading their family. What ended up happening is that because I did not keep my attention on them, I was able to survive 2015, which brought me to another year where I went away and prayed like Nehemiah, and God said, „Keep building.“ Somebody say, „Keep building.“ Say it with faith: „Keep building.“ Say it like you need to keep building. So God then told me, „All right, Mike, the time has come. Now I’m going to need some help with this vision right here, 'cause this mug is a little heavy.“
Yeah, help me, Big Dog. Oh Lord, this is built out of some other wood. Let’s turn it this way. See, the next year, I thought God was going to give us some big, sexy word that would take us to the nations, and it was about maintaining. What happens when, for 24 months, the only word you hear from God is survive and maintain? I want you to know if you’re in a season of stewardship, because that’s what maintaining looks like, I don’t want you to discount it and act like God’s not doing something. He was building something in me.
This year, the year of maintenance, I lost my whole staff; everybody left except Tammy and Kay. I would walk through the offices when I would come in. This is my first job, mind you. I’ve never had a job working somewhere. This gets crazier. I’ve never had to clock in; I worked for myself in a production company. So I’m coming in at 9:00 a.m. to nobody. I would see the light on in Tammy’s office, and I’d be like, „Hey, what’s going on, bro? Cheryl, how was the weekend? D’Coin, what’s up, bro? I love your shoes.“ And Tammy would be cracking up in her office, saying, „This boy done lost his mind.“ But God told me that we would have a multiethnic, multigenerational staff. I know what I heard. So God said, „Just maintain.“
Then I was ready for the next word to be like, „Don’t stop till you get enough. Just stay right there.“ But then God shocked us. „I’m going to need some help with this one too.“ He shocked us, and He did something different that I wasn’t fully expecting. You go that way, and He said, „This year, I’m going to take you beyond.“ When He took us beyond, the church grew by 400 families. The budget grew by $400,000. Couldn’t nobody tell me nothing after this year. We made it! We had one full service in 2017. I was tap dancing! When you survive and when you maintain, it doesn’t take much to bring joy. Some of you have not looked at how far God has brought you, and if you would just take a moment and look at the grace of God in your life—no, it’s not where you’re going—but look how God has brought us beyond where we were, where we thought we would die, where we thought we would be finished. He took us beyond.
Then in 2018, this was a shocker for me, 'cause we just started to pick up momentum. So I was sure when I went away in July to pray during my sabbatical, God was going to say the word of the year is momentum, fast track, Speed Racer. I would have taken any of those. Guess what He told us? Somebody shout at me: build it! Build it! Here we go. How frustrating—how frustrating—for right when you’re ready to run, God tells you to walk. When you’re ready to say, „Let’s take over the world,“ He says, „Find a pace of grace.“ You said you didn’t want to lose your family; I got to teach you some stuff right here. You say you want to still have a real relationship with me; I need to slow down.
„God, I ain’t done enough to slow down.“ By whose standards? Who are you trying to please? I canceled all of the speaking engagements I had at every big conference in the world in 2018. The relationship gold thing blew up, and in 2019, every conference I paid to get in was asking me to come to speak, and they were going to pay me. I saw that my wife was going through a season of depression after our son had been diagnosed with autism. The crazy faith guy could have either gone after what the world would have known me for, or I could have made the sacrifice to actually see my burden, which is my wife and my family, be healed and healthy. Brent was with me in my office; he was my assistant at the time. I said, „Brent, we can’t do everything.“ Brent’s a businessman; he said, „Everything?!“
Brent was like, „Mike, hold on; think about this real quick.“ I said, „Look at her crying. How am I going to go out there and tell everybody else to put God first in their family when I’m not doing it?“ Brent wasn’t married yet, though, but he got to see in real life what it looked like to lay it down. When we began to strive, and we decided to believe that less was more, God took this ministry on a rocket ship that only He could slow down. What happened after stride? Then He gave me another word. Yeah, yeah, you got me; I got this one. It got a little lighter. He said, „This was the year of what? Release!“ Somebody shout at me: build it! Build it!
People tried to tell me we had done enough right here. „You did it! You made it five years! You ain’t cheated on your wife. Do regular church.“ But that’s not what He said, and that’s not what I saw. In 2019, when I was sitting at my house and got this vision paper that the Spirit Bank Event Center would be Transformation Church, I found it on my computer. I drove over here, and when I walked in, the doors were open. I had only been here one other time for an Indie and John Legend concert. I was sitting over there, and I didn’t know that when I walked in here that time, I was standing in the faith that would actually manifest into something we own. But when God gave me a burden, when we had five services in 2019, y’all were trying to kill me!
I have a picture of me on oxygen. Charles got the picture; I’m on oxygen, IVs, everything after Easter, just sitting there like, „Lord, take me.“ I said, „Uh-uh.“ But I knew that God had something for us. Long story short, we got this building. It was a crazy faith miracle; we paid it off in five months. Y’all can shout about that—paid it off in five months because of people who had a burden. This is why we got to keep building, because when we got to release, God said, „I’m not done with this. I released this building, I released this stuff, but now it’s time to make you…“
Watch this. Come on, get this. In 2020, God said to us real clearly, he was going to do something to make us woo. Did he do it? Because he shut everything down. I mean, think about it. It’s God, though; when you want something, He gives you the opposite. We needed strength, so He took away the thing that was bringing all the momentum, and we got stronger that year. As we navigated, God began to speak to me. He said, „Michael, I want you to go deeper because I’m about to take you through something.“ I don’t really want to go; can you be like that? He said, „No, no, no. Anytime God makes you stronger, it’s because He’s going to use that strength.“
After He said we were getting stronger, this is what He did. He said, „Hold on; I need you to be anchored.“ Honestly, I thought it was for everybody else. If I can be honest, I got this word. It was like, „Yes! We need to be anchored to the Word of God.“ Wow! We just need to, you know, stay anchored so we don’t drift. God said, „Did you hear it? That wasn’t for the church; it was for you first.“ This is why I’m telling y’all, the reason vision is so valuable to me is because I have a burden to represent God to the lost and found for transformation in Christ. Then He gave me a vision. And this isn’t it. This is not it.
Why I need you to get off the sidelines and stop watching, and actually get in the game is because we have something to build. Somebody shout at me, „Build it!“ After 2021, when He said, „Get anchored,“ then He told me very clearly, „Here is Holy.“ I thought this was going to be beautiful. I took my shoes off and showed everybody my feet. I’ve got a pinky toe that does like this; some of y’all remember that from a time of being disobedient. Anyway, just let’s continue.
But on the Sunday before I preached this message, there was a little incident that happened with spit. It was almost like seven years of consistency, seven years of intentionality. There had never been a story. Five weeks before the spit hit the fan, we gave away $8 million—not one news story, not one social media feed, not one. Y’all saw, I just got choked up. But as soon as the spit hit the fan, he said, „A false prophet!“ I knew there was something wrong with him. Then the Holy Spirit said, „I taught you how to survive, maintain, go beyond, find the pace of grace and stride. I released you into something. I made you stronger, and I told you to be anchored! So why would you act like I’m not with you?“
Here is Holy, and I can’t tell you how many times, with tears rolling down my face, I said, „This is right where I’m supposed to be. This is right where you have me, God. If there’s anything in me that’s not like You, God, if there’s any bit of pride, if there’s anything in me that wants to be famous and not bring You glory, get it out of me! I promise you, I don’t care about any type of worldly metrics because now I know.“ But I had to go through the fire to be purified.
See, everybody thinks that when it happens to you, it’s a punishment. When God turns on the fire, it’s to purify, and He purified our church; He purified our motives. Then what He said is, „Alright, it’s time to go to a whole nother level.“ He said, „So now, I don’t want you to even think about Transformation Church no more; I want you to only think about the kingdom.“ He said, „I want to make sure you know that everything I’m doing isn’t just for TC; it’s supposed to be replicated all over the world, and I want you to touch the entire world and make sure they know that a holy rebellion is rising up that’s going to make a difference.“ Somebody shout at me, „Build it!“
Then last year, some of y’all know what we did. Look at my fruit! Last year was the year of fruit, and what I demonstrated for you is a structure now that wasn’t there. It had to be built over time because I had a burden consistently to obey God. When I build what God asks me to build, I gain a different perspective. When I build what God asks me to build, I go to new heights. When I build… how y’all doing up there in the balcony? The only reason I can see what I see now is that I had to go higher. But I couldn’t go higher if I didn’t build it.
Some of us have been too low; we’ve still been in gossip. I don’t have time for gossip; I have something to build. I don’t have time to worry about what they are doing; this is heavy enough. Some of us have been too worried about what others are building on their part of the wall, that there’s still a gaping hole where He’s calling for your vision to be built. And you see, if you took away any piece of the vision, the entire thing becomes faulty. But this is the thing about getting a vision: at some point, you have to come down off of the vision, and you have to go where nobody can see you. This is what my sabbatical is—getting in the presence of God. People see what has been built, but they can’t see me.
Father, I don’t know how to do this again. Here I am, God, asking you to give me clarity on how to lead Your people. Holy Spirit, if I knew what to do, Father God, I would have done it. But without You, I cannot go. I have, Father God, the determination like Moses: I won’t go if You do not go with me. So, Father, give me clear vision. Father God, renew the burden in my heart. Let it burn like never before. God, give me a vision, change my vision, revise me if I need to. God, show me what it is—at least for the next 12 months—and consider all Your people.
That’s when I come off my sabbatical and pop back out, and I get to come to you on this Sunday to tell you what the word of the year was. This was not a word that came up in a dictionary trivia that I liked; this is something that God gave me and confirmed over and over. This vision has been built over time, but I just need to let everybody know, Sanballat didn’t go away. He tried to distract Nehemiah from building the wall over six times, and Nehemiah’s response was very simple: he said, „I can’t come down.“
Our prophetic word from the Holy Spirit is saying that whatever God is calling you to build, you’re going to have to set your eyes, even in the midst of naysayers and opposition. There’s a point in this story if you read it, where he tells all of the families, „Oh, I love this imagery"—to have a tool to build in one hand and a sword to fight in the other hand. Sometimes, to protect the vision that God has placed in your heart, you’re going to have to have a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other. Y’all hear what I’m saying?
You might have to fight and fix, and the church has not been anointed to be ambidextrous. We haven’t used both of our hands. Let me tell you the word of the year. Y’all ready? Okay, because I can’t even preach it today; that starts next week. So if you don’t get back in this river next week, you’re going to miss out on how we go. Today, I’m just going to give it. We need to shout; we need to praise God! For some of y’all, it’s going to be confirmation, but then I’ve got to teach you how to do this.
On July 11th, standing right here, we were practicing for the Dominion Album Sunday. The team was up here killing it, and out of the blue, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a black blob. I’m like, «What’s going on?» The people around me saw I was a little distracted, and I’m rubbing my eye, but I’m just trying to stay in Him. That next day, I’m preaching with a black blob in my eye. Two days later, we fly to the Stellar Awards, and I’m like, «Nat, something is wrong with my eye.» She was like, «What’s wrong with your eye?» I said, «I have no idea, but it’s like, I’m looking at you, but there’s something obstructing my vision.»
So I begin to look. Natalie and I were supposed to go on vacation. We went to the most beautiful place in the world to me; we went to Bora Bora. I took my wife to Bora Bora. It’s so nice, you’ve got to say it twice! I’m looking at this beautiful mountain, but I want to try to let you see what I saw. This is what it looked like: I’m sitting there looking at this beautiful Kool-Aid blue water, but in my eye, floating around, I’m trying to worship, trying to focus, but it literally looked like a blob in my eye.
I was like, «Holy Spirit, what are you trying to tell me?» He said, «I’m trying to get your attention.» I said, «You could have just told me in prayer.» He said, «No, no, no, no. I’m trying to tell you where the church is at, where your life is at, where the body of Christ is at. They have something that is obstructing them from seeing Me and seeing My people.» He said, «It’s floating around, and it’s making them…»
When I came home and started to drive, I would always catch myself looking because I thought something was coming out of my peripheral. It wasn’t anything; it was this blob floating around in my eye. It made me cautious about things when there was no danger, and it made me suspicious of things and lose sight and trust in myself because I had something that was obstructing my vision. I was having full conversations with people, only seeing half of their faces, thinking it’s normal, but there was something in my vision.
As I began to think about what God wanted to do in our church, I began to pray because everything that happens in the natural for me goes to the spiritual. I said, «God, what are you trying to show me?» He said, «Michael, that 2025, everything you’ve built has been great, but go to the blurred graphic of what we’re about to do.» He said, «This is what it looks like when what I’ve shown you is there but it is not clear.»
He said, «So many of My people can see a roundabout version of what I want to do in their life—so good—but they have not seen clearly what God is ready to do.» So He told me, in one sentence, He said, «The word of the year for 2025 for Transformation Church is focus.» He said, «I’m bringing everything.» Oh, somebody needs to shout because there is about to be faith in this place to focus!
Standing all over this building, the key ingredient to building the wall was not the plan, was not the people, it wasn’t the manpower; it was the fact that every time there was a distraction, it was the fact that every time there was a detour, it was the fact that every time there was another family that tried to quit, He said, «I can’t come down because God has divinely asked me to focus on what I heard and what I saw.» I speak over your life now, hands lifted, that this will be a divine season where what God shows you and gives you in a burden, that you will be able to build the vision, and no matter who comes to tell you that it can’t happen, God is going to give you the faith to focus.
Hey, before you walk out, you’re going to miss the subtitle! Get into your Cardinal; it’s not going to help you win tomorrow. Listen to this: God clarified it for me, and this is going to be the title of our series. He said, «Michael, the only way that you can focus is this has to be the year where you put death to distraction.» Over the next five weeks, I’m going to teach you how to do a funeral for the things that have been trying to take you out.
This year, as a church, we will be focused. This year, in our family, we will be focused. In our careers and callings, we will be focused. In our prayer life, in our devotion, we will be focused. This case is the year of focus. I can’t come down. Ten years in, y’all, we’ve got to build this wall big enough that all of us can stand up here. Ah, y’all didn’t even hear me! My kids have to be able to sit on these steps. God is about to divinely align and realign priorities in your life, and I believe so clearly there’s about to be more fruit because this church is going to do what Focus means.
I’ve even told my staff and team—we’re reevaluating everything. We’ve been having talks about what did God want? What is our burden? Not what do churches do; what is our burden? What has God blessed here? So I’m just telling everybody, we may not have a fishing ministry on…and fill in the blank…well, my last church…go back. That might have been their burden, but I will not fake-carry a burden to please a segment of people that will wear me out from building. What you don’t understand is I’m building with this hand and I’m fighting with this hand, and we shouldn’t be fighting people who are on the same team. This is what we’re going to do: as you write this word, as you pray around it in this 21 days of prayer and fasting, as you actually set it out as something you want God to speak to you, I just gave you the formula you need to hear from God.
So, on day eight of the 21 days of prayer and fasting tomorrow, guess what? We’re praying surrender—ooh, God hooked that up for us! And guess what I told the team to do? Y’all bring them out! I told the team to get me big trash cans. Y’all got them? Come on, come on, come on, bring them tomorrow at prayer. For everybody that’s in Tulsa, I want you to bring anything that has been a distraction to you. Uh-oh, it just got real! There are paraphernalia—I’ll just leave it at that—clothes. You still have your ex-boyfriend’s jersey because it’s your most comfortable nightie? Those spirits jump off on you! Could y’all just open them, and you can walk away after you open them? Thank y’all, they’re all empty, but tomorrow night they’ll be full. Tonight, I don’t just want you to surrender in your heart; I want a sign of your surrender.
If you’re watching online, I want you to get a trash can, film it, and throw whatever it is away. Don’t bring any guns in here, and don’t bring any knives in here—let me be very clear. But some of y’all need to get rid of them! No, this right to bear arms and being smart are two different things. You have anger and rage, and every time the enemy can start to play on you—on suicide as well as hurting somebody else—that doesn’t need to be in your life. You’ve changed your life. I saw a meme the other day that said, «Who’s fighting over 40?»
Why would you fight? What is the reason to fight after you’re 40 years old? Yes, some people still have this hood mentality. Why are you fighting? It’s because you haven’t entrusted your life to the one who’s the protector. The first way we’re going to focus is to put death to distraction. Yes, there are cell phones and apps. Oh, y’all know those burner phones—the ones you pull out of the drawer, the ones your spouse doesn’t even know about? Oh, I’m talking real stuff! There are vapes, and I’m just going to let your mind wander. There are all kinds of people in here, so I want to be sensitive. Whatever’s been a distraction for you, if the only thing you can do is write a name down on a piece of paper—because somebody I’m about to have to bring Jon up here and throw them in the trash can—that baby trash, he is trash.
You may or may not—we’re not taking people—but I’m even looking at the number of people that are going to be here tomorrow night. Because we’re going to come in here to pray around this word of focus, we’re going to need some more trash cans! I can see it now, because I don’t want you to think about it, and we’re going to dispose of it. We’re going to make sure it’s done in the right way, but I don’t want you to carry anything as a distraction another day. Let me pray for you. Hands lifted. God, I thank you! I thank you that you’ve spoken and you’ve been very clear that 2025 is the year of focus. We will build what you’ve called us to build, but we will build not for a blessing, but from a burden. Give us clear vision, bring us to the right place to build what you’ve called us to build, and God let us focus so that we will not be distracted and that others will be safe because of the work that you’ve called us to do.
Father, even as today we’re praying for the power of the Holy Spirit, would you empower us to do what you’ve called us to do and would you allow us to give you a full surrender? I pray for everybody that’s under the sound of my voice—whether they’re in this room, watching online, in the penitentiary, watching on a rebroadcast, or watching at a later time—your Holy Spirit is with us right there. And Father, I pray for the faith to focus to come to every man, woman, boy, and girl, fixing our eyes on Jesus, focusing on Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. Father, teach us how to lay down distractions, and today we will give you all the glory, honor, and praise. Now speak, Lord, your servants are listening. Speak, Lord. This is confirmation for many and correction for others. Speak, Lord, no matter how old or how young—today, Father, your children are listening. We need you, we love you, and we thank you for your grace that would give us this kind word to speak into our future. We believe that what’s going to happen by the end of this year, «Eyes have not seen and ears have not heard,» neither has it entered into the hearts of man the things that you have prepared for us because we love you and you have already done the thing. As we focus on you, have your way.
If you’re in this room and you’ve never put your trust in Jesus, the first thing I want you to focus on is receiving grace. When you receive what God has provided for you, it takes out a lot of distractions called sin. Sin will have you thinking you’ve got to figure out a way to get to God, but when you focus on Jesus, you’ll find out that God’s provided a way for Jesus to come towards you. And today, I want to offer you Jesus. The greatest advantage to you putting distraction down is to get a really loving relationship with Jesus.
If you’re in this room and you know that’s you, on the count of three, I just want you to lift your hands and I want you to lift your hand in the chat. I may not see you, but God sees you and Heaven is recording this moment right now. On the count of three, I just want you to lift your hand if you want to make Jesus your personal Lord and Savior. Whether you’re in the penitentiary watching this at midnight or you’re sitting in a high-rise right now—one, you’re making the greatest decision of your life. Number two, I’m proud of you, but more than that, your name is about to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and your eternity is secure. Three, lift your hands if you want to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior. I see you, I see you, I see you! I’m so proud of you; hands going up everywhere. Transformation Church, this is our vision. Hey, listen: at TC, nobody prays alone. So I want everybody to just lift your hands because we’re a family. Say:
God, thank you for sending Jesus just for me. Today, I admit that I’m a sinner and I need a Savior. I choose you. I believe you lived, I believe you died, and you rose again just for me. Today, I give you my life—All of me! Change me! Renew me! Transform me! I’m yours! In Jesus' name, amen.