Michael Todd - Your Distraction Is Playing You
Today, as we start the last week of an 8-week series we’re calling «Death to Distraction, » I want to remind you that God is requiring another level of focus from you. If you’re taking notes, I want you to write «FOCUS» really big at the top of your notes. If you’re typing, push the header and make it bold on your phone because the truth is that you’re too distracted for the destiny God has called you to. I don’t know what your distraction is; I’m not saying we even have the same distractions. Some of our distractions do overlap, but the truth is, many times I’m worried about your distraction when I’m imprisoned by mine. I believe that God wants everyone to focus on Him so that He can guide you on what to focus on. Can everybody hear what I’m saying? God doesn’t just say «focus» because many times when I come to people and say, «Yo, I need you to focus on God, » they ask, «But what about my bills? What about my relationships? What about my kids?»
God’s never telling you to focus on Him to forget the other things; He’s telling you to focus on Him so He can provide you with priorities—how to focus, where to focus, and when to focus. That friend He’s been trying to get you to let go of for years? He’s trying to help prioritize the patterns and the people in your life. So when God says «focus, » the Bible tells us He’s the one that lights our path. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will direct your paths. He’s trying to give you instructions, and you just keep turning because the street looks familiar. You keep going down these back roads, trying to take shortcuts to a place that God said, «I’ll lead you there.» So when God says «focus, » it’s not for any other reason except that He knows the destination; He knows the intended end. So everybody, by faith, we have to shout it out one more time: «FOCUS!»
That’s why Hebrews 12:1, our scripture of the year, says, «Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every weight or everything that hinders us, especially the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that God has marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.» He’s saying focus—for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and now He’s big chilling, sitting down at the right hand of the Father, at the Throne of God. I say it every week, but fixing your eyes on Jesus gives you the faith to focus.
As we end this series, I was reminded of a story, and today I want to talk to you as if it were just me and you at a coffee table. The place I feel most raw to talk to people is in my garage, in my little gym. I have a little gym in my garage, and when people come into my garage gym, I feel like these weights are already beating us up. Why are we lying to each other? When I’m in my little gym garage, I mean if you come in here and want to know the truth, I’m going to tell you the truth, because these 30s are killing me right now. Some of my most open and honest dialogue has happened while sitting there in a vulnerable position and talking to someone who is discussing nonsense, and I feel the need to tell them the truth.
Y’all know how sometimes you try to be politically correct and let people talk, thinking, «Oh, I kind of understand, » but the whole time you’re thinking, «That’s dumb!» You’re nodding along—uh-huh, uh-huh—but you know what needs to be said. Maybe you don’t have the relational equity to say it in the way it needs to be said. Do you ever wish you could go to your boss and tell them, «You talk too much?» Or wish you could go to a family member and say, «You make us all uncomfortable?» Maybe there’s a family member who makes a plate to go before they make their actual plate. You need to tell them, «You didn’t bring anything; why are you here?» To have an honest conversation, you need relational equity.
This week, I began to pray that in this last week—because I could literally take this series for another ten weeks—I know I have to move on. So I said, «Lord, help me have the courage to talk to all these people like it was just me and them and we had real relational equity, knowing that no matter what I say in this conversation, we’re still going to be friends after this.» So today, with that lens of love, I need to tell you that your distraction is playing you. The title of my sermon today is «Your Distraction is Playing You.» The thing that has become what you run to, what takes you off course—some of you it’s a TV show, for others it’s a person, for some it’s a career path, and for others it’s your children.
You’re distracted from what God put you on this Earth to do because of something He has allowed you to be in proximity to, and now you’re obsessed with a title. You’re obsessed with living in a neighborhood, you’re obsessed with people liking you, you’re obsessed with the number of likes and follows, and God said all of that is a distraction. What I’ve put on you and put in you is for your destiny, but you are being distracted, and that distraction is playing you. Has anybody ever been played before? No, no, no, I’m talking about you really thought someone was in it for you, and you got played. Okay, is anybody confused about whether you’re getting played right now? Just raise your hand. Come on, you’re talking to him and he’s like, «Yeah, in about ten years I’ll marry you.» Hold on, wait! He told you up front that ten years from now he’s going to marry you, and you’re sitting there like, «Oh my God, 2035!»
I remember a time I got played by one of my brothers, John Stanton. If you’re my friend, you know you’re going to get used. John Stanton played me, and we both got played. Let me tell you the story. There was a brand of shoes that was really popular about nine years ago. Both of us didn’t have much money, but we really liked nice things. These shoes were selling for about $1,000 on resale, and neither of us could afford that. He worked at a shoe store and found this girl at another shoe store who could get them for $300 a pair. He was excited and jubilant; he was so sure of this opportunity that he came and shared his glee with me. In sharing his excitement, I got excited and said, «Yo, I can get $300. I can’t get the thousand, but I can get $300! Let’s do it together!»
So both of us scraped together what we could, being young with small children that needed diapers and bottles and all kinds of stuff. We handed that $300 over to a person neither of us had met in person. They were real on Instagram; they were contacting us back, doing all the things. Needless to say, when the time came and the shoes were supposed to arrive, they were not there. We started messaging them, and they started deleting our messages. To this day, I’ve never seen that product. At some point, I had to come to the realization that I was getting played. I had to stop planning my outfits—y’all know when you expect something on the way and think, «Oh, I’m going to kill them with this one!» I had to stop planning outfits; I had to stop planning for a refund, and eventually had to come clean to my wife. I had to acknowledge, «I’m getting played—this is playing me.» I tried to get mad at John, but I realized he was getting played too. What I’m saying to you right now is that if you don’t acknowledge that something is using you or abusing you in an abnormal way, you won’t realize it’s abuse.
If I could say it in a raw way, that distraction you’ve made part of your character is abusing you. Your confidence has taken a hit like nothing you’ve ever experienced. You can’t even remember the things God told you; you used to be so sure of certain things, and now because of what has happened, you’ve been getting played by the distraction of alcohol. Alcohol’s not a sin; no, it’s not a sin. But you’re no good on it—my God, alcohol’s playing you! You make poor decisions. «It’s just a shot.» Yes, it’s just a shot; it’s not a sin, but you’re not wise. You don’t need to try to find this line. The truth is: if you won’t be honest with yourself, your distraction is playing you. Your desire for those things is making you so upset about your present that you can’t even enjoy what God has done for you because that distraction is playing you.
Today, I don’t want to just acknowledge all of our distractions; I want to say that whatever it is, there is no distraction that is for your good—not one. For the past seven weeks, we’ve looked at the life of Samson, and I want to say it like this: your distraction is a disguise and a destiny killer. Think about the thing you’ve been distracted by. Some of y’all are on Facebook looking at people you haven’t been in school with for 18 years—oh, I’m in your business! You’re scrolling on Facebook, trying to see what Lisa Santz is doing—not Sanchez, Santz. It’s a small distraction, but the energy you’re giving to that is the same energy your wife is missing, making her feel uncared for. And you don’t know why little pieces of you are being eroded, why it’s not like it used to be—it’s because your distraction is playing you.
«Pastor Mike, do you have precedents for this?» Yes, I do! As we’ve been looking at Samson’s life, we’ve gone through the story. So if you can’t keep up, you need to go back and start from the beginning. But Judges 16:17 says, «Finally, Samson shared his secret with her: 'My hair has never been cut, for I was dedicated to God as a Nazarite. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.'» Delilah—distraction—realized he had finally told her the truth. The distraction is looking for the truth of what takes away your power. Delilah finds out and tells the Philistine rulers, «Come back one more time; I’ve found it!» She said, «For he has finally told me his secret.»
So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in her hand. This is the person Samson had been trusting, the distraction he had been putting his faith in; she sells him out. Delilah—distraction—lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in all the men to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way, she brought him down, and his strength left him. His strength left while he was asleep; he didn’t even get to fight for his strength. He was so comfortable with his distraction that he put his head in her lap and lost his power while sleeping. This is the enemy’s plan for our lives—getting us so distracted with things that don’t matter that we lose the power God has placed inside us to reach our destiny, and we don’t even realize it. It says when he woke up, he thought like a lot of us think: «I’ll do as I did before and shake myself free. I’ll just apologize, and our marriage will be put back together. I’ll just try it again.» But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him.
So the Philistines captured him, and look what they did—it’s very specific. They gouged out his eyes. They weren’t after his life; they were after his vision. I need everybody to hear me: the distractions in your life are not just after your life; they’re after your vision. Why wouldn’t they just kill him? All this time they wanted to take something that would render his power useless. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in prison. This is how we’re going to end this whole thing. The six exits of distraction today: if you’re being distracted in any area, I’m going to give you six times in your life where you can get off that highway that’s leading to hell. You’re on the highway to hell, and I’m not talking about in the afterlife; I’m talking about right here on this Earth. Some of y’all don’t have to wait to die to go to hell; you’re living in it every single day! Y’all got to come on! This is hell—going through all of this—and I’m trying to give you the ability to understand what distractions do so you can get off at the exit.
Okay, the first thing you need to know about a distraction is that a distraction always starts off neutral. Anything that is a distraction in your life was not a big distraction trying to take your life from the beginning. It was something you discovered. «Wow, that drink is good! Wow, her butt is nice! Are those abs?» It’s never malicious. It’s like, «Oh, that’s a nice vacation they went on.» It’s neutral. The best place to get off the highway of hell is when you notice it. «Hey, his wife is fine; that’s not my wife.» See, so many times we try to demonize the discovery. Why are we demonizing the discovery? When a child has never had ice cream before, if you ever see a child that’s just been eating kiwis and guacamole and broccoli, the first time they get some Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, their whole body starts shaking. «Oh my God, why?» We don’t go, «Uh-uh, that’s not good.» Yeah, it’s discovery! If that becomes their only food, if that’s what they think is breakfast, lunch, and dinner—it’s… do you understand what I’m saying?
So what I’m saying is it’s neutral. But many of us have things right now that are neutral that, if you don’t stop making that thing something you keep looking at— I heard it said like this: the first look is not the issue; it’s the second look. Y’all hear what I’m saying? The first look is not the issue. If I’m walking and I’m like, «Oh, okay"—y’all know what I’m talking about. It’s when I’m putting myself in danger. What are you looking at too long? If we’re in the gym, we’re being vulnerable, and why do you keep looking at it? Why do you keep looking at them? Why do you keep looking at what you don’t have? Why do you keep looking at that church, that place, that car? Why do you keep looking at it? Some of y’all need to have a block party. Not outside in New York; I’m talking about everything in your life that’s something you can look at that takes your attention or your focus—you need to block it. And the reason you don’t is because of a word most people don’t understand: pride. You actually think you’re better than you are in that situation. «I can handle that. I can swipe past it. I can look at it until…» Yeah, you can’t.
Pastor Mike, why are you saying this? Because some of you would save your family’s line if you would get off the exit of this distraction while it’s still neutral. Because after a distraction is neutral, this is what happens: it becomes nurtured. If you don’t kill the distraction at neutral, then you start to nurture it. Yeah, then you start to make provisions for it. Then you start to do it secretly when nobody’s around, and only every six weeks or every six months. Then you start to make excuses for it. And I know it’s quiet in here because I’m in your business. The truth of the matter is some of you have been nurturing these things just for the right opportunity for them to grow enough to kill you. And God’s telling you this is the season; I’m telling you to focus. Put death to distraction. I forgive you; it’s gone. Past neutral, you started to nurture it. Get off this highway right now before you’ve nurtured it too long.
Delilah started off neutral.She was just another Philistine woman he saw. The crazy thing is he was supposed to be the hero—the champion—to actually kill all the Philistines. But he started to love what he was supposed to conquer, and it went from neutral to nurturing. Remember, he said to his father earlier, «I must have her.» «It’s my birthday. I gotta go to the club. I’m only turning 30 once. I’m only turning 40 once.» We make these things in our head: «I’m 46. What happens at 46? I don’t know, but today… I’mma do it.» We make these things, and what we’re doing many times, watch this, is nurturing our distractions. Anytime you nurture something, you give it enough fuel, enough food for it to grow.
So I’m just asking you wherever you’re at right now—if your distraction has started to actually be nurtured—I’m asking you, you’ve started to develop it. I’m asking you to put a death to that distraction right here because if you don’t, it goes from being neutral—something you discovered—to something that you nurture, and then watch this: it becomes natural. When your distraction and you are natural with each other, it becomes the thing that desensitizes you. Some of us right now, if your closest friends told you your real issue, you would get so triggered. If your friend just told you, «You have an issue shopping,» you’d say, «What? Me? I don’t have an issue shopping.» But your cart on Amazon right now has 98 things in it. Okay, now that got personal; I saw the eyes come at me right there. And I’m not saying it’s wrong or bad, but when you have an issue, you know what you do? You don’t pray; you don’t talk to God; you don’t ask for counsel; you go shop. «He done pissed me off.» I like that; I like that.
Come on, let’s be honest! Why are you saying that? Because now, because of culture, because of your friends, because of it being secret, nobody even thinks it’s an issue. Wow! So right now many of us, our distraction is covert. It’s not an issue; everybody does it. And God says, «But this takes your focus! Every time I try to tell you to come spend some time with me, you’re buying a new dress. It’s only $5.99.» It’s costing you more than $5.99. It’s costing you direction; it’s costing you wisdom; it’s costing you hearing from me. Good, but it’s so natural. And please don’t feel discriminated against; I’m not calling everybody’s situation out; I just got to get us past this point. But I’m just saying whatever your distraction is, if it’s comfortable and natural to you, you may be desensitized when the Holy Spirit tries to touch you and say, «Hey, this is an issue.» You don’t even feel it anymore.
«Sir, I don’t have any conviction around that!» No, you’re numb. He’s touching you. He’s saying, «Stop saying that! Stop talking like that! Stop cussing like that! Stop talking to those kids like that!» He’s saying, «Hey, hey, hey, hey!» But you don’t feel it anymore because it’s been so natural. Okay, I got to move. If you don’t kill it when it’s neutral, then it gets nurtured. If you don’t kill it when it’s nurtured, it becomes natural. If you don’t kill it when it’s natural… Do y’all know that Samson had four assassination attempts against his life? And this dude—no, I have to call him what he is at this moment—is still going to continue to stay around the thing that he narrowly escaped death from three other times, that he knows of. How many of y’all pray, «God, if you get me out of this, Lord, I promise you, I’ll make a promise,» and he gets you out of it—and you forget?
Okay, you became desensitized. And watch this: Judges 16:19 says, «Then she lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap. And then she called in the men to shave off his seven locks.» After it becomes natural, your distraction asks you to take a nap. And when your distraction asks you to take a nap, this is what happens: you become detached. You’re not even cognizant of reality anymore. Have you ever had a friend doing something so dumb that it’s obvious to everybody else, but they really think it’s the thing to do? They become detached. I heard a story of somebody doing something really, really, really dumb, and I can’t even believe you would leave all that God has done for this thing that’s not even real. But they were so detached from reality, they had taken a nap in the lap of a distraction.
And I think about this; he had seven dreadlocks—he was a brother, by the way, because he had dreadlocks! Y’all see that? Okay, just put it together. My man takes a nap, and they cut off seven locks of hair. I wonder, which cut was the one where he lost his power? Which one do y’all think it was? The first one? No, it wasn’t the last one. It couldn’t have been the last one because he said his hair should have never been cut. So, so, the first cut, and he probably had seven, thinking the grace wasn’t going to run out—surely, surely God’s going to… And he told them, «Hey, don’t let any of y’all…» And some of us play with God like that, and your distraction is playing you! You’re laying in the lap of the thing that’s about to take your power.
He loses his power. If you’re at the place where you’re taking a nap, you’re sleeping on a distraction, wake up! No, hear what I’m saying to you. I needed to be loud like an alarm: wake up! Hear me! Because the only thing that could have saved Samson at that moment—before the scissors were coming—would have been if he had woken up. And some of y’all are so close; you’ve been playing with it so long. «This is my last time; I can’t talk about this for a couple of weeks.» And I just got to tell somebody, you may not have next month! My God! I’m just saying tomorrow is not promised. I’m not trying to scare you; I’m just trying to tell you the truth. Like, you’re waiting for this thing to happen for you to actually obey God, and God’s like, «Hey, you might not have all the chances you think you got!» And I’m not even talking about death.
You think you’re going to play that woman again and she’s going to stay with you? You think you’re going to lie to those children again and they’re going to still have the same level of respect for you? You think you’re going to steal from that job again and still keep your job? I’m saying there are consequences. And some of y’all are like, «That’s extreme,» but apply it to you. But I came as an oracle of God today to tell you: your distraction is playing you. Your distraction is going to be sitting there watching you lose what God promised you.
This is where we end: if you don’t get off the exit at neutral, and you don’t get off the exit when it’s nurtured, and you don’t get off the exit when it’s natural, and you don’t get off the exit when it’s a nap, this is what happens: then something gets nixed in your life. See, everybody thinks that the nixed, or the cutting, or the taking away—the ending of something—was his hair. That wasn’t the only thing they took! It’s enough; he’s powerless now. Watch what I’m saying to you. They cut his hair; they took his strength, but they took something else. So the Philistines, verse 21, Judges 16:21 says, «They captured him and gouged out his eyes.» They took his sight; they took his vision. What are you saying, Pastor Mike? They wanted him to live in the dark!
Your distraction’s ultimate goal is for you to live in the dark. They could have killed him; it could have been death. They said, «No, it’s better for everybody to see him still survive, but in his state of weakness.» Your distraction wants you to still be seen but still be bound. Oh God! Your distraction wants you to still be able to show up but not be able to say anything! Your distraction wants you to be alive but not living! God, your distraction is playing you! And the reason I know is because it played me for years! My distractions of pornography addiction, my distractions of comparison, my distractions—I’m not telling you something that I just want you to go do; I walked this thing out. My distraction of lust, my distractions of perversion, my distractions of a love for money.
This series I’m about to preach next week is from my life. I had wicked things in my heart when it came to money and wealth, and what it would make me, and God had to take and strip me of all those things to actually let me see that wealth is supposed to work for the kingdom; it’s supposed to be a tool. A few weeks ago, we told the church that as a church, in the last 10 years, we’ve given away $34 million. Y’all don’t understand! Yeah, praise God! But the thing that you don’t understand is if God hadn’t stripped me of the distraction of a wicked Jesus, that money would have had me doing other things. Guys, I’m trying to plead with you today. I’m not trying to make you feel bad; I’ve done the same thing. All I’m saying to you is you’re not going to change anything you think is helping you.
I just came to tell you that your distraction is playing you. They take Samson’s vision, and after his vision is gone, it turns nuclear. I’m stopping for a moment because I’m just thinking about what would have happened if I got distracted. I’m sitting here on this day actually messed up, because I was told earlier this week that March 9th, today, is the day that God gave me a vision 10 years ago in my daughter’s room at 7:29. Many of you know the story; many of you know. Just bring it to me real quick, and I blew it up so that you could see the reality of this. I start getting emotional because 10 years ago today, I had nothing. I had just become the lead pastor of Transformation Church 37 days earlier.
I was sitting there with 300 people in the church, and I woke up under anxiety and pressure, not knowing if I could stay pure and not look at pornography, and wondering how I could lead people my parents' age. I just had all this: is anybody going to give? Are they going to trust me? Are they going to find out that I went to jail and had to serve community service? They did; they found out. Let me be clear. But God said, «Michael, I’m going to give you a vision. I’m going to give you a destiny. I’m going to give you a destination.»
Sitting in my daughter’s room at 7:29 a.m. in Bella’s room, I wrote it down: March 9th, 2015, the Spirit Bank Event Center will be Transformation Church. I wrote it down, and I took this picture off of Google. I tried to make the image as good as I can. If you get close up on it, you can see how my page’s document didn’t really allow me to win. I even spelled Transformation wrong! I spelled it «Transform Mayon.» I forgot the «t.» I leave it just like this to let people know that it doesn’t have to be perfect; it has to be written down. It has to come from God. I wrote this down, and as I think about us on March 9th, 10 years later, shooting a movie on this exact day in this facility that was just a vision on a piece of paper.
The first thing said we will have a state-of-the-art facility. This is before we had a speaker, a stage, or lights, and it just goes on to say all of these things. I start to think what would have happened if I would have gotten distracted and believed the lies about what they said, and when God told me to represent and God told us to do Ransom, and then we got people writing blogs about us, what if I would have gotten distracted? I would have missed out on one of the many destinations. Today, I’m just here to ask you not to miss out on whatever God has for you because you’ve fallen in love with a distraction. Your distraction is playing you.
My favorite part about this whole scripture, I’m going to just sit this right here, is Judges 16:22. This is going to encourage somebody. He gets captured, his eyes get gouged out, and he gets put on display. But, oh—somebody shout at me! —I’m not talking about your Gluteus Maximus, but I’m talking about the word that interrupts whatever sentence is being written about you. Whatever lie has been said, God says, «But…» Oh God, whatever path you’ve been on—everything that you’ve been going through—God will significantly step in and say, «But not them! But not my children! But not this family! No, no, no, no, no! They were this, but they’ve been redeemed. They were a liar, but any man that be in Christ is a new creature. They were addicted, but I’m the one who sets you free, and if I set you free, you are free indeed.»
Samson had been distracted his whole life, but before long, the Bible says in verse 22, «his hair began to grow back.» I feel like God is about to do a Rogaine situation in some of y’all’s situations. Your faith is about to grow back; your confidence is about to grow back; your integrity is about to grow back. God is not going to let it end like this! Standing all over this building, what are you saying, Pastor Mike? You can have focus after the failure. Samson, after he lost his eyes, didn’t lose his voice, and he began to pray to God. Some of y’all are in darkness right now, but you still have your voice. Some of you can’t see your way forward, but the enemy wants you to shut up, and you need to use your voice.
Judges 16:28: «Then Samson prayed to the Lord, 'Sovereign Lord, just remember me again. Oh God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow, let me pay back these Philistines.'» What he’s saying is, «With one blow, this one last act, can I please still reach the destiny you assigned me from birth to defeat the Philistines?» I had to go through a lot because I was distracted. I lost my place; I lost my sight; I lost my hair. But one more time, God, could you use me so I can actually fulfill my destiny? He said, «Can I pay them back for the loss of my two eyes?»
Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple, pushing against them not with just his own strength but with the strength of Heaven’s army behind him. With both hands, watch what he did: he’s pushing and praying. He’s pushing and praying; he’s not just pushing. He’s not just using his own strength; he’s pushing and praying. It says with both hands, he pushed. Verse 30: «And he prayed, 'Let me die with the Philistines! '» And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people, so he killed more people when he died than during the time that he was alive. When you turn to Jesus, you can still fulfill your destiny after distraction. Give God praise in this place!
Somebody say, «It’s not finished!» Y’all missed it! Somebody say, «It’s not finished!» So you decide! You decide today. I just want to pray for everybody who knows they have to get off one of these distractions. I’m going to pray for you, and I’m going to ask anybody that wants to ask Jesus into your life to have an opportunity because that’s the only thing that changed my focus. As we do that again, this moment right here is about people giving their lives to Christ. Yeah, we’re about to shoot a scene from a movie right after this, and if you have to go, you can do that. But there is nothing more important that will happen today—not one thing—than this right here because we’re talking about life and death.
Yeah, yeah, yeah! We’re talking about walking around in darkness or walking around in His marvelous light. Today is the day that changed my life, and I need our church to be praying. If you’re watching online right now, today is the day of salvation. If there is any area in your life that you know distraction has been leading you down the wrong path, would you just identify it by lifting your hand? I want to pray for you today. Just in any area, I’m in the right place. Would you join one of those hands and just lift it like you’re ready to receive?
Yeah, Father, today I just thank you that we’re coming to you vulnerably and humbly. We’re repenting; we’re turning, and we’re saying, «God, forgive us for being committed to our distraction more than we have been committed to your instructions.» Today we turn back to you. Whatever you tell us to do, we shall do. Whatever you say that we need to do, we will be obedient. Father, even if we’re in the dark right now and don’t feel like we can hear you speak, Lord, because your servants—your sons and daughters—are listening. Father, we need more than what’s happening right now, and today we know we can’t do it without you. God, let us be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Father, some of us have been so familiar with our Delilahs and our distractions that we don’t even know who we are without them. But today, I thank you for giving us a brand new identity. Yeah, that we can let go of relationships that have nothing for us, Father, and actually live in freedom. That we can, Father God, take our careers that have not been serving us but have been running us, and we can put them in the proper perspective. God, today we are saying there is no one else that we will focus on more than you! And so today, we look to you. Thank you that today will be a line of demarcation because we will not let our distraction steal our vision another day. Heal us, redeem us, refocus us, and I just declare, Father God, that everybody that’s making this decision will find divine help in their everyday life. Father, your Holy Spirit is not just for a church experience; it is, in fact, for how we live in the streets. So God, I thank you that tomorrow, today, this week, and the rest of this year, Father, you will allow us to walk in focus. We will hear you, sense you, Father; it will be so detailed. You’ll be able to say, «Don’t go there,» and we will listen and obey. You’ll be able to say, «Stop talking to them,» and we will listen and obey. You will be able to say, «Father God, sit and wait on me,» and we will wait on you. Do a work on the inside of us, is our prayer.
Now for anybody in here, in the same attitude, because God’s doing heart surgery right now, if you’re in this room and you’ve never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you’re a producer from Hollywood; I don’t care if you came out of here off the street. Today is your day of salvation! God has divinely orchestrated all these moments to get you to this moment right here. I want nothing for you; I want everything for you. I want you to experience the freedom that comes when you surrender your life to Jesus, and it’s very simple.
According to Romans 10:9, it says, «If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, you will be saved.» Is that it? Yeah, there are some other things that you are going to have to go through to actually get your life in line with that, but I’m telling you, your name will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
If you’re watching online or you’re in this room, I’m telling you right now—God wants to transform your life! On the count of three, if that’s you—and there will be multiple people; there are hands already going up—I just want you to throw your hand in the air. One, you’re making the greatest decision of your life; two, I’m proud of you, and your name is going to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life; three, just lift your hands! I see you; I see you, my sister, my brother. I see you; I see you! Come on, y’all! I see you, my brother. More than I see you, God sees you! Y’all let’s celebrate what’s happening in here! Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord! Hey, listen, we’re family at TC; nobody prays alone. Everybody just lift your hands and say:
God, thank you for sending Jesus just for me! Just for me! Today, I give up my distractions and focus on you. I believe you lived; I believe you died; you rose again with all power just for me. Here’s my life; change me, renew me, transform me! I’m yours! I’m yours! In Jesus' name, amen!