Michael Todd - Don't Hate The Player, Change The Game
Open your Bibles to Hebrews 12:1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every weight and everything that hinders, and especially the sin that so easily entangles us. How many people know that there’s some weight and some sin that you’ve been dragging around for a season of your life that needs to come to an end? Weight or sin. Hands up if you need help. Like, it’s either weight or it’s sin. That’s everybody in this room. The Holy Spirit is admonishing us to lay aside all of the weight and all of the sin, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. Somebody say, «Focus.» Say it with faith. Say, «Focus.»
Focus on Jesus, who’s the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Write this point down: I’ve said it every week of every series we’ve done this year, but fixing your eyes on Jesus gives you the faith to focus. Most of you are so distracted because you’re looking at the thing instead of the One who controls the thing. Very good. People are waiting for the universe to give them something, but we serve the God of the universe. Fix your eyes on Jesus. When it comes to focus, many people have to focus on God so they know what to do with—watch this—their money. I’m just grateful that I’ve been through this process of going from someone who was greedy in my heart—I’m just telling my testimony—greedy in my heart, poverty-minded, did not know how to handle anything that God gave me, living beyond my means.
I had a Land Rover, and I bought this Land Rover. If you buy a luxury car and it’s 15 years old, and it’s your new car, and it has… I’m not saying anything, but I was trying to live outside of my means. I was trying to impress people, and come to find out I wasn’t impressing anyone because that thing broke down all the time. And the oil change on a luxury car is different from Jiffy Lube’s. Y’all get what I’m saying? I went from wasting wealth to worshiping wealth, to then getting to the place where I believe all believers should be: having wisdom with wealth. The Bible tells us, above all other things, to get wisdom. Would you say to somebody else that you are wise with wealth? I know you’re a good person; I know your swag is phenomenal; I know you have a great personality and nobody can mess with your makeup game. But are you wise with your resources? Only you can answer that question.
A lot of people lie about it. There are husbands and wives right now that fight about it. There are men in this room who oversee the finances because they say, «I’m the man,» and think no one else can add. No! Come on now! In my family, my dad—come on now! She’s your helpmate for a reason. But out of pride, we stay stuck in a position. And then there are some ladies who think, «I got more degrees than him,» but you don’t have self-control. So you’re hiding and stashing, right? He doesn’t know anything about it—baby, how’s the money? It’s good. It’s good! Amazon packages at your house every day! «Hey, John! Hey, John! Hey, John!» Am I telling my testimony? Oops! I’m just saying maybe it’s time for the believers who want our faith to be big to have our stewardship be bigger. You didn’t hear what I just said. For everything you’re believing God for, you still have to manage it.
And so if you’re praying big prayers, you need to pray for big management. If you’re praying for big dreams and big teams, and big staff, and big cash, you need to pray for big stewardship. That’s right! Because the thing that kills believers more than anything else is God gives you what you prayed for and you weren’t ready for it. It’s killed more marriages; it’s killed more ministries; it’s killed more dreams because we didn’t pray or prepare for the level of stewardship that we were believing God to pour out. His blessing does not need to come from the windows of heaven; He just needs to slip something through the keyhole for us! Y’all know what I’m saying? Because we’re not ready to make Him open the windows of heaven.
«Pour! How big is a window in heaven? Pour you out a blessing you don’t have room enough to receive.» Right now, we need to pray for the management to match. And what I want to tell Transformation Church is I’m proud of you because we’ve been in this series for two weeks. This is week three. And because I believe that the hearts of the people at Transformation Church are moldable, none of us come in here thinking, «No, I know everything.»
The reason we come here is because we don’t know everything, and we want God to show us the places where we’re in darkness, and we want Him to lead us in the right direction. I met with our team that collects all the stats and numbers of things that are happening because there are tens of thousands of us gathered as part of Transformation Church—thousands in this room and tens of thousands online as part of TC Nation. And let me just give y’all some praise reports real quick. The reason I say it’s a praise report is because it’s proof that you’re getting it. If I ask you to do something because God’s word says it, how do we know that we’re actually obeying God? Because there’s proof that we’re doing it! And so I just want to let you know in the last two weeks, there have been 625 new givers who have never given before—ever!
Oh y’all, that’s huge! 625 people took a step of faith. When I saw that number, I said, «625 families have the ability to now walk into another level of blessing and stewardship!» 625 people have stepped over the barrier of fear and stepped into faith! Y’all, I got too happy because I know what happens when I did it! I told the team in the back, «I’m so happy for all of these people because what they’re saying is, 'I’m no longer in control. God, it’s above me now.'» Y’all missed it—it’s above me now! I honored you, and you see what’s going on. «Do your thing; you’re going to have to come through.» Your word says, «Test me.» And I am so proud of the people in this room and online who have stepped over that line. Let me tell you something that’s even doper, and many of you won’t get it until you get it. But there are 37 people who said, «I’m not going to debate every time I get paid.»
They set their families up on recurring giving. They said, «Take it! The government takes theirs; I know what I make. God, I’m not putting you last; I’m putting you first!» Y’all don’t understand what happens. And it’s so simple, but it does take faith. It’s so simple—watch this—but it’s not easy! Because of the faithfulness of the people in this room, we are walking into another level of blessing. It reminds me of what I’ve been praying for you all week. I’ve been praying for you. Um, what God did for the church and the city in 2 Chronicles, I’m praying it over your life. Let me tell you what He did for them. Hezekiah was a king at the time, and he realized that the entire nation was in famine and recession, and he was reading some old scriptures. What ended up happening is he realized that they were disobeying God because they weren’t bringing a tenth of everything that God gave them to Him.
And so, he puts out a decree: «Hey, everybody, um, I don’t know how y’all are going to take this, but we got to start tithing because y’all see it’s already not going good! But God said if we do it it would be His bill and His deal.» So I want everybody—this is a government official putting this out to the whole world: «Y’all, we got to tithe or our nation’s going down!» 2 Chronicles 31:4 says, «Moreover, he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord.»
As soon as the commandment was circulated— as soon as the group texts went out— the children of Israel obeyed and brought in abundance the first fruits, or the tithe, of the grain and the wine and the oil and the honey. They brought the tenth of their increase and all the produce of their field, and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. And the children of Israel and Judah, who dwelt in the cities of Judah, brought the tithe of oxen and sheep, also the tithe of holy things which were consecrated to the Lord their God. They laid it out in heaps. In the third month, they began laying them out in heaps, and they finished in the seventh month. When Hezekiah and the leaders came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and His people of Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned, «Hey, is everybody okay? These heaps are really heaping! This is a lot of heaps!»
Verse 10—And Aariah said, «Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have had plenty left! For the Lord has blessed His people, and what is left is in great abundance.» He said, «This is just the tithe. The people are doing fine! Matter of fact, they’re doing better than fine!» Since they started doing it God’s way, he said, «This is the 10%! Wait till you see the 90%!» I’ve been praying this blessing over every person that God would allow you to step out in faith and not even feel it. I’m telling you what your pastor has been praying for you: that your faith step will be like, «Oh shoot! I have been obeying God consistently! I didn’t even feel that!»
Okay, and I know when I’m talking about money, people’s butts get tight. Oh, I know your faces. Y’all don’t laugh at stuff that’s funny. I see you! I’m looking at you. Hello! Some of y’all look like you were baptized in pickle juice! It just looks…it really looks like, «Why did I come? I should have gone to another church today!» But I think God has a message for you. And I think tithing is kind of a serious thing to God. Grayson, Charles, will y’all stand up real quick? And I just want to show you this easy example.
Let’s say I’m going away on a trip. And let’s say, you know, I’m going to provide for Pastor Natalie; she ain’t going to have to worry about no team. No, she doesn’t have to worry about anything; I’m already providing for her! But I want to funnel some extra funds through my guys. And so I’m going to give each one of y’all $10,000 a month. This is just an example—Grayson, calm down! I’m going to give each of you $10,000 a month, but all I’m asking is you give $1,000 to Natalie every month. It’s easy! So I’m gone for a few months; I don’t know what’s happening. Natalie’s good. I call her back and say, «Hey babe, how’s everything going with the finances that were supposed to be coming in from my guys?» She said, «Let’s talk about it real quick.» Will sends $1,000 every month like clockwork! Every time! I mean, it’s almost like the first and the fifteenth—clockwork! I said, «That’s good.»
All right, Will. What about Charles? Charles sends 2,000. I didn’t ask him. I didn’t ask him to send 2,000. I know, but every time he sends 2,000. Okay. So what about Grayson? Well, we need to talk about Grayson. The first month he sent 700. The second month he sent 250. And this last month he didn’t send anything. He didn’t send anything? Yeah, he didn’t send anything. Now, what would be my response as the one who provided the 10,000 for them in the first place? Somebody said, «Finish him.» No, I’m not going to Mortal Kombat him, but what I am going to do is take what I was funneling through him and give it to someone trustworthy. You don’t think God is going to do that? Go back and watch last week’s message when we talked about the talents. All I’m saying is, doesn’t this story sound familiar?
Didn’t Jesus tell us, «I’m going away for a little bit»? He said, «And I need the people that are part of this thing to take care of my bride.» Right? Isn’t the church called the bride of Christ? Okay, and he said, «All I need you to do is honor me with the 10% to take care of my bride.» What I’m saying is tithing may be more personal to Jesus than we think. Say «La,» pause and think: is this really the hill we want to fight God on? No, I know — like, what about the dinosaurs? And what about this, and what about that? But is giving really the thing that we want to argue about? Show me, prove it to me, tell me that’s the one you want to discuss today. I thought it would be good for me to zoom out because I feel like sometimes when I start talking about giving and stuff like that, I’m trying to convince someone of something that isn’t even mine to convince you of. Very good.
This is what God set up; this is how he wants his children to live. I’m just telling you about it. I don’t want you to be in ignorance; I just want you to be informed. But how you live, that’s on you. Me? I’m already over here blessed. Oh, y’all! And I’m not blessed because I’m part of Transformation Church; I’m blessed because I obey the principles that God gives. What I’m telling you right now is your blessing is in obedience. And so I said, «What would make somebody fight giving?» And I thought, «It’s because they just don’t understand how important it is in the grand scheme of God’s plan.» So can we zoom out today for a second, everybody? We going to zoom out for a second. Because Proverbs 3:9-10 says, «Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops. Then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.»
I want that. I want the overflowing vats. I don’t know what a vat is completely, but I want it. So then I probably should actually find out why this is important. And it brought me to watching basketball. You know, sports are just a universal analogy that most people get. If you don’t get it, I’ll walk slow today, and I promise you’ll be okay. March Madness is going on right now, and there are a few teams left. We’re almost down to the final four. When I was watching basketball, I was talking to one of my friends and I saw this clip that happened on November 25, 2017. It was a game between Alabama and Minnesota. There was a moment in this game where several members of the Alabama team fouled out, and then one of them got hurt. They got into this situation where they were playing this game three on five in a college D1 game: three players against how many players?
Five players. And this fascinated me. Matter of fact, instead of me talking about it, let me just show you a little clip of what happened in this game. «No good on the three, and he’s hurt. Alabama’s playing with four players and now down to three. Ston’s going to try to make something happen. Shoots it and hits it. It’s a three! Ston down six! Three on five! Dishes off! It’s a dunk! He singlehandedly kept Alabama in this ball game! He was getting oxygen on the bench; he was huffing and puffing.» Stadium is your new national news and sports network. We focus on the sports at Stadium, folks: the only 24/7 network available on both television and digital services without a cable subscription. 40 points for three players against five players! You could say they were a man down; they were playing in a game with an opposition not fully manned!
Did you see the moment where he shot the free throw, and then he walked over and gave high fives to the air? Y’all have to go back and watch the clips again. He was supposed to be unified with something that was not there. And I begin to think about how this team lost 89 to 84. Almost! Yeah, almost won the game. But we will never know what that game could have been! Come on, if they would have had all the players on the basketball court. I started to think about most believers. Most believers are playing this life a man down. Most believers are putting prayer in the game and church going in the game, but they’re leaving out some of the best players that God has intended to be a part of the process of the game of life and the life of faith. We have been playing a man down. And today, I’m just coming to ask you: don’t hate the player.
Some of y’all hate the players. You’re hating on the players that God has chosen to be the conduit to shape your faith, and you’re getting run off the court. Yeah! Everything is able to take you out because you will not play all the players that are there for you to play. In our faith, we have five things that God says every believer should be constantly working on and that should be playing at all times on the court. It’s God’s starting five. But you hate the player! You don’t like the way this player comes in; you don’t like the way that they were forced onto your team. «I wouldn’t even pick that player!» You’re not the GM, okay? You don’t get to make the roster. You just get to coach the players. You’re the one that can send them into the game or take them out of the game, but you don’t get to choose if they have the jersey. And God has chosen a starting five for every believer.
And most of y’all would rather run three on five and get your butt kicked than to play all the players that God has called us to have. Matter of fact, I need y’all to see this analogy even deeper. Let me introduce you to God’s starting lineup! Ladies and gentlemen, from the foundation of time, God has desired his kingdom to be here on earth as it is in heaven. So today, I’m introducing to you the team that represents the King. It is the Kingdom Conquerors starting at our first position. He is the one that was there since the garden. Give it up for prayer! And ladies and gentlemen, coming right after prayer, it is the thing — the love letter he left for all of humanity! He’s at the number two spot. Will you give it up for Bible reading? And at our third position — at our third position, he tells us that it’s not good for man to be alone.
So in God’s starting five at number three, it is gathering at church. And at number four, he’s the man that makes everything work! There are certain things that don’t change unless this person is a lockdown defender. Will you give it up for fasting, ladies and gentlemen? Will you give it up for fasting? Try again! Fasting! Fasting! Fasting! Try again! Get fasting! Get up! Get a layup! There we go! Will we give it up for the Kingdom Conquerors?! All right, you can bring the lights up! That was great! What? You say that’s only four? One, we got prayer, we got Bible reading, we got gathering at church, we got fasting. Okay, well, most of us like this. Let’s be honest. Most of us are okay with this. Most of us are good. Matter of fact, the whole bench doesn’t get to play. Coach Ray, could you come out here for me real quick?
See, because Coach Ray is going to represent all of y’all. And yeah, Coach Ray! Yeah! Yeah, Coach Ray! So the thing about Coach Ray is Coach Ray gets to dictate who actually plays the game. Before you are saved, none of the players are on the court. And as soon as you are born, the game starts. So what I’m saying is, it is important for us if you are not saved. If you’ve not given your life to Jesus Christ, if you have not turned over control, then today I want you to do that because there are no players. You’re not praying; you’re not reading your Bible; you’re sure not fasting. Come on now, it’s not happening. But most of us, the first thing that we can do if we are in a dire situation, grandma might have taught us how to do it. We do it before we eat our food — we invite up prayer! Prayer! Come on, prayer! How many people like to pray? Glory to God!
Okay! If you like to pray, cool! Prayer is connection! Prayer is our player of connection! James 5:16 says, «Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed because the effectual fervent prayers of righteous people avail.» We need prayer on our team! Prayer sometimes is the only thing that we can get to. It’s communication and connection with God. Prayer was what Adam and Eve were doing in the cool of the day. It was the first thing the enemy was trying to interrupt — their connection. The reason he came in to lie to them is because he wanted Adam and Eve to be disconnected from their source. And the reason God fights so hard to have a connection with you is because when you talk to Him, there’s a transfer. You get heavenly power to do earthly things when you’re in connection with Him! But that’s why distractions come — to break the connection.
Anger comes to break the connection. Sin comes to break the connection. Every believer should have prayer on their team, and not just once in a while; every day, every hour, every minute. For me, sometimes it’s every moment! That’s why the Bible says to us in Philippians 4:6, «Don’t worry about anything.» He gives us a trade. Instead, do what? Pray! Not gossip, not complain, not… He said, «I’m giving you the antidote to worry! Put prayer on the floor and pray about everything!» Pray about my edges going back! Pray about everything! Come on, y’all! Pray about growing a little taller! Pray about everything! Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He’s already done. Then you will experience — watch this — this is the guarantee of your prayer. It’s not what you pray for. Hear what I just said: the guarantee of your prayer is not what you pray for.
The guarantee of your prayer is peace! God said, «You can pray about stuff. Bring it to me; thank me for what I’ve already done!» He said, «And then you will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything you can understand right now!» His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And so we put prayer on the floor and then, we’re like, «You know what, prayer? Come on down here, man! You’re on the floor, brother. I appreciate you, brother! Thanks for the connection with God, baby!» And most of us, as long as we have prayer, we think, «God understands my heart. He knows; we talked.» The thing about prayer is, if you talk to Him, He’s going to talk back to you! And many times when He talks back to you, He’ll say stuff like this: «Go to that church.» «God, you know I don’t do people!»
Come on! These are some of the things we say! «No, you know it’s too big.» «You know it’s too small.» «You know they don’t play the worship music I like.» And finally, somebody invites you that maybe you like, or maybe it’s a friend or maybe it’s a client, and you’re going because you actually want to get a sale. And God’s not offended by none of that. He said, «I’ll let you come in anyway you can.» And then what a lot of believers do is they put prayer on the floor and then they put gathering in church. Come on out here, gathering in church! Yeah, what’s up, man? And see, gathering in church is something God tells us to do. It’s gathering in community.
It’s Acts 2:42: «They devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to, oh, prayer! There it is again — prayer!» There you go! Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were performed by the apostles. All the believers were, somebody say, «together!» Together! And they had everything in common. Going to church, gathering in church, is something that God intends for all of His children to do. I understand that some of you are in situations where you may not be able to gather with a bunch of people consistently, but most of you are right. I understand the one-off situations, but do you know what Barna, which is a company that does a lot of church surveys, says?
The average Christian goes to church one time a month! Once a month! I can’t even start my sermon series from last week because you’re still on last month! How can we build? How can we continue? How can I teach you something, and you go to one class a week? But most believers pray and go to church occasionally. The sad thing about this is that this is where most people’s Christian faith stops. This is what you are about to put on the floor every day to fight the enemy who wants to take your head off. «Sir, I’m going to pray about it and I’m going to go to church when it gets really bad.» You know what? I felt something while I was on the toilet—Man, God told me to go to church today. And you know what? I went to church and it was just what I needed. It was my hit. It was my drug. It was the thing that made me feel better for a while, and I’ll be good till next month.
I’m not saying I’ve figured it all out; I was there once. I’m just telling you that this thing is more important. Yes, it’s more than just putting two people on the floor when my life, my children, and my family are in the balance. When a believer gets to the next level, what they are supposed to do is go and put the Bible on the floor. Coach, put the Bible in! How many people love reading the word of God? I sound like hatching dinosaurs! Because the truth of the matter is most of us have more dust on our Bible than scriptures we have memorized. The Bible, write this down, is concrete. Yes, it is! It’s the one thing we can’t change; it’s the thing we’re supposed to build our foundation on.
Isaiah 40:8 says, «The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever.» Psalms 119:105 states, «The word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.» If you are a super Christian, this is your team right here. «I read the Bible and I know what it says! Hey, I go to my church! Don’t nobody stop me from getting into the house of God! And I’ve got a seat! If you sit in my seat, I…!» Me and God—nobody can steal our connection! Me and Him, watch this—30 years, 40 years, a lifetime of faith! Three people—this is what everyone is clapping for! This is what everybody is applauding for! Yet when the opposition comes, we have no idea what to do! Would you step back for a second? Because the truth of the matter is all of us have not figured out that our opposition plays all five players, full-court press, all the time.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you our opposition. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the Wicked Wizard! Here they come! The Wicked Wizards! The Wicked Wizards! The Wicked Wizard! The Wicked Wizard! All right, shut up! Sit down! Wickedness tries to intimidate you. It walks in pride, and they play all of their players. Most of us—I want you to paint this picture so vividly that you never forget it. I want to give you the opposition. See, this is prayer. But the opposition of prayer? You know what it is? Independence! Independence, come here! Prayer and independence, y’all stand right there. Face each other! Come on, prayer! Yeah, yeah! Come on, prayer! Do a push-up or something! No, no, no! I want to let you know—if you don’t put prayer in the game, you’re saying that you don’t need God! There was a quote I once heard that said, «A day without prayer is a boast against God.»
Every day you go without praying, you’re saying, «God, I don’t need you! It’s okay! No, I know! No, no, I don’t need you! I’ll be safe without you! I run this anyway.» Most of us have decided to pray only when we need something—not pray because it’s what we need! You missed it! We pray when we need something instead of praying because it’s what we need. And all I’m saying to you right now is this big old joker of independence is something we’re going to fight every day! It is an opposition that every person faces. How many of us say, «Forget it! I don’t need you! I don’t need you! And I sure don’t need you, Jerome!» You know we all have that voice. And that’s when God says, «Pray about everything! Bring that boss, bring that co-worker, bring that situation.» Because independence is going to play!
Y’all go sit down! Because the other thing is that when you don’t read the Bible, there’s an opposition to not reading the Bible. Do y’all know? Hold on! Write this down: The game of life is not just a warm-up; it’s warfare! The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12, «For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in heavenly places.» I’m not trying to make this spooky; I’m trying to make it real! When you don’t pray, when you don’t do what God says, they’re coming after you! That’s right! The enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy your life, family, and legacy. He wants to steal your purpose! And you won’t even put the players on the floor that God tells you that you can win with!
Write this down! You can’t overcome without opposition! I’m an overcomer! What are you overcoming? Opposition! Most people think opposition is a sign that God is not with them. What you need to understand is that opposition is necessary to show that God is with you! You cannot overcome if there’s nothing to go over! And so, God is telling you to put all the players on the floor! Stop hating the players! Stop hating the player that maybe your mom or dad misrepresented. Stop hating the player because one time you were hurt in that area. That’s good! You read the Bible one time, and you thought it was the right interpretation, and people made fun of you because you had it wrong, and you were just trying. And because there was hurt there, now you step back. «Well, I can’t say this, but I don’t like looking stupid! I’m not reading the Word anymore!» You’re saying, «That’s a funny example!»
There are people who will not read the Bible because they don’t want to look dumb. Right? Let me tell you something: Just make it up! That’s what all preachers do! We don’t know what those words are! Some of us study, and other ones just say, «Man!» and you know what? I get the point! Come on, y’all! Manuski, obey God! Thank you, Manuski! All I’m saying is that sometimes we keep players off the floor because of hurt! We were injured in an area! And what I’m telling you right now is put all your players on the floor! Because when God tells you to read the Bible daily, Bible reading—come up here! He tells you to read the Bible! But the problem is if you don’t read the Bible, guess what the opposition of not reading the Bible is? Ignorance!
Come on up here, ignorance! And ignorance—watch this—ignorance is a menace! Because ignorance doesn’t look very powerful up against the Word of God, but ignorance does stuff to annoy you! Y’all ever played against someone who plays defense and just annoys you? «Get off me! Just move!» You can’t! That’s what ignorance is! It robs you in the light because you didn’t study in the dark! Hear what I just said to you! Ignorance robs you in front of people because you didn’t do what you were supposed to do in the dark! That’s why the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy, «Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly able to divide the word of truth.»
That’s why I’m asking everybody to become literate in the Bible! Like, study the Bible! Get a topical study Bible! Go to Barnes & Noble, go to Amazon, and order something that breaks it down! Get a concordance! Get something so you don’t just take it at face value! Like, «Man, this is an old book, so maybe I need to know what they meant when they were saying this!» Because when you get an understanding, you walk in—somebody say wisdom! Okay? And some of y’all are walking in ignorance quoting Bible scriptures! That’s why when everybody says, «I can do all my favorite scripture! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!» You know because that scripture is Paul talking! And if you listen to what he said before it, he’s literally saying, «I’ve been flogged, I’ve been beaten, I’ve been wrecked, I’ve had a lot, I’ve had a little—I was killing Christians, now I’m a Christian.» He said, «I’ve learned contentment in every season.»
So I’ve concluded, «I can do all things—be broke or be blessed.» That is not saying you can dunk if you’re 5'4»! Yet ignorance will put something in a place that makes us think that God said He’s going to do something, which creates resentment because you had an unspoken expectation! You kept quoting, «I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,» and you’ve been trying to do something that God didn’t call you to do! And so now your feelings get hurt and now you’ve got to deconstruct your faith because at this point you are frustrated by something you made up that God never said! Okay, let me walk back over here. So that’s why we’ve got to read the Bible! Y’all go sit down right here.
Um, let me show you the opposition of gathering in church because a lot of people are fighting this one! Because a lot of people don’t come to church consistently because you feel like it doesn’t matter that much. True! But this is what I’m going to tell you, especially in 2025, where gathering has been the practice of the church since it started! Go to Acts 2:42. You got it? Good! Because they gathered every day! You mad about once a week? Imagine seeing me every day! «Good morning! How you doing? Hair looks good!» They gathered every day around the apostles' teachings and they shared everything they had! But if you don’t gather—come here! Gathering! Then something else comes: isolation!
And more people are being taken out by isolation because they will not consistently gather in the house of God! And God is telling you right now: the thing you’re praying against—"God, just let me have some friends! They’re at church! Lord, please let me not feel lonely! They’re at church! God, I want to get married—they’ve got to be at church!» Do you understand what I’m saying? Come on, sis! Whatever you’ve got down, in the name of Jesus, I’m going to keep preaching! But we thank God that there’s deliverance happening right here! I think she heard the message from a few weeks ago that said to lay aside every weight. And y’all should be rejoicing right now!
There’s a weight being laid aside right now! You don’t know what it is; you don’t know where it is, but we believe that God is doing a work! This is why we come to church—because we are getting out what God has for us, what He planned for us! Everybody listen to me! And I need the church to be praying because this is what we do: we invite the broken! We invite the hurting! We invite those who have been violated! We invite those who have been…! Okay, y’all, you’re so bothered by the way it happened that you can’t even celebrate what God’s doing! You don’t know the desperation that was in that moment! You don’t know how much fear had to be overcome to get to that moment! Listen! And some say, «Well, maybe it was a show! You didn’t have to do that at that moment!»
Hey, listen! I’ve been at a place of desperation before where it couldn’t wait another minute! Our team is ministering to her right now, and you better get ready for more of that! If you want everything to be politically correct and put in the right place, if you come to the hospital and you bleed out, they put you in surgery right then! They don’t wait for another moment! Why? Oh, I forgot! Gathering at church is for you! Instead of it being the hospital for humanity, it has become a club for the holy! And I’m just saying, man, if you’re perfect, go start your own church because everybody in here has a story, a testimony! And the only reason sometimes I feel better about what God’s doing in my life is I come to church and I see other broken people lifting their hands, and I see other struggling fathers crying, and I see other single mothers trying to figure out how to make ends meet, and they’re trying to do what God’s called them to do, worshiping at the altar with their children because their daddy is nowhere to be found!
All I see is people saying, «God, if you can do anything, sir! Yes, sir! Yes, sir! I’m coming to you!» But do you know how the enemy picks us off? Isolation! And the truth of the matter is, even as I’m talking to the screen right now, there are people at home right now that you have the ability to be in a house! And I’m not scolding you because maybe because of hurt, frustration, and being treated wrong, something has kept you away from gathering! What I’m saying is you’ve got to try again because the isolation and the lies! Sometimes you just need a person to interrupt that! You need a hug to interrupt that! You need a smile to interrupt that! You need to be in the presence! When we were singing earlier today, something changed on the inside of me! Hearing everybody sing, «Here’s my worship,» I was like, «What else do I have to give?» Something happens when we gather together!
And today, if you’re fighting isolation, God gave you a cure in His starting five: Gather with other believers get in an ecclesia. Okay, let me keep going. Y’all sit down; we’re almost there. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:25, in case anybody needs a Bible for that: «And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.» Okay, here we go. The opposition of fasting, real quick. Fasting, come up here. See the opposition of fasting? Watch this: it’s idolatry. If you never fast, you have idols. Yes, I can guarantee there are other things in your life that occupy the position God is supposed to fill. For many of us, it’s money; for some of us, it’s success; for others of us, it’s women; for some of us, it’s men. But there is an idol.
If you don’t kill your flesh, your flesh will kill you. And that’s why I tell people, everybody’s like, «I do the Daniel fast. I did the 21-day Daniel fast. I do a fast with the church.» You shouldn’t just do a fast with the church; you should live a fasted life. Some of y’all—some of y’all should—every Monday, what you doing? None of your business, 'cause I don’t got to tell everybody. Y’all out here fasting? Look, look, look. Y’all look skinny. This is not a diet. If you’re going to still gossip—I saw that tweet—if you’re going to still gossip and lie, you might as well eat. Do you understand what I’m saying? You might as well take a bite of chicken! What God’s trying to do is take layers off of your heart and life. But some things, the Bible says, only get changed through prayer and fasting.
The crazy thing is there’s another piece of opposition that’s right here, and this guy’s name is supposed to be playing against giving. But immaturity keeps you from giving, thinking that you got it all together and God doesn’t know what He’s talking about. Immaturity makes you not give. So the whole team is on the floor. Coach, you represent the people. You can go sit down. The whole team is full; y’all got a ball. The whole team is on the floor. Give them the ball. You stand right there, coach. Okay, y’all going this way. Coach, ask the people who they should put on the floor. Who y’all want to put on the floor to go against them? Everybody? Yeah, duh. But in your life, which player gets put on the floor first? Come on, talk to me! What is it? Prayer? Bible? Everybody for Bible, raise your hand! Everybody for prayer, raise your hand! Who’s up?
Okay, prayer’s out here. Come on out here, prayer! Prayer, put them on the floor, coach. All right, y’all—go score! Prayer, your prayer life is worn out. Look at prayer. Come on, get him! The prayer—go! Your prayer life is worn out. Look at all the work prayer’s got to do by itself! «I bind and rebuke,» and «I come against the lies!» And then what happens? The opposition is dunking on you. Okay, all right, all right! Prayer needs some help. I see that. Prayer needs some milk! Who else? Who do we put in the game? Who? Bible? Come on out here, Bible! Y’all give it up for the Bible on the Kingdom Conquerors!
All right, Bible and prayer: five against two. Let’s go! Look at them—got a little more, got a little more, a little more. Oh shoot! Easy. Now hold on! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! The only thing Bible and prayer can do against this many people is Steph Curry it from right there. Come on, just go! Come on, from right there. So close! So close! So close to getting the transformation! So close to my son or daughter coming back to God! So close to walking free from that addiction! So close! But many times we’re throwing up shots, prayers, scripts, and we ain’t got all our players on the floor! We still got fasting! Y’all, who y’all want to put in next? We still got fasting, and going to church, gathering, coming to church. I need some other believers! Come on—come to church! Get out here! Woo! All right! Let’s play! Here we go! Y’all got to score at least once! Lord Jesus! Lord! Nope! Block him! Oh glory! He did it!
Now watch! Now watch, watch, watch! I hit a full shout 'cause for once in my life, after 21 days of prayer and fasting, I put Bible in, I put prayer in, I put fasting in! And God spoke, and I got one point scored! Well, two points, but I scored one goal, and then I get discouraged 'cause it took all that; it took all of that to just get tired because they’re incomplete. Your spiritual life gets tired because you’re not using all the players. This is so good! And I just want you to see this right now: the opposition has not taken a break, 'cause their whole goal is to stop you from doing what God has called you to do. That goal represents your purpose; that goal represents you being the man or the woman of God He’s created you to be. That goal represents you touching other people’s lives.
And the enemy wants to twist all of your effort into something that, watch this, makes you so frustrated that you throw the ball to the other team, give it to them, and y’all go sit down on the bench. Have you ever seen a player check himself out of the game? I dare say that many believers have put all their people on the bench, and God’s like, «Hey, they’re about to run up the score, and it’s about to not be good if you don’t put somebody in.» Okay, I guess I’ll go to Easter. Come on, play! Uh, thank God for ransom! Yeah! And then Easter’s over—give him the ball 'cause you ain’t coming back! Come on, go sit down! Come on, y’all! But what would happen if all of these players that are currently on the bench actually found themselves on the floor? Y’all come on out here, coach! Get them in! Come on, blow the whistle, coach! Blow the whistle! Get on the floor!
Now listen—uh-oh! Now we have a matchup! Four out of the five players have somebody that they can play one-on-one with. There are things the enemy is trying to wear you out with that God has a direct answer for it—a direct answer for it! But you’ve got to put fasting on the floor. You’ve got to put gathering on the floor. You’ve got to put Bible reading—you’ve got to put prayer on the floor! Y’all score a basket! Please, somebody score a basket! Now y’all keep them from trying to score a basket. Uh-huh! Okay, now there’s some fouls in there. There are some fouls, but the wicked, they play dirty. Come on, let’s go! What y’all doing? The whole world is watching y’all! Y’all looking trash right now! Uh-oh, uh-oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! I like it! Come on, let’s see what else happens! Go! Go! Yeah! Let me get off the white! Oh, out of bounds! Out of bounds on black! It’s white ball. Come on, come on out here! White ball! You get—it’s white ball! Oh, you don’t want the ball? Get it! Fasting! Here we go!
Come on, come on! Uh-oh! Oh! Oh Jesus! Oh Lord! Oh! Uh-oh! Uh-oh! Fasting! All right, all right, all right! We’ll be here till 4:00! And everybody’s like, «Let’s go!» Jerseys sold in the represent store. Okay, I’m just—alright, watch. We should do an All-Star game or something here one Sunday! We going—we should do that! Okay, we’re going to do that. See all these y’all favorite church singers and pastors spraining ankles? It’s a much more formidable game if all four of these players are on the floor! But is it God’s starting four? Or is it God’s starting—hey, giving! Could you come out on the floor, please? Will y’all cheer as giving is coming to the floor? Uh-oh! Uh-oh! Uh-oh! My man over here said, «Man up! Man up! Man up! Man up!»
Now when you put giving—dang! That brother is big! When you put giving—oh, look at him! All right, well y’all got to play now! Come on, let’s go! Abuse him! God, let me see that! Let me—well, Big E—well, okay! Well, the analogy is made! He got to sit out. All right, all right, all right! When all five players got on the floor, there was a shift in momentum! Uh-oh! When all five players got on the floor—when we had prayer, and Bible reading, and church gathering, and fasting, and giving—and you should have heard the wicked wizards! They were like, «Man up! Get him! Get him!» The matchup is not even fair when you play the players God has intended for our faith! I hope this analogy never leaves your mind! Why did you go through all of this? 'Cause I want you to see that most believers are a few good men down! But if you, the coach of the team, would say, «I’m making a decision today! Yes, I’m putting prayer in every day, and I’m putting the word—I’m reading the word all the time, and I’m coming to church regularly, and whenever God puts it on my heart to fast, I’m going to push my plate away! I’m going to push Netflix away! I’m going to push all that away! And I ain’t going to tell everybody, and, um, if you don’t hear from me, it’s 'cause I’m fasting! Please leave! Shut up!»
The Bible says you’re not supposed to look ashy around the mouth so everybody can give you a piece of food! Stop! You should actually be more vibrant! But for many of you, I’m just coming to tell you: don’t hate the player! Giving hasn’t played in your game yet! And God’s coming to ask you, would you make giving the foundation? For God so loved the world, He—I mean you can still see my giving! Oh, y’all missed it! I’m not that big, but my giving—when I walk around, you don’t even understand what God could do! All I’m asking is today, would you trust God with His starting five to be your starting five? Today, many of you got paid on Friday; I’m not tell—I don’t got no access to none of your phones! I ain’t got no bank information! I’m just saying: don’t fail this test! God’s requiring something of you that takes you to take everybody off the bench and put them in the game! I’m going to read one more scripture. Y’all can sit on the bench real quick, both of y’all.
Matthew 7:24, our last scripture, and we’re getting out of here. This is Jesus talking. He said, «Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house on the rock.» Pastor Mike, what are you saying? Everybody that puts prayer in the game, that puts Bible reading, gathering in church, fasting, and giving—everybody who does that—they will be like a wise man or woman who builds their house on the rock. And then the rain fell, and then the floods came, and then the winds blew, and then circumstances happened, and I lost some investments, and my house caught on fire, and people stole from me. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock! Verse 26: «And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.»
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and my baby daddy left me, and I lost my job! Come on, I’m just trying to make it real! And—and—and, uh, I wrecked my car on accident, and the wind blew and beat against the house, and it fell! And great was the fall of it! Today, as your pastor, I feel like in this third week of this series, my greatest desire is for everybody to build their house on the rock! This is what Jesus said—not what Pastor Mike or a pastor said. It’s what Jesus said! Don’t hate the player; change the game right now!
If you decide to do it God’s way, you will change the game of your life, your future, your family’s future! And today, we’re not going to worship wealth! We’re not going to be wicked, and we’re not going to waste wealth! We’re not going to be wicked! Don’t put this jersey on today! We’re going to walk in wisdom, be kingdom conquerors, and see God do amazing things as we obey His word! Would you stand all over this place? Hey, before you rush out of here, can I just pray for you? Would you just lift your hands right now? Today, God, I’m asking you—come on, hands lifted—if you know this word has convicted you, and there’s something in you that you know you need to change, you need to change the game today! Today, I just want you to lift your hands!
Father, I pray for every person under the sound of my voice. Those who are struggling maybe with one of the things that you’ve called us to—maybe several of the things you’ve called us to! Father, today, I’m asking you for a new revelation of what it means to put all of the players that you’ve given us in the game! God, I thank you that this moment will be ingrained, and I thank you, Father God, that you are working on the hearts of men and women right now to believe you beyond what they’ve seen before! Today, I thank you for transformation! I thank you, Father God, that somebody’s getting the faith and the courage to step over the line! Father, I thank you that there are high school students in here that are making decisions that are going to change their family forever! I thank you, Father, that there are senior citizens in here, Father God, that have said, «I’ve done it the wrong way my whole life, but today I’m making a new commitment!» Thank God! I thank you! Whole lines and legacies of people will be changed because of practical wisdom and quick obedience. Father, for every person taking a step over the line today to tithe, I thank You that the prayer I’ve prayed privately, I’ll pray publicly. Father, let Your windows of heaven be poured out so much that they don’t even feel it. God, I thank You today that Transformation Church will collectively, watch this, and individually become the most generous church because we obey as You increase. Change us from the inside out, God, in Jesus' name.
Everybody look at me real quick. I started to think about giving, and I’ll just add this little phrase with it. When you get your notes or if you’re typing on your phone, I want you to write this down: «Giving is our calling.» A lot of people say, «Pastor Mike, I’m trying to figure out my calling. I want to know what God has called me to do.» God has called every believer to give, not just money but to give. How do you get saved? For God so loved the world that He gave. How do you invite somebody else to get saved? You have to give them an invitation. This whole Christian life is about giving. And when I thought about the mark of our church, we’re a church of generosity. We give just to give and not to get. We don’t give for love; we give from love. And God has blessed us.
I thought, «What would it look like on this day, where God is doing surgery on our hearts, for us to not pray for a blessing but to be a blessing to somebody else?» So I began to think, «Hold on, this is our calling as a church.» We’ve done it over and over because of the faithfulness of the people in this room and all over the world. Today, we’re going to exercise our calling one more time. Is it okay if we exercise and walk in our calling? I heard about a church that just started about three weeks ago in Austin, Texas. It’s called House of Light Church. Pastor Will Wilson Jr., would somebody call them and tell them that a check for $100,000 is on the way? Oh, y’all better help me praise God in this place! They just started, and we’re going to bless them to be able to touch the city of Austin. Somebody say, «Don’t hate the player.» Yeah, it’s giving. It’s giving. Nobody hates the player of giving when they’re on the receiving end. Nobody hates it when they’re on the receiving end. But do you know what the Bible says? It’s more blessed to give than it is to receive. I want to know what that feels like, so we’re getting practice today.
I heard about another church that’s in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. IA, who is at the Church of the Whale, will somebody send her this message right here and let her know that at the Church of the Whale, there’s a $100,000 check on the way to you today on behalf of God and Transformation Church? I dare you to celebrate like it just happened to you! Your heart is getting exposed. When you can celebrate what God is doing, it means He’s in the neighborhood and trying to figure out who can steward over more. It’s so crazy to watch people’s reactions when we do this, because the enemy does one of two things. He either makes you celebrate, or he makes you jealous. The enemy doesn’t make you celebrate; you either celebrate because you think about the goodness of God, or you get jealous, thinking «Why wouldn’t God do that for me? Why hasn’t He done it?» I’m trying to tell you that the heart of generosity is what God wants to work into all of us.
And Pastor Mike, why do we do this publicly? It’s our giving! I don’t want to be behind the scenes making decisions about this. I’m a man of integrity; I’m not about to fool with what God is commanding us to do on Earth. I don’t know these people; I don’t have any connection with them. I believe God is doing this, and I believe He’s going to do it even more. Y’all didn’t even hear me. Thank you, Jared, for being one more person to believe! What if—how many weeks are in a year? What if we gave $100,000 away every week? Y’all don’t hear me! Pastor Tammy, what if we could give to another church every time we gathered? We gave $100,000 to another ministry, nonprofit, or church. You don’t even have to give; you can at least celebrate with me! God one day, because eyes have not seen and ears have not heard of that before. What’s that—my math is kind of— that’s 5.2, right? 52 weeks times 100,000. Hold on, is that right? Carry the zero, minus 10… Tammy’s like, «Yes, yes, yes!» 5.2. We’re going to do it one day. Mark my words.
Because there’s the Hezekiah blessing. He said, «No, this is just a 10%.» God has blessed their businesses. God has blessed their homes. God has blessed their lives. Okay, so the last church—God is doing something in this church that is so special. I’ve seen firsthand what God is doing, and this pastor actually came to Tulsa earlier this year to talk about their transition. They never asked for anything, and I wasn’t even thinking. The Holy Spirit put them on our heart through one of our staff members. So today, I need somebody to travel over to California, Orange County, I think it is. I need you to tell Pastor Bianca at Rever Church that there’s a check for $300,000. I said, there’s a check for $300,000 coming to you to help you do what God called you to do in California. Will somebody give God some praise? Yeah! It’s our calling.
So it may not be $300,000 to an organization today, but it could be $30 to that mom behind you at Cava. It could be $300 at Target today. You got extra; that tax return hit! Glory to God! And you were about to buy a TV. I don’t know why TVs are the thing, but God may be saying, «Hey, listen, so I can tell you where to give!» Next week, I have one more message that’s going to tear the roof off. I believe it’s going to change the way we see giving forever, but it’s hard to give when you haven’t received.
So today, if you’ve never received the greatest gift ever given, I want to give you the opportunity to receive Jesus. See, some of you, this whole time, your heart has been moved. That was the Holy Spirit trying to touch your heart. Watching this, you laughed, you jumped, you felt the Spirit. He’s been drawing you because for your whole life, He’s been there, watching. He wants a relationship; He wants a connection with you. He wants to guide you. He wants to take you from where you are to where He formed you to be. So today, if you’re in this room or online and want to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior, I want to let you know today is the day of salvation! Not Easter, not the next time you come; we’re not guaranteed that. Somebody say today! Today!
If you’re watching this and you’re just in the living room because somebody put it on and you can’t wait till this turns off so you can watch the game—peekaboo, God sees you! And He loves you, and He knows you, and He wants to take the pain away. But that takes this one word: surrender. So today, if you’re listening to my voice, whether it’s in a car, in this room, or on a rebroadcast on YouTube, today is the day that God is saying, «Come home. Get out the streets.» And some of y’all are like, «I’m not for the streets.» You can be in the penthouse and still be in the streets spiritually. Do you hear what I’m saying? This is the one decision that took me from being a liar, a manipulator—somebody who was addicted to pornography and had very dark things in my heart—was on a road to destruction and death. And God just said, «Hey, you can make a U-turn and repent, and you can go to the place I designed for you.»
And I’m telling you; I haven’t arrived there. I’ll be going this way until the day I go to meet Him in heaven. But I promise you the scenery going this way is totally different from what I was experiencing going that way. Today, I want to offer you Jesus. On the count of three, if you want to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I just want you to lift your hand. And I need the church to start praying right now because somebody’s life is in the balance. This is why this church exists: so that you can be transformed in Christ. One, you’re making the greatest decision of your life. Two, I’m proud of you, but more than that, your name is about to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. If you want to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, three, lift your hand up in this place! I see you, sir. I see you; I see you, my brother. So proud of you! I see you, my brother. Come on, bold hands! I see you! I see you! Oh, come on, church! I see you! But more than that, God sees you! Glory to God! I feel the presence of God!
Let me tell you what happened right now in heaven: if just one person gives their life to Christ, heaven turns up! Every angel—everybody’s like, «Yo, yo, yo, yo! Somebody in Tulsa, somebody in California, somebody in Florida just decided to give their life to Jesus!» And so today, at Transformation Church, I want you to know we’re a family. Nobody prays alone, so could you lift your hands and say:
God, thank you. Thank you for sending Jesus, sending Jesus just for me. Today, I surrender my life; I surrender my life. You can use all of me. I believe you lived, you died, and you rose again with all power, all power, so that I may live with your power. Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m yours. In Jesus' name, Amen.