Michael Todd - Don't Fall For The Trap
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And today I have an assignment, and so I need everybody to buckle up because I want to let you know that God gave me confirmation of this message I’m about to speak to you 78 days ago. Amen. I was in a conversation with Pastor Bri before I headed off to sabbatical, and God told me the series that we are starting today was supposed to be my first series, my first message coming back off of sabbatical. This series is prophetic because when God gave it to me, the climate of our culture was not as sensitive, electric, and divisive as it is just 78 days later.
Sir, I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news lately, and I don’t know what’s been coming up on your Instagram feeds, but all the fun TikTok videos seem to be dulled down a little bit. And it feels like there’s division, angst, worry, pain, pressure, and hurt. And there are all kinds of things that the enemy is trying to use at this current moment to, watch this, break the soul of people. Y’all didn’t hear what I just said. He’s trying to break your trust in good. He’s trying to break your trust in the things that God gave His Son for. And you may not be seeing it yet, but today I stand in this prophetic assignment, being obedient in the moment where culture needs a solution. Christians need a solution. The church needs a solution. And most of us will be okay letting somebody else be a part of the solution while we stand by and comment on it. Oh, I’m going to tread real lightly for the next five minutes, and then I’mma kick you. Okay? I just need you to understand we all got to get in the same story right here.
What if nobody else is coming? What if your side comment to your cousin is not enough to see what God wants to see on this earth? What if you have to get active and be a part of what God wants to do in the earth right now? What if this last week was the demarcation line of you being a passive believer? What if it’s no longer okay for you to have an opinion without affiliation? Okay, today I have to walk us into what I believe, and I told our team this might be one of the most transformative series that I’ve ever preached because we got to do some work on us. I got four amens. I said we got to do some work on us. Where are all the people that know that everything ain’t like you’re showing it on Instagram? How many people know you need God to do some work on you? Okay, by the end of it we’ll get all of them, Kaylee. Don’t worry, we going to get all of them.
This week, the news has been filled with tragic things. Yes, this is not the meat of my sermon, but I have to address things that are happening so that you can see how God wants you to position yourself in the midst of culture. Can I tell you something? God is not taking culture away from you. You can’t just avoid what’s going on. And some of you, that is your mission: Stay away, dodge. Uh-uh. Nope. Matrix. All you’re trying to do is avoid talking about politics; you don’t talk about race, you don’t talk about people being big, you don’t talk about people being skinny, you don’t talk about ice cream, you don’t talk about lactose, you don’t talk about going to the movies. All you do is spend your whole life dancing around things that put you at the mercy of other people instead of being the change agent in every environment you go into.
And so, I’m going to make a few statements to let you know where we’re at in culture is real. What we’re dealing with is, watch this word, evil. The evil displayed in the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the evil displayed in the fatal stabbing of a 23-year-old woman who was literally getting off work and going home on a train, the evil displayed in the Evergreen High School shooting, which is the 48th mass shooting in America this year, the evil that is on display and all the inhumane experiences that are happening all over the world. In Sudan and in Congo and Afghanistan, there are children caught in conflict, and, listen, I’m talking about your grandbabies. There are people that look just like your grandbabies who are walking around in the street while rockets are going over their heads, and people aren’t dropping aid from the sky. They are literally trying to survive as you’re complaining it’s too cold or too hot in this arena. Okay? As you’re trying to figure out where you’re going to DoorDash and how quick you’re going to get out of here so you can make it to brunch, somebody hasn’t eaten in 14 days. Okay? And the situations that we are scrolling past on social media are somebody’s real life.
Today I need the church to recognize that we are in a season where the front newspaper is reading like a page right out of Revelation. I mean, word for word, wars and rumors of wars. Do y’all hear what I’m saying to you today? Earthquakes are happening. The whole earth is groaning—earthquakes in Afghanistan, tsunamis, all kinds of things happening that we don’t know how to explain. And what I’ve come to the conclusion of as I wrestled with standing in this position, I was like, Lord, could you have let me not come back two weeks ago? That would have been an easier entry. Like first week back, wow. He said get in your spot. He said, Tell the people what I told you to tell them 78 days ago. He said, I’m that good that I gave you foresight for where you’re going to be right now. I gave you a word for where the people would be right now. This is not you, this is me. Yeah.
And I have to acknowledge the humanity. It feels heavy right now. Can we be honest? It feels heavy. People are hurting. People are angry. People are, watch this, worried. I’ve heard people say, «In my whole lifetime, I’ve never seen it be like this.» I’ve never seen people comment like this. I’ve never seen these things happen. And people aren’t just worried; there’s something worse: many people are weary. But Matthew 11:28 is going to be our anchor scripture for today. And if you are any of those things, this is the response of our Savior. If you’re watching online, get ready. I need you to take good notes today. It says, «Then Jesus said, ” not one of His disciples, not one of His homies, not one of the followers—Jesus said this: „Come to me, all of you who are weary and every person that’s carrying a heavy burden. I want to trade you. If you come to me with it, I will give you what?“ Rest. Say it again: Rest. Say it one more time. How many people could use some rest? I didn’t say sleep. Some of y’all just need to turn off the fight and turn off Netflix. You could get sleep, okay? But the truth of the matter is people get sleep and still don’t have rest. God says, „I want to offer you something better than sleep. I want your anxiety to go down because of who’s in control of it.“ Somebody shout at me one more time: Rest! He said, „I will give you rest.“
And He said, „Check me out. Take my yoke upon you. Let me—watch this word—teach you.“ Which implies to me that in all of your education and you having more degrees than a thermometer and all the ChatGPT-ing you do, as well as the Google YouTube searches that you have saved in your phone, there are some things you still don’t know. That’s right. If we do not approach what God desires to do in our life with a level of humility, we will not be able to let—watch God teach us. And I’m asking all of us to allow Jesus to teach us. He said, „Because I am humble and gentle at heart.“ And ah, you’re going to miss it. So I’m going to tell you again: And when you let me do this, you will find—let me tell you where rest happens—in your soul. Sleep is what happens for your body; rest is what happens in your soul. Your mind is tired, your will is worn down, your emotions are exasperated, and God says, „I want to give your mind, will, and emotions rest. I want that pressure, that anxiety, that always feeling like something else has to change.“ I need you to just—everybody take a deep breath in, let it out. Say Rest!
He said, „The only reason I can promise you that is for my yoke is easy to bear, and my burden I give you is light.“ The one thing that I want to say in this is that you will still have a burden when you come to Jesus. A lot of people come to Jesus, and they’re like, „I thought I wasn’t going to have to do nothing.“ No, no baby, He said, „My burden is light.“ It means you’re still going to have it. That’s right, that’s right. But you’re either going to have more strength than you need to carry it, or it’s not going to be too heavy to weigh you down. And some of us are carrying burdens that—who told you you had to live in that neighborhood? That’s a heavy burden. You don’t even look happy coming to that house. Every time you get there, the grass needs to be cut. Look at them pagons! You’re comparing with the neighbors, you’re looking at the garage. „I really want a glass garage.“ And I’m using this as one example. Why is the burden so heavy? Then you bring that energy into the house. Oh, the creaky door. „I need some WD.“ Can you get some WD40 for these doors? Coming into the energy is like, „Hello, hey, how you doing?“ Nothing works! „This toilet don’t flush. I need better water pressure.“
All of these things. And I’m giving you an example, but have you ever considered that the burden may be too heavy? Today in this series, I’ve learned that we don’t look like this scripture. Most of y’all—I want to tell you, you look cute, but the heaviness on you, I can see the burden. I know your kid got every Jordan, Jesus, but the burden of keeping up with that. I know, I know, you keep climbing the corporate ladder. I know, and you just got a promotion, and you just got another promotion. But it doesn’t seem like that’s light enough for you. It seems like every time I talk to you, you’re weary.
Have you ever met anybody that’s living the life but weary doing it? It’s like you just got off a trip. Yes, and I have to pack again. It’s like, hold on. We can switch. Y’all know what I’m saying? Like, oh my God. And I TSA. Like, wait, hold on. I don’t even have pre-check. I’ll stand in the line. Beware when the blessing feels heavy. And what’s happening here is the reason why our culture doesn’t look rested. Our souls are not rested. Why, in some of the best seasons of my life on paper, was I unrested in my soul? It’s because I was not acknowledging something that was happening on the inside of me. I would not admit that I was triggered. The sermon series that we are going into is called „Triggered“ because everybody in this room has something that, if it happened right now, we would see a different version of you. I mean, it could just be a person walking in here and you could turn into someone else. It could be me bringing up a certain topic, and if I bring up that topic, it’s going to send you into a place where you lose all recollection of where you are right now.
Yeah. Yeah. There are certain things in your life that are triggering to you that you are not acknowledging, and they affect you in a way that takes you out of rest. Okay? You’ve become so used to dealing with them that you have started to use them as excuses to act the way that you act. Yeah. And God told me, He said, „Michael, I want you to start a series called 'Triggered: Finding Christ in the Crash Out.'“ How about finding Christ in the crash out? I—no, we are trying to find who? Christ in the what? How many people have ever crashed out before? Crashed out? I—okay, we’re a multi-generational church, and a multi-ethnic church. And I know there are some people that are looking like, „Crashed out?“ And depending on how old you are right now, if somebody was like, „Man, I’mma crash out,“ they’re like, „You sleepy?“ ‘Cause in a certain generation it was like, „I’m going to lay right here, and I’m going to crash out.“ It was like, „Ah, he’s asleep, I get it.“
But part of the advantage of being a father of young children is every two to three years I start to learn new language. And this week, my Bella turns 12 years old, Lord Jesus. And I remember her coming to me telling me about an incident with some of her friends. I was following along, and she was like, „And such and such was doing this, and such and such was doing that, and such and such and such and such,“ and then she says, „And when she said that she was about to crash out.“ And I was like, „I had everything up until crash out. What does that mean?“
„Oh, that’s when somebody’s about to go crazy. They’re going to lose it. They’re going to do something uncharacteristic.“ Yes. Now let me re-ask the question; I’m going to give you an official definition, but has anybody in this room ever crashed out before? Done something you don’t want to be remembered for? Text something you wish you could take back? Y’all know what I’m talking about. I–I don’t know. Every husband in this room, have you ever said something that you wish you could have been like, disappear, rewind, turn it back? I did it this week. And many times what people don’t understand is their triggers immediately lead to a crash out. There is not much time between something setting you off and you doing something crazy. Some of y’all have been doing it all this week. You’ve been DMing people all kinds of videos. You’ve been commenting on your Finster. Oh, that’s your fake Instagram account? Oh, y’all. So Finna, huh? Okay. You didn’t put it online but you’re texting the people you know will agree with you. You’re developing things in your—what I’m saying to you right now is many of us are getting triggered.
And the beautiful thing about triggers is that our triggers are unique. The thing that triggers you, right? It’s not necessarily the thing that triggers me. Yeah. And if you’re going to write down a definition, let me give you a poor man’s definition of trigger—a simple definition. A trigger is something that sets you off. What’s something that sets you off? Talk to me. Bad drivers? Somebody said, „Clock that T.“ Clock that T. Clock that T. I saw you, I saw you. What else? Come on, y’all. Talk to me. What sets you off? Liars? You’re a liar. What else? What sets you off? What’d you say? Dirty dishes? There was a mother who was like, „Oh my God, glory to God.“ Nasty food? Bad service? Come on, talk to me. What’s a trigger? What’d you say? Disrespect? How dare you say that to me? You don’t know me like that. If you knew me like that, you would have done something different ‘cause you don’t know what’s about to come next.
You see how I start talking about your triggers? You start getting different amens. There was a woman in the back when I was doing that. She was like, „Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.“ Yeah! Like, what do you want to do? Like, she was ready to fight just off of a trigger. Now, all of us need to start making a list of the things that trigger you. Some of you have so many; it is just your life existence. Oh, y’all don’t play with me. You walk around all day, every day just waiting for somebody. But this term triggered is also used by psychologists. Let me give you the psychological definition. It’s a term used to describe someone having a strong emotional reaction—often anger, frustration, or offense—in response. Watch this, to something they hear, see, or experience. Some of us have seen, heard, and experienced things that we said we’d never go through that again. Or if I make it out of this, I will never bring my kids back to this situation. Or if I ever have enough money, I’ll never eat at this place again.
Y’all ever ate somewhere, it’s like, „I’ll never…“ And yet, if you walk into a certain environment and smell something, a smell can be a trigger. It can take you back to a place, and that place then changes your emotion. Sometimes if you grew up in a physically abusive house, hearing a door slam can be a—what? Trigger? Your kids were just shutting the door. „Don’t you slam my door!“ It was like, „Mom, I closed it.“ Something’s going on with you; you need help. That wasn’t my fault. It was the door’s heavy. But that trigger, watch this, is attached to a trauma. Write down this point; I’m about to teach you through this whole series. Every trigger is attached to a trauma. Every trigger is attached to a trauma. You don’t recognize it. You don’t go slow enough to understand it. You don’t even think that it’s a real thing. „I don’t have any trauma in my life.“ But the reason you’re mad that your kid took the last of the juice—"Don’t you ever take the last of the juice! It’s my house. You open the refrigerator, you see all this stuff in here. I bought that. When I go to work, I go to work to put this in the refrigerator for who? For me, right?»
‘Cause I can’t work. There are child labor laws against that, right? And your kid’s just sitting there, «I’m just thirsty.» And you go on this whole spill but you crashed out ‘cause you were triggered ‘cause they took the last of the juice. But you didn’t stop long enough to acknowledge that it was attached to a trauma, that in your house you never got juice. And they used juice as a celebration for the child that did good. Oh, come on, y’all. Like, I don’t know what it is, but if you stop long enough to recognize that every trigger is attached to a trauma, you’re not resting in God’s rest ‘cause you’re so triggered. Everything and everybody, and the color they wear—some of y’all used to be gang members. Anytime you see red, you’re triggered. We can’t wear red. Nobody—well, it’s from, it’s on Hoover over here, it’s on crib over here. It’s on—what color can we wear? Which color in the primary colors does not trigger? Bro, I’m sorry, I almost clack clacked on you ‘cause you rolled up in here in—bro, it’s a color. But some of y’all know what I’m talking about. There are certain colors right now; you’re saved, healed, and redeemed. Certain colors you don’t have in your closet at all.
Okay, y’all—no? Alright, I’mma act like I got a real saved church. Let me put my glasses back on. Certain things that you were delivered from, yes, sir, that you actually don’t have freedom from. You just stay away from. Okay? I don’t want to get into it, but the truth of the matter is the only way that you are in this utopia of freedom is you’ve never been confronted with it. And so the moment you get around weed, smell it, triggered. The moment you get around—you get around the alcohol—the moment you start smelling the Chinese buffet, oh, hold on! That’s my own situation. Scott, take me straight home after this! Can’t stop at the—I’m telling you, when I go to a dirty Chinese food restaurant, I don’t want to eat there but I want to get it, and I want to go. And as soon as I smell it, it’s like «I’m going to be fat forever!»
Mike, no, I’m serious, I make two plates. I’m just like, just give it all away. Sell the gym equipment. Open a Chinese restaurant, bro. You can have your own Chinese restaurant. It’s like, but for years of my life, watch this, that trigger of food—yes, sir—was attached to a trauma. Yes, sir. Of not being able to handle emotions. So if I can’t control that, I know I can control what I put on this plate. That’s right. And I’mma pile it high. And I’mma sit there long enough to get a second helping and a third. But if you never confront it, that trigger is attached to a trauma. And if you do not allow Christ to get into this with you, I’m here to tell you you’re going to continue to crash out.
What are you saying, Pastor Mike? You’ll no longer be in control. You will only be reactive, never able to give a response. There’s a difference between a reaction and a response, and most of us are reacting because we’re triggered. And God wants us to respond to culture, respond to our family members with His love, with His care, with His kindness. But the problem is you keep crashing out. You’re creating so much carnage that the very people that you are going to be responsible for helping bring to Christ in a different season, you’ve already alienated them. What if the very people you’re arguing with are the people that God has on His list for you to reach? I know you don’t see it now, but you have—you know—you have no idea how God is connecting people right now.
And so what I need everybody to do is write this down: Unrested triggers usually lead to a crash out. Today is going to be my introduction ‘cause I got 60 pages of notes, and you’re not going to be able to digest all of this. So we going to give it to you in little bites and you going to pray about it, and you’re going to be exposed to it all week, and you’re going to start to see things that trigger you. Please be warned: after hearing this message, you are going to go outside of here and something is going to happen, and you will be the sermon illustration, and you are going to, for the first time in your life, be able to recognize it’s happening.
I’m going from the trigger into a trap. And I think this is what Pastor Mike was talking about. I’m about to crash out. Let me give you a definition of crash out. Put it on the screen. This is a long definition, but it’s going to help us through this entire series ‘cause we want to find Christ in the middle of our crash out. Do y’all know everybody wants Christ after the crash out? Why? Why is it that when somebody barely escapes being addicted to all of this stuff in jail for 42 years, and now they become a pastor? It’s like at the end of the behind-the-scenes true-life story, it’s always like, «And now I’m on a journey of sobriety and stability.» There’s nothing wrong with that; I’m just saying, where was that energy before the crash out?
And usually, it’s never there because we don’t acknowledge that it is even an issue. Right now, I’ve been talking for 24 minutes, and some of y’all still think this message is for somebody else. I’ve been sitting here talking, and you’re like, «These young people sure need this.» You’ve been mean your whole 60s. You’re 69; you’ve been mean since 59. Nobody wants to be around you, and you think it’s ‘cause you’re holy? No, you’re mean. They sense the glory—we sense you’re mean. I’m trying to get you to look at you right now. Somebody say, «This message is for me.» Say it again: «This message is for me.» What are your triggers? What’s making you crash out?
What? Y’all know what I’m saying? 'Cause the thing is y’all think these are big things. You think these are things like being fired from my job? I’m about to crash out. Do y’all know one of the greatest triggers in my wife and my marriage? I’m going to just put it all out there. When I do this, no words exchanged. I didn’t say anything bad to her. She looks at her right now. «Shut, move. Calm your neck down. Calm your neck.» But she’ll be talking, «Mike, can you pick up D and D?» And it wasn’t a part of my plan, and it literally sucks all the thoughts out of her mind, and all she can focus on is the fact that my breath—and I’m telling you, there have been moments that have ruined days.
Okay, I’mma tell on myself; it’s ruined days. What’d you say? Tell on yourself. That’s what I’m doing. You want me to tell on you? I got the mic. You—what you want to do? No, never mind, never mind, never mind. Would y’all pray for me? I think the message just went a little—no—I—and so many times after those moments, it was almost as if, listen to me, I wasn’t in control of that moment. It was almost like I did it without even thinking. It was watch a reaction, not a response to what she was saying. She triggered me because she was talking and talking in circles, and talking about stuff we already talked about, and talking about—and just talking. I mean, you’ve already told me that; I already said I’m going. I already did.
And what she was trying to do—y’all pray for me, that’s my wife in the red over there, y’all. I don’t know what direction, okay? But, but, but, but there were times I’d do that breath and literally in the moment be like, «Why did I do that?» Now, I’m about to be undoing that one breath for the rest of the week. Y’all know what I’m talking about? Married people, y’all better say something to me. That one breath, that one roll over in the bed—y’all know what I’m talking about? They’re talking about something and you don’t want to hear it, and that’s the sign I’m going to sleep. Why does it happen so quick? Why do you snap on your kids so quick? Why wouldn’t the white cop pull you over? You ready to—why wouldn’t the black cop pull you over? You ain’t got no respect. Why? Why? Why?
Why would the teacher ask you, «Hey, did you do this?» Why are you assuming that I—why did it go there so fast? When they say it’s offering time, you’re like, «The church just wants my money!» Why did it go there? You ain’t never given—I mean, it’s so crazy to me. Like, the people who have never given anything to a church are the ones that are always talking about, «The church just wants my money.» It’s so the pastor can drive and look at that suit. I’m—do y’all pay for that suit? And what? But why? But this is the question: but why? It’s because that trigger is attached to an unaddressed issue.
If the church could learn that you’re not just doing that 'cause you’re just doing that, you are acting out of something that is real that you may not have acknowledged. The reason why you always get mean when your account gets to that certain number—oh, y’all know that number. All y’all got that number. When it gets to that number, don’t talk to me; I’m having a bad day. I don’t know what’s going on. It’s like you get paid tomorrow, but for that 16 hours, if anything happens, you’re just in the house eating ramen noodles, just waiting for that deposit to come in. «I can’t have no accidents; no slip-ups, no mess-ups.»
Oh, this is going to be a good series. It is triggering because you were at a point one day that you said, «I’ll never be poor again,» or «I’ll never have to want for that,» or watch this, «I’ll never have to ask for help.» Oh, ‘cause asking for help is triggering for some of y’all. Oh, I’m in your business now. The reason that everything is so heavy is 'cause you don’t do life in community. You won’t invite anybody into what’s happening. You won’t let nobody know that you’re actually struggling and you need prayer. And so everything to you has to be done on your shoulders.
That’s good. You’re triggered. And that trigger is going to lead to a crash out. I’m just telling you right now, I’m not going to be surprised at what happens in people’s lives over the next six months as we end this year if they don’t put Christ in the middle of this crash out. Y’all think the stuff is about to subside now and everything’s about to get better in culture, and everything’s about to go away, and nobody else is going to do anything stupid? It’s 8 billion people in this world. Somebody’s about to do something stupid this week. Will you be tossed and turned by everything that happens in culture, or will you be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ?
Okay, so let me give you this definition of crash out. Some of y’all has been up there a long time. Y’all see how big it is? You should have been writing already, but here we go. A crash out is when a person can be suddenly uncontrollably angry or act impulsively, potentially leading to negative consequences. This many times shows up as an emotional or physical shutdown, usually from burnout or overstimulation or being overwhelmed. The act—oh my God—of surrendering all reasonable control of your emotions and responses in order to react to how you are currently feeling could be a strong indicator that they are struggling with their mental health and need support. You keep blowing up at that family gathering. You keep causing drama at that workplace.
All crashes aren’t created equally. Some of y’all are explosive crashes. You’re turning over tables; you’re getting loud in public places. And it’s so crazy because that’s what we think crashing out is. It’s the ones that are explosive, the ones that are like, «Oh, I can record that; I can get that on…» But do you know there are also people who crash out implosively? When you crash out, you don’t come outside. You don’t post nothing. You go inward; you crash out and you get that Ben & Jerry’s and that Blue Bell and some Oreos and go to your room. Y’all know what I’m talking about? And you destroy your temple trying to chase a feeling. Oh, it’s quiet in here. You go to negative self-talk: «You’ll never be married.» Hold on, what? That was just one bad day.
But because you didn’t address the trauma of perceived rejection, any time anything doesn’t work out, you think people are rejecting you. And it could be that God’s protecting you; they ain’t for you anyway. But because it’s perceived rejection, you didn’t crash out, and you’ve never addressed that. Why do I feel better doing these things that I know tear me down? That I’m saying things to myself; I lean into addictions, depression, and gossip. I lean into these things. Why? ‘Cause I haven’t even acknowledged I’m triggered. Some of y’all, church is triggering. That’s why you sit way up there. That’s why you come after praise and worship because you used to serve on a worship team, and you have a gift that’s so big and you could run all of this, but that one experience that took your joy and how they abused you and did not see your value made you say, «You’re doing a good job just to be here, and I appreciate you for being here.» But what if God has called you to more?
And some of y’all at home right now, the only reason you’re not here is ‘cause people are here. You would do church if it didn’t have people. Oh, come on, y’all. It’s the people who trigger you. You walk in and you’re like, «People, people, people, people. I’m triggered. Go home. Sleep.» And what if the very place that God wants you to actually have dominion is the place that the enemy is trying to delete you out of? What if the trigger is not supposed to be a place you crash out? What if the trigger is the starting point, watch this, of your transformation? What if every trigger is not supposed to be left as a trigger? What if every trigger is supposed to be the starting point of your transformation? What if the place that you get so frustrated is the very place that God is trying to say, «If you drop down and deal with the trauma, I’ll take that thing and lead it to transformation for you»?
Okay, let me give you an example. All of your triggers are attached to a trauma. Okay, okay, that’s not too bad. I can live with that. Yeah. And every time they say they’re going to be on time and they’re late—woo. That’s a little tighter. And every time my family asks for money but doesn’t pay me back—woo. I ain’t snapped yet; I ain’t crashed out yet, but if they do it again—come on, this how we live. Yeah. My kid better say thank you 300 times for that gift that I worked for. That—'cause you know some people’s trigger is the lack of appreciation. How many times can they say thank you? It’s still not going to fill that hole in your soul. You haven’t acknowledged that you’re still triggered because you didn’t get the affirmation from your father. So you’re making your kids pay for what you didn’t get from somebody they don’t even know.
Okay, week three, we’ll talk about week three. We’ll talk about week three. Yep, triggered. Yeah, forgiving people? Uh-uh. No, I know it’s what the Bible says, but try Jesus, don’t try me, ‘cause I throw hands, one songwriter said. Can y’all see how we have cultural ideals but we know Christ’s principles? And what ends up happening is when we come in and anybody gets close to us, anybody gets sharp with us, anybody’s having their own traumas, as soon as they get close to us, because of the tension between our trigger and our trauma—crash out. Crash out. Why did I cheat on them? How quickly? ‘Cause the tension has been—you all ain’t been communicating. Okay, y’all don’t want to talk real; y’all ain’t been communicating. And the woman at work is saying how good—telling you how good. «Oh, you’re a good daddy; I see your little pictures with your son at his football games. That’s so cute! I wish my son had a daddy.» You see that tension? Do you? It’s so tight, it makes sounds now.
And as soon as that one argument goes the wrong way, and it’s just like, «Hey, let’s go out for some drinks,» and you become inebriated. And now you have less control of your senses. Drinking ain’t no sin, I hear y’all Christians, but you already make dumb decisions. You do dumb stuff without alcohol. Okay, let me—you want to be worse off? Between your trigger and your trauma is so tight—explosive crash out. Now your kids are picking up these pieces. Now your church is picking up these pieces ‘cause you wouldn’t go to therapy because you wouldn’t talk to nobody. See, what God wants us to do is not not have triggers. He just wants the tension between them to not be so tight.
My daughter, I asked Bella earlier, I said, «What’s one of your triggers?» She said, «Smacking.» She said it with conviction and then looked at her sister Ava, and then Ava looked at her like, «It’s you that be…» and it was a whole situation. I was like, «Hey, calm down, calm down, calm down!» But the thing about it is for somebody smacking, because of the trauma it’s attached to could be something that’s this tight in their life. But God’s saying, «I know you ain’t never going to like smacking, but maybe I can change your character to where it doesn’t affect you the same way.» Like, when they start smacking, I didn’t crash out. I may have communicated. Now, I may have moved to the other side of the room. I may have said, «You know what? That was a good conversation; I’ll text you.»
Like, you might— but the crash out does not have to be inevitable. If you would allow God to be in the middle, church, I need you to come to a place where we can all acknowledge that we all have triggers that we are being controlled by. Today I just want acknowledgement. I don’t got enough time to go through all the things. I got graphs and pictures and everything. I’m just saying, some of y’all are not going to make it through this week without crashing out. Your poor kids are going to be in therapy because of you. No, no, no, I’m telling you right now, they are going to be. The problem is some of the stuff doesn’t have to be a trauma for them if you deal with what’s really going on.
Okay, so this is what I’m going to say as I begin to do my study on my own life. Y’all know I can’t preach nothing that God has not started working on me in. And I’ve just realized there’s some stuff that just for no reason, it’s too tight in my life that should not frustrate me like that. That should not make me want to move. Y’all know crash outs are extreme. Like, you do something, somebody does something—it’s like, I’m moving. It’s like, wait, what? No, I’m moving to Africa. No, you thought I was talking about Texas? Africa—I’m out of here. Like, do y’all know what I’m saying? Like, has anybody ever had wild thoughts before? It’s like, I’m leaving.
What I found is that every trigger is an invitation by God to transformation. I’mma show you one more image, and then we’re going to go ‘cause it’s going to be enough for today ‘cause you’re going to be triggered all week, and then you’re going to come back here and figure out what we’re going to do with it. God doesn’t bring us out to leave us the same. So let me show you a picture real quick. Put the trigger axis on the screen for me real quick; just the one that says trigger and the one that says trap if you got it. So, I’m going to just show you this picture.
Every person in this room has a trigger, okay? And if you do not acknowledge that it can trip you up, you will be deceived and fall into a trap. There will be something the enemy convinces you to do or you do just ‘cause culturally that’s what we did. Okay, let me just give y’all some examples ‘cause y’all still looking at me. There are songs that are triggers for you. Am I in the church? How many know if I start playing certain songs right now, tingles start happening? Some of y’all—some of y’all—if I knuck, if you buck. Knock, if you buck. We knuckin’. We look at you, look at you. Bri, I’m proud of you. You didn’t even move right then. You didn’t. God has done a transformation. When I tell you Bri is a—y’all think she’s all calm and silence and peaceful? Knuck! Okay, there are songs that could play right now and it would be a trigger. You would be fighting lust, anger, you would be fighting—watch this—loneliness. You walk into the store and they just playing on the loudspeaker, «Why are they playing this song?»
And what the enemy wants you to do is—watch this—with no time—go from the trigger to the trap. You don’t even know why you just text him. You walked into the store, you heard the song, you started feeling a type of way, and you were like, «What you doing, big head?» Knowing in your conscious mind, you’re like, «I don’t like him. This is going to end bad. This is not a man of God. This is not who I want.» What you doing? «I’m at the store; you want anything?» Y’all going to act like it ain’t happened to you? You’re watching a movie and a scene comes up that makes you—it triggers you back to a moment of hurt or loneliness or pain, and now you cancel the plans. No, no, no, I’m not—you know, I can’t, you can’t even fake cough good.
«I came down with something,» and you will—watch this—you will sabotage your future being one that is trapped by the trigger of your past. And God says, «Don’t fall for it.» He said, «Don’t fall for it.» Write this down: The place of your most sensitive trigger can also be the place of your most sacred transformation. The thing right now that you feel like, «Oh, I can’t,» uh-uh, God said, «If you would allow me, I’ll use that to transform you.» Put that other axis up there real quick. So, if you get triggered, don’t fall into the trap. Look at your neighbor and say, «Don’t fall into the trap.» Don’t crash out. Come on, tell them, «Don’t fall into the trap. Do not crash out. Just hold on. There’s a better option.»
‘Cause—'cause so fast—trigger to the trap. Trigger to the trap. Trigger to the trap. I should stop saying that so fast. Trigger to the trap. Trigger to the trap. Some of us have ruined relationships 'cause the friend we prayed for, when you told them, «Be honest with me, girl. Like, be honest. Whenever, like, I’m tripping, be honest.» And when she told you, «Jerome, he’s not good for you,» you said, «That’s why I don’t even have friends! I hang out with guys better than I do girls anyway.» And then—and now you fell for the trap. You sent the text. You sent the DM. You did the thing, and you fell for the trap because you didn’t even think about it.
And now you’re lonely, but there’s a different option. Put the other one—if you acknowledge today that your trigger is attached to a trauma, right in the middle, you get an intersection. And the intersection between your trigger and the trap is that you’ve got to drop down into the trauma. Where did it happen? Where did it start? Why do you not like being invited? Why do you feel so mad when they don’t invite you? You be on Instagram fuming, «I was sitting right here, and I got a red dress too, I could have gone.» But what happened is that there was a trauma from you not being chosen in middle school. Come on, y’all.
And some of y’all right now, I hear my old folks say, «Leave the past in the past.» No, keep your past; keep showing up in your future because you won’t handle what God keeps—watch this—keeps allowing you to be triggered by. He’s not taking the trigger away. Pastor Mike, my Bible said, «No, I’m good. He lets the friction be there so that He can lead you to transformation.» You’ve been getting mad about bad drivers for 15 years. And as long as you keep driving, there are going to be bad drivers. But will it always have that control? You in the car with your kids, just listening to Forrest Gump. «God is good.» Now you’re chasing down a Toyota Corolla flipping them off and tell them, «This is America, buddy!» Like, what are you doing? What are you doing with a «Honk, if you love Jesus» on the back of your car?
How did that happen so fast? It’s because there was no pause between the trigger and the trap. Today, I’m asking you, church, before you post anything else, pause between the trigger and the trap. Before you call a family meeting to give a dissertation on why you are changing your last name—oh, y’all know y’all crazy—you’re done crashed out. «I no longer am going to be a Williams!» Like, what? What is happening? You’re laughing. What? Everybody say pause. ‘Cause there’s an intersection that God wants you to acknowledge today. Drop down. If I was in 1519, I’d say drop it low. I drop down and start to go to the place where you know there’s something there that I really probably don’t want to touch.
Every time you leave town, it makes me feel insignificant. It’s not you; it’s me. Every time that you pick them, it makes me feel like you don’t value my contribution—that’s attached to a trauma where people abused and used me and didn’t give me credit. It’s not you; it’s me. Or hey, you keep using me and I’m creating a boundary ‘cause I have a trauma of people pleasing and I was only liked when I did what people wanted me to do. So instead of me feeling empty ‘cause I’m around you, I’ve dropped down and recognized that my trauma is making me fall into the trap, and I can’t give you no more money. «Won’t be financially supporting you anymore.» «Well, we about to lose the house, man!» Oh, see, some of y’all right there? That was a trigger ‘cause you asked somebody for help one time and they didn’t help you.
See, triggers are unique, but if you don’t bring them to God, then you suffer from what all humanity is suffering from right now—a lack of self-awareness. The enemy is the one who wants to keep you in the dark, and God wants you to live in the what? Light. If you are not self-aware, you do not know why your triggers are always putting you in a trap. And today, I’m just asking you the same question that God asked the first human on earth. It was a question of location. Adam, where are you? Adam was triggered; Adam just did something he wasn’t supposed to do. God didn’t lose Adam. There were only two people on earth at the time that He created and put in the garden. He didn’t lose Adam. Why did He ask Adam, «Where are you?»
Yes, sir, not because God needed to know where Adam was. He wanted to know if Adam knew where Adam was. Today, church, do you even acknowledge that you’ve been triggered? Do you even acknowledge that your relationship with money is because of something that happened in a trauma? Do you even acknowledge the reason why you won’t give to people or the reason why you won’t help nobody or the reason why you are going to affiliate with this party or that party or that team or this team is because there’s a trauma attached to—watch this—the truth? There’s a truth in there that most of us don’t want to face. And today, I believe that God needs all of us to say, «Alright, you got me, I’m triggered.»
All this politic talk? Triggering. All this racist stuff? Triggering. All these people asking me to lose weight? I’m triggered. I tried one time, and when I tried that time, I lost weight, and then I gained it back. And when I gained it back, I felt so low that I said I’d never try again. And so now, any time anybody says something to you about getting healthy, triggered. Guys, today you may be falling for the trap even with people you love. I can’t tell you how many times this week I done had to apologize to my wife. I didn’t mean to say it like that, «I’m sorry.» Yeah, oh, you know, you catch yourself like, «I just don’t breathe no more.»
And the thing that I had to start acknowledging—I started being transparent with her about where the trigger was. And when you’re transparent about the trigger, empathy comes. There have been moments I’ve been like, «I was mad because I really wanted this to happen, and I felt disappointed that it didn’t happen.» And when I feel disappointed, I automatically go to anger because I haven’t developed my emotional catalog to figure out any other emotions. So as soon as I get disappointed, I don’t say I’m hurt or I’m disappointed ‘cause man don’t say that. You the man of the house; man up. That phrase «man up» has taken more men down ‘cause they won’t be vulnerable and say, «Hey man, I don’t feel like I got it right now. I’m supposed to be the provider of this household and I feel like a loser.»
But that empathy, that transparency of where my trigger is coming from would actually bring empathy. When I get up here and tell y’all, «I’ve dealt with pornography and all this other stuff, ” it’s me being transparent about my triggers that bring people into transformation. Help everybody around you just start saying, „I’m triggered.“ And before I fall into the trap, put that cross back up there for me real quick: „I’m triggered.“ And before I fall into the trap, I’m going to go down; I’m going to humble myself, and I’mma go down to the trauma and admit there’s something there that I don’t even fully have language for.
There’s something there that I don’t know how to fix. And that’s when you can hear this: God is close to the crash. The Bible tells us that He’s close to those who are broken in spirit. He’s close to those that are like, „I don’t know what I’m doing.“ He said, „You dropped down and figured out the trauma.“ He said, „That’s the only road to true change or true transformation.“ When you see this, you should see the picture of the cross. You should see that God says, „I’m not taking away triggers in this world; you will have trouble.“ He literally tells us—it could be remixed—in this world, people will trigger you, but take heart ‘cause I’ve overcome the world.
If I’ve overcome the world, you just have to learn how to manage yourself in it. And if you don’t learn how to manage yourself in it, then it will feel like the world will have you out of control. You be done crashed out, acting out of character, not doing what God’s called you to do, and worst of all, forfeiting your calling. There are more people forfeiting the reason God put them on this earth ‘cause they crashing out over a post, crashing out over a relationship, crashing out over, „They disrespected me.“ You’re willing to go to jail? You going to go to jail and leave your three children without a parent because you don’t let nobody disrespect you? My daddy taught me—where is he at? Let’s talk to him. Do you want that re—?
But many times when we hit that trigger, if we don’t—everybody say pause. The pause is for His presence. When I pause, it’s like, „Alright God, help me, 'cause I’m about to—“ He’s okay with that. Lord, how many people have made drafts of text messages and emails they were about to send? How—come on—how many people have drafted? Draft is fool. And God said, „I’m okay with the drafts.“ ‘Cause sometimes you got to get it up and out of you. This is why some of y’all need to go to—all y’all need to go to therapy. I was about to say some of y’all—all y’all, excuse me, all of us at this church; we believe in in theology and therapy ‘cause there’s some stuff we can pray away and there’s some stuff you got to talk about.
Okay, I’m asking everybody in this world that’s listening to this message: where are you? Because this whole sermon series is for people who’ve already crashed out, people who are in the middle of a crash out, or people who are headed for one. And my question to you is, is Christ in it with you? Today, for everybody under the sound of my voice, as we end this service, this week as you’re triggered, I want you to know that God sends Jesus to be in the crash out with you. But He will not act until you invite Him in. Pastor Mike, that is not true. My God will step in and do everything that He promised.
Okay, cool. But the disciples were on a boat in Mark, and a storm broke out around them. And the disciples were crashing out—we going to die! Paul, Peter can’t swim. This is about to be bad! Picture the scene, and Jesus is on the boat sleeping. And I don’t know if somebody got thrown over; I don’t know what happened. But at some point, somebody’s like, „Somebody should go get Jesus.“ And what I’m saying to you is you can have Christ and still crash out. That’s right. He can be on your boat, and you still crash out. It’s not until you invite Him in. This is finding Christ in the crash out.
When the disciples said, „Jesus, we about to drown, ” He said, „Y’all got such little faith. Peace, be still.“ And it said the waves and the wind obeyed. The crash out stopped at His word. That’s good. But His word was dependent on their word. That’s right. That’s right! His word was only activated when they said, „We need your help.“ And could you be listening to this message right now and you want God to intervene, and He said, „And I need your voice box. Say something. Tell me you need me to come in.“
Standing all over this building, if you know that’s you and you’ve been in a season of being triggered by something—y’all know what triggers me? People leaving at salvation. It’s crazy. It’s like the most sensitive time of people being transformed, and you’re like, „Oh, ‘cause I need to get to Cracker Barrel with the old logo.“ And what I’m saying is, over the years, the tension has gotten less and less. I said, when their kids get saved, they will be more sensitive to the atmosphere that people are giving over. So I just start believing it went from something that made me mad to something that’s like, „Lord, would you please do something in somebody’s life around them?“
Do y’all hear what I’m saying? It won’t be triggering; I’m saying it shouldn’t have the same effect. If you know that’s you and there’s an area in your life that you have just started being triggered by or it’s been years of you being triggered and you’re saying, „God, I want to transform.“ Today is a day of acknowledgement. If that’s you watching online, in your home, at the gym, at the office, or in this room, if that’s you, would you just lift both of your hands real big like—okay, alright, here we are. And today I’m going to pray for you ‘cause it’s me. I gotta start this.
Today, Father God, here we are. God, I’m not praying for them; I’m praying with them. We need your help, God. There are things that have happened to us—some that we can’t even speak about—others, Father God, that we have tried to forget. Ones, Father God, that we want to act like didn’t happen, and others, Father, that are so natural and common to us that we don’t even consider them something that is taken from us. Today we need you to illuminate through your word, Father God, that we can be ones that find rest. „Come to me, all who are weary and heavy burdened.“ Father, today we are saying we are too tight in the tension, Father God. We are too stressed out by the triggers and the traps. Today we want you to transform us. Today we are doing what Proverbs 3:5 and 6 tells us to: we’re acknowledging you in all of our ways. We’re acknowledging, God. It’s us. We’ve been triggered.
And it said you will direct our path. So today, on this first week of Triggered, Christ, would you step into our crash out? Yeah! Come on right there, Jesus. I need you to step into the financial situation. I need you to step into my family situation. Come on, I don’t know what your situation is, but I need you to talk to Him right now. God, I need you to step into this relational divide that me and my family are having or me and my husband are having. I need you to step into my emotional pain. Father, my husband doesn’t even know; my kids don’t even know; my parents don’t even know! I need you to step into this insecurity, this frustration, to these lies that I’ve elevated as the truth. Today, God, I don’t want to crash out. I want to transform.
So here I am. As we go into this seven days of prayer and fasting, I don’t think it’s an accident that God prophetically lined this up—that tomorrow at 6:30, we’re not just going to pray this one time in church. Every day, we’re going to set aside time. Watch. We’re going to pause. What’s the pause for? His presence in the midst of all of this. Some of y’all don’t just need to fast food; you need to turn off social media. Some of y’all are so addicted to it, it’s like, „I’m going to miss something!“ What did you do? How much time did you have before you fell into the trap? God’s going to tell some of you to turn it off. Some of you He’s going to say, „Don’t watch the game.“ The game? Not the game! Your purpose is more important than that pigskin. And it’s not because that’s bad; it’s because it makes you fall into the trap.
You’re gambling with the money you should be paying for—oh excuse me. You on a fantasy league, and FanDuel. You’re doing these things that you’ve done fallen into the— you got triggered. And I’m not saying anything’s bad; I’m saying that is it good for you? I feel the presence of God in here, and I believe this is a divine pause. This fast is not a glorified diet. If you’re going to still gossip and do all the stuff that you going to crash out anyway, just eat. You’re happier! Just eat. But for those of you who—watch this, my last point is: the goal is to live consecrated, not to crash out. It’s not just to acknowledge I’m about to crash out and I know my triggers, ‘cause some of us have gotten so good at admitting things we never change them.
Did y’all hear what I just said? I just want to tell you my issues, and we can list our issues, and we think the transparency is good enough so we don’t have to transform. And I’m telling you right now, I want you to be transparent, but you can’t stay there. God is calling me, calling us, calling the church, calling the kingdom to transform into an image that looks like Him. And so this whole week, I’m inviting you to a point—an access point—that everything in your life could change. You triggered? God, help me deal with this trauma and lead it to transformation. Tomorrow night meet me online; Wednesday night I want all y’all in this building.
We’re only praying in this building together twice this week—Wednesday and Saturday. Get in here! Come! Bring your family; bring your friends; bring people that don’t go to this church. And I want to let you know, my goal of praying online—the reason we’re not meeting here is because God is so good that He gave me this vision before I didn’t know what we would be in. He said, „Michael, I want more than 4 or 500 people praying. I want thousands of people praying!“ If you tell them they got to come here, you cut the number down. I’m going to share the link on Facebook and Instagram and YouTube. I want you to send it to people, text it to people. They don’t have to do anything but be listening in their homes while they’re making dinner, at the soccer stadium. I want us to get the church praying, ‘cause if we forget the world changing, they can’t change without Jesus!
If we’re expecting them to lead the charge—Democrat, Republican, independent—nobody can do it except the church of Jesus Christ. The problem is you’re just as triggered as them. And until we transform, there’s no way we can talk to them about loving anybody—all while right now you’ve got pastors on your feed that you can’t stand. My God, we’re wearing the same jersey. Yeah! This next season, church, I’m being very pastoral. I know we got to go; it’s not about more; it’s about maturity. These next sermon series, if you don’t come back, you’re missing out. These seats can be empty. Whoever is here is about to get this fire hydrant, and you’re going to be able to walk away transformed. I’m not begging nobody to come to church. God bless you. I hope that’s feeding your soul. Whatever you’re doing, I hope that’s sleep. Oh, it can’t, ‘cause the only thing that gives you rest for your soul is Jesus.
We’re walking into maturity. Ty, I even prayed for all of my youth while I was gone. God showed me y’all are about to be a change agent in this city. No, hear me! You’re about to lead the charge, Ty! Don’t talk to them like they’re young; talk to them like they’re called! There is going to be—I’m telling you—I’m talking to the youth, but everybody bring your youth! Get everybody here! Come to prayer! I’m telling you, God’s about to do something in this church that is going to turn everything that the enemy has been pulling on into a weapon. That same rubber-band planted at the enemy—that’s the slingshot that David used to kill Goliath! Don’t get me started!
It was the same thing; it was just pointed at the right thing. The same thing pointed at the right thing can actually cause victory to come to families, can actually cause change to come to communities, can actually bring transformation to this world. But somebody say, „It starts with me.“ If you’re in this room, if you’ve never accepted Jesus, this is how we’re ending today. For all your triggers and your trauma, there’s a name who is not threatened by any of it. As a matter of fact, the Bible says it like this: that He was bruised and beaten for all of our iniquities. He was stripped of all of his kingly prestige; He was battered so that we could walk in healing.
And today, if you’ve been heavy burdened and you want to trade with Jesus, He says, „I’ll give you rest. I’ll give you something easy. I’ll give you something light.“ Today is your day of salvation. Whether you’re in this room or watching online, I need the church to be praying right now ‘cause somebody’s eternity is in the balance right now. I don’t care if a friend invited you and you were like, „I’ll come, 'cause yeah, I heard, I seen it.“ Doesn’t matter. God set this up for you. I don’t want you to think that we want something from you; God wants something for you. And today, accepting Jesus Christ and growing in His way and His Word, it will change everything. How do you know, Pastor Mike? I’m living proof. I used to be a liar, a manipulator, addicted to pornography. I used to be somebody with bad things in my heart. I had car insurance fraud, and somebody tried to make me feel bad online for telling my testimony.
Let me say it again: I was jacked up. I was broken. He admitted that he’s dealing with it. Yes, without Jesus, I was terrible. I was horrible. I was nothing. I was hiding. I was broken. I was lost. I was triggered. I was trash. But Jesus—He changed me! He renewed me! He made me whole! He took me from being a man that was broken and full of pain to somebody that’s progressing. I’m not perfect. Nobody in this world is, but the perfect one, Jesus—yes, sir! Yes, sir! He wants to invite you on a journey of transformation.
And if that’s you in this room, I just want you on the count of three to shoot your hand up. I already see your hand over there. Today is your day of transformation. One, two, three-come on, just shoot your hand if you want to accept Jesus. I see you, my brother. I see you. I see you, couple. I see you! And more than I see you, my sister, God sees you! Hey TC, y’all already know we’re a family here. We’re all going to pray this prayer together for the benefit of those coming to Christ. Somebody say, „God, thank you for sending Jesus to transform my life. I am a sinner, and I needed a savior, and I found Jesus. Thank you for living and dying just for me. Today I give you my life. Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m yours forever. In Jesus' name, amen!“