Michael Todd - Did You Catch The Correction?
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As I approach my assignment, I just want to thank God for everybody being in the house and thank God for all those who are watching online. I even want to thank God for the men and women who are joining us right now from hundreds of correctional facilities all around the world. Can we welcome in—oh come on, Transformation Church—our brothers and sisters who are watching by the app? Hey, can I tell you a cool stat? This year alone, we have seen over 8,500 people give their lives to Jesus while incarcerated. Y’all don’t know when to shout! You’re free and still bound; they’re bound and all right! I just want you to know that we love you and we believe in you. If our ministry is touching you and blessing your life, we get your letters, and I hope you receive our responses back. We are truly trying to go to where people need transformation, and we’re grateful for what God is doing today.
Today is week five of a series we’re calling—everybody say—"Triggered.» Triggered! And I’m not letting off on this because this series actually is a trigger. This series is meant to make you have a reaction. If you’re in a church or with a preacher or somewhere that doesn’t provoke any reaction out of you, you may be in a space where you are not submitted enough to hear the words or something in you is not alive. Today, I’m coming to trigger you with the word of God so that there is a response or reaction that actually causes you to—watch this—change. So many people are like, «After the conference, what’s the new series? 'Triggered'—thought you were going into a fire series or a burn?» No, no, no! The Holy Spirit has not released me from helping you deal with your «crash outs.» You need to put Christ in the middle of every single one of your crashes!
The holiday season is upon us—or we could call it crash-out season. So many family issues come up during this time. Can I get an amen? Yeah, you are really planning right now who not to invite. Come on, y’all! How to get around what you already said! We’re right now in the season where traffic, gifts, and children’s plays abound. Yeah, children’s plays—I got stuck there. My daughter told me this week she’s married in a play at her school. That means I have to remember lines. That means we have to figure out costumes. That means—and I’m saying little stuff—but I don’t know what’s going on in your life, but there are things we face daily that have the opportunity to trigger us.
What I’ve found about the things that trigger me, that get a reaction, that get an impulse response, is that before I react, I need to—everybody say—pause! And this is what we don’t do. We don’t take time after we’re triggered. We react to something. This is what I’ve found: that every trigger is an invitation by God to transform. It seems simple, but every time I get triggered, God is saying, «Hey, do you want to act the way you did the last 19 times, or do you want to use some of the Bible you’ve been reading? Would you like to actually apply some of the notes you’ve written in the journal that you have open to page 14, and let’s see if we can respond differently than how we responded last time?»
The sad truth is, most Christians are good with information, not implementation. Most believers would rather it be in their notebook or a screenshot that they can post than a life they actually live. That’s right! And what I’m telling you is that many times, things are allowed to trigger us as an opportunity for you to prove that God is actually in you. How do you know that you actually believe what you believe until you’re in a situation where you need to use it? You talk about peace, but you cannot honestly stand flat-footed and say you have peace until you have peace in a storm. Peace doesn’t even exist outside of a storm because there’s nothing to authenticate the peace! Oh God!
So I would just like everybody to examine in your own life: Am I actually possessing the things that I say I have, or am I just being triggered, reacting, and playing the same scenario over and over? Christians have become addicted to cycles. Some of you are planning your cycle right now of getting into a relationship with somebody through the holiday season, and you’ll be at somebody’s house for Thanksgiving, and you’ll be on somebody’s Secret Santa list for Christmas, and you’ll be joining us for 21 days of prayer and fasting, single in January—every year! Every year, God heal my heart! Hold on! Wait! Would you step back for a second and see, «Hold on! Is this fool coming into my life right now? Is this the thing that triggers my insecurity of not being wanted by a man?»
And should I, before I’m like, «Oh my God, big daddy, do you want to take me away?"—before I do that, let me pause! Everybody say pause! Let me step back and see: Is this an invitation by God to transform? Because many of us don’t realize it, but each one of our triggers is attached to a trauma. Until we deal with the trauma, we will actually never transform. We will play this over and over and over again. And today, God has sent me as a coach, a counselor, a pastor— as a divine interruption—to divinely interrupt the cycle that is about to passively happen again. It’s so subtle.
Some of y’all are about to go back into debt for children who aren’t even going to like what you get them anyway. No, you are about to go back into impressing a family that does not even want to see you differently. But again, that trigger—oh, I have to get Sally a present, and I have to do this, and I have to show up for this, and I have to go to all the balls, and I have to do all that—you don’t even want to be there! But that trigger has hit the trauma of insecurity from when they didn’t invite you when you were in middle school. And so because you won’t deal with that, the cycle starts again. And today is a divine interruption because if you do not deal with the situation at its root level, your unaddressed triggers—write this down—will usually lead to a crash. Your unaddressed triggers will lead to a crash out.
And some people are saying, «Pastor Mike, tell me what a crash out is.» I’m going to put this big definition back on the screen again, and I want you to listen to it, and I want you to think about—watch this—does this apply to me in any way? Have I crashed out recently? Am I in the middle of a crash out, or am I planning my next crash out right now? A crash out is when a person becomes suddenly uncontrollably angry and acts impulsively. How many people have ever bought something impulsively? Instagram and TikTok make it so easy, and then you get that little shop thing, and it’s already got all your information in it. Why do I have four of these little bears that hold my cell phone? Why? Why did I—you just order the shirt without even knowing if it’s the right size—and you got a shirt that’s 2X, but it’s in Chinese sizes? So it’s—y’all know what I’m talking about! It’s like, «Yeah, 2X,» and I’m a discarded made for MJ. Impulsive!
How many people have decided to do things impulsively? A crash out is something that happens—watch this—almost without a thought. It can potentially lead to negative consequences. This often shows up as emotional or physical shutdown, usually from burnout, overstimulation, or being overwhelmed. The act of surrendering all reasonable control of your emotions and response in order to react to—watch this—how you are currently feeling. How many people can honestly say that sometimes their feelings lie to them? I would dare say all the time! Your feelings are a current indicator of the moment. They are not a dictator of how you move.
And so right now, the crash out that you’re in is because you felt a certain way. It could be a strong indicator that these people who are crashing out are struggling with their mental health and need support. This whole series is to support you! Your pastor is trying to come and support you as people have been furloughed and the government is shut down, as people are trying to figure out their family drama. I’m trying to help you right now. This is spiritual support. I want your mental health to be in good shape because of spiritual help. This is what we have in Jesus! But most of us are turning to things that didn’t create us to figure out how to help us in a situation that we don’t know how to get out of.
And so today, I’m going to teach you about something that God likes to do in the crash out. Now this is going to be a curveball for most of you, but what I’ve found out is that when a situation is going bad—wrong, unexpected—God is not waiting for us to figure out why the situation happened to us. God many times, in the middle of the crash out, corrects you. And most of us are missing the correction in the middle of the crash out. Pastor Mike, why are you talking about this? Because this is going to repeat if you do not learn the lesson. I have a prophetic word for you: this is going to repeat if you do not learn the lesson!
Pastor Mike, can you give me a word? I’m so glad you need a word from God. This thing you’re dealing with is going to—what? —repeat! If you do not learn the lesson, this doesn’t seem fair that in the middle of a situation that’s going on, I cannot understand why it’s happening—why my job is going like this, why my relationship is falling apart like this, why my kids won’t listen, why all of this is happening! Why in the world would God try to correct me? Why are you trying to do this? It isn’t fair already, God!
Why are you trying to give me a lesson while it feels like my life is falling apart? God, I already don’t have enough money! Now you want me to start a budget? Oh y’all! I’m in the middle of losing everything, and you want me to write the vision and make it plain? You want me to put out this $122 in columns? We’ve got three columns! Like, God, why are you trying to correct how I talk to them? They started it! They approached me! This is just me! If they would have stayed over there—if they would have never come over here—don’t start no stuff! Why are you talking to me about forgiveness? God, they actually were the ones who disrespected me!
I’m trying to decide if I’m going to stay at this job, and you’re telling me to apologize? Why are you trying to correct me in the middle of this crash out? Why are you—hold on! My wife did that! I didn’t do that! My wife did that! And you want me to take responsibility and step up and lead our home out of the situation that she—why are you trying to correct? I’m trying to talk about real situations right now! That pastor fumbled me and my gift, and what I brought to the table, and you’re telling me not to stop leading that team and not to spread the gossip of my feelings in this moment to them and infect them?
Why are you correcting me in the middle of this moment, where I feel justified to have a response that lines up with the situation that happened to me? I’ve just found out that God is so good—watch this—that He doesn’t waste anything! Either we believe Romans 8:28 or we don’t: all things work together for the good! So in a bad situation, God’s like, «I’m not wasting this!» Y’all think I’m about to waste this? Yes, they started talking about you; now I’m going to use this to make you more like me! And the problem right now—and the reason why some of y’all look at me right now like you want to fight me—is that your transformation will not happen outside of you! You are waiting for God to change the job, change the husband, change the friend, change the situation-and God’s saying, «I ain’t doing that! I’m starting with you!»
And the reason why people become unwavered in their ability to continue to trust God and begin to feel shaky is that they want God to do it another way. But what I’ve found is that when you come to God, He never starts with them; He always starts with you. And I came to tell you for real that in the middle of the situation where you could crash out and feel justified, receiving applause from your friends, God said, «Did you catch the correction?»
Most people are missing it. You’re missing the whole point of why God allowed that situation to happen. God allowed you to get kicked out of that school, and here you are so disappointed and embarrassed that you haven’t even told anybody. It’s been six years, and you act like you have your degree when you don’t. You won’t even talk about it, and you won’t share your testimony because, in the middle of the crash out, you did not catch the correction. The problem is you weren’t even supposed to go to that school anyway. You followed somebody there that was not God. And so He let that fall through to teach you something, and you haven’t even stepped back to examine, «Could I have missed something?» «Is God going to use this?»
Okay, today I have to show you two people who were in the middle of situations that were crash out situations and how God tried to use the situations to correct them. There were two different responses to the correction and how one of them ended up differently than the other because of how they caught the correction. Simon Peter—y’all remember him? The one who walked on water, the one who was told, «Man, that revelation didn’t come from you; I’m going to build my church on you.» Like Simon Peter, let me tell you about him: he was a crash out. He had a whole bunch of situations happen in his walk that were like, «Man, we’ve got to get this dude under control.» He was impulsively moving by his emotions.
One of the greatest examples of this is found in Matthew 26:50 when Jesus had just finished praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and now Judas had sold Jesus out. They were coming now to pick Jesus up to take Him to the cross. Matthew 26:50 is where we pick up: Jesus replied to the people, «Do what you came to do, my friend.» He was talking to the people who were coming to take Him away. And Jesus replied, «Do your thing, man.» Then a man stepped forward to seize Jesus and arrest Him. Once that happened, one of Jesus’ companions—Peter—reached for his sword, drew it out, and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
I just want you to paint the picture right now. I don’t know who your friends are, but there are some people who roll with me that if we all walk in together and your step to me is wrong, I don’t know what they’re carrying, but sometimes the reaction comes out faster than the thought. Peter has just watched Jesus sweat blood, cry out in agony, and now people are coming to take Him away. «Not my dog! Not my man JC! I roll with this man! Who are you?» Right? And at that moment, Peter pulls out his knife and cuts off his ear.
Now watch: who goes to a fight to cut off an ear? If I’m pulling out my knife, it’s like, what am I going to do? Stab him? Cut off a finger? No, let’s go for his ear? I think he was trying to kill the dude, right? It just so happened that he only—yes, sir—Peter is about to make a decision that would alter everything. The plan was set up so Jesus could actually go to the cross. It looked unfavorable, but it says in the Bible that it had to happen like this. So at the moment Peter cuts off my man Malchus’ ear—yes, that’s his real name; y’all thought I made that up—y’all got to read your Bible. Malchus! He cuts off his ear.
Watch the correction in verse 52. He doesn’t first speak to the man with the ear on the ground; he speaks to Simon Peter. «Put your sword back in its place.» He corrects him in the middle of his emotional crash out, which he’s kind of justified for. If somebody came against the people you love, some of y’all would be like, «You could do whatever, you can call me whatever, but if you say anything about my baby…» y’all know how y’all are. If you say anything about… okay, same type of energy.
Why wouldn’t God correct the guy coming to take Him? Why wouldn’t God correct all of the situation that’s happening? He goes for Simon Peter and literally says, «Put it back.» Jesus said to him, «For all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you not think that I’m cold enough to handle this myself? Wow! Do you not think I can call on my father and He will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? A legion is usually 6,000, so 72,000 angels would pull up on you. You don’t think if I wanted to change this situation I couldn’t? But the only reason I’m not is because if I did, how then would the scripture be fulfilled that says it must happen this way?»
How many situations have happened that you were trying to figure out an alternate reality or a different way it could go, and God’s saying it must happen this way? So at this moment, Jesus picks up my man’s ear, pops it back on, and the only person that was corrected was Peter. «You’re going to correct me in the middle of this crash?»
Let’s look at another guy from the Old Testament. This guy’s name is Saul. And Saul has a crash out in 1 Samuel 13. Today I just want to help you because God’s going to correct you in some things, and most of us don’t know how to handle it. 1 Samuel chapter 13:8 says, let me just set a little context. They’re at war. Saul is leading the army and is supposed to wait for Samuel, the prophet, to come because they were going to make a sacrifice and God was going to bless their victory. But Saul started getting impatient, and we’re going to see this right here.
It says, «Then Saul waited for seven days according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him.» So Saul said, «You know what? Forget this. The pressure is too much; bring me the burnt offering right now. I’m not waiting for anybody! Bring it to me right now!» And he offered the burnt offering.
Now it happened that as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him that he might greet him. And Samuel said, «What have you done?» Saul replied, «Well, you know, when I saw the people, they were scattering from me, and you did not come when you said you were going to be here at the appointed time. I know you’re here now, but, I mean, woo! 13 minutes ago would have been really good, and the Philistines gathered to come to Michmash. Then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made a supplication to the Lord. So why am I not to make a supplication to the Lord? Since you weren’t here, I thought I should make the supplication. Therefore, I felt compelled, ’ that’s a good churchy word, huh? ‘I felt compelled and offered the burnt offering.’
And Samuel said to Saul, „You have done something so foolish. You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now, since you made that rash decision because you were triggered by everything you saw, your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.“
The crazy thing is I get it. Saul’s under pressure. People coming from the left, the right, all his people who were down start scattering. And if you’re telling me this is how we’re going to get victory, and I don’t see the prophet nowhere…is he? Where’s he at? He ain’t there. I’m gonna just do it myself. Has anybody taken matters into your own hands before? You know God told you to wait, right? You know God told you don’t move into that apartment. You know God told you not to date them. You know God told you not to open the business yet. You know God told you to wait. But the situation started speaking to you louder than God!
That is so good. And so you decided to take matters into your own hands. He canceled out a legacy that was supposed to still be experienced to this day because he could not wait in a state where he was triggered. Samuel comes to correct him. And I just came to tell everybody who’s potentially in a situation that seems like you’re justified to make a critical decision while the situation feels confusing: write this down. Be careful making quick decisions in the middle of a crisis. This is not the season where you do knee-jerk reactions without going to the Father. This is not the season where, „Oh, it makes sense on paper.“ The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5 to acknowledge God in all your ways, and He will direct your paths.
Some of you are the directors of a movie that you did not fund. God is supplying everything for this movie, and you’re telling Him, „No, no, no, I don’t need to do it Your way. This is how I see the movie ending.“ And He’s saying, „You have no clue what I’m trying to do in this thing.“ You will not let Me direct this thing, and you will not let Me guide you into all truth. I’m telling you this because when you’re in confusion, you’re not seeing clearly. Saul was confused, and he was not seeing clearly. And what God sends when you’re confused is a word before the confusion. The question is, will you remember and listen to the word when the confusion comes?
That’s why the word of the year at Transformation Church this year is Focus. He’s saying you have to kill the distractions because you’re confused in a season where you should be sure. He’s already told you what He wanted to do. He told you to stay faithful. He told you to keep giving. He told you to keep serving. He told you to stay submitted in that house. And then you got offended. Now that you’re offended, confusion sets in. „Well, am I supposed to listen to somebody who’s just going to say something crazy to me like that? Am I supposed to stay in a house where I don’t feel like I’m getting fed? Am I supposed to do this with all this other stuff?“ Go! And God’s saying, „Hold on to the word I already gave you.“
And Saul doesn’t hold on to the word. So he goes ahead and doesn’t heed the correction like many of us. This painted a picture in my mind: how many people like football? Just hands. How many football fans? How many people don’t understand football at all? Like just—okay, we love you too. One thing that most people understand is that there’s a quarterback, and there are these little guys on the end called receivers. And the quarterback’s job is to throw the ball to the receivers. And what’s the receiver’s job, class? Catch the ball!
Mo, could you be my quarterback for a second? And Mo, yeah, just come stand up here for me. You’ve never seen a Hispanic 5’2» quarterback, but we have one today! What would happen in a football game is the quarterback would be here, and the receiver—after they say, «Hut!”—I would run as a receiver, and he would throw me the ball. Now, I don’t know if you saw what happened. Did someone see it? What? What did you say? Oh no, no, no, y’all. I’m a great receiver. I’m a great receiver. I’m a great Christian; I receive what the word says.
Are you seeing what’s happening right now? I’m in a position. God, give me clarity. Some of y’all still ain’t got it. This is what we do every Sunday. We come, „Oh, glory to God! Use me! Give me a prophetic word!“ I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m not receiving the correction that He’s throwing my way! When God is passing you correction, you don’t even have your hands up! How long would I be in the game if every time God calls a play for me, you—y’all looking at me—get him out the game. Take them out! Get them out of here! Little boy, 12 years old, get them out!
Because it doesn’t make sense to keep running the same play. It doesn’t make sense to keep running the same play when you’re never in a position to receive: doing all that zigzagging, all that praying, all those all-night prayers, all of those supplications, prophesying to yourself, writing everything down, and God’s saying, „Hut!“ And every time, if you cannot receive correction, you are a liability to the kingdom of God. I cannot have you on my team if the coach can’t tell you, „You said that with the wrong spirit. You sent that in anger. That was a sarcastic response to a real issue, ” and your boss nor your leader nor your husband can correct you.
Amen! God keeps using me! I mean, I feel a fresh fire! „I’m giving you direction.“ You’re giving me direction, and I’m not listening. This time I’m going to listen. I went to a conference, and, „Oh my God! Faith in the fire!“ Whoo! It shut up in my bones! I got it! So when you—when you—when you—when you tell me to do it again, yeah, I’m going to listen. „Alright, you want me to go five and then end?“ Okay, cool. I was supposed to go the other way. That was five and out! But I like it out here! This is where people see me!
How many times have we not caught the correction? Because anytime you catch the correction, God is trying to do something to shape our character. So when He’s correcting us, He’s shaping our character. When we catch correction, I’m trying to tell you why you should catch it. Then God is trying to do something for our confidence. The more I get character like Christ, the more confident I am that, „Hold on, when He calls me to a war, even if I have opposition, we’ve run this play before. It doesn’t matter who’s standing in front of me; they don’t know the play. They don’t know what God’s called me to do.“ So I’m confident that God will see me through this.
See, when I catch correction, it makes me Christlike. I become more like the One throwing me the ball. We have the same mind. „Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus.“ When a quarterback and receiver get on the same plane, I don’t even have to understand what he’s up against. If he just goes like this, I already know because we have the same mind. And the only reason that there’s correction is because you have a calling.
How many believers every Sunday, every Monday, every Wednesday, say, „God, use me! God, use me! God, use me! Man, why won’t You throw the ball better? God, why wouldn’t You put me in a better situation? God, why was I born into this family? God, why wouldn’t You put me in Dallas or Atlanta or LA? Why would You put me here?“ And because I can’t catch calling, because I can’t catch correction, I start complaining to the One who threw the ball. „God, if You would do it like I told You to! God, if You would give me my wife, I wouldn’t be out here sleeping with everybody! If You would give me a job where I could actually provide, I would stop pushing that work! I would stop lying! I would stop stealing food stamps! If You would actually provide for me!“ Amen!
And some people have the nerve to be upset with God because, the entire time, He’s been letting you stay in the game by your own credentials. You should be out because you judge the other receivers when they don’t catch the ball like you would. He said, „I’m letting you stay in the game, and you still won’t hear the correction.“
And this happens to all believers. And I’m telling you today, point one of this—we’re almost done—catch the correction. You have to be a receiver of correction. And God’s going to correct you in the middle of a crash out. It’s going to be when you are already stressed about money that God’s going to say, „You need to start tithing.“
Y’all saw how there were no amens right there? Because He’s going to use the moment of a crash out. He’s like, „I can’t rebuke the devourer.“ I already told you in My word that the people who honor Me with their wealth, that’s who I protect their finances. You want Me to change and let you hit the lottery and do all this other stuff, but right now, while you still need a miracle, I’m going to correct you. Your money will never be right. It doesn’t matter how many zeros you put in the account; you have too much wisdom to keep disobeying Me.
„Well God, I’ll make it up at the end of the year.“ And He said, „That means you don’t trust Me daily.“ So you need your money to be able to make rent now. And God said, „With that $25, $250 belongs to Me.“ He’s going to correct you in the middle of the crash out. And right now, some of y’all are in this exact situation, and God’s saying, „Hut!“ And you’re like, „That must be for somebody else. He can’t be talking about me.“ Catch the correction!
You’ve been married to that man for years, and all you do is tear him down every time he messes up. But the Bible tells us that the faith of a woman can change a household. That’s right! „Well, I’m just telling it how it is.“ I’m just telling you how it is! And God said, „Yeah, he messed up again. Speak life over him! Tell him who you see! Sow seeds of encouragement! Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, only that which is edifying to the hearer!“
If you’ve got to walk around and God’s saying, „I know he messed up. I know he did it, but I’m about to run another play for you. And I’m going to correct you in the middle of this.“ And we’re standing out here, „Oh Lord, I can’t stand Jerome! It’s been 20 years! He ain’t going to change!“ Neither are you! Would you catch the correction? Proverbs 3:12: This is why you’ve got to catch the correction and have the right perception on it. „For the Lord corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.“
The Lord says, „I love you too much to have you keep running the wrong route, so I need you to catch this correction.“ When I was on the football team, I could tell who was going to play in the game during the weekend and who wasn’t by who the coach corrected. There were certain people on the team that, when they messed up, the coach didn’t say nothing. The reason he didn’t say nothing to them is that they weren’t going to play.
Do you understand what I’m saying? But it would be like the coach’s son and the star players like, „Hey, listen to me. When you do this, go that way! You don’t see the defense!“ And old Bobo over here is playing with flowers, drawing stuff in the grass. The coach doesn’t even care because the investment of correction is proof of a future. The reason God corrects us is because He sees how He wants to use us in the future.
„Stop sleeping with them!“ Stop! Because I see in the future you having to explain that soul tie to the person I’ve created you for, and you don’t know why you’re being pulled that way! „Stop giving that money to that family member who’s just abusing it! Stop! Because you’re enabling them to continue in destruction. Your love should say no!“
Okay, let me stop. But that’s my baby, and he’s manipulating you! You have funded his foolishness in the name of love! „Stop in the name of love!“ Okay? And let me help you because some of y’all are like, „Yeah, if God corrects me, I will catch His correction. God, I just promise you right now whenever you throw correction my way, I’m catching it.“
He’s going to use a person—an actual human—to provide the correction. Can you catch the correction if it comes through a different vessel? God sent Samuel to correct Saul, and he couldn’t catch the correction. I’ll tell you a true story: Pastor Will, the one who was up here doing all our announcements and leading us—our associate campus pastor—it was about four years ago that we were at Incredible Pizza. We were there for, I think, Ava’s birthday or MJ’s birthday. We were there for MJ’s birthday, and the Holy Spirit told me that Will had a huge future in our church, but there was one thing holding him back, and it was his fork. Will was 351 lbs and was killing himself with fast food and a fork.
Because I saw his future, I saw what was in him, I saw his loyalty, and his ability to connect with people and his study in the word—I saw him, and God said, „You’re going to have to be his pastor right now and go correct him.“ This was a defining moment for our relationship because I didn’t know how he was going to take it. And right there in the hall of Incredible Pizza, I told Will, „Hey man, you’ve got to lose weight.“ And right now, some of y’all are offended. And I didn’t even say it to you. You can feel the tension in the room right now! Because what does my spiritual life have to do with my weight? You get one temple of the Holy Spirit!
And this was just something I knew was specific to him. I didn’t give a prophetic word to everybody; I went and talked to somebody who said they were submitted to my leadership. And I corrected him, and I said, „Will, I’m going to help you get started.“ And I said, „I’ve got kids! Don’t waste my money!“ I said, „I’m going to give you 30 days, and I’mma pay for it. And what you do after that is on you.“ You know what Will did? I corrected him; he caught it! That boy ran!
Hold on. He took what I gave him in correction and turned it into a testimony. How much weight have you lost? „141 lbs!“ He’s about to run in a high rocks event, and Kaylee got a new husband. Most of you would have left the church right now! He knew it was a problem before I corrected it. It’s crazy that the stuff we know!
When somebody calls it out, now I have the opportunity to be offended. But when I corrected him, it’s because I saw his calling. When I corrected him, it was because I knew he wanted to be like Christ, and I needed him to have confidence. I wanted to help him build his character. And what I’m telling you is if Christ sends anybody to correct you in the middle of a crash out, catch it!
All I came to say is it will come at the most inopportune time. You’re going to be in the middle of the thing, and God will be like, „Hey, put your hands up because I’m about to throw you some correction, even while you have opposition.“ And the only thing that allows you to really catch correction is when you have these gloves right here on the back of them. They’ve got a word on them that the church is not used to: humility. If your hands and heart don’t have humility, you won’t catch correction.
That’s why the Bible tells us to actually be more humble than we are anything else! Let me tell you, I can’t—you! Oh, I can’t throw! Hands of humility, 1 Peter 5:6: „Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you.“ The reason why God’s correcting you is because He loves you.
If you put on humility, correction—listen—without love creates rebellion, not repentance. The reason I need to tell you God loves you is because He’s correcting you. He’s telling you, „Stop comparing yourself to them!“ „Cut your cut! Stop following them! That’s a smart correction!“ „Well, God, why am I–I mean, they ain’t doing nothing to me!“ Because every time you see them, you compare yourself to them!
And what I’m trying to do is change in you the ability to not see them and think something’s wrong with you. I want you to become content! And right now, you’re comparing! So obey Me and unfollow them! „But God, they give me creative juices!“ No, they give you comparison and anxiety, and they give you a reason to not do what I’ve called you to do! ’Cause 4,000 people like it when they do it, and four like it when you do it! Stop!
And when He comes to correct, because you’ve taken off humility, and you’ve put down your hands and you’re like, „God, you know what? I’m going to do it my own way! Run the play!“ You’re almost proud now that you’re doing it your own way! All I’m telling you right now—Jesus, yeah! Jesus, I love our church!
Catch the correction! Alright! Once you catch the correction, comply with the command. If God tells you to go five and in, just do it! „Well, I don’t know why I got to do it.“ You don’t have to know why you got to do it! You do not have to understand to obey! It takes faith to follow Christ’s command when you feel something contrary! Just do what God tells you to do!
„No, you don’t go nowhere, Jesus. You stay right there!“ „Okay, God, You want me to forgive?“ „Yes!“ „It doesn’t make sense.“ „Doesn’t matter!“ Comply! Comply with the command that God gave you. The reason why Saul cancels out the legacy of his children’s children’s children is because he would not—watch this—is another word for comply—he would not obey.
And when you don’t obey, you’re always forfeiting something that God wanted to do! Right? And that’s when you start complaining and you stop complying. And this is where I’ve got to read you just a little more scripture. 1 Samuel chapter 15, verse 10, this is where the title of this is in the Bible is „The Lord Rejects Saul.“ Then the Lord said to Samuel, „I am sorry that I ever made Saul king because he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.“ Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night. Drop down to verse 20.
He’s confronting Saul now, and this is Saul’s excuse: „But I did obey the Lord!“ Saul insisted. „I carried out the mission He gave. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. Then my troops brought the best sheep and goats and cattle and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.“ But Samuel replied, „Listen to this! What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifice or your obedience to His voice?
Does God like you putting a spectacle on that, „I obeyed God, ” or actually obeying Him? Listen: obedience is better than any sacrifice you can make, and submission is better than any offering of a fat ram! Rebellion—watch this! This is strong Bible, y’all—rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft! Some of y’all are scared of Halloween! And He said, „You’re disobeying me! You are a witch! You are moving in witchcraft ’cause you won’t obey me!“ Oh God, they don’t want the Bible!
And stubbornness is bad as worshiping idols! So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, He has rejected you as king! Write this down: disobedience doesn’t look demonic, but it is the invitation to your destruction! You think, „Well, I just didn’t do that one thing God told me.“ You don’t understand that that one thing was the thing that led to the thing that was going to be the thing that does the thing you’ve been praying the thing would do!
What are you saying, Pastor Mike? You have no idea what’s on the other side of your obedience! In the same token, you have no idea what’s on the other side of your disobedience! Jesus compares disobedience to idol worship and witchcraft! So the next time God says, „Hey, go talk to them and share My love with them!“ I know you’re busy, and I know you’re on your way to the movie; you’re going to miss, but I need you to go tell them that I love them and pay for $10 of gas for them.
And the next time you get in your car and act like that’s nothing, He said, „You might as well have worshipped an idol and participated in a witchcraft ceremony.“ I want you—you don’t think about it like that! We just, „Ah, I didn’t have time!“ „Oh man, I promised my kids.“ And He’s like, „Eternity’s in the balance, and you won’t obey Me!“
„I’ve been telling you for years to start that LLC.“ You have no idea what resources I have available for you to change the community you’re in, but you won’t obey Me! „You won’t obey Me to tell that person that you’re going to work with them for free. I know what you put on your flyer and how much you charge, but I told you you were supposed to sew into them! Why won’t you obey?“ „I told you to enroll in that school.“ „Well, God, I’m this old or I don’t have the… Why won’t you just do what I asked you to do?“
I’ve found that when God comes with the correction, most of the time our hands are down, our hearts aren’t open, and we won’t catch the correction. Peter, though—catches the correction—cuts off the ear—Jesus says, „Put your knife up!“ They didn’t take his knife, so he still has the same opportunity to do the same thing again. If it were some of the people I run with, they would have cut off one ear and then would have gone to the homeboy and started trying to cut off his ear!
We don’t hear about Peter putting up any fight in that moment again. He falls back. Why? Not because the situation changed. He falls back at the command—the word of his Savior. He obeyed. This is why Peter gets used again and messes up once on the wrong route again. „I’ll never deny you before the little rooster crows three times.“
But he was still in the game! He was still in the game because he could catch corrections. Have you been benched? Are you on your way out of the game God called you to because you won’t catch correction?
Last thing I’m going to tell you: when you find yourself in there, you’ve got to catch correction first, and then every time you catch correction, you’ve got to comply with the command. Last thing—you’ve got to choose to continue after the confrontation. This is where most people leave the church, leave the marriage, leave the friendship. Your cut-off game is so strong at the time that there’s a confrontation, and then you leave.
What if Peter would have been like, „Never mind, forget it. I’m done following You because You didn’t have to call me out like that in front of everybody! Why’d you do it like that though? You didn’t have my back!“ And Jesus was like, „Because you caught the correction, you fell back, and you still stayed. I’m going to use you! I’m going to turn all of this into something that can be put into eternity!“
Because correction is a divine tool by God, not a human insult. Most of us think correction is something that God’s trying to insult us with. The greatest moments of my growth have been when God has corrected me and told me, „Watch this, Mike. Change course! You were going this way. Go this way!“
Even sometimes when God calls to play, you’re going to miss. But were your hands even up to receive the correction? I promise you that when God calls this next play for me, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but my hands are going to be ready to receive the correction! And listen, it doesn’t matter who claps; we just advanced.
It doesn’t matter who—every time you catch a ball in the opposing player’s stadium, they boo. If I listen to the environment and the atmosphere to get the cue if I did a good job, it’s when I look at the quarterback, and he’s nodding at me. And he comes to the play, we advanced! And then he runs another play, and it doesn’t make a difference. I might have missed it; okay, we get another chance!
That’s where grace and mercy come in, but I had an opportunity because of what Jesus did to catch another ball, get tackled, get down! Listen to what I’m telling you right now, church! If you’re open to correction in the middle of a crash out, God will use you in a way that you’ve never imagined!
Church, I don’t want to make you hype; I want you to walk in humility. I can’t tell you how much in this last season God has corrected me! When it felt unfair, when it felt like I have every right to feel this way, God said, „Call them! Call them! Call them!“ Y’all know them! „This doesn’t feel fair. I don’t want it to feel fair. I wanted to create faith!“
And today, my assignment was very simple: catch the correction! I don’t care how old you are! I don’t care how long you’ve walked with God! Until you go and meet with Him in heaven, He’s going to be trying to refine you and make you more like Him! Catch the correction!
Standing all over this place, I went and looked at what happened after Jesus died and after the disciples were trying to figure out how to take the gospel forward. I found this little scripture in Acts 3:19. That’s Peter talking. Because when God throws correction your way, you have two options: you can either repent or rebel. That’s it! You can either do what He’s saying and turn—that’s all repent means! —turn in the direction He tells you to, or you can rebel and go the direction that you want to.
Acts 3:19: This is the same guy who caught correction in this moment. He’s saying to everybody, „Repent!“ That means turn and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out and the times of refreshing may come from the Lord. When you repent and catch correction, the end result of that is times of refreshing!
How beautiful is it that God’s saying, „God, they finally got it! They finally obeyed Me! They actually caught what I was trying to give them! I don’t have to run that same play again! I don’t have to keep taking them through that same cycle! They caught it! It didn’t feel good; it was frustrating! He had to use my mom to do it, He had to use my boss to do it, He had to use my coworker to do it, He had to use opposition to do it! But I caught the correction!“
You’ve been trying to tell me for 15 years I talk too much! Caught it! That’s what it was! You were trying to tell me to stop responding out of my emotions and my childhood trauma! Caught it! Oh, you were trying to tell me that I’m valuable without being associated with them! Caught it! Oh, I’m actually chosen by You, even when I’m not producing! Some of y’all working five and six jobs and still the ends ain’t meeting, and He told you, „Just work those two! Your children need you!“
„Well, God, how is this going to…“ They won’t catch the correction! „Let those three jobs go! Work the two; I’m going to give them a promotion! I’m going to get this thing high!“ But they won’t today—catch it!
Yeah! Yeah! Will you be a receiver? Open up your hands! Come on, open up your hands! This is the only way you can receive anything! Hands down, you can’t receive anything! Now at this point, if you’re looking at me—Tess, you ready for this ball? Look at her! See her hands are open: I can throw this ball anywhere in this arena!
Who want it? I could…whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Who want it? Did you see? Hands went up in the direction that I was looking! Y’all ready? ‘Cause you never know! Somebody’s standing on their chair! There’s expectation when you know who holds the ball! I would never throw this ball to hurt you! I would never throw this ball to hurt you! It’s my love for you!
Catch! Hands up! At the sign! So many people won’t respond when God’s saying, „Hey! Catch this!“ „God, I’m too old to go through this!“ You’ve just never caught it before! Catch this correction! „The way you’re talking to your kids is not like Me!“ Just ’cause you got talked to like that, I’m trying to—yes, they disobeyed, but they did not deserve that language and that attitude!
Catch the correction! But I’m supposed to train them! You are training them! Okay? They’re going to do the same thing you did to your grandbabies ’cause you wouldn’t submit! Catch! You ready, big dog? Catch the—look at her! She said, „Me? You? Me?“
So many times in this moment, somebody—you caught it. Okay, now look, five people went for the same correction! Did you see? In that moment, they were all reaching for—because with understanding—when you know it’s His love! When God corrects me, when I know it’s His love!
Y’all ready? Hands up! Y’all look! That whole section…that one—that lady’s eyes got so big! She said, „Please don’t throw it at me, pastor! Please don’t throw it at me!“ What would happen if the whole church was ready? What would happen?
I know I’m taking a second, but I just need you to see what would happen! What would happen if you were ready? Ah! Nobody’s caught it yet, but they tried not one time! This is why grace and mercy! This is why we serve God! It’s ’cause I may miss it; I may miss it.
But the truth of the matter is, I haven’t thrown one ball of correction! I may miss it, but I haven’t thrown one ball of correction! Hey, listen! Guess who else rejoices when you obey? Heaven! Guess who else rejoices when you do the will of your Father? Heaven!
I saw a whole section’s hands go up! Come on! ’Cause they were willing to catch correction! When your boss comes and tells you you could be on time, uh-oh—it just got real! When your person tells you your attitude has been off this week, don’t automatically get offended! Could that be the tool? When your husband’s saying, „Hey, it just doesn’t feel like you’re communicating with me.“
„What do you mean, you ain’t comm—I mean, I…“ No, no, no, no! Catch! Hands lifted! God, today we need your help! Father, there’s so much that is going on, and there’s so much we don’t understand! And sometimes it feels overwhelming that in the middle of our situation and circumstance, you would still require us to catch correction!
Father, whether it’s in our attitude, our conduct, our character, thank You for the grace that still keeps us in the game that allows us to have another opportunity to try to catch the things You’re trying to teach us! Your word says You only correct those You love!
So today we thank You for Your love that sees us in a better version than we are right now! Today we receive Your love! Ah, I receive Your correction! I thank You that today, Father God, we won’t be overwhelmed! You are the only one who gives us the opportunity to turn right now!
And Father, for some of us who have been running the wrong route for years, today we repent, and we come to You! And we’re asking You, „What’s the play? What do You want me to run in this next season? Who do You want me to play on the team with in this next season? What route am I supposed to take for my career, for my children, for my marriage, for my relationship?“
„Father, how do You want me to communicate today?“ Father God, I’m letting You call the play! And whatever You say, I will obey! And Father, even if it’s hard to receive it, I will not be stubborn or prideful! In humility, I will catch the correction in the middle of the crash out!
If you’re in this room right now and you know that there have been situations where you have purposely fumbled the season that God has called you in, and today you’re saying, „God, I want to repent, ” I need you to lift your hands! I want to pray for you right now!
Yep! Okay! This is intentionally saying, „God, I need You to come help me with this.“ Father, You see the hands that are in this room and that are lifted online all over the world today! I thank You that the one thing that You cannot refuse is a contrite spirit, a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
We are saying right now, „We missed it, God. And we are turning to You! We’re turning away from our ideas! We are saying, ‘Not my will, but Yours be done! ’ Give us direction! We’ll run the play!“
Father, I’m thanking You for supernatural rebuilding of things that we broke! Thank You, Father, that You can restore the years that our disobedience has stolen! I thank You for mending relationships! I feel Your presence, God! I thank You, Father God, for canceling out even the debt—monetarily and emotionally—that has been created because we’ve been running the wrong play!
Today, God, we repent, and we’ll catch the correction! Thank You, Lord, that we won’t be hard-headed anymore, stubborn, defiant! If You said it, we believe it! And if You have to correct us, it’s not ’cause You hate us, it’s ’cause You see our future!
Thank You, Lord, that You have plans for us! Plans to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future! Thank You that relationships and marriages will be mended ‘cause we won’t look at each other’s correction as an indictment!
I thank You that correction from my spouse is just another love letter from God! Let me see them the way You see them, God! I’ll no longer have offense for the messenger, but God, I will receive Your message! Yes, God’s doing surgery on people’s hearts right now, y’all! He’s going to start revealing to us areas that He’s like, „Yeah, catch this correction! I want to be altered here at the altar!“
God, You’re going to have to cut something off! It’s not going to be an ear, but it might be an attitude! I want to be altered here at the altar! Create in me a clean heart! Take me back to the start! Here’s my offering! It’s me! I want to be altered here at the altar!
Create in me! Create in me a clean heart! Take me back to here! I am! Here’s my offering! It’s me! God, I want to be altered!
If you’ve never received Jesus, listen to me: this is the only way you’ll even catch the correction is if you trust the one who’s throwing the path! He’s already taken care of your eternity! Let Him actually help you live this life! It’s the reason He came according to John that you have life and life to the full!
So today, if you want to receive Jesus, I’m telling you it’s the greatest decision you could ever make! It took me from being a liar, a manipulator, addicted to pornography, had so much dark stuff in my heart, and it allowed me to see Him as the one who knows the direction for my life. I can’t keep following them and think that I’m going to get to where God’s called me to be!
I need to go back to the Creator and the Designer! And today He wants a personal relationship with you! We’re about to go home! But I didn’t preach this whole message so that somebody could go and not have the opportunity to have their life completely transformed by meeting Jesus!
Today, if that’s you, on the count of three, I just want you to slip your hand up! And if it’s for one person, everything that has ever been done to get us to this moment was all worth it! And all of heaven will begin to rejoice because of one person that gave their life to Christ! That’s how much He loves you!
If you want to receive Jesus, whether you are in this room or watching online, in your home right now or rebroadcast in a jail cell, today is the day of salvation! And you’ve been going the wrong way, and it’s time for you to catch this correction or catch this compassion! ’Cause His correction is His compassion! Yes, sir!
And it’s moved Him so much that before you even said yes to Him, He said yes to you! If that’s you and you know today is the day of salvation, I need the church to begin to start praying ‘cause eternity is in the balance right now!
Today, you are going to be transformed forever! Number one, this is God’s day of your transformation! Number two, your name is going to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and your security is in heaven and in Jesus! Three, if you want to receive Jesus, lift your hand up in the air!
I see you, my brother! I see you, my sister! I see the whole row right there! I see you, my man! I see you! Come on, y’all! I see you, my brother! All the way up! Transformation Church, this is what we celebrate!
Put your hands up in the church! Glory to God! Hey listen! You just caught it! Salvation is a free gift that you have to receive! Come on, hands lifted all over this place! We’re going home, but this is the best part of the service because heaven’s turning up right now, and we are too!
This is the benefit of every believer; you don’t have to worry no more! You just have to receive and obey! At Transformation Church, we’re a family. Everybody prays! Nobody prays alone! So say, „God, thank You for sending Jesus just for me! Today I admit I’ve sinned, and I need a Savior! I repent and I turn to You! I believe You lived, You died, and You rose again with all power so that I could live in freedom! Change me! Renew me! Transform me! I’m Yours forever! In Jesus' name! Amen!“