Toure Roberts - You've Had It the Whole Time (01/16/2026)
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In this sermon, the preacher draws from Moses' story in Exodus 4 and 14 to remind us that God transforms our ordinary «rod"—our natural abilities and strengths—into His powerful «rod of God» when we surrender it to Him. The key idea is that we’ve had God’s anointing and everything we need the whole time, but opposition often distracts us from using it and moving forward into our destiny. Ultimately, by stretching out God’s rod in faith, we part the seas ahead and drown the enemies behind in the wake of our progress.
Introduction and Moses' Doubts
I want to draw your attention to Exodus chapter 4. Read the first five verses in Exodus chapter 4, and then we’ll skip over to verse 20. After that, we’ll read a few verses in Exodus chapter 14. It says, «And Moses answered and said, ‘But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice.’» God had called Moses by this point and told him that He was going to use him to do incredible things on the earth—things that were unprecedented, things that had never been seen before.
Moses does the same thing that most of us do when God begins to allow us to peek into who we really are; he got nervous, started doubting, and had some excuses. And we’re not judging him—that’s kind of how we are. We all have to wrestle with the reality of who God has created us to be. Are you tracking with me? We can hype ourselves up, but the reality is that who we are is so much bigger than anything we’ve ever seen before, especially when we look in the mirror. We have to continuously be reminded, and we always have to wrestle and struggle with that, because as a man thinks, so is he, and God has to get us to that place.
God’s Question: What Is in Your Hand?
So anyway, this is in the middle of one of Moses' moments of wrestling. Moses asks God, «But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice? Suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’» So the Lord said to him, «What is that in your hand?» It’s interesting; He doesn’t even deal with the sense of inadequacy that Moses is conveying at that moment. As Moses is trying to disqualify himself, God changes the subject and says, «What’s in your hand?» «What is that? You’re telling me what you’re not; you’re telling me what you can’t do, and I’m telling you that there’s something in your hand already.» Are you tracking with me? You’re looking in the wrong place. You’re saying what you don’t have; I’m telling you what you do have. I feel that for somebody.
Well, we’ve got to get through this. So the Lord said to him, «What is that in your hand?» And he said, «A rod. It’s just a rod.» And God said to Moses, «Cast it down on the ground.» So Moses cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent. Things started happening supernaturally with this rod that he thought was just natural, and Moses fled from it. Sometimes it’s scary to recognize your potential.
Then the Lord said to Moses, «Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.» He reached out his hand, caught it, and it turned back into a rod in his hand. It says, «That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.»
The Transformation of the Rod
Jump down to verse 20. It says that Moses took his wife and his sons, set them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Now watch the difference; at first, he has a rod in his hand, but here it says, «And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.» So something happened to his rod; it went from being his rod to becoming the rod of God. I believe that some of you in here are going to experience that transformation right now. But I’m not going to get ahead of myself—I’m going to try not to get ahead of myself.
Facing Opposition at the Red Sea
We jump over to Exodus chapter 14, beginning at verse 10. At this time in the text, what’s happening here is Moses has ultimately believed in himself, and he has done what God has said. He is now leading the children of Israel out of bondage. There have been great miracles and breakthroughs, and he is on his way to destiny, leading the people who are following him into destiny. Then things get a little tricky. He’s on his way out, but then all of a sudden, opposition arises, and now a great multitude is following hard behind him. Naturally, it looks like he is on the brink of demise.
It says, «And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them.» So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, «Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone; let us continue to be slaves that we may serve the Egyptians? ’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.»
It’s kind of funny when you’re in the in-between place; the temptation to run back to what’s familiar, even though what’s familiar was less than your best. Has anyone ever been there before? You’re in the in-between place, and you’re not where God has promised you yet, and all of a sudden you forget why you left the old place in the first place. I feel that for somebody.
I’m trying to get through this, but somebody needs to hear this: don’t go back. Just turn to your neighbor and say, «Don’t go back. Don’t go back.» There was a reason why you left; there was a reason why you left. There were reasons, and sometimes when we’re trying to make our way to where God is taking us and we get into this unfamiliar place, we start getting scared. The enemy of our destiny and the enemy of our soul repackages what we left and presents it to us as something good.
You’ve been there before—the past, right? You haven’t quite stepped into your future, and the past doesn’t look so bad after all. Don’t go back; you don’t live there anymore. You wouldn’t even fit there anymore anyway.
So the Egyptians and the children of Israel are crying out, and they’re basically saying to Moses, «Moses, why did you bring us out of there?» They are looking at the opposition and believing, in that moment, that the opposition means that the promise has been canceled. That wasn’t true. They’re crying out, saying, «See, we should have stayed. We shouldn’t have followed you. We didn’t want to follow you. We would have believed in you. We were better off being slaves back there in Egypt.»
In verse 13, Moses said to the people, «Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.» Woo! According to the Word of God, they are on the brink of breakthrough—not just any type of breakthrough but a breakthrough so incredible that the issues and the oppositions they’ve been struggling with all the time are going to be overcome to the point that they will never have to deal with that devil again.
Moses continues in verse 14, saying, «For the Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.» In verse 15, this is interesting; the Lord said to Moses, «Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground in the midst of the sea.»
The Main Thought: You’ve Had It the Whole Time
The thought that I want to navigate around today is, «You’ve had it the whole time.» Let’s pray:
God, thank you so much for these moments that we will spend together. We thank you for Your Word; it’s a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. God, Your sons and daughters need to hear from You today, Lord. You want to reveal to them who they are, and You want to reveal to them their potential and the possibilities that You have set before them. So God, I thank You for the spirit of wisdom, revelation, insight, knowledge, and breakthrough. Lord, every spiritual gift being activated in this moment that I might reach Your sons and daughters in a meaningful, powerful, and effective way, to the end that we would be changed, to the end that we would be better equipped, to the end that You would recolor the world, and that we would see it through the lens of victory—that we would see it through the lens of being undefeatable and unstoppable. Do it in this house and the lives of Your sons and daughters. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.
God bless you. Do me a favor and greet somebody before you sit down. Tell them, «You’ve had it the entire time. We’ve had it the whole time. You got it. You got what it takes.» Hallelujah!
Distraction Through Opposition
You know, there are a lot of things in that text that we read that are fascinating to me. These accounts, in many respects, mirror the season we’re in. Personally, I felt compelled in this season to discuss champions and the processes that are normal for the great but would otherwise seem confusing and flat-out discouraging.
In other words, there are processes that are normal for champions, but if you don’t have anybody to come along and tell you that they are normal, they can actually discourage you and make you want to crawl up under a rock. One of the things that I’ve learned, and this has to be a really prayerfully big takeaway for you, is that oftentimes the attacks that come in our lives are more about attempts to distract us from our destiny and to draw us away from our identity and purpose more than anything else.
What if, because we are in Christ, what if because we’re anchored in Christ, and because of that we have the victory already—what if the attacks on our lives are not even necessarily meant to destroy us but instead to distract us? What if these attacks that are on our lives are designed to distract us in such a way that we begin to be stalled from what God wants to birth through us because we’re consumed by battles that God is going to fight for us?
I feel the Holy Spirit saying again: what if the primary purpose of the attack was not even to kill you? What if you can’t be killed? I think that if you could be killed, you would be dead. So what if it’s not even about killing you? What if it’s about distracting you?
What if it’s about having you be so consumed with trying to fight a battle that God says, «I’m already fighting for you; I’ve already gone ahead of you; I’ve already subdued that»? Instead of birthing what God wants us to birth, we’re in this fight, and we’ve forgotten that there’s something on our lives. There are some in this room right now, and you have been so distracted by the battle that you forgot about the book that’s in you, that you forgot about the business that God gave you, that you forgot about the script that you were supposed to write. You forgot about all this because right now you think your purpose is to survive.
Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit! Your purpose will never be to simply survive. We do survive, but surviving is not our purpose. We survive because we have a purpose. I know I just preached last week about simply surviving. I’m saying it again: there’s something on the other side, but surviving is not your purpose.
What happens oftentimes is, man, we get hit with stuff, we get distracted by things. The goal of the one who is a destroyer—God is a creator; the other guy is a destroyer—the goal is to keep you from birthing what’s in you.
Background on Israel’s Bondage
So a little bit of backdrop about the children of Israel and Moses, leading them out. As we know, the children of Israel, who were God’s people, were in slavery and served under Egyptian bondage for roughly 400 years. Their cry, if you study it, goes up before the Lord. I want you to study Exodus and read it all the way through Revelation, and you will get the point fully, right?
They’re in bondage, and there’s a passage that says that they begin to groan. Something inside recognizes that they were not created to be in bondage. Their groan goes up to heaven, goes into the ears of God, and God raises up Moses. He raises up Moses, who was, you know, really the least of people that anyone would suspect—the least individual that anyone would suspect to lead God’s people out of Egyptian bondage. He is stuttering; he is afraid; he is just not the one. There are some people in here right now and you think that you are not the one. I came to tell you, you are the one.
If I were your enemy, I would make you think, especially you, that you’re not the one. I would bring up a whole bunch of excuses. But anyway, Moses doesn’t look like the one, but he is the one. So God is having this exchange with Moses, and He is saying, «Look, you’re gonna deliver My people out of bondage and bring them into their purpose. What you’re gonna have to do is confront Pharaoh.»
Now, you have to understand who Pharaoh is at the time. Pharaoh is the most powerful nation in the world; they are thriving. Pharaoh is the ultimate dictator. You do not mess with Pharaoh. Now, God is telling this seemingly nobody to roll up on Pharaoh and say, «Let My people go.» Beyond that, He tells him, «God says, ‘Let My people go so that they can worship Me.’»
This is why Pharaoh would not let them go. He understood that if they worshiped God, they would not serve him. If they worshiped God, there would be something about worshiping God and the atmosphere of God that would trigger their creativity, that would trigger what’s on the inside of them, and cause them to begin to release what God has placed on them and begin to build God’s house instead of building Pharaoh’s house.
This was a dilemma, and when we find them in Exodus chapter 14, they’ve listened to Moses. God has done miracles through Moses. Pharaoh has been placed in check; he is in check, and they are out of bondage and on their way to the promised land. Everything looks good, and then opposition shows up.
Opposition as Evidence of Proximity to Promise
When opposition shows up, the children of Israel are tempted to believe that the bets are off. I feel that for somebody. We think subconsciously that opposition is evidence that the promise has been canceled, when in fact, opposition is evidence that you’re closer to the promise than you have ever been before! Are you tracking with me?
If you understand how this battle works, it is merely a distraction. You have got things that you are supposed to produce, and when you get close to producing them, opposition shows up. Opposition comes so that hopefully you will be so focused on it that you will not give birth.
Oh, hallelujah! I wonder what some in this room have been distracted from creating because of preoccupation with opposition. I wonder—I just believe that when we leave out of this service today, some of you are going to remember why you’re here. You’re going to remember what God placed on the inside of you. You’re going to remember a time when you were inspired.
There are some things that you have not brought to fruition yet. There are some things you have not given birth to yet. There are some things you are supposed to do, and I’m just wondering when you got distracted. I’m wondering how long you’ve been distracted. What I’ve learned is the enemy’s advantage is your distraction, your stagnation, and your procrastination. That’s how he wins. He doesn’t win by killing you; he wins by destroying what you are supposed to create.
We talk about procrastination, and it’s almost like it’s not even a bad word. I just wrestled with procrastination. We have this very slack approach to procrastination—being lazy is unacceptable, but to procrastinate is cool.
Being fearful is unacceptable, but I just procrastinate sometimes and don’t realize that when you procrastinate you’re pushing what you’re supposed to produce and create until tomorrow. The only problem is, you’re going to run out of tomorrows. Sometimes that’s how the enemy destroys; it’s by keeping you from creating.
Are you hearing me? He does this by allowing opposition to come upon you, and next thing you know, you’re spinning all your time fighting opposition instead of just moving forward. That’s why when Moses is having this conversation with God in Exodus chapter 14 and verse 15, God’s response to him is this: «And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.’»
God is shocked that they are getting ready to discard the plan. He’s telling Moses, «Moses, why are you crying to Me? Who said the plan has changed? Who changed the plan? Well, you know, if Pharaoh’s after me, if you were really for me, then the plans would’ve changed, and there wouldn’t be this opposition.» God is saying, «Who told you that lie? Why are you crying out to Me? Didn’t I give you marching orders? Didn’t I tell you what to do? Didn’t I tell you what I was getting ready to do in your life? Why all of a sudden are you now beginning to wonder if My word is still true? If I said it yesterday, it’s true today. Your opposition does not cancel My Word.»
He’s saying, «Why are you crying out to Me? Why is your speech to Me changing? Why are you talking to Me like we don’t have an agreement? Why are you talking to Me like you don’t have a promise? Why are you questioning what I said over your life? Who told you the plan had changed?»
What you need to do is tell the children of Israel to go forward! Don’t be stalled by what’s happening; don’t go backwards. Stick to the plan! I feel that for somebody. You need to stick to the plan. What did God say to you when everything was clear? What did God say to you before Pharaoh’s army started coming behind you making threats? What did God say to you? Did He say something different? No? Well, then your job is simply to move forward.
Keep going! What’s going to happen, as we’ll see when we study this chapter, is your opposition is going to be drowned in the wake of your progress.
I’ll say it again: your opposition is going to be drowned in the wake of your progress. We’re trying to get through our opposition to progress, trying to fight our opposition, when God says it’s not your battle to fight. I’ve already fought for you; I’ve already subdued that. When I gave you a Word, I already placed in the universe every victory that is needed to manifest the Word that I gave you. I don’t give you a Word without having already gone ahead of you and brought under subjection everything that would oppose you. So even what opposes you is subject to you if you will keep moving forward!
Somebody needs to hear that! You’re worried about your opposition, and your opposition has already been handled; in your progress, the children of Israel went forward. You know the story; they were able to walk across the Red Sea, right? They needed to walk across the Red Sea because, guess what? The Red Sea was not simply the bridge to get them from where they were to where they were going. The Red Sea was ordained to wipe out the opposition.
You’re not ready for that, but I’ve got to keep moving forward because the weapon that is going to deal with my enemies is in the wake of my progress. God’s going to make a way for me, and when He makes a way for me and I keep moving forward, it’s going to consume my enemies behind me. Are you tracking with me?
This is how you fight your battles. You fight your battles by keeping moving forward. This is how we fight our battles. He says, «I will fight for you.» So what you do is you keep moving forward, and I’m telling you, the Red Sea that will part for you is going to swallow up your enemies.
If you have ever been bowling, you’ve been out in the ocean, you’ve been on the sea—you know the worst thing you can do if you’re in a little boat is get in the wake of a big boat. If you’ve been out there, you either are my ocean people, or you’re out on a lake, or you know just give me a pond—somebody just roll with me, okay?
The last thing you want to do if you’re in a little boat is come up behind the wake. What is a wake? The wake is the water; it’s the waves that the forward motion of the large vessel creates. There are waves that aren’t natural waves—they are waves that come from movement. If you get caught in the wave of something—if you get in the wake of something great, then the wake of something great will demolish the lesser thing. Are you tracking with me?
That’s why you’ve got to keep moving forward. God is with you, and your life is designed to create a wake so that everything that’s not ordained to go will get drowned and overcome in the wake of your progress.
The word for you this morning is «go away!» That’s how we fight. You don’t fight by second-guessing. You don’t fight by contemplating, «God, did you really say it? What do I do now? If you were for me, Pharaoh wouldn’t be so close to me.» That’s not how you fight. You know how you fight when people are talking about you? You know how you fight when life is difficult? You stay focused on the fire; you keep moving forward. You don’t listen to it; you don’t turn to the left nor to the right. You keep going, baby, because you’ve got something to birth. Your weight is going to destroy your opposition.
So God, so God speaks to Moses in verse 15. He says, «And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward; but lift up your rod and stretch it out over the sea and divide it. Go forward, but you’re going to need to release something over what looks like an obstacle. When you release it over, it’s going to open up for you. Go forward! ’
I feel the Holy Spirit; I feel His presence. Go forward! I know it looks like you can’t go further than this; I know it looks like you’ve come to the end of your rope, but I’m telling you—go forward still! Continue to move forward. I want you to take something that you have and stretch it out because it is going to make a way for you where there seemed to be no way.
The truth of the matter is there was a way, and that’s why you’re in front of it. There are some of you who need to understand right now; you think that there’s no way, but there is a way, and that way is connected to something that God has already given to you, and it will work anywhere you point it. Oh, I feel the Lord! Anywhere you point it, it will prosper.
Surrendering Our Rod for God’s Rod
So what are we talking about? Well, He says, „Stretch forward!“ Let’s go back and look at this rod business. We’ve got to go back to Exodus chapter 4 to understand this. Remember when, in verse 2, the Lord says to Moses, He asks him the question, „What is that in your hand?“
He says, „What is that in your hand?“ And Moses said, „It’s a rod. It’s just a rod.“ And then God says, „Okay, cast it on the ground.“ Throw down what’s in your hand—what represents your power, your strength, and your ability—which represents your capacity and capability. I need you to take what you’ve been relying on because you’ve used it as a shepherd, and it may have beaten off a few wolves, and it may have guided a few sheep, but for where you’re going, you’re gonna need a whole lot more than this natural thing that’s under your control.
Are you tracking with me? He says, „First of all, what’s that in your hand?“ In other words, I am confirming that you have something. I’m affirming you in the fact that you’ve got something. You’ve used it, and it’s your tool. It’s your skill; it’s your talent. Maybe it’s your brilliance, or it’s your good looks, or whatever it is. Maybe it’s your charm; you have a way with people, and it has gotten you up to a certain point. But for where I’m trying to take you, your looks can’t get you there; your charm can’t get you there; your talents cannot get you there; your gifts cannot get you there; your skills cannot get you there. All the things that you can do cannot get you there.
So what I need you to do is take your rod and cast it down on the ground at My feet. Surrender your rod to Me! Because in your hand, it is your rod. But when I give it back to you because you gave it to Me, it’s going to be My rod. It is My rod that will allow you to point it at anything and everything that is not Me; it will have to submit to My rod that is in your hand.
Now, are you tracking with me? That’s why it says that it was his rod at first, but then he cast it on the ground and it began to do supernatural things. By the time we get to verse 20, it says, „And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.“ What is the rod of God?
This is what I’m getting at. What is the rod of God? We know how to get it. We get the rod of God by laying down our own rod. That’s hard for people; that’s hard for people because there are some of you who have charmed your way into the position that you’re in. Oh, I feel the Lord! Your skills and talents have gotten you to where you are, but if you’re honest, you’re not satisfied. Something’s missing.
We know how to get the rod of God by taking everything we have and laying it at God’s feet, saying, „You know what? Without You, I’m nothing.“ That’s hard to say when you’ve got a rod. I’m going to take my time right here—you know, I just say that when you’ve got a rod, because when you’ve got a rod, you begin to trust in your rod.
Hallelujah! You begin to lean on that rod. Come on, somebody—you know what I’m talking about! You lean on that rod! You rely on that rod. You say, „As long as I’ve got my rod, I’m going to be alright. As long as I’ve got my looks, as long as I’ve got my charm, as long as I’ve got my skills. As long as I’ve got my thing, I’m going to be alright.“
The reality is that as long as you’ve got your thing, all you ever have is what you can produce. God will make certain that you meet moments in life that reveal to you and me how futile we are without Him.
So, if I lay it down—what’s that in your hand? It’s interesting; God has to point to it and reveal the fact that Moses was trusting in his rod because sometimes we fixate ourselves on our rod and don’t even know we’re trusting our rod and not God. Hey, can I keep it real? Sometimes, money is our rod. That’s quiet now.
Money is funny, man, because it’s tricky. We claim we have, like, the joy of the Lord, right? But it’s really the joy of our bank account. Can I just get in your business for a few minutes? I’m almost done. I mean, like, have you ever tried it? When the money is flowing, oh, I’m happy! I love Jesus. Jesus loves me! I love everybody! But let that account dip down below a certain point of your comfortability, and all of a sudden now you’re depressed.
Come on, somebody! You’ve backed up into a wall; you’re stressing; you’re trying to figure it out. That’s because money is your rod. Yeah. It’s instantaneously depressing, and you won’t even be fully broke—just below that mark; you know there’s a mark where you feel like, „Yeah, I’m good, ” and then you dip beneath that certain point, and your certain point is somebody else’s miracle.
You feel me? Somebody else is going to have a thousand dollars in the bank and they’ll be like, „Oh, glory! Shop, I bought new sheets!“ Ah, but you dip down and y’all know that mark—is too real. You dip down, and you dip down and you feel it—the mark you have built against your emotional state.
How can I allow the rod of money to determine who I am? Everyone has a rod. It could be anything. Your rod could be friends; as long as I have friends around me, I’m good. Your rod could be, „As long as I’m popular, I’m good.“ Your rod could be the praise of men. I post a photo, and if a thousand people like it, man, I feel good. Thank You, Lord, it’s with me; never mind what it was a photo of, right?
Yeah, stuff popping! And then you post it and only get five likes. You figure maybe I didn’t put it out there far enough. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. And let me tell you about the applause of men; it is so fickle. You can’t trust the praise and the applaud of men. Men will applaud you while you’re drinking yourself into oblivion; while you’re smoking yourself into just destitution, men will applaud the worst things.
I cannot build my confidence on the brains of men, but I can build it on the applaud of God. I can build it on knowing that I’m pleasing Jesus. Are you tracking with me? I can build it on that. So anything—anything family can be your rod.
God says, „What is that in your hand, Moses? What’s that in this conversation about greatness? In this conversation about what you’re going to do in My name, how are you going to be awesome and powerful in the earth? In the conversation, God starts saying: ‘What are you holding on to? What’s in your hand? ’“
Moses says, „It’s my rod.“ God says, „Cast it down.“ The moment that he casts his rod down and surrenders it becomes greater—it was natural, and now it becomes supernatural. It starts turning into things and he uses this thing, and all of a sudden he’s doing miracles with this thing because he cast it down.
The Rod of God: The Anointing
The rod represents the anointing; that’s what I’m getting to. What is the rod of God? The rod of God is the anointing of God, and it will always be infinitely greater than your own rod. To get the rod of God, you have to be willing to give up your rod.
Are you tracking with me? The rod of God is the anointing. Let me define the anointing. The anointing can be defined as the hand of God on a person’s life. The hand of God on a person’s life empowers them to do incredible things in the earth. It comes—the anointing comes with favor, it comes with protection, it comes with breakthrough power, and blessings for generations.
I feel the Holy Spirit! There’s someone here right now, and you don’t have a money problem; you have an anointing problem. You don’t have an emotional problem; you have an anointing problem. You don’t have a relationship problem; you have an anointing problem. You need the anointing!
Let me tell you something. The most valuable thing that I possess right now is not anything material. I’m going to tell you straight up right now: the most valuable thing that I possess right now—that is in my possession—is my anointing. I teach my kids; I’m like, „Guys, you are blessed to grow up in a house that’s blessed.“
I say, „I know you see Mom and Dad; you see us working hard, and we do work hard and all that kind of stuff, but I’m telling you the only reason we are here, the way that we got here, was we found our anointing.“
I feel the Holy Spirit of God! We found our anointing! I protect my anointing; I guard it fiercely because my anointing is God’s rod—it’s God’s rod on my life. My anointing guarantees that when I knock on a door, it will open. Are you tracking with me? My anointing guarantees my success!
Let me tell you something: I believe in being a moral person; I believe there are consequences when you’re not moral. I truly believe that. But one of the number one things that keeps me living a moral life is my fear of losing my anointing.
You can take my house; you can take my car. You can take everything from me, but one thing I will fight you tooth and nail over is my anointing! If I have to cut you off because you compromise my anointing, consider yourself cut off! It is the most important thing in my life, the hand of God on my life. God, please never take Your hands off of my life. It makes me who I am. It is the reason why I have what I have.
You have to protect your anointing! I feel it right there! You’ve got to fight for it! And let me tell you something—the anointing is not cheap.
He couldn’t receive God’s rod until he was willing to lay down his rod. What may you need to lay down of your own strength, of your own skill, of your own ability to receive God’s strength, skill, and ability?
Oh, I feel it right there! God wants to anoint some people in this room right now. And it’s interesting; He used what Moses already had!
See, some people are afraid because you feel like, „Man, you know, if I just give my life to God, if I give my all to God, I don’t know—I only know Him to a certain extent. Let’s just be honest.“
You’re like, „I’m only going to go so far on this thing because I had Christians lead me before, and sometimes they’re a little…“
But it’s the fear! If I really lay this thing down and get serious about God for real—if I really surrender my life to Him, like not halfway, but all the way—I’m afraid of who I might become! I might be one of those weirdos!
Seriously—let’s just keep it real. Don’t go too far into that!
I understand caution, because there’s some „ku-ku“ that’s out there; it’s out there. I get it. But I’m talking about what you have to do to truly get anointed. The anointing is the unlimited power of God in your life—unlimited. Whatever you point it at, it has to come under submission of what it is because it is the hand of God, and it’s powerful, man!
That doesn’t come cheap, and most people won’t pay the price because it takes faith to sacrifice your rod for God’s rod. Are you tracking with me?
I believe ultimately that God sent me here today to challenge you. I honestly feel like we’re coming into this time where we really have to be the real thing. I think that some of the things you’re wrestling with would not even be a match for you if you were stretching God’s rod over it instead of your own rod.
Are you tracking with me? I want to show you one more thing that happens when you are anointed. It’s kind of interesting. I didn’t read it but I’m going to read it now—it’s in Exodus chapter 14, verses 19 and 20.
The Anointing and Divine Protection
So God says you got this, remember that? Remember your anointing? Your anointing is what’s going to part the sea. Your anointing is what’s going to open the door in front of you that you can’t see. Your anointing…
But this is really cool! The anointing did something else that I didn’t see until earlier this morning when I was reading this. It’s in Exodus chapter 14, verse 19. It says, „So Moses has quieted the people. Moses is now determined to stretch out his rod over that sea and watch it open.“
It says in verse 19, „Then the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them.“ This is interesting! The angel of God, the breakthrough angel, was leading them. He had already ordained…
I feel the Holy Spirit. The anointing is connected with the resources of heaven, and so angels—can I talk to you like this today? —angels are literally resources of heaven that go ahead of you, making certain that there is breakthrough when you need it.
They go ahead of you to make your crooked paths straight. They go ahead of you to prosper your way. They are attracted to the anointing! They are attracted to anointed people.
Some of you are rich by the anointing, and you think that you don’t have enough—unrealizing that the anointing is more than enough! It will show up any place, any time. It will work in any moment and any season!
You think you don’t have enough because society has told you that the anointing is not enough, and I’m telling you the anointing will take you further than anything else. My wife and I are in rooms that we should not be in, and we didn’t get in those rooms because of our skill. We didn’t get in rooms because of our rod.
We got into those rooms because we were willing to sacrifice our rod for God’s rod. God’s rod is like a scepter, and when you point that thing, it opens the door to kings and queens. Are you tracking with me?
Don’t make me popular; make me anointed! Be some people want to be more popular than they do anointed. Anyway, anyway!
So this angel in the text, the angel of God who went before the camp appears—watch this! —this supernatural dynamism! It is incredible what happens here.
Pharaoh’s army is following behind them. They have a word from God to keep moving forward and to stretch forth, to stretch out their rod over what is in front of them so that they can prosper. The angel that is going ahead of them to make their crooked path straight suddenly shifts.
Wow! If you only knew the divine strategy that was committed to making sure you win, you’d be blown away! You’d be blown away!
Look at this: divine strategy—that angel now moves from in front of them and comes behind them. Now he’s between them and their opposition!
You’ve got to see this! You’ve got to see this! And the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.
So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to one, and it gave light by night to the other so that the one did not come near the other all that night.
Did you see it? God brings about this separation that ultimately makes what would have been a close enemy galaxies away from His children.
I feel like God’s going to do that for some of you right now! I feel like there is a repositioning happening on your behalf, and God is getting ready to separate you from your opposition!
God is getting ready to put a wall between that which was trying to get you, and God is going to consume your enemies in the wake of your progress! They seem close, but they’re not close, baby! They’re galaxies away.
A thousand might fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it’s not going to come near your house! I feel the Spirit of God in this place!
If you will get anointed, God is going to fight for you in ways unlike ever before. He is going to be in front of you; He is going to be behind you; He is going to be on that side, on that side. You are going to be surrounded.
It may look like you are surrounded, but God is saying, „I’m surrounding you!“ Come on! Somebody take a minute and just thank God! He’s rearranging some things on your behalf!
If you will just move forward, if you will just keep moving! I know that the enemy seems close. I know that your demise seems close, but I see the Spirit of God hovering over your situation right now.
He’s going to fight what’s behind you if you take His rod. If you take His rod, you say, „I’m tired of fighting with my own rod. I’m tired of fighting on my own. I want the rod of God in my life!“
I feel Him! I submit to you that everything that you need is in the rod of God. He’s God; He owns everything; He knows everything, and He’s on your side!
I hear God saying, „What is that in your hand? What is that in your hand? What are you trusting in for real?“
And see, only God knows what you’re trusting in because a man looks at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart. Only He knows what you’re trusting in. You’re trusting in that money. You’re trusting in your image. You’re trusting in your reputation.
You’re trusting in your looks; you’re trusting in your sexuality; you’re trusting in your sex appeal. You’re trusting in your talents; you’re trusting in your gifts—you’re not trusting fully in Him. And the way that God knows what you’re trusting in is what you’re willing to cast down for Him.
That’s how He knows. He says, „Moses, what I’m calling you to do, your rod is not sufficient to handle. I know you’ve used that rod to guide sheep on the backside of the desert, but I’m anointing you to guide 600,000 people.“
And you bring that up to today; that would be multiple millions of people. One person! One man! What I’ve got for you, your strength can’t handle!
I don’t care if I made you a millionaire tomorrow, because what you need from Me, money can’t buy! God bless you, Elon. Praise God for you! I want to get up on that plane, spaceship, and get to the moon one day. Praise God! But I can’t get to heaven on that thing!
Hello, somebody? Yeah! He says, „Moses, I know you’re special. I’m not discrediting your rod. I gave you that talent; I gave you that skill; I gave you that ability. I gave you that hustle; I gave you that grind; I gave you that charm; I gave you that skill; I gave you that.“
I’m saying all that! You are special! But I’m telling you right now, it’s going to take more than your natural gifts to walk with Me; it’s going to take more than your natural gifts to fulfill the destiny and the call that’s on your life.
It’s going to take more than your rod; it’s going to take my rod! You can only point your rod at what you can handle, but you can point My rod at anything and win!
Closing Prayer and Altar Call
So I want to pray for you today. I believe that God is handing out rods today. I believe that He is accepting our rod, and He wants to do a divine exchange: our rod for His rod, your rod for God’s rod.
If you’re here and you say, „Pastor, I believe that was for me. I believe that as my wife talked about Thursday night, I believe the missing link is your rod for mine.“ If that’s you and you’re here and you say, „I want to be anointed for real. I don’t just want to be popular; I don’t just want to be successful; I don’t just want to be cute. I want to be anointed for real! I want the hand of God!“
Oh, hallelujah! I don’t want man’s hand; I want God’s hand on my life permanently! If that’s you, I just want you to lift your hand. We all want to pray for them and come into agreement with you!
Me too, God! You see our hands raised! We’ve heard what You said! I said what You told me to say to Your people, and it is obvious You are preparing us for something that our rod will not be able to withstand. You are preparing us for something, perhaps even times that will require not our strength but Yours!
God, we have heard You, and we’re saying yes to You! You see every hand in this room; You see those who are in agreement that are watching via live stream right now—by the hundreds!
God, we’re saying that we’re not just asking You for Your rod, for Your hand, for Your strength, for Your anointing, but we’re saying that we’re willing right now to take what we have been trusting in, understanding that we can’t trust You fully and trust our own strength.
We’re saying, „God, we’re going to lay at Your feet what we have formerly trusted in, “ believing that You’re going to give us back what we lay down but greater, stronger, and more importantly anointed, so that we will go beyond being successful but being significant in Your kingdom.
So that Heaven’s resources will be attracted to us! So that we can do great things in the earth! So that favor can follow us, so that protection can follow us and that we can bring You glory!
Lord, we receive right now Your rod for our rod in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.