Until we ask God for the courage to cut, cast out, and challenge our mistakes, we won’t be able to change course. In Genesis 21, Abraham was living with his mistake and miracle in the same house. He had a crossroad decision to make: Cast Ishmael and the bondwoman out now, or arrive short of destiny. Have you been too worried about the disruption change causes that you never cut loose the people who have delayed your destiny? Somebody always gets hurt in the cutting, but if you don’t move, it might end up being you. Don’t rob your destiny of the temporary discomfort of changing course!
[Music]
this morning the holy spirit has spoken
to me i want you to go to genesis 21
4-14
and there you will find the assignment
that the lord has espoused for me to
share
with you on this sunday morning
genesis chapter 21
verse 4 through 14.
it’s our custom to stand for the reading
of the word
if you’re a visitor and everybody stood
up you thought they were leaving but
they’re not
genesis 21 beginning at verse 4 going
through verse 14
and abraham
circumcised his son isaac
being
eight
days old
as god commanded him how was he
he was eight days old
and abraham was a hundred years old when
his son isaac was born unto him
and sarah said god hath made me to laugh
so that all that here
will laugh with me
and she said who would have said unto
abraham that sarah should have given
children suck for i have borne him a son
in his old age
i don’t know whether that’s so good or
not but
and the child grew and was weaned and
abraham said party
he made a great feast the same day that
isaac was weaned he threw a party
and sarah saw the son of hagar the
egyptian which she had born under
abraham mocking
wherefore she said on abraham
cast out this bondwoman and her son for
the son of this bondwoman shall not be
heir with my son even isaac
and the thing was very grievous
in abraham’s sight
because of his son
and god said on abraham let it not be
grievous in thy sight because of the lad
and because of that bondwoman
in all that sarah have said under thee
hearken unto her voice for in isaac
shall thy seed be called
and also the son of the bondwoman will i
make a nation because he is thy seed
and abraham rose up early in the morning
and took bread
and a bottle of water and gave it unto
hagar putting it on her shoulder
and the child
and sent her away and she departed and
wandered in the wilderness of bear sheba
today i want to talk to you
about the courage
to change course
the courage
to change course
don’t minimize that don’t sleep on that
that’s that’s not easy to do the courage
to change
course
i do sense a prophetic utterance
i do believe that somebody is going to
get a word from the lord
that is going to be cut to the
continuity of your situation
that will begin to liberate strongholds
and yokes in your life
in an area that we seldom touch the
courage
to change course shout hallelujah
spirit of the living god fall fresh
on us today
we don’t want to operate in wednesday’s
anointing or sunday’s anointing we want
a fresh anointing
let fresh oil flow upon us in this
moment in the name of jesus and i thank
you in advance for what you’re going to
do i don’t even have to see you do it
i’ll praise you now you can do it later
have your way in this place
have your way in this place
break some yokes in this place
heal some bodies in this place change
some lives in this place
reach out lord through the internet and
let the power of the holy spirit sweep
over the viewing audience that’s
watching us through cyberspace
i thank you jesus
you can cast out a demon online
i thank you jesus you can rebuke a
disease online i thank you jesus
you can give divine direction
do it for your people today
do it for your people today
do it for your people today
in the name of jesus give him the best
praise of god
[Applause]
amen you may be seated
yes sir
let’s go to work
it has been said
about people that when people know
better
they do better
and that sounds really really
profound
but over the years of my life i wonder
is it true
because everything that sounds good
isn’t always true
when people know better they
do better
i can’t even say that’s always true
in my own life
because there’s a difference between
knowing better
and doing better
i know i don’t have no business with
dessert
i said i was gonna watch my carbs
i know i should get up every morning
early and exercise about 5 30 and jog
about three miles i know better
i know what to eat and what not to eat i
know what is healthy what is not healthy
i have been informed i have been
educated i know
not to eat those oxtail i know
oh y’all not gonna talk to me this
morning i i i know i don’t need those
barbecue ribs and the french fries
the waitress even asks you do you want
salad and i sometimes i just say no
i know not to let them bring bread to
the table because i know if it gets to
the table it’s gonna you know especially
if it’s hot and it’s warm and they’ve
got good but i know not to even risk
bringing it that close to me because i
know i’m not strong enough to resist it
when people know better they say they do
better but it is
possible i know how to do curls i know
how to bench press i i know how to do
lat pulldown i know how to do it i know
the form i know what i ought to be doing
i know i should stretch every morning
it is not the absence of knowledge that
always deters the activity
but the gulf between what we know and
what we do is often a wide gulf and we
don’t always reach across
while it is impossible to do better
if you don’t know better
it’s impossible you can’t do better if
you don’t know better
often we still know better
than we do
the truth of the matter is
doing better
isn’t always easy
sometimes it’s real tough
doing better isn’t always easy
doing better as a husband or wife isn’t
always
easy we know what we should be doing
but we don’t always do it
sometimes we don’t do better until we
get in trouble
sometimes we don’t do better until we’re
under threat
sometimes we don’t do better until we
have competition
oh it’s going to be quiet this morning
jesus
angels y’all shout for me this morning
cause the people gonna be quiet
doing better on the job we know what to
do we used to do it when we first got
the job and we didn’t take it for
granted we knew not to take a two and a
half hour lunch we knew how to be in our
place we knew not to be on the phone and
playing video games in our office we
knew better
yeah
you should wear some strong shoes
because i’m going to step on some toes
today
but whether we know better and what we
do is two different things altogether
especially when you realize that the
people we admired the most were people
who put into action what they knew
who grew and changed and made
corrections
they became our heroes because they had
the courage to change course
all of the people that we highlight in
our country in our history are people
who had the courage to change course
leaders like abraham lincoln had the
courage
to change course it is not not it’s we
always honor people after they’re dead
but in real time speed our heroes were
not popular because they went against
the course and they swam upstream
against the grain and they had to have
courage to change the course
that’s not easily done
dr king had to have courage to change
the court nelson mandela went to jail to
change the court you can get in trouble
to change the course
corrections can often have
severe consequences
corrections
can often have
severe consequences
getting it right can have
severe consequences because see you you
you make a decision at one stage in your
life
and then later you know better
but you’re already in the situation
i never will forget i was teaching a
bible class one time and i was doing q a
right here at this church and a young
man said something to me i will never
forget he said i am the world’s best at
getting into situations and the world’s
worse at getting out
and i think the reason it becomes so
difficult to get out
is because sometimes it’s become so
complicated
it requires humility that some people
lack the ability
to quiet their ego enough to achieve
the ability of change because sometimes
you have to go against what you said at
this stage
[Applause]
to correct where you are at that stage
and so until you become strong enough to
admit yes i said it but i was wrong
you can’t bring about change and
sometimes your ego will make you be
loyal to a mistake
i’m wondering if there’s anybody in here
who’s ever been loyal
to a mistake and you it was a mistake
and you knew it was a mistake but you
counted up the cost to fix it and you
decided you would just take the easy way
out and live with it
our decisions you see to correct our
mistakes can create disruption and not
only disruption for us disruption for
other people and when you look at what
it’s going to take to straighten it out
sometimes you just don’t do it and when
you don’t do it you become trapped
in a nightmare of regret
you’d be surprised how long you can live
in the prison of your problems
[Applause]
you’d be surprised how long you can live
a life where you clap like you’re free
you talk like you free you move like
you’re free but you’re really not free
at all because you are trapped in a
complicated situation you can’t get out
and you can’t get in you’re just stuck
and so you clap stuck and you sing stuck
and you go to choir rehearsal stuck and
you go to work stuck and you come home
stuck and you go to church stuck and yes
you get your dancing every now and then
but you go back to a situation that’s
stuck because dancing doesn’t bring
about change
i don’t care how much you praise the
lord until you correct your past
decisions you are not going to get the
breakthrough that you need
and still use until you stop using
shopping for therapy you’re never going
to have the credit rating that you
should have no matter how much he’s
jehovah’s job or he can’t be jehovah
jihad to you because as fast as he pours
it in you leak it out
and god is too much of a businessman to
keep investing in a bankrupt system
and you know what it takes to fix it and
you know the discipline that’s required
to get your life together but it’s not
always true that people who know better
do better
and not doing better
simply
leaves you
stuck
people often like the stomach for it i
think
to risk the pain
of changing course
the uncertainty
of what would life be like
outside of the bubble
of my normal
i hate my normal
but i’m afraid of change
so i’d rather stick with the devil i
know
oh y’all not gonna talk to me this
morning
have you ever grown up and rethought
your choices
have you ever got more information and
rethought your choices have you ever
looked back at your life in retrospect
and found yourself in situations that
were based on bad information immature
decisions selfishness emotionalism pride
discontentment and restlessness and now
you’re more mature and you’re wiser and
you wonder what you could have been had
you started earlier on the right road i
wish i maybe it’s somebody that’s
streaming that needs what i’m talking
about and you lay down at night and live
with the frustration wonder what would
have happened had i not got myself stuck
[Applause]
we’re almost like the woman in the
commercial help i’ve fallen
[Applause]
and i can’t
get up
i change churches and i can’t get up
i change spouses and i can’t get up
i change jobs and i can’t get up i
change my major and i can’t get up i
change my hairstyle and i can’t get up i
change the way i dress and i can’t get
up it doesn’t matter what i got on it
doesn’t matter what i look like i cannot
seem to get up
so you give up
when you can’t get up
and you decide to yourself
maybe i just have to make the best
of a bad situation
i guess i’m really talking about making
a decision
to live with
regret
and you’d be surprised how many people
in this room
are living with
regret
that they could clean up that they could
fix it they could change it they could
alter
but sometimes the dilemma is
is it easier to live with regret
or live without it
and cause the disruption
that is necessary in my normal
to see the growth
that i long to see in my life
[Applause]
are you hearing what i’m saying about
either way you go have you ever been in
a situation
where either the season you made is
gonna cause pain
where am i real people at
have you ever been weighing the pain
you know when i got ready to have back
surgery i wouldn’t have had back surgery
if i wasn’t in pain
but i had to weigh the pain that i had
before the surgery against the pain of
having the surgery and it took me a long
time to make up my mind to have the
surgery because either way i went
it was going to be pain and i had to
decide i ultimately decided that i would
rather live with the pain of recovery
rather than to live with the pain of
ambivalence and indifference and the
pain of ignoring and the pain of looking
the other way and the pain i never will
forget i was in washington dc and i was
in the hotel room and i was walking
across the hotel room and fell and hit a
glass coffee table and shattered the
table and i said that’s it i got to go i
got to do something about this this is
unbearable i have been laying on the
floor in the back before i went out to
speak each night at the new year’s
revival because my back was in such pain
that i couldn’t hardly take it one time
i sat down in the service and i couldn’t
get up and my security had to come get
me up out of the seat and i was in front
of people and little by little by little
by little i thought this pain is too
much the pain of ignoring it the pain of
looking the other way the pain of making
the best out of a bad situation the pain
of not wanting to make any way the pain
of dealing with my inability
to walk into the unfamiliar
to walk into the unknown i had never had
surgery i couldn’t imagine what it would
be like it didn’t sound good when they
described it to me they said we’re gonna
cut into your back four inches i thought
not mine you know
[Applause]
you’re not going to cut me up like
you’re slicing ribs at a barbecue the
devil is alive but the pain
the pain you’re wearing pain i wasn’t
wearing promises i wasn’t wearing
miracles i wasn’t weighing god’s purpose
i wasn’t wearing what god was going to
do in my life i was trying to go the way
of least resistance
the real truth of the matter is we get
trapped
we get trapped
we get trapped in our relationships we
get trapped in our health
we get trapped in the argument mask no
mass vaccine no vaccine i heard this i
heard that i heard another we get
trapped
until being trapped makes us sick
and somewhere with a respirator in our
mouth
don’t don’t don’t tell me because we’re
the ones that bury people so we know
we know we talk to the families we deal
with the people
who didn’t have the courage
to change course in fact you have to
have
the the adaptability in life
to be able to change course it’s not
like you get it right and it stays the
way you left it life keeps changing and
as life keeps changing and seasons keeps
changing and circumstances keep changing
you got to be flexible enough to change
on a dime and switch this way and turn
back this way and if you don’t make the
right switch at the right time you find
yourself stuck
[Applause]
and you wake up one morning and you
realize i’m getting older and i don’t
know what it feels like to have lived my
best life
i i i’m not lived my best life i’ve not
lived at the top of what my potential
was i’ve not reached the zenith of
possibilities of what i could be i’ve
not fulfilled my purpose i’ve not
finished my core i don’t get any crown
for me
because i wasn’t living my best life i
was surviving
my old life
i know it’s hard to shout this morning
but just keep breathing
and rather than to be free we peer
through the bars of depression
watching others move forward
where we are stuck
going in circles
our text today
we step into the text
that reads
like a dream come true
a dream deferred
and finally realized
that abraham in his old age
would finally have a son
it is absolutely
amazing
it’s exciting it’s invigorating
that this old man whose body was as good
as dead
and his wife with her wrinkled knees
has got in the birth position and
delivered him a baby
at a season in her life that it was
illogical
i don’t know who i’m preaching to
but whoever i’m preaching to today what
is at stake in this message is that god
wants to give you a blessing that
doesn’t even fit the season of life
you’re in
he’s going to give you a blessing out of
season he’s going to give you a blessing
that’s out of step he’s going to give
you a blessing that’s going to make
people laugh when they hear it because
nobody’s going to believe that a person
like you could be in a position in fact
some of you right now are in a position
that would blow people’s mind because
you haven’t always been ill to flip-flop
and you haven’t always been deacon
wonderful and you haven’t always been
missionary price and if your old friends
could see you now
yeah yeah yeah
somebody shout it’s late but it happened
typing on the line it’s late but it
happened it’s late but it happened it
didn’t come when i thought it would it
didn’t come through who i would like for
it to come through it didn’t even come
how i would like for it to come don’t
let me say it like the old folks do he
may not come when you want him oh
but he’s
[Applause]
we’re talking about a family moment here
we’re talking about a family moment
we’re talking about a family moment that
happened to a man that’s a hundred years
old
he has waited a long time
when you have waited a long time for a
blessing it will make you give god the
praise see some of y’all get stuff too
easy and you get it too quick but after
you suffered a while when god comes
through for you it’ll make you want to
[Applause]
i want those of you that have been
waiting on a blessing to get this word
from god it’s still going to happen
oh y’all don’t believe it
but the lord said it’s still going to
happen
just because it didn’t happen when you
plan for it to happen doesn’t mean that
god’s not gonna do it it’s still gonna
happen tell your wrinkle needs it’s
still gonna happen tell your birthdays
it’s still gonna happen tell your
situation it’s still gonna happen go
back into that raggedy house and say
it’s still gonna happen
i’m gonna give about 15 seconds for
somebody to praise him like you’ve got a
determination that it’s not too late
[Applause]
it’s still going to happen
it’s still going to happen
it’s still going to happen
it still won’t happen
it still don’t happen
it’s still gonna happen
[Applause]
it’s still gonna happen
it’s still going to happen
it’s still going to happen
you need to get your faith out of jail
and say it’s still going to happen
look at somebody say it’s still going to
happen
typing on the line it’s still going to
happen
yes
yes
yes
sir yes
[Applause]
make you want to celebrate
make you want to celebrate
make you want to cop your hands make you
want to do your dancing make you want to
turn around in a circle make you want to
do the shuffle make your water cheap and
shout make you want to run all about
it’s still going to happen
[Applause]
yes
that’s right sister praise him up there
praise him you don’t need no music you
don’t need no handcuff sometimes you got
to throw your own party cause god
just spoke to you he spoke in your
spirit he spoke in your belly he spoke
in your heart it’s still gonna happen
[Applause]
so look here sit with me a minute so
sarah
is having a party
because she said who would
[Laughter]
who would believe
that god would do it for me
that i would give abraham a child
in his old age
she said god
had made me to laugh
she said who would have thought that at
this stage in my life god would make me
to laugh
and all that hear it
will laugh
with me
and while she’s laughing abraham is
going through the ritual of circumcising
his son
pay attention to that i’m going to deal
with that a little bit more in a minute
abraham
according to
the customers of the time
circumcised his son
as god had commanded him to do
when he was eight days old
okay
eight days old
eight days old
i told you last week eight is the number
of new beginnings
this is a happy moment
he’s eight days old and abraham
circumcises him
and he finally gets to circumcise
his son
born of his wife
in his house
and he’s eight days old when he did it
and i was studying it and i was thinking
about it being his his first
son
by sarah
and it was eight and he was eight days
old
and i thought about this being the
eighth month
and the first day of the eighth month
and we’re in it today and god gave me
this word for this day at this time
eight days old first son eight one god
is about to oh y’all don’t hear what i’m
saying
[Applause]
tell everybody around you something’s
gonna happen in here this morning
it’s the eighth month
is the first day
is the eighth month
it’s the first day
something is going to happen in here
today and when the child was eight days
old
abraham
circumcised his son
and the interesting thing said i’m just
talking to you the interesting thing
the interesting thing about the text is
when it when you read the text it reads
it as if it is all one occasion but
there’s a time lapse here
because we know that isaac is eight days
old
when abraham circumcises him
and then we read
that when he was weaned
god
abraham
threw a party
okay
and we know he wasn’t weaned at eight
days
so there’s a time lapse in the text
so the writer is only
gleaning highlights
of significant moments
in the life of abraham
and that’s all life is
is significant moments
it’s not hours
or days or weeks or months
all that matters
is significant moment from eight days
old when he circumcised it to however he
old he was when he weaned him
nothing significant happened
but when he when he was weaned
abraham throws a party
and it was
an amazing
party
he threw the party no doubt
a quite a distance from
when he circumcised his son
now circumcision
is the cutting away
of the part of the flesh
on a man
that was originally a religious
sign
of being a hebrew
it is not the covenant that god made
with abraham
but it is the sign of the covenant
so god made a promise to him
and then used a sign of circumcision to
indicate that he had a contract with god
the circumcision
put blood on it
[Music]
i was doing some real estate business
with some investors and they asked me do
you have any skin in the game
god wanted you god’s gonna do the work
but he wants you to have
some skin in the game
oh y’all don’t hear what i’m saying
because when you got some skin in the
game you don’t violate the covenant when
things get tough because you got some
skin in the game and god says i’m going
to do it for you but i want you to have
some
uh oh y’all ain’t gonna talk to me yeah
yeah yeah yeah cause you won’t quit when
you got some skin in the game you won’t
just walk away easy when you got some
skin again when you don’t have nothing
invested it’s easy to walk away
when there is no
[Applause]
no skin in the game
this circumcision that starts the text
permeates the text itself
i’m going to pick it up later
and weave it into
the text to show you
that the text is all about circumcision
the text is all
about circumcision the courage to change
course
is all about circumcision
and i’m going to tell all the women
so you don’t so you can know and i’m
saying this circumcision hurts
not a little bit
a whole
lot
yeah circumcision
hurts
change
i love him
i’ve been waiting on him to come back to
church i need him
changing course
hurts
there’s no way for you to make
significant change
and not hurt
cause you gotta have some
[Music]
he did it on the eighth day
and then
he begins
to celebrate
and he throws a party and things
couldn’t be better
he got his promised seed
his wife is happy
life is good
it’s hard for life to be good when y’all
girls ain’t happy
it’s not that we’re not happy but when
y’all are not happy it’s contagious
an unhappy woman is worse than kovid
because you can vaccinate for kobe and
father unhappy woman they still in the
laboratory trying to fix something to
make it easier to live with an unhappy
woman you can be happy but when you come
home and she’s not happy all of a sudden
[Applause]
i know you can’t say amen because you’re
sitting beside it but just wiggle your
toe and i will hear it i will hear the
vibrations on the rug
it couldn’t be better sarah is happy
she laughing
ain’t nothing like the laughter of a
happy woman
she’s laughing
he’s got his son
his promised seed he’s got it in his old
age
god has strengthened his loins
[Music]
i don’t blame him for throwing a party
anytime you’re that old
no cialis no
it’s time to get the popcorn out roast
you some hot dogs
have you a barbecue blow a whistle it is
a happy moment
[Applause]
everything is going wonderful
and then sarah the bible says looked out
and saw
ishmael
hagar’s son
by abraham
mocking isaac
and the party was over
she stopped laughing
put the cake back
take the hot dogs off the grill
put the party hat away stop the music
she mad again
what you mad about now i looked out the
window
and do you not know what i saw
that woman’s
son
was mocking my child now if you want to
make a woman mad
i mean even them little quiet nice
dainty little women who walk around with
lace on their toes and and got their
fingernails with glitter on it they turn
into guerilla warfare if you mess with
one of them kids
sarah said put the cake up
something’s got to be done
this girl have lost her mind her boy is
out there mocking my boy you got to do
something what you gonna do what you
gonna do i just wanna know what you’re
gonna do i just wanna know what you’re
gonna do about this what you gonna do
about this i tell no i’m gonna tell you
what you’re gonna do let me tell you
what you are going to do about this
[Applause]
[Applause]
i don’t care where they’re gonna stay i
don’t care where they gonna live but she
gonna get up
[Applause]
i ebonized it just a little bit but
[Applause]
and all of a sudden
all of a sudden
he has gone
from cutting
to casting
he’s he has
gone from cutting
to being asked to cast out
the upon woman
and her son
which incidentally is
his son
when sarah says it she says cast out the
bondwoman and her son
but she knows that’s his son
but sad don’t have no skin in the game
[Applause]
and when you don’t have no sin and
against skin in the game it’s easy to
tell people what they ought to do about
their situation cause you don’t have no
skin
in the game
now if this would have been me
this text would have been longer
because when she said
cast out the bond woman and her son i
would have got right back up in her face
and said she wouldn’t have been here in
the first place if you had no brother in
here
it ain’t like i asked you for this woman
this was your idea in the first place
and now you want me to fix what you
wanted me to
you see hager was never abraham’s idea
[Applause]
it was sarah’s idea cause she thought it
wasn’t gonna happen
and when she thought it wasn’t gonna
happen
god’s way
she said i’ll do it my way
henceforth israel becomes a child of the
flesh
how many things have been born in your
house out of the flesh
out of your unwillingness to wait
out of your impatience out of your
frustration how many decisions did you
make without god
[Applause]
and by the way wouldn’t you hate to live
in this house
you got two women in this house
yeah yeah i can stop right there that’s
the end of it right there i got two
women in the house
they don’t like each other
and i got two sons in the house
one is born in the flesh and one of them
is born of the promise
and this just sounds like
a mess
but abraham lived with it
because sometimes change
creates such disruption
that you just make the best
of a bad
et cetera how does abraham go from
throwing a party
for his son
to the biggest fight with his wife ever
recorded
the fight was so big they didn’t have to
call the police god had to come
now you know that’s domestic violence
when god has to come y’all are really
fighting when the only one who can break
up the argument is god
because sarah has asked him
to cast out the bondwoman
and her son and i believe that abraham
was born to the bondwoman
bondwoman actually means that she was
a servant a slave
but i want you to understand that you
can’t spend that much time with somebody
you can’t spend that many nights with
somebody listening at them talking about
their dreams and their hopes of what
happened to them when they were seven
and when i was 12 my dog died and all of
that and after a while there’s a bond to
what you bond with you become bond too
oh
there’s only 12 that could say man
the rest of them is using that mask as
an excuse
because as long as you got your mask
over your mouth you don’t have to say
nothing you can say i said it under my
breath
what you bond with you become bond too
and and hangar
had become
unnecessary flesh
she was attached
ishmael was his flesh
and god is now doing
to him
what he started out doing to his son
for to cast out the bondwoman and her
son
is circumcision
[Applause]
and abraham
is good at giving it
but now
he’s got to receive it
oh he’s been circumcised in his body but
but not in his relationships
and there is no way
to get out of this without blood
this is going to hurt
and yet in order to get his house
together
he had to have the courage
to change course
in fact in all fairness i have to give
sarah some credit sarah
is making a correction
because she is no longer the woman she
was
before
i want to talk to some people who are no
longer the woman you were
before
and yet you’ve got kids angry with you
about what you did
[Music]
[Applause]
before you you’ve got spouses angry with
you over what you did before that ain’t
just for women let’s talk to some men
who have got some wives that are angry
with you over what you did before and
the kids don’t like you over who you
were before the problem is
people never give people
room to change
to grow
to evolve and even though we are
christians we are the world’s best at
alienating people
over what they did
before
and it takes courage
to correct
or to change
course
because if he changes course
what will become of hagar
where will hager go
where has the ring of isaac’s flesh gone
hangar is cast into the wilderness
and when god comes down god does not
talk like sarah
see sometimes sisters
you can be right about what you said
but wrong about how you said it
you said cast out the woman the bomb
woman and her son
god comes down and says
i know ishmael is your seed
understanding
is important
to bring about change
you can’t just look at it from your
perspective just because you don’t have
no skin in the game abraham has
skin in the game ismail is his son too
ishmael is his son
but ismail is your mistake
stay with me stay with me stay with me
stay with me i’m going somewhere i’m
gonna get it back to you in a minute
because everybody in here has ishmael
everybody in here male or female has
nothing to do with gender has has
something that you would bond to
because you bond with
that created a problem that you live
with
whether it’s baby mama drama or whatever
it is or baby daddy drama
you you went out with him
he a dog you went out with a dog
you picked the dog you liked the dog you
brought the dog home you went to bed
with the dog you had a baby with the dog
now
all you can see is he a dog well what
does that make you
[Applause]
i guess you’re a dog lover
because save he raped you
see until we take responsibility
for the mistakes we made
we cannot change course as long as you
push it off and act like it was just
them
and you tell the story where you are
always the hero this woman would have
never been in abraham’s life you brought
the woman into his life you came up with
the strategy of them sleeping together
you told him to have a baby you made
this woman a your slave and made her
sleep with a man that she never picked
to sleep with and now it’s all blown up
in your face and you want to act like
it’s his fault
[Music]
but what is amazing about the text is
god comes down and says to abraham
hearken unto the voice of your wife’s
arrive
because a woman is right
even though she said it wrong
she is
right and what is happening here
is correction
now i’m almost finished
in order to have correction
you have to have the challenging
responsibility
of trusting god to handle our mistakes
god says to abraham
leave hagar to me
i know ishmael is your son
i will make of him a great nation
but you can’t take your mistake
and your miracle and put them all in the
same house
and make it work
there has to come
a cutting away
a cutting away
you can’t change course
if you can’t cut
you can’t change course
if you can’t cast out
and the challenge is to trust me with
the collateral damage
who am i preaching to
trust
me
that i don’t need you
to take care of israel
god says
my grace
is sufficient
[Applause]
for your mistakes
my grace
my grace
my grace
my grace is sufficient you don’t have to
live
in this
chaos
your spirit has been in a state of
constant disruption
because you won’t change course
and i don’t want you to live
in this constant chaotic
stressful environment of full ornament
because your mistakes and your miracles
are cohabitating in the same space
all i need from you is the courage
to change
course
[Applause]
if you don’t change course
you’re gonna mess up your destiny
if you don’t change course you’re gonna
mess up your future if you don’t change
course you’re not gonna be in the place
you need to be to become who i created
you to be if you don’t change course
you’re going to spend the latter years
miserable because you won’t own up to
your mistakes and acknowledge that you
were wrong and you won’t fix it
and all the dancing and all the shouting
and all the giving you do over top of it
will not take away from the fact
that you still need the courage
to change
of course who who
who in here
needs the courage
to change course
you know what they say
the definition of lunacy
is to continue to do the same thing
expecting a different result
you can’t be
the woman you want to be
and the woman you used to be at the same
time
you cannot be
the man you were created to be
and the man you used to be at the same
time and you know that now
but the problem is you just can’t bring
yourself to change course
because of all the people
that it would hurt
for you to change
and how long will you make those people
more important
than your destiny
god said
turn them over to me
oh god i’m talking to somebody i’m
talking to somebody i don’t know who it
is
i’m see the lord sent me here to lose
somebody this morning to liberate
somebody this morning you’ve been in
bondage you can’t even be your best self
you can’t do your best work you can’t be
who you were created to be because
you’re stuck in a situation that you
help to create and you’re guilty
and you feel guilty and you
overcompensate because you’re guilty and
you’re in this situation because you’re
guilty and you’re stuck because you’re
either way you move somebody’s gonna get
hurt and if you don’t move
it’s gonna be you
lift your hands up and say god give me
the courage
to change course
that means i might not get to say
everything i want to say
that means i got to hold my peace
sometimes
that means sometimes i got to bite my
lip that means sometimes i’ve got to
learn another discipline that means
sometimes i gotta bleed
but if i have to bleed to be better
i’m willing to bleed
i’m willing to bleed
a little while
to be better for a long time
see i realized that if i didn’t have the
surgery
the pain would never go away
and if i had the surgery i would have
pain for a little while
but eventually the pain of recovery
will go away
see circumcision hurts real bad but it
doesn’t hurt real long
putting out the bomb woman hurt real bad
[Music]
but it didn’t hurt real long
and you got to decide
are you willing to have a little
momentary discomfort
to be where you are called to be
or are you so concerned
about the
disruption that your change creates
that you’re willing
to be a prisoner in your own life
the rest of your life
that’s what this text says to me
that’s what i get out of this text
that’s why this text is important to me
because every time i ever made a change
somebody got hurt
when god called me to come to dallas
somebody got hurt in west virginia
there are people who don’t like me now
i’ve been here 25 years and they still
mad
there are other people that accept it
and they’re glad about it they see it
they get it but there are some people
that just simply refuse to get over
and i had to decide am i going to spend
the rest of my life
honoring your expectations of me
or do i get to live my life the way god
called me to live my life
you leave when you want to leave you
come when you want to come you miss
church when you feel like missing but if
i’m not here you say
i came to church and you wasn’t there
don’t i get to be a person too i’m gonna
break your chain today the chain that
ties you to living up to other people’s
expectations all of your life the chain
that circumvents you from reaching your
destiny and your purpose so you can go
ahead and fulfill what god created you
to fulfill
[Applause]
we are going into a week of change
we’re going to change course
we’re going to change direction we’re
going to change our focus we’re going to
change our attitude we i don’t care
whether we get to have
worship or preaching or whether we just
come in here and lay flat out on the
floor i want a gulley washing holy ghost
anointed supernatural revival revival is
to wake up what’s bad to bring back to
life that that has gone away to restore
to bring back the luster of really
knowing god i don’t want to pass the
church people i want to pass the saints
real believers who are washed in the
blood of the lamb who really want to
serve god
i’m i don’t want to pass the people who
just want to take god on a weekly date
on sunday some of you all don’t love god
you date him
y’all got a weekly date on sunday
but monday tuesday wednesday thursday
friday saturday belong to you
and if it’s not sunday
you don’t have no skin in the game
and you’re asking god for a seven-day
blessing
with a one-day commitment
and you’ve lost your ability
and god sent me to say to you
that in order for him to do
what you have been praying about
you are gonna have to be disciplined
enough
to put some skin in the game
if you don’t put any skin in the game
god cannot do what he wants to do in
your life
but if you present your body
a living sacrifice before god
god said i
will do
a new thing in you and the former things
in your life will be passed away
i hear god talking to somebody i don’t
know who it is
but if you’re ready for change
give him 30 seconds
of crazy praise
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes yes
yes again
yes
yes lord
yes lord
yes lord
yes lord
elbow somebody tell them i want change
i want change
i need change i need change on the
inside i need change on the outside i
need change in my heart i need change in
my spirit
give me my anointing back
give me my power back
give me my consecration back i gotta
have some change
for the devil that i’m fighting right
now
i need a real holy ghost change
i can’t hear you praising god
[Applause]
i can’t hear you
i can’t hear you i can’t hear you
i can’t hear you
i can’t hear you
see the problem with the church
we want to have a good service but we
don’t want to put any skin in the game
open your mouth and praise him till you
got skin in the game
[Music]
i’m gonna put some skin in the game
i’m gonna put some skin in the game
for the breakthrough i’ve been praying
for i’m willing to put some skin in the
game i’m willing to invest in it i’m
willing to sow into it i’m willing to
work on it
i’m willing to labor for it i’m willing
to hurt for it
lord here i am
just as i am
i put skin in the game
open your mouth and give god some praise
[Music]
yes
yes
yes
yes
it costs 20 costs it costs 20 costs
it costs 20 costs
it costs 20 costs
whatever it takes
whatever it takes
whatever it takes
[Applause]
[Applause]
[Music]
this is how bad i want it
this is how bad i want it
this is how bad i want it i rearrange my
schedule
i’ll move if i gotta move
i’ll change if i gotta change whatever
it takes
i’ll apologize
i’ll lay on the face
but whatever it takes
i want change
somebody holler
with all your might
[Applause]
[Applause]
god
tell eight people i’m getting ready to
change course
go to eight people tell her i’m getting
ready to change court i’m gonna change
course i’m going to change course before
the week is over i’m going to change
course
before the week is over
i’m going to change course before the
week is over before this week
before this week
before this week
before this weekend
[Applause]
i’m gonna change
i’m gonna change it i’m gonna change it
i’m gonna break that chain i’m gonna
break that yoke i’m gonna change
[Applause]
i gotta change it
look at somebody say i gotta change it i
got it i gotta change it i got it the
angels ain’t gonna change it the prophet
ain’t gonna change it the bishop ain’t
gonna change it the choir ain’t gonna
change it the partner’s house ain’t
gonna change it i gotta change it i’m
gonna change it i’m gonna change it i’m
gonna change it if you don’t change
the rocks will cross
if you don’t change
the rocks will crowd
change change it
change it
change it
change it
change it change it change it if i
change it change it in my life
change
a change
a
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
a change
yeah
it’s coming
it’s coming
it’s coming
it’s coming
change is coming it’s coming
change is coming
is
change is coming
change is coming
change is coming
changed
change is coming
change is coming
change
[Applause]
yes
is
i
make the change
make the change
make the change
make the change
change
[Music]
you’re ready
you’re ready
change
change
change
change
into balcony
change
change has come
is
is
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
oh yeah
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
i don’t want anybody to do this
before i do
i want to
ate one
a new beginning
a season of change
take 81 out of there
i don’t want anybody to do it before i
do it
i dedicate
this week to god
[Applause]
august the first
eight one
the baby was eight days old
i
decree
and declare
there will be change
[Applause]
there will be a cutting away
there will be a casting out
there will be a singleness of heart
a wholeness in spirit
i’m not just talking about you i’m gonna
do this for myself
i want the courage the courage
the courage
the courage
the courage
the courage
the courage
to change
the courage to change
i’m running out of time
i don’t have time to play games
the courage to change
you’re watching online
join me if you want to
you’re in the building
join me if you will
but i send this up this little seat
ain’t much as a little seed
a little seed offering to god
i offer up a sacrifice
there will
be change
i decree and declare
a new beginning
i decree and declare
a new beginning
in the midst of all of this chaos
and political antics
and racial indifference
in the midst of all of this turbulence
in the midst of this pandemic i decree
and declare
a change
in the name of jesus
this is my garden of gethsemane
this is a place where i make up my mind
not my will but thine be done this is a
place that i cast out the bondwoman this
is a place that i cut away the flesh
this is a place where i put some skin in
the game
this is a place where i decree and
declare
for discipline
how many of you struggle to be
disciplined
i decree and declare
for a greater discipline in your life
in your business
in your affairs
in your finances
in your relationships
you’re going to stop being guided by
your emotions
and you’re going to be guided by the
promise of god
[Applause]
no more guilt
[Applause]
no more shame
no more incarceration to your past
no more nursing people’s feelings that
shouldn’t even be in the house
[Music]
cast out the bondwoman
[Music]
i want to be new
i want to you the pastor what you
talking about you want to be new yes
pastors need to be renewed
singers need to be renewed
you can’t keep giving out to people and
not become depleted you need to be
renewed
deacons need to be renewed
the elders need to be renewed the saints
online need to be renewed the people in
this building need to be renewed
we need a renewal
somebody shout yes
and it’s just a little seed
but i’m gonna sow it
as a sign
as a sign
that i’m committed
to the discipline
that’s necessary
[Music]
i’m gonna stop running a nursery
for everybody else’s feelings but mine
[Applause]
[Music]
today god liberates us from people
from the bondage of their expectations
from the fear of their criticisms
from the pain of their mar their remarks
today we come into a new place
of alignment
admittedly we’ve made some bad choices
admittedly we’ve made some poor
judgments
but now that we know better
knowing better don’t mean a thing if you
don’t do better
knowing that you should eat right ain’t
eating right
knowing that you should save ain’t
saving
knowing that you should shut your mouth
don’t shut your mouth
it don’t count till you do it
how many are making a commitment i’m
gonna do this thing
i’m gonna do this
thing eight one
a new beginning and in fact in fact
today
in fact as other people are sowing and
as they’re giving
if there’s a person in this room
and you need newness jesus came
to make us new
and he put skin in the game
he went to calvary and he put skin
in the game
but if you don’t put yours in
you can’t have new life
i cannot dwell
in the tent with the wicked
today
whether you’re online
whether you’re watching in
houston
or atlanta
new york
or desoto
whether you’re in south dakota
or south africa
whether you’re in nigeria
or birmingham alabama
i decree and declare there will be
change
there will be change
i’m not waiting on nobody to come save
me
i’m not waiting on nobody to come get me
i decree and declare
[Music]
there will be change
it may it may hurt a while
while i get the discipline
to commit my way unto the lord
but whatever it takes
there will be change
if there’s a person in this room
the only one i know
[Music]
who can help you to really change your
life is jesus
abraham and sarah argued all the way
until god came in the tent
when god came down and came in the tent
he straightened everything out
he put everything in order
he moved the flesh out
he moved the spirit in
the flesh out
and the promise came in
[Music]
and he gave abraham
the thing that you can’t buy in a store
and you can’t get with a degree
he gave him focus
when the eye is single the whole body is
full of light
but a house divided against itself shall
not stand
we praise you with singleness of heart
we’ve had too many distractions
trying to keep this one and please that
one and please that one and satisfy that
one and and and not make waves and and
trying to compensate and
overcompensate over doing it
giving out a guilt
but today we make a change
friend if you’re in this room and you
don’t know jesus
if you’re in this room
and you’ve said new year’s resolutions
and you’ve had moments where you felt
guilty and cried
but you’re tied to an addiction and
you’re tied to a problem and you’re tied
to a way of living and a way of thinking
and a way of doing things
that’s just dragging you down
you got to decide which pool is stronger
the pull of the holy spirit or the pull
of your flesh
[Music]
it is a gift to come to god the bible
says nobody can come to god say the
spirit draw them
it’s a spirit if you are here and you
are unbeliever or a backslider and the
spirit is calling you home hold your
hand up right where you are
hold your hand up i see you i see you i
see you where else i see you i see you
i see you hold it up high don’t be
ashamed hold it up i see you all the way
in the back i see you i see you i see
you if the holy ghost is saying change
your life hold your hand up i see you
i see you the spirit of god sees you i
want you to leave put the other hand up
with it
means i surrender
the fight is over
i give up
and i want to pray with you with both
your hands up father you see those
raised hands
you see the ones that are online
you see the ones that i cannot see
you know that their hearts are open and
they need a touch from you
and right now in the name of jesus in
the middle of a pandemic
in the middle of a world gone crazy in
the middle of tough times and personal
problems and past pain and trauma and
abuse and all types of things
[Music]
we confess ourselves we’ve been wrong
we’ve made some bad choices
we’ve done some dumb things
some of this trouble wasn’t saying some
of it was us but be that as it may
we come clean right now
come into their hearts
we believe that you died for our sins
and that you rose for our justification
and right now right where i stand with
my hands up i invite you into my life
into my crazy house into my chaotic
situation into my contradictory
circumstances i invite you in right now
with my whole heart
i say yes to you
i say yes to your will and yes to your
word i say yes to you
i say yes to your way
[Music]
and whether i’m weak or whether i’m
strong or whether i’m right or whether
i’m wrong i commit to you right here and
now i’m gonna walk with you
all the way back home
lord it sure feels good to have
a new beginning
this is my eighth day this is my new
beginning this is my fresh start this is
the day that i cut away my flesh and my
fleshly choices
this is the day i say yes to god now i
want you to praise him right where you
are and accept what he did in your life
in jesus name
[Music]
you