This year, God has done exceedingly more than we ever expected. As 2018 comes to an end, we want to take a look back at everything God has done as we hit our Stride and saw God do more when we did less.

hey everybody my name is de Mario Tucker

and I just want to say welcome to church

if you’re visiting with us for the first

time at transformation Church online we

just want to say thank you so so much

you know here at transformation church

our vision is representing God to the

Lost and Found for transformation in

Christ so we pray that this service

would impact you and allow you to see

God differently so guys hey let’s

prepare let’s get our hearts ready for

an amazing service

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what’s going on everybody

me and my wife Natalie want to be the

first to tell you Happy New Year man we

are so glad that you decided to join us

today as we take a look back in all that

God’s done in 2018

it was a like crazy Wow wild year

unbelievable unexplainable um what’s

another unworried unfathomable I don’t

know how to spell that but it was a lot

of a lot of UNH’s and I think that God

really undid everything we thought that

he was gonna do and he he did things

that were unexplainable and we want to

kind of go back and and share some of

those moments with you around this time

last year God gave us a word he told us

to do what stride stride like and that

means to walk in long decisive steps and

are you a runner does it look like it

yeah girl look like you a runner you

fine okay but the truth is neither one

of us are runners but in our real life

but in our ministry our purpose we try

to run and make things happen and God

told us he said do less if you do less

I’ll do more and he told us to stride

and so we we picked that word as the

word that God gave us for the whole year

to find the pace of grace and we did a

whole vision series around it and it

started to really shape for our personal

life our church what it really meant to

find the pace of grace and I want you to

check out this clip real quick

what I came to tell you is that if you

let God set the pace that he’s going to

be the one to fulfill the promise and so

that’s why when we get on the treadmill

of life that God says okay I want you to

walk he’s God walking is weak god

there’s so many people doing better than

me there’s so many people father God

that are doing the right thing and God I

just I feel like I’m behind I feel like

you’re telling me to walk

and not try hard in my own strength but

obey you and do what you’ve told me to

do and I’m walking these stupid laps and

it just looks no god I don’t think you

said for me to walk I think your words

said I can do all things through Christ

who strengthens me so god I’m gonna go

against everything that you’ve been

providing for me and I may look stupid

and I may almost fall and then I get off

because I was never meant to run at that

pace and I walk away from God and I

start making dumb decisions and I start

taking on relationships that were never

meant for me that give me a moment of

relief because I was never meant to walk

and many of us walk away so that that

Christ life wasn’t for me and God said

yes it was I just didn’t want you to run

into the blessings I wanted you to walk

into him I wanted you to know that I’m

gonna use the foolish things what other

people are running and expending all

their energy and stunting on Instagram

and doing all that other stuff I’m gonna

build you in the pasture I’m gonna do

you like David nobody even gonna see you

coming and and then what and then you’re

not gonna have to position yourself

they’ll call for you and you’ll be ready

when it’s time see most of us we get

away from God and we start running we

start striving but the thing is when God

sets the pace he doesn’t change the pace

he wants to pace that sustainable so

even if I like i’ma run back to God

i’ma run back to him even when I get on

the pace is still this thing

I can’t speed up what God is doing so

what happens is we get up here and even

I’m trying to start running and imma

hurt myself trying to run when God told

me to walk and I’m trying to ask you

what area of your life are you running

in and God saying well that was crazy

like God in January would give us a play

that we would run for 12 months

and would create all of this now stride

wasn’t just something we said to the

church it was something that affected

our personal life tell everybody like

the funny thing yeah that’s the funny

thing you think that you do stuff for

church and then it comes right around it

ends up affecting your home yeah

and affected us in a great way a huge

way we didn’t know we needed it yeah so

even in our family and home dynamic we

learned how to dial things back yeah and

trust that God’s got the rest so we said

no to a lot of stuff yeah we we gave

away a lot of stuff we instead of moving

into a new house we remodeled the one we

lived with my mother-in-law for eight

months

all I’m saying is like we’ve made it a

decision that we can’t teach something

that we’re not going through and stride

became our anthem and and it was so

powerful and we just encourage everybody

listening like maybe that this is the

time that God is telling you as we’re

going in 2019 maybe you need to find the

pace of grace maybe you need to go back

to God and pray and ask him hey what

things do I need to edit in my life and

what things do I need to stay focused on

because when you find the pick what I

remember that you were thinking you

wanted to make sure people didn’t think

it was to be lazy no that was the key to

it like I think that stuck out to me

about stride the most is your concern

behind it all like I don’t want people

to think this is just chill mode no it’s

not chill mode it’s being intentional on

what God has called you to do and not

bringing a whole bunch of other stuff

and so we found the pace of grace and

we’re still finding the pace of grace

and so January was a good month

for us at transformation church and then

we went to February we did a series

called inner circle and this was talking

about the power of godly community how

do you feel like godly community has

affected our lives in that I mean

greatly I don’t know sometimes if we

would have made it yeah in our marriage

being a mom being a dad if we didn’t

have people in our lives crazy – okay

support us and you know be able to tell

the raw like unfiltered truth – yeah

and I mean it was godly wisdom

absolutely this back to God and each

other yeah we have this thing we call

them family or family you know the small

group of people that we can just be

accountable to we can tell them anything

I mean we had to us yeah we had a nice

literally true true story in our room me

I’m in the bed my family’s around me and

I’m balling like and I’m going through a

really hard time and right there they

stopped and they all prayed for me like

tears form they were all crying I was

crying and it was a real serious deep

moment for me but you need people that

can not just say oh it’ll be okay you

know say how are you doing and you say

oh I’m okay and they just take it at

face value so and the thing that people

don’t understand is really for us to

reach our purpose godly community is

what I call the missing link a lot of

people are doing life on their own and

they have this renegade kind of I’m

gonna it’s me against the world thing

but God tells us in his word the two are

better than one because when one Falls

the other one can lift each other up and

and we just believed that godly

community is so important that we took

an entire month and did a series on it

call in a circle check this cliff out I

heard somebody say there’s no I in team

but there is a I in isolation and that’s

where the enemy would like to keep every

one of you yeah you pray yeah you

worship yeah you but you’re alone and if

you’re alone according to the Bible

you’re in real trouble nobody even knows

what you’re struggling with they don’t

know how to pray for you they don’t know

and and they can’t they can’t force

their way in you have to let them in

that’s why this whole Christian walk is

about about being courteous

that’s what Jesus doesn’t try his way in

to our life you have to invite him into

your life and we need godly community

verse 11 likewise to people lying close

together can keep each other warm but

how can you be warm alone a person

standing alone look at this can be

attacked and defeated

that’s why pornography has been able to

wear some of y’all out because nobody

even knows you’re fighting it and so you

go and you you fight alone that’s why

your marriages are following aparts in

some ways because you don’t have any

other couples that can speak life into

your marriage that’s why many of us are

dealing with comparison because we’re

all

so perfect and nobody even knows we’re

struggling it says a person standing

alone can be attacked and defeated but

two can stand back-to-back get that

picture in your head they can stand

back-to-back and they can think and

fight brother Scott come here real fast

I want you to realize this image and

this picture right now if I’m alone the

enemy can get me cuz I can’t see

something but if I have somebody that’s

back to back with me and stronger than

me and ball head and fight and how the

police training when the enemy comes

he’s got this side and I’ve got this

side and if he comes and we got to start

turning I’m not blind to what is

happening because I got somebody that’s

got my back I need you to hear me say

this there are people that God is trying

to assign to your life that you can

stand back-to-back with but see what we

want to do is stand face-to-face with

people I wanted to tell you about all my

problems I don’t tell you this and tell

you all of that and gods saying that’s

not what you need to do you need to stop

talking so much and get back to back and

say do you got me okay and I got you so

it’s not about us seeing eye-to-eye on

everything

oh you missed it it’s not about us

seeing eye-to-eye well this is what I

feel about this this is what I feel

about it’s a seeing what each other

doesn’t see it’s about realizing that my

blind spots are things that you can see

clearly so what’s coming on that side am

i dealing in pride and my Dillion anger

has my attitude change am i becoming

money-hungry I need somebody that can

see what I don’t see does everybody

understand that somebody say I need an

inner circle that is so powerful like

just think about it like godly community

could be the thing that is keeping you

from everything God has for you and I

know it’s hard sometimes to find out the

community so we have these things that

TC called along groups belong groups be

groups for short and if you’re in

trouble finding where you belong we

believe that there is a tribe a group of

people that maybe share some of the same

in

and maybe your completely different than

you but have exactly what you need and

those are gonna be starting up here very

soon so be on the lookout for B groups

well we went from February to March and

in March we did a series called wait

till I get my money right yes that was

my daughter and we’re training up the

child in the way they should go don’t

judge us but um that honestly is how

most of us have looked when we talk

about money we think it’s about making

it rain or being irresponsible with it

or just working for it or maybe it’s

something that controls us and we

thought what could be better than our

church getting a biblical perspective on

financial stewardship and generosity and

this is one of our favorite series we’ve

been doing it for the past what three

years three years every year because

money is an issue for a lot of us and

we’re talking about us like and we said

we are going to learn how to Stuart

money right and so we looked at pastor

Robert Morris from Gateway and he does a

series called the blessed life and you

know we flipped it a little bit and put

it in the title on it but this is a cool

series because he taught two of the

messages by video and I talked to of the

messages and I want you to check out if

you need to get your money right I want

you to check out this clip from wait

till I get my money right you this real

quick if you could put that on the

screen it’s an equation cuz I like math

and so if I can find out how things work

it helps me a lot better if you give God

your treasure then he gets access to

your heart if he gets access to your

heart then he can transform your habits

see a lot of people want God to change

things about them and he does not have

access to the thing that can change you

and so when you give him access to your

heart he can change or transform your

habits and then you live a whole life

and I don’t want you to forget this

because your treasure leads to your

heart your heart leads to your habits

and your habits lead to the type of life

that you’re gonna live that’s why when

you put your treasure into vanity then

you

heart is now infected with insecurities

and now those insecurities lead to

habits of comparison and those habits of

comparisons leave me living a life

that’s unfulfilled because what I have

is never enough because I gotta have

what they have this works any way and

anywhere you put your treasure and what

God is saying is I have such a better

way for you to live than what you’ve

been living right now if you put your

treasure in the kingdom and you honor me

that I am the one who can get access to

the thing that your dad couldn’t fix

that money couldn’t fix that drugs

couldn’t fit your heart and then I’ll

transform your life and then you can

live the life that I created for you to

live so the most amazing thing to me

about that whole series was we got to

give over a hundred and twenty thousand

dollars away there are two different

organizations and people and to meet

people’s needs and it was awesome you

know usually when you think about money

and the church the the thing that most

people think about the stigma is that

they just want my money and you don’t

know where it’s going or how is it

really even impacting you know my

community or the world and so just to

see that because of your generosity we

were actually able to do something so

unexpected for people and so that was my

most favorite part about Natalie the big

thing was we got to see the vision come

to life we got a little reap resent yeah

people were touched in our community

because of your generosity and I cannot

wait to see what God’s gonna do in 2019

as we continue to move in that same

level of generosity so March wait till I

get my money right and a lot of y’all

got y’all money right and then we went

to Easter and I mean for our church

Easter is like Super Bowl bella loves

Easter our daughter Bella literally

laughing right now it’s New Year’s 2013

is Easter and of the past three years

we’ve done this really allegory look

called ransom and ransom is amazing and

we saw thousands thousands of

people come and experience this

experience about how much Christ loves

us and I mean talking about dance and

music and all kinds of just unexpected

things that happen it’s great to see the

church’s talents and gifts come to life

if we mean you guys are so creative but

it all ends in transformation in Christ

yeah and we saw hundreds of people get

saved families give their life back to

nice hours of serving oh my god the

squad went crazy and it serve I mean we

like went to another level this Easter

and I’m just so grateful for that all

that God did and all that he’s

continuing to do because right out of

Easter I mean it was like a

game-changing Sunday when we got invited

to come speak at Elevation Church and we

simulcasted what is it your favorite

message I gotta give credit the only

reason I preach smart at Elevation

Church is because of this woman right

here

give it up I’m gonna prove something

else and what did you say I said you

can’t do that and what do you say I’m

the day after preach Martin and because

I was submitted husband he did exactly

what she said anyway

um all I’m telling you is that I panic

every time you’re on I don’t know what

you’re gonna be like you hear me Mikey

anyway we preach this message Mart and

while we work on our marriage issues why

don’t you just take a look at this clip

so when you’re marked and you’re going

through this process let me give you my

next points you’re elevated through

obstacles and this is the one that takes

most people out because we’re taught

specially in Western culture and in the

church when we see an obstacle retreat

and that’s what the entire nation of

Israel was doing that whole army saw

Goliath he goes to deliver these

sandwiches and he sees the whole army

out there and Goliath for 40-day is

talking about God and the whole

Israelite army is frozen like me

this dude is talking about our God and

David walks up with these sandwiches

like here bro who’s that what what you

are here answer yeah he’d been doing it

for 40 days and y’all I ain’t done

nothin who is this uncircumcised

philistine that was cuss words back then

y’all know this like it would be like

you and saying the parental sensory like

and and David says I’m not about to sit

here and listen to this dude defy my god

so where thousands took a step back

because they saw an obstacle David took

a step forward because he saw an

opportunity obstacles and opportunity

are almost the same depending on who’s

on your side

so when God’s on your side and they give

you a diagnosis of cancer that’s the

opportunity that God says step forward

I’m about to be your healer I am going

to be the one who gets the glory out of

this when death is in front of you God

says don’t retreat step towards it I’m

Jehovah Jireh

your provider I will meet every one of

y’all here somebody’s getting excited

because your

I’m Sifl is no longer an obstacle

because if God is for us who can be

against you I dare somebody to give God

a shout of praise in this gun somebody

give God a shout of play step toward no

longer because we’re marked will we step

away from the obstacle we step towards

it because we know who’s on our side

that message really was a catalyst for

so many things that God did like even

out of that like somebody made a spoof

of me he defeats Goliath he cuts off his

head he got groupies now it’s like oh my

God look at like that now he didn’t had

that before and one day the groupies

made a song and it was like Jamie

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this message marked really started

something to me to inspire people’s

faith and for that next three weeks we

literally just like we’re building

people’s faith and we spoke messages

that would allow people to look fear in

the eye and let them know that God was

for them and it really started something

crazy in our church and I think it was

the perfect segue to probably the most

heart surgery message that we could ever

have in our church which is Natalie’s

favorite what was it grace like a fluid

grace like you guys look you didn’t see

grace like a flood you have to what

we’re about to recap it but it’s my

absolute favorite why why was it your

famous series man it just talks about

God’s just grace for us and how it is

just unmeasurable like he you just when

you think that you got it all like

figured out you got it all together and

you’re able to recall back like you have

a series that makes you realize like how

small you actually are compared to how

much God actually loves us it’s

unimaginable

and so that series provides that picture

of grace in such a balanced way yeah we

saw because it’s a touchy subject where

a lot of people don’t talk about it that

much and we saw more people who have

been living in condemnation and guilt

three days free they got freed because

of the unmerited undeserved unearned

favor and kindness of God check out

grace like a foot look what the Baker

encyclopedia of the Bible says about it

it says grace is the dimension of the

an activity that enables God to confront

human indifference and rebellion with an

inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to

bless like you you can’t run out of

forgiveness for us cute

you won’t stop blessing us it’s free

like like you can never be given a gift

that you have to pay for it’s not a gift

just imagine you being at your birthday

party like oh my god Sally all we

thought about you here you go and you

open them you’re like oh thank you like

do you like it yes that’ll be eighty six

thousand fifty two cents you wouldn’t

even know I didn’t even like it this is

ugly actually because it’s it’s not free

if I have to pay for it get this grace

is not free it’s not a gift which the

scripture says over and over it’s the

free gift of God it’s the free gift of

God what can you do with the gift what’s

the only thing you can do receive it and

that’s why God is coming to you every

Sunday here a transformation church and

he’s trying to give you the gift of

grace and grace has a name Jesus grace

is bonus point grace is Jesus that’s all

I did and every day and every day the

Bible says in Revelation he stands at

the door and knocks I have a package for

you

I have transformation for you i healing

for you you know you don’t want me today

okay I’ll be back tomorrow hey it’s me

again Jesus I can’t grace ya know I’ve

been here since you were 10 when you

went to that that camp and you almost

received me then but you thought that

your failures in which you did the night

before

made you unworthy but like I I’ve been

watching you every day since you’ve been

born I know this is a little weird but

like I know the number of hairs on your

head no that’s crazy

you don’t even know that I don’t know

it’s crazy why do you want me what I

should have to pay for all of the things

that yeah about that like no no no no

the wages of your sin was death there

was a payment but yo like if you let me

in I could tell you about our Father

like and so our Father like yo you

haven’t met him yet but when you do

you’ll never meet a more graceful person

in your life like he saw you here in

this decade and so he sent me and so

everything that you would do that would

create this long bill man we got a good

dad he paid for it like like no no no

but you got to understand like I heard

that it was all these rules rituals and

regulations now broke like this is what

you got to understand like once you meet

that you’ll just want to do things

different like like once you meet dad

you won’t be looking for your security

on a posting Instagram where you have to

be naked cuz you’ll know who’s you are

now like you just been out of here by

yourself

can I can I please come in I’m not ready

yet okay cool I’ll be here tomorrow and

the day after that and I’ll show a

picture job and I’m working little

things like like that promotion you got

that was me no that was me

okay but you you know you’re not that

good

like you know you copied and pasted

everything for that presentation I was

there remember I was there I mean I was

outside I was outside the window I saw

it what well maybe another day

tomorrow’s not promised but just in case

just in case I’ll be here see the grace

of God

it’s unearned so if you have not watched

grace like a flood I’m just begging you

please like go back and watch that

series of grace like a flood one of the

coolest things that we did at the end of

the series we did this thing called

flood Sunday that was so dope yeah like

it was like the baptism Super Bowl I

don’t know what are you talking about

drones drones all around no there were a

few of those though the gun man people

in wheelchairs who got baptized people

were jumping in those clean full suits

and clothes like what ended up happening

was I explained what baptism was and how

it is an outward sign of what God is

doing on the inside and we had over 300

people get baptized that day and I’m

talking about whole families getting

baptized where people fly like Herman my

entire family got that no one told me

that they were all gonna get baptized

but my entire family got baptized and it

was one of the most phenomenal things to

watch her stepdad and her mother and her

niece and her sister get baptized see

it’s beautiful when what we do affects

those who are closest to us I think one

of the coolest stories I heard is that

there was a family in Oklahoma City who

saw us baptizing people were on vacation

an hour and a half away from Tulsa saw

it after nine o’clock got everybody

ready dressed drove and got baptized

together at the limit o’clock service

like we’re

but it’s when people are hungry and they

have an understanding that amazing thing

happened

flood Sunday was an amazing success and

honestly right after flood Sunday it

went to one of our favorite times of the

year that we call fun month Oh fun month

is a time where we take five weeks and

we dedicate it to having fun as

believers and so important why what do

you feel like is important because one

everything

I mean Christian’s come off as like

starchy like a holier-than-thou I don’t

know why I’m making this voice because

but you’re funny but anyway no I really

think that comes from the heart of your

vision my husband is an absolute nut so

what you see on stage he’s like that

24/7 you guys like home all day every

day and it was just one of the things

that we see if I don’t do ministry

absolutely important it went on the list

in the culture code like we have 12

things that guard the culture of our

church and one of them is fun and and we

teach our staff in our church we will

enjoy it all and we believe that God

talks about Julie

yeah like the joy of the Lord will be

our strength and too many people are

weak because they don’t have joy and so

we’re just excited to dedicate and

really see religion fall off of people

as we dedicate an entire month to fund

this year we did some crazy stuff like

the first thing we did is on the first

Sunday of the month we canceled all of

our services now how is that fun well

number one we did not go to church early

in the morning but what we did is we

told everybody to go to other churches

in their community in the city and say

thank you we called a capital C Sunday

and because we believed that we loved

transformation church but we’re a one

local church a part of a bigger global

Church that God is trying to do and the

impact of that was so phenomenal and

then we told everybody to meet us at a

park to have an amazing picnic and we

danced and we danced off dance off no

they need to see the dance off like

please cut through there

your dad’s sword to this day yes my dad

tried to do some dance moves that were

illegal

somebody his age was on day and yeah but

anyway fun month was amazing and we’re

just so excited to see people actually

find joy in the house of God and around

other believers coming out of fun month

always gives our church this momentum

and so in August we did the series

planted not buried yes ended up being a

huge impact on our community and really

the whole nation it changed my life

personally you know to see people

realize that life circumstances are not

the end like it is just a word in a

sentence in a chapter in a whole dog

read you know three but yeah so that’s

what happened in August and and really

it was the thought that under doesn’t

mean over like like if you’re under

something right now like um you’re not

under and I think there’s so many

impactful clips from planting are buried

but I want you to check this one out

and I came to encourage somebody and

change your perspective and sweat out of

this suit because I need somebody to

understand that God does not have you in

that place to take you out he has you in

that place to make you and this is the

hard thing about this is because when

you’re planting it’s dark when you’re

planting if you’re a seed that gets

planted in the ground it’s lonely but

matter of fact if you want to be

completely transparent about it it’s a

season that’s hard like like why and

many times you just ask them got why

like why isn’t this working I thought I

obeyed you I thought I did what’s

happening why why why why like why is

this Keith why does this same situation

keep happening why do I go to the altar

and repent and want a better

relationship in the same knucklehead

keeps coming into my life with a

different name and I keep falling for it

and I don’t want to

why is this marriage not working and

we’ve been to every counselor I can

think of why can’t I kick this addiction

like like I don’t know about you but

these are these are the things that

happened in me like I’m not I’m not

talking about oh no no I pray it happens

forget you like like like like like for

me there are things that is like yeah

why is this so dark I’m going to church

every Sunday I’m paying my time steel

bro Oh y’all want to be fake this

morning like I gave on the first faster

my life’s got going on a second where is

God has anybody ever just sit and in any

single oh come on y’all we’re humble

open and transparent in this church has

anybody ever been in the place and you

say where is God come on where’s God

thank you the reason why this is so

beautiful is point number three the

place of death and the place of destiny

look the same for a season let me

explain it to you

if I take a seed and I dig up the dirt

and I put it in the ground and I cover

it it is the exact same process to take

a dead body dig up the dirt put it in

ground and cover it and so what ends up

happening is if depending on our

perspective and what we’re filled with

if we’re if we’re filled with faith and

and we know that God has a plan for our

life and all things are working together

for depending on our perspective the

enemy can convince you that the place

where God is curating your destiny is

the place that you should curl up and

die oh yeah yeah no I know

like like that’s why you’ve been about

to pull the plug on the very thing that

he said for you to do that’s why you

won’t stay plugged into Church that’s

why you keep going from relationship and

relationship and marriage to marry it’s

because the same place right when you

get

the point to start getting some roots

the enemy convinces you that that place

means God is forsaken you that really

means that’s the place where God is

making you and if you don’t understand

it you will uproot yourself from a place

that God was using to make you who he

created you to be

like you better preach I will know look

it’s dark in both places it’s hard in

both places it’s isolated in both places

and what you have to get the faith to

believe though I’m under it’s not over

like like I know that the common person

will look at my business and say it is

over that is this is a memorial service

for any business plans that this person

would ever have and God says what did I

tell you when you were writing in that

journal what did I say to you he said no

it’s gonna look the same for a season

but I’m the God who started something in

you and I’m the God who’s gonna finish

it in you if you do not get up can

somebody give God some praise in this

place um this is real to life for us

because over this past year and a half

we’ve had some real challenges in our

personal home with our son MJ he’s three

years old and about a year about a year

so when he turned about a year little

after started realizing some

developmental delays and come to find

out the doctors are suspecting that he

has autism and so we have been walking

through this journey of discovering him

how to communicate with him he’s

nonverbal still and so this sermon

series was so true two hearts in real

life for us to realize that we may feel

under like under a lot of pressure under

under the microscope of people and

feeling like you have to be perfect and

us as Christians it’s so easy to feel

like you have to have it all together at

all times or your your witness isn’t

enough it’s not potent enough and to

realize that we can bring that to the

light that not everything has to you

know be scripted and together but that

doesn’t mean God

less it doesn’t mean that he’s not with

you any more than anyone else but just

to know that he’s right there with you

in the midst of it and that we’re not

buried like the real thing is it

encouraged our faith at the end to know

like even if you’re under sometimes God

keeps you under so that he can build

things in us I know in our life we’ve

learned a lot of patience oh so much

Emmy and that’s God’s Way of using what

could seem to be negative yeah and and

and turn it into something that makes us

who God created us to be and we’re

declaring in faith that is bamboo season

yeah I mean even for us personally

testimony our son would only eat a few

things and out of this series like he

brought in his palate and started eating

some other things we take that as a sign

like yeah we’ve been under and we’ve

been believing but God’s starting to do

some things and so we can encourage you

and it’s a progression it’s a it’s still

happening to the state right we’re not

done yeah fill in we want you to know

that that we’re not exempt as pastors as

leaders you’re not exempt no matter how

much money you make like God has all of

us in a process that’s not perfect but

progressing and you make me feeling like

you’re buried right now and I just want

to take a moment I want to pray for you

like like we’re almost done going

through the year but I just feel like

maybe you got to this moment and you’re

going into 2019 and you feel undervalue

you feel under pressure you feel

underpaid you feel under and we want to

just pray that your faith would spark to

know that God is doing a work under that

nobody else can do that only he’s gonna

get the credit for and that’s gonna

bring you into the place of growth that

you really need to be in father I just

thank you right now father thank you

that you are seeing and hearing your

children father for every person that

feels like they’re under right now I’m

thinking you that your Holy Spirit is

coming to comfort them I thank you

Father God that the lives of the enemy

are shut up that they will live and not

die that they have a purpose that what

they are under right now is not greater

than who they serve god I thank you

that their identity is found in you

Father God that there

says their worth is found at you and

I’ve declare father that they will have

the faith to believe you beyond what

they are seeing right now god I thank

you that as we walked into 2019 we’re

walking into victory we’re gonna see

everything that you called for us and we

will stay planted so that you can do the

deep work in us we believe you for it we

trust you in Jesus name Amen

hey man and I’m just excited that you

are going to start living the life that

God has created you to live because you

are not buried but you are planted um

some that what do you do when plans

change say Mike

freaks out that’s what she does my wife

is a backseat driver a side survivor and

and it’s it’s funny because one of the

the things that we really try to figure

out is how to navigate when God begins

to change the plan we have seen God

change the plan in our life several 2018

was a whole year of a change plan like

we were believing God for a hundred

people to join our church in December of

2017 we were believing God to just add a

couple staff members and God blew our

mind we were able to impact so many

people but what do you do when he

changes the plan well we did a series

called recalculating and wind plans

change we need to know how to follow the

cloud and to follow God and allow him to

give us what we need so I want you to

check out this clip of recalculating

verse 17 of chapter 13 it says when

Pharaoh finally let the people go God

did not who did not okay God did not

lead them along the main road that runs

through the Philistine territory even

though that was the shortest route what

are you telling me that God did not take

them the easiest way that God

intentionally rerouted them to go

through a wilderness season i when i

read this y’all i got chill bumps

because so many times we blame our

wilderness

on the devil and maybe God was the one

that took us this alternate route how

did I end up in Tulsa how how come on

how in the world did I get at this job

it didn’t say the devil tricked them it

says that God led them because now watch

this I love it I love it

he said because God said if the people

are faced with the battle they might

change their mind and return back to

Egypt God is so faithful that he will

not send you the easiest way to the

promotion because he knew your character

couldn’t handle it so he set up a detour

in the wilderness to be able to work out

of you and work into you what will be

able to hold you in the promised land

I’m telling you right now that some of

y’all have been blaming the devil for

what God set up I need you I need you to

hear me say this real quick

many of us are giving the devil too much

credit this detour was designed right

that point down if you’re gonna have the

faith to follow the detour was designed

that means that God won’t intentionally

allow us to go through seasons that feel

like there is no fruit to be able to get

us to the place that we can hold the

promise coming out of this series we had

it made up in our hearts we were gonna

have the faith to follow the faith to

follow God for our ministry for you know

our marriage for our family

and we just made it up in our hearts

that no matter where God led us no

matter what plan we had in our hearts or

in our minds that we were gonna follow

God what he followed the clouds yeah and

I think 2019 is gonna have some amazing

opportunities for our faith to be

stretched and for us to follow

even when it

makes sense and I think one of the keys

to that is spending time of God and when

you spend time with God in his word and

prayer and one of my favorite things in

worship it allows everything to change

and we decided to end the year off a

little different and doing an entire

series on worship called

20 forever how to worship a king and we

did this series how long ago like three

or four years ago it was before I became

a pastor before you became a pastor like

before glory you’re fascinating so about

four years ago and I really felt like

worship is one of those things that if

you’re a Christian you should know how

to worship but we didn’t I didn’t really

have an understanding of what worship

was it’s more than a song it’s more than

then my favorite time to just cry it’s a

time where I get to express my love to

God as a response for His grace towards

us and if you remember whom he used to

be who did you used to be well we’ll say

that for another day

well then you were that is very true she

was better than I was but it’s crazy

that no matter how we try to put levels

on stuff our righteousness the Bible

tells us is like filthy rags like all of

us big s sin or little sins are all the

same she had the little aside the big s

but we feel we’re outside of God’s will

and and so what happens is when we

worship God when we express our love to

him that’s one of those things that

attracts God and attacks our pride yeah

and so I want you to look at this clip

of how we as a church we’re learning how

to worship the king so what I do pastor

you have to evict every Idol on the

throne of your heart how do I do this

very simple one point put God back on

the throne of your heart and if you’ve

never put him on the throne for the

before put him on for the first time

Pastor Mike how do we do that so simple

it was found in verse 6 and was in the

middle of it and and I want you not to

miss this verse

look what it says it says therefore tell

the people of Israel this is what the

sovereign Lord says he told him the

solution I need everybody to see this

Ezekiel 14 verse 6 he says repent

everybody say repent first thing you

have to do is repent to God just ask him

for forgiveness he’s a father that’s

looking for you to just come to him as I

got up and I got all these weights man

I’m hot I hate looking like this I hate

faking I help hate putting on filters

for everybody to feel like it’s okay I

hate living with this Shankman this

anger and this kill I need you look look

what look what Psalms 86 5 said and this

should be encouragement to somebody Oh

Lord you are so good

look at this so ready to forgive like

God right now is so ready like he’s

sitting at the edge of your seat at this

service right now he’s like oh I think

they’re almost there I think they’re

almost there

Mike’s done a good job and he’s lost two

pounds sweating up here trying to

convince him I think their hearts about

to turn to me he’s so ready to forgive

you well pastor you don’t know what I

did he said he don’t matter I’m so ready

to forgive you he says he’s so full of

unfailing love for all who asks for his

help so the first thing it tells us to

do is everybody say repent to God say it

one more time repent to God the second

thing that tells you to do it says turn

away from idols so it’s not enough to

just say God forgive me and then stay in

the same place because if you say God

forgive me and stay in the same place

that Idol is going to be like oh we know

where to find him but turn means to

actually do something so if I’ve been

watching these websites on my computer

maybe I don’t need a computer oh you

can’t live without it huh

may-maybe because I’ve been getting

trapped by all these things on my cell

phone in comparison maybe I need to go

back to a brick phone for us even seize

it and see how desperate are you for

transformation because you’ll spend 30

years catering to the thing that’s

killing you you can’t get from around

those people move to the other side of

town what I’m comfortable here will you

be comfortable with all of this but turn

everybody say turn that means to

actually set a different direction and

all God is asking us to do is turn away

from idols but he wants us to turn to

him so ending out this series we had an

amazing time of worship we have some

amazing people climbing literally

Dominique Jones TC worship Oz be buried

like it was a time it’s not on the

ground floor she has not it’s not that’s

how I watching anything Cyril we touched

really touched us back yeah and we are a

church that believes in worship we use

our lives to express God’s Word powerful

as a church we got to do that together

and I think we got to experience worship

in another way by giving what we call

our tabernacle offering so many families

gathered their faith and not just their

faith but their finances and said hey we

believe God spoke to us to give and

expand and accelerate the vision of

transformation Church and I can’t tell

you what it was like for me to see

people who were down to their last and I

told them to do something and God gave

seed to those who wanted to so to be

able to obey Him and finances are not

about amounts

it’s about obedience and to watch our

church yeah the heart okay hearts God

people’s hearts group yeah and and I’m

so excited of how that’s going to give

us momentum and strength as we go into

2019 tabernacle offering was a

phenomenal success and it’s about to

expand what God is doing

in church so coming into Christmas yeah

we did a production so we came we came

and we did this Christmas production it

was also called the gift we have so many

creative people that’s in our turn right

now and when I tell you next level

they are next level guys they donated

this thing from scratch creative juices

were flowing I mean this this visual

that they created it’s just just take a

look at it like just watch

[Music]

you know who I am the rocket a fan don’t

know why you playing you know who I am

been the man with the plan I heard what

they say and they don’t understand I’m a

guy not a man I’m a guy not a man my

whole family knowing I show an improving

and graduate college the first one to do

it

wait a Jeep popping picture-perfect life

is perfect on the surface step up Pig no

rehearsing look at me and how I work it

millions likes a million follows million

hearts wish I could borrow one for him

or for me that’ll boost my self-esteem

picture me buddy buddy living lavish

latte please I got everything I need

got my girls and they got me got the

world right on my sleeve I got

everything except for them one gift I

really need that Christmas production

was phenomenal I love that our church

gets to represent Christ I mean to see

the creativity come out and show Christ

in a different way it’s absolutely

amazing and that’s what we honestly so

many people get saved like absolutely is

the reason that’s why we do everything

and so on that note that was the year

that was it like it like we didn’t do

that all right

we did a whole bunch of stuff god did

even more so if you could explain 2018

in one word what word would that be I

said it what well oh whoa like I’m just

trying to tell you that 2018 was a

next-level year but that’s the thing you

gotta realize is God’s not finished with

something he’s just starting something

and we believe the best is yet to come

for our church for our family but more

that for you yeah and you may be

watching this and you saying you know

what I want to experience some of the

things that you guys talked about and

I’m telling you man one of the greatest

things that you could ever do is give

your life to Jesus Christ and it’s the

thing that took me from being a liar

addicted to pornography not a good

person and she could tell you to really

being a not a perfect man but a

progressing me like it’s changed our

lives yeah and if you want to experience

that all you have to do according to

Romans 10:9 is just believe that God did

this for you

religion will tell you you need to jump

through all these hoops and change all

this stuff and do all these things but

we believe that if God gets your heart

he could change your habits and today

I’m gonna pray with you

I don’t care where are you watching this

from some people are watching it on

their phone other people are watching it

with a group of people other people are

in the most lonely place of your life

and you’re watching it by yourself but I

want you to know you’re not alone God is

with you and if you want to make the

king of the universe

come and sit into your situation let’s

just pray this prayer together just say

God I need you come into my life and

change me I believe you lived and you

died just for me today I’m asking you to

be the Lord of my life mean this part

right here say change me renew me

transforming I’m yours in Jesus name

Amen

listen if you prayed that prayer we are

turning up because what happen is

rejoicing with you and we are rejoicing

with you check this out get in a

life-giving church there’s a church

somewhere around ya that can help you

progress yeah and it does not matter how

fast you progress with that you’re

making steps forward yeah some of you

need community community and if you’re

in Tulsa come join one of our be groups

that are about to start up and it’s

going to be so good for you

and hey listen spend time of God like

like read your Bible start in Proverbs

like like it’ll just be some good stuff

that can just help you or start at

Matthew learn all about Jesus and and

listen to some good worship music we

have some playlists on Spotify train

forum radio like you can find some new

song we just want to help you win and

help you grow watch some of these sermon

series over o watch them every day like

yams watch up instead of netflix fan

yeah watch us and we’re just so excited

for you

well that’s it and then 2018 wrap it up

round 1 and up put a bow on it and give

it to somebody else because we are here

to represent God we present God and

represent him and thank you for giving

us the opportunity to do it for you

so happy New Year and pops up Welch’s

for us we will see you January 6th

that’s where we will be back together

and I cannot wait because I’m gonna tell

you see we’re about to start 21 days of

Prayer is fasting I’m telling you we

give God the first of our year

everything goes to another level we want

you to join us in that so we’ll see you

January 6 happy new year hey hey thanks

again for joining us today

look of transformation church has

impacted you in any way we want to hear

about it send us an email to my story at

transform Church that’s also if you’d

like to partner with us financially to

see more lives transformed you can visit

our website I transform Church taught us

SlashGear once again thanks so much for

joining us go out and live a transformed

life

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