You have lived this life with pain after pain, trial after trial, and temptation after temptation. But take heart: You are not as alone as you feel. You have a resilience within you that keeps you from despair. You are no longer bound by this world and its problems, no longer bound by your emotions, no longer bound by “friends” who won’t encourage you. You have full permission to encourage yourself, pursue your dreams, and take back what is yours!
[Music]
but the lord has given me a word for the
people of god and i’m anxious to get
into the word that i can do my best to
cover as much territory as i can i’m
going to be in first samuel chapter 30
verse 3 through 15.
that means i’m going to read 12 verses
of scriptures some of y’all ain’t read
12 verses of scriptures in 12 months
so this would be the most bible reading
you got in for a long time but it’s
going to be good for you get it online
first samuel chapter 30 verse 3 through
15
and then i’m gonna share what the lord
told me to tell you i’m so excited about
it
i’m so excited i almost jumped out the
car and started running
run the church to tell you what they
saying the lord because this is a a
message of release
this is a message of release this is a
message of restoration it is a message
of renewal and i’m excited to share it
with you
now we we we pick it up in midstream but
i’ll talk about that more later so david
and his men came to the city and behold
it was burned with fire
and their wives and their sons and their
daughters were taken captives
then david and the people that were with
him lifted up their voices and wept
until they had no more power to
weep have you ever cried out
until you ran out of tears
and david’s two wives lord have mercy
i can just handle one barely i can’t do
that he got two anyway and david’s two
wives were taking captives ahem the
jezreelite and abigail the wife of nabal
the carmelite
and david was greatly distressed
for the people spake of stoning him
now he lost as much as they did but they
they spoke of
stoning him it’s funny when you’re in
leadership people don’t think you’re a
person
and even though he had nothing to do
with it the people spoke of
stoning him
because the soul of all the people was
grieved
they wouldn’t have done it if they
weren’t
stricken but but but when people
are hurting they lash out at other
people
every man for his sons and for his
daughters but david
but david but david david david david
you got to be tough to me
david encouraged himself in the lord
his god
could god have you ever had to encourage
yourself
glory to god if you don’t know how to
encourage yourself maybe you’re gonna
learn today
just in case of people you thought that
we’re gonna encourage you let you down
sometimes you got to encourage yourself
young people hear me you got to
encourage yourself if you don’t get it
from mommy if you don’t get it from
daddy if you don’t get it from cousin
willie if uncle allen is a drunk if you
can’t get it out of your neighborhood if
you can’t get it from your teacher if
you can’t get it at your school you got
to go and look in the mirror and say you
know what i’m still going to make it
somehow other i’m going to get through
this god it’s going to bring me through
and david said to abby after the priest
a himalayan son i pray thee bring me
hither the ephod
and every arthur brought dither the
ephod to david
and david inquired at the lord saying
shall i pursue after this troop
shall i overtake them
check this out this is this is very
important
and god answered him pursue
[Applause]
god oh i got chilled pursue
somebody shall pursue
for thou shalt surely overtake them and
without fail
recover all
so
david went
he and the 600 men that were with him
and came to the brook bessor where those
that were left behind stayed
but david pursued he and 400 men for 200
above behind which were so faint
that they could not go over the brook
bessor
and they found an egyptian in the field
and brought him to david and gave him
bread and he didn’t eat it they made him
drink water
and they gave him a piece of a cake of
figs and two clusters of raisins and
when he had eaten his spirit came again
to him he was almost dead
for he had eaten no bread nor drunk any
water three days and three nights
and david said unto him to whom belongs
thou and whence art thou and he said i
am a young man of egypt
servant to an amalekite
and my master left me
because three days ago i fell sick
and they’re funny people love you too
till something wrong with you
who has so many messages in here i can
preach a month off of it
if you’ve ever stayed sick over a week
you know what i’m talking about
that first week you got chicken noodle
soup and cards and flowers and
everything you get about on that third
week all of that dries up and people
start working around you talk to me
somebody
we made an invasion this is what the
egyptian slaves said we made an invasion
upon the south of sherathites and of the
shirethites and upon the coast which
belongeth to judah and upon the south of
caleb and we burn ziglag with fire
ziggler was where david was staying
that’s where his wife was and the kids
were and all of his men were at zinc lag
and the the egyptian slave is telling
him that he was with the amalekites as a
slave and he’s telling them about them
burning up their property
and david said to him can’t thou bring
me down to this company and he said
swear unto me but by by god that thou
will neither kill me nor deliver me into
the hands of my master and i will bring
thee down to this company
can you say amen
go back to that verse that that verse
where god spoke yeah yeah yeah yeah
verse 8 and david inquired that the lord
saying
shall i pursue after this this is so
profound
because sometimes we go after stuff and
then ask god for help
but before david went after anything he
asked god
shall i pursue after this truth
shall i overtake them
and he answered pursue
for thou shalt surely
overtake them
and without fail
recover all
so god said pursue
and thou shall surely prevail
and without any doubt you will recover
it all now that alone if i sat down
is enough word from god
for somebody in here
who is on the precipice of a
breakthrough
for somebody in here who has gone
through setbacks and turmoil and the
enemies tried to make you think that
where you are is all there’s going to be
that ought to be enough but then the
lord gave me this subject and i’m going
to pass it on to you the subject is i
have permission
[Applause]
type it on the line write it in your
notes put it everywhere say it out loud
put it on your lips tell your neighbor
to the right or the less i have
permission i have permission i i have
permission i just want you to know i
have permission i have permission for
what’s about to break loose in my life i
have divine supernatural holy ghost
permission i’m not doing this on my own
my i’m not ego driven i’m not ambitious
i have permission
let’s pray together the spirit of the
living god falls fresh on us today i’m
hungry to hear from you oh god allow me
to deliver to them as you delivered to
me your word and such a profound and
didactic way that we are changed and
altered
forever by the power and the intensity
of the relevance of your word and i pray
that somebody’s online who needs this
word
somebody on this line lord somebody
that’s streaming in somebody that came
physically needs his word in such a way
that it releases them
to go after their destiny and i thank
you for it in jesus name amen you may be
seated get comfortable take your girl
off
[Applause]
people ain’t worn girls for 25 years
have it
lower them spanx so you can breathe
[Applause]
yeah
yeah glory to god
i think god made spanx
spanx are of god
can you say amen
the frivolity of life is common to us
all
life is strange
one writer said life is a tale
told by fool
it seems like it has no rhyme or reason
we cannot depend on life to stay in
either a good place or
or a bad one
the moment you settle into bed good
comes
the moment you settle in the good bad
comes you don’t know from one day to the
next what is going to happen it shifts
it changes it turns it twists
always teaching
always teaching not just the good but
even in the bad life is always teaching
i always look for a lesson in everything
you go through that’s how it becomes
profitable what you went through it’s
always teaching you something with few
breaks few intermissions
few quiet places and sell them a time of
recess
life is amazing
now it reminds me of going like the six
flags or something like that many people
enjoy the entertainment of the rides in
the carnival i’m not speaking against
six flags don’t sue me
they love the thrill of being turned
upside down and flipped over backwards
they love it they scream their head up
they love being scared out of their wits
and their jaws being pulled back to
their ears and their eyes being bucked
uh
and at ten thousand feet in the air they
absolutely love it
the more volatile the ride the longer
the waiting line they just line up for
miles they travel for a mile just to be
shook up
but the moat between nauseating and
exhilarating is as short as the plank of
a pirate ship
because what is exhilarating can also be
nauseating
i lean i lean to the nauseating side
you your life is like that
it’s crazy
it’s tempestuous
i got on one of them rides and we were
going up it was pretty cool
click click click click click click
click and i thought this is cool
we got our way to the top
we got on top i was looking around and
how far i could see all over the place
look at the sights and about the time i
was looking at the site something
slapped and it started going down i said
wait a minute wait wait wait a minute
wait a minute
wait a minute
give a brother a warning or something
like that it went absolutely crazy
that’s the way life is you’re only one
phone call
one email
one text
from either feeling exhilaration or
nauseation can be changed by text
you can be laughing and dancing and then
everything change on you in one text
that makes you get up and run out of
here and have to go and your life is
changed forever by one text or one phone
call you don’t know from moment to
moment that’s why y’all not ever look
down your nose at anybody because until
you’ve been through what they’ve been
through you don’t understand
and it can leave you feeling some kind
of way and you have all kind of feelings
i have all kind of feelings but feelings
aren’t facts
feelings aren’t facts feelings are in
fact right there that feelings aren’t
facts and one of the great problems we
have today
is we have a world full of leaders who
are leading my feeling
and you it doesn’t i don’t wake up in
the morning asking myself how do i feel
because my feelings will fluctuate
sometimes i feel the way i feel because
i have no coffee yet
you understand and i might i might snap
your head off over a cup of coffee
feelings are not facts
we have them they’re a wonderful thing
to have
but but facts tend to be stable
while feelings fluctuate
i love facts give me the facts
give me the facts give me the carfax
even if you don’t believe me the fox
bring me the facts
i want to know what’s going on because
the facts are gonna stand two plus two
is four
don’t matter whether you’re white black
green blue yellow educated intellectual
illiterate two plus two is still four in
africa and australia and japan it
doesn’t matter whether you’re on the
mountaintop or in the valley facts are
stable
it is what it is
i absolutely have feelings but i try not
to allow feelings
to have me
i am i am honored that i am a raid with
a wonderful consortium of emotions it
makes me me it gives me personality it
makes me human it’s a wonderful thing
that i can laugh and cry and have an
array of emotions that god decorated my
soul with feelings and there are
wonderful things to have
until the feelings have you
there is nothing worse than being led by
somebody
who is being controlled by moods
i have to get a grip on my feelings as a
leader
i can manage the facts
but i cannot allow my feelings to abort
my mission or alter my plan or change
the way i conduct myself let’s i be i
become practically schizo to deal with
and you see when you’re in a position of
power if your schedule everybody who
gets in your atmosphere has to suffer
the consequences of your indecisiveness
your aggravations your mood swing your
attitudes and eventually people just
wear you out because they’re wearing
themselves out and you get caught in
their orbit note to self watch out for
marian people who are dramatic
because when you marry somebody
who has a lot of drama going on you get
caught up in the orbit of their drama
and whether you want to or not you
become a victim a captive chained to
their drama you’re scared to go in your
own house
i know y’all can’t lie because you
sitting beside somebody just keep
looking right ahead and wiggle your toes
who lead from their emotions are
volatile and hard to follow
they’re hard to follow because you don’t
know from day to day
how they gonna feel today
i really try not to make emotional
decisions i have emotions but i
avoid emotional decisions i’ve learned
the way and
beverly knows to wait sometimes i get
mad and i’ll fire off a letter and
she’ll type it up and then i’ll call her
like five hours later and say have you
said that yet
she said no i thought i’d give you a day
because right off the cuff you know you
can flip out so we got a 24-hour
moratorium this is true on my letters
cause if i’m hot
i will let you have it
[Music]
and so beverly just holds it 24 hours
till i come to myself
because in the heat of my emotions
i can’t as my mother would say cut off
my nose to spite my face
did y’all’s mama say that too
everybody’s mama who said wave your hand
i thought my mama created that
you mean my mama didn’t create that my
mama act like she altered that statement
don’t cut off your nose to smite your
face
have you ever cut off your nose to smite
your face
emotions pass
but decisions linger
and a lot of times in emotions you do
things
that you have to live with later
if i allow my ever fluctuating feelings
to lead my decisions they will drive me
over a cliff
i would have made it 25 years at this
church
i wouldn’t have made it 45 years in
ministry i would have made it almost 40
years in marriage if i allowed my
feelings to control my decisions
i would have wrecked everything
lost everything
because in the heat of a feeling and the
feeling can be brought about by
something that don’t even have nothing
to do with you
it ain’t your fault that the toast
burned in the toaster
but if you happen to call while it’s
burning
i might not be ready for you
that cliff i’m talking about going over
the edge isn’t literally driving your
car for cliff it’s that
self-sabotaging behavior
it’s it’s the kind of thing that that
that that that that that that that uh uh
hagar did when she got mad and ran out
of sarah’s house
and she ran out of sarai’s house
and got out in the wilderness and almost
died and god said i provided for you in
that house go back to sarai’s house
that’s right hang on didn’t have any
reason to be mad she was the one who
picked the fight
read the story
she picked the fight and then got mad
and left
but it’s hard to see ourselves
am i right about it
right now we’re shooting a film in
canada uh seven deadly sins we’re doing
the last five anthology uh the last five
deposits on the anthology of seven
deadly sins in canada shameless plug
but but it’s easy to make the kinds of
decisions and the kinds of moves uh that
that debilitate people the reason i love
to do films is because when you see it
on tv
it’s easy to see what’s wrong with other
people
because you can’t see yourself
if i don’t feel worthy neither moral
support nor mighty sermons will enable
me to get up until i permit myself to go
forward
wait a minute if i don’t feel worthy
if i don’t feel worthy for whatever
reason
it doesn’t matter what somebody preaches
it doesn’t matter who supports you have
you ever tried to support somebody who
had made up their mind not to get up
it’s frustrating in it it drives you
crazy because you say all the right
things i know you can do this you have
the power to do this you created to do
this you’re so gifted you’re so smart
you’re so bright and all the while
you’re trying to fill them up it’s
leaking out the bottom of them
and it’s impossible to support somebody
who’s made up their mind
i’m not worthy
i’m not worthy and and there’s no sign
on her head that says i’m not worthy
it’s no warning it’s just there
it’s they may not even know that they
are self-sabotaging themselves they’ll
shout over things that they’ll never
possess
because they’re they have never given
themselves permission
to feel worthy
to be where they are
[Music]
i know i am
i know i am i know i because so many
people have lost love and lovers and
people who really cared about them only
because they didn’t agree with being
loved
[Applause]
and when you don’t agree with being
loved you won’t rest until you find
somebody who’s hitting you upside the
head with a skillet
because
oh i’m gonna mess with you now i might
make you mad a little bit but your
feelings gonna be okay
but because they reflect how you feel
about you
you are only comfortable with negativity
because you have not felt worthy
of somebody being enamored with you and
you say he’s all right
[Applause]
she kind of nice but she kind of like a
sister
anytime they relegate you over to the
sister brotherhood lane
you are disqualified from anything else
come on that’s the kind of language
y’all give when y’all don’t want to be
bothered with that oh he’s a good man
but he kind of like a brother
translation
he loves me in a way that feels strange
and i don’t know how to receive that
kind of love and rather than wrestle
with my insecurity i relegate him to a
column that requires nothing of me
i’m going to talk to you about five
things today i want you to drop these
down these are very important i’m gonna
go through these five things and i’m
gonna paint them on the canvas of the
story i want to talk to you
about the ability to pivot
that’s good right there
because if life is going to keep
changing you got to be able to pivot
you got to be able to pivot without
warning you got to be able to pivot on a
dime we were planning a couple of years
ago to have a leadership conference
everything was a goal we had 12 000
people registered for the leadership
conference everything was set up the
place was allocated we paid the deposits
we had the hotels everything was in
place and then all of a sudden kovit
came along
you got to pivot it doesn’t matter how
much you invested in it you got to pivot
you can’t just get mad and blow up and
explode and set the building on fire you
got to pivot when life changes you gotta
pivot so i’m gonna talk to you about the
ability to pivot number two i’m gonna
talk to you about the paralysis of pain
the paralysis of pain
how hard it is to function when you hurt
how it will shut you down
how it’s hard to think when you’re in
pain
how it’s hard to move forward when
you’re in pain how it’s hard to accept
opportunities when you’re in pain the
paralysis of the pain number three the
permission to prevail
the permission to prevail
the permission to prevail
if you don’t have permission to prevail
you can do nothing without permission
you could even jesus before he started
his ministry got permission
john identified him behold the lamb of
god who taketh away the sins of the
world the heavens opened up and the
father spoke this is my beloved son in
whom i am well pleased that kind of
permission enables you to be able to go
do what you’ve got to do jesus went to
the garden of gethsemane and prayed
father if it be thou will pass this
bitter cup from me then he comes back
and tells the disciple sleep on i’m okay
now i’m not worried about anything why i
got permission
i’m not scared of the cross because i
got permission i’m not scared of the
nails because i got permission i’m not
scared of being laid in the tomb because
i got permission i got permission that
says if i pursue
i will prevail so nails i don’t believe
you and cross i don’t believe you and
pain i don’t believe you because god has
given me permission that even if i have
to hurt to get there when all of this is
over i will rise again and still i ride
be careful of people who keep getting up
again be careful of people who arise
every time you put your foot on be
careful of people that you try to
destroy and they bounce back up again
those people are anointed by the power
of the holy spirit god dwells with those
people some of them are in this room
right now there are some people in this
room that have been through hell and
back and every time the devil counted
them out they jumped back up like jason
they came through fire they came through
flood they came through burning
buildings
[Music]
they have the permission to prevail
the fourth thing i’m going to talk to
you about is the danger of pettiness
[Applause]
oh i’m loaded this morning
i’m loaded this one the danger
of pettiness it’s all in this text
and number five
is trashing the party
yeah man
yeah man i got something for you this
morning let’s get down
when you start the story at the chapter
that i started in you don’t really get
the power
and the context of where david is in his
life
david is in this strange
midlife crisis
i call it midlife crisis because
he’s in the middle of his life
he has been a part he is an israelite he
is a hebrew he is a child of god he is a
part of of of saul’s uh leadership and
his army
but him and saul have fallen out
because him and saul have fallen out
he has had to feign himself to be mad
and start hanging out with the
philistines
and now david who is a philistine killer
incidentally
is now living with the philistines
because sometimes your enemies become
safer than your friends
[Applause]
y’all don’t hear what i’m saying to you
sometimes your enemies become safer than
your friends
because you don’t defend yourself
against your friends and you look around
and you never would have thought that
somebody who had adopted you as a son
would be throwing a javelin at you
i know to be careful when i’m with the
with the enemy when i’m with the
philistine but i thought i could relax
around you
so david is now hiding
amongst the philistines
he has 600 men that he has gotten out of
nowhere
raggedy ruffian wild distorted
disoriented man no longer having access
to saul’s army he’s had to make an army
out of misfit men
these are his soldiers these are his
warriors and they dwell in zig lag which
is a camp
in the philistinian area of control
hiding from saul
and the philistines have come
against
saul and they’re going down the killing
and as they make their way down to kill
him david wants to go with them
and he speaks to a klish who is the head
of the sons of gab
and says to him he’s been living amongst
him for years
and he says to him i will go down and
fight with you
and we don’t know for sure whether david
was going with them
to fight with them or whether he was
going to turn and kill them
because there’s such a thin line
between the friends and the enemies
that we don’t really know what he had in
mind we don’t know whether he’s being
shrewd and he’s going to come in from
the rear and attack them
or whether he’s going to go through with
killing them if he went through
with attacking saw
then david would have lost the chance to
be king of israel
[Music]
so god allowed him
to be rejected because even though
aclish wanted him
to go with him
and english was the the king in charge
his princess said are you crazy
you don’t know him like that
they sound like my wife
ain’t nothing like a woman to tell you
you don’t know them like that
you’re so naive you just take people in
so easily you need to watch it but why
you must be crazy you must be out of
your mind i love you honey
but the princess says you don’t know him
like that and they were right you don’t
know him like that to let him come in
from the rear suppose he attacks us and
kills us and all of a sudden david’s
plans are aborted
he doesn’t get to fight with the
philistines against israel no matter
what his intention was he has to pivot
he had to pivot to go be with him
and then he had to pivot again to be
rejected by the people that he had to
pivot to go into
life is great look at your life look at
how many times you’ve had to pivot look
at how many times you’ve had to turn
look at how many times you unpacked your
bags and had to pack them back up again
look at how many times you call somebody
a friend and they slit your throat look
at how many times you thought somebody
was the enemy and they came to see about
you when your friends didn’t come to see
about you look at how many times you had
to turn around and change the game you
cannot survive in this world if you
don’t develop the ability to pivot i
don’t want to be married to anybody who
can’t pivot i don’t want to hire anybody
who can’t pivot i don’t want to work
with anybody who can’t pivot
people who are rigid or dangerous
because the world keeps changing it’s up
today it’s down tomorrow it’s eastern
end as well and you got to be able to
pivot on a dime you got to be able to
lead and follow you got to be able to be
keen and served you got to be able to be
a base and about you got to be able to
pivot and if you don’t learn how to
pivot you’re going to miss what god has
for you because you lack the flexibility
[Applause]
to pivot so he goes back to his 600
soldiers who are all dressed up to fight
they’re ready they got the swords they
got their shields they’re trained
they’ve been exercising they’ve been
stretching they’ve been doing pilates
they’ve been doing everything they’re
ready to go fighting he says
we got to
pivot we got a pivot we gotta we got to
go back home
and so they head back
to zig leg
and when they head
back
to zig leg
it’s always a good feeling
to go home when you’re a soldier to go
have you watch those little commercials
and stuff on tv where the dads show up
at school and the sun starts crying
and they set them up and there i am
sitting up here with my old self trying
to cry
take that off the tape because i don’t
want people to say that
the older i get the mushier i get i’m a
person influent like i’m the little boy
or something i don’t know who i am i
don’t know whether i’m the father or the
son but it’s so touching to see little
daddy
and he runs out and he hugs him and he
cries and the reception is amazing and i
feel like you know yes
[Applause]
and i think you ain’t the soldier of the
kid but
perception is important
reception is important
perception determines everything
footnote
if you give men
great reaction
they will give you anything
if a man stops giving you it is because
you stop giving him reaction
we are suckers for reaction
we are suckers for reaction if i got two
bags of groceries and my wife started
bragging me you so strong i said oh give
me that other bag
about to break my back carrying the bag
and give me the bad girl that ain’t
nothing that ain’t nothing i bring in
all the groceries at one hand i’ll
shovel a bang on my foot
[Applause]
come on fellas don’t leave me hanging
out there
and i don’t think it’s just about men i
think it’s about women too if she cooks
a good dinner or she goes to work and
she comes home and she’s available to
you or whatever she does that’s amazing
to you and you sit there and grunt
you got to learn how to be grateful you
got to learn how to be appreciative you
got to learn how to give great reaction
great reaction is great encouragement
the greater your ability to respond the
more you’re going to get of what you
respond whatever you respond to i’m
gonna do it again
i’m gonna do it again if i buy you a
coat and you make a big fuss about it
because you see what i’m talking about
you you see what you you see i got
something for you too i got something
for you too i got something for you see
that’s what i’m talking about right
there that’s what that’s what that that
that that right there that right what
you see right there that right there
that right there i bought that coat
that’s what she’s spinning around and
then coat it i got something else too
cause anything make you spin around i’ma
buy another yeah baby do the spin do the
spin rock and reel show it off because
reaction
take notes ladies take notes take notes
take notes take notes
reaction creates response
so the men are coming home from battle
unexpectedly
and they’re expecting the little boy to
run out to meet them
and maybe the women will dance and sing
and maybe they’ll smell the smell of
fresh bread
or venison being cooked in the backyard
in a pot
but the closer they got
to zigla
they heard no sounds of music
they saw no children running
in the past the women had sung david has
saul has killed his thousands but david
has killed his tens of thousands where’s
the music strike up the band we’re back
but there was
no sound of music when they came to
ziggler
and they smelled smoke
they smelt smoke in the air but it was
it was not the smoke
that smells like food
it was a smoke of devastation
it didn’t even look like home
[Music]
what happened to the village
what i think sometimes about america
[Applause]
what happened
[Applause]
to my country
[Applause]
so fire
the smoke is burning
the ashes are where the houses used to
be
and it is in this atmosphere
that david returns
now
you have to feel this
this is not just an ugly picture
where is my wife
where is hannah
has anybody seen abigail
abigail
abigail
abigail
there was no sign
of a hit or ham or abigail
and all the men are running through the
debris
looking for their
children
lifting up burning embers trying to find
their sons and daughters
and they had stepped into pain
the kind of pain that paralyzes you
the kind of pain that shuts you down
that
the women and the children were taken
captive their homes were destroyed
now the man
he trained
the men
that he had trained himself and invested
in and poured into and brought from
nothing to something
we’re so filled with pain
and anger
that they thought
let’s stone him
now look at the setup
david as a leader
cannot go to saul
because saul wants to kill him
he can’t go to the philistines because
the philistines just rejected
him he he
he he can’t
turn to abigail
because she’s gone
and i can’t find a hit i am
and he turns to the man that he has put
so much into
and they’re looking at him and their
eyes are red and tears are running down
their face and he sees hatred in their
face
and there’s nothing like seeing hatred
in the face of the people you raise
i know you can’t act like you know what
i’m talking about but somebody in here
knows what i’m talking about to pour a
lot into a person who goes into attack
mode
[Music]
you’re gonna stone me
you’re gonna stone
me
at my weakest most vulnerable moment
this is the paralysis
of pain i want to speak to somebody
right now
who has been through the kind of pain
that has created paralysis
it has shut down your senses
it has limited your ability to respond
or retaliate
it has brought you down to your knees
it has so upset you on the inside that
you don’t even have words to articulate
the magnitude of the trauma you’re
experiencing
and all you do is sigh
or cry
or groan within yourself
because it looks like everywhere you
turn
there is pain
and rejection
and suffering
and you might be a leader
but you
are
alone
i’m not talking about being lonely
that’s a feeling i’m talking about alone
that’s a fact
lonely you can get over in the dead
alone is alone
and you can’t turn
in either direction
and
find nobody nothing
no one not an encouraging word
everybody in your life needs you
but nobody in your life feeds you
what do you do
when people only want you when you have
the answer
they only want you when you fix stuff
and then when you’re backed up against a
wall and you can’t fix it
they forsake you
and you are there alone
it was against the backdrop of this kind
of atrocity
that david has to grapple with
maybe it’s over
i can’t go to israel
saul is shut the door his godless
behavior and his loss of anointing has
made him mad
and i can’t go to a collection because
english has listened at his princess and
rejected me
from being amongst the philistines
and the worst part about it is
i can’t go home
what do you do when you can’t go home
you ought to always be able to go home
david can’t go home
my god i need marcus
david can’t
go home
my mama told me you can go home when you
can’t go nowhere else
[Applause]
and he is paralyzed by pain
and it was at this point
that he made the most profound
decision
if if abigail doesn’t encourage me
if for him i am doesn’t encourage me
if the philistines don’t encourage me
it’s the israelites don’t encourage me
and i don’t have nobody to count on but
me
then before i lay down and die in the
spot
then i will encourage
myself
i will encourage
myself i wonder if there’s anybody on
the line or in the room or in the church
or in a family or in a marriage or in a
business or in a situation where you
couldn’t get what you needed where you
thought you’d be able to find it and you
had to encourage yourself
because if you didn’t encourage yourself
you were going to die if you didn’t
encourage yourself you were going to
backslide if you didn’t encourage
yourself you were going to quit if you
didn’t encourage yourself you were going
to faint
i’m wondering am i talking to anybody
that’s had to go look yourself in the
mirror with tears in your eyes and say
you’re still gonna make it you’re still
gonna make it i don’t know when i don’t
know where i don’t know how i know
you’re gonna make it i know you’re gonna
make it i know you’re gonna make it i
know you’re gonna make it you’re hurting
but you’re gonna make it you’re lonely
but you’re gonna make it you’re broke
but you’re gonna make it you’re
disturbed but you’re gonna make it if
you know what i’m talking about take 30
seconds and praise god like you lost
your mind
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
yeah
yeah
yeah
yeah
yeah
[Applause]
yeah
[Music]
the courage you need to survive
must come from within you
when it doesn’t come from around you it
must come from within you out of your
belly shall flow rivers of living water
out of your soul out of your spirit
there has to come something that says
though he slay me yet shall i trust it
there has to come a fight back that says
it was good for me that i have been
afflicted if i wanted afflicted i’d
never see the glory of god there has to
be something that rises up and say
cancer you ain’t gonna whip me
call then you ain’t gonna whip me there
has to be something in you that makes
you fight back
and david encouraged
himself
[Applause]
this is not something that god does for
you
this is something that you must do for
yourself
stop sitting back waiting on an angel to
fly in the window and get you out of
your paralysis the devil is alive you
have to furnish the fight to say i will
not die today
[Applause]
[Music]
i’m gonna encourage myself
i’m taking myself out to dinner
i’m gonna be my valentine
oh y’all don’t go help me
i’m gonna be my valentine
i’m gonna get myself used to being
treated good so when boaz comes i’ve
already set the standard
in my life i don’t go below this baby i
don’t go below this it starts right here
because i was doing this good when you
met me cause i learned how to encourage
myself i’m not gonna date you cause i
need you i’ma date you cause i want you
cause i learned how to encourage
i learned
you ain’t a man till you learn how
to encourage yourself
you’re not a grown woman until you learn
how to encourage yourself i don’t care
how old you are
but until you’ve gone through something
that stripped you of all other resources
and backed you in a corner where you had
to come fighting out of there and say i
will not die today tell hell you’re a
liar i’m getting back up if i gotta
crawl on my knees if i gotta take one
step at a time if i have to push myself
if i have to roll in a wheelchair if i
have to walk on a walker if i have to
get on crutches and hop in i will not
die right here i’m coming up
[Applause]
somebody anybody make some noise in this
house
[Music]
yeah yeah yeah
you might not even feel it yet
it may not be in your feelings because
we’re not living by our feelings we’re
leading by the facts
but i want you to say it by faith i’m
encouraged
this broke somebody tell him i’m
encouraged
the devil thought he was gonna kill me
with all this smoke he thought he was
gonna destroy me with all of this fire
he thought he was gonna take me out i
lost my job but i didn’t lose my courage
i lost my house but i didn’t lose my
courage i lost my friend but i didn’t
lose my courage
[Applause]
god i wish i had somebody who understood
the words that are coming out of my
mouth
you see
what you need
what you need to stop the paralysis of
pain
is the tenacity
to believe
it will not stop right here
you’re watching online there’s a reason
god’s got you online right now so that
you can get this word you desperately
need this word
you’ve been in a state of disappointment
some of you have been in a
disappointment for years you have gone
over and over how much right you have to
get support from people that are no
longer there no longer with you you
cannot spend another day complaining
about the past you have to come into the
present if you’re going to change the
future for getting those things which
are behind and reaching to those things
which are before you have to make up in
your mind if you don’t encourage me i’ll
encourage myself i’ll hug myself in the
bed i’ll lay in the bed and wrap my arms
around myself and tell myself i love you
i will encourage myself i’ll take myself
out to dinner i’ll buy myself a
valentine’s gift i’ll lift up my own
head i’ll put on songs that make me feel
happy i will encourage myself and if
anybody ever does come welcome to the
party but the party’s already started
set it off in here set it off in here
set it off in here
set it off in here until demons turn you
a loose until the hell breaks loose
until trouble breaks a little set it off
in here
[Music]
the lord said this is to be your turning
point this is to be your resurrection
moment this is to be the moment that you
come to yourself listen to the moment
that you say i’m better than this
some of you heard me tell you about the
time i walked in my house and my lights
was off and my water was off and they
repossessed my car
and i walked in the house and nobody was
in the house with me and i started
talking to the house anita i told the
house i told the house and now you want
to treat me don’t you but i told the
house i talked to the house like it was
a person and i said you’re a liar
[Applause]
the paint was coming off the walls
the gas didn’t work the water was off
the phone was off i said you’re lying on
me
i do not accept this
i’m better than this
i told my sister i’m getting up
when you make up your mind to get up no
devil in hell can hold you down
i don’t care if it’s racism sexism
governmentism i don’t care what’s going
on and when you make up in your mind i’m
going to get up i don’t know i feel like
i’m talking to somebody in this room
encourage yourself encourage yourself
encourage yourself stop blaming
everybody who didn’t and encourage you
you ain’t got time to be bitter you got
to make it to better you got to get to
better if you got to crawl on your belly
i got to encourage
[Applause]
myself
notice that it was only when he
encouraged himself
that he got high enough
to hear from god
oh
you can get
so low
that you cannot hear
from god
[Applause]
he does not
seek them and urim
before he encourages himself
because he has to encourage himself
to get high enough
to receive a good word
and once he got through encouraging
himself
you got to do this
i found out it’s too much weight to put
on your mate
to expect the person you married to lift
you
you’re too heavy
you know the pictures where the husband
bring in the bride and carry her over
the threshold you can only do that if
she’s a size five
when she a size 50 baby you got to walk
across this door yourself i’ll hold your
hand or something like that but a
brother can’t be busting his back trying
to be romantic you are 50.
the girl on tv was like 5.
come on in baby come on in here you got
to encourage yourself
you are too heavy for anybody else to
carry
you’ve been through too much drama
you’ve been through too much hell to put
the full weight of your recovery on
another person i don’t care whether it’s
a man or a woman or a dog or a cat you
got to encourage yourself
[Applause]
[Music]
god i feel like i’m talking to somebody
god wouldn’t have me preaching like this
if something wasn’t about to happen in
your life
something that you lost is about to come
back something that got up from under
your foot you’re about to get it back
again and this is your boot camp that’s
giving you step by step by step by step
by step how to get back what the devil
stole from you if i’m talking to you
give god 30 seconds of crazy holy ghost
praise
[Applause]
you got 10 seconds
you got five seconds
you got three seconds
you got one second
if the kids don’t bring you no roses get
yourself some roses if they don’t send
you no card get yourself a card
encourage yourself you can’t spend
another year talking about what did i do
wrong why don’t they love me why don’t
they respect me you are losing life you
can’t spend another year trying to you
can’t make nobody love you you can’t
make nobody respect you you got to
encourage yourself i release you
[Applause]
you can only apologize for law if i said
anything if i did anything whatever i
did i’m sorry i went back i want you to
understand i was going through something
you can only explain so long sooner or
later you got to make up in your mind
maybe that their no is no to them but
it’s still yes to me and if you don’t
want me i still want me
said i still
want me
house on fire smoke everywhere
everything’s burning up but i still
[Music]
[Applause]
make me want to do my happy dance
don’t you know demons tremble when you
start talking like that
hell gets nervous when you start talking
like that the devil thought he had you
in a full nelson thought he had you
locked down and you weren’t gonna get up
and you just jumped up and hollered i
still want me
demons tremble
hell gets frustrated witches lose their
power somebody’s shouting out i still
want me
[Applause]
i’m still on my side
if you ain’t on my side
i’m still on my side
if you ain’t got my back
i got my own back
if you don’t stand up for me
i’ll stand up for myself
[Applause]
when he got through encouraging himself
pastor michael then he asked god what
say ye
go get them in urine
and let’s see what the lord is saying
shall i go out
should i overtake them i’m not going up
if i’m not going to win
[Applause]
hey
oh i feel the holy ghost i didn’t cut
this far to lose
i told old to lose i can’t take another
loss
should i overtake them
[Applause]
[Music]
and the lord said
[Applause]
[Music]
the lord said pursue
somebody shall pursue
type it on the line pursue
in the middle of it pursue
in the middle of crisis pursue
up under attack
pursue going to a divorce pursue
[Applause]
for thou shalt surely
overtake them
[Applause]
god said thou shalt surely not maybe
surely
overtake them
and without fail
recover all
i don’t know why you ain’t dancing
[Applause]
i don’t know why you ain’t praising it
i don’t know why you’re not rejoicing
i don’t know why your belly ain’t
leaping up and down
because when god said it
now i got permission
[Applause]
[Music]
hey
up until then all i had
was encouragement
[Applause]
you can get encouragement
from a motivational speaker
but you can only get permission from god
and the lord said
oh god i feel like preaching the lord
said
i’ve given you permission
who am i preaching to
you that are healthy
i got proficient
[Music]
i was in florida
and the news reporter was interviewing
me
and he said
you’re a pastor
he said what are you doing
doing blockbuster films
he said you got
all these books 12 books on the new york
times bestsellers list
one of them has been on for 16 weeks
but you’re a pastor
you’re dabbling in real estate
but you’re a pastor
he said why are you doing it
i said because i can
[Applause]
if i couldn’t do it
i wouldn’t do it
but if god gives you the grace
to pursue
then you ought to go for it
i release you
to go after your dream
god said
you have permission
[Applause]
[Music]
you don’t have to fit in the box that
anybody made for you
and describe you and incarcerate you to
their opinion of what you ought to do
god has given you
permission
shout it i
have
permission
i
have
permission
i
have
permission
given 30 seconds of praise
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
the permission to prevail
the permission to prevail
the permission to pro
the permission to prevail
trauma can dismantle wants courage to
fight
it can make you give up
it can make you angry
and depression is nothing but anger
turned inside
it can strip you of your fight
take away your fortitude and your
resilience
your creativity and your thinking and
your innovation is disrupted by trauma
you can’t be innovative and traumatized
help
i’ve fallen
and i can’t get up
many people who love the idea of victory
cannot accept it because they get stuck
in the pain
all of those are the reasons that david
had to
encourage himself i want you to do
something right now i want you to throw
your arms around yourself and hug
yourself
and i want you to walk from side to side
and say i got you
i got you
in this season you’re in in your life
hug yourself say i got you
i got you you’re gonna get through this
i got you
your heart is broken
but i got you
your feelings are crushed
but i got you
your home is in shambles but i got you
your house is on fire
but i got you squeeze yourself
and say i got you
and they say not only that
god’s got me too
i got divine permission
i got permission to pursue
i got permission to get up i got
permission to fight back
why is permission important
because without permission
you won’t accept help even when you get
it
because you don’t feel you have not
given yourself
permission to be better
and i don’t care how much i preach
you can call from them and you’re them
all you want but until you encourage
yourself to get high enough to receive
this word
you cannot pursue
what you do not believe
[Music]
can i go a little bit deeper let me go a
little bit deeper
the enemy is after your belief system
he wants you to believe the smoke and
the fire
more than you believe the word of god
he wants you to believe the word of men
and the word of saul more than you
believe the word of god he wants you to
believe your situation more than you
believe the word of god but the devil is
a liar
the devil is a liar the devil is a liar
somebody is coming up i can feel you
coming up in this room while i’m
preaching to you look like to me you’re
getting taller i don’t know what it is
but something is leaving up inside of
you reminding you that you have
permission
[Applause]
if i give you the
position
and you don’t have the permission
you will lose the position
because you’ll never take ownership
of what you don’t believe you have a
right to have
i go a little bit deeper
self-permission
led to god’s permission
i don’t care if you got to get
counseling i don’t care if you got to
get therapy i don’t care if you got to
counsel yourself i don’t care if you got
to walk around the house and say
something over and over again until you
cancel out negative thinking i don’t
care you have to change the way you talk
to yourself i don’t care if you have to
rehearse it and at first you start
saying it and you don’t even believe it
but you keep saying it you keep saying
i’m better than this i’m better than
this i was in that raggedy house saying
i’m better than this i was broke i said
i’m better than this my gas was off i
said i’m better than this my phone
didn’t work i said i’m better than this
they repossessed my car i said i’m
better than this i’m out
i got ouch
as a man thinketh it is hard
so is
[Music]
[Applause]
david doesn’t lack the power
or skill
to turn around the situation
he has the power he’s a fighter david
badge y’all
david killed the philistines and cut off
their foreskins and threw them in saul’s
feet they’ve been bad
david’s been killing giants since he was
a boy david is bad it is not that he
didn’t have the skill
he didn’t have the permission
today in jermaine i give you permission
to pursue
i give you
permission
to prevail
i give you permission to be
to be
not just to do
you’re good at doing i give you
permission to be
today i give you permission to live and
not die
today i give you permission
that your latter day shall be greater
than your former day
today i give you permission if you’re
watching online god had me preach this
word so that you could get confirmation
of his permission god has given you
permission to go after that thing that
looks impossible to you
roll it i’m almost done
here’s the challenge
here’s the challenge don’t miss this
all he had to fight with
was men who had hurt him
this is the danger of pettiness
the men
he had to fight with
were the same men
who said they were gonna stone him
and a lot of us
cannot prevail
because we are petty
the most successful people i have ever
met
have always regarded purpose over
pettiness
watch this watch his watches y’all don’t
get this y’all don’t give this
in the same chapter
in the same scene
these men were getting ready to stone
him
but when he got permission he said come
on let’s fight
do you have the capacity
to let people in
that you have locked out
[Applause]
if you don’t develop the capacity
to let people in
that you have locked out
your pettiness
will destroy
your purpose
[Applause]
how do you fight with folks who was
getting ready to stone you
you cannot do this
if you are petty
that’s why petty people
never make great kings
because they are too vindictive and
spiteful to be aligned with purpose
[Applause]
i want you to see this if you miss
everything else
david’s army
was made of his detractors
and a lot of times god wants to use
people
that you are still mad at
[Applause]
and if you
are still angry with him
your pettiness
your petty-ness
is going to destroy your purpose
the whole
victory
depended on david
not to be petty
y’all was shouting good i lost y’all
the only reason hagar didn’t die in the
desert
is because god healed her from pettiness
said swallow your pride and go back to
sarai
pettiness would have caused the prodigal
son to die in the hog pin
anytime you can’t make up
you can’t move on
i’m talking about the danger of
pettiness don’t worry i’m almost through
i’m down to almost my last point
i hate to be the one to tell you this
it’s not the devil that’s holding you
back
it’s not demonic warfare that’s holding
you back
it’s not a satanic attack that’s holding
you back it’s because you are petty
[Music]
[Applause]
you are stuck in victim mode
and you don’t feel strong enough
to rethink your position
i’m a victim over here i’m a victim over
there
i’m a victim with saul
he didn’t treat me right
i’m a victim with the philistines they
didn’t treat me right
i’m a victim at home
i got home and they weren’t there for me
i’m a victim i’m a victim i’m a victim
and yet god calls me to pursue and then
asks me
to use the men
who are going to stone me
here is the test of your character
[Applause]
can you get over your pettiness
to see the real battle
is within yourself
to see beyond the pain of betrayal
that doesn’t mean that
that you can continue to walk with
people you can’t trust there are some
people you have to dismiss
but it does mean if you dismiss
everybody who let you down you will have
nobody
nobody nobody that’s why you got nobody
now you got nobody cause you write
people off and you have written off so
many people you ain’t got nobody
because you write off everybody who
ain’t perfect
and ain’t nobody perfect so you got
nobody and then you end up writing off
yourself because you ain’t perfect
either
[Applause]
petty people demand more of other people
than they can supply themselves
you forgive yourself for stuff you hold
me hostage for
oh
don’t stop dancing now don’t stop
dancing now
why did david take them in
they were tried and true
they were trained by him
they knew how to
fight he also is placed in a position
there are two things he had to do i want
you to get these these are important for
every leader every influencer in the
room two things he had to do he had to
be
over his pettiness
to the point that he could let people
back in that he had locked out
and the second thing the text reveals
is that he had to trust new people
god sends into your life
those are two different kinds of tests
you remember the egyptian slave that
they found that was about to die in the
text
they didn’t know him they said who are
you and to whom do you belong
they had to trust somebody new
and because you are
so hands-on
so skeptical
or so
cynical when new people come into your
life
you can’t let them in
because they’re new and if david had not
let the egyptian slave in
he would have never gotten the victory
because the slave didn’t have a sword he
didn’t have a knife he hadn’t eaten for
days he was about to pass out he had
been left for dead the slave had one
thing going for him
he knew where the treasure was
hey
god
said i’m gonna bring somebody
into your life
who knows
where the treasure is
you won’t have a background with them
you won’t have a comfort with them they
won’t be somebody that grew up with you
they won’t be somebody you’re familiar
with but god said i’m gonna bring a
stranger into your life and look they
had to trust each other the slave said
i’ll tell you but promise me you won’t
kill me
[Applause]
promise me you won’t kill me and promise
me you won’t turn me over to my master
and i will tell you so david had reason
not to trust the slave but the slave
also had reason not to trust him
what helped them to come together is
david fed him
[Applause]
do you feed new people
or stare at them
[Applause]
lord i’m losing them jesus
i had them good i’m losing them now i’m
losing them that’s all right i’m just
teasing i don’t need your response i
brought mine with me
i also know
my church well enough to know
that when you get quiet
you are thinking
[Applause]
and i know you are cerebral enough
to challenge your own behavior
and to take this as the word of god
and to ask yourself
who
am i holding at babe because they’re new
and who
have i locked out because they hurt me
[Applause]
those two groups of people
are going to carry you
into your destiny
watch this i’m almost finished give me
five minutes i’ll wrap it up he he he he
fed
the slave
that the amalekites discarded
the slave was there when they burned
ziglag down and david is feeding
somebody who was complicit
in the problem
look at david’s capacity to be pivotal
he’s feeding a slave even though he’s
hungry and he’s sick he was there when
they was burning down the city and
taking away the children
but that doesn’t mean he’s not useful
now
because he has something i need to win
[Music]
he knew where they were so david says to
him
show me where they are
and when they got down
to where they were
the slave let them down
the bible said
that the amalekites were throwing a
party
they were living it up
they were laying around
the women were dancing
they were drinking
they were having a good time
my last point
is david trashed the party
god said
your enemies are celebrating
what they took from you
but god said the devil is a liar
you’re getting ready to trash
the party
i don’t know who i’m preaching to
i don’t know who i’m preaching to
i don’t know if you’re healed enough
to hear what i’m saying to you
but god said he’s given you permission
to trash the party
you’re going to go in the party
and number one you’re gonna crash the
party
number two you’re gonna defeat your
enemies
number three you’re gonna recover
everything
that the enemy stole from you
whoever i’m talking to
hear me real good
your stories look bad for a long time
but everything is about to change
this is not just a sunday morning
message
this is a prophetic utterance god said
you have permission
go in the party
kick open the door
and tell them i’m here
to take back what the devil stole from
me i’m here to take it back
i’m here to grip my destiny
i’m here to lay hold on my future
give me my wife back
give me my sons my god
give me my daughter back
give me my goal
and give me my silver
somebody turn around in a circle
god said he’s gonna turn the whole
thing around
what the devil meant for evil
god is going to make it good
i better quit
because i feel like preaching now
and when i feel like preaching
the holy ghost stands up in me
the lord said you’re going to get it
back
the lord said you’re going to get it
back
i don’t know what your idiots but
whatever the enemy stole from you god
said you’re going to get it back
kick your foot
kick the door open
tell hell i’m coming
i’m coming after my job
i’m coming after my future
i’m coming after my finances i’m coming
after my destiny
i’m coming after my ministry
i’m coming after my purpose
glory to god
i won’t stop
till i recover everything
that the devil stole from me
whoever i’m preaching to
i want you to praise god
like you already got it back
praise it
like you got it back
praise it
wait a minute you don’t hear what i’m
saying
this is an act of faith
praise him
like you already got it back
[Applause]
i got it back
i got it back
i got it back
i got it back
i got it back
i have permission to get it back
i’m gonna get my walk my talk
my finances
my power
my anointing
my consecration my ministry
my gifting
i’m gonna get it back
you thought you had me
but the party is over
i declare war
on hell’s party
somebody lift your voice
and shout out to god
i have permission
shout it out again
i have permission
shout it out again
i have permission
shout it out again
i have permission
[Applause]
[Music]
lift your hands
and open your mouth
and begin to praise god
in whatever way you’re comfortable
let the holy spirit speak to you right
now
that you have
been given this morning
you’re watching online you picked the
right week
[Music]
this morning you have permission
you have
permission
you have permission
you have permission
if you sit there it’s your fault
if your stay there is your fault
if you wallow in your pain it’s your
fault
if you stay in the paralysis of your
past it’s your fault
lift your hands and start talking to god
tell him what you’re going after
tell him what you’re going after
say it out loud
give it a name
speak it
declare it
lift your hand and open your mouth and
tell your god
i’m going after it
i’m going after it
i’m going after it
i’m going after it
it might be a degree
it might be a course
it might be a masters
it might be a doctor i’m going after it
it might be a business
it might be a church
it might be a ministry i’m going after
it lift your hands and name it i’m going
after it
i have permission
i have
permission
i am enough
i have enough
i’ve got enough
i have permission
i’m not accepting any more excuses
devil you might as well stop talking to
me
about what i can’t do
and what’s too late
and what’s over
because this sunday morning
i receive
permission
now praise him like you got it
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
you