Distractions In The Deep // Are You Distracted? // Anchored // Michael Todd

It was the final week of our vision series Anchored, and it was memorable! We learned about the distractions we face in the deep and the story of Peter walking on water. What God says in the deep is more important than what you see in the deep! Regardless of what you see today, fix your focus on Jesus. If you need a new vision for your life and how to face the distractions in your life, this message is for you!

[Music]

good morning transformation church

i said good morning transformation

church

hey listen i am so

grateful that you are here with us

and i believe that god has something

really special for us today

um this has been a week um if you’re not

from the midwest

if you’re not from tulsa if you’re not

from um the south

um the storm of the devil

came through the south this week and um

most of us have uh been inside and

there’s a lot of people that have lost

power and there’s a lot of people

um our friends in texas that have been

going through so many different things

and

transformation church number one um i

just want to say thank you for being a

generous church

because of you we’ve been able to meet

needs and help the homeless here

in our city and send money to different

organizations like convoy of hope and

different people to actually be boots on

the ground

in all of these places so i want to

thank you the other thing that i want to

do

is i want to remind you that 2021 just

started

and we’ve already seen a bunch of storms

now that’s not encouraging for everybody

but for people who are anchored

it don’t matter because when the storm

comes

we have a anchor

and and i don’t know i feel encouraged

like the trials that keep coming

i’m just like oh okay is this it like is

this what you had for me this week

because when you’re anchored to

something that doesn’t move and his name

is jesus

our anchor has a name um it makes you go

through life and what i’m praying for

you

is as we’re about to end this series i

got a word for you today that

i i’m so ready to share with you i just

want you to open your heart and realize

how important it is how divine it

is how intentional it is

that you decide everybody say decide

nobody can make you be anchored

nobody can make you do the things that

are going to keep you

focused but somebody say decide

today i believe some people are going to

decide i need somebody to help me open

up your hearts and so i this is

something that’s cool that happened

um y’all know in transformation nation i

i see and our team

sees and watches everything y’all post

and all of the songs you make and

all the remixes of sustain that you’ve

done and

all of the stuff we see everything and

there’s so much love coming

and there are oftentimes that people’s

creativity

just inspire everything and i saw

a young lady do a poem entitled anchored

and somebody sent it to me um over

instagram and i was like who is this

get her here she needs to be able to do

this on the last week

of our series and so today to open up

your hearts

will you give it up transformation

nation for one of your own

transformation nation will you give it

up for candy as she comes

to the platform

let’s face it life can be

tough lots of pain and uncertainty

we often turn to people and things just

looking for some stability

sometimes we know a storm is coming and

other times we trip and fall and then

who do you run to

who do you call

you need an anchor

like a baby latches onto his mother’s

breast

moments after birth being placed on her

chest

familiarizes itself with the person

whose womb

carried and nurtured its life to bloom

i’m anchored with a secure attachment

orientation

stemming from the one who determined the

body’s formation

knit me together before and behind

social relationships can

pattern after this kind of security

i’m angered a false

sense of safety exists in the shallow if

deep

calls to deep this ship cannot be hollow

no

surface level of intimacy can

accomplish the purpose that god has for

me

so i’m anchored

and each act of obedience

sets my life a sail when the metal

grips the rock the waves cannot prevail

maybe

visibly shaken by the storms that see

but my soul

finds rest like my captain did

in galilee i’m anchored

they say the race is not for the swift

but requires endurance disciplines gift

the four by one of a relay race

legs one through three may run a steady

pace

but the fourth leg runner with a

stallion stride

can close the gap and anchor the prize

for the team you are an

anchor a mentor

a teacher a gap filler a preacher

a leader generational curse breaker

whatever you’re locked whatever your

role

we all need an anchor for our souls

because

christ’s love is the remedy

for the broken fragile heart

running on empty

we have an anchor

firmly planted roots run deep

vines bear fruit victory tastes sweet

abiding becomes easy if wherever we roam

his presence lingers like an eternal

home we

have an anchor

when it’s the winter or a summer trend

protective styles become a naturals best

friend

the first or last braid on a woman’s

head

slays the look or prevents the breakage

be dreadlocked in says your crown

is anchored see when you

interwoven yourself in community

like braided hair styles promote

strength and

unity like both parties connect

when the anchors link it becomes

impossible to capsize or sink so

together

we be the anchor

and then and then

as the pedal sustains the notes of a

cord

a sound resounds from heaven’s keyboard

the musical progression begins on the

one

so let your soul find its anchor

in the sun i’m anchored

from the securely latched baby

to the vine fruitfully abiding from the

strongest

relay runner to the braided protective

styling

from the musical cord to the floating

ship

and anchor supports it’s an anti-drift

get anchored

oh transformation nation

can we give it up for candy

how powerful thank you so much

y’all

oh y’all can do better than that come on

candy thank you so much

you encapsulated seven weeks of this

vision series

into a three-minute four-minute

just poem that captured us and i don’t

want you to ever forget

with this where are you from i felt that

anchor

i felt something in there

but she comes from a place where there’s

boats

a place that you’ve seen you grew up on

the sea you saw

what it takes to be anchored and i just

want to confirm and affirm the gift that

god’s placed on your life

you just helped all of us see something

in

four minutes that it took me seven weeks

to do so thank you so much for y’all

give it up one more time

for candy glory to god and now let’s

give it up to the god who makes us

anchored

come on let’s give god a shot of praise

that he is worthy of

hallelujah why are y’all ready

i said are you all ready in the chat i

need you to let me know if you’re ready

right now i need you to let me know say

i’m ready pastor mike

now this is the last week i’ve been

sitting on this word

all week long and it’s time for us to go

to a whole nother level so this is what

i’m gonna ask you to do

okay if it is your desire to actually be

anchored

what i’m going to ask you to do right

now is i want you to lift your hands i

want to pray for you okay

like like what she spoke over you was

in faith has it actually played

out in our life yet in many areas it

hasn’t but today

prophetically we’re speaking that you’re

going to be anchored all this year

it and then it’s going to anchor your

families it’s going to anchor your

children it’s going to anchor your

business

somebody say i’m anchored father we have

come to you today

not to hear from a woman or a man we’ve

come to hear from you

so holy spirit i’m asking that you would

do what only you do stand outside of

time

and invade every one of our situations

right

at the point that we need it father

there are people right now

who are about to break under pressure

there are other people father god

that are about to succeed in an area

they didn’t think they were qualified

for

father no matter if we’re on the

mountaintop or in the valley low we

still need an anchor

and so today father we ask you we invite

you

into our situation somebody say god

you’re invited here come on no no no

right there and say god you’re invited

here

and be specific you’re invited into my

marriage you’re invited into this dating

relationship

you’re invited into my loneliness you’re

invited into this depression

you’re invited into this discrimination

come on wherever it’s at invite him

right now

god oh i feel the presence of god right

now god i’m inviting you here

because if you’re there everything has

to change

when you’re there the seas and the winds

have to calm down

if you’re there i know that i’m gonna

make it

father help us to not drift we declare

this is a season of no drift

and we’ll give you the glory honor and

praise father and we’re not gonna wait

until the storm comes to praise you

we’re gonna praise you right now in the

middle of it

that was your cue you missed it in your

home on the track

in this room that’s your cue i dare you

to give god praise

right now in the midst of the storm

you’re worthy god

we worship you god hallelujah

hallelujah oh my goodness

this can’t be the last week of the

series

the crazy thing about it is even though

it’s the last week of this series

it is the word that god has given us for

the whole year so you’re going to hear

anchored in

every sermon this will not be something

that we do

for a little bit and then move on you

are

are going gonna see the results if

you’re a part of transformation nation

and transformation church

you’re gonna see the results of a group

of people

who have dropped their anchor and

decided no drift

and today i’m grateful because i believe

this word is going to impact you

for the rest of your life so if you’re

ready i need you to go with me

today we are starting week

seven of a series we’re calling help me

hey say it one more time with your chest

hey

if this is your first time joining us i

want to say where you being

no i’m just playing we we are in um week

seven

and we are grateful for what god is

saying if you haven’t um

watched all of the messages that go

along with this series i would

strongly encourage you to go back and

watch those messages

it starts from mark my words and it goes

all the way to today’s message which i’m

gonna tell you the title in a minute

and let me just tell you how good god is

in the midst of this

one of the things that god always asks

us to do is just be ready and available

and obedient to what he wants to do and

so earlier this year

god gave us an opportunity to expand and

go

outside of our normal audience and take

the message to the world

and um um as of i think last week

transformation church has a weekly

daily television show on tbn and the

hillsong

channel oh y’all not shouting with me

but this gets to go to countries that

none of us can go to right now

you missed it when there’s a blockage

god says i’ll take the message where i

want it to go

and every night tell your grandma tell

your auntie tell your uncle

some of your family members some of your

mom and my mom they’d be having on tbn

in the background it’s like background

music right now

i want you to tell them every weekday at

6 00 p.m

central transformation is on and guess

what

i thought it was a setback i honestly

did

that that all of our archive sermons

weren’t able to be used because of

something technical

and when bree told me that i was like ah

this is

trash do you know how many great sermons

we have like

relationship goals and marked and graced

like a flood and

the people are gonna miss what god is

saying and i was going all of this deep

stuff

and the first series that we could

err in the quality that was needed was

anchored

[Applause]

and this past week my mother-in-law was

texting me and she was like michael

you’re on tv i was like mommy you see me

every day

but she was excited and then some

friends started calling people started

doing and they said

the one that hit me is i came outside my

house

um right after slipping on the ice to

to take the trash out and my neighbor

walked outside

and he said oh pastor mike tyson mike

can i can i holler at you for one second

and he was

over there and i was over here and i

just failed and so i was kind of like

text me but because i didn’t want to

fall again but anyway

um he said at four o’clock this morning

your voice woke me up

and i said well i went at your house bro

i don’t know

i don’t know what happened but he said

he said i i fell asleep

on tbn and he said there was a couple of

things that i had in the work before the

pandemic hit

and they all dried up and i’ve been so

discouraged

but out of my sleep i heard you saying

if god gives you a vision

get god’s view mark my word i don’t talk

to my neighbor like that about it

but something we did here found him in

the wee

hours of the morning and i’m just

excited about the transformation that’s

going to happen

as we go to the world and i i don’t

think it’s an accident

that god would shut down what i thought

would have been

the content that needed it he said i’m

gonna shut all this down so that people

can hear the word i need them to hear

this year

what’s the word of the year hey and so

today

i’m gonna just invite you to another

level of understanding

in the deep we decided that we’re not

gonna drift somebody shot at me no drift

and the crazy thing about it is this

week you had an opportunity to

and tomorrow you’ll have an opportunity

to forget tomorrow after the service

up right now somebody’s texting you you

need to label them in your phone

the drift

yeah valentine’s day some of y’all

drifted

to make yourself feel better because of

what didn’t happen on valentine’s day

some of you drifted and what god is

saying is you need to label places

people and things the drift

because you know there’s certain spots

that you get into and you go into

that once you get there there is a drift

up ahead

but we have decided as a church somebody

say to me no drift

i believe the power of god is coming to

help

us sustain we’re not just singing that

song in a worshipful uses dane

it’s you sustain it doesn’t matter what

happens

i’m not gonna drift but there’s one

thing that i thought it would be

irresponsible

to not give you um warning or

um um understanding of before we go

there

and um because some of y’all are already

in the deep if you’re already in the

deep right now raise your hand if you

in your family and your situation

finance is business you’re already in

the deep

and some of us are going to go into the

deep some of us have been in the shallow

and some of us are pushing off from the

shore i don’t care where you are

i believe this year we’re going to the

deep because we need to be anchored

and i heard this story before i tell you

what i’m about to preach on

that really messed with me um i heard

the story about

a guy who wanted to go deep sea fishing

and so he put in the coordinates to

where he was supposed to be

and once he started out on this journey

in the boat he was by himself

which is problem number one going to the

deep by yourself is never a smart idea

that’s why you just heard pastor amber

lee and pastor bree talk about community

and and being in belong groups and and

us being ones to

to lead belong groups going to the deep

is never

smart alone i can’t even move off of it

jesus decided not to go to the deep by

himself now if the son of god

who could do anything decided to choose

11 i’ll say 12 but one of them fell off

but but 12 regular regular people

do you know how insulting some of the

conversations

jesus probably had to endure with the

disciples

because he is god in man form and they

talk about who the greatest often here

none of y’all is great

but like but he decided to steal no

matter his status

to do life with people and this man that

went on this journey

he decided to go to the deep by himself

he gets out there it gets late

it started when it was sunny but then

the sun started to set he’s in the

middle of

an ocean where he could see animals

coming up that were bigger than the boat

night falls storm comes

he literally stays out to see this is

true story

for four days runs out of water

runs out of food at the point where he

was about to give up

and die he sees somebody

and they come and rescue him he goes

back to the gentleman who gave him the

instructions and the coordinates

and he said i can’t i can’t figure out

what happened almost lost my life out

here

in the deep trying to go do this thing

and he said let me see

the directions he said oh

you put in the coordinates one degree

off

and he said one degree

what what does one degree have to do

with me

being in a place that i was supposed to

be at

and this is the point i want you to

write down because i thought it made

sense for where we are

and where we’re going when you are in

the deep one degree makes the difference

[Music]

it was just a little lie

but when you’re going to the deep one

degree makes the difference

it was just a little manipulation to

make sure that i didn’t use one of my

pto days

[Applause]

i did have the sniffles but i wasn’t

really sick but

i didn’t want to use one of my days

because i’m planning to go on spring

break and so

it was just one degree off from the

truth

it was just one degree off of the right

number i should be paid for the hours i

worked

it was just one degree i was only on the

instagram watching them twerk for 30

seconds

it was it was a challenge everybody was

doing it was my

second cousin and i thought she was

going to do a poem and

and other than that she took it low

[Music]

and instead of going and clicking off

immediately i just wanted to see what

she was wearing and just to

to stay one degree away from purity

and and the reason i’m bringing this up

is because in this vision series we’ve

decided we’re not going to drift

and and a lot of you were like past i’m

like that doesn’t matter

that doesn’t matter that you drift one

degree and i would agree with you if

you’re going to stay in the shallow

one degree from here to there

i can step over into what i’m supposed

to be in

but write this point down the drift

doesn’t matter

if you’re not going the distance

and some of you if you don’t

realign and stop drifting the one degree

that you are off right now

from here to the end of next year it’s

not going to matter

from here to next month it’s not going

to matter

at the job you’re working at right now

it’s not going to matter but when you

become a business owner

that one degree is not doing it here if

you’re going to go the distance

this man was 15 miles

out of the spot he was supposed to be in

because he went to the deep he went the

distance but he was one degree off

and i don’t know who i’m talking to

right now but i feel a strong rebuke

coming to the church

that if you don’t get back on what i’ve

called you to do on winning people to

jesus

not caring about platforms but caring

about people

if you don’t get back see the church is

one degree off

and you think it’s about making sure

your gram is popping

and god’s trying to make sure that

people’s souls aren’t popping in hell

he wants you to be about his business

and i’m telling you right now that’s why

our church won’t drift

you don’t have to like it and you don’t

have to be here

but when i stand here before you and i

get in my prayer closet

if we are one degree off we are saying

search me o lord

if there’s anything in me that’s not

like you

take it out father god expose me start

praying real players in the deep

see y’all want to pray them shallow

prayers but you want to start praying

some real prayers pray this prayer

expose me god

be careful with that one because that’ll

turn the one degree into right on path

and you might lose some friends over

that one and you might get a demotion

because of that one

when god starts exposing you and you

accidentally send the email to the

person you was talking about

expose me god oh because he knows you’re

not humble enough to get it from just

instruction

and so to be able to redirect you he has

to expose you

yeah but the thing is

exposing us is still god’s grace

because he would rather expose us here

than us get to the deep

and be 15 miles off of the purpose he

called us to

it would be irresponsible of me to come

to this last

week of anchored and not tell you

to make sure your coordinates is right

make sure you’re tapping in i’m married

by 34 and i’m living in la

and you you’ve got the coordinates that

you’ve set up

make sure that wasn’t just you punching

in numbers

make sure that when you looking at other

people’s instagram and say i want to

land

there

want to tell you because it’s the

essence of what i want to talk to you

about

because i feel like just by faith

there’s so many people being deployed

this series i don’t see people have

anchored tattoos everybody’s seeing

anchors everywhere your draws got

anchors on them

some people they got cups with anchors

on them their dishes got anchors on them

and i believe god’s doing this

he picked such a sign that’s been around

us all the time

to remind us of something but the reason

that he’s doing that is because

in the deep there is distractions

and today i want to title the message

distractions in the deep

because i don’t want to deploy you and

you think that once you get in the deep

it’s just

easy i want to let you know that there

will be distractions

in the deep write that down right now

somebody say distractions

in the deep see we talk about god does

the dynamic in the deep but there also

are distractions in the deep

and i thought that it would be um um

most helpful to you because it was

helpful to me

when god showed me this is gonna be a

distraction this is gonna be a

distraction

hey there there’s some things that come

when you get successful

that could be a distraction you might

stop praying because now you have

finances

you might stop thinking start thinking

you’re better than people because now

you can hire people

here’s some distractions in the deep sea

none of y’all deal with this but you’re

just praying so much

to get to a certain place and then god

says but i need to sustain you in that

place

and so i want to talk to the people who

are actually going to the deep

and are going to go the distance

somebody by faith say i’m going to go

the distance

somebody needs to say that one more time

i’m going to go the distance

i want to take for our our topic of

study a

very familiar passage of scripture but i

don’t want you to think about it

from the normal standpoint i want you to

think about it from distraction okay

this story is in matthew chapter 14

verse 22

and it says immediately after this jesus

insisted

that the disciples get back in the boat

and cross to the other side of the lake

it says while he sent the people home

after sending them home

he went up into the hills by himself to

pray

night fell while he was there alone

meanwhile so at the same time

the disciples were in trouble far away

from land they were in the deep

for a strong wind had risen and they

were

fighting heavy waves about three o’clock

in the morning jesus came strolling

towards them

walking on water when the disciples saw

him

walking on the water they were terrified

in their fear they cried out it’s a

gauss

now we’ve all heard the story about

peter walking on water

but i want to show and highlight the

distractions

that come in this story to keep them

from getting to their intended

destination write this point down

did you see the first distraction

because it took me three times reading

it to actually see it

but right there in verse 26 it said when

the disciples saw him walking

on the water they were terrified

in their fear they cried out

ah it’s a ghost

write this down because somebody needs

to hear this emotional distractions

debilitate your discernment

these disciples were so emotionally

distracted

they were terrified so in fear

they labeled god a ghost

what has you spooked is the question

they just walked with jesus a few hours

ago

they’ve ate with them some do miracles

they’re just coming from the feeding of

five

thousand they were close enough to him

to be able to know what he smelled like

but then they got emotionally distracted

and lost

all discernment and i came to ask

somebody right now

as you’re praying to go to the deep and

as god is taking you to another level

are you so emotionally distracted that

your discernment has gone down

you’re picking wrong relationships

you’re picking wrong vacation

times you’re picking wrong conversations

because you’re emotionally distracted

well i’m hurt

i’m frustrated i’m angry

they don’t see me and god is saying to

you right now

you need to bring your emotions to me so

that you can see

right

the devil doesn’t even have to come if

your emotions have control

the devil doesn’t have to come if your

emotions have control

the devil ain’t messed with some of

y’all in a decade

you keep blaming him but it actually is

your own insecurities

it actually is your own undeal with

trauma

let me stop the number one distraction

in the deep is your own emotions

well they don’t see me they don’t value

me god already said you were called

he said he chose you he told you to go

to the deep

but you want them to say something they

didn’t even know about

you i’m calling the church

to sacrifice your emotions on the altar

this is something i have to do daily

because if i get in my emotions

all of us can make up a soap opera about

our own story

oh y’all gonna play come on don’t play

me like that you can

make up you can be at the top of the

mountain be in the season you prayed for

and still make up uh uh what do they

call it in spanish the new

novella a new what is it novella

nobody loves me marco like you literally

will make up

a whole soap opera

about your situation and god said dang

it

the devil didn’t even have to sift them

their emotions were their detriment

and the thing about it is it’s not just

a bad thing that your emotions are there

god gave us our emotions

emotions are are like indicators like if

you ever in a car and the brake light

comes on

or the things it’s indicators we’re

supposed to do something with those

emotions

and jesus tells us hey cast all your

burdens

bring all your cares they didn’t talk to

you bring it to me

you still dealing with mama trauma come

on bring it to me

but instead we would rather continue to

carry that as if it’s going to help us

and it’s honestly weighing us down

but the problem is it has a result

it takes away our discernment

your emotional distractions i’m really

trying to move

but some of y’all have been debilitated

and you have no more discernment

why are you in the house you’re in right

now because you are emotionally

distracted by what happened in your

brother

and your sister’s life so you said i

want to feel better about me and i want

this and so i’m going to go

and get in debt that i don’t need

oh i got to talk honestly to you right

now because nobody else is going to say

this because they’re scared that you’ll

walk away from them you can leave me but

the truth will be the same

i’m telling you right now your

discernment is off you could look at

your bank account and discern you didn’t

need that

but your emotions were in control ah

some of you right now are in a

relationship texting bae that is all an

emotional dysfunction that has now

come out in a real relationship and you

lost discernment you would have never

let nobody talk to you like that 10

years ago

and now you’re making excuses for his or

her dysfunction

just cause you want to be in an

instagram picture with somebody

[Applause]

[Music]

all i’m saying to you is you know you’re

not a pastor

you’re supposed to be helping somebody

else do this thing

but you want to have a ministry so bad

and be doctor so and so

and first lady so and so and you’ve lost

discernment in the deep

and now you’re taking other people with

you to dummy veal

distractions in the deep and the devil

doesn’t have to come for this one

it’s your own emotions

jesus why are you saying this pastor

mike

because if you’re gonna last and you’re

gonna go to the deep

there’s one tool that god has given

through his holy spirit

and it’s called discernment write this

point down you need discernment in the

deep

you can’t go to the deep on knowledge

you can’t go to the deep on intellect

you can’t go on into the deep because

you’ve watched all five seasons

of iana fix my knife you can’t go to the

deep

without the holy spirit and that thing

that says don’t turn that way

that thing that says don’t call them

back right now you’re emotionally

unstable

[Applause]

that thing on the inside of you that

says go apologize now

two more hours there’ll be something

else the enemy has given them in their

mind

and you’re gonna be working through that

that’s discernment

[Applause]

this for me is when the bible says don’t

quench the holy spirit

this is what the holy spirit does he

lets you know of the truth

that is to come and you don’t have

knowledge or foresight or forethought

about it

but he speaks to you and you say stupid

stuff like this something told me

no that was the holy spirit

he was trying to enlarge your

discernment but you’ve become

numb

because you’ve been emotionally

distracted

these disciples loud

allowed terror and fear

to name god a ghost

there are some situations that are god

for you

that you’ve been saying uh that’s spooky

that’s scary that’s not god

oh because you thought only god moves in

upward movements

you thought glory to glory gross to

grace sometimes his highest calling for

you is lower

you’re going to go the distance i’m just

saying like you could have the title for

the next year

and then ruin your family for the next

20

but god is so good that he said i can’t

take them there even though their skills

have that

but their character doesn’t so let me

demote them for a season

and see if they still serve like they

served when everybody saw

and see if they steal love like they

loved when they could

instagram what they were doing during

the week and see if they still give

even though they have half their salary

and see if they still try

y’all don’t hear what i’m saying and

here i’m only talking to people who are

gonna dwell in the deep

if you’re gonna dwell in the deep

somebody give god a shout of praise

right now

that’s the only encouragement you’re

getting today because i’m gonna tell you

about yourself

and the distractions that keep you in

the same place

all i’m saying to you is these disciples

knew

jesus oh

[Music]

so that means i’m not talking to new

believers

i’m talking to all crusty religious

people

oh you thought because your bible has

wrinkles in it

and and and you have it highlighted that

you’ve arrived in the deep but god is

saying to you today

your emotion of pride

your emotion

that pharisee spirit has you labeling

yet those young people that

god brought into your life you are

supposed to mentor them

not prove to them they didn’t know

anything

so the problem with the situation is is

because of your pride and i’m grown

and i was doing this before you were

born that crap

got you in your emotions and that way

now you will

you are relevant you were relevant the

last 10 years but you’ll be mute the

next 20

because god was trying to bring you into

a situation where your emotions weren’t

in control

but your character in christ was

and now you’ve lost discernment you used

to walk into a room and could tell where

god is

now he’s sitting on you and you don’t

even know it

[Music]

the church has to have discernment

how do i walk into the business room

with sharks

and know which business opportunity to

take

i don’t have it here i don’t have it

here i don’t have it here but i got it

cause i got the holy spirit

[Applause]

do you know how many times i’ve walked

into rooms

bri can tell you with older white men

i’m going to tell the real story and i’m

dressed like this

and i’m sitting there will you know and

i’m sitting there with bankers and ceos

and movie producers and all this other

stuff

and god whispers to me you’re in charge

in this room

god um

really don’t know what i’m doing

he said but you trust that i do

and obey and they’ll start talking some

talk that i

never heard of and then the debilitating

depreciating amount of this

and that and then the foreclosure of

this and that and all the other and the

holy spirit will say to me he says say

stop stop

anything after that i just i just kind

of stopped the whole meeting

didn’t know what to do and they’ll say

say i want it for 50 off

god i don’t is that respectful do

but since i don’t have anybody else in

the room advocating for me

did you know one of the names for the

holy spirit is the advocate

the one that the one that steps in and

says no this is mine

and i’m gonna represent him and the

advocate will begin to tell me stuff

and i’ll just say it

and somebody said well when we look at

the numbers and all this other stuff and

like we’ve never done this

before do you know how many times i’ve

heard we’ve never done this before

i might get that tattooed on my back

they’ve never done this

before because when you walk

with the holy spirit you have

discernment

the reason you can be in places where

they’ve never done it before

because the holy spirit stands outside

of time and he’s looking in 2025

and he’s looking back to 1918 and he’s

saying i’ve designed this exact moment

for my kingdom to come through my son or

my daughter so i’m going to whisper the

things that are going to create legacy

for their children’s children because

i’m a good god and i leave inheritances

and so now i need you to speak what i

say

but you can’t if you’re emotionally

distracted

i am

i gotta move verse 26

when the disciples saw him walking on

the water

they were terrified in their fear they

cried out it’s a ghost

but look at our gracious god verse 27

but jesus spoke

god’s so good that he will let you

label him something and then reaffirm

that that ain’t it

it’s actually me he says

he spoke to them at once don’t be afraid

take courage i am here

say that with me don’t be afraid

take courage why i am here say it one

more time

don’t be afraid take courage

why i am just one more time don’t be

afraid this is speaking faith into

somebody

take courage why because i

write this point down what god says in

the deep is more important than what you

see in the deep

they still saw a ghost but they heard

what he said

their emotions hadn’t calmed down to the

point where they could accurately

decipher

through the winds and the waves in the

smoke that this was god but god’s so

good that he’ll still speak to you

and i’m just trying to encourage you

what he says

is more important than what you see

see the distraction of of of our lives

come to do these three things they come

to pray on our emotions our insecurity

and who’s in control

but look at what jesus says their

emotions what if you tell them

don’t be afraid i got your emotions then

he speaks to their insecurity like we

don’t know if we’re gonna make it

we don’t know who’s gonna take courage

let me encourage you

take courage why who has the authority

to say that

i am he

literally said i am here

now this doesn’t mean as much to you if

you don’t understand the old testament

passage

when moses was commissioned to go out

into the deep and tell pharaoh

hey let my people go and he said i’m

slow of speech i don’t know how to do

all of this stuff you call me to do

and god says i will be your advocate and

i’ll tell you what to say

i’ll give you everything you’re supposed

to do you just need to walk out into the

deep and not be distracted

he goes and he says who should i say

sent me

and the response of god to moses

is the same response jesus gives to

these disciples

i am i am

that i am you need peace i

am you need support i am

do you need financial provision i am

god says i’ll be whatever you need

whenever you need it

the problem is they were looking for

something natural

to be their super

but god says i step into your natural

and i make your natural super natural

and i don’t know who needed to hear this

but everything you’re looking for

i am has responded i am

it’s here

oh you’re lonely i am

it’s here i’ll be your comforter i’ll

i’ll teach you not just how to be okay

i’ll teach you how to love yourself

i’ll teach you how to make it hard for a

negro to get up in your situation

because hold on you’re not coming in

here messing up all the joy and the

peace

that god has given me you can’t

interrupt this river that i found you

got to come and add to this

but you cannot come and subtract for

this not for a little bit of oh

what god says in the deepest more

important than what you see in the deep

and some of you have been seeing the

wrong things and god says it doesn’t

look like it but i still said it

one of the beautiful things about having

a daughter and being a pastor

and having children and being a pastor

is now i understand the bible

so much more clearly when it talks about

being father god and having children and

all that other stuff

um because one of the things that is

interesting with my children is i tell

them hey

we’re going to go get you a prize today

and for some reason

all throughout the day they keep asking

me

are we going to get it are we going to

the store daddy where are you going

they have this anxiousness about how

they maneuver

because what they’re seeing doesn’t line

up with what i said

what they don’t know is i’ve already

transferred money from a different

account

into the account in preparation for us

going to the store what they don’t know

is i’ve already put gas in the car in

preparation

for us going to the store what they

don’t already know is i’ve talked to

their mother about the budget

that we’re going to give them to spend

what they don’t know is that we’re

already planning not just for the prize

we’re giving them right now

but mom sent me in to get something

that’s going to be out of stock in two

weeks

so i can get the next prize that they

need i’ve already made provisions for

them

but what i have said is stronger than

what they see

and it reminds me of us that when we get

to the deep

we keep asking god are you sure

you chose me you asked me to be at this

church you asked me to start this

business god

i don’t see you he said but i said it

and i just want you to know in the deep

you have to anchor on what god said

there’s a couple that’s in the room

right now that

every doctor told them they would not be

able to have children

but god said to them i’m gonna make you

prosperous and your womb is gonna be

blessed

and they literally have walked through a

stormy season

where the professionals oh i like this

because professionals

are not the final say the professionals

told them there’s

no way but you don’t know i am

because what god told them

they didn’t see but he said i’m staying

on this

because somebody is about to give up on

what god said just because they don’t

see it

but i’m here to shake you in the faith

today

that god is a man that he should not lie

if he said it he’s going to complete it

he’s going to do just what he said if

you’ve ever seen god come through

i dare you to take three seconds and

give god a shout of pray

[Applause]

oh i feel this thing coming right now he

said it

that means i’m gonna see it he said it

that means i’m gonna see it

it doesn’t matter that i didn’t get no

sleep last night because my son has

insomnia

i think that’s why i’m a little on edge

today

i slept two hours last night

because a side effect of autism is

insomnia while pastor nat’s not here

right now it’s cause she pregnant we

were up

every hour on the hour with mj last

night

and i don’t see it yet

but he said it he told me when nobody

was around

there’s a date i have marked down that

the holy spirit gave me i feel this

thing

that every time it gets worse and every

time there’s a regression

and every time it doesn’t look like

something and every time he’s not eating

and every time he’s doing i said i don’t

see it but he said it

and i dare you somewhere in your mind to

get anchored right now

i don’t see it but he said it they gonna

ask you why do you keep driving down

this neighborhood

i don’t see it but he said it they’re

gonna ask you why do you keep believing

that your whole family is gonna be saved

i don’t see it buddy they gonna keep

asking you why do you plant the church

in the middle of a pandemic i don’t see

it

but he said

get distracted in the deep by what you

see

some of y’all gonna go to a job tomorrow

that looks worse than it did

a week ago there’s so many people that

my heart goes out to in houston

in dallas in texas and louisiana

who you’re you’re literally going back

to homes

that have been ruined by by mildew and

water

and busted pipes but god told you you

were going to be blessed to be a

blessing

and he told you that you were going to

be the lender and not the borrower

and he spoke specifically that this was

going to be the year of breakthrough for

your family

and right now as you look in the rubble

and you look in everything

i’m encouraging you to get anchored on

what god has said

you may not see it but he said

but y’all know these disciples

discernment was off because they were

emotionally entangled

so they called god a ghost and jesus

said it’s me

we was just together you just came off

of 21 days of prayer and fasting

you just had a worship experience with

me in the car

you just asked me to meet your needs to

meet last week’s

bills and i did it you forgot who i was

you said that if i get you out of this

situation you would never do that again

and i did that and you don’t remember

you don’t

and so they couldn’t see it verse 28

then peter called to him

lord

i know you said it and take courage and

all that other stuff

but if it’s really you ain’t that how we

be in our walk

god is so good but

if it’s um i know you brought me the

the job of my dreams um but this if this

is really you

tell me to come to you and walk on the

water

this is always very interesting to me in

this thing because

he says lord that means that

somewhere in him either what he saw or

what was said

made him identify that this can’t just

be jerome walking on the water

like that’s not my cousin rome like this

has to be

jesus but he wasn’t sure enough to put

his weight on it

he wasn’t sure enough to drop his anchor

on it

so so so sometimes this tells me

and this is encouragement for me because

i’m human and sometimes my doubt gets in

the way

of the destiny and sometimes i don’t

know exactly

i know it’s god but i’m not sure it’s

god his language declared what his heart

doubted

lord if it’s you

we worship you but this is a different

situation

god i trust you but are you really going

to make a way

this is why we need god this is why we

go back to the word

because sometimes our language declares

what our heart actually doubts

and jesus is so gracious he says yes

come now i got to stop here for one

second

and i’m not going to preach this preach

this but i got to let you know

that there were 12 disciples in the boat

peter literally says if it’s really you

tell me to come walking on the water

jesus doesn’t say peter come

or you come he just literally says

yes come that was an

invitation to everybody else that was in

the boat

that you have an opportunity to do

something nobody has ever done

but they did not have the faith to trust

what jesus

just said the saddest part of this story

is that we could be talking about this

story of 12 men

a community of people a small group

walking on water together i don’t know

about you but i need friends who can

walk on water with me

i need people that you own that block i

own this block

they on that block i need people that

can say where are we going on vacation

by the whole island and we’re going to

bless people i need people who can do

the unthinkable

with me that i’m not out here just

trailblazing and representing

i need a squad with me that we can walk

into a depressed area

of town and fix that house that house

that house that house

and next year we’re gonna do that house

that housed it

part of the problem with this scripture

is there were scared

saints on the boat

you already in the deep you

already out here i need some saints to

get that 2000. i ain’t never scared

like i ain’t never scared i ain’t

nervous

i i ain’t i need people in my community

that’s like the spirit big event center

let’s go

i ain’t never scared buying a whole

complex outside of here

for 21 million dollars i ain’t never

scared let’s go

[Applause]

i can’t even tell you what we’re gonna

do next but i bet you i got a bunch of

riders in the room with me

and a bunch of writers online right now

who say i ain’t never scared

[Applause]

jesus said come

and only one got up

why is it important that you start

leading a small group

because peter could have very easily

stepped out of the boat and said y’all

come on

no that he could have used their

relational equity y’all know we seen

jesus do stuff like this before

don’t miss out on this opportunity no i

know your marriage is at the brink but

i’ve seen god restore marriages before

i know your children are out there but

i’ve seen god do it before

come

and because there were scared saints in

the deep

they missed the miracle what miracle

will you miss because you stay on the

boat

he says yes come so peter

went over the side of the boat and

walked

on the water towards jesus

can we stop and give peter a hand clap

no y’all if peter gets a bad rap y’all

always skip to when he starts sinking

but peter actually walked under me you

ain’t never done nothing great

at least give him us come on let’s

people be hating on people when they

fall they at least did some

you on the boat scared

but you know he sank but he walked on

the water

[Applause]

such haters

he tried he went over the side of the

boat i just

all i’m saying to you right now in this

in this society of critics

critics sit on the sideline and and they

judge something they’ve never played

it’s way easier to be a commentator than

to actually be in the nba

[Applause]

you can’t jump from here to there

but but you have something to say on the

way that they dribble and the way that

they shoot in the way they in the nba

you have something to say about their

marriage they’re married

yeah they might need counseling yeah

they went through a heart but we gotta

stop

highlighting people’s worst moments

[Applause]

as summing up who they are

they might be there because they took a

step of faith you were scared to

i deal with different problems today

because i stepped over the boat

see you dealing with shallow

situations cause you never stepped out

into the deep

but some of the issues i face right now

i would never face it if i didn’t walk

by faith

church all i’m saying is our criticisms

have to go down

especially if we’ve never been in that

level of water

[Music]

[Applause]

you in the kiddie pool talking about

people who carry more weight

and they swim trunks than you do all

year guys

we gotta make sure

that our words are edifying are

encouraging

let no corrupt communication proceed out

of the mouth

only that which is edifying to the hero

could we be a church some of the people

we think are supposed to be cheering for

us

are actually the distractions in the

deep because you’ve never stepped out of

the boat

so today i just i want to give out a

peter

award i’ve never heard a pastor give a

peter award

the bible says so peter went over the

side

of the boat and he walked on

the find me one other person in history

who defied the laws of gravity and

buoyancy and actually walked on the

water

all i’m saying is maybe

his failure was not the point

that we should highlight

some of you need to go back to your

friends your family members i know it’s

hard because it takes humility to do

this

and they might be in a season right now

that looks really bad and you could blow

up

and and blow them out and expose them

but what god is saying to you is maybe

you should remind them

that they actually walked on water

what would have happened if the

disciples like no bro you did it though

you can do it again keep looking at

jesus there’s more for you

you i saw you take three steps i know

you’re seeking now

but you can make it what if the

disciples

see this is the thing that i i found out

of this and this is revelation do y’all

want me to stop

can can i have a few more okay i just i

gotta this the last week let me get it

out

okay peter walked on water towards jesus

and this made me really start

contemplating

the steps of faith that i’ve had to make

over the boat

and literally all i can say is we out

here

we oh my gosh

what’s gonna happen next sunday i don’t

know we out here

how you gonna follow up going on the

water

i have no clue we’re out here

like like i’m like ain’t no backup plans

and ain’t no

no like we are out here that’s why we

need our discernment

but what i’ve found as i’ve stepped over

the boat i found like peter

that you are most vulnerable when you

did it

but it’s not done

okay the most vulnerable part of

distraction

is when you did it i walked on water

but i’m not done making it to jesus

so so so this is where distraction

really comes in

because many of us have done the thing

and got to the place we prayed to get at

so we

did it but it’s not done

and this is where distraction comes in

at its finest peter walks

on the water just like many of you

have done things that nobody thought you

would

be able to do this is a

progression or like what i like to call

is purpose

uh in process peter

did it like he might have been like

ah

but jesus still over there

so he did what nobody did but it’s still

not done

the same way you got the money

but you haven’t learned how to manage it

so you did it but it’s not

done

you got the marriage but now you have to

cultivate the marriage you did

it i’m married we can have sex with no

no guilt no condemnation

let me clean it up

but now i want you to see you did it

but it’s not done

for it to get done you need focus

write that word down it’s a cuss word

for many of you i know focus

you lead the team now you got the title

of director of

but now you get it but now you have to

grow them into leaders

it’s not done

now you can post on your instagram you

wrote a book

but you did it now you have to sell the

book

you’re not done and i just came to tell

somebody

who’s shouting over getting on the water

that wasn’t the goal

the goal wasn’t to stand on water

the goal was to make it to jesus

the goal is not to have the best church

in the world

we we have done everything that i’ve

ever put on paper

as we’ve stepped over the boat in six

years

and god said michael guess what six

years what a time to be alive

that wasn’t the goal

you are in the deep and now you’re gonna

need

focus to make it to me

but when peter verse 30

but when he saw the strong winds

and the waves and the haters

and the people in his family that didn’t

support

and the other instagram post and

somebody else’s life that looked more

content

he was terrified and he began to sink

save me lord he shouted

now this one messes me up because this

is the same peter that’s been with jesus

write this point down because this is

for you don’t be so distracted

you draw a blank he’s been a deliverer

he’s been a deliverer

peter steps out of the boat starts

walking towards jesus

and then sees distractions

and forgets who told him to get out of

the boat

did you forget who called you to lead

that team

you know you’re not qualified right did

you forget

who called you to be in that

relationship

do you forget he’s been

a deliverer

see this is why i love the bible we’re

in matthew chapter 1

14. do y’all remember

that in chapter eight

six chapters ago the disciples were in a

different storm

and jesus would sleep on the boat

and they woke him up and said yo why

y’all tripping

peace be still

jesus i never saw it to now

peter’s tripping but jesus had

already got them through the

same exact type of storm

and in the moment he lost focus

he forgot and drew a blank and forgot he

was standing with his deliverer

my question to you is have you had

christian amnesia and forgot all the

times

that god has brought you through before

he’s been a deliverer

the reason i put that little he’s been a

deliverer is because i feel like god

sometimes gets a little like y’all put

some respect on my name

he has a little birdman moment where he

say you better put

some respect i’ve been a deliverer

you’re how old

do you know that the enemy had his

arrows towards you at 10 years old

and i’ve kept you and sustained you and

you wouldn’t even got into that college

if i wouldn’t allow that person to come

and tell you about that scholarship

that was me put some respect on my name

you thought that it was you that saved

you from that car accident

but that was warring and ministering

angels that stood up

and moved people out the way because

there was a destiny

that i had on your life put some respect

on my name you

thought you’re in the city and in the

place you’re in right now by accident

i moved heaven and earth

to get you to where i wanted you to be

you thought it was an accident you

watching today

this was my favor and grace on your life

i’ve been a deliverer

somebody say he’s been a deliverer say

it like you mean it

second samuel 22 says and he said the

lord is my rock

and my fortress and my deliverer

the god of my rock in him will i trust

he is my shield

and the horn of my salvation my high

tower and my refuge my savior

that will always save me from violence

psalms 18

2 said the lord is my rock in my

fortress i’m just saying this

because somebody needs to know that he’s

been a deliverer and he is my deliverer

my god my strength

and whom i will trust my buckler and my

horn

if god is your buckler you know what i’m

saying you better know buckle up he’s

the seat belt

he said i’m your salvation and your

hightower psalms 27.

some trust in chariots and some trust in

horses

but i will remember and trust in the

name

of our god can i say it differently some

trust in teslas

and some trust in beamer benzer bentley

but i will trust in the name of the lord

he was saying people

trust in the transportation to get them

to a destination

do y’all see back in the day it was

horses and chariots

you trust in the vehicle

and some of y’all have been trusting in

your jobs

trusting in your relationships trusting

in the stock market

trusting in the s p 500 trusting in

bitcoin

trusting in some people like bitcoin

what is that is that a pokemon thing

just stay with me some of y’all have

been trusting in in pop culture and

you’ve been trusting

in and different things that you can do

with your hands and god says some trust

in all that

but the thing i’m asking you to trust in

is the one who’s been a deliverer

somebody just say it one more time god’s

been a deliverer

he did it for him in verse and chapter

eight and now we’re in chapter 14

and he loses his cool he saw the strong

winds

and the waves he was terrified and began

to seek save me lord he shouted

can i um i wasn’t gonna put this point

in here

but i just feel like somebody needs to

hear this and this is for you know our

church

is built to cater to the lost and found

so my lost people you’re not gonna think

nothing about this but there’s some

found people

that have been blaming this certain

person in their life and he is bad

but everything’s not his fault

distractions in the deep

aren’t always the devil

i i know i know

that was the devil that i missed

disappointment no you woke up late

that wasn’t the day of devil you’re lazy

it’s the devil i didn’t get that

promotion no your presentation was trash

[Music]

you spent more time on instagram trying

to get 32 likes than working on the

presentation

that will actually change your bank

account it wasn’t the devil

you were distracted

the devil is not mentioned anywhere in

this scripture

go back and look it didn’t say and the

devil brought wind jesus is the one who

sent them to the lake

and he sent them to the lake while he

went to pray for them

i need you to hear me say this jesus

knew the storm you were going into

so he made intercession for you they

were

out on the sea and jesus went to pray by

himself because he knew

they would need him he gets in a

supernatural state and begins to defy

the law of buoyancy

walks on water to meet them at the point

of their need

and the reason he meets them there is

because he set it up

what if the thing you’ve been saying is

the devil was a setup

some of the worst things in my life were

not the devil

they were set up by god to get something

in me

and get something out of me that could

come out no other way i’ve told y’all

several times about my

horrible story with the contractor

trying to build a home and trying to do

all of these different things

and he left me and my wife in our

brand new baby in a home in a winter

like we just had

with no heat

took our money had to pay him extra

had to lean on our house for four years

but when i look back at that situation

now

god has orchestrated me to in the five

years

after that to be the person at the table

negotiating over 40 million dollars

worth of real estate

on behalf of transfer that was a hundred

and fifty thousand dollar

fail so that i could learn a 50 million

dollar future

[Applause]

it was a setup

i had to make sure i knew how to read

through contracts and ask

questions and god knew that he was going

to be my anchor through that whole thing

and so he said he can take this one

because i set it up for him and i’ve

been praying for him

and i’m not gonna leave him out there by

himself and i’m gonna come and speak to

him

the the day before the week before i

became the lead pastor of transformation

church the week

before god resolved that situation

because my parents came into a little

money

and they were able to give me the money

to be able to settle that lane

and god didn’t allow me to walk into

pastoring with that scar but he said you

needed the experience

it wasn’t the devil it was from my

development

and the truth of the matter is when

god’s trying to develop

us many of us are distracted in the deep

i don’t know what your distraction is

today it could be other people

it could be your own self-talk it could

be not focusing on the word of god

but there’s distractions that aren’t the

devil and this is what happened to peter

write this down distractions drown you

when vision drifts

the reason why this is our vision series

and i spent seven weeks talking on it

well pastor mike talk about this

talk about that talk about this it don’t

matter what we talk about if we are off

of course

if we’re one degree by the time we get

to the end of 2022 do you know what

could happen in the world

we’re only two months into the to the

thing we got capital riots we got

gorilla glue girl

we got all kinds of stuff

yeah y’all do y’all know what could

happen

but it doesn’t matter if we are

angry

that’s how some of y’all gonna look at

the end of this year

i’m gonna need surgery

if you get to but do y’all know that

whole thing i don’t mean to preach this

at all

it’s a very sad thing but the reason

that that happened she had the right

thing there and ran out of it

and she didn’t focus on what she was

picking up to use

her vision she drowned she hurt herself

she was one who actually experienced

very bad consequences not because she

was a bad person

it’s because she thought oh this is

something that helps

she didn’t focus on what it was and what

it said

and what it actually was used for and

she drowned

because her vision drift what are you

saying pastor mike fix your focus

hebrews 12 1. that’s all i’m asking you

to do how do we stay anchored

we fix our focus therefore since we’ve

been surrounded

by such a great cloud of witnesses let

us throw

off every thing

that hinders us that’s every distraction

i want you to hear me say this we’re not

even talking about sin yet

sin comes it says literally throw off

every thing or every distraction that

hinders us

and the sin

so you can drift or drown

because of a distraction not even a sin

is this sin no it’s not sin for you to

eat 50 oreos before you

go to sleep let me stop

but you are distracted and then you will

be praying for a miracle five years from

now

and the miracle never had to be a

miracle

if you had developed fixed focus in this

season of being anchored

it says don’t be thrown off by

everything

that hinders you and the sin that easily

entangles us and let us

run with perseverance the race

marked out for us the course god has set

us and we can’t go off one degree

if you go off one degree even in the

relay race as the last runner is the

anchor

as my sister put it in her poem the last

person is the anchor and they can run

and they can run but what happens if

they’re one degree off

they get in somebody else’s lane and

what are they

disqualified

fixing our eyes

on jesus not pastor mike

i’m so glad that y’all listen to me

every morning

but if this is your substitute for the

word of god

and devotion and actually making time

for him

i am a poor substitute baby i am capri

sun

and you need v8 do you understand what

i’m saying you need something that can

sustain you

all i’m doing is pointing you to the

natural resource i’m only pointing you

to him

but i’m telling you fix your eyes

on jesus the pioneer

and perfector of our faith

you always move in the direction of your

focus

you always do

can i say it like this your favorable

future

or your ferocious failure are in the

direction of your focus

you decide your

favorable future the thing that god has

for you that thing where everything is

working out

as well as your ferocious failure that

thing that you feel like you can never

come back from

are in the direction of your focus

keep the camera right here

i’m looking uh-uh don’t follow me you go

back to where you’re supposed to go

see because the problem is i’m looking

at a camera

i’m directly focused on the wrong thing

and some of you right now you you come

here

right over here yeah yeah come on now

now plan to her

show them what i’m looking at the whole

time

i’m looking directly at a camera and now

i’m looking at this camera

and now i’m looking at this camera and

it feels like i’m in purpose because i’m

looking at cameras

they can see me but i’m

looking at the wrong

camera it doesn’t matter if you’re

focused if you’re focused on the wrong

thing

and i along with transformation church

have made a decision to drop our anchor

and fix our focus on jesus if you’re

gonna fix your focus on jesus

why don’t you give him a shout of praise

in the place

[Applause]

jesus immediately reached verse 31

out and grabbed peter peter

pete p diddy

p money you have such little faith

why do you doubt me i did it

with feeding the five thousand i did it

for you

in verse eight i’ve been a deliverer bro

put some respect on my name bro why did

you

but god in his grace

he’s so good to us that when we don’t

deserve it

he still does it

what i’m trying to tell somebody who

feels like they’re drowning right now

is peter was a disciple and drowned

you’re okay

i know i know i know you’ve never been

in this place before and you

never thought you would be begging for

this and you never thought you would

have to start over like this

and it feels like everything around you

is caving in on you and you’re drowning

but if somebody who jesus chose to walk

with him

drowned at one point in their life and

god saved them

you’re gonna be okay

i just want to be the the face of faith

for you

because some people that are on the

other side of this screen right now

your discernment has been off for a long

time

and you’ve drifted not just one degree

but maybe 10 15

20 degrees off and you feel like it’s

hopeless

and you’re literally drowning and god

sent me to tell you

you’ve just been distracted in deep

but if you would allow me i’ll reach out

and i’ll grab your hands and i’ll take

you to safety

write this last point down with god

the doubt won’t drown you

he literally says why do you have so

much little doubt

the doubt didn’t leave when god saved

them

there’s still areas of our life that we

want to have crazy faith in but

sometimes it takes us drowning and god

saving us

for us to realize oh

he still loves me even with the

questions

even with the fear even with the failure

with god the doubt won’t drown you when

they climbed back into the boat

the wind stopped then disciples

worshiped

you really are the son of god they

exclaimed

i want you to realize no matter what

you’re facing

when jesus is with you

every element in your atmosphere has to

change

in chapter eight jesus spoke to the

winds in the waves

did y’all see it right here when he

climbed back into the boat

the wind just stopped

as god walks in the authority that he

has been given in your life

your only response is to do what the

disciples did

worship i’m just going to worship god

i’m going to worship him because he

saved me i’m going to worship him

because he stopped the wind this is the

thing i think about the disciples were

still in the storm

even though they weren’t on the water

and when jesus steps on the boat the

storm stops

[Music]

what i’m saying is if you’re walking on

water or you’re just in the deep god’s

saying

i’ll i’ll take care of the storm

i’ll take care of the wind you take care

of the worship

[Music]

i’ll take care of the wind you take care

of the worship that’s a song y’all

you take care of the wind that’s my new

confession now

the storms are coming god you take care

of the wind

but i’ll take care of the worship father

you won’t have to pump and prime me

to give you glory to give you praise

because you’ve sustained me

you take care of the wind god and i’ll

take care of the worship

and today at the end of this series

how we’re going to be anchored how we’re

going to be sustained is knowing our

anchor

is still jesus

[Music]

it’s still him i feel i feel i feel a

a worship coming over everybody hands

lifted everywhere

come on if you’re somewhere you can

stand up why don’t you stand up right

now

i feel like this we’re deciding that

we’re gonna drop our anchor

god you take care of the wind i’ll take

care of the worship

right now i want you to lift your voice

and i want you to praise god

i want you to give him thanks i want you

to sing unto him

a new song i want you to begin to call

him who he is

he’s a provider he’s good i know some of

y’all this may seem weird

but when we worship god we use our lives

our words our hands

to express our love to him god thank you

for being good

thank you for sustaining us thank you

for being committed to us when we

weren’t committed to you

thank you for not letting us drown thank

you father that you would continue

to pick us up father god right now

you take care of the wind but we’re

going to take care of the worship

come on lift it up right now somebody

say you sustain

come on lift it up lift your worship up

god i trust you in the middle of the

storm

god i trust you god i got to worship

i got to worship god you’re going to

take care of the marriage

you’re gonna take care of the finances i

got to worship

you sustain me through everything father

god we will be anchored on you god

come on in your home in your house lift

your hands

teach your kids how to worship through

the storm

come on come on let’s declare it

your promises always come true say your

promise is always good you’re a good god

you save us when we

[Music]

give him worship

we’re trusting you god we’re angry

[Music]

[Music]

strong power god you take care of the

wind

and i’ll take care of the worst he said

i will

so i will

say i will trust you

that’s the statement of being anchored

somebody just say i will trust you say i

will hey

you got the win you got the marriage you

got the problems

i got to worship somebody safe

you got this church you got my son you

got my wife

come on tell god i got to worship

all the discrimination i’ve been feeling

all the social unrest

i’ma worship you through it right now

somebody say

oh i feel the presence of god somebody’s

getting their worship back

you can’t control the wind but the

anchor can

so i want you to worship

[Music]

some of y’all needed this moment all

week somebody just began to praise him

right now something’s shifting

something’s changing it’s changing in

your home

it’s changing in your mind it’s changing

in your emotions

let’s lift this thing up one time come

on somebody declaring faith

i will trust you safe

woo

somebody’s dropping their anchor on the

word of god

somebody declare

no matter who comes and who goes

god i’m saying i’ll trust you safe

all over the world lift your hands say

you sustain god

[Music]

just one more time just sing that we got

the worship god

we got it god here we are

[Music]

no matter what’s going on

no matter how i’m feeling in the morning

excuse

me no matter if my jaw turns around

no matter if the water is the ground

[Music]

you’ve had me since i was born

so right now god in the middle of

everything i’m trusting you

[Music]

your promises always come true

[Music]

just sing that one more time y’all it’s

ministering to me

[Music]

so

you’re a good good father

it’s who you are

[Music]

this is the thing you needed i can’t

control the winds in the waves

but i can control my focus and i’m

focusing on jesus

[Music]

[Applause]

god you gonna take care of it i got to

worship

say you’re a good good

[Music]

he’s reaching out right now

[Music]

he’s reaching out right now

[Music]

so listen um the only thing that i can

offer you now it’s not a good sermon not

a good illustration i only can offer you

the anchor his name is jesus

that’s how we gonna make it through

every storm y’all i’m not promising you

a stormless 2021

i’m promising you an anchor in jesus and

how do we sustain we fix our eyes on him

we get in good community we keep showing

up for church we serve

people we give we love we become more

like him

but you can’t do that without him

there’s so many people trying to

manifest

things that god freely gives

why are you manifesting something that

comes with salvation

all you have to do is acknowledge you’re

no longer in control

that jesus has already won the victory

for you

and today i want to give you that

opportunity it’s the greatest decision i

ever made

it’s the thing that took me from being a

liar a manipulator addicted to

pornography

somebody who had so much darkness in

their heart so many images

so emotionally distracted so not a

perfect man i’m not a perfect man

but i’m a progressing man a man that

hears from god

that allows his discernment to override

his desires

today i want to offer that to you

all you have to do is not what

religious people tell you to do stop

smoking stop drinking

stop doing this like like if you could

have done it you would have already

stopped doing it

you knew it was bad when you started it

you know

lying and all that other stuff you know

it our our nature

knows it the problem is we don’t have in

our nature the ability to do this

without god

and so today i’m offering you a free

gift

it’s the gift of grace you can’t earn it

you don’t deserve it

it’s unmerited it’s not because of how

much money you have

or who your family is and if you know

the pastor or the leader or

it’s none of that it’s because god cares

so much that 2

000 years ago he went to the cross and

he decided my children

in 2021 are gonna need me and they’re

gonna deny me and they’re gonna act like

they can do it without me but they’re

gonna come to the end of the rope and

they’re gonna feel like they’re drowning

and then i’m gonna be

their anchor and today

along with hundreds if not thousands of

other people

today i want to lead you in a prayer

that changes everything

according to romans 10 9 it says all you

have to do

is not confess everything you’ve done

yet that’s not what you do you don’t go

to the hospital

and fix yourself you come there because

you need help

and jesus says today i’ll help you if

you give your life to me

i’ll help you fix your habits

and today on the count of three we’re

about to pray but if you want to be

added into that prayer are you saying

pastor today i want to give my life to

jesus

i want to confess that he lived and he

died just for me and today

i’m giving control over tim if you want

to do that i’m telling you hundreds if

not thousands of other people are doing

it right now

and then there are going to be hundreds

every day that this message goes out on

rebroadcast that are going to do the

same thing

the holy spirit stands out outside of

time it’s as real

at this moment as it is in that moment

right there that you’re standing in

if you’re saying pastor include me in

that prayer on the count of three i just

want you to slip your hand up wherever

you are

forget about who’s with you forget about

who’s around if you’re in a public

coffee shop

it don’t matter they won’t stand with

you before god this will be a decision

between you and god and this decision

causes you not to drift one you’re

making the greatest decision of your

life

two i’m so proud of you but that don’t

even matter because your name is gonna

be written in the lamb’s book of life

three shoot your hand up all over the

world come on somebody shoot your hand

up their hands going up all over the

world right now

will you say this prayer with me and

transformation nation

because church imagination you know we

don’t pray alone we’re praying together

for the benefit of those coming to

christ

everybody say lord thank you for being

my anchor

today i know i’m here

because you sustained me so today

i’m giving you my life i believe you

lived

you died and you rose again

just for me so change me

renew me transform me

i’m yours i’m anchored

in jesus name amen

transformation nation can we give god

praise

all over the world oh come on y’all

y’all got to help me give god

praise for the people who have given

their life to christ

[Music]

your mercies are new every day

so i will that’s what just happened

his mercies his mercies are new every

day

his mercies his mercies

that’s what you just experienced his

grace his grace is

new everything so i will

okay so let me tell you something if you

just prayed that prayer number one

i’m so proud of you number two your

eternity is secure

number three you got a family

and we love you and what we want you to

do

is we want to know who you are we want

to get to know you want to give you some

resources

will you please text the number on the

screen we’re not going to harass you

we’re going to help you

and we want you to start on this journey

of progression

with us okay i don’t preach for an hour

and 40 minutes y’all i am

dead tired but i gave you everything

that i had for this message and i

believe

honestly this whole series

wasn’t for right now

this series was taught for a different

season

go ahead and save subscribe um download

this whole series because there will be

a moment you need it

and it will be like we’re speaking to

the exact situation

at that moment the one thing that i want

you to know

is that peter walked on the water alone

and you don’t have to walk through

anything alone

today i’m not talking to everybody

because everybody’s not ready for this

step but there’s some people that have

gone to the deep

and i think there’s probably 25 to 30

000 people that are part of our church

core right now

and hundreds of thousands that’ll watch

during the week i’m talking to our

church corps

i need about 5 000 of y’all who are

deciding

i’m going to be anchored and i’m going

to lead

other people to the deep i’m going to

help

other people not drown i’m going to

speak

life when people get off the boat and

start walking on water i’m gonna be

there encouraging them when they get

married and when they have

deaths and when they’re going through

hard situation i’m gonna be there as an

anchor for them

if that’s you i’m talking to leaders

right now i want you to sign

up for our b groups beta

this next season we’re going to be

taking only leaders through small groups

because honestly y’all

if we opened up b groups for everybody

right now we wouldn’t have enough people

to lead and and if you don’t have

leaders

you’re going to end up drifting

and we’re not doing that this is the

year of no drift

so we’re going to spend this first few

months building leaders and some of you

need to answer that call today you’ve

been saying god what am i supposed to do

how am i supposed to serve here you are

you need to text the number on the

screen text beta to 828282

and when you do that you’ll have

responses and it’s a process you don’t

just get to go through it like

we’re going to vet everybody because we

only want people leading groups

that are able to reproduce and help

point people to jesus help fix their

eyes on them and one day

all of us are going to be there because

we’ve been called to disciple people

but if that’s you answer the call today

today not tomorrow not tuesday

so i need confirmation this is your

confirmation right here here i am i’m

black and i’m wearing a white hoodie

that says no drift

this is your confirmation text that

number and by the fall

i believe transformation church we’re

going to be stronger and more anchored

than we’ve ever been in our life today i

pray over you a blessing

a blessing that literally surpasses you

that it moves to your children’s

children

god i declare that the things we’ve

decided to be anchored on today

we will not drift god show us the

distractions

that have been keeping us in delusion

while we’ve been in the deep

and i thank you for clear vision this is

our vision series

and you have said you’re giving us

vision for the future so today father

god

we trust you thank you that you sustain

in the middle of it all you remain the

same through the rain

you still reign you sustain i thank you

that this will be our church’s best week

ever

that father god you go before us you

stand around us and you’re behind us

father that you are our deliverer that

anything we come into father god you’ve

already been there

so we do not have to fear today we stand

anchored in your word

that we will not drift have your way in

our lives

and we give you glory we give you honor

and we give you praise

in jesus name somebody say i am

anchored can you give god a shout of

praise

wherever you are go out and live a

transformed life i love you