Don’t forget to share “THE GOUND SHIFTING” Sarah Jakes Roberts with a friend, and be sure to subscribe for ongoing inspiration and encouragement.

hey family

i’m pt pastor toray roberts i’m the lead

pastor of the potter’s house at 1la

and denver on behalf of my wife pastor

sarah and myself we want to welcome you

to our channel and to this word i cannot

wait

for you to hear what god has for you in

this message i want to tell you a few

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further ado let’s get right into this

word god bless you

i’ll see you soon

i’m going to get into my word

i’ll be speaking from the subject the

ground

is shifting the ground is shifting

come on somebody did you see that

it shifted right now when you came up

and got prayer it shifted when you

walked into the room it

shifted when you decided that i’m gonna

make my way i don’t care how many people

are there i don’t care how much

traffic i have to go through the ground

shifted when you

broke off that relationship the ground

shifted you thought you were just

doing what you were supposed to do but

you were shifting the ground so that

breakthrough could happen

the ground the ground is shifting

so i’m speaking out of exodus 3

verse 4. and it says

so when the lord saw that he turned

aside to look

this is moses having an encounter with

the angel of the lord

and he is walking the sheep

and he turns and he sees a burning bush

and my text says so when the lord saw

that he turned aside to look god

called to him from the midst of the bush

and said moses moses and he said

here i am then he said do not draw near

this place

take your sandals off your feet for the

place where you stand is

holy ground moreover he said

i am the god of your father the god of

abraham the god of isaac and the god of

jacob and moses hid his face

for he was afraid to look upon god

and the lord said i have surely seen the

oppression of my people who are in egypt

and have heard their cry because of

their task masters

for i know their sorrows so i have come

down to deliver them out of the hand of

the egyptians and to bring them

up from that land to a good and large

land to a land flowing with milk

and honey to the place of the canaanites

and the hittites and the amorites and

the pressurites and the hivites

and the jebusites now therefore behold

the cry of the children of israel has

come to me

and i have also seen the oppression with

the egyptians

who which the egyptians oppressed them

come now therefore and i will send you

to pharaoh that you may bring my people

the children of israel

out of egypt but moses said to god

who am i who am i that i should go to

pharaoh

and that i should bring the children of

israel out of egypt

so he said i will certainly be with you

and this shall be a sign to you that i

have sent you when you have brought the

people

out of egypt you shall serve god on this

mountain

on this mountain the same mountain where

you felt unqualified the same

mountain where i interrupted your rhythm

and gave you a word from god it is on

this mountain

that i am going to prove my word

to you spirit of the living god

invade this place

if you don’t do it god it cannot be done

but if you do it strongholds could come

down

and chains could be broken if you do it

you can change hollywood to holy ground

you could change

la brea the holy ground you could change

martin luther king jr boulevard

to holy ground that’s the kind of god

that we serve because when you step into

a room it automatically becomes holy so

god i am giving you

full reign let there be nothing off

limits that you may move in this place

and send a word that changes the lives

of your people

so god i ask that you would give me

wisdom that you would give me clarity

that i would have no nerves no fear no

anxiety that you would just do that

thing that you do when you sit in a room

so that lives can be changed for the

glory of god

in jesus name amen

amen

[Applause]

so one of my

favorite things to do from time to time

when it’s like partly cloudy outside

is to stand still in one spot

and look up and when you look up

when it’s partly cloudy you can see that

it looks like the sky is moving but

those of us who understand geology

recognize that it’s not actually the sky

that is moving

it’s the earth that is moving it is the

ground that is moving but yet the only

time we realize that the ground is

moving

is when we look up because our lives are

in rhythm

and in motion in such a way that we

don’t always realize that the ground

underneath us is shifting

and yet this is a part of life

everything is constantly moving

i remember playing a game as a kid we’d

play freeze

and if you could be completely steal

like a statue

you would win the prize and the truth is

we were all

lying because we were all moving even

though we were trying to be still

because it is just

the natural way that our bodies function

that we’re

always moving our muscles are always

moving our

eyes are twitching everything is always

in circulation

and so we have a responsibility as we

navigate this earth

not just physically but to recognize

spiritually when things are shifting

to recognize in business when things are

shifting there are people who

study finance every single day and one

small

change in the stock market represents a

major shift that is taking place

because we recognize that everything is

connected to something

and so as i was studying and asking god

what is it that you would like for me to

say tonight because lord knows if you

don’t give me anything to say we’re

going to sit up here and look at each

other

so i asked god what is it that you want

me to say

and he told me that the ground is

shifting again

that um god uh

that the area that we have become

familiar

walking in is shifting

and that everything is going to look the

same but it’s really not the same

because the ground has shifted

and i think it’s important that we know

that because there’s a certain

perspective that we have when we

recognize

that the ground is shifting i mean like

the tables

are turning i mean like our mindsets are

shifting

i’ll try to break this down for you have

you ever realized that the ground has

shifted like

after the fact it’s like um when you’re

talking to someone who you used to be

friends with

so close to and they haven’t changed

but for some reason you’re not able to

connect the way that you used to because

because you’re standing in something

different now the ground has shifted

i i’m just standing in something

differently the same

music doesn’t move me anymore i don’t

get excited about certain things anymore

because the ground has shifted i’m

standing in something different it takes

a little bit more to move me than it did

before

i’m not the same person that i used to

be it’s not

you it’s me the ground has shifted

underneath me

i just gave somebody the words they’ve

been looking for

to cut some things off i i could tell

that something was different i just

didn’t know how to express it the ground

is shifted my priorities have changed my

dreams have changed my attention is

focused on something different

it’s not you it’s me it’s just the

ground is shifted i’m trying to

build something that cannot be shaken

when everything

else is being shaken and it takes a

certain level of

dedication and commitment in order for

me to do that it’s not you it’s me the

ground

has just shifted from underneath me i’m

counting my money differently i’m

dreaming my dream

differently it’s not you it’s me we used

to vibe when i was standing on a certain

ground but now that the ground has

shifted underneath me

what makes the ground shift a word makes

the ground shift when i receive

a word that penetrates past my

insecurities and past my fears

it shifts the ground that i’m standing

on the ground could shift right here in

this room and you’ll walk out of this

place

a totally different person and

everything will be the same

same cars same shoes same life but a

different me because the ground has

shifted

i see opportunity where i once saw lack

i see open doors where i once saw closed

doors

i see god making a way out of no way so

sometimes i need to pray

that god you would do nothing but just

shift the ground around me that it would

go

from being that which i am familiar with

to holy ground

i need to shift this ground

into holy ground and

this part in our text is so interesting

to me because we’ve got moses who was

literally about to go from standing in

what is familiar to him

into holy ground

i really think moses is one of the most

interesting characters

in the bible he was born in a time where

all of the hebrew males were supposed to

have been

thrown into the river what i love about

that is that he was thrown into the

river

but the ground shifted a little bit

differently when he was thrown into the

river

because he had someone who had enough

foresight to build a raft i’m going to

still

throw you in the river but i’m going to

do it with the hedge of protection

around you

so that it looks like i put you in

danger but in reality i taught you how

to navigate danger

that’s

[Applause]

and so he’s found though by an egyptian

so you guys know the story

y’all saw the prince of egypt 20 years

ago like i did i mean you read your word

every single day

i got confused

but we’ve got this hebrew baby who was

thrown into a basket in the river

and then he’s picked up by the very

people the very group that was looking

to persecute him

and i really love moses story because

time after time we see him being a

stranger

in familiar territory

and so if i may just set up this text to

give you context about where he is

i want to share that at this time he has

been living in midian for

about 40 years why did he move to midian

from egypt

i’m glad you asked well because one day

and this is where my ebonics version of

the bible comes together

because it’s it’s gonna be a little

raggedy but i’m gonna get us there all

right

okay so our boy moses

was born a hebrew right but he grew up

in pharaoh’s household

but he knew he was hebrew well one day

he’s walking around

egypt and he sees that two hebrews

are having an argument they beefing all

right that’s what was happening

okay and so when he sees it these two

hebrews are having an argument he tries

to interject like hey yo what’s up like

let’s all get along like i’m

one of you you’re one of me and like

we’re supposed to be doing better than

this and they was like

oh so now you want to be one of us let

me back up on off for you before you

kill me like you killed the egyptian

last week and moses was like

what y’all heard about that was it on

the shade room

um it’s

phonics stick with me i’m gonna bless

you

okay and so when he realizes that it is

not a secret anymore that he killed this

egyptian

and he killed this egyptian because

because he saw the egyptian beating on a

hebrew

now this is very interesting because

there was something about him

witnessing the egyptian beating on the

hebrew that brought up anger down on the

inside of him

and we have these moments in our life

where we cannot fully be hebrew

and we cannot fully be egyptian

and when we try to pick a side we don’t

really know what side we’re on until

life

thrust us into something i gotta

break that down because it is this

juxtaposition of him being hebrew

and egyptian that he hasn’t quite dealt

with that

ends up sending him fleeing out of the

place where he was raised

and it is also the juxtaposition of him

being hebrew and egyptian

that god uses to call him back to the

place

where he once fled

because all of us are not entirely one

thing

and we don’t know exactly which one we

are until we’re placed in a situation

where the greatest version of us has to

rise up

and handle it and depending on which

version rises up that determines what

god has to deal with down on the inside

of us

i’m going to work this thing on out with

y’all

so moses flees because he is conflicted

within

because sometimes it is easier to run

from a situation

than it is to figure out why we are

conflicted

and it would be so easy to penalize him

from running away from that situation

but the reality is that we cannot always

figure out who we are

authentically in the environments that

produced us

so you think you came here for a gig or

you think you went somewhere to go

off to school when in reality god sent

you there so that you can figure out who

you are in your core

i thought i’d share my own testimony i

thought that i was coming to los angeles

because i fell in love with an

incredible man and his beautiful

children

and i did but i also came to los

angeles because i was going to sit under

this ministry

and this ministry was going to awaken a

gift that was down on the inside of me

you have to understand that i haven’t

even been preaching for five years

but god put me in this ministry and when

i started really feeding and digesting

what i was receiving from this ministry

i grew and developed in such a way that

i could be a teacher and a student

at the same time you see because god

will accelerate

what he places down on the inside of you

so i think we should just celebrate one

more time that 18 years ago on this day

that god answered a call from a man

named taray roberts and that it birthed

greatness down

on the inside of us because every time

hale gets nervous when people come into

this building

and it started 18 years ago because one

man said yes and if i could just preach

his life real quick

i wonder what you were setting up today

that 18 years later from now

will have an inheritance that eyes

haven’t seen

and ears haven’t heard

[Applause]

just real quick just real quick this

ain’t even in my notes

but pastor turay birthed the ministry

before millennials were even

in church and leaving the church but god

started him

18 years before the millennials would

leave the church

so that he could stand guard as they

were leaving to say wait a minute

i got a way to translate god in a way

that you can understand

i got a way that you can know god

without politics and without

scandals and all of these other things i

found a way i wonder what god is doing

in you right now that the world

hasn’t even taken notice of i hear god

saying the ground is shifting baby

that you don’t even see it yet but

you’ll look

back 18 years from now and though

wow i thought i was just getting it for

myself

but i was getting it for people who were

connected to me

if you’ve never been to activate la we

make room for god to do whatever he’s

going to do on a thursday night

[Applause]

and sometimes we let him just sit in the

room for a little bit

so that he can chase out fears and chase

out insecurities and

chase out second guessing because the

ground is going to shift whether you

move or don’t move

but if you would dare to move with the

cadence of what god is doing in the

earth

then you can partner with him and get

ahead of the curve

and get ahead of the breakdown and get

ahead of the recession

[Applause]

[Music]

and when everyone else is afraid i am

confident because i recognized that the

ground had to shift to make room for me

to take my place

you see my lane couldn’t be created

unless the ground started shifting

god created a cry in egypt that were

coming out of the people and he

the hebrew people at the same time that

moses was somewhere minding his business

i gotta say that the way i studied it

god produced the cry

before he produced the solution

which means that when we see the

headlines all we see is a cry

but what god is doing is producing the

cry

so that when the ground begins to shift

that there will be a solution

already being raised up so the more that

the earth starts crying

the more that god’s people starts

getting in position

because we recognize that when the earth

is crying out for the glory of god

that it’s really crying out for his sons

and daughters to take their position

and i came here on a thursday night i

only need 10 minutes with you

to say what god has already told me and

i hear god saying

it’s time for you to take your position

it’s time for you to stop pretending

like you don’t got what you got

because when you know what you got and

you know who gave it to you

you can walk down to the very place

where you fled

and say that i am that i am sydney

i am that i am has a word and that word

is that strongholds are coming down

that word is that generational curses

are broken

that word is that the criminal justice

system

has got to get its life together the

industry’s got to have integrity

the abuse of power will not be tolerated

[Music]

[Applause]

because the ground is shifting

and it’s shifting in our direction

[Music]

and it’s going to take us

recognizing

[Music]

that we’re standing in a holy moment

and you won’t even realize that it is a

holy moment if we’re so busy taking in

social media and headlines

that we’ll just scroll our finger at the

government shutdown and think oh lord

what is this world coming to

not recognizing that the ground is

shifting this is a

this is a holy moment and god is looking

to raise up some people

who don’t mind answering the hard calls

the kind of cause that means you have to

go into places where you once fled

and looked foolish and you have to go

back to reintroduce yourself

armed and equipped with the knowledge of

who god has called you to be

the ground is shifting the ground is

shifting and i hear

god saying it’s holy ground and what

keeps so many of us

from recognizing the power of the holy

ground we’ve been standing on i feel

this

prophetically for somebody you’ve been

standing on holy ground the only problem

is you haven’t yet

taken your shoes off

you see god told moses

you have to take your shoes off

you have to take off every

piece of dust and dirt that brought you

into this moment

it was symbolic that when you step into

a holy moment you can’t

step into it the way you step to

everything else

so i gotta be willing to take my

shoes off what does that mean that means

that there are experiences

that have made you believe that if i

step into this i may

lose like i lost last time if i step

into this i may be

made fun of like i was before i can’t

step

into this the way that god is calling me

to because it risks too much

vulnerability it risks me being

my authentic self you see moses had

found a way to live authentically in

midian

he wasn’t worried about whether he was

hebrew or egyptian he could just be

himself

but the true test of authenticity is not

what you can do

when you are isolated the true test of

authenticity is will you still be

authentic

when you have to go and present yourself

to where you used to be

so do we only worship and live for god

when we’re in this environment but then

when we leave where someone else who are

you

really if the ground is shifting then

you have to recognize that you can shift

the ground

but you cannot shift the ground if you

are pretending to be someone you are not

you can only shift the ground when you

do it armed and equipped with the

knowledge of who god has called you to

be

because it’s going to take the same

power

that allowed a bush to burn and not be

consumed

for you to go into that boardroom

for you to go into that relationship for

you to go into that business

and maintain who you are

so the ground had to shift moses had to

go

from walking in a familiar land into

holy ground

because god was ultimately going to ask

moses to go somewhere and shift the

ground there

and i love this because the burning bush

got his attention

but it is when the burning bush started

calling his name that he had to turn and

look

and he had to engage with what would

have been considered dangerous but

because it was

calling his name that was his fire

there is a fire burning

and it is calling your name

and it has been calling your name for a

very long time it says write the music

it says take the job it says you can do

that

make the move it says that you can do it

get the help that you need there’s this

burning

bush that has been calling your name for

so long

and until you respond and begin to

engage with that i mean it’s been

burning for years i don’t know who that

is this isn’t just no

new fire this bush has been burning down

on the

inside of you since you were a little

boy and it’s been telling you that you

can do it and it’s been telling you that

god is going to send you

but you have not yet turned and looked

at that burning bush

and moses simply said

here i am

i hear you calling me i hear you asking

about me

i hear you telling me that i’m supposed

to step into this thing

but so many of us are like moses and

we’re

afraid and we say who am i

that you would send me to pharaoh who am

i that you would send me to deliver

these people

who am i that you would send me into

this city who am i

who am i who am i and god never answers

the question he just says that i’m gonna

be with you

because it was never about who you were

it was about who god is and as long as

you make this thing about you

you’ll have countless questions about

why you can’t do it i feel the glory of

god in this place

i feel like what shifts the ground is

when we recognize that we gotta look

up and not down i’ve been making this

thing about me i’ve been making this

thing about my relationships

i’ve been trying to figure out how i can

calculate this miracle how i can

formulate this movie how i’m going to be

able to put it together with what with

what i’ve been working with

and i hear god saying this thing was

never about you

[Applause]

i want to break the spirit of you out of

this room

[Applause]

i feel it like it’s heavy in this thing

like you get in your own head and start

talking yourself out of the very thing

that god

called you to do and i want to break the

spirit of you

out of this room the spirit of what you

say you can do the spirit of what you

think is possible

i want to break the limits off of what

god can do in your life

i want you to remove some of the

barriers off of what god says you can do

yes you i’ve been talking to you with

the drug addiction i’ve been

talking to you with the broken home i’ve

been talking to you from foster care

i’ve been talking to you over and over

and over again

i know who you are i know where you’ve

come from

i know what you had and what you didn’t

have and i still

chose you nobody can do this thing like

you

nobody can bring deliverance like you

nobody can bring

my glory to those people like you and

i’m waiting for somebody to recognize

that the ground is shifting and i’m

waiting for

somebody who doesn’t mind taking off

their shoes

and stepping into the next dimension of

who they call to be

[Music]

i’m just trying to see who god put in

this room

just

[Applause]

no more running

no more coaching your fears on how to

talk to you

no more giving someone else the power to

stop you

no more longing for distractions

it’s time to step in the holy ground

it’s time to step into another level of

surrender it’s time to actually

activate what god has placed down on the

inside of you

and god doesn’t tell moses that hey

listen if you’re going to do this you

got to have faith

i wondered i wonder time after time

again i said god

like you know abraham was the father of

faith and david had so much

courage and you used this guy moses who

didn’t even want to be used who didn’t

even think that it was possible

why did you use him

and i feel like part of the reason why

god chose moses

is because moses didn’t mind bringing

his fears

along for the journey

that moses didn’t think that he had to

have it together in a certain way before

he could step into it

but he said i don’t feel qualified and i

don’t know why you’re going to choose me

but god i’m going to go anyway and the

more that he walked the more room he

gave god to show up

and the whole people of

the hebrews the israel the children of

israel were

placed on his shoulders the shoulders of

someone who didn’t feel like they had it

all together

but they knew without a shadow of a

doubt that they had a word

from god

i want to offer us

an opportunity

to recognize

[Music]

and receive that the ground has shifted

in our life i feel the presence of god

in this place

i want to dare you

to see your life with a new level of

consecration

to take what you do each and every day

so seriously

that you have no choice but to take off

your shoes

and say god i cannot afford to walk into

this day carrying the residue of

yesterday

but god if you would create in me a

clean heart

that if you would purify my hands if you

would

allow me to become what you had in mind

as i step into this day

i will recognize that every situation

every opportunity

every relationship is holy ground and it

is holy ground because you are with me

and if you are with me anywhere we step

is holy anything we connect with has got

to be holy

and that takes intentionality

to say i’m not just in hollywood i’m not

just

in minnesota i’m not just in atlanta i

am

standing on holy ground

this is not the kind of decision that my

bank account can tell me what i can do

this is not the kind of decision that a

job can tell me whether or not i can

handle

this is the type of situation that only

holy ground can dictate

and i’m trying to build a life on holy

ground

and if you know that one of the only

things that has kept you

from really stepping into holy ground

are the experiences of yesterday

that you carry with you into each new

opportunity

until you literally self-sabotage

a blessing that god wanted to give you

freely

door after door after door they don’t

just close in my face i just

do something that i know i shouldn’t

have done but because i didn’t see

myself worthy

and because i didn’t see myself able to

finish

i decided to back out before i could

mess it up

but because i’m stepping in the holy

ground i recognize

that this is going to stretch me and

this is going to stretch

my faith and this is going to stretch my

identity

and this is going to stretch everything

i ever thought i knew about myself

but i’m really ready to be stretched

because staying the same

size has not been working for me and if

there is anybody in this room

who has decided that it’s time for me to

answer to this stretching season

i want to give you 10 seconds to send up

a praise to god so that he knows that

someone has just made their heart holy

ground

i’ve just made my mind holy ground

i’ve just made that job holy ground

i gotta forgive i gotta release i gotta

let go

cause i’m making room for holy ground i

used to have

all kinds of ground but now i only have

room

for holy ground there’s a

there’s a battle i gotta fight