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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 things really quickly

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uh

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our church is doing there are a number

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support and we’re able to do it because

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ado let’s get right into this word god

bless you i’ll see you soon

what’s up activate family i am so so

excited that we get to continue another

week another thursday of building and

contributing to what god is doing in

your life we

at one online the potter’s house at 1la

we are so excited about the opportunity

to be a part of what god is doing in

your life and you know we don’t just get

up here and just start reaching into our

can of sermons to pull out something for

you and your circumstance this is a

moment we take so seriously

and in this moment we asked god who was

going to be in that moment we don’t know

who’s going to watch the message but god

does and we say god what are they going

through who is going to be connected to

this word and most importantly what can

we say to help them see you more clearly

to help them embrace their identity in

you with strength and confidence and i

know that that is exactly what’s going

to happen tonight and so what i want you

to do first is i want you to create an

expectation in your spirit

and you may have already come into this

moment thinking i have an expectation i

came to get my word but i want us to be

clear and concise that this is not us

just listening to another sermon this is

me making a definitive stance in my

spirit that i want to hear something

from god regarding this circumstance

bring your expectation whatever that

circumstance is whether it’s your

marriage or your business or a new role

a new position that you may be taking on

i want you to ask god to give you

clarity maybe you could type it in the

comments what are you here for what are

you expecting god to speak to you about

let’s allow our expectation to meet this

moment because when we do i believe that

that’s when we get breakthrough like no

other

i’ve been praying and i’ve been studying

and

there’s something that happens when i

begin praying that posture is my heart

for worship we just had incredible

worship but this type of worship is not

just worship that has music and

incredible singers which is a blessing

because you know singing is not my

ministry

this worship is a posture

it’s me coming into

my relationship with god and saying see

me

help me to see myself

and help me to see you

i pray that that’s the heart posture

that you take as we dive into this word

i am going to be in first samuel

chapter 3

verse 15 through 19.

if

you like to take notes or you just need

the subjects in order to really receive

the word the subject for this message is

the tension of loyalty

the tension

of loyalty that bless somebody already

we talk about loyalty as if it’s

something that is so easy

that it’s easy to make these decisions

that it’s easy to stick to our guns or

to stand by someone but there is the

tension that comes with loyalty and

following what god told us to do and

following into the path that is ahead of

us there’s attention the intention of

what was pulling us the tension of what

we can become pulling us forward and i

want to dig into that subject a little

bit i’m going to start with verse 15.

[Music]

just for a little bit of background i

know that most of you all are bible

scholars but just in case i want to give

you a bit of background we’re going to

be looking at the life of samuel samuel

is a prophet he’s one of probably the

most well-known prophets in the old

testament this is the prophet that would

let david know that he would become king

that would let saul know that he would

become king

samuel though was born from a barren

woman his mother hannah literally was in

the temple praying that she would

conceive a child she finally conceived a

child but she makes a promise to god

that if you allow me to conceive a child

i will give this child to the temple

this child from the moment that it is

weaned will go into the temple will

serve the lord for the days of his life

samuel is in the temple

and he’s serving what god what has been

predestined over his life he’s there he

hasn’t had an encounter with god he’s

only had an encounter with man and yet

he’s still in the temple

when we enter at this point in the text

he’s finally heard from god for the very

first time what a blessing it is

to finally be able to say that i no

longer live in the overflow of someone

else’s relationship god finally spoke to

me i want to prophesy that over someone

who’s watching you’ve been getting word

after word after word and you hear

people say things all the time like god

told me god said i want to prophesy that

as you open up your heart as you

maintain your posture in the environment

that you’re in you’re receiving word

you’re receiving worship that this too

will be your testimony that you will

begin to see and understand that god

speaks to you too you don’t always have

to hear god through the rumor meal

through someone else’s relationship and

someone else’s overflow there is going

to come a moment when you will know for

yourself in your own life without any

song without any pastor that god speaks

to you too

first samuel

3 verse 15

god has told samuel

that eli the prophet who was in the

temple

is going to be doomed

because of some missteps that he made in

his position

samuel receives this is first thing god

ever says to him is that i’m going to

create a downfall for eli

and we’re going to look at what happens

when samuel finally has to talk to eli

about what god said

first samuel 3 15 and it says so samuel

lay down so samuel lay down until

morning

and opened the doors of the house of the

lord

and samuel was afraid to tell eli the

vision then eli called samuel and said

samuel my son he answered here i am

and he said

what is the word that the lord spoke to

you

please do not hide it from me

god do so to you and more also if you

hide anything from me of all the things

that he said to you

then samuel said

then samuel told him everything and hid

nothing from him and he said it is the

lord let him do what seems good

so samuel grew

and the lord was with him and let none

of his words fall

to

the ground you got to read this whole

chapter

but i want to talk about the tension of

loyalty god i invite your presence

your power

your clarity your wisdom your strategy

your anointing into this moment

for without you we can do nothing

but with you

there is literally nothing that we

cannot do

father so many watching right now are

trying to determine how can i be loyal

to my situation my circumstance my

relationships i don’t know who to be

loyal to

and yet god i believe that you have sent

this word to help us understand the

clarity that comes with loyalty

and also the tension that exists with

that as well father i pray that you

would bless this word that you would

bless the receivers of this word and

that this word would multiply

in jesus name i pray

amen and amen again

family as i was

studying for this message

i was thinking about how powerful it was

that samuel

even though he was in the house with eli

recognized that just because he was in

the house with eli

that it didn’t make it eli’s house

that at the end of the day he had a

responsibility to do what god said do

his loyalty

had to have been

put on trial in this moment

do i maintain my loyalty to eli

and not tell him what god told me out of

fear that it would make him feel shame

or embarrassment or do i dare to stay

loyal to god who placed me in this

circumstance even if it means causing a

disruption in my environment

what is loyalty unless there is a

disruption

everyone seems loyal until there’s a

disruption

and yet samuel is standing in this

moment where there is a disruption and

he’s got to determine his loyalty

it reminds me of what happened um

in 2017 with facebook facebook and other

social media platforms went through this

process of really cleaning up people’s

news feed if you’re still on facebook

like i am first of all god bless us for

still being on there shout out to people

who are on facebook when you only could

have a college email to get on facebook

because it was just supposed to be for

college students and then our aunties

joined and we love our aunties but

listen stay focused

in 2017

facebook went through this change

and the change was as a result of the

2016 election where there was so much

misinformation and fake news articles

just running rampant on the facebook

pages that they decided that we need to

change the algorithm and make the

algorithm so that people are mostly

seeing posts from their friends and

family

we want to make it hard for

misinformation to spread as rapidly as

it did in 2016.

this was great for the political climate

this was great for people who wanted to

have unbiased information but this was a

struggle for businesses

you see businesses counted on that old

algorithm to make sure that they had a

presence in front of their audience

and so when the algorithm began to

change now we have people who feel like

i have thousands maybe even millions of

people who like my page on my social

media platform but because of the

algorithm they don’t even see my content

anymore

this is why you’ll see marketing

strategists begin to say things like you

need to have direct access to your

audience you need to be able to contact

them directly if facebook shuts down if

instagram shuts down you need to be able

to have direct access why

because even though it is your facebook

page it is not your house

even though it is your username and your

hashtag and your logo and that profile

icon you cannot forget that at the end

of the day this is not your house this

is facebook’s house and i’m just letting

you rent a room in this house this is

instagram’s house this is twitter’s

house this is linkedin’s house i’m just

letting you rent a room in this house

because at the end of the day if you do

not adhere to my terms and my guidelines

then you can no longer stay in this

house or your influence will begin to

diminish never forget whose house this

is

it’s not

the social media platform’s fault though

that we forget whose house it is

if you think about it even as you’re

watching right now there’s a facebook

icon there’s a youtube icon there’s some

type of icon that lets you know which

house you’re in

and yet we get so

accustomed to our routine and our

pattern that we often forget

that even though we are on this platform

we don’t own this platform

as a business even though my customer

base is here and this is one of the

forms that i communicate to them the

heat through this is not my main store

front

you got to remember that that sign is

there to remind you where you are

this exact thing happens to us in the

spiritual

if we think about it we are living in

god’s provision

god doesn’t have a logo that reminds us

of it but right now i’m living in god’s

provision

my marriage is god’s house

my business is god’s house

my book is god’s house now there is no

logo and if we aren’t careful we’ll get

so caught up in the day-to-day rhythm of

our life that we will begin to believe

that it is my house and not god’s house

there’s nothing more powerful than the

moment when you realize that thing that

i’m worried about isn’t even my problem

to solve this is god’s problem to solve

i want my child to get saved as much as

i want my child to get saved at the end

of the day that’s god’s child’s first

this is god’s house you can be going

through whatever you can go through in a

relationship and in a marriage but at

the end of the day when you remember

that god built this house so if there’s

any change that needs to happen god’s

going to be responsible for the change

that happens in this house why because

this is god’s house that’s why you got

to come to a place where you recognize

that i’m not just building this thing on

my own i’m building it according to what

god says this is god’s house this is

god’s message i can do all of the

studying that i want i can do all of the

praying that i want but when i step into

this moment i’m very clear the fact that

this is god’s message why because you

are god’s people and this is god’s house

i’m building i don’t want to build my

house if i have to build my house i have

to know things that i have no way of

knowing if i have to build my marriage i

have to know things about my spouse that

i have no way of knowing if i have to

raise this child then i have to know

things about this child that i have no

way of knowing but when i live in the

consciousness that this is not my child

this is not my marriage this is that

ownership are you willing to let go of

the idea of ownership so that god can

have total control you want to know how

to let go and let god is to come to the

place where you say at the end of the

day god this is your journey god this is

your ministry god this is your business

this is your role this is your position

so show me

how to show up

and what already belongs to you

this is god’s house

and i am more loyal to what god is doing

than i am to the environment in which he

is doing it in

the tension of loyalty

is reminding ourselves

that i am more loyal to what god is

doing

than i am loyal to my need to have

control and to take ownership

of my

desired outcome

i get this question all the time people

ask me how do you let go and let god

letting go and letting god

is saying i release my need

to only experience my desired outcome

and in exchange

i believe that you’re going to give me

peace in whatever happens

yes i want this person to be cured

yes i want for me to have this certain

role yes i want for the funding to come

through but letting go and letting god

means that i won’t be so desperate for

my

that i miss the opportunity to discover

peace in whatever happens

samuel

samuel is in a circumstance right now

that requires him to determine his

loyalty

because he’s in god’s house

but his main contact is with eli

and so when god calls him to

himself when god calls him to have a

deeper relationship with himself his

responsibility is to make sure that he

can remember who he is loyal to in this

moment

as i was studying this message

and i was thinking about the process

that was taking place

i realized that loyalty

is one of those things that we say that

we would like it’s a character trait

that we say we want to experience in

other people

but loyalty really is not tested until

we’re in disruption

those customers from facebook yeah

you’re a loyal customer as long as i’m

on facebook but are you a loyal customer

when my facebook page is shut down

loyalty is proven in disruption

and so we have a god that is showing us

in this text

that he does not mind having disruption

take place in our lives or putting us in

a tense position in our lives because at

the end of the day he wants to know that

our loyalty is going to lie in the

proper place

i wish i could

say this the way that i feel it but i

understand that so many of us whether we

have been able to find the words or not

are experiencing the tension of loyalty

the tension of i’m becoming something

but i don’t exactly know who i’m

becoming and i don’t want to mess up

anything in the process because if i

mess things up in the process then it’s

going to be awkward and uncomfortable

for me god why is it that i can’t just

go from glory to glory without tension

god why is it that i can’t just move

into the next dimension without tension

because the truth is that that tension

is meant to help us come to this place

where we understand that my loyalty is

connected to what god is doing not to my

environment and so samuel is in this

position where he’s like i’m going to

have to disrupt my environment in order

to be loyal but i am not loyal to my

environment i am loyal to the process

i’m loyal to the process of who i am

meant to become samuel had a destiny

that was spoken over him before he even

entered the temple and the destiny was

to be set aside to god and everything

was fine as long as he was set aside to

god and the environment was comfortable

but what do you do when being set apart

means disrupting the environment can you

be loyal to the process i feel like

that’s somebody’s word if you can i want

you to type i can i can i can if you

don’t know say i don’t know i don’t know

i don’t know because there are moments

in our lives where we have to recognize

that this is not about being loyal to

the environment

it’s about being loyal to the process so

when you start praying crazy prayers

that you want god to do x y and z and

you start hearing words about how god

wants to grow you and how god wants to

stretch you and how god wants to put you

in position what you have to be willing

to say is i’m loyal to the process i’m

telling you i’m in a marriage and in my

marriage i recognize that we’re going to

have good days and we’re going to have

challenging days but what i am married

to is not just what’s happening in a

given moment i’m married to the process

of this thing i want to be old and gray

looking for my teeth and still looking

at trey roberts because i’m married to

the process my children are going

through all different stages and ages

but i don’t get to give up in the

process i’m loyal to the process of who

you are becoming i’m loyal to the

process of what can become if i stick

this thing out with you and we serve a

god who is faithful we serve a god who

was loyal and so the question is can you

be as loyal to god as god has been to

you can you allow your environment to be

disrupted so that you can maintain the

loyalty that it takes to see how all

things work together for the good of

those who love the lord and are called

according to his purpose

i’m loyal to this thing

and not because it’s easy and not

because i’m not stressed and not because

i’m not worried and not because i’m

doing it with confidence but i have

confidence in the process i have

confidence in who is in charge i’m loyal

to the process

and it’s getting tense and it’s getting

stressful and i don’t know where the

money is coming from and i don’t know

where this strength is coming from and i

don’t know where the wisdom is coming

from but i’ma stay loyal to the process

why am i staying loyal to the process

because this ain’t my house god built

this house and i want to prophesy right

now that anybody who’s standing in the

house that god didn’t build i’m praying

that god would demolish it right now

that even as i’m speaking the words that

someone’s gonna send you a text message

to shake things up that even as i’m

speaking this word that your spirit’s

gonna get stronger and start making the

kind of moves that start causing

disruption to take place in your life

because i’m trying to get you into the

house that god built because there is a

confidence that comes when you can say

god i don’t know what you gonna do with

this circumstance but i know you put me

in it and because you put me in it i’m

gonna stay loyal to see how this thing

works out

samuel

[Music]

samuels

in an awkward position

our text tells us quite literally

that he was

afraid

to tell eli the vision

i’m afraid

that in being loyal to god

that being loyal to what god has said to

me

is going to upset

what’s happening around me

that is going to change

the environment that i’ve come to love

and function in check this

that is going to make someone who was

once my teacher

now become a student

that’s what we don’t like to talk about

when those roles change

where the person who was once mentoring

me

now has to listen

to what it is i have to say

and somebody’s watching this message

and you’ve been afraid to speak up

because there’s been someone who has

more experience than you

and yet if you don’t speak up then

they’re going to miss out on the

opportunity to hear from god you see eli

wasn’t even in communication with the

lord the lord said in order for me to

speak to eli i’m going to speak to the

person who was least likely in the room

the person who’s just in charge of

turning the lights on and pulling the

curtains back and i want to speak

courage into someone’s mouth right now i

want to speak courage into someone’s

spirit just because someone has more

experience doesn’t mean that they have a

greater connection with god than you do

just because someone’s been in the field

longer doesn’t mean that they understand

what god is doing now in this season and

god uses samuel someone who literally

was under eli’s tutelage

to become the person who now translates

what god is saying

that’s the kind of tension

that you got to be willing to overcome

somebody’s greatest gift to themselves

is going to break ties with the loyalty

to your fears and insecurities

you’ve been loyal to your fears too long

you’ve been loyal to your insecurities

too long when they say don’t speak you

don’t speak when your fears and

insecurity say don’t dream you don’t

dream when shame says you can never have

that you agree with that but i want to

prophesy right now in the name of jesus

that every stronghold every chain that

has kept you bound that has made you

loyal to a lesser version of you i

rebuke it right now in the name of jesus

and i send it back to hell where it came

from and i hear god saying i’m going to

make you loyal to me even when you can’t

be loyal to yourself because being loyal

to god will introduce you to the

greatest version of yourself and if you

can be loyal to less than then i dare

you to take a moment and say i can be

loyal to more than god you think i’m

more than i think god you think i can do

more than i think i can do but if i’m

going to be loyal to anything then i’m

going to choose to be loyal to the thing

that calls me greater i’m going to

choose to be loyal to the thing that

breaks the tie with who i used to be i’m

going to be loyal to that which makes me

believe that greater is he that is in me

than he that is in the world and i’m

tired of being loyal

to lesser than

loyal

i said like if i had an organ

and about three people that we could

turn this thing right on now because i

want to speak some holy ghost power down

on the inside of you that it’s time for

you to start being loyal to what god

sees that it’s time for you to start

being loyal to what the spirit is

leading you to do the spirit has been

leading you the spirit has been guiding

you but you were too afraid to speak up

but samuel says i’m afraid but i’m going

to do it anyway the text doesn’t end

where it says samuel was afraid to tell

eli it’s that samuel found a way to do

it in the face of fear someone’s going

to have to find a way to do it with fear

in the audience because i’m going to be

loyal to what god is saying by any means

necessary loyalty loyalty loyalty

loyalty to that call loyalty to that

role loyalty to that vision loyalty

to anything that god says

[Music]

even if it causes a disruption

you can withstand

the tension

of loyalty

stay connected

stay plugged in

stay tied in god says you’re going to be

afraid sometime but i need you to speak

anyway

you’re going to be afraid sometimes but

i’m going to need you to move anyway i

need you to be loyal to the process

samuel teaches us

what it means to be loyal to the process

and all throughout scripture

we see that god uses process

so if you give up in the process

you may miss the finished outcome that

god has in mind

jesus is

searching for disciples

and he says follow me and i will make

you fishers of men he doesn’t then say

and this is how you become a fisher of

men

they just start following him

because somewhere along the way the

process is going to teach me how to step

into what you’ve called me to do

the process is going to produce the

promise

i know i stumbled over that because that

was the breakthrough somebody needed the

process produces the promise

the process you got to stay in the

process woman evolve has a word of the

month every month and our word this

month is process because the process

being loyal to the process

even when it doesn’t look like there’s

any progress

is the key to laying hold of the promise

it doesn’t look like i’m progressing

because i’m still in process and god

says that is how acceleration happens

because i stayed loyal to the process

even when the environment started

looking shaking shaky it looked like

jesus was going backwards when he was on

the cross it looked like jesus had taken

a step back how did you go from being

the king of the jews to the man now

strung out on the cross the process made

him take some steps backwards the

process made it look like his

environment wasn’t a reflection of what

god promised and yet because jesus

recognized i am not loyal to the

finished outcome i’m loyal to the

process he stayed on the cross because

he recognized that if i stay on this

cross long enough it’s going to produce

exactly what god promised

so i got to stay in detention where is

your cross

where is your cross what in you needs to

die so that you can step into the

process what in you needs to lay down so

that you can step into the process into

the promise of what god has for you in

this season i want to know where your

cross is

what’s going to have to die

because i don’t want you to

think that you can just waltz

into the promise

that you can just waltz into the

identity

without withstanding

the tension

my text tells me

that samuel says it anyway

that he tells eli everything that god

told him

and then i looked

and i saw in verse 19

that after he tells eli all of the

things that the lord told him

it says so samuel grew

so i’m in a tense spot

and i may have to let down my mentor

oh

there’s a part of this text and i didn’t

even formulate it in my mind but i feel

like someone needs to understand this so

bear with me i hope i say it the way

that i studied it or the way that i hear

it in my mind

but eli is in samuel and eli are doing

this dance

where god is now talking to samuel

and eli is coming to samuel to hear what

god is saying

and samuel is navigating the tension of

his loyalty to eli

and his ultimate loyalty to god

if you’re wondering

how do i still navigate my relationships

and connections

while maintaining my loyalty to god

samuel does something that i think is so

admirable in this moment

he allows his loyalty to god to show up

in his loyalty to others

he didn’t separate the two

he didn’t say now i can no longer talk

to eli because demise is coming his way

he says i’m going to be so authentic

and who i am

that i am going to tell eli where i am

and what god said to me even if it

causes a shift in our relationship

you got to be willing to allow your

relationships to take a shift in the

process of you being loyal to god

and this is where so many of us miss out

on the beauty of being loyal to god and

what god is saying to us and how god is

changing us and evolving us and growing

us

that we’re so afraid to allow that

version of us to show up in our

relationships to show up in the way that

we communicate to show up and how we

show up in the world

and yet samuel allows this version of

himself to show up

and i think that when his loyalty to god

showed up in his loyalty with others

right there’s a channel there’s a

channel and he allowed for that loyalty

to god to show up in his relationship

with others then that’s why we see in

verse 19 it says so samuel grew

and the lord was with him and let none

of his words fall to the ground

because i can trust your mouth now

when you speak it i won’t let it fall to

the ground

someone’s going to catch your words

somebody’s going to understand what you

say i’m not talking about what god told

sam you don’t talk about what god is

saying to you as you withstand the

tension of loyalty

that when you speak it it won’t just die

that word grew for some reason it stood

out in my mind while i was studying

and when i looked it up that word in the

hebrew means twisted

so samuel

twisted

and the lord was with him

because sometimes being loyal

is not a straight path

being loyal to what god says

and allowing it to show up in your world

show up in your identity

isn’t always a straight path

but samuel knew how to twist

and turn

when god was twisting and turning

can you

twist and turn with god

oh god

you lost someone before you were ready

can you twist

with god

i wasn’t ready to start the family this

way but i can twist

i can twist with you god god i don’t

know how i’m going to make all of these

things that are in my mind become a

reality but i know how to twist

with god

culture says that it’s a linear path

that it’s just straight through in this

a b c but god uses a and f and g and all

of these letters that are all out of

arrangement but he says can you twist

with me how is the son of god gonna be

crucified and he’s still the son of god

cause god knows how to twist but they

wrapped him in tissue and they put him

in the tomb how is this gonna be my

messiah because i know how to twist

because during those three days he’s got

a report to go down in hell to make that

death will not have the final sting and

then on the third day he’s going to be

resurrected because god knows how to

twist and turn

samuel knew how to twist

and ladies and gentlemen

i’m telling you that

we’re in a season that’s twisting us

twisting us on up

god

i wish that you would be a little bit

more straightforward

god i wish i knew how this thing was

going to end

but there’s this

spiral

this twist

that is growing me

at the same time is twisting me

that’s somebody’s word

even though you’re being twisted

it doesn’t mean you’re not growing

don’t give up

before you see that the twist turns

into good

all things

twist together

for the good of those who love the lord

that word work means

they don’t just fall together

it’s some work that goes into it all

things twist together

you’re listening to this message

and i think the most important thing

that i want you to understand about the

tension

of loyalty

is even if you don’t have a big project

even if you aren’t stepping into a new

role even if you aren’t building a

family or building a business

that the very nature

of our ability to live by the spirit

creates attention

when it comes to loyalty

because my flesh

i’ve been loyal to my flesh for a long

time

but now i’m trying to be loyal to the

spirit

and there are moments when my flesh

pulls me back to be loyal to a version

of myself who i am

no longer

and yet i’m trying to walk by the spirit

but i’m wobbly and sometimes i’m

crawling by the spirit and sometimes i

don’t have it quite figured out

and there’s this tension

of growing

and enduring that all of us

as believers experience

you don’t even have to be a full

believer child

you be a half believer

if there’s something in you

that says to yourself i should leave

that relationship but i’m scared

i should apply for that role but i feel

inadequate

i should go call that therapist but i’ve

never had to talk about that thing

before

the tension of loyalty

is growing

and resisting that urge to fall back

into what our flesh says will make us

more comfortable but the spirit knows

will get us closer and closer to what

god knew

when he formed us in our mother’s womb

i want to pray with you

when i was thinking about this idea

of even our flesh

and our spirit

having this tension of loyalty i was

brought to romans 8 and 12 through 14.

i’m gonna read it to you very quickly

but it says therefore brethren we are

debtors

not to the flesh

to live according to the flesh

for if you live according to the flesh

you will die

but if by the spirit you put to death

the deeds of the body

you will live

for as many are led by the spirit of god

those are the sons of god

my

favorite part of this it says

but if by the spirit you put to death

the deeds of the body

that idea of putting it to death

suggests to me

that it doesn’t just happen easily

that it takes work to put our flesh to

death

to put our neediness to death

to put the idea of loneliness to death

to put our pride to death to finally

forgive to finally open up to finally

communicate we have to put that thing to

death

which means we have to be willing to be

spirit-led

in every area of our life

you can withstand the tension of loyalty

i know this to be true

so my only goal my only job my only

responsibility

is to pray

that your spirit would be made stronger

so that your flesh won’t pull you back

my job

is that you will make fear your audience

my job is to posture you in such a way

that you say to yourself yeah it’s going

to be hard

no it may not be easy

but i can become the person who stands

up to this moment

if i allow the spirit to lead me

god

what a blessing it is

to know that you don’t leave us

and that you don’t forsake us

what a blessing it is to know that when

we feel like we are being twisted and

turned

that we’re right

that we’re not going crazy

that we are being twisted and turned and

pulled in all different directions but

at the end of the day that even the

twist can grow us

father i thank you for every person

connected to this message

that means not just the people watching

but the people who will benefit as a

result of those who are taking this word

and allowing it to take root and produce

fruit in their lives

god i thank you that you have sent a

word that allows me to see that it is

not easy to be them

it is not easy to stand in the role in

the position that they’re standing in

and yet you’ve called them to this

moment you have called them

to tension

god and because you’ve called us

detention

we pray

that you would tell us what to say

that you would clean our ears out

so we can hear you above our fear so we

can hear you above our anxiety

god give us wisdom

that the twist can turn to growth and

not disorientation

give us confidence

to speak up and stand up to people who

may have more experience and more

knowledge than us but don’t have the

word that you have given us

most importantly father i pray for peace

peace that as we walk out

what god is embedded in our hearts from

the spirit

that we will have peace even when our

flesh begins to nag us

father i pray that your presence would

meet each and every person right where

they are

not just their location

but in the place of detention

and that in your presence there would be

wisdom

strategy

water sun

light all of the things

that allow the seed of god to grow

within us attract to them

people

who can withstand the tension of loyalty

with them

people who can understand that their

authenticity first begins with being

loyal to god

and subtract from them anyone who cannot

walk with them in this next season

i pray this blessing over everyone

watching

and i ask god that you would constantly

renew our minds

so that we can have a fresh slate

as we pursue this moment this time this

season in our lives

in jesus name i pray

amen

amen amen you gotta type amen in the

comments so it didn’t happen the whole

message didn’t happen unless you type

amen in the comments family i love you

you know how we do the word comes first

to us

and then through us

and you are not in the tension by

yourself

there may not be anyone in your circle

who understands what it’s like to be you

but i am telling you right now

that there are other people who are

withstanding the tension that comes with

growth

if you’re one of those people just type

in the comments i’m with you i’m with

you i’m with you just so you see that

you’re not in it by yourself

this is how the kingdom raises up an

army

because each of us in our own sphere and

our own world and our own families and

environments are withstanding the

tension

and so i say to you brother i say to you

sister i will see you on the other side

where victory is ours defeat is already

secured and joy and peace like a river

overflows in our soul

we love you and we’ll see you on sunday