WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:02.080 Praise God. 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:06.959 If you have your Bibles, open them with me quickly to the book of Exodus. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:10.640 I want to go to the Old Testament book of Exodus, chapter 4. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:14.880 A familiar story, but I want to look at it from a different angle tonight. 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:17.199 Exodus chapter 4. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.760 And I'll begin with verse 2. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:25.440 So the Lord said to him, speaking of Moses, what is in your hand? 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:27.280 He said, A rod. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:29.120 He said, Cast it on the ground. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:32.159 So he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:37.520 And Moses, the scripture said, fled from it. 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:39.039 I understand that. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:40.960 He fled from it. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:46.320 Then the Lord said to Moses, Reach out your hand and take it by the tail. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:48.960 I'm not a snake handler. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.479 But if I were, I wouldn't want to take a snake. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:58.079 I've watched enough National Geographic to know you need to get him behind the head, not the tail. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:05.680 I think that this is where, you know, the Bible said in Hebrews that Moses was eloquent in speech. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:10.400 But somewhere his speech got messed up and he became a stutterer. 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:13.439 I think he got the stutterer right here. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:22.000 I think that's when when he when God said, pick it up by the tail, he said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what did you say, God? 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:24.799 Watch this. 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:27.120 Pick it up by the tail. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:31.680 God was saying, You handle the little things and I'll handle the big end. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.799 You handle the you do the little part and I'll do the big part. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:38.079 You do what you can do, I'll handle what you can't handle. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:42.079 He reached out his hand, he called it, watch. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:46.560 And it became a stick, a rod, in his hand. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:50.719 I want to talk to you for just a few moments on the subject of just a stick. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:54.079 You know the story. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:56.959 God said, I'm ready to set my people free. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:04.319 I'm ready to bring thousands, millions out of bondage, out of Egyptian slavery, a type of sin. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:09.680 I'm ready to release a harvest like you've never seen before. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.159 And he said, I want to use somebody. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:14.319 I want to use them mightily. 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:17.840 And Moses was God's choice. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:31.199 But Moses had already failed in his life, and he he had ran to the desert, and for 40 years, with an awesome suntan, some sandals, and a stick, he began to keep sheep. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:40.319 And we know, according to the scripture, that he was really running, camouflaging himself from his calling. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:46.400 I've come tonight to say to somebody listening to me, it's time to stop running from your calling. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:54.000 As a matter of fact, the reason God said to him through the burning bush, take your shoes off, he was saying, quit running from your calling. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:58.080 You've let fear stop you, you've let intimidation stop you. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:02.000 This is the year you're not going to run from your calling anymore. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.560 And he said, I don't want you to run from it, I want you to run to it. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:09.599 He was full of fear, like many of us who were called to preach. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:11.680 I remember when God called me to preach. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:16.159 I was terrified, absolutely terrified. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:23.599 And when God calls you to preach, like many of us, he said, God, I need a sign for this one. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:25.840 And God said, What's in your hand? 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:28.800 He said, All I've got is a stick. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:31.840 A simple, ordinary, average, normal stick. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.400 God said, Throw it down, release it. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:38.080 And when he did, the supernatural hit that stick. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:48.879 And that which was normal and common and average and ordinary began to have a supernatural component upon it that was miraculous, sensational. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:52.319 I mean, if you know if I walked out here with a stick, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:56.159 But if I walked out here with a real snake, you would say, That's pretty sensational. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:00.400 God took the ordinary and made it sensational. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:05.280 And then he said, Pick it up by the tail. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:10.319 God is God God said, I won't want you to run from it. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:12.000 I want you to pick it up. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:18.959 In order to fulfill the call that God has on your life, it usually will require you to confront your fears. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:24.079 Sometimes God will ask you to confront the fear that's holding you back. 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:26.319 And this is the year to do that. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:41.040 And sometimes I believe that God will say to you, that fear of failure, that fear of people, that fear of rejection, that fear that's holding you back, don't let it dominate your life anymore. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:48.480 That stick that looked so common, so ordinary, so average, it suddenly became supernatural. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:56.639 Moses understood that God had given him something powerful, and then he said, pick it back up. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:02.319 And when he took it, the amazing part, too, is it turned back into a stick. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:06.399 Because sometimes all God needs is a stick. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:13.519 God didn't say what's in your head because the miracle was not dependent upon how smart he was. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:16.319 You can always get wisdom if you apply yourself. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:22.079 But when God initially chooses you to do something, it's not dependent on what's in your head. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:28.560 He didn't say what's in your mouth because the miracle was not dependent upon his ability to communicate. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:31.680 God can give you skills and develop your skills in that. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:37.680 But God said, All I need from you is what you've already got right now, just like you are, throw it down. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:40.079 Get your fingerprints off of it. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:43.759 And let me take it and transform it supernaturally. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:47.279 Tell somebody beside you, all God needs is a stick. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:51.680 He doesn't need super talented, he doesn't need super good looking. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:56.639 He doesn't need somebody who's wow, that sensational and incredible. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:16.639 When God's about to bring a great revival and move of God, he looks for somebody who has they're just simple, common, ordinary sticks until his presence and anointing comes on what they are, and suddenly it comes alive and it's sensational. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:22.240 When God's gonna do a miracle, sometimes all he needs is a stick. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:35.360 When God said it's time to part the Red Sea, all Moses did was held up the stick, and the sea parted, and Egyptian army was was drowned because sometimes all God needs is a stick. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:57.759 When they were at the bitter waters of Marah and the Israelites were thirsting to death in the wilderness, God said to Moses, There's a tree, cut a limb off and touch the bitter water with that tree, and suddenly the bitter water became sweet and they had living water that kept them alive because sometimes God doesn't need something sensational, he just needs a stick. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:06.319 When the widow woman was about to eat her last meal and the prophet Elijah showed up and he said, I want you to make me a meal first. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:09.600 The Bible said she was gathering sticks. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:22.319 Because sometimes when God's gonna do a supernatural thing, he doesn't need a showboat, he needs an ordinary, average, not normal stick. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:32.079 When they were building the school of the prophets and the axe head flew off and went into the Jordan River and the building program stopped. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:37.680 God said to the prophet, Go get a stick and touch the water of the Jordan River. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:43.920 And your Bible said the axe head did the backstroke, it did swim across the Jordan River. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:50.720 Because sometimes all God needs is an ordinary, average, normal stick. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:52.720 Quit saying you're inadequate. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:54.879 Quit saying I'm not talented enough. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:56.079 I'm not good enough. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:58.240 God couldn't use somebody like me. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:02.560 The reason I can preach this sermon is because it's my life and my testimony. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:04.240 All I am is a stick. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:05.360 I'm just a stick. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:06.959 I can't believe I'm here tonight. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:08.959 I can't believe I go to the places I go. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:13.040 But I learned a long time ago, God doesn't need me to be anything. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:15.600 Really, he prefers me to be a stick. 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:21.040 So when he throws me down and uses me, he gets the glory I don't. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:28.319 Tell your neighbors, all God needs is a stick. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:39.600 When God wanted to reach a bunch of barbarians on a heathen island, he washes up the apostle Paul from a shipwreck. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:43.200 And the Bible said he starts gathering sticks to build a fire. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:49.840 And the snake bites him, and when the snake bit him and he didn't die, they said, What have you got to say? 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:51.759 And he preached the gospel to them. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.799 Because all God needs is a stick. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:09:08.480 When God got ready to reach a lost and dying world, he took a stick and planted it in the ground and took a stick and and put a cross across it and made a beam and he hung his son on two sticks. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:12.080 Because all God needed was a stick. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:13.679 He didn't need anything beautiful. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:14.879 He didn't need anything. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:17.600 See, there was no there was no beauty about Jesus. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:24.960 He was just a stick, an ordinary, normal man, and yet God in the flesh. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:27.759 He didn't come like a king. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:30.480 He didn't come like some great something. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:34.960 He came as a lowly servant and he died on two sticks. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.120 And that's why I'm just gonna preach it like a fill. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:46.639 I can that's why the Bible said you have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, because sometimes all God needs is a stick. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:56.639 Take a praise break if you believe He could use you, He could anoint you, He could raise you, He could open doors for you for His glory. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:02.720 With thinking you can't do it, you're too small, it's too big. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.200 All God needs is a stick. 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:09.120 He just needs a stick. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:10.559 Nothing's changed. 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:12.480 Let me throw this at you. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:15.679 Where did Moses get that stick? 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:23.120 The things we call trials and wilderness experiences, we we miss we misunderstand why God allows them. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:33.759 Anytime God allows you to go through a so-called wilderness or desert experience, is if he had never gone through the desert, he'd have never picked up the stick. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:39.840 If he'd have never picked up the stick, he'd have never held it up, and the plagues would have never set God's people free. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:45.200 When you go through a wilderness experience, God is not wasting that experience. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:53.600 You will pick up things in that experience that God will double back around at some point in your life and use mightily because of what you went through. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:57.279 You have an authority in that area that nobody else has. 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:15.519 You know, it's something about when you when you know you're prepared for a test. 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:17.279 You remember when you were in school? 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.720 There were those times where I was not prepared. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:24.799 And that's when you walk in and you pray, oh God, oh God. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:28.159 But then there were times when I was prepared for a test. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:29.600 It's the difference, right? 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:31.440 Walk in with a little swag. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:38.159 I I I think when Moses went to deal with Pharaoh, he would he was a little, he had a little swag. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:39.440 I got this. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:41.840 I know what's about to happen. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:45.360 He walked in and Pharaoh said, What do you want? 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:47.120 He said, Let God's people go. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:48.960 He said, I'm not gonna do it. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:49.919 Why would I listen to you? 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:51.679 You're nobody, you're nothing. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:53.600 He said, Why should I do that? 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:54.960 He said, Watch this. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.600 And when he threw that stick down, that stick became a serpent. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:07.679 And I'm sure Moses thought, Boy, I'm God's man of the hour. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.799 But your Bible said that Pharaoh had magicians. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:12.559 Now, now listen carefully. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:16.080 The magicians, the Bible said, with trickery. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:19.600 See, a magician can't do the supernatural. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:26.080 A magician uses deception and deceit and trickery and sleight of hand. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:38.000 One commentary said that he had some kind, they had some kind of encasement, hard encasement, that they put serpents in, and when they threw what looked like a stick down, it broke and the serpent got out. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:42.080 But I love the story because there's a real lesson in this. 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:53.519 The Bible said when the magicians of Pharaoh threw their sticks down, but really it was snakes encased in something, that suddenly you got all this wiggling going on, and everybody's watching. 00:12:53.679 --> 00:13:08.080 All of Egypt is watching, and suddenly the stick that turned into a serpent that Moses had begins to swallow up the deception and the lies of the other so-called sticks. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:15.679 It started with one snake, and it ended with one snake. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:21.919 This thing started with one Lord, and it's gonna end with one Lord. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:41.279 He's gonna swallow up every lie, every deception, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord because he's the King of kings, it must have been a king snake, he's the Lord of Lords, He's above all others. 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:48.879 Trying to calm down, calm down, don't scream. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.600 See, teachers tell it, preachers yell it. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:54.799 I'm a preacher, excuse me, excuse me. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:58.720 Oh, calm down now. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:07.679 Because this is the part of the story God sent me to give to this great church and to many of you listening. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:14.960 We think about that miracle of taking an ordinary, normal, average stick, throwing it down, and it becoming sick. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:18.960 In other words, it swallowed up its competition with supernatural success. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.600 Wouldn't you like to see God do that in your business? 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:41.840 I mean, you but the greatest part of this miracle, ladies and gentlemen, is not that God could take something ordinary, normal, and average and throw it down on a world stage and use it mightily and give it supernatural success. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:49.840 After 30 years of ministry, I have watched many of the people that I started out with in ministry. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:52.720 They were nobody and nothing. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:15:02.159 They had nothing, they barely could pay their bills, and God took them and threw them down on a stage somewhere and used them mightily. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:09.279 And oh my God, you've seen them attract tens of thousands of people and do amazing things. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:15.759 But the greatest part of this story is not that God can take a stick and turn it into something sensational. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:28.480 The greatest part of the story is when he picked the stick back up or the snake back up, it turned back into the same thing it started out when it first begun. 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:37.600 It went right back to being a humble, normal, common, ordinary. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:46.320 I'm no better than anybody else, I'm no bigger than anybody else, I don't need more attention than anybody else. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.320 I'm just a stick. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:58.480 Sometimes the most supernatural thing you can do after God uses you in a supernatural way is to be natural. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:08.960 How many ministries have we watched God raise up and they do amazing things, but somehow they can't they can't go back to being normal? 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:19.759 Maybe that's why we don't see more of the supernatural because it's rare when God can take somebody and throw them down and they don't want to stay sensational. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:32.960 Can God give, can you sing the solo one Sunday and do something behind the stage two weeks later? 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:35.279 Can God trust you? 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:44.559 Could Pastor Robert ask you to get up here and preach one weekend or teach one weekend and you not start your own ministry off of that? 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:47.120 But could you go back to being an usher? 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:51.120 Could you go back to being a volunteer, a small group leader? 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:54.320 It's so rare, it's so rare. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:04.000 I remember when I started out in ministry, I stayed in Sunday school rooms. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:07.039 My wife and I would, they called them evangelist quarters. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:14.240 They would fix up a Sunday school room in a cinder block country church and put you in there. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:16.880 And we were so humbled. 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:29.279 We were so humbled that God would we traveled, we had a little car and we had a rack across the back and hung every piece of clothing we had, and we were going out international evangelists. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:35.519 And oh, anybody that would let me preach, I was so, I remember the first offering a minister gave me. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:45.200 I wept that that I could somebody, these people are paying me, and it wasn't much, but they were paying me. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.400 I can't, this is holy money, this is God's money. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:50.720 Oh God, I'm taking this. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:53.680 What happens to us, folks? 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.039 Some of you, you came here stick. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:06.400 Some of you, when you started in that business, you were common and ordinary and average, and you were here all the time, and you were on fire for God. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:22.240 But if you're not careful, God can throw you down and he can bless you, and you swallow up your competition with supernatural success, and he began to raise you up, and you have all this stuff, and suddenly you can't go back to being a stick, and we don't see you in church anymore. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.920 Because you got three boats and five cars and six houses. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:38.000 Not that any of that is wrong, but when that becomes who you are, you can God trust you to give you supernatural success and it not change who you are when you started out? 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:50.640 I believe God is saying to Gateway, you have seen nothing yet concerning the harvest I'm about to bring this church. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:19:16.880 And my only question from the Holy Spirit for you is if I give you your greatest year that you that blows your mind, will you promise me that you'll always go back to the first of the year and say, God first, God first, no matter how high I take you, no matter how great the things that you do, will you always just be a stick? 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:19.920 Just a stick. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:23.200 I love that about Pastor Robert. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:24.960 He's just a stick. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:28.000 He is. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:31.920 Talk to him, he's just a normal guy. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:34.319 What happens to us? 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:43.359 Some of you had nothing when God found you and you started tithing and giving to this church, and God is blessing your socks off. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.880 And if you're not careful, that stuff gets in your spirit. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:53.119 Suddenly you're not quite as connected as you used to be. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:20:06.799 And God says, I never chose you because I I had I had five others that could have done it better than you, that same business. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:09.200 But I saw something in you. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:11.440 I saw a stick spirit. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.240 You were a stick man, a stick woman. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:15.759 Come on, come on. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:19.680 I wonder if God could give some some world-class, and he has so many times. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:21.279 We sing you guys songs all the time. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:23.680 But I wonder the songwriters on the praise team. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:28.480 I wonder if God could give you songs that would go around the globe like you've never seen. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:30.640 And you that's saying a lot for this church. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:35.279 And it not changed you and your commitment to the house of God, your commitment to this ministry. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:45.839 I wonder if God could could could could raise you up and let you be trusted with great, great influence, and you still show up and be an usher and shake hands and greet at the door. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:47.039 Just a stick. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:50.240 That stuff matters to God. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:54.000 I'm almost done. 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:57.440 Listen to this. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.000 Mark chapter 16. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:04.720 In my name, they shall take up serpents. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:09.200 Serpents in Moses' day represented the supernatural power of God. 00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:11.599 I've just proven that to you, Scripture. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:13.440 Catch it now. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:17.359 In my name, they'll take up and do supernatural feats. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:21.920 It'll be supernatural success, remarkable things that I'll trust them with. 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:23.839 And I love the rest of that verse. 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:27.279 And it shall not hurt them. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:32.400 Is it possible that God could give you a healing ministry? 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:37.599 I'm ready, I'm ready for some healing evangelists to come to the body of Christ. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:45.119 And when God throws them down and starts getting, they don't get a new magazine and a white suit and all this, and just and just. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:59.759 Maybe it could just be a guy who works on a regular job fixing a motor in a GM car, and suddenly the anointing comes on him while he's got oil on his hands, and he can't. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.240 Comes and lays hands on somebody with cancer. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:03.519 He's just a sick. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:07.920 God does the sensation and he goes back to the garage the next day. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:10.240 Come on, church. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:17.519 God is looking for somebody in this room that he can use in a sensational, supernatural way. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:20.640 Would you be willing to say, God use me? 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:22.960 I'll be a sick for you. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.519 I won't forget where I started. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:29.519 I feel like singing that rap song. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:31.759 Started from the bottom, now we're here. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:43.519 But let's go forget where we came from this. 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:10.240 As a matter of fact, when God said I need a high priest to represent me before God the twelve leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel to get around. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:14.480 A dead stick connected from any life. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:16.640 I want them to cut a stick off. 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:20.559 And I want him to bring them in, bring it into the Holy of Holies and place it on the Ark of the Covenant. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:22.799 Twelve of them, write their names on it. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:24.319 Write, write, write the names. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:26.880 Judah, put his name on one, put one on. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:29.359 And hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:33.839 I want you, Aaron, to write your name on one. 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:39.200 And they put those rods in the presence of God. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:50.079 And he said, now the way you know my choice, the one that I choose is the stick that was cut down, it's dead, but it comes back to supernatural life and it starts blooding. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:56.400 That'll be the authentication of me that I choose that person as my leader. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:00.240 They're gonna start out a dead stick, and I'm gonna make them come to life. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:04.720 Jesus. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:07.359 How do you know Jesus is the Lord and Savior? 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:08.960 There's so many religions. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:10.799 You can get to heaven anyway. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:12.000 Isn't he a good person? 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:14.640 How do you know you gotta go through Jesus again? 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:18.319 Well, his test is still the same. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:24.640 Take Buddha, cut him down, kill him, put him in a tomb. 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:29.839 Take Muhammad, cut him down, kill him, put him in a tomb. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:35.680 Take Confucius, take any of them, take New Age, put it in a tomb. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:49.440 Take Jesus Christ, nail him to a cross, kill him, wound him, strip him, beat him, torture him, put him in a tomb, and leave him for dead, and the one who comes back to life again. 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:55.759 He is Lord, he is savior, he is the King of Kings, He is not for Anomager. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:00.799 That's how you know who God's choice is. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:04.880 He's not one among many, he is God. 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:08.000 Jesus is Lord. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.680 Come on and give him a great shout of praise if you believe it. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:13.680 Now watch. 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:16.880 Just stand to your feet at every at every campus. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:18.400 Stand to your feet at every campus. 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:22.240 By the way, at every campus, the Spirit of God is ready to move mightily. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:23.440 I feel this now. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:26.319 Think about what I'm saying. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:33.039 God said, God said, under the old covenant, there's something called the God box. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:34.799 It's the Ark of the Covenant. 00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:40.880 And God said, I want three things under the lid called the mercy seat. 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:43.839 I only want three things in the God box. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:49.680 And I'll under the old covenant dwell between the cherubim's wings. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:53.279 But up under me, I want three things. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:26:13.599 I want the tablets of stone, the word, put it in there and let people know if they want, if they want living bread, if they want, if they'll come into my presence, find a church where God's presence is there, that's where you get the word. 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:20.240 He said, take some of that manna, you know that manna that they put it in a little pot. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:30.720 This is amazing, put it in there, and it'll never go grow old, it'll never get worms, because everything lives in my presence. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:37.920 And I want people to always be reminded that out of all the things I can put in my box, number one, my word is most important. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:46.160 Number two, provision is always not from the work of your hands, it's my presence that's giving you success. 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:49.680 And don't you ever, ever, ever forget it. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:51.359 Lastly, lastly. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:56.880 God said, uh, and I don't, God, you want a snake in there? 00:26:57.039 --> 00:26:58.799 No, I don't want no snake. 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:00.960 I want a stick. 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:04.880 I want Aaron's rod that budded. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:06.960 All I want is a stick. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:24.720 I'm not into sensational, big-headed, arrogant people who get so full of themselves that they think they don't need me anymore, so they don't even, they don't even ever set a time, any time for me. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:28.079 They don't ever even sacrifice just a little bit. 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:31.519 You know, when you first started out, oh God, oh God, I need you. 00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:32.480 You started that business. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:34.880 Oh Lord, Pastor, can we have some more services? 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:36.400 I'm about to die out here. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:37.519 My business. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:40.480 Now that you're so blessed, where are you? 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:43.680 I'm not being mean. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:45.519 I got a license to do what I'm doing right now. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:48.079 I I have this one. 00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:50.559 How many of you know we stray so far? 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:53.519 I don't care who you are, it can happen to you. 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:55.200 Watch this. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:58.160 He said, I tell you what I want near me. 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:05.680 I tell you, I resist the proud, but I give grace to little sticks. 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:10.000 If you'll approach me, not on I've done this for you and I've done that for you. 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:13.119 And God, you're so lucky that I even came to church tonight. 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:17.200 But if you'll approach him like a stick, I'm just a stick man. 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:21.759 I wouldn't have nothing, I wouldn't be nothing, I wouldn't have any hope. 00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:25.599 My family, God, you have been so good to me. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:28.319 All I want to be is a stick. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:38.480 God says, I'll take you and I'll use you again, and I'll and I'll test you and see, are you still the same one that that are you still the one that I called that day? 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:41.039 Are you still the one that would do anything for me? 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:42.559 Give up anything for me. 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:45.039 And if you are, he'll throw you down again. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:50.000 You'll go from glory under glory, faith under faith, miracle under miracle. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:52.240 All he needs is sticks. 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:56.240 Lift your hands high all over this room, every campus, lift them high. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:58.079 Say, Lord, here I am. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:01.920 Everybody say these words, Lord, use me. 00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:04.880 I'm tired of running from my calling. 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:06.960 I want to go back. 00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:10.240 These are days of consecration. 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:16.160 This is a brand new year, and I want to start it off right with the right posture. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:20.240 I must decrease, and you must increase. 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:22.880 I want you, Lord, to take me back. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:29.200 In my spirit, I don't want to go back to those days of Sunday school rooms and I appreciate a nice hotel and all that. 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:30.160 But don't get me wrong. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:37.359 But I'm just saying, in my spirit, I don't ever want to get puffed up to thinking I deserve so much. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:43.119 I deserve hell without the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ. 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:44.640 Lift your hands, lift them high. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:46.480 God's about to do something. 00:29:47.119 --> 00:30:01.359 You know what I really sense, Pastor, if I can just I wonder how many people, 30 and under, 30 and under, would be willing to say, I'm just a stick. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:10.319 But I sure would like to start this year off by saying this is going to be a year of destiny where I really, really, really give God everything I've got. 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:12.640 And if he can use anything, he can use me. 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:13.839 And I'm just a stick. 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:18.160 But God, if you'll take me, I'm going to put here's what I've got in my hand. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:20.240 I can't give you what I don't have, but here it is. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:21.200 I give it to you. 00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:23.759 I promise you, he won't turn you down. 00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:31.839 And I'm going to ask the prayer workers, the prayer teams at every campus, Pastor gave me permission to do this. 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:40.400 Slip out of your seat, the prayer teams, and come stand because God's about to do a mighty, mighty work in many, many people. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:42.720 Because many of you sense this is a word for me. 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:43.839 This is a word for me. 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:44.960 This is a word for my family. 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:46.720 This is a word for my business. 00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:54.400 I'm going to ask you the altar teams at every campus just to come and stand and get ready to minister to people because we're going to have that kind of night. 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:58.559 Now just bow your heads for one moment. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:00.720 Every head bowed, every eye closed. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:04.400 And if you would just slip your hand down for a moment because I want to be very specific. 00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:13.200 If you're listening to me right now, either by television or you're listening to me at any of the campuses or right here in this room, this beautiful, beautiful room right here, South Lake. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:17.359 And you would say, Pastor Jensen, I know I'm not where I ought to be with God. 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:20.000 You may be up in that balcony, you may be on the main floor. 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:23.759 But you would say, Pastor Franklin, I know I'm not where I ought to be with God. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:30.799 I would love to start this year off humbly by giving my life unconditionally to Jesus Christ. 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:32.640 I'm done with running from him. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:36.319 I want to be a stick in the master's hand again. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:45.279 Maybe you stray, maybe, maybe you've really, really gotten far out there, and you hear the voice of God again saying, I wish you would just come back to me. 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:48.640 Go back to what I want, and I'll use you. 00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:59.519 If you know you're not right with God and you want to get right with God at all the campuses, I'm gonna ask you to do something is so simple, and yet the simple thing is what God asks for. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:09.759 I'm gonna ask you to acknowledge, because he never comes where he's not invited, and say, Pastor Jensen, I'd love to get right with God in the first few weeks of a brand new year. 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:12.400 I'd love to surrender everything to him. 00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:19.200 I want the blood that he shed on those two sticks to flow to my life and my family. 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:20.960 I want to get right with God tonight. 00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:23.920 If that's you, boldly raise your hand right where you're standing. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:26.079 I won't embarrass you, I won't humiliate you. 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:27.680 I'm gonna pray for you. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:28.559 Beautiful. 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:30.160 Hands, hands are up. 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:30.960 That's beautiful. 00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:33.279 I want to be very specific, specific. 00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:40.000 If you do not know you're right with God and you want to get right with God tonight, raise your hand high right now. 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:41.119 I want to see it. 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:42.319 It's beautiful. 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:44.160 Pastor, can I do this? 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:57.599 I want every person at every campus who raised your hand as quick as your two feet will move from the balcony to the main floor, wherever you are at every campus, slip out of your seat and humbly, like a stick man, a stick woman. 00:32:57.680 --> 00:32:59.039 It takes humility, doesn't it? 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:02.640 Walk down the aisle and come toward these prayer teams. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:03.839 Come now, come now. 00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:06.559 They're coming, they're coming, they're coming, they're coming. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:07.359 Hurry, hurry. 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:08.880