Never Been Done Before - Sarah Jakes Roberts

1:54 You are home away from home. Stay a while as the word of God restores your hope and transforms your life. I'm in Luke 2. verse 46 the new king james version i am speaking never been done before that's my subject for those of you who like to take notes never been done before and at this point in the text i never take for granted that some people are still learning more about scripture and what's taking place. And so this may be somewhat elementary for some of you, but to catch up some of our other brothers and sisters in the faith, I want to give you a little bit of context of what's happening at this point in the text. Jesus is a boy. He's 12 years old, born of a virgin. His surrogate father, Joseph, is raising him. And we don't know a whole lot about Jesus' childhood. He started his ministry at 30 years old. We know about his conception. We know about his birth. And then there is this one moment in his adolescence that we are privy to. Nothing else that we know about his journey and his walk. And I've always found this text to be very curious to me in my studying dynamic. And I recognize that when I read this text that I look at it with a certain cultural lens. You have to know this, that when you read scripture, that you're bringing your own filter, your own lens to it. There's a bias that comes because you're seeing things sometimes from your experiences or from what you've heard over and over again. And so I have to tell you that when I read this text, it makes me think that Jesus wanted a pow pow. I'm going to be honest with you. It's going to make sense when I read it a little bit later, but Jesus got smart with Mary and Joseph. And when I was growing up, you know, you didn't just say what you wanted to say to your parents, but you know, he is Jesus. So I just kind of let it slide. But I feel like the Lord unpacked some things to me, the Holy Spirit

4:03 in my prayer and devotion about what takes place at this point in the text that I would like to share with you. And so they have gone to the temple, which is the custom. The Jews at that time would go to the temple in Jerusalem and they would travel as a caravan because there was safety in numbers and so groups of Jews from all over the place would come to the temple in in Jerusalem annually for this Passover and Jesus is traveling with his family and they go to the temple they make their sacrifice they have the Passover and then they walk back to the regions where they are from? Well, Mary and Joseph realized on the walk back that Jesus isn't with them. So they searched the caravan for a few days because you've got to remember it's multiple thousands of people who are making this passage to Jerusalem. So they searched the crowd. They can't find them. And so they go back to Jerusalem. Now, so it was that after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. So when they saw him, they were amazed, Mary and Joseph, they couldn't believe it. And his mother, Mary, says to him, son, why did you do this to us?

5:34 your father and I have sought you anxiously. Joseph and I, we looked all over, and he said to them, this is when I thought Jesus was born a little pow-pow. He said, why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? Mary and Joseph was just as confused as I was. They said, I don't even understand what you're talking about. I don't even know what you meant by that. I know that you was supposed to be where I told you to be.

6:07 Now you done got in the temple, done got big, done got too big for your britches. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart, confused, but still taking note of what he said. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Spirit of the living God, bring us into the awareness of your presence. Awaken us to what is in this room, in this text, in this moment that is for us. God, whether someone is listening to it right now or this message finds them years from now, God, may it be a fresh word. May we increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men as a result of the table that you will spread for us in this moment.

7:16 God, I pray that you would still my nerves, that you would steady my heart, that you would fill me with your spirit. that I may be a vessel in this moment. Fill me with love for these, your sons and daughters. Give me a spirit of wisdom, of prophecy, of revelation, that this would be a work that is foundational for what you desire to do in 2026. Feed us till we hunger no more. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

7:53 Let's go to work. Thank you. For decades, really, researchers and scientists and scholars have dedicated time and intentional study to figuring out how we become who we are. As individuals, they're trying to determine how our identities are formed. And for a long time, science debated between two possibilities. Are we who we are because of our genetics or our nature? Or do we become who we are as a result of our environment? And initially they thought that it was one or the other. But time and study and research has revealed that it's really a combination of them both.

8:51 that it is both your DNA and your genetics, but it is also a result of your environments. In order to study this theory, they use identical twins who have the same DNA, but some have been raised in different environments, separated at birth, and they recognize that there were some genetic predispositions that existed in the twins that they tapped into regardless of the environment. But then there were some things that one twin may have had a greater strength in that the other twin didn't have. A lot of times when we think about predispositions, we think about health conditions. But there are some predispositions that are not necessarily just a result of our health conditions. Science has learned that some genetic predispositions are also inherited personality traits. So you're not just becoming your mother by happenstance or becoming your father by happenstance.

9:52 There are some genetic predispositions that kind of wired you to already take on some of the attributes of your parents or those who are in your lineage. Things like whether or not you're introverted or extroverted, they have learned, are inherited personality traits. Things like athleticism or stress sensitivity are all things that can be genetically inherited. low-key, I probably could have been an Olympian. I'm going to be honest. I know I'd be laughing, but that wasn't a joke, and y'all wrong for that.

10:26 You know, I remember when I was first dating PT, you know, PT's from California, and, you know, no shade, love you. You know, they're very, you know, I'm from Texas. We like barbecue, you know what I mean? We like to eat things, you know what I mean? And so when we were dating, he asked me one time I was in town visiting and he was like, hey, do you want to go for a run? And I was like, huh? like outside like do I just want to go like is someone gonna chase us I told him oh I can't run he was like oh are you injured I was like no my feet and legs don't do whatever makes people whatever whatever makes people do that I don't have that If you fast forward a few years after that, I get this app, and I get this app, and this app is like teaching you to go from the couch to 5K, and so you start walking and running in intervals. You walk for a little bit, run for an interval.

11:31 I be doggone it. my feet actually do the thing that make people, you know what I mean? And it happened for me so quickly that now I'm sitting here thinking maybe I did have some type of predisposition to athleticism, but my family was more creating an environment for like cleaning chitlins and frying chicken and not necessarily teaching me how to run. You know what I mean? And sometimes what's in you can't get out of you unless you're in an environment that makes a demand on what's in you. And what happened is, is that I judged my capacity based off of what I had only experienced in a limited environment.

12:20 And so many of us judge our capacity based off of the limited environments that we have existed in. which means you don't really know who you are or what God has placed inside of you because you haven't necessarily been in the types of environments that make a demand on what God put inside of you. because an environment determines whether what's in you gets activated or suppressed or refined. Sometimes it's not that you don't have it. It's just that you haven't been in the right environment that brings it out of you. I wish I could say that until someone really began to understand that you cannot limit your identity, identity, your capacity, your anointing based off of the limited environments that you have been exposed to. You do not know what God placed inside of you. You see people doing things and you think to yourself, I could never do that. They couldn't do it either until God put them in an environment that made a demand on what he placed on the inside of them.

13:34 God has placed something on the inside of you and sometimes he recognizes that in order to get it out I've got to put you in a proper environment oh I wish I could say that real good I feel like I said it but I feel like there's a deeper understanding that we can go into to help you recognize that your environment is anointed to make you feel like I don't have it at first so that you can start digging, so that God can pull out. You got to understand that when he created you, he understands everything he put on the inside of you. And there are certain seasons where you don't need it until he shifts you into an environment that can handle what's on the inside of you. If God exposed it into certain environments, it would kill what he placed on the inside of you. So he kept it dormant until you could be in an environment that knew what to do with it.

14:28 That's why you need to thank God that you're not who you're supposed to be right now. Because if you were who you were supposed to be in the fullness right now, you don't even have the right kind of friends to facilitate that anointing. You don't even have the right kind of friends and family to pull out what God placed on the inside of you. When you stop playing about you, you start making sure that you are in environments that can pull out what God. What is that environment pulling out of you? and does it reflect what God put inside of you? There are some environments that when you get in them, they pull out a version of you that God is trying to kill. And if you stay in those environments, God can never allow your purpose to be manifested. You want to change your life. I hear God saying, change your environment. If you change your environment, it will change your life. But I cannot change your life in this environment.

15:22 What God placed on the inside of you requires a certain level of faith, a certain level of conversation, a certain level of hope, and he cannot do it in that environment. who would have known that Moses could be a leader who would have known that Moses could be a prophet that name Moses it means drawn out and we talk about it as if God just drew him out of the Nile River and that is a part of his story but what God really drew out was what he placed on the inside him that's why he had to tell him no you can't stay in Moab I need you to go back to Egypt but this time when you go back to Egypt it's going to be a different environment because you're going to go armed with my word and my word is an environment within itself my word will create an environment that allows you to go into certain atmospheres and shift the environment oh I wish I could say that real good God says when I give you a word that word creates a habitat That's why you got to meditate on it day and night because I'm not trying to get you high off the word I'm trying to create an environment with that word And if you let me create an environment with that word It won't matter where you go or what the atmosphere is because you carry your own atmosphere I carry my own environment. I don't care what y'all got going on at this job I brought my own environment. I don't care what the worship does today because I came ready with my own environment I don't care what you're talking about.

16:53 When you got your own environment, it don't matter where you go. Cause you know what you carry when you go where you go. Baby, I came packing. I came packing my own joy. I came packing my own peace. I came packing my own power. I didn't come in here waiting on you to tell me I can preach. I came with my own anointing. I came with my own relationship with God.

17:15 I brought my own environment with me. and if you're going to be in my life, you got to add to the environment that pulls out what God placed in me. This is not the year for me to be in an environment that pulls me back to a misshaped, misaligned, disobedient, lustful version of who I am. This is a season where I need to be in an environment that makes a demand on my prayer life, that makes a demand on my maturity that makes a demand on my wisdom. I'm not playing with my environment this year. I let some people play in my face last year. I let some people steal my joy last year. I let some things distract me last year.

18:09 But God told me that this is the year that I got to be serious about my environment. My miracle needs a certain environment. And I don't want to self-sabotage so that you can be comfortable with who you used to be. So that you can be comfortable with the version of myself that I no longer am. I'm stepping into something different. I'm moving different. I'm talking different. So... You have to understand that when God places you in certain environments, it's because the Lord recognizes that you have hidden capacity. You got hit it.

19:10 I'm sorry you got hidden capacity there are some things that you don't think you're capable of doing but the Lord knows that you've got hidden capacity you just haven't been in the right environment to allow him to show you what's in you I want to show you what's in you says God I want to show you what's in you. And so I got to put you in an environment that makes a demand on that.

19:50 God says, you're more anointed than you can imagine. You see people sometimes and you think to yourself, man, I can never do what they're doing. But you have to understand that most of the time, that when we're looking at someone, especially who was functioning in their anointing, that we're looking at a version of them that God revealed to them.

20:18 Right now, live demonstration. I am not necessarily a preacher in my own me. You know what I mean? Like in my me, not me. But in him, there was a hidden capacity. When my brother was rubbing my back at 13 years old because I was pregnant, I wasn't just pregnant with a baby. There was hidden, oh, there was hidden capacity.

20:53 He was rubbing that anointing, keeping it alive. And that's why you need people who know how to keep you alive when all hell is breaking loose on the inside of you. I need someone in my life who can keep my anointing alive, to keep my power alive, because hell is coming up against me, trying to make me believe that I don't have what it takes, but no weapon formed against you or prostrate. So... Oh, God, help me. I didn't know that was in me. And because I didn't know what was in me, I made choices based off of my limited knowledge of who I am.

21:53 And when you have limited knowledge of who you are, you will find yourself settling in environments that restrict and constrain what God placed on the inside of you. So even if you don't know what it is, you have to suspect that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Which means that you have to require environments that allow greater to come out. I don't know who you are, but you're in an environment right now and you know it's limiting you. You know it's restricting you. You know God can't get any glory out of that environment you're in. And I hear God saying that even if you don't know what to do, you know what not to do. And knowing what not to do is more powerful than knowing what to do.

22:49 Because if you can act on conviction, God says, I can order your next step. I dare you to break up with the environment that is killing what God placed on the environment. I dare you to get violent with it. The kingdom suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. That means that they were so intrigued with the kingdom that they got violent. You got to get violent with the thing that is getting violent with what God placed on the inside of you. You got to break up with it by any means necessary. because I'm on a mission to bring out what God put in me. I'm on a mission to be in an environment that can feed it, that can nourish it, that can nurture it. That is my mission because genetically, if we are genetically predisposed to certain traits and certain conditions, but our environment determines whether or not it's activated, suppressed, or refined, then that means that we do have some spiritual inheritances as well.

23:59 And our environment may determine whether or not our spiritual inheritance can be activated. See, I'm trying to show you that many of the things that God does in the natural is reflected in the spiritual. You have a spiritual inheritance. got power. You got authority. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and if you haven't, I cannot wait to give you an opportunity to do it at the end of the service. For sure you received salvation from sin, but what you also have to recognize is that you received an inheritance from God.

24:43 And if you have an inheritance from God, then you have to recognize that unlike biologically where we really have no control over what genes are expressed that in the spirit our inheritance allows us to activate our spiritual genealogy at any given moment. God help me say it real good. Genetically I can't determine what's going to be expressed but spiritually at any given moment I can tap into my spiritual inheritance and express it at any given moment I've got a spiritual inheritance of strength the joy of the Lord is my strength that's an inheritance I got a spiritual inheritance of peace and I don't have to wait for the environment to pull that out of me because this inheritance the world didn't give me so the world can't take it away that means regardless of what's happening in the world I can tap into my spiritual inheritance I don't need a circumstance to help me prophesy all I need is a heart to get before the Lord and to speak his word into my situation my inheritance gave me authority over sin my inheritance gave me the authority over shame my inheritance gave me freedom from shame I got an inheritance so whenever I start feeling shame and whenever I start feeling condemnation and whenever I start feeling bitterness I can sit in it or I can allow my spiritual inheritance to be activated in that moment oh I came to talk to somebody who thinks you just got to take whatever comes your way no no no when you are a child of God you don't have to take whatever just comes your way because I have a spiritual inheritance I can rebuke you in the name of Jesus I can send you back to hell where you came from I can have peace in the middle of the storm I would like the storm to stop for sure but I got an inheritance that'll give me peace in the middle of the storm you got

26:54 to figure out what your inheritance is in God you've got an inheritance and if you don't know what your inheritance is, then you won't spend it. But you got to spend your inheritance in this world. If you're going to overcome the enemy, if you're going to overcome what, what life throws at us, you're going to need access to your spiritual inheritance. There are people in this room who are who they are spiritually because they tapped into their inheritance at a time when time when life got tough intercessors in this room who became intercessors because they recognize that i have a spiritual inheritance that will allow me to stand in the gap between heaven and earth and i can pray the will of the father into a situation they didn't learn that by coincidence They learned that because they got into an environment where they could have chosen depression, but they chose to pray instead.

28:04 We're not just worshipers because we're worshipers. We had a decision to make. I could let life beat me up or I could lift my hands in surrender and say, God, I need an exchange from heaven that can only come from you. I learned to tap into my inheritance. That's my prayer for you all 2026. is that you learn to tap into your inheritance. I don't have to worry about what I'm going to speak because I got a spiritual inheritance from the Holy Spirit that'll give me the words on the spot. I got a spiritual inheritance that'll give me the strength I need for this anointing. I got a spiritual inheritance that will give me the power I need to raise these children, to build this ministry because I got to do something in the spirit that has never been done before. I need an inheritance.

28:56 that allows me access and ability to do what's never been done. I am reminded of Hannah in scripture. And 1 Samuel, it tells us that Hannah was going through it.

29:24 Hannah was a woman married to a man, but she couldn't have children, which may have been challenging and difficult. But what exacerbated her condition is that she had a sister wife. who was popping them things out.

29:46 She was just, you just, you just, your stuff just work, huh? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Y'all so saved that you won't admit that sometimes seeing somebody functioning in an area where you would like to see fruit every now and then, and you just be like, oh, so your stuff just, you just, your ideas just, your business just, your marriage just, your children just. come on somebody i know y'all so saved in here y'all want everybody y'all want the first time visitors to believe that everybody in here got their life together but i grew up in church and i know that sometimes it's hard to see god doing in someone else's life what you wish he would do in your own And she started getting bitter.

30:48 And she started having agony. Because she couldn't do what she felt like she was supposed to be able to do. Something happened this year, though. That year that this happened in 1 Samuel. It says year after year. She went through this same process of watching God bless somebody. and do something in their life that she wanted to see done in her life. But something shifted that year that was different than any other time when she decided that I'm not just going to sit here and be bitter about it anymore. I'm not just going to sit here and be in agony about it anymore. I'm not just going to sit here and be envious about it anymore. She took matters into her own hands. She got up from the table.

31:42 She went into the temple and she started praying to God. It looked like she was just praying. But what we know now is she really shifted the environment. I got to shift the environment from my bitterness. I got to shift the environment from my agony. Her prayer began to shift the environment. Oh, that's good. something that she would have just settled in. She had the power to change. Through her prayer, she shifted the environment. Oh, I need you to understand that sometimes you're waiting on your season to change, but your mouth is closed. And I hear God saying that sometimes your season won't change because you won't open your mouth. and because you won't open your mouth, I can't shift the atmosphere. She started shifting the atmosphere with her prayer.

32:41 She started shifting the atmosphere. And let me tell you something. This is just a word for those who are super duper religious. It says she went into the temple and she was bitter when she went. And she was in agony when she went. You know what that says to me? that some people come into the house of the Lord with gladness and some people come into the house of the Lord with bitterness. But we serve a God who can handle it all. I don't need you to pretend like you're not bitter. You can perform for church. But when you come into the presence of the Lord, you can bring me your bitterness. You can bring me your frustration. You can bring me your anger. As long as you invite your prayer in the process, I can still share. As a matter of fact, we serve a God who wants you to bring your truth. Because if you bring your truth, I can shift something for real. As long as you bring who you pretend to be, as long as you bring your mask, I can't give you the exchange I want to give you.

35:33 She was bitter, but she was praying. She was worried, but she was still worshiping. She wasn't sure of what God could do, but she was still being obedient. Who are you in this room? You've been going through it and you don't know what to think anymore. But I hear God saying that just like Hannah decided that this year, I'm not going to sit back and allow this same thing to happen over and over again. that there is somebody in this room who's going to have to make a decision that this year I'm going to do something different. This year I'm going to shake it up. This year I'm going to pour out my heart in a different way. Oh, and Hannah, Hannah goes into the temple. Oh, I wish I didn't even give them this scripture, but can I show it to you real fast?

36:31 It's in 1 Samuel. And in 1 Samuel, it says that she went into the temple. And it says, and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. And it says, then she made a vow. Wait a minute. Oh, God, help me. The Lord is so good to me. I love God's word. I love God's word. It says, then, so I was praying. I was pouring out my heart, but I was in an atmosphere where it was okay to tell the truth about where I am. I was in an atmosphere where I could weep in anguish. there was something about her being in that atmosphere that made a demand

37:18 it made a demand on a strategy she'd never considered. God, help me to say it good. She had been asking the Lord to just give her a baby. Just give me a child. Just give me a child. And the Lord didn't answer that. But there was something about her getting in the atmosphere that gave her the wisdom to ask God in a different way. Oh, God, help me. Help me. sometimes you need an atmosphere i said this to make a demand on the right language to unlock your miracle oh god help me say it real real good sometimes we're asking god for something but we're not asking for what god wants for us we're not asking it aligned with his will that's why we need prayer because prayer helps us to align our will with his will prayer is not the place where you give God your laundry list of what you want done and how you want it done.

38:18 Prayer is where you say, this is what I would like to see happen. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. And if you're not going to do it my way, then help my heart to align with what you want to see happen so that I can pray for the right things. I want to pray for the right things, not my things, not my will. I want to pray for the right things. And all of a sudden, And it's like a light bulb went out. When she got in this environment, she makes a promise to God. She goes, wait a minute. Oh, Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord. Wait a minute. She was asking God to do something for her.

39:12 but God wanted her to ask for something that I can get the glory out of. I don't want to answer your selfish prayers. I want to answer a prayer that will allow me to get the glory. And Hannah started praying differently. She says, then I will give him to you, and all the days of his life will be dedicated to you, and no razor shall come upon his head. When your prayer shifts from being about what you want to what God wants, to what God can use, to what God can develop, then you will see a shift in your life.

39:51 Oh, that's better. See, I don't expect everybody to clap for that because sometimes we want what we want when we want it. But God says if I'm gonna be in partnership with you, you have to go beyond asking me for what you want and you have to ask me what I can get the glory out of out of all the things that you want. God, is there anything that I want that you can get the glory out of? Because I don't want it if you can't get the glory out of it. And see, her sister wife, Panina, she didn't have to do the same thing that Hannah had to do. And that's why she couldn't get what Panina had. She had to ask God for something differently as it related to her life. Oh. what God wants to do through you is going to be different than what he's done through someone else. And because what God wants to do through you is different, you have to have a different heart posture before he can release it through you.

40:48 They didn't need to have that heart posture. Sweep around your own front porch and begin asking God, what type of heart posture would be required for you to show up in my life in a way that allows you to get the glory. I know what I want. But if what I want doesn't give you the glory, this is a dangerous prayer. Then show me how to not want it. Help me to grieve it. I know what I want. But what I want more than anything is for you to get the glory.

41:32 And if you can't get the glory out of it, then I don't want it. And so she prays this if prayer, if you see me, if you remember me, if you won't forget me. And she left it at if. Eli comes in and he thinks she's drunk. That's not me clowning. He thought she was drunk.

41:55 But there was something about Eli seeing her in that moment of prayer, in that moment of surrender. And he says to her, may the Lord answer your petition. Oh, I felt like this was God's way of letting Hannah know I hurt you. He doesn't necessarily say in this moment I'm going to give you a child, that I'm going to answer your prayer, but he gives her a peace that at least I'm asking for the right things. At least I poured my heart out. I didn't allow bitterness to become my home. because I know that you at least heard me, you saw me, I trust whatever comes next. Can you imagine the level of spiritual assurance we could have if we stopped looking for God to answer that one specific thing and instead looked for any sign that you heard me, that you see me? That's my prayer for you this week. God, make them sensitive to the moments that you are going out of your way to make them feel seen and heard by you. Help them to not be so blinded by what they want to see that they miss out on the ways that you're putting your eyes on them, that you're sending your spirit towards them. May they catch it every time it comes their way.

43:41 And may it fill them up on the inside until it builds assurance and confidence and peace that you're with them. And because you're with them, they have nothing to worry about that you'll see them through. God, let that seal that prayer in Jesus name. I'll tell you, in order for Hannah to come to a place where she could have this level of encounter with God, she had to do something unnatural. Literally, and I didn't give them this text to you guys. I'm just going with the flow of the Holy Spirit. Everybody's fine.

44:29 Literally, it says year after year, she went up and she had this same experience. And year after year, she sat there and her rival provoked her and made her miserable. It's in 1 Samuel 1 and 7. So it was year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord that she provoked her. Therefore, she wept and did not eat the same cycle over and over and over again, year after year. Oh, we getting ready to start your new year off right. The same cycle over and over again, year after year. But this year, she did something unnatural, and it allowed her to tap into the supernatural. We about to get into my word now. Because God told me that this year, if you are going to experience the supernatural, you're going to have to do something unnatural.

45:25 Unnatural to your pride. Unnatural to your personality. Unnatural to what your friends understand. You're going to have to do something that has never been done before. If you are going to experience the supernatural power of God in your life, I came here to make you divorce you. You got all these rules, all these regulations, all these limits, all these boundaries, and you want God to function within those rules and principles. And I hear God saying that if I'm going to do what I need to do in your life, you're going to have to break up with your rules. You're going to have to break up with what comes natural to you, and you're going to have to do something unnatural because what I want to do in the earth, it started in heaven. It didn't start in the natural. I want to do something supernatural in the earth so you cannot limit me to what comes natural to you.

46:23 You're going to have to do something that breaks you out of character. I'm going to give somebody who never lifts up their hands in worship 10 seconds to do something unnatural to you. If you don't usually run, I dare you to cut a two-step real quick. I want you to start 2026. doing something unnatural. You don't usually shout. I dare you to shout hallelujah. You don't usually turn to your neighbor. I want you to turn. I want you to start breaking. Get used to it. I'm getting ready to break out of my comfort. I'm getting ready to break out of what's natural to me. It's natural for me to think that I don't have what it takes. But this year, I'm going to walk in confidence. It's natural for me to shrink instead of rise up. But this year I'm going to stand flat footed on who God called me to be. It's natural for me to fade into the background.

47:16 But this year I'm stepping out into the big league. I'm doing something unnatural. Nobody in my family's ever seen it. Nobody in my church understands it. But I'm doing something unnatural. I'm going to lift my hands in worship. I'm going to leap. I'm going to dream. I'm gonna speak. I'm gonna write. I'm gonna prophesy. I'm gonna pray out loud. I'm gonna get on my knees and worship. I'm gonna change my diet. I'm gonna try. I'm gonna do something. you're not used to this i'm sorry the old me i left in 2025 i'm doing something unnatural all 2026 because i need god to do the supernatural and he can't do it if i limit him to who i used to be so get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready vest top!!!

48:24 struggles due to confidence I'm on something different. I'm on something different. I can't be who I used to be. I can't drink what I used to drink. I can't smoke what I used to smoke. I can't call who I used to call. I'm on something different. Yeah. All right. Okay.

50:43 Five more seconds. Visitors, we're going to scare you for a minute. Get in where you fit in, though, baby. Because we like to shake things up around here. The enemy going to be looking for you in your old spot with your old friends. but he gonna miss me this year. I left the ball. I left the club. I'm not who I used to be. Yeah.

51:21 Yeah. You got to break out of what you have called natural. Because if I can be honest with you, What you are calling natural to who you are has really been shaped by environments and genetics that don't necessarily align with the fullness of who God has called you to be. You're telling me it's natural for you to act that way. I want to propose that your shame taught you to act that way.

52:13 That your fear convinced you. This is more natural for you. To not have expectations. This would be more natural for you. to pretend that you don't really have what it takes. And now here you are, year after year, living in that same little box. This is why you have to understand that what we have in Jesus is a model and an example about what it looks like to be willing to submit to what is unnatural for the sake of fulfilling the supernatural. beautiful oh Philippians 4.

53:15 Paul tells the church in Philippi, he goes, he's trying to teach them how to be believers. So when you read the epistles of Paul, as you do your Bible study and go deeper in your word this year, I want you to understand that Paul has this encounter with Jesus that radically changes him. and he becomes an apostle and he's sharing the message of Jesus and the gospel and salvation from the sin and faith he's he's sharing it in all of these different regions so Romans is a letter to the Romans and and all of the other ones you go through all of them they're letters to the church in Colossians they're letters to the church that all of these the Corinth they're all of these letters but in Philippi he tells them if you really want to figure out how to do this he says you got to let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. Okay, so if we stop right there, what we hear is, I need to have a mind that's like Jesus. So when I'm studying scripture, I'm trying to figure out how Jesus thinks. If you want to know how Jesus thinks and you're just looking for like a kickstart, like a jumpstart, read Matthew 5. You spend the rest of your life trying to walk out Matthew 5. That's where he says, if somebody hits you, turn the other cheek.

54:29 I know y'all, y'all throw hands, y'all don't turn the other cheek. He says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. That means that when Jesus was with God, that they were equal, and that was okay. But he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant. That means he left glory. He left that position. And he came into earth with the likeness of man. You have to understand that it was unnatural for him to leave heaven. He stepped out of eternity and into time. Do you understand that he found himself in the appearance of a man? And he humbled himself and became obedient even to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

55:34 This is the kind of mentality that Paul says you should have if you're going to be a believer. Jesus did what was unnatural. He exchanged the wonder of glory in heaven and streets paved with gold to come into an earth filled with pain and grief. That was unnatural to him.

55:58 Sickness was unnatural to him. Disease was unnatural to him. But in order for him to fulfill what God called him to do, he had to be willing to do that which was unnatural to him. This is why he did not want to drink the cup.

56:20 It's unnatural for me, this cup of sin, to get on this cross, to feel this pain. It's unnatural to me. But he did it anyway. That is the cheat code to transformation. Is abandoning what you think just comes natural to you. So when we find Jesus in Luke 2, we see Jesus living in the tension of trying to be obedient and also resisting what comes natural to him. you got to understand, oh God, you're so good to me.

57:13 In order for us to have a high priest who can sympathize with our weakness, he had to step fully into humanity. So that when you call on the name of Jesus and you tell Jesus, I feel stressed, I feel worried, they're talking about me. We needed a high priest who could understand exactly what we were going through. So he had to step fully into humanity.

57:38 And in Luke 2, it is no wonder that he gets caught up in the temple. Talking about God. And astonishing those who listen. Because the temple, he would be the temple. This was natural for him. that's why he says to Mary, why were you looking for me? Didn't you know I'd be about my father's business? This is what I do. This is who I am. This comes natural to me. And listen, those in the temple, they were amazed. They were astonished at this little boy, Jesus, who could talk with the scribes. Let me tell you what that means, that people were applauding what came natural to him. But what they were applauding was not what God called him to do in that moment.

58:35 Oh, do you understand? Don't allow the applause of what you do naturally to make you think that you have a past, to not submit yourself fully to what comes unnatural. That's why he doesn't just stay in the temple. That environment wasn't really making a huge demand. It wasn't making a sacrifice from him. That came natural to him. They would be amazed and astonished in 18 years at all of the things he said, but right now this wasn't the season for him to do what was natural. was the season for him to do what was unnatural and my Bible tells me that he submitted himself to them oh I don't know what's most powerful to me that Jesus was willing to submit himself to what was unnatural for the sake of God doing the supernatural or the fact that Mary and Joseph were charged with the task of creating an environment for something they didn't fully understand. I'm getting ready to close.

1:00:02 There are some moments where obedience to God means that we're often facilitating environments, goals destinies and purpose that we don't fully understand I know some of you may not relate, but sometimes there's this feeling I have on the inside of me about what God can do in me and through me, but I don't really know what it is. And sometimes for me, it feels like I'm just scratching the surface at it, that I haven't fully wrapped my mind around it. But God is still trusting me to create an environment for something I don't fully understand.

1:00:58 I need you to understand that your comprehension is not a prerequisite for its manifestation. That was... He said that, you know what I mean? Sometimes I think the only way that I'll get it is if I understand it. But this text shows me that all you got to do is obey. that if you obey, you don't have to understand it. You just have to remember what this is.

1:01:45 What I wrote in my notes is that in order for Joseph and Mary, and let me tell you what's so beautiful about this, is that he was 12 years old, and it was the custom of the Jews to do this year after year after year. And no other year had they lost him. But this year was different than the other years. This year, they had to bring back to their remembrance what this is. Oh, I'm closing, I'm closing, I'm closing, I'm closing, I'm closing. The fact that Jesus said, didn't you know that I'd be about my father's business? And they were confused. Let me know that they had gotten into such a rhythm and a pattern and a routine. that the Mary we see in Luke 1 has some kind of way normalized Jesus existence in such a way that she forgot where it started from.

1:02:46 And sometimes we normalize our miracles. Until we think we're going to lose it. come on marriage come on marriage a miracle when we met but then we get normalized and then things get shaky and then we're like oh wait that's a miracle can't just let that happen this business this is a miracle you're standing in a miracle If you've ever said yes to God and stepped out on faith, you experienced a miracle. And if you begin to normalize your miracle, you won't treat it with the level of sensitivity and awareness and attention that maintains your knowledge of what it is.

1:03:54 and let me tell you, you have to maintain your knowledge of what it is so that you can make sure you're creating the right type of environment to bring it to its fullness. God's so good to me. So Mary and Joseph have to do what's unnatural to them. Joseph is your surrogate father, but you have a father in heaven. Okay. I remember now that that's unnatural to me to keep that a part of my consciousness, but it says she kept those things in her heart. She didn't let it slip through the cracks. Listen, sometimes God will give you a hint of what your destiny is, of how you're supposed to act and respond. Pay attention to what you don't understand. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Something happened that I didn't quite understand. God, I need you to help me.

1:04:49 You got to mine some things with God. You got to mine, like a mine worker, like a coworker. You got to mine. You got to dig into it until you can get to a place of understanding about what it is. She kept those things in her heart. If you're going to create an environment for what God has given you, for what God is trusting you to steward, you got to keep some things in your heart. God will give you clues. He'll give you wisdom. He'll give you insight. she kept them in her heart and then that scripture that all of you quoted as a result of Jesus doing what was unnatural to him he submitted to them and as a result of them doing what was unnatural to them in creating this environment where they're raising divinity and also humanity humanity scripture says in Jesus increased when he stepped into the unnatural. Oh, God, you're so good to me. I love the Lord.

1:05:53 Does he increase in wisdom and stature and in favor? Listen, with God, how does Jesus increase in favor with God in men? Has anyone ever wondered that if he didn't think it robbery to be equal with God. How is it now that he's increasing in favor with God? He should have already had favor with God, but because he had stepped into something that was unnatural, his obedience, his willingness to humble himself allowed him to increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God. That means God says, I can trust you to do what is unnatural, the human side of him, to do what is unnatural, to not exercise your power, to not wiggle out of the discomfort of doing what is unnatural. No wonder when he is baptized, a voice from heaven says, this is my son.

1:06:52 in whom I am well pleased. I'm well pleased in him. He was sitting next to me, but he went through an unnatural process. He submitted himself. He obeyed, and I'm proud of him.

1:07:14 That's your testimony. That's what is available to you is that the Father will look down on you, stepping out of your comfort, stepping out of what comes natural to you as a result of your trauma, as a result of your success, stepping out of what comes natural to you and saying, you know what? I surrender.

1:07:44 I submit myself a living sacrifice. because if you are willing to do what is unnatural, God says, I can do the supernatural. I want to pray with you. God gave me this word.

1:08:19 I know God gave me this word. I know God gave me this word. There's something about this year, about this time, this window of opportunity that is going to require us to do what's never been done before.

1:08:45 That's why I didn't know what to call it. And then the Lord dropped that in my spirit. Never been done before. in your prayer time. Don't conjure up your never been done before. You want it to be something that heaven breathes on. What does it look like for you to do what's never been done before in this season of your life?

1:09:15 Some of you rest. some of you go time some of you gotta take your cape off so that other people can meet the Jesus that saved you and not you becoming their savior.

1:09:39 Some of you are going to move into territories of influence and business and development, and you're going to erect standards and ideas and innovations. Do not be surprised when God trusts you with something that has never been done before. Don't let it scare you. Don't let it make you believe that because it's never been done before that it cannot be done.

1:10:13 Sometimes God is just waiting for the right person to do what's never been done before. Because your heart will be aligned properly. What does that look like in your communication? Do we need to ask for help? I tell you for me this is like so low level but I got off of social media for the Lord told me 40 days and I'm chronically online I need to stop and I knew that I needed to stop because it was keeping me it was creating an atmosphere where I couldn't think anymore it was just like one hot take after another. And I knew that that environment wasn't making a demand on my spirituality because I wasn't scrolling and praying. I was just consuming and consuming. And I knew that I needed to shift my environment so that I could be postured properly for what the Lord wants to bring out of me. There are some things that the Lord wants to bring out of you.

1:11:22 And you can wait for your season to change. Or you can change your environment and watch your season change. Oh, I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Sometimes we're just waiting and waiting and waiting like the discipline is just going to hit us, like the new mindset is just going to hit us. It's not just going to hit you. You're going to have to fight back against these mentalities, fight back against these paradigms.

1:11:56 So I want you to do what's never been done before. I want to pray with you. We're going to take communion. I can't think of a better way. to be reminded of the new covenant that we have with Jesus, the inheritance that we have with Jesus, then to take communion. And we're certainly going to do a prayer for salvation, but I want to pray with you just to seal this message. Lord, we open our hearts to you. Search our hearts. search our minds. If there's anything in us that is not pleasing or acceptable to you, bring it to the surface. Make us uncomfortable with it.

1:12:52 Help us to lose our desire for that which limits us. Thank you, God, that through Jesus we can become a new creation, that who we used to be, that what may come natural to us has to let us go so that we can step into our new identities.

1:13:18 We receive what's in this word for us, that which resonates in this moment and that which is just a seed that you'll pull from later. God it is my prayer that you would take this word and that you would allow it to take root and to produce fruit in these your sons and daughters that they would keep it in their heart and as a result that like Jesus they would increase in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men God I'm praying for strength to come to them I hear this prophetically some of you don't feel like you have the strength to do something that's unnatural I don't know if it's leaving a relationship or making a change. Maybe you need help. You're in this room and you need help to break out of what has come natural to you. I mean real help. I don't know if it's a therapist. I don't know if it's rehab, but I want you to understand that even asking for help is a step into breaking out of what comes natural to you.

1:14:25 And I hear God saying that the strength to do is in the doing, not in the waiting. So if you're waiting for strength to do, you're going to miss strength. God says, I'll strengthen you as you go. So God, I pray for those who are in this room and they're afraid to break up with what has come natural to them. It's going to require vulnerability. it's going to require exposure, it's going to change their friendships, it may change their marriages. Maybe it changes what anyone has ever known about them. God, I thank you that you've already gone ahead of them. You made their crooked path straight. So I ask that you would fill them with wisdom, with language, with revelation, to help them maintain the relationships that can go with them and to grieve that which cannot move with them. God, I thank you that you're raising up an army, an army of disciples who will invade darkness and establish your kingdom wherever they go. God, give them laser focus that they will not be turned or distracted, but that they would hit the target every single time because they're being patient enough to walk with you.

1:15:46 and God, I thank you that this is just the beginning of the year. Help us to be sensitive to all that you will reveal as the year goes on. Bless this word, God. Do that which only you can do. Turn it into transformed lives, not just in this house, but in their homes and everything connected.