Now That You Know - Sarah Jakes Roberts

1:36 I'm in Matthew 16. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Um, you know, I was awakened in the middle of the night. It was three o'clock in the morning and the Lord placed something on my heart that I wasn't sure how I would share if I should share. I know that I should, but I think I don't always have the right language and I try to think well before I speak because I have so much respect for this platform and for this position. But I feel like it would be remiss of me to not be obedient to what God said to me last night. This isn't necessarily connected to the message. But September is Suicide Prevention Month.

2:40 and I think that church and faith expressions for many especially some decades ago was the only type of therapy that people could receive and people would judge especially in more expressive churches the way that we dance or move not realizing that in many ways that was somatic therapy, the type of therapy that gets trauma trapped out of your body.

3:12 And as life has evolved and knowledge has evolved and wisdom has evolved, I don't know that spaces of faith have always known how to deal with mental illness and trauma and the processing of trauma. And yet, I do want to acknowledge that Suicide Prevention Month is not just a worldly issue. that pastors and worship leaders and people who go to church their whole lives have dealt with moments of ideation and wondering whether or not their life is worthy, whether or not they should continue living going. And so I wanted you to know as the servant of this house that Suicide Prevention Month is our way of acknowledging that the ideas and the thoughts they do come but they don't have to have the final say.

4:10 and if you are in a position where you have felt not just the idea of not wanting to be here which is devastating within itself maybe you've started thinking about the possible ways that you would do it i want you to know that we need you to live and I know that life gets hard and I know that life gets challenging I know that people don't always know the right things to say and maybe you don't always know how to open up but if there's anything about this moment or this month that is pulling at your heart there's a hotline the 988 hotline that you can call if you need additional support we have ministers and elders we have a counseling department we can pray it away and then send you to therapy to talk what we pray through out into your life. I don't want you to be afraid of whatever measures are necessary for you to get the help and support that you need. And please do not fall into the illusion of thinking that you are betraying God by getting the help that you need. If you have prayed about it and prayed about it and you're still experiencing mental illness and trauma, you may need additional support. And that is not an indictment on your faith. Sometimes it takes more faith to get help than to pretend you don't need it.

5:30 And I want us to be mindful because we never know what a person is facing. Even in a room this size, it would be foolish of us to believe that some people have never had thoughts or even attempts. And I'm not going to ask you to acknowledge yourself in any way, but what I am going to ask us to do is the body of Christ is just turn to the person beside you and say, I'm so glad you're still here.

5:56 And I want you to stay here. And give them a big old hug if you can. Because we don't know what plans or thoughts the enemy has placed in their mind. Plead a little in Jesus' name over them. And if it's not for them, maybe it'll fill their cup for when they encounter somebody else. But Suicide Prevention Month is something that we take seriously. Your life is not an accident. You are not here by coincidence. and whatever you may have faced, I'm not saying it didn't hurt. I'm not saying it wasn't traumatic. I'm just saying that God can take even those challenging things and help you work them out towards good. So please don't give up before God gets finished the work that he wants to do on the inside of your life. Amen, family. Amen. I am in Matthew 16, verse 21 through 23. I have a few other supporting texts that we'll get to later.

7:04 But the anchor thought for this is now that you know. Now that you know. And to give you some context of what's happening in Matthew 16, Jesus has been in discussion with his disciples. And he asked one of his disciples in particular, he asked Peter, says, Peter, who do you say that I am? This is earlier in this chapter. And Peter reveals to him that he believes that he is the son of God. He is the long awaited Messiah. And Jesus tells Peter, flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but the spirit did. And then just a few short verses later, he's having a different encounter with Peter. One that is quite intriguing considering the fact that he had just acknowledged that Peter understood who he was and that flesh and blood hadn't revealed it to him. It seemed like Peter was tapped in to who he was and what God was doing in the earth. And yet when we look at verse 21, the tides have changed. From that time after he had that encounter with the disciples where he acknowledged that he was the Messiah, from that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem.

8:23 and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day. Then Peter, the same Peter who acknowledged he was the Messiah, takes him to the side and begins to rebuke him. He says, far be it from you, Lord. This shall not happen to you. In other words, he said, what are you talking about, child?

8:51 You are the long-awaited Messiah, the King of kings. There is no way that you will experience this shameful death. Absolutely not. Stop talking like that. Stop saying those things. But he turned, Jesus turns to Peter and says, get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me. For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. oh spirit of the living God help us to be mindful of you God I thank you for divine access to the mind of God through the spirit of God so God when I ask for your spirit to show up in this moment I'm asking that you would help me to see this moment and navigate this moment the way that you would that it would not be me up here but that it would be you and God while you are transforming my mind in the serving I ask that you would transform their minds in the receiving that I would say something that adds value to what you have decided to do in their lives that I would in some way allow you to be better reflected in their world remove any excuses any distractions any thoughts that would keep us from tapping into the fullness of what this moment desires. And God, I pray for the spirit of wisdom, of revelation, of prophecy, that I would be precise in the delivery, that they may be precise in the receiving and then the sending.

10:28 Have your way as only you can do. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Go to work. when I first met my husband I instantly began to realize the difference between just loving someone and loving what someone can do for you up until I met him I think that like many women I desired to have love in my life. What I didn't realize is that that desire was really a selfish desire, that I wanted someone to come into my life and to love me and to comfort me and to cherish me and to take care of me. I wanted them to fix me and to heal me and to make me better.

11:24 But when I met my husband, I didn't just desire love. I loved him independent of what he could do for me. I can remember telling him a couple of dates in that I loved the way the world looked through his eyes. I was macking them up y'all. Ladies don't be afraid to put a little bit of mack on your man every now and then. It was true, though, because I would watch him navigate the world and engage with people, and I would think to myself, I love the way that you see people. I love the way that you talk. I love the way that you dream. And loving the way the world looks through someone's eyes is how you know that you truly love them, is that you do the work of understanding what the world looks like through their eyes. So now when I am reading scripture, I'm not just reading it to get something from God. I don't come into scripture, not always, sometimes I do, but I don't go into scripture just looking for how it will serve me. I go into scripture because I'm trying to understand the perspective that God has about humanity, about us, because I want to understand the way the world looks through his eyes. And there are very few scriptures that give us insight into what the world looks like through God's eyes. But there is one in Genesis 6.

12:56 In Genesis 6 verse 5 through 6, this is right before the flood. And right before the flood, it says that God looked at the earth and when he looked at the earth he noticed that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and it goes on in verse 6 and it says and the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart God's grief and looking at the earth was that the wickedness and the evilness that was on the earth was in such direct contrast to what he intended in the garden. So when he looked at the world and grieved, he grieved because we were so far from what he originally intended. And so when we look back then in Genesis 2 to try and get an understanding, well, Lord, what was your original intention? I go to Genesis 2. And I think Genesis 2 verses 16 through 17 make it explicitly clear what God intended earth and our experience on earth to be like. Genesis 2 verses 16 through 17 says, and the Lord God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So this gives us some perspective on the kind of existence that God wanted us to have on earth. In God's divine plan, he wanted us to live in a world where we had no knowledge of good and evil, okay? Let's think about that because when we look at Genesis 1, in Genesis 1, he is very intentional about making

15:04 sure that everything he has created receives a stamp that says good. So, he created the heavens and this, he separated the heavens and every Genesis 1 is in there. Every time he finishes a completion and it meets his qualification, he says good. So, we know that God did not have a problem with us having the knowledge of good. There was something about us having the knowledge of good and evil that he was trying to prohibit. The Hebrew translation for that word evil is ra. Can you put the definitions on the screen for me? This is the Hebrew definition of that word. The translation of the word evil that we see in that text is a Hebrew word. It means ra. and so when we see evil I know all of a sudden we start thinking of all of the bad wicked things but look at this list he did not want us to eat from a tree that would give us the knowledge of adversity affliction calamity grief he said I don't want you to know that harm heavy hurt this is who your God is this is the earth that he created for you is that he wanted you to live in a world where you had no knowledge of these things.

16:23 That's such a powerful thing for us to consider. That as much as we wonder sometimes where is God in the midst of it all, God is saying, this isn't what I wanted for you either. Oh, I wish I could say that real good. Of course, because I'm on social media and because of who I am in ministry, I often see people saying, if your God is good, then why do these things happen? And my response is, my God is so good that he set a rule that we would never have to experience these things if we would just obey him.

17:01 My God is so good. See, and so then I have to, because I'm always interrogating my conclusions. And so the next question I ask is, if God is so good. And if God is so good that he never wanted us to experience these things, why plant the tree in the first place?

17:21 Because obedience that does not have a choice is not obedience at all. I'm going to give you the option, but I'm going to tell you this is how you should show up. But I'm going to leave the choice to you. But if I had it my way, you would have never known that.

17:43 Think about what you have experienced that has maybe made you question God or question who he is or question his goodness. God says, I never wanted you to experience those things either. that's why the bible tells us that he's close to the brokenhearted of course he's close to the brokenhearted because any of the things that break us break our heart first broke his heart oh i wish i could say that real good you see when god gave us the choice where we could eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we then began to have the power to define what we thought was good and what we thought was evil. And scripture tells us that a man's ways is right in his own eyes, which means many of the things that we have experienced in our life is really the byproduct of someone defining what they thought was good or what they thought was evil and not living according to what God said was good and what God said was evil. So why does God plant the tree? God plants the tree because evil doesn't mean to him what it means to us.

18:52 if we're honest some of us are afraid of evil because we're not sure that we have any power out there we're afraid of evil because we think it can hurt us but god can plant the tree that has the knowledge of good and evil because evil doesn't mean to him what it means to us he is so holy that evil does not touch him the way that it touches us and if we would stay locked in with Him, it doesn't have to have the same impact on us as it does on others in the world. Because if we stay locked into Him, you see, we serve a God who told the disciples in Luke 10 that I have given you authority to tread over serpents and scorpions and over all of the power of the enemy because you don't have to be afraid when you have the authority of God down on the inside of you. I wish I could say that in a way that really broke something off of you because we live in a day and age where it is easy to be afraid.

19:58 And because we now live in this reality where we have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sometimes we're more afraid of evil than we should be. Because if the power, if we really believe that greater is he than he is in the world if we really believe that Jesus has given us power and authority then we can look at evil and see evil for what it is we can look at evil and see it as something that we have authority and power over I wish I had about five crazy people in this world who were crazy enough to believe that the enemy doesn't have to have the final say because God is so good that even though we ate from the tree he says I'm still going to give you a path to get back to what I originally had in mind so that you are not shaken by the enemy the Bible tells us that demons tremble at the very mention of his name he is not afraid of evil and we are made in his image and if we are going to step into what it means to be made in his image we've got to start praying that the spirit of fear would be broken off of us i feel resistance in this room and i know it's the enemy because the enemy is the only one benefited by you staying in a position of being afraid of evil but when you lift his name higher when you set him on the throne it doesn't just lift him up it lifts you up too i'll tell you like this when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord lifts up us.

21:38 This might be strong medicine for some of you, but I came here to let you know that if we are going to really fight with principalities and powers from wicked places, we cannot do it from a place of fear. We have to do it from a place of authority. we have to do it from a place of knowledge oh oh god help me that's it I don't want them to eat from this tree because if they eat from this tree they'll surely die they won't be able to handle what it means to be exposed to good and evil I told you I felt resistance I don't worry about it they won't be able to handle what it means to to experience the good in someone and the evil in someone they won't be able to handle what it means to be exposed to good and evil so God says I'm gonna have to wrap myself in flesh and make a trip down to earth I'm gonna have to leave heaven's habitat to come down into earth to straighten out what started in the garden because who I have decided are my My people cannot live in a position of fear.

22:57 So I'm going to have Jesus come to walk a perfect life in front of them. A perfect life that understands what it's like to live in the intersection of good and evil. You see, we're living in an intersection right now of good and evil. And when we live in an intersection of good and evil, we can wonder to ourselves, God, how am I supposed to show up? God, what is my response going to be? But God says, I am going to give you the mentality necessary to navigate the intersection that you live. And I wish I could say this real good.

23:32 Eating from that tree. Put them in an intersection. And now I have the knowledge of good and evil. The only problem is that my knowledge of good and evil and God's knowledge of good and evil are completely different. Which is why he didn't want me to have the knowledge in the first place. because if I am honest, sometimes I can't tell what's good and I can't tell what's evil. God says that that's why this knowledge is reserved for me because I am not fooled when evil comes disguised as good you can be fooled by that but God says I can't be fooled by that that's why you need the spirit of God on the inside of you because the spirit of God will have you looking at something that looks good and everybody else will say yes to it but because I have the spirit of God on the inside of me, I know that evil knows how to come disguised as good. Isn't that how the serpent got the woman in the garden in the first place? He made what was evil look good.

24:32 yeah so the Spirit of God oh I'm all over the place with my notes the Spirit of God gives me discernment so that I can understand what I'm actually supposed to do in any given moment because all of us know about those moments where something seemed like it would be good and we found out later that it was evil people don't just experience substance abuse it starts off good y'all don't want to have real conversation with me in here but if we were talking real in this place we would acknowledge that people have substance abuse issues not because they're bad people but because most of the time they were looking for an escape that felt good and the enemy tempted them Well, see, and that's why you need to tell your testimony.

25:33 Because if you don't tell your testimony, somebody else will eat from the same fruit you thought was good, only to find out it was evil. I know you don't want nobody to know what you went through. I know you want us to believe that you woke up one day and had your life all together. But you were doing so at the risk of someone eating from a fruit that looks good for wisdom, but turns out to be detrimental to their destiny. See, because if we were really talking in this room, we would talk about those moments where we ate from the forbidden fruit and surely something in us died. I Thought it was good But then I found out it was evil. I thought it was gonna be good for me, but it ended up breaking me I thought it was gonna be good for me, but it was really just good for my pride It was really just good for my ego It was really just good for a moment and it just kept getting worse and worse And isn't it ironic that the thing that was actually good for me is the thing that I called evil because it required humility, because it required honesty, because it required I be accountable to someone else.

26:51 And when we ate from that fruit that we thought was good and turned out to be evil, we started knowing things that we wish we could unknow. And we got exposed to things that we wish we could have never seen. But the thing about surely dying is that everywhere there was a sure death, there's also the potential for resurrecting power.

27:22 So when we talk about God restoring what the locusts have eaten, we're not saying that it didn't get ate up. We're just saying God restored me in such a way that even though I know some things I shouldn't know, He still positioned me in such a way that I could come back to life and live again. Oh, I wish I could say this. You sit next to somebody who has died a thousand deaths. You sit next to somebody who knows a thing or two about eating from forbidden fruit, having their heart be broken into a thousand people, having their lives be completely rearranged. But God, who was rich in mercy, stepped into the middle of their circumstance. And what the enemy meant for evil, God turned it for good. I should have been dead. I shouldn't have hope.

28:14 I shouldn't have peace. I shouldn't have joy. Because I know the things I did. And I know I wasn't worthy. And I know I didn't do it the right way. But he brought me back to life. That thing did kill me. It didn't almost kill me. It did kill me. I lost my hope. I lost my peace. I lost my joy. So when I say hallelujah, I'm saying hallelujah in my grave clothes. I'm saying hallelujah from a place of resurrecting power. You think I'm still here because I didn't die. I know that I'm only here because he brought me back. No, no, no, I wish I had some people in this room who knew a thing or two about being the walking dead. I know a thing or two. some things didn't almost kill me some things took me out you only thought that I held it together you didn't see how it kept me up at night you didn't see who I lost along the way you didn't see the pieces of myself that I thought I'd never get back then I woke up one morning and joy was knocking at my door. I woke up one morning and peace was knocking at my door, not because I earned it, but because I serve a God who knows how to tell the difference between good and evil.

29:47 Even when I didn't know the difference, God preserved the definition for me and he kept me alive so that I could testify to somebody in this room that it may look good, but it don't mean that it is good and sometimes the things that are good are the things that take work to do but if you put in the work when all is said and done you'll see that he was working it out for you good i don't know who you are in this room but i hear god saying when you were saying late in the midnight hour that you didn't realize it's midnight somewhere baby i'm getting ready turn it around right now The enemy meant it for evil. Maraning Sorry this is what the enemy doesn't want you to know the enemy doesn't want you to know that the Spirit of God can give you wisdom to discern good and evil because if you can't discern good from evil he can keep tricking you but when you have discernment you can see the enemy even when something looks good He is depending on your definition of good and evil being limited. God help me.

31:25 So Jesus comes. I almost named this Set the Record Straight. Oh, I don't even know how to get there. Jesus comes, and he brings us back into reconciliation with God. Let me give you the foundation of what our religion is. We believe in God. and when God created humanity he creates a garden for them to live in and he wants to dwell with his creation with nothing in the way I want to dwell with you I want to abide with you so that even when you don't have knowledge you have access to my knowledge you don't have to know everything because i'm with you walking in the cool of the garden that's the real tragedy of what happens with eve is when she eats from the fruit she is eating from a fruit that she thought would make her wise the enemy tempted her with something she already had access to she would just have to depend on god and not herself to do it and sometimes our sin is birthed from our desire for self-sufficiency instead of god dependency because she wanted to have all the answers now instead of depending on god that's why you can't say if i was in the garden i would have never done that because you're doing it now you want all the answers now you would bypass the process now but god says you don't need all the answers if you have me because if you have me you have everything you need I'm just a phone call away at the very mention of my name I can show up in your circumstance and so she eats from the fruit and sin enters the world and good and evil however it is defined by mankind enters the world so Jesus comes the only begotten of the father and he comes to bring us back in reconciliation

33:36 with God. He's crucified on the cross putting sin to death. That barrier that kept us from having access to God, it died on the cross. And now we are reconciled with God. What does it mean that I am reconciled with God? It means I got access again. It means that where I used to have a barrier, where there used to be a wall, now I have access. And God says, I'm not finished there. Not only did I put death on the cross and put sin on the cross I'm also going to give you my spirit I'm going to give you the Spirit of God to dwell on the inside of you and the Spirit of God is going to teach you and comfort you and guide you and it's going to give you access to my mind so in first Corinthians 2 and 9 I'm all over the place but stick with me in first Corinthians 2 and 9 we get access and an understanding of what it means to have the Spirit of God we hear it all the time I has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him but God has revealed them to us wait a minute eyes haven't seen it ears haven't heard it but I can still access it he's revealed them to us through his spirit for the spirit searches all things yes the deep things of God continue for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God so when I have the Spirit of God I have access to the mind of God. Having, being filled with the Holy Spirit is more than just speaking in tongues and shouting.

35:29 that's one expression of it but the real power of having the Spirit of God is that I have access to the mind of God and because I have access to the mind of God I can navigate the world differently I see evil where everyone else sees good I can see good where no one else can see it that's why some people are called into some communities and other people are not because God can place you in certain industries in certain communities because he's given you the ability to see good in that community where other people see evil and we need the mind of God now more than ever as we are inundated day in and day out with all types of wickedness and evilness we have the power and authority to step into situations, to step into circumstances armed with the mind of God. And the mind of God gives me strategy on how to handle what I'm standing in front of.

36:33 I don't know who you are in this room, but I hear God saying that for where you're headed, you cannot have your mentality. For the child that you're raising, you cannot have your mentality. For the thing that God has called you to build, you cannot have your mentality. Maybe that's why Paul says in Romans 12, to not be conformed to this world. but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. You need to have a mentality for where God wants to take you, and that mentality needs to look like what God said.

37:17 You're going to need the mind of God. To navigate artificial intelligence, you're going to need the mind of God. To build this business, you're going to need the mind of God. To be in this economy, you're going to need the mind of God. if you're going to over let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus if you're going to overcome the depression if you're going to overcome the anxiety if you're going to go to war with suicidal thoughts you're going to need to have the mind of God what does it mean to have the mind of God the mind of God fears no evil the mind of God is not intimidated by other people's success the mind of God doesn't care who's in power or authority you speak the truth anyway the mind of God knows that you can touch people who other people thought were untouchable. The mind of God calls you holy. The mind of God pushes back shame. The mind of God doesn't work in condemnation, and you need the mind of God for this season of your life. So I got to be transformed by the renewing of my mind so that I do not stumble or cause someone else to stumble.

38:23 Or to think that I am speaking the oracles of God in this season just because I was in another season. I wish I could say that real good. But that takes us back to our text. where we see Peter, who knew that Jesus was the Messiah earlier on. But later on in the text, the same man has a different mentality. Oh, I feel some oil on that. Same man, different mentality. Same man was in the flow. Same man did understand what God was doing. Nothing to indicate that something shifted. But something shifted where he was no longer flowing in the same mentality.

39:23 Who are you? in this room. You're the same person, but your mentality has shifted. you were once mindful of the things of God, but something shifted. And you're doing something that feels good and looks good and sounds good, but you haven't qualified, is it really good? This is not the message I thought I was preaching. This feels prophetic. that God is calling someone to examine their current mentality, to make sure that it is aligned with what he's actually doing in the earth.

40:27 Because if your mentality is not aligned, you will think that you are building and serving the kingdom, but you're actually standing in the way of what God really wants to happen. Peter thinks he's saying something good, but he doesn't realize that he's being mindful of the things of men. Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. But then he says he's mindful of the things of men, which means there is a connection to being mindful of the things of men and showing up as Satan. listen I do not for one second believe that Jesus was saying that Peter was Satan Jesus was trying to tell him that the source of your information is not coming from God right now even though it sounds good it's coming from Beelzebub and if I don't tell you that then you'll continue to show up in this space but every now and then more than every now and then Every day you ought to be asking God to check my mind because I want to make sure that my mind is in full alignment with the things of God, not the things of men.

41:44 Because we can become mindful of the things of men without even realizing it. It happens so subtly. And I feel this because we are constantly inundated with other people's thoughts. the danger of social media is that we are more connected to other people's thoughts than we have ever been which means we are more mindful of the things of men than we have ever been and if we are not with great intention taking time to examine where my source is coming from then we will not be able to accurately determine what is good and what is evil. And so Jesus says this to Peter. And when I look at Romans 12 and 2, and the process of being transformed by the renewing of our mind, and even in 1 Corinthians 2, 9 through 16, and I look at the process of what happens when we receive the Spirit of God, I see an opportunity for us to be more introspective.

42:54 Now that you know. now that you know that you live in an intersection where it's difficult to determine what's good and what's evil now that you know that it's going to require the spirit of God for you to have your mind anchored appropriately for who you are called to be oh I wish that there's something about this word Thank you. that's it when the woman reaches for the fruit before she ever eats from the fruit hallelujah she looks at the fruit and it says that she saw that it was good and appealing and one to make one that could make you wise which means that before she ever sinned in action that it started in her mind. Even when she explains to God what happened, she tells him that the serpent deceived me. If you look at that word deceived in the Hebrew, it's like a word that means seduction, that the serpent seduced my mind and made me believe something that wasn't true, which means that she was under the influence when she reached for the tree. I believe prophetically that this is a time for us to be more sober and diligent than we have ever been before. I came here to let somebody know that you've got to be serious about what you allow to live in your mind.

44:31 I came here to let you know that now is the time. If you're going to ask God for a God idea, if you're going to ask God to awaken your purpose, if you're going to ask God for your role in saving a generation, I am telling you that he's going to first start with your mind because until your mind is right, your actions cannot be trusted. But when you have a mind that searches the mind of God, God can trust your feet and places where you could never even dream of because eyes haven't seen nor ears have heard. Neither has it entered into the hearts of men. The things that God has for you, God has something for you, but you cannot get it with this mentality. It's going to require you to change your mind. I dare you to put your hand on your mind and give God permission right now to change my mentality. I don't want to be mindful of the things of men.