Subtle Until Suddenly - Sarah Jakes Roberts

1:11 I'm in Acts 17. If you'd like to take notes, the topic that God has given me is subtle until suddenly. Subtle until suddenly. We are in Acts 17. If you have your Bible, say, I got my Bible. You got your real Bible? I'm not saying y'all phone not a real Bible, but I'm just, I'm going to give you those who got the words that you got to flip through, I'm going to give you some time to get to Acts 17. And for those of you who have an app, I'm going to get you time to close out of Instagram. That's a distraction. Don't check your mail. Make your way to Acts 17. I say this all the time, but I've been using my physical Bible for a few years now. I've gotten into the habit of using my phone. And you know, I grew up, we were forced to go to vacation Bible school and you knew the books that are Bible and you have Bible trivia and you flip the Bible open. Chad, I must have went to go look for something one day and couldn't remember it. But I said, I need to bring my Bible out because technology is trying to ruin my witness. So I like bringing my words so that I can just continue to really develop in the Lord and know where I want to find what I'm looking for when I'm looking for what I'm looking for. Amen. Somebody caught that in the spirit. For context, the year most theologians believe that this has taken place is 50 AD. Paul, who will be our communicator of God's truth for this morning, has left Macedonia and he's made his way to a town called Thessalonica. Thessalonica is the town in which the letters that are written to the Thessalonians, this is their city. And Thessalonica is a place that is religiously diverse.

3:11 All of the Roman Empire was religiously diverse. They had pagan gods. They were polytheistic. And so it wasn't uncommon for them to serve many different gods. There was Zeus, who they believed was one of the gods. And there was Dionysus. There were many, many gods. And then they also worshipped the emperor. And so there are all of these different religions. And I give you that context to understand. And sometimes we're so used, especially in America, though we have people watching from all over the world, to Christianity being the dominant religion. But at this time in 50 AD, it is not the dominant religion. As a matter of fact, some would call it a mystery religion because it wasn't like any of the pagan worship that the Romans were used to at that time. And so when we find Paul in the text, he is beginning to evangelize about Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the chosen one, the king of kings. To say that he was the king of kings when there was a Roman emperor who was supposed to be the only king was a dangerous thing to say, but he's saying it anyway.

4:18 And he left Macedonia in which he cast out a spirit out of a girl. And when he cast the spirit out of the girl, it caused an issue within Macedonia. so he ended up being beaten and imprisoned. And yet he is in Thessalonica doing the same thing that got him in trouble in Acts 16. It says, then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures. He's gone into the synagogues in Thessalonica. And he is explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead and saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded and a great multitude of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas. But the Jews who were not persuaded becoming envious, they're envious because he's converting those who were non-believers and those who were Jews into believers of the way. They went and they grabbed some of the evil men from the marketplace and gathering a mob set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason. That's where they felt like the apostles were staying and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason, because if we can't get you, we'll take whoever's connected to you, and some brethren to the rulers of the city crying out, these who have turned the world upside I down have come here too.

6:08 Spirit of the living God, I need you. I ask that you would rest in me, God. That you would allow me to become one with you, that I may deliver only what you desire to be said. I've done my studying, but this is your people. This is your moment. And so I ask that you would align my heart with what you want to see happen in this room. And God, I pray that you would open the hearts of those who are meant to receive what is in this room. That just for a moment you would silence doubt, worry, and distraction. And that you would allow them to receive from you. That it would be healing. That it would be challenging. That it would be transforming. And I thank you, God, that as you do that, that we will be radically changed to go out into the world and be like these who turn the world upside down. Have your way in this room as only you can do.

7:08 In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. You can be seated. Say something nice to the person before you're sitting down. Let's go to work. I hear you. Here we go. You know, this weekend we had Make It Last. Make It Last was phenomenal. And Make It Last was our marriage weekend, though we have marriage community groups and ways for married couples to be encouraged throughout the year. Make It Last was just a weekend where you could come together and have fun and hear from other married couples in different seasons and stages of life. And it falls on Valentine's Day weekend, which is a time where we begin to reflect about relationships and love. And most of the time, it's romantic relationships. But I feel like for me, I try to consider the different expressions of love that exist in my life, even outside of romantic love.

8:04 Though my man, my man, my man, my man. Okay. And one of the things that I have had to recognize about myself in the pursuit of relationships is that I, the way that my mind works is that I really desire to get to know a person so that I can know what to expect from that person. I think that that is the the dance of relationships It's trying to figure out who are you? What can I expect what I shouldn't expect from you and once I know that I know the best way to engage And I feel like that dynamic of my personality is part of what made my relationship with God so complicated growing up Is because I was trying to figure out what to expect from God You know, there's such a complex nature of his being.

8:58 He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, but who he is in his essence, I didn't always understand. It's almost like, you know how you meet someone and it seems like they have like an attitude? Like, you got you a little spicy. And then you spend a little bit more time with them and you're like, oh, that's just how they are. You know, there are some people in our life, it's just how they are. We recognize that maybe they're boisterous, and at first it takes us by surprise, but then we realize, oh, that's just how they are. When we are able to create a baseline for the people who we engage with, we know what to expect from them. But what do you do when you can't create a baseline for God? if we restricted God to our paradigms on how people show up we would be in trouble because his methods are often changing not his essence but his method that means that if we were to take this idea that he only communicates through bushes because we saw him communicate with Moses through a bush anytime we drive by a bush we'd be looking at a bush oh well that's what I've come to do to expect from you. And I think that that is the beauty of God is that he never wants us to just be able to expect the same thing from him from season to season. We have to keep our relationship with him sharp. Because if I expect him to speak from a bush, I may miss the moment where he's actually calling me to the mountain. I want to speak to you from the mountain. This time it's not from the bush. Adam and Eve must have only perceived him to be a creator God because he created the heavens and the earth and he created me. They didn't know that he's not just the creator God, but he's also the communion God. That means that when the serpent came to Eve and asked her, did God really say she had the opportunity to ask God herself, but she must have only seen him in one capacity. Because sometimes we create a baseline for who God is, and then we limit him

11:05 to that baseline. It's no wonder then why sometimes there were people in scripture who didn't always know how to expect God. They didn't know how to perceive God. They found out after the fact that they were talking to God. I'm thinking about Mary Magdalene, who the last time she saw Jesus, he was beaten and on the cross. And then she sees him after the resurrection, and he doesn't look like what she thought he was going to look like. It wasn't until after that she realized that she was actually talking to Jesus because the last time I saw you, you were here, but now you've changed your expression. We don't get to create a baseline for Jesus. We got to stay flexible and sensitive and nimble enough to understand that he could show up anyway, in any form. Let's take that Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 and 8, you've heard it said before, but I want to read it to you with this perspective in mind.

12:04 Isaiah 55 and 8 says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. That word ways is a Hebrew word that means derech. It is from 1869 and it means it is a road or a course of life or a mode of action. So the text is saying to us that the road that I take is not the road that you would take. That my course of action is not always your course of action. Which means that if you are going to walk with the Lord, and we always talk about let go and let God, I have to let go of this idea that it has to go my way.

12:59 Oh, I wish I could say that real good. Everybody says let go and let God, but nobody really talks about what that means. I'm going to tell you what it means. To let go and to let God means that I'm going to let go of this idea that it has to go my way so that I can be open to the way that you want to take, so that I can be open to the course of action that you want to see happen. I'm going to let go of it going my way. That means that my baseline for trusting God is not necessarily limiting him to showing up in one way. My spirit has been trained to know that he's going to show up. And my mind knows that I may not know how he's going to show up. Oh, I wish I could say that real good. I don't question whether or not he's coming. I'm sensitive to see how he's going to come. One thing about him that I know is that my God is on the way. As a matter of fact, my God's not just on the way. He's already in the midst. I may miss him if I'm looking for him in a bush, but I know he's already in the midst.

14:01 So I got to let go of this idea that you were going to show up a certain way so that I can be sensitive enough to see how you're showing up right now. You are never outside of the presence of God. You are never outside of the will of God. If you are willing to fix your sensitivity to say, I know the will of God is running adjacent to my will. So I'm laying down my will and stepping into his will. And now I'm exploring what his will looks like. What does it look like for you to restore me? What does it look like for you to heal me? What does it look like for me to see how you're going to show up in this season? I hear God saying prophetically that I changed the road that somebody's been taken. and they didn't realize because they thought I was going to keep them on a certain path. But I changed my course of action. But I didn't change my mind about who you are. I didn't change my essence. I'm still good.

14:52 Even if I change the road, it don't mean that I change my essence. I'm still good. I'm still faithful. I still have a desire to bring you to an expected end. Just because I changed the road doesn't mean I changed the destination. I got a million ways to get you there. That word that I said, I don't know who you are. but I feel it prophetically. You were going down a certain path and you thought to yourself, this is the path that leads to the thing that everything God said. Then all of a sudden, there seems like there's been a detour. But like any good detour, it may change the way you thought you were going to go, but it doesn't change the destination that you're headed to. You may take a little bit longer than you thought. It may happen with a different set of friends. It may not happen with a partner, but it does not change the destination. I want you to rebuke the mentality that a detour is a cancellation of your destiny. I came to speak to somebody's spirit in this room to remind you that I may change the course of action, but I didn't change the destination.

15:57 I don't know whose word that is, but I'm going to give you five seconds to worship into it before the enemy tries to come and snatch it from you. Because sometimes we let the word go in one ear and out the other, but I'm going to give you five seconds to worship the God of detours, the God who took your path and made it merge with his path. He had to detour the road you were taking because the road you were taking had some potholes along the way. The road you were taking was going to bust you up. God says, I got to detour this way so your heart won't get broken in the process, so you don't catch a disease, so you don't end up aligned with the wrong people. I got to detour your path because you would have settled for less than what I had for you. I had to detour your path so that you could see that I could still be with you, even if your friends left you, even if you had to bury your mother.

16:54 I had to detour your plan so that I could reveal my faithfulness to you. Sometimes we thank him for making a way out of nowhere. I thank him for detouring my way. I thank you for changing my path. So the job of us as believers is to expand our mentality to make room for the endless possibilities of what God can do. expand my mentality for the endless possibilities of what you can do in this season grieve it if you have to not asking you to spiritually bypass it grieve it you wanted things to be a certain way admit that oh because that'll keep distance in your relationship with God. Y'all not passive aggressive, but people who watch online, when things don't go their way, they don't just say, they don't just say it, but it shows up passive aggressively. And sometimes we can be passive aggressive in our relationship with God. I'm here, but I don't trust you fully because things didn't go my way.

18:24 I'm here. I'm still showing up. Maybe I'm watching online. I'm kind of, I'm one foot in, one foot out because some things happened that set my spirit back. You have to acknowledge that you were grieving, that things did not go the way that you anticipated so that God can meet you in the space of your grief and order your steps to the space of his grace. If I didn't say nothing else, we could say the benediction and leave. Because the enemy will get you trapped in regret and remorse and distrust and create distance in your relationship with God. You must find a way to unlock the limits that you have placed on God's potential. Oh, if you're taking notes, I need you to write that down.

19:22 You must find a way to unlock the limits that you have placed on God's potential. Part of the reason why you need to do this is because it does not just limit you. It doesn't just limit him, it limits you. because if you cannot unlock the limit on God's potential, you will never fully unlock the limits on your potential. Can we go to John? I want to go to John chapter 5 verses 19 through 20. in John chapter 5 verses 19 through 20 they're upset with Jesus because he's healing on the Sabbath and he's making himself equal with God they're trying to figure out who he is and how he's doing what he's doing and he says most assuredly I say to you the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the father do. For whatever he does, the son also does in a like manner. I only do what I see my father in heaven do. And then it says, for the father loves the son and shows him all the things that he himself does. That means that Jesus has such a close and intimate relationship with God that he understands the capacity of God's potential in any given moment.

20:55 and because he understands the capacity of God's potential in any given moment, he is aligned so perfectly that his potential has become God's potential. I wish I could say that real good. That means I only see what I see my Father in heaven do because my Father has shown me some things, because I was willing to take the limits off of what God could do. Jesus understood the fullness of who God was. This is why he is our model and our example. He understands the fullness of what God can do and because he understands the fullness of what God can do, he operates in the fullness of that knowledge. And when you operate in the fullness of that knowledge, it disrupts other people. It irritates other people because they want you to stay limited to a certain version of what they understand. But you see, I'm not trying to do you. I'm trying to do him. I only do what I see. I only do what I see my father in heaven do. See, that's what we need to understand. When we have a generation of people who we're trying to emulate and imitate, that's where we miss the mark because we make them our idol. They are not your idol. I don't care how good they look on Instagram.

22:06 I don't care how good they do what they do. Can't nobody do what God has called you to do but you, and you can't do what God has called you to do looking at them. If you're going to do what God has called you to do, you will have to look to Him because I got to be so aligned with Him. That's a good word to me. Oh, that's a good word to me because it speaks to what's possible when we are aligned fully with who we know God is. Oh, if you know who your God is, you'll never doubt who you are.

22:54 If you know who your God is, you'll never doubt what God can do through you because you'll know he's not doing it with me. He's doing it through me. Oh, the word comes through me. The execution comes through me. I couldn't do it in my own strength, but God is working through me. My potential became his potential. Oh God, I wish I could say this real good. Me and my own strength, I have no potential to heal. I have no potential to deliver, but because I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and he is the way, the truth, and the life, it expanded my capacity. You're right to have imposter syndrome because there are some things you could never do in your own strength, but when the King of Kings stepped down on the inside of you, he said, where you're an imposter, I can be the real deal, and together me and you could shake things up. So when you read this book, make sure that you unlock the potential of who your God is so that you can unlock the potential of what you can do in the earth.

24:09 This is not just religion. Miss me with religion. We've had enough of it. It has gotten on enough people's nerves. I need some people in this room who want to be in relationship with God. I want to know your heart. I want to know your ways. I want to know what's possible when I'm in relationship with you. I want to know your faithfulness. Oh, let me tell you, I'm supposed to move on, but I feel this. I hear God saying that if you would start praying to know his ways, that he will show you how to navigate the multiple ways in front of you.

24:55 We're in Texas. You're watching online. We're in Texas. I'm going to tell you something. you get on the Texas highway you got to have the Holy Ghost they're not in church because they saved, they're in church because they got to get on Texas highways when they leave here. And when you get on the Texas highways, there's so many different ways that you could take that if you don't know where you're headed and you don't have somebody telling you how to get there, you could end up lost. But if you know where you're supposed to go and you have the right navigator in your head, you don't have to worry about missing an exit because I got the right person leading and ordering my steps. I hear God saying that what you see in the physical, it is what is happening in the spiritual. And there are people in this room who do not know which way to take. And I hear God saying, stop asking me which way to take and just start asking me for my way.

25:51 Because if you ask me for my way, all the other ways will fade away. And it will be clear that there's only one thing. That's what I speak prophetically over whoever is in this room. that God would make clear to you the path in which you are supposed to take in this season. Do I leave or do I go? Do I register or do I take a nap? I pray that God would make that path clear to you. The moment you begin praying, God, what is your way? I pray that the doors start flying open. I pray that some doors start closing so that you understand without a shadow of a doubt, I am exactly where God has called me to be. You think I'm in Dallas because I didn't have nowhere else to be? I am in Dallas because I kept praying. God, do you want me to go back home or do you want me to stay in Los Angeles? And when I stopped praying, God, just make me comfortable. And instead start saying, God, show me your way. It became increasingly clear that the next dimension of my destiny would be unlocked at 6777 West Keith Boulevard.

26:54 I said, but God, Bishop Jake's preached there. Don't nobody in their right mind want to preach in the same place every Sunday? where Bishop Jakes preached, God said, if you get in my way, it won't matter who came before you. It won't matter who came after you. I will anoint you and appoint you for such a time as this. I want you to live for an audience of one. I am not living to feel God's, to feel that man's footsteps. I'm living to take the ordered steps of the Lord. And Lord, if you take me to Dallas, I'm going and if you take me to Miami I'm going wherever you take me if I got to leave some people behind if I got to change what makes me comfortable wherever you leave me wherever you got me whatever you say God I'm gonna do it because I trust your ways over my ways I did it my way I needed a treat I needed to sense I did it my way it left me dead it left me broken but here I am With resurrected power Yeah.

28:00 Yeah. Okay. So, uh, I wasn't supposed to say that, but I guess the Holy Ghost needed somebody to know. that what he starts cannot be stopped. what he starts cannot be stopped. This is not in my notes, but I hear God saying, I didn't take you backwards. Man, I don't know who you are. And maybe because it's telling, I'm telling my own story. But I thought, God, are you taking me backwards by taking me back to Dallas? And I hear God saying, I would never take you backwards. I only go from glory to glory to glory.

28:54 There's something in this season of your life that is meant to make you look more like God, not more like man. You don't need to be more popular. You don't need no more money. God says, if you seek ye first the kingdom of God and all other righteousness, I'll take care of the rest. God, what is happening in my life that you want to make me look more like you, make me take more like you? And I can't do that.

29:29 Thank you. Okay. Here's the thing. Because there are moments where God's way confuses us for a minute. Everyone, we talk about Abraham and Isaac. When we talk about Abraham and Isaac, we're like, God, can't believe that you would ask him to sacrifice his only son. And we talk about it like the faith that it took for him to give up his only son. And that's like one way to look at it. But if you look at it within context, what is most perplexing about God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son is not because he loved him so much.

30:27 It's because child sacrifice looked like an ancient near Eastern religion where child sacrifice was normalized. So why would you call me out of my father's house and into a new country just to do something that looks similar to what you called me out of? Oh, I wish I could say that. The sacrifice wasn't a problem. It's that I stepped into something new. But now it looks like you're calling me into something familiar. The test of faith was if I called you back to something I called you out of, would you still trust me and my ways in the middle of what looked like you going backwards? I don't know who you are, but I'm reading your mail.

31:18 Because it feels like you've been going backwards. you trusted God, you obeyed God, but now it looks like you're getting called back into something he called you out of. Faithfulness is not just for the moments when things are going your way. Can you be faithful? Can you trust him? Can you still believe him? When it looks like things are shifting in a direction you didn't anticipate.

31:58 So I have spent my time, especially more so recently, fascinated by the ways of God. Trying to stretch my mind to understand the different ways he shows up in scripture. The different ways that he communicates. communicates, the different ways that he engages with his people. And in the process of studying God's ways, I noticed something that was a little perplexing at first because you know how my mind works. I wanted to say, okay, that's who you are and lock him in there. But I noticed that God is the God of both suddenly and subtly. Moses is minding his business. And all of a sudden, a bush is consumed with fire suddenly.

32:56 Because that's the kind of God we serve. We serve a suddenly God. Mary, for some reason, is minding her business. Then suddenly, an angel of the Lord appears to God. And I love this attribute of God because it says to me that God can just interrupt the program. we don't know who Abraham is we don't know why he chose Abraham we just know that suddenly he says to Abraham get out of your father's house and out of your country to a land that I will show suddenly he shows up and and I would say well maybe he's just the God of suddenly in scripture but I have been in rooms where there has been sudden deliverance where someone came in addicted and suddenly God showed up and took the addiction out of their mouth where hands were laid upon them and suddenly someone was delivered. He is the God of suddenly and you got to know that in your relationship with him because you got to know at any given moment this could change. He is the God of suddenly. That means I'm going my path but I'm also prepared for change to happen at any given moment because he is the God of suddenly.

34:07 But he's also the God of subtly, which means that there are moments where he moves obviously loud and intensely. And then there are moments where he moves subtly. Elijah was going through a difficult season. If he was living in this modern culture, we would say he was going through a depression. he was on the top of the mountain one day and on the run the next and he was used to big grand gestures from God he needed a touch from God in that moment and in that moment there was an earthquake but my bible says I'm not in an earthquake and then there was a wind that came a violent wind he said no no no no I'm not in the wind because I'm looking for big gestures from God and then there was a fire and certainly Elijah must have thought he must be in the fire but no no no my bible says he wasn't in the fire he was in a still small voice so as much as Elijah knew him as the God of suddenly he had to learn that he was also the God of suddenly what does this mean to you as a believer it means that there are moments where we are looking for God to do something big and intense and loud and noticeable to remind us that he is with us and we miss that he is with us because he's not doing it in the suddenly way that we anticipated. He's doing subtly in ways that we miss. When the King of Kings was born, he was born in a manger in Bethlehem because God is the God of suddenly and subtly. He was raised in Nazareth and in a place where someone said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

36:09 but God used subtle movement in order to help us cultivate proximity and intimacy with him so that we have to be intentional about leaning in to the endless possibilities of how God could do something that means right now in your midst God is either moving suddenly or subtly you understand? So maybe part of what we pray tonight is God help me to not miss the subtle ways that you're showing up in my life. Help me to not miss the subtle ways in which you're transforming me. Because the same way I have seen instantaneous deliverance, I have seen subtle deliverance. I don't know who this is for I love that God told me to tell you this sometimes we think that if we aren't delivered suddenly that there's something wrong with us but if we had testimony service in this church there would be some people in this room who told you my deliverance didn't happen overnight like it did for some people as a matter of fact I kind of thought that it wasn't working at all, but some kind of way I looked up and I just wasn't who I thought I was anymore. It just happened subtly. I once was blind, but now I see, but I can't tell you the defining moment when my life changed. I just know that there was momentum. There were subtle moments along the way until I was completely transformed. It happened subtly and the enemy will make you think that slow progress is no progress. But I hear God saying, I don't care how you're delivered. It could happen subtly.

37:53 It can happen subtly. All that matters to me is that who the son has set free gets free. Indeed, you may have to go to therapy to get rid of that depression. For you, it may not happen with the laying on of hands, but just because the laying on of hands didn't kick that devil out doesn't mean that that devil doesn't have an eviction notice. When you settle in your spirit that I can't keep living the way I'm living. I got to change everything around me until I get the deliverance that I know God has for me. Oh. man subtly over suddenly receive that you're changing subtly i know you wanted it suddenly but in this season there are subtle changes that are taking place and those subtle changes still matter those subtle changes still lead to deliverance those subtle changes still lead to new life. If you're writing down notes, I want you to write this down. Suddenly builds momentum for suddenly.

39:05 a lot of times we say that people are like overnight successes but we only think they're overnight successes because we didn't see the subtle moments that led to the big moments oh i wish i could say that real good the reason why people were so perplexed about jesus being the king of kings is because they thought he's going to come in on the chariot it'll make a big loud noise. Everyone will know it was him, but it happened so subtly that they didn't realize that there was going to be a moment when he turned 30 years old and they would realize that the King of Kings has been within my proximity for 30 years. I just didn't realize that he was who he was. And then suddenly he steps into ministry and demons start trembling and disease gets out of the way because what happened subtly built momentum for suddenly moments. suddenly builds momentum for suddenly. That means that if you cannot do it with intensity, but you can do it suddenly, it can still lead to sudden momentum.

40:14 The woman with the issue of blood, she touches the hem of his garment. And when she touches the hem of his garment, it says that the flow of blood stopped immediately. It seemed suddenly. But when Jesus has a dialogue, a communication with the woman, what we learn is that what happened suddenly was actually building momentum suddenly to the moment she touched the hem. How do we know this? Because Jesus goes out of his way to let her know that it wasn't the touch that healed you. It was your faith.

40:53 Faith is not built suddenly. faith is built subtly for 12 years she had a flow of blood but she also must have had a momentum of faith being built i don't know who you are but i hear god saying i've been building your faith subtly so that when it's time for you to touch you'll step into it suddenly let's take five seconds and praise god for that my faith is being built subtly for the moment that i step into it suddenly it's happened suddenly he's building my faith suddenly I'm learning to trust you more and more I'm learning to believe in you more and more I'm learning to use my voice more and more and when God opens that window of opportunity other people will think it will happen overnight but me and God will know that I've been building this for decades I've been building this for a long time I've been suddenly changing my spirit I've been suddenly changing my diet I've been suddenly changing what my intake is Settle. My faith is being built subtly. No big gestures, just me in my prayer closet.

42:08 No big gestures, just me in worship. Subtly, he's changing me. Subtly, he's transforming me. I don't talk the way I used to talk. I don't walk the way I used to walk. And it didn't just happen in a moment. It happened subtly. My husband, I'm not on social media, so my husband showed me the revival that's taking place at SEU. There's a revival taking place where students are worshiping and repenting and calling on the name of Jesus. And one of the representatives of the campus put a video up. Thank you, Jesus. Put a video up on social media. And on the video everyone's trying to figure out how did this happen? What did you do? Because it just happened out of nowhere. What'd you do? What'd you do? And he said we've been praying for this.

43:05 This didn't just happen. He said we've been praying for revival to come. Oh God. When revival hits our nation people will be wondering where did this come from? We didn't see it coming. The headlines were saying that the nation was headed in this direction. The headlines were saying that the globe was headed in this direction. But there will be some intercessors who know that what happens in this nation did not happen overnight. It happened because there was somebody in their prayer class. I want to talk to somebody who's raising children and you've been waiting for that moment where they stepped into who God knows they can be. I came here to tell you as a living witness that all of a sudden I came to myself I know my mother had been praying. I know my father had been bleeding the blood of Jesus. And all of a sudden what they had been praying for suddenly, I stepped into a suddenly moment. Let this be a word to you.

44:02 As you build that business, as you grow that ministry, as you raise those babies, that it may be subtle at first. But when God gets finished with it, it will be undeniable that I am not just the God of overnight. I am the God of subtlety as well. God, just learn your lessons. Talk your talk. Walk your walk. If they don't see it, it don't matter. This is between me and you, God. It may be subtle right now. Oh, okay.

44:41 Can I tell you what I hear in the spirit? Hear God saying that this message is building steadily. But there's going to be a sudden moment in this room. And when that sudden moment hits this room, I hear God saying anyone who has an ear to hear, better make sure that they align their spirit with what takes place in this room. Because I hear God saying I'm raising you up. Huh.

45:13 So, if suddenly builds momentum for suddenly, and I see it in scripture, and I see it in my own life, there is another truth that I must accept. And that is this, that suddenly moments are sustained subtly. See, this is where a lot of us miss out on being on relationship with God. Because we're so, I'm going to use the word addicted, to suddenly moments. That if it's not sudden, we don't take care of it. So subtle builds momentum to suddenly. But then suddenly moments are sustained subtly.

46:11 Okay, I'll prove it to you. So let's go back to the woman with the issue of blood. We have this woman with the issue of blood whose faith built momentum for when she touched the hem of his garment. Y'all know I love this text so much. So she touches the hem of his garment. She goes back into hiding. But the Lord goes out of his way to find her. One, to let her know that it was her faith that actually made her well. But then he says he calls her daughter.

46:45 Now that is a paradigm shift. That is an invitation for the Lord to change her identity. Because as a woman with an issue of blood, she would have been outcast, untouchable, would have had no sense of belonging. but right there in front of everyone thronging him he says I call you daughter because I want to change your identity which means that she's got to go back and take care of what God just said about her so that she doesn't lose it looking for another suddenly moment God gave her homework I want you to step into the identity of a daughter I hear God saying that too many of us make the suddenly moments what we long for, and we miss how we're supposed to take care of what God said suddenly, subtly. I wish I could say that. I hope I said that because I don't think I can say it any better than I said it. Stop asking God for another suddenly and ask God, how do I take care of what you just gave me? Listen, how do I nurture what took place suddenly?

48:00 I want to feed into it. I want to take care of it until it becomes a part of my identity because it needs to become a part of my identity because God doesn't just want to give us encounters. God wants us to have transformation and if you're going to have transformation it's not going to be because you sat up and just waited for suddenly suddenly suddenly suddenly it's going to be because suddenly was bridged with suddenly and suddenly was bridged with suddenly over and over again. That means God gave me something and I took care of it and it built momentum for this suddenly. And then I took care of that and it built momentum suddenly with no audience, with no microphone. The most important part of what I do is not when I get up here on Sunday. It's what I do in my prayer closet. When you are not here, when my bonnet is on, when there are no eyelashes, this should be the easy part. If I take care of what I'm supposed to do week in and week out.

49:01 This should be the easy part. When you step into your suddenly moment, you won't be shocked. You won't feel like an imposter. You will know that you are right where you are supposed to be because what I've been doing in quiet has qualified me for what I'm doing in public.

49:22 What I've been doing in private and getting my thoughts together and getting my life together, it qualified me for the moment I stepped in. that would cure so many of us of imposter syndrome if we weren't getting up and faking it until we make it. But if we knew without a shadow of a doubt that I've done everything I can do to make sure that my heart and my words and my language and my friendship and my actions and behaviors are aligned with who I need to be in this moment.

51:35 I am fully who I have the capacity to be. And when God highlights something else that needs to grow and develop in me, I surrender to that because what's more important to me than being known is being aligned. So the suddenly moments are bait to make you hungry for how you take care of what happened suddenly, suddenly. I know this because in Acts 9 when Paul has an encounter on the road to Damascus, he experiences A conversion.

52:20 A conversion is a Latin word that literally means turns towards. And because some of you guys, you've been in church, you've heard this a lot of times, you'll notice that I try to explain things because there's some people who don't have this knowledge. So I want you all to know, and then I have to say it like, I can't say it like academically because we don't have time for that because I ran out of time talking and hooting and hollering with you all. so excuse this breakdown I'm about to give you about Acts 9 but Paul they used to call him Saul Saul was his thug name you understand what I'm saying he was the one and never the two he didn't play when it came to Judaism and he wasn't trying to hear about Jesus he was chief thug it was gang in blood in blood out and he was upset because these Jesus talkers was out here messing with his clique. I said forgive me. So Saul is out here waging war with whoever waging war with his clique.

53:26 So he on the road to Damascus looking for somebody to fight. You know what I'm saying? Who wanted with a boss? You know what I'm saying? Like who? Oh, everything's fine. And all of a sudden, while he was on his way, a light shone from heaven and a voice that only he could hear. and all of a sudden when he was headed one way the spirit of God Jesus himself interrupts his path and he says you've been kicking up against the wrong system I want you to turn in my direction I want you to have a conversion and turn your direction and in an instant suddenly of the day.

54:19 Suddenly he's converted. but he doesn't leave it as suddenly. Galatians tells me in 1 and 17, this is a letter that Paul wrote in Galatians 1 and 17, put it on the screen for me. He says, when I received this touch, I didn't do this. I didn't do that. He said, I didn't go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. He says, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Why does it say that he went to Arabia? It says that he spent three years in Arabia with no one looking and no apostles to, I won't say contaminate, but no apostles to speak into what God did in his life because he was trying to nurture what took place on the road to Damascus. I got to take care of this in a way that no one else could fully understand in a way that no one else could fully speak to because I don't just want to be converted I want to be transformed I'm about to bring it home conversion is when you turn towards but transformation is when you take on a new form and I'm not one of those people who like to talk bad about church because the church saved my life and she is flawed and she got a lot of issues but she's been good to me in some seasons where I couldn't be good to myself so I preface that by saying that there are moments when we have people who have been converted but not transformed which means they have turned to God but they have not been transformed by God Help me say it real good.

56:07 Because they don't nurture what took place. Or as Jesus would say, that they weren't born again. I can turn towards God. But if I don't do the work to be born again, then the Bible, Jesus literally says you cannot see the kingdom of heaven unless you do this work of being born again. And in order to do the work of being born again, you have to submit to a process. Okay. In order to be born again, let's think about birth. That there's a suddenly moment when the baby is born. But what happens suddenly is actually subtle momentum built over a series of weeks. Because Jesus used that analogy, I want to use it with you. If you are going to be born again, there is subtle transformation that must take place in your walk He says if you're going to enter the kingdom of heaven, it's not just enough to be converted You can believe in god, but if you're going to be transformed If you're going to be a part of the kingdom of heaven, you have to be transformed If you're going to be transformed, you have to surrender to a process and then surrendering to a process You have to know that I want to change the way you show up I want to change the way you speak I want to change the way you think perception is experienced through senses i'm about to land and play and i promise perception is experienced through senses so when we talk about being born again we have to realize that god is changing my perception he's changing my heart he's changing my mind he's changing my perception so when jesus blinds paul on the road to damascus It is not coincidental because he wants to change the way he sees.

57:58 because I want to change your perception. I don't just want to convert you because if he just wanted to convert him, he could have had the moment and moved on to somebody else. But he has a strategic assignment in God's kingdom and he cannot do this assignment and stay in the same shape that he was in. So he needs to be transformed. So he goes blind. I want to talk to you a little bit about having the perception of Jesus. Our senses is how we see, it's how we hear, it's how we smell, it's how we touch and taste. Those are our senses. So Jesus, we know, wants to change the way that Paul perceives. Last week, in the last couple of weeks, PT has been talking about seeing. God told me that my assignment is to help you understand that it's not just seeing that is it is a full transformation of all of your senses I want to change the way you see for sure says God but I also want to change what you touch Jesus touched lepers that that was disorienting for traditional Jews because their perception of lepers were that they were untouchable.

59:33 But what Jesus has come to do is to upset the system. And if he's going to upset the system, oh God, help me. he's got to make sure that it is perceived properly who he's come to touch oh god help me to say it real good and he's got disciples watching so he needs the disciples to understand that if you follow in my footsteps there will be things that other people are not willing to touch that i have anointed you to heal and if you are unwilling to touch them then they cannot be healed So if you're going to take on the attributes of God, you can't just see the way that I see. You got to touch the way that I touch. You got to make sure that you got clean hands. Jesus wasn't just touching them to touch them. So God, make my hands clean so that when I'm raising these babies, I can impart healing in their souls. I raised them in a broken home, but they won't have a broken soul because God's going to change the way I touch.

1:00:33 as I'm writing this book and building these businesses. God help me to change the way I touch. He's going to change the way you touch. He touches the lepers. Everyone else saw Zacchaeus and they saw a traitor. He calls him a son of Abraham because he sees differently than most people sees. When the woman was caught in the act of adultery, they said they caught her in the very act, but he heard something that they couldn't hear. He heard the shame that she would experience by being caught in the very act. See, when the Lord changes our perception, where someone else may hear a troubled kid, we hear a cry for help. When the Lord changes our perception, some hear a headline and get afraid, while others hear a headline and decide to start praying because I hear things the way God hears them. God, help me to hear the way that you can hear that I won't just hear a blind man begging on the side of the road.

1:01:30 I'll see a demand for my anointing. Foolish of you to think that we're looking at headlines to be slowed into terror and lulled into fear. You ought to hear something on the news that makes you the God in me has got to stand up because I heard something. God, help me to hear my partner the way that you hear them. God help me to hear my children the way that you hear them I don't want to hear through the lens of my trauma I don't want to hear through the lens of my expectations I don't want to hear through the lens of my fear so much of what we experience in relationships is a result of us hearing, seeing, touching, tasting and smelling with our own senses and not being born again in such a way that we are exchanging our senses for his Jesus touches in a way that people didn't touch he sees in a way that people didn't see that woman at the well she asked for a clap of living he asked her for a taste of water he wasn't interested in water he had a taste for deliverance his taste was different and what he wants to do with Paul is to radically change his senses and that's what he wants to do with us I'm going to show you in Hebrews 5, 13 through 14.

1:02:48 I'm getting to the text. I'm going to get out of here. I promise. Hebrews 5, 13 through 14 says, for everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness. For he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age. How do we know who's of full age? Full age is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and bad. When we exercise our senses, we can discern both good and bad. You want discernment? Look at your senses.

1:03:41 Interrogate them. Am I seeing this right? Am I hearing this right? Or is my brokenness and my ambition blinding me from what this moment is? Paul has a fully embodied faith. This is what I am asking you to make your pursuit as a believer. to have a fully embodied faith that Jesus senses would become your sense. And we see this happen with Paul. We see his sight change. We see his hearing change. He heard Stephen preaching and martyred him. But then he heard the Macedonians calling for his anointing after his conversion. We saw his touch change.

1:04:35 He went from dragging people out of their homes to dragging devils out of people's body. We saw his touch change. And when we find him in the text, Paul has been transformed. He hasn't just been converted. He's been radically transformed. Listen, the reason why we can't just be converted and why we must seek transformation is because when you are transformed, you can't help but be who you are no matter what happens. If we just stop at conversion, we could turn back or away as easily as we turned to God.

1:05:22 And this is why sometimes we have a revolving door relationship with God, because we think he's going to do something. He doesn't do what we think he's going to do, so we leave. But so our relationship with God is more like a genie where we think that he's supposed to do for us instead of recognizing that his desire is truly to transform us. But Paul experiences the full transformation of God. And why is this important? Because his transformation must exist within a context where he will be beaten, imprisoned. God, help me say it real good. His identity is requiring him to walk into certain environments that will not honor who he is. Help me to say it real good, Lord. What God is doing in his life is requiring him to walk into a room where it could be a hostile environment. Some of us are not called to destinies where people are going to welcome us with open arms.

1:06:24 Some of us are called into rooms where they will try and scare us out of position. This may not be for everybody, but there are some people in this room who when you say you want to break a generational curse that has kept your family in bondage for generations, that all hell is going to break out against you. And because you recognize that your identity must exist within a context in which other people will be threatened, that's it. sometimes God calls us into identities where we will be a threat to former systems, to former norms. When God is asking you to do a new thing, it will be a threat to an old thing. And if you have just been converted, you will let the threats run you out of position. But when you have been transformed, you will see the threat for what it is. You will recognize that this threat is trying to come up against God.

1:07:25 And because it's trying to come up against God, I know that I don't have to fight it on my own. So Paul let them beat him. Paul let them imprison him. But when he was in prison, he started praying because he recognized that all I have to do is call on a name that is greater than any other name. All I have to do is remember that I didn't get myself in this mess. So I don't have to get myself out of it. Paul could have fought his way out of chains. But when you know who's fighting for you, you don't have to fight yourself out of chains. He let them take their best shot. And just when they thought he was one, there was an earthquake. You better read Acts 16. They thought that they was going to have to let him out. But the ground began to shake. And the prison doors were open. And all of a sudden, everybody was wondering, oh, they must have ran away. But here Paul was, sitting in an open prison, so that they could see when they got back. I could have walked out of here, but I have decided that I'm not leaving this moment until God himself orders my next step.

1:08:29 You shot your best shot and look at me still here. I may be beaten, but I'm still here. You put chains on me, but my God broke them off of me. I wish you could talk to your past and let your past know what the enemy meant for evil. My God meant it for good. I'm not chained the way I used to be chained. I may be bruised, but I'm not broken. And he that began to work in me is just didn't start it. Just getting started You just getting started Yeah, but I've been bruised You still just getting started Yeah, but I've been chained But I'm just getting started I'm tired But I'm just getting started Cause I'm not just