Taken For Granted

0:00 Brace yourself and buckle up. You are about to hear a life-changing, history-making, world-defining message from the New Birth Podcast. Tell everybody you know, things will never be the same. Come on, everybody. Let's sing it together. You are. You are. Come on, make it personal. Everybody lift up your voice. You are everything to me. With no music, let me hear everybody. You are everything to me. Come on, sing it from your soul.

0:50 You are free to be. You are. Come on, you ought to sing it like you mean it. You are. Clip your hands if he's everything to you. Come on, I say clap your hands if he's everything to you. Magnificent. Thank you, Music Ministry. Bless the Lord. Would you stand to your feet?

1:39 Join me, if you will, in the book of Exodus. Second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus. Would you meet me there? you'll give me a little more in the monitor please help me sound team thank you exodus chapter 14 Exodus chapter 14 Exodus chapter 14. I want to look at verses 10, 11, and 12. Exodus 14.

2:32 Verse 10, verse 11, verse 12. Once you found, won't you say, I got it. Let's read together with uplifted voices. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone? Let us serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.

3:27 As Pharaoh approached the Israelites, they looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and they cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, was it because there were no graves in Egypt, you brought us to die in the desert? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? I want to preach today using as a subject, I'm tired of being taken for granted. I'm tired of being taken for granted. Elbow your neighbor, tell him, I got to hear this. Did you know that we blink on average 20 times a minute? That means with all of the elements, all of the particles, all of the dust that is in the environment, God is giving your eyes protection.

4:43 20 times a minute, it's fighting from your vision becoming blurred. 20 times within a minute. you take a breath. helps bring to mind Psalm 150, let everything that has breath,

5:05 which means through deductive reasoning, you should be praising him at least 20 times a minute. Bishop Edgar Van from Detroit, Michigan raised an interesting perspective. Here's what he posed. What if whatever you don't thank God for today, you don't have access to tomorrow?

5:37 Whatever you don't thank him for today, you don't have access to tomorrow. I am afraid we have come to take too many of our blessings for granted. W.E. Eugene Hanson once said, the sin of ingratitude, I need you to hear this, the sin of ingratitude is more serious than the sin of revenge. because with revenge we return evil for evil but with ingratitude we return evil for good a year ago my wife and i had friends visiting from out of town and they invited us to lunch we met them and when the bill came we grabbed it paid for without even thinking it was our pleasure to do it it's natural for us to do it and then we got in the car and looked at each other and asked did they even say thank you This week I had to send a check to one of my daughters returning back to college to pay her tuition.

7:03 She sent me a text message. I got the check. I text back is that the new way of saying thank you How many times is God looking at the angels in regards to us and asking, did they even say thank you?

7:33 They got the rent paid. They got activity on their limbs. Their car is still running while the engine light is on. Did they even say thank you? So here's the problem that many of us are in. I want you to hear this. When you help someone once, if you help somebody once, it feels like a gift.

8:04 But when you help them endlessly, it becomes the standard. Help somebody one time, it's a gift. But if you keep on doing it, it becomes expectation. What makes matters worse is they stop seeing your kindness as something you choose to give. And they start seeing it as something they are entitled to receive. As a consequence, when it disappears, they don't compare the gesture from where they were before you helped. They just compare today to yesterday. It's a terrible thing when you're trying to help people who feel entitled.

9:02 They counting your money. you can afford to help them. I mean, they'll become indignant, belligerent, and offended. What do you mean you can't give it to me? We see it all around us in the entitlement that is sometimes described as white privilege. It comes with the presumption of belonging. It is in the presumption of belonging, of entitlement that we call white privilege, that you can manufacture a Karen. somebody in a public park want to know why you there why you in the pool why you having a picnic it is a white privilege that gives a certain sector of the community the benefit of the doubt by not giving it to others so the benefit of the doubt says nobody killed Nolan it must have been an accident but that same grace was not extended to the Central Park Five It is the assumed competence that the late Charlie Kirk said whenever he got on a plane and saw a black pilot, he would think to himself, are they actually qualified?

10:38 but they'll let Hexeth run the whole defense department knowing he's not qualified or they'll appoint Lindsey Graham's sister to be a senator but question whether Keisha can be a governor. If you are not careful, entitlement can lead to derangement.

11:09 That's why I had to pause when I saw the raw audacity of the children of Israel talking to Moses. They asked, why did you bring us to this desert to die? That's what they asked Moses. why did you bring us out here to die forgetting that a few chapters earlier they begged god endlessly to get them out of bondage god got them out of bondage and now that they are in transition they are already complaining i gotta ask you something did you forget how bad things were when you are crying out to God to get you out of a certain situation? Don't you look at me in that tone of voice in your Sunday go to meeting close. Did you forget when you were right on the edge of having a nervous breakdown?

12:06 Did you forget when you came to your breaking point? Did you forget when you were about to be over the homeowners association of Skid Row? Did you forget when it is that your heart was in a freezer? Did you forget when folk were playing with your name and your reputation? Did you forget when they were playing with your check? Did you forget how you were crying sitting in the car? Did you forget when that Negro played you in your face? Did you forget when you didn't know how you were going to pay the bills? Did you forget when you opened up the refrigerator and looking at your own reflection at the back of the refrigerator? Did you forget when you had to put $2 on number seven and now you gonna sit in this church and complain about where it is like you forgot where God brought you from.

13:00 You owe God some back rent to say, Lord, thank you. You were so good to me. As a matter of fact, you were better to me than I've been to myself. Thank you. When I had pain in my body, thank you. for when I was thinking about suicide. Thank you for when I wanted to throw in the towel. Thank you when I was mean as a junkyard dog. Thank you for when you wiped away the tears before I walked in that office. Thank you for making my child laugh again. Thank you for putting a smile back on. my partner's faith thank you You owe him thanksgiving. You owe him praise. Don't you get so used to grace that you think it happens for everybody.

13:56 There was somebody else in your exact situation that didn't come out of it alive. You got to give God thanksgiving. My old seminary professor, my old seminary professor, Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor, used to say, we want God to give us breakfast in bed and then want him to do the dishes. God will bring you out of something. And when he brings you out of something, you're going to have to go through a transition coming out of it.

14:37 God got you away from the man you were crying about. You asked God to get you away from him, but that man was paying for some of them bills. So now things are a little bit tighter than what they used to be. and you got to make some uncomfortable adjustments. You ask God to get you out of that job and so for a season, you miss the benefits. But while you miss the benefits, God kept your heart pumping, kept the blood running warm in your veins. Make sure you still had medication on the nightstand. Before you complain about the desert, remember how you felt while you were in the drought. I don't know why y'all playing in God's face acting like you ain't never been in a storm before but every now and again you gotta be like David and encourage yourself and remind yourself it won't always be like this sooner or later it's gonna work in my favor it's some folk that's looking at you and they know your business and they don't know how you keeping it together you better let them know this ain't my first time broke this ain't my first time without a man this ain't my first time being laid off this ain't my first time fighting through depression but look at me I'm a testimony I done made it through some difficult seasons There's a psychological term called hedonic adaptation.

16:18 Hedonic adaptation. And in hedonic adaptation is where the brain adjusts to whatever it receives consistently. Pastor, say that again. Hedonic adaptation is where the brain adjusts to whatever it receives consistently. And the brain begins to interpret it as new normal. So if you keep doing it, then the brain will keep reprogramming itself, thinking this is how it's supposed to be. I love with my brother out of Chicago, Pastor John Hanna says, I'm not in a season, this is my life. Hallelujah. Don't you let people put an expiration date on the favor that God has given you. And he shall reign forever.

17:16 You got to rewire your thinking because you come out of a poverty mindset. You keep thinking that another shoe is going to drop. You keep thinking it ain't going to last. You keep thinking it's too good to be true. And God is saying, haven't you looked and seen how I've been faithful to you down through the years? You better pull yourself together. You embarrassing me in them people's face. Acting like I never provided for you. Like I haven't kept food on the table and a roof over your head. This is how it's supposed to be. Look at the person beside you and tell them, welcome to your new normal. I declare over your life, there'll always be food in your house. I declare over your life, your children will not live in lack. I declare over your life, your heart is going to be safe.

18:12 I declare over your life, every day you're going to have somewhere to go. I declare over your life that God is making room for you in places you have never been before. Stop acting shocked like you don't belong in that room. You were born to be in that space. Adjust yourself to your new normal. Start considering opportunity as an expectation. Favor has just become your right. I want to say that again. Favor has become your right.

19:07 And while favor is my right, my kindness to you is not an obligation. You can't adjust your life off of my favor. When you ain't gone through my storm, you ain't gone through my attack, you ain't gone through my warfare, but you want to share in my victory. Are you crazy? Anything I gave to you coming out of this storm was kindness. It was not obligation. Whatever, I need you to hear this. I want somebody to write it down. It's going to help you understand family members. It's going to help you understand some friends. And it's going to help you understand children who don't have gratitude.

20:06 Whatever the brain adapts to, hear this. whatever the brain adapts to, it doesn't appreciate. whatever the brain adapts to it doesn't appreciate it makes grace commonplace we give so much to people who don't appreciate it that they don't even value the grace that's on your life you've allowed too many people to adjust to your brilliance you have become too common with folk who think they can handle you regularly They will not value you until you withdraw yourself from them and they realize that the overflow they got was because they were connected to you.

21:06 Be careful how you handle me. You ain't gonna get another me in this lifetime. Do you know what comes with me? Nobody that left me did well. Be seated. Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes wrote one of my favorite poems. A poem called The Warning. Here, I don't know where the young man is who I just consecrated. Here, what Langston Hughes wrote in a one-bedroom apartment in Harlem. It's called The Warning. It says, Negroes, sweet and docile, meek, humble, and kind. Beware the day they change their mind. America has adjusted to black people not responding to their savagery.

22:08 They expect us to just roll over and keep going. I'm trying to figure out how they got all these flat cameras, but can't find who's hanging these black people. I'm trying to figure out how they put an ankle bracelets on Haitians, but they let the people from the Ukraine and the Bosnia walk all the way around. I'm trying to figure out how you go 11 days with no power in Gary, Indiana. Y'all ain't saying nothing to me because y'all didn't remember that Indiana had more members of the Klan than Mississippi did. We are so busy rolling over and playing dead that these people have become comfortable thinking that we ain't going to speak truth to power. But you better be careful how you treat God's children. There was a man by the name of Bull Connor in Alabama who thought he could stop black people coming off the Edmund Pettus Bridge and arrest him.

23:08 And then God hit him with a stroke and the whole side of his body couldn't even operate. He got back up and God put him with another stroke. I want to say those of you who think you can get away with mishandling and killing and mistreating black people. It may not come through the court of justice, but it's going to come from the throne room of God. God said, touch not my anointed and do my servant know how. If God be for you, who can be against you? No weapon that is formed against you will be able to prosper. I dare you to grab that neighbor's hand and say, Neighbor, I feel bad for every person that scandalized your name. I feel bad for every person that set a trap for you. I feel bad for every person that tried to lock you out of your opportunity.

24:05 But I feel in the realm of the Holy Ghost, something is getting ready to shift. But those that suffered with him is about to reign with him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You may be seated.

24:28 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Be seated. I got to tell you something. I want you to hear this. Somebody write this down. Somebody online. I need you to catch it. Your repeated behavior teaches people what they are allowed to expect from you. Your repeated behavior teaches people what they are allowed to expect from you. Every time you go above and beyond, hear this, whenever you go above and beyond without boundaries, you are signing a permission slip for abuse. Every time you say yes, when you mean no, you are teaching somebody that your decisions are negotiable.

25:36 When you absorb somebody else's responsibility, you are saying their responsibility is priority over yours. unknowingly you have trained in greats how to have expectation this is why many times it's a sobering reality for the person two rows in front of you not too much shouting clapping high five and a turn to your neighbor's gonna happen right here this is why many times the kindest people get treated the worst Let's do it. not because you are weak but because your sacrifices have become invisible kindness without boundaries starts looking like duty The same way that they treat us in many regards is how we treat God.

26:51 Look at our posture of ingratitude and privilege. Look at it. We want blessings without holiness. we want breakthrough without righteousness we want miracles without praying we want wonders without fasting so you think God is gonna do for you everything you asking him to do and you treating people grimy Don't play. you want God to open doors for you and you don't even know how to speak you want God to elevate you but you want to put your nose down on other people we have curated in the modern day church a spa when it's supposed to be a chiropractor we want to leave church feeling better we don't want to leave church straightened out and as a consequence we only bless God when we need something but we never ask what is required of me that I've got to do justice and to serve mercy I'm I'm trying to figure out how you expect God to meet you at your needs and you forget what his needs are.

28:31 That God requires unto us that we would pray without ceasing. That we would rejoice always and again he says rejoice. How are you so privileged that you gonna sit in the father's house while you about to lose your house and you don't give him glory and honor and thanksgiving for what he has done. You got to lower yourself. I must decrease that God may increase but you so important and highfalutin that you think you somebody because of your credentials and because of your degree and because of your title and because of your business car. Later for that, God wants to know who will bless me in spite of what you've been through, in spite of what you're dealing with you better humble yourself in the presence of God When you stop performing for people, when you stop performing for people, they will act like they've been betrayed.

29:45 Let me get this straight. Let me get this straight. You ain't talking to me because I'm not giving you what I work for. Come on, y'all ain't saying nothing to me. You got an attitude with me? You talking about me to the other family members? Y'all better get off the brake and let me ride this train. I'm trying to figure out how you got an attitude with me. Like I'm supposed to do it and both of us are grown and both of us got kids and both of us got bills. Are you for real right now? You really got an issue with me? If you really want to know how people feel about you, see how they act when you stop producing.

30:46 When you get off of their leash and find the sacred curse word called no. see how people will respond sanctuary get ready to shift right through here there was a whole lot of screamers when we talked about what you got but how many people will bless the lord when you didn't get what you were asking for come on i can't hear nobody it got a little bit tight you a little bit frustrated but you know what i'm gonna go to church anyway even though he didn't give me what i asked for i still love him I still trust them. I still bless them. Is there anybody here that can give God glory with unanswered prayer? don't let people play mind tricks on you make you feel like you betrayed them Zora Neale Hurston said if you are silent about your pain they'll kill you and act like you enjoyed it a lot of people's reputation has been spared because you didn't tell your side of the story Thank you.

32:07 truth be told sometimes people cannot see your kindness because they start to expect it and they feel entitled to it i was in luke 7 verse 47 and jesus is uh at a dinner party and a woman slips in who was not on the invite list. She pulls out of her dress an alabaster box, breaks it and starts cleaning Jesus' feet. And all other stuck up saints and members and elders and deacons said that this is a waste of money. But the Savior said, the one who has been forgiven a little loves a little. But those who have been through a lot know how to thank me a lot.

33:04 I can tell those of y'all who ain't been through too much because you're sitting in here with your arms folded and your legs crossed. It's only because you've been through a little. But those of us that've been through a lot know when I think of the goodness of Jesus and come on, you ain't been through nothing. Sit down. You ain't been through nothing. I'm talking to those of you that survived childhood trauma and came through heartbreak and came through abandonment and came through rejection and came through abuse and came through vilification. If you've been through a little, don't say that much. But if you don't know how you still got your mind, how you still got your spirit, how you still got your heart, you ought to open up your mouth like I gotta give him glory.

33:59 Thank you. hallelujah you may be seated i'm you may be seated i'm just talking hallelujah hallelujah look at the person beside you tell them you got no idea how much i've been through if i talk about it i might cry y'all ain't saying nothing if i think about it I may just fall down in the fetal position do you know how many times people tried to leave me for dead do you know how many circumstances I didn't think I was going to come out of it but grace and mercy rescued me and because it was grace and mercy that rescued me you think I don't care that you mad that I'm screaming and yelling where were you when I didn't have the money where where Hallelujah.

35:01 Hallelujah. You may be seated. Hallelujah. I don't know who this is for. If it ain't for you, just pass it down your row. God told me to tell somebody who's in this room, this is just for 500 of you. God said, if you've been through a lot, get ready for a lot. come on I can't hear nobody I said if you've been through a lot get ready for a lot exceedingly abundantly beyond you may be seated I want to honor the time you are not responsible you are not responsible for managing other people's expectations because of your graciousness but if you want to Reset the table.

36:14 Whenever it is that you do something for somebody, this is how you close the deal. God did it. for real for real i didn't even have it to give it to you but god did it is there anybody in the room that ever had to look at your blessings and say god did this i didn't have the money for it i didn't have the credit for it i didn't have the training for it i didn't have the experience for but God did this as a matter of fact that ought to shut up your haters cause they mad at you over stuff you know you don't qualify for it ain't my fault that God loves me the way that he loves me but God did this Let people know that God did it. And I want you to free yourself.

37:17 I don't know who this is for in this room. I want you to free yourself from false obligation. From this day forward, only do, I need you to hear this, only do what you feel led to do. I'm going to free a whole nother part of this sanctuary. Stop feeling like you have to. 70 of you, I don't even know how you ain't running through the building. Setting a boundary is not betrayal. I need you to keep an eye open and I need you to pay attention to who is the first in line, who is the first in line for you to put yourself last.

38:16 they don't care what you miss as long as they got enough for them they don't care if you suffer they don't care if you in need they don't care if you in lack they don't even care what you gotta do in order to make up for it but you gotta trust God cause there's some people whose blessings you are blocking because you getting in God's way. Whenever they feel more comfortable asking you and they've not talked to God, you in the way. check their prayer life. See whether or not they have in fact submitted themselves to God because they will blame you for the drought and the desert.

39:12 You want to know how to break that spirit of ingratitude? I'm going to just sit around the table with me when my kids were five, six, seven years of age. my children taught me the spirit of ingratitude and how to break it. Here's what they would do. No deep travail. None of them had no intercessory flags. They didn't have any vials of oil. They didn't have any talits to throw over each other. But I want to show you how my children broke the spirit of ingratitude. Here it is. it's an easy one and you already know it you just didn't know that you knew it here's how Grace Angel Adore would pray invariably over every meal here's what they would pray Lord thank you here it is for the food we are about to receive they ain't got it yet but they thanking them cause they know it's on the way I'm getting ready to go but I'm gonna speak this over a couple of hundred of y'all's life.

40:22 Lord, thank you for the blessings they are about to receive. I don't know what it is, but I know it's better than what they got right now. Y'all ain't saying nothing to me. Lord, thank you for what they are about to receive. But before I thank you for what I am about to receive, I want to pause right here and thank you for what I've already received. because what you've done for me, my grandmother would put it this way. If you don't do nothing else, you done done enough already and I gotta give him thanks just in case you forgot to give God thanksgiving over something he did in your life. Would you thank him right now? Come on, thank God that you were able to drive while that nail was in your tire. Come on, thank God that the air was still working in the air conditioner when you hadn't put any cooling in it.

41:20 Thank God that your heart didn't stop beating and you haven't had no cardio and still eating all the wrong stuff. Thank God that the diseases that run in your family are not evident in your body. Thank God. Now that you thanked him for what he's already done, I tell you right where you are, Would you thank him for what's on the way? Now, if you don't think anything is coming, don't shout with us. But if you believe your September blessings are going to be better than your August blessings, you ought to give God glory now. If you believe this week is going to be better than last week, you ought to give God glory to God. Be the glory to God.

42:15 Be the glory to God. Be the glory for the things he has done. With his love, he has saved us. With his power, he has raised us to God.

42:45 Lift up those hands. I'm going to pray for you in two ways. I'm going to pray for you in two ways. I'm gonna pray for you in two ways softly sir and strings help me lift that hand I am praying before I pray for you listen to me I am praying for the people who have taken you for granted God will turn the light on that they'll see what kind of blessing you were to their life. that they will honor that you were a godsend, that they'll see that the power of God was on your life to bless you.

43:40 I'm praying that God will change the spirit of entitlement that is resident in your sister, resident in your brother, resident in your adult children. I'm praying for those of you who are in this room who feel deflated so it's hard for you to trust because now you got to investigate ulterior motives you got to figure out what strings are attached what angle are they trying to play lift that hand a little bit higher I'm praying secondly for those of us I'm speaking in inclusive language who have taken God's grace for granted. like he obligated to do it don't understand it's just the mercy of God just the love of God you are of the age now where you're going to the funeral of your peers and God has kept you alive there are people who had the same hand of cards you had and folded under the pressure and haven't been able to resuscitate or get back on their feet but God did it for you Y'all were raised in the same house, but don't have the same perspective.

45:22 You are not lucky. You're not special. You are just favored. And don't you take God's favor for granted. thank God that you got a healthy relationship with your kids come on I can't hear no worshipers in here thank God your mama was able to live that long give God glory that you ain't got a way about what you gonna eat or where you gonna live or how your children are gonna be provided for give God glory Goatee! Wave that hand for me, please. I got to show something to you. I read something the other day that the average person has only been to four cities.

46:21 Wave that hand, please. Four cities. I was in the airport the other day flying somewhere. I don't even know where I was going. Flying somewhere. TSA agent, old black man. Say, Reb, you going again? Say, yeah, I'm going again. You back tomorrow? I'm back tomorrow. You sure? I'm sure. Reb, you always going somewhere? I said, I know, I'm trying. Say, where you going this time? I told him, I don't remember where I was going. I asked him, I don't even know why. Wave that hand. I don't even know why I asked him. I said, where would you want to go? He said, Reb, I don't know.

47:09 I said, nowhere. And he said to me, I need you to hear this. He said to me, Reb, I've never been on a plane. Wave that hand. I'm trying to take you somewhere. I said, you are in an environment where planes take off. are y'all hearing what I'm saying to you you in an environment where planes take off and you watching folk take off and you never wanted that for yourself I don't know who this is for but God said stop watching other people take off I wish I had some screamers in here. Stop watching other people take off. This is your season for you to take off.

48:03 now speak over every hand that's being waved hallelujah that now you are taking off you are waving goodbye to whoever wants to stay on the ground there's a higher level for you there's a different place for you those that don't want to accelerate Leave them there! You are not obligated to take them! Take off! I declare it for you. You are no longer comfortable on the ground. You have been cleared to go to the highest place in your life. Stop letting your family sit on your wings. Stop letting your friends cut off your access.

48:58 You gotta go to a whole nother level. Lord, I pray that you will fill our hearts with a spirit of gratitude. That there will be so much thanksgiving that we won't have space to complain. Won't have space to bemoan. But we'll be grateful because we remember what you brought us out of. And those of you, your faith resonates with what has been spoken in this place. give God glory that you're not going to take it for granted. I say give him glory that you're not going to take God for granted. I'm going to open the doors of the church. I'm going to do it quickly. Listen to me.

49:50 I have no idea. I'm going to ask them when I go to the airport tomorrow. going to Gary Indiana tomorrow I'm going to ask him if I see him how have you been around all of this and never aspired to take off never to see people get to the next level to go to the next place and that's what I'm saying to somebody who's sitting on your roll today how are you going to be around all of this and get comfortable at the gate you're in this place because God wants you to take off he wants you to get to a whole nother level I hope you are energized that you don't need an energy drink. What you just heard should have you off and running, chasing your dreams, pursuing your purpose, and answering your call. If this was a blessing, share it with somebody else.

50:49 Don't be selfish. This is what God gave you so that you can be a blessing to somebody who needs it worse.