Walk It Out Wednesday: Never Been Done Before - Sarah Jakes Roberts

1:59 On Sunday, the Lord gave me a word, and that word was called, Never Been Done Before. And, thank you. So, part of the process for me when finding the Word is really just becoming one with the presence of God, with the spirit of God, and asking God, how can I serve what you're doing in the lives of your people? How are we supposed to be showing up in this time, in this season, in our era? And I think that the Lord has a specific mandate for each of us, and so I pray for a word that feels deeply resonant and personal for each person while also staying macro enough that we can feed a room. And the Lord told me that more than anything this year that this was gonna be a year that we were going to have to do things that were out of our norm, out of our custom. And so that never been done before is the title that the Lord gave me.

2:55 And it's really about us doing things that feel unnatural to us. And first, I want to qualify what that means for us to do something that is unnatural to us. I wrote down this little, trying to make sure that I didn't just like preach the whole message, but had a summary or a main idea sentence to help bring those who may be watching this for the first time and didn't hear that message or in the room and didn't hear the message. And that is, unlocking God's supernatural plan for our lives requires us to abandon what comes natural to us. to give this context i want to start that in genesis 3 when we read about the man and the woman eating from the tree i think it's important that we understand that many theologians and bible scholars call that the fall the fall that is the fall of humanity when they eat from this fruit the question is what are they falling from right and from that place we see theologians and bible scholars calling us as humans living in our fallen nature, right? And so what happens is they eat from the fruit of the tree. People call it an apple. We don't know if it was an apple. We don't know if it was an orange. We just know that they ate something that they were not supposed to eat. And in the process of them doing that, they fail out of God's original intention for their lives, their disobedience, their sin, means that they fail out of God's original intention for their lives.

4:28 And so I want us to understand that we are technically living in our second nature. That we had a first nature, and that first nature is that we were made in the image of God. In Genesis 1, let's go to Genesis 1, 27 through 28. I've got my Bible here. I've been making it a habit to bring my physical Bible because I feel like I need to be flipping through pages and stuff. And sometimes it gets so easy to just click on an app and there's no shade if you got your app. But there is something to be said about flipping through the pages. When we go to Genesis 1 and 27, it says, So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And then it goes on to say in 28, Then God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply.

5:24 fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every creeping, every living thing that moves on the earth. When we continue on through that text, we see that what God is really saying is this is how I want you to show up in the world. I want you to be a people who are able to be fruitful and who can multiply, who can fill the earth and subdue it, let's think for a minute about the character traits required to fulfill that mandate, okay? In order for us to have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds over the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth, that means there is a certain level of authority, certain level of confidence, a certain level of focus and intentionality that was meant to be a part of our original nature. So this idea, and this isn't just you, this is me, where we experience insecurity, where we second get, that's not a part of our original nature.

6:26 That's not what God had in mind for us, that we would second doubt ourselves, that we would question whether or not God really sees us. Those are all things that we have to work through now, but that wasn't God's original intention for us. God created us in such a way that he says they can step right into this. They can step right into being fruitful and multiplying. They can step right into dominion. They can step right into subduing. Why do you need to know this? Because God doesn't change his mind about you, even if he has to change the path that helps you get there. Oh, that's a good word. That means that it is still God's intention for you to have dominion, for you to be fruitful and to be able to multiply. This is still God's original intention, but what happens in Genesis 3 is that we get disconnected from that original intention. How do we get disconnected from that original intention?

7:21 The serpent does something that is so slick, and yet he's still doing it right now, so it must be effective. In Genesis 3, all he does is ask them a question. He asked the woman, did God really say that you cannot eat from this fruit? And then when she says, no, he didn't exactly say that. This is what he said. And then he tells the woman, that's not true. You're not going to surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So I need you to understand that we had our original nature, God's original intention for our lives. And the enemy disrupted that original intention and that original nature by making us second guess God. If you second guess God, if you second guess whether or not his word can still apply to you, if you second guess whether or not he still has love for you, if you second guess whether or not he still has restoration, then you lose access to that original intention. I wish I could say that real, real good.

8:33 Because that's all the enemy makes us, that's all the enemy does is he makes us begin to second-guess God. If you second-guess God, you'll second-guess yourself. Because now if I can't believe what God says about me, then I can't trust where God places me. I can't trust what God at loud says that I'm capable of doing. I can get a word in a moment and feel like it came from God, and then the serpent will come and make me second-guess the We're in that moment. Have you ever been in a Sunday experience? Have you ever been worshiping? And you knew without a shadow of a doubt that God gave me that word. The enemy's plan is always to make you second guess what you received. If I make you second guess what you received, then you won't act on it. That's why the moment you receive a word, you got to claim it and act on it. Sometimes you'll see people, and they did this all the time when I was growing up, but the Lord would give them a word, and they would come, and they would lay seed on the altar.

9:27 And be like, why are they doing that right now? You could do it later. You could do it any other time. They're doing it because they recognize that I got to act on what God just deposited in my spirit right now. That is our key to defeating the enemy, is that we act into what God says about us. We do the thing that God tells us to do. We position our lives in such a way that we're able to step into the word. And that may mean that we have to restructure our lives. That may mean that we need to restructure our friend groups, but there has to be something in us that says, how do I activate this word? Oh, that's what you got to be willing to ask yourself. When God gives me a word, you have to ask yourself, what is it going to take for me to activate this word? Even if activation just means I let it marinate. I let it play in my mind over and over again. Sometimes there will be one particular thing in a sermon that I know is meant to really minister to where I am in a season, and I meditate on that.

10:29 And I look for other moments in Scripture where God has done something similar or made another promise to someone else because I got to look that Word in the face. If I'm going to become that Word, I don't want to just hear the Word. I want to do the Word. And if I'm going to do the word, I got to keep that word in front of me by any means necessary. And I need people who can either speak into the word or I got to move away from you because I'm trying to protect the word that God has given me. Sometimes you need to tell people to be silent. I'm trying to protect the word. Sometimes you can't open yourself up to any and everybody because I'm trying to protect this word. There are some environments that will kill the word. There are some friendships that don't know how to handle the word that God has given you. It is not on them to protect the word. It is on you to protect it. You cannot get mad at other people for not understanding what God placed in your spirit. That's your spirit.

11:24 That's your purpose. This is your journey to walk out. They can catch up with you later, but you got to be so focused on making sure that that word becomes flesh on the inside of you that you don't mind sacrificing things that have made you comfortable if those things that have made you comfortable are going to pull you away from the word. Come on somebody, I wish I had some people in this room who understand that it costs something to keep the word alive. It costs something to keep the word alive. It's not supposed to come easy. And let me say this, there's nothing wrong with you if it feels like the word is slipping through your fingers. Because oftentimes we think, why is it that other people can get the word? But when I get the word, it doesn't stick the way it's supposed to. If you have never been trained, if you have never been taught, if you have never had an experience where someone shows you how to keep that word, then it will slip through your fingers, which is why we have to take on another nature. So we are in our second nature.

12:25 And part of what I talked about in the message on Sunday is that whether you are looking at it from a theological lens where we look at the fall of humanity and how we live in this fallen nature, or you look at biologically just the way that genetics are. And through genetics, we take on the attributes, not just the health attributes, but sometimes the personality traits of the people who we come from. Our parents and our lineage predisposes us to certain attributes and certain personality traits, which means that some things that come natural to me may be natural in my family, may be natural in my community, but it doesn't necessarily mean that that is what God has for me. And so part of our work as disciples is being willing to lay down anything that doesn't align with God's word and God's truth about who we are. Oh, I thank you for clapping for that because I feel like we may not have the luxury of being ourselves if who we have become is actually a result of brokenness, of sin, of trauma, or shame. And you would be just, you would have to be just Jesus Jr. to be in this world and not have taken on the shape of this world, the shape of your family, the thoughts, the patterns, the behaviors that are accepted in your community, God may want to change those. And so when we talk about presenting ourselves as living sacrifices, this is our way of saying, Lord, anything that's in me that doesn't look like you, any behaviors or patterns that exist within me that are keeping me from wholeness and health, Lord, highlight them. Highlight them. I want to see them. And let me tell you, sometimes God shows you those things, but he doesn't. Sometimes he'll like whisper it in your ear, whisper it in your prayer closet, but sometimes God shows you those things through correction, through the way that your life impacts someone else's life. So not everybody's a hater. Some of us are mirrors

14:33 trying to show you the way that you show up in the world that you call natural, that's actually harmful. So you got to be willing to ask in these moments of friction and misalignment, Lord, is there something in me that is contributing to this poison that exists in this dynamic? Because I don't want to assume that it's just them. It is easy to assume just because you can see their poison doesn't mean that you don't have any yourself. And there could be a way that you are showing up, a way that you think, a way that you communicate that also adds to the problem and dilemma. And so what God teaches us in scripture is about his morality and character. And the teacher that he sends to do that is Jesus. And so the text that I use when I talked about us doing something that was unnatural was Luke 2. And I use Luke 2 because we see Jesus in scripture and he's in the temple. And he's in the temple at 12 years old. It's Luke 2 and 46. Our team is on it. They put that scripture up there for me. Let me tell you, the only thing about having your physical Bible is that y'all gonna always find it before me, you know. I know where it is, but you know it ain't a click away. There it is, period. Okay, we got it. But it's good. If you have your physical Bible and you turn to Luke 2 and 46, if you have it, say, man, if you need more time, say, I need a minute. Need a minute. That's old school. You had to be old school when we used to say, if you need a minute, say, you need a minute. Okay, I see you still flipping over there with your floral print Bible cover, girl. I'm gonna wait for you to get there. It's in that new covenant, the new testament, at Luke 2, here we go, 46. And Jesus is in the temple. And while he's in the temple, he's listening to them and he's asking questions and he's teaching. And while he's sitting in the midst of the teachers, his parents, his biological mother and surrogate father come into the temple

16:42 because he's been gone for three days and they're trying to figure out where he'd been. And they go, you know, why'd you do this to us? We were so afraid. Where were you? And He goes, how did you not know where I was? Didn't you know that I must be about my father's business? I use this text because for me, it illustrates that Jesus was doing what came natural to him. But then it tells us as we read on further that he ended up leaving the temple and submitting himself to Mary and Joseph, even though they did not fully understand the fullness of what came natural to him. He submitted anyway because God had placed him on a path of development that required him to submit to an environment that may not understand what comes natural to him, but could develop him in the area that was unnatural to him. Why is that good? Because there are some environments where I'm not here to make you feel good about what you already are good at.

17:40 Oh. Jesus, our teacher, our example, shows us what it's like to submit to an environment that requires you to be developed, even if you're already strong in another area. If we resist the areas where we are underdeveloped because they make us feel inadequate or they don't allow our strength to shine, then we will miss out on the fullness of who God wants us to become. And so do not think it strange when God has you submitted to environments that are not necessarily a reflection of your strength, because sometimes it's where God has placed you to develop your weakness. and Paul says to the church in Philippi, he says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. This is how I want you to think that you're willing to humble yourself, and so that's kind of a little bit of a premise of the message from Sunday, and I talked about us doing what was unnatural to us, but I really set the framework by us first focusing on environments and how environments produce our identities, our thoughts sometimes, what we find as acceptable, and how oftentimes we have to be willing to shift our environment so that we can have a new identity emerge, a new way of being be emerged, and a lot of times that happens when we're in a new environment. And I want to spend a little bit of time on that because I got some questions on that.

19:13 I'm answering some of the questions that I received as I'm speaking, but I'm going to get into them. But one thing I want to say about shifting your environment is that your environment is not always a location. Sometimes when we hear this idea of shifting environment, we're like, okay, well, I need to go to another city. I need to go to another church. And sometimes that may be true, right? This is, you got to be in your own personal relationship with God. But if you've ever met someone who shifted cities, shifted environments, and then still had the same issues, then you begin to understand it may not be the city. you know, those people who call you and it's the same thing, like you got the new job, but they, the same people, it's the new job, but the same issues, it may not necessarily be the job. It may be something that you're carrying with you from city to city or job to job or relationship or relationship that keeps producing the same results. And so I want to talk a little bit about shifting our environment. And I used Hannah when I was preaching because Hannah shifts her environment, but never changes her circle. You can shift your environment without ever changing your circle when you change the way you show up in your circle. Hannah decides that she needs to do something different, that the way she has been showing up in her circle has somehow created this this bitterness, this agony, and she wants to change her circumstance until she gets into the presence of God. And what happens between her and the presence of God allows her to shift her environment, not because the Lord immediately gives her what she wants, but because something happens in the presence of God that changes the way that she enters that environment again. Some of us want to shift our environment. And I'm telling, I heard God say that if you shift you, the environment will shift around you. Sometimes it's not always about you moving. And I felt that I was, as I was praying, I was like, Lord, what are some things that I need to make sure that I underscore or highlight as it relates to this message? And God told me that I need you all to understand that you have the ability to create an environment. When you partner with God, it should

21:25 shift your atmosphere. It should shift your language. It should shift your thinking. And if it shifts your language and if it shifts your thinking, it will shift your relationships. You don't have to worry about how do I change the environment. You change and the environment will shift to accommodate who you have become. Some people will stop talking to you. Some people will be drawn to you. If you focus on you, the environment will shift already. When you shift, God will highlight the way you're supposed to move, the friendships that you're supposed to be in, the relationships that will bring out what God has placed inside of you. I need you to stop thinking about where you're supposed to be and start asking God, who am I supposed to be? Because if you are who you are supposed to be, God says, I can take care of everything concerning you. I will open doors that no man can shut. I will close doors that no man can open. I will bring opportunities to you and you will look up and you will be in rooms you have no business being in.

22:22 And people will be trying to figure out how did you do it? What was the secret sauce? Baby, I didn't have no secret sauce. I didn't have no secret strategy. I just started hungering and thirsting for righteousness. And it showed up in the way that I thought and it showed up in the way that I began to create. And when it showed up in those areas, everything around me began to shift. God says, I will shift the environment. If you shift your heart towards me, you shift your mind towards me, you shift your mentality and God will take care of the rest. I don't know who that is for, but I want you to take a minute and just allow the presence of God to meet you in an area where you know you need to shift. You need to shift your habits. You need to shift your behavior. It starts with it getting personal. Make it personal. Man, we got to make this personal.

23:15 Our relationship with the Lord, when we start asking God, don't just show it to me, but show me how to shift it. Lord, and when you show me how to shift it, show me who's in my world who will rob me from this growth and development that I'm headed towards. God, bring people. I want to be an influence in my circle that begins to leading people towards health and wholeness. If you want to know whether or not an environment is for you, begin to ask yourself, who do I become in this environment and who are people as a result of me being in the environment did I make it more holy not just what did it do for me what did I add to it because if you are walking into environments that you know need to change and you're waiting on someone else to carry the change but God has place change on the inside of you, when we get to heaven and we have to make an account for what we did with God placed on the inside of us, I don't know about you, but I don't want to say, well, I was waiting on somebody else to do it. I was waiting on somebody else to lead with integrity.

24:24 I was waiting on somebody else to say it was wrong. No, I took a stand right where I was. And because I took that stand, I began to see things shift in my family. You want to see healing in your family, but if your family has never seen it, maybe God has placed it on your heart. so that you can put it on display. Sometimes people just need to know there's another way. I didn't know there was another way until you said yes. And when you said yes, I learned that we could think differently, that we could spend differently, that we could eat differently, that we could build differently. I didn't know it until I saw it. And God has given you, I don't know who you are, but you're in this room and I sense it prophetically. God has given you a vision for something that you have never seen before. And I hear God saying that you've been waiting to see it on the outside, But I hear God saying, I'm going to use you as the sign and the wonder. If that's your word, I just want you to take 10 seconds and create an atmosphere for that word to flourish. To say, God, I hear you.

25:21 God, I'm going to obey what you say. God, thank you for loving me so much that you would allow me to have confirmation about this word. Receive that. Receive that as your truth. God says I'm going to allow you to be the model and the example you're going to be the leader in this way and you're going to show them that there's another way to do it man I was uh at woman evolve and I received this prayer uh from pastor t-renate glenn and she hugged me and I just she just got one of those where you just fall out in her arms just when you just when she walked by If you don't know, she's a powerhouse in the spirit. And she told me, and it was at the time that we were in transition here in Dallas. And part of, I think, my concern is just, I've grown up in ministry.

26:18 I'm in a ministry family, and I think, I got to answer questions. But part of my concern was that I didn't want to feel like I lost my family as a result of being in ministry. And I've seen a lot of stories from PKs where, you know, they felt like their parents sacrificed them for the sake of the ministry. And I really wanted to ask God, how do we balance this? And I wanted my health to be well and my marriage to be well. And I really felt like God wouldn't call us into ministry and then make us sacrifice the very thing that makes us feel like we have a foundation in ministry. And Pastor Glenn, she hugged me. And I'd never told her this, never had a conversation with her about it. And she says, you're going to be well. Your health is going to be well. Your family is going to be well. And your marriage is going to be well so that you can show people that you can do this and be well. And I feel like that word that God gave me is a word that he's showing.

27:12 I don't know who you are, but God says, I'm going to show you that anything that you have had as a concern in your heart, that I see it. I'm going to take care of it so that you can be well, your finances can be well, your children can be well, so that you can show a generation that you can do this and be well. I want to talk to some people in this room who don't want to compromise in order to make it to the other side. I want to talk to some people in this room who want to believe that you can do what God has called you to do and still maintain your integrity and maintain your peace and maintain your sobriety and maintain your stability. and I hear God saying that I'm going to show you how to do it, but you're going to have to cling to me in order to get it done, that you're going to have to be willing to lean into my voice in order to get done. Do not look to the left or the right, but focus on me, and I'm going to show you that this can be done. I believe that that's going to be your word as well, and I'm claiming it as my word, and let me tell you, I'm in an incredible marriage.

28:12 My kids are doing well. Our ministry is doing well, and I know we're just a few years into it, but I'm not going to let the enemy make me believe that I got to wait for the other shoe to drop. I'm going to claim the victory right now, that we're going to have an incredible marriage all the days of our lives, that my kids are going to know the Lord, that no heart, because the enemy will try to make you believe that you got to wait and see what God's going to do. I don't know if God's going to do it. No, if my God said he's going to do it, I'm going to claim that word. I'm going to step into that word, and I'm going to live as if that word is already done. Let me tell you, we're going to be celebrating 60 years of incredible marriage, and we're going to just be getting started. My kids are going to know ministry in their own way, in their own capacity, and know the Lord. I'm claiming that. I'm claiming that. And you've got to learn to lay hold of what God says and not allow the enemy to make you believe that you will be disappointed.

29:11 You will be disappointed if you turn your face towards disappointment. But if you turn your face towards God and say, God, I trust you. I believe you. God, you said in your word, I will never see the righteous forsaken. So all I got to do is be righteous and I'll never be forsaken. God, show me in my life where there's anything unrighteous because I want to be aligned with you. Because with alignment comes protection.

29:39 With alignment comes protection. No weapon formed against me will press with alignment comes protection. Man, and we got to be about this thing for real. Man, I know a lot of people who grew up in church but don't believe in God because of the things that they saw in church. And they think to themselves, it can't be real. But I am telling you, he's real. I know he will radically change your life, change your thinking and change your ways. And if you doubt him, I dare you to just try him to take your faith and your works and allow them to produce fruit. Don't miss the harvest. Oh, oh, I feel this. God helped me to say it the way that I feel it in my spirit. You got to remember that harvest is seasonal. And sometimes we're waiting for that great big harvest.

30:37 But anytime God shows you any fruit towards his word, you better take that as a sign that the big harvest is coming. Oh, I wish you would reach up and grab that. Anytime God gives you any fruit connected to what he says, just because it's not the big thing, don't let the enemy convince you that the big thing's not coming. You better grab everything that the Lord throws in your direction as a sign to the enemy that I caught that. God, you allowed that phone call to come through. I caught that. God, you sent a friendship my way. I caught that. God, you sent a word my way. I caught that. You better let the enemy know when you caught that. Because the enemy will have you incubating on thoughts all day long. You catching what the enemy is throwing. But did you catch what God threw your way? God threw me a sign that he saw me. God threw me a sign that he'll protect me. God threw me a sign that he's thinking about my dreams.

31:31 He's thinking about my... God, I caught that. I caught it in the spirit. I caught it for my future. I caught it for my harvest. I caught it for my destiny. You better show your kids how to catch what God throws in your direction. Because if you don't teach them how to catch what God throws, he'll catch what the enemy throws. But I want to prophesy over your household that you won't miss anything that God throws in your direction. I don't care how big or small it is.

32:02 I caught that. I caught that. I caught that word. I caught that. I caught that breakthrough. I caught that. I caught that vision. I caught that confirmation. It builds your faith when you catch what God throws in your direction. God, I see what you're doing in the lives of someone else. It looks like what you said you do in my life. So yes, it's their blessing, but I'm catching the grace connected to it because I believe you exposed me to it so that I could know you're still working miracles. I caught that. I caught that. I caught that. I caught that. I caught that. Anytime you hear a testimony, you better catch that. Anytime you hear what God is doing in someone else's business, don't be jealous. You better catch that because the enemy will make you believe that God missed you when he was throwing things your direction all along. Oh, don't let nothing pass you by. when I tell you I don't care how big or small it is make sure you catch that oh that's what I'm teaching my daughter she's nine years old and she prays every night like God protect my family God wake us up and all those things and in the morning we'll say now baby you see how God answered your prayers this morning catch that catch that you praying that you would make it on time to work? You got there. I caught that. No, because he heard me. And I'm trying to teach my spirit that my God hears me. Oh, because I've fallen under the belief sometimes that he don't care about me. But then when he answers those prayers, it seems small.

33:44 I'm reminded that he hears me. And yes, I'm still waiting on the big things, but I'm praising God for the little things in the midst of it. They don't say it no more. And y'all know I'm going to be somebody's church mother, but they used to say, I just thank you for waking me up this morning and for the activity of my limbs because it gave me another chance to show up in this rut. I thank you that your mercy was new this morning. I thank you, God, that I was convicted over some actions that I did because you're leading me closer to righteousness. I caught that, that you brought me the right friend in the midst of trouble. I caught that you looking out for me.

34:30 Yeah. And that's how you shift your environment. You may have an environment of doubt. You may have an environment of fear. You got to be willing to open your eyes to the moment where faith is within reach, where love is available to you. and you got to worship God for those moments.

34:52 Worship God for those moments. I rebuke right now in the name of Jesus, the torment of the enemy in your mind, the repetition of the enemy in your mind, making you believe that God will not do what he said he will do. I rebuke it in the name of Jesus, because if you don't have faith for it, you can never lay hold of it. All we need right now is your faith to be increased. If your faith would be increased, the enemy couldn't torment you any longer. So may your faith be increased.

35:32 Oh, and every single day, I guarantee you this, there is something in your life that is meant to increase your faith. but because we're looking for it in one area we often miss it but in order for your faith to be increased in God you got to keep your heart and your eyes open to it God I know you're going to show up today PT talks about this all the time that we're not inviting the presence of God we're really bringing ourselves into the awareness of the presence of God. So if the God, if our God is always present, but I don't always feel his presence, that's not on God, that's on me. That means I'm not walking through this earth with enough sensitivity to recognize where his presence is in any given moment. And so maybe that's part of your homework as you learn to walk it out, is waking up each day and throughout the day asking God, where's your presence? Bring me into your presence. Bring me into your presence. And when we're in the presence, sometimes like this, it means we're worshiping. And sometimes it does mean our hands are lifted. But what would it look like for me to live in the presence while also functioning in this world? Because that's how closely connected we can be. Where my conversations are mindful of his presence, where my thoughts are mindful of his presence.

37:08 And it will bring you to a place of conviction, right? Because, like, how would you talk if you were always in the presence of God? Well, we always in the presence of God. And so to say, Lord, man, that thought, that wasn't right. That wasn't right. I can do better than that. Forgive me. I want to try again. that level of real intentionality, of the real pursuit of holiness. When we talk about being made in the image of God, that means that I'm supposed to look the way he was morally perfect, holy, no doubt in him, no fear, no guile in him. That is what we're supposed to look like. And you're right, we don't always look like that. Does that mean we don't try? No. that means we press towards the mark. We press towards the mark and we graduate on some levels, right? I don't have some of those same thoughts that I used to have, but then he reveals another area of growth or development. And I press again because I know that God's going to finish this work that he started in me and God's going to finish everything that he has started perfecting you. Amen? Okay, let me take a couple questions.

40:22 okay so i tried to answer some of them and i think we have the ability to take some live questions as well okay someone wanted to know how to find your inheritance in god when the storms keep coming. Like, you know what your inheritance is, but the enemy keeps showing you the opposite of what you believe in. Can anyone relate to that? Can anyone felt? Okay, so I think, first of all, we have to understand that our inheritance first starts with our identity, that our inheritance from God. I want to go to Romans chapter 8, verses 14 through 17. And to contextualize this question, And part of the reason why they're asking about our spiritual inheritance is because I talked about the inherited traits that we receive biologically and how we are predisposed to certain types of traits.

41:26 But also recognizing that in our spiritual inheritance that we have some powers and authority and offerings that only come from our relationship with God through Jesus that allows us to have power and strength and peace. And so Romans 8 chapters 14 through 17 says, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. Okay, let's take a minute and just let that marinate for a minute. So if we talk about living according to the flesh, of course, we talk about the spirit versus the flesh in church a lot. And, you know, you got to kill your flesh. You got to kill your flesh. but when you live according to the flesh, I want to submit for your consideration, not just flesh in the way that we talk about it in church, but also flesh like I'm just living according to the way that everyone in my family has lived. I'm just living according to my flesh is what's culturally acceptable. If I'm just accepting that as my truth and my only option, the scripture is suggesting that we could die. You got to consider that. So they're talking about spirit versus flesh, but I want you to consider for the sake of this conversation that if I just assume the identity of this flesh, of this family, of this culture, and this is no knock to your family. Your family could be completely righteous. I'm just using this hypothetically, right?

42:45 But there are some of us people, not everyone in here, who if we lived according to the ways of our family, chow, not you all though, just people watching online. If you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body that means that I am living in such a way that I am asking the spirit to help me understand what needs to be put to death in my flesh you will live and I'm talking about your spirit coming alive oh I'm talking about the fullness of your God-given identity coming alive that first nature that before I formed you in your mother's womb, that part of you that doesn't feel like it's alive, that sometimes you don't always feel anointed. You don't always feel like you have power and authority. You don't always feel like you have confidence. You don't always feel like you have faith. Your flesh will kill your spiritual identity. But if you want your spiritual identity to come to life, you've got to live according to the spirit. The spirit will help you come alive in the spirit. And you need to be able to come alive in the spirit so that you can discern what's for you and what's not. So that you can discern what is the enemy, what's warfare, what is something that you need to resist versus something that you need to overcome. You need to be able to live by the spirit of God. And by living by the spirit of God, I don't just mean shouting when the spirit of God hits a room, though that may be an expression. I am talking about living every day where you're asking the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, one, I welcome you into this day. Holy Spirit, I welcome you into this meeting. Holy Spirit, I'm having a conversation with my partner and I don't want it to be my language. I want it to be your language because we started in the spirit or we're trying to move into a more spiritual place in our relationship. And so I need the Holy Spirit to guide me and to lead me for as many, our Romans 8, 14 says, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are sons of God.

44:48 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs. That's my inheritance. That's inheritance language. I am an heir of God. I am a joint heir with Christ. Oh, that's really good to me. Because this is why Jesus was able to give the authority to the 70 disciples to go out and to cast out demons and to heal the sick. He says, oh, what does it say about our God? That he's not hoarding his power. That he's not hoarding his authority. That he's not just looking for you all to look at him. But he's also saying, I want to share with you my nature. I want to share with you my power.

45:42 I want to share with you my authority because I believe that what you can do in the earth with that power can serve notice to hell, to every demon, and to every darkness. And you can't do it in your own strength. You're going to need my strength to do it. And so I'm going to make you joint heirs with Jesus. What does it mean to be a joint heir with Jesus? It means that devils don't scare me. It means that death doesn't scare me because when I leave this place, there's a mansion waiting on me in heaven. That means you can talk about me and I can still stay on mission. Because when you got the kind of power and authority that I have as a joint heir with Jesus, it doesn't matter what is said about me. My God will take care of me. My God will protect me. My God will go ahead of me and make my crooked path straight. I am a joint heir with Christ. I got news for somebody whose parents didn't leave you anything. That's all right. God left you with enough that your parents never had to leave you with anything at all.

46:36 I am a joint heir with Christ. I'm a joint heir and it says if indeed we suffer with him let's talk about that suffering I gotta put some things to death in me to lay hold of the inheritance that is connected to me that's why you can't play with your sin that's why you can't play with things that you know make you miss the mark that's why you know you can't play with things that create more toxicity more negative patterns and behaviors in your family because I am trying to lay hold of my full inheritance. Oh, that's a good word. I want my full inheritance. So that means that if there's anything in me that is keeping me from laying hold of that full inheritance, it's got to go. I got to put it to death. I wake up daily trying to figure out how do I put to death this spirit of lust that's on me? How do I put to death this spirit of lying? Whatever your spirit is, Don't act like it don't exist because baby it's enough of us in this room for me to know that everybody came in here carrying something You better wake up every morning with a cross to put it on if jesus put it to death on the cross Every day you wake up you better put it to death And yes, it may hurt a little bit and may you have you may have to go through a spirit of loneliness But once you put it to death Is it so that you can come alive so that you can be glorified together in christ?

48:01 You want to be able to say that I paid the price to be standing in the place that God has allowed me to stand in. I went through some things. I cried some tears. It wasn't easy for me. I had to let go of some things that I loved. It's easy to walk away from things that you don't love. I want to talk to somebody in this room who had to let go of some things you loved because you realized that it wasn't leading you any closer to God. That's what it means to suffer a little bit. I love those friends. I love this thing. But in order for me to lay hold of what God had for me, I had to put it to death. The enemy is not tempting you with something that doesn't feel good. He's tempting you with something that's going to make you feel good for a moment, but cause you destruction long term. So if you can learn to allow yourself to suffer for a little bit, you will experience the glory that awaits on the other side. And I feel like there are some people in this room who have decided that this is the year I'm putting some things to death.

49:00 This is the year where I am going to take matters into my own hand and I'm not going to continue to walk around with this same thought pattern. And what we have in the Lord is an inheritance that gives us authority. So the question was, how do I exercise that authority? One, you got to believe that you have it. You got to believe that you have it. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you must have faith that I have power over whatever is happening in my life that is keeping me away from the Lord. How do I tap into that inheritance? If the enemy keeps showing you the opposite of what you believe in, that means the enemy has found a way to get your attention over and over again. ask the Lord what are the gates that allow the enemy access to my mind what are the gates oh who are they are they shows are they music am I rehearsing the same memories over and over again do I need to get some therapy so that I can reframe the way that I'm looking at certain things but the enemy is going to use a certain gate a certain access point you know the longer I have been off of social media the more I realize that the enemy uses that as a gate for me he does it's how he makes me feel insecure inadequate that's a gate and so now before I'm even I'm not even considering getting back on but I'm wondering what does my relationship need to be? Do I need to have a relationship with it? Because I want to be tight in this season. I want to be confident. I want to be sure. I want to be steady. I want to be weighty in this season. And anytime you try to get your weight up, the enemy tries to come and knock you off your square because he recognizes that in the spirit, you could be a heavyweight, but he uses that same

51:05 old gate. That's why some people do not have the right to speak into your destiny. It is not because you're better than them. It is because whenever you speak into my destiny, I lose a little steam and I'm in a season right now where I got to protect what God is doing. And so you got to be willing to ask, what are the gates? And how do I create an environment, whether it's in my mind because I can't necessarily escape the people or the neighborhood or the circumstance? How do I create a sacred space within this environment to protect what God is doing in my life? That is our question. Okay, let me get one more, two more. Do we have a microphone if there's a live question? Shauna, can you help me with a live question from the audience? one of the questions we received says how do you handle functioning in limited environments when you feel you have the potential for unlimited capacity without letting the limitations hinder your growth and capacity I feel like that's part of what made the Luke 2 text so powerful is that we know that Jesus had unlimited capacity.

52:22 We know that. He is 100, he's God made flesh. And we see God made flesh in Luke 2, submitting himself to an environment that doesn't fully understand who he is. But for some reason, the Lord, the God has placed him in that environment for such a time as this. And so I would not let the fact that you are in an environment where you feel you have unlimited capacity, but they have limited capacity, make you believe that you're not supposed to be there. I hope that made sense the way that I said that. I think you have to qualify first. Is this a place where God has me for this season? And if this is a place where God has you for this season, then the next question is, Lord, what am I supposed to be learning from this environment? Because yes, you may have unlimited capacity in one space, but maybe there's something else that God wants you to be exposed to, to help you later down the road. Part of what strikes me about this text in Luke 2 is that Jesus has unlimited capacity, right, as the son of God, and yet he humbles himself into this environment where they say, you know, we don't even know what you're talking about to Jesus. And then they say, he goes, okay, well, he's got to submit to them anyway.

53:35 And then when we see him again at the wedding at Cana, Mary is the one that tells him to perform the miracle that turns water into wine. And so what that says to me is that his capacity was only limited for a season. Oh, I wish I could say that real good. That means that he was only supposed to be in that season of development on the human side for a certain amount of time, but there would be a time in which the area where he was underdeveloped and the area where he was already developed converged so the fullness of him could come out. So I also need you to be reminded that when you're in a season where you are having to submit to something that seems beneath you, that it can still increase you. And that doesn't mean that the area where you were already a master won't be used down the road. I hope that made sense because that's, that made sense. Amen. Okay. Let me, I'm going to see if I can answer your question, but if I can, I don't have any problem saying I can't answer that, but there may be someone else in the room who can.

54:34 How you doing? Pastor Sarah, nice to meet you. So as you explained the first and second state, because I've been battling in the second state for so long, you know, do the environment that you get into this year expose your first state and you step more into it? or I don't know how to really ask if God helped me, how can I get back to that first state? Is it through the environment I step into, or do God put me in the environment to really fully step into that first state he created me to be in? We speak the same language because I understand exactly what you just said. Okay, so what you're asking me is if that was my first nature in Genesis 1, but I've been functioning in this second nature for so long, Am I waiting for an environment to help me get back to that first nature? What am I supposed to do?

55:27 The first thing I want you to do is really begin to dig into Scripture to understand the fullness of that first nature, of God's original intention. When we study the life of Jesus, Jesus is our joint heir, right? He's our model and example. Watch the way he functions, the way that he responds to criticism. Matthew 5, I said this in the message on Sunday. If you read Matthew 5, it gives us great insight into how Jesus views the world, how he views calamity, how he views other people. And when you see that as an example, you see the areas where you align or don't align with that. And you begin to ask God one by one, don't overwhelm yourself. Lord, today I want to focus on forgiveness. You know, it's probably not a day. It's like I want to spend this season of my life aligning myself with a heart posture that models Jesus in this specific area. And then you'll read scripture again.

56:20 And this is eventually, this is what you want to happen. You want to go from reading the Bible to the Bible reading you. where when you read the Bible, you see areas where the Lord is challenging you to change your ways and your spirit. And you have to realize that the Lord is never going to highlight something that he hasn't given you the power and ability to change. So you're going to have authority over that. And so the Lord is going to show you the first nature of humanity through watching how Jesus functioned throughout the earth. And then one by one, he's going to show you the areas where you can level up and up and up from glory to glory to glory, and we will be transformed into that image. So blessings to you on that journey. Thank you. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, Pastor. My question is, you started in Genesis tonight, and the question is, the same question God has been asking, where are you? When he was speaking to Adam, where are you?

57:23 And you also spoke the other Sunday, the same question with Sarah. Where are you? And it's a piercing question to me. Where are you? It's like God is constantly asking us where are we because there's an expectation of our faith that should be on a certain level that he really wants to reveal or speak to us or relate to us. and do the tribulations and the trials that we experience, it takes those to get our faith to the level where we can come up on that level where God initially wants to speak with us. Can you kind of expound on that piercing question?

58:19 I can tell you my interpretation of that question. My interpretation of that question when God asks Adam, where are you, my interpretation of that is that the Lord knows where Adam is, right? He's all-knowing. But sometimes we don't know where we are. And I feel like the Lord often asks us questions to make us dig to figure out how we got off track. What happened to us? Where are you? explain to me how you're not in the place that I left you in? Do you even realize that you're not in the place that I left you in? What happened? And because what we see in the dialogue after that is Adam begins to explain the woman that you gave me, you know, ate from the fruit and she didn't, and she's explaining the serpent deceived me. And so it allows us to be introspective in our relationship with the Lord, which is really beautiful. To me, what that reveals to me about the character of God is that God is not interested in us spiritually bypassing everything that happens to us. And by spiritually bypassing, I mean we just throw a church blanket over. Where are you? I'm back in position now, Lord. I'm right here as if nothing happened. But that the Lord wants to sit with us as we unpack what happened to us so that he can then reveal to us where we need to be and how we get back on track so that we don't repeat it over and over again. And so that is my interpretation of that question. You said something that I think is worthy of dissecting.

59:48 I think especially certain church cultures promote faith exclusively by trials and tribulations. And we think that the only way that we can build faith is if we are struggling. And I would like to invite us to expand our perspective of God, where faith isn't just because we're going through trials and tribulations, that faith can be produced in just an intimate encounter and one-on-one relationship with God. Because if we think the only way my faith can be increased is if I go through trials and tribulations, then we don't always allow ourselves to experience just the faith that can be produced as a result of us having intimacy with the Lord. I was in a, I was somewhere doing something, talking to somebody, and they were talking about, it was team building, and they were talking about how team building dynamics is not really something that you build in the middle of a crisis. You build it before the crisis so that in the crisis, everyone's got the right culture. If I could reflect that in our relationship with God, I would say that my faith is its strongest in the midst of a trial and tribulation because of what I did before the trial to help me through the, through the tribulation. Sometimes our faith doesn't increase in the trial and tribulation. Sometimes my faith takes a hit. That's why you want to have a little faith bank account before the trial come so you don't be in the overdraft when the trial come.

1:01:13 And then you get on the other side of the trial, and then it's like, oh, my gosh, that was really an investment account, and I've got dividends on this return. But sometimes my faith doesn't increase in trials and tribulations. If I can be honest, sometimes I'm like, Lord, really? You know what I mean? And so there's an opportunity to draw closer to the Lord in trials and tribulations, but I also want us to just maybe expand our theology a little bit to allow our faith to be increased in areas of joy, in areas of peace, to let that build our faith as well. And those moments of love, let that build our faith as well so that when those hard moments come, we know that that love can carry us through those seasons as well. So thank you for your question. pastor sarah i'm going to try to simplify this the best way i know how you talked about laying hold of your inheritance and i know through scripture that the lord requires faith and obedience in order to do so um he also says that um faith all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed but what good is a seed that's not planted and so this year the lord told me to plant. How do I make sure that I'm planning, but also not going ahead of him? I'm a dreamer.

1:02:37 God has shown me things through dreams and visions that are very, very lofty. So I do want to go and lay hold of that inheritance, but I'm like, Lord, how? So how can I plant, but stay in obedience, you know, to what he said. You know, this, I want you to study the story of Abraham starting in Genesis 12. That story has been so helpful for me in understanding questions like this, because he says to Abraham, get out of your father's house to a land that I will show you. And he goes on to say all of these things. I'm going to bless those who bless you. He says all of these things. And then Abraham gets out of the house and then he goes into one region and then he messes up in that region. He's got to go back to this fresh place. It'll all make sense when you read it in Genesis 12. What that says to me about those of us who are trying to wrap our mind around what God says is sometimes we move, but we moved in a direction that wasn't aligned with what God has for us. And so we got to be willing to start from scratch, which is difficult for somebody who wants to do well every single time. Sometimes the faith in the works also has to have the reality of correction connected to it. Just because you have faith in works doesn't mean that your works is align with God's will. And so I do the work, but I also do the work loosely because at the end of the day, I know that the Lord may close that door or the Lord may not bless that work, but I needed to do something to put that faith into action. I wish I could say that real good because I don't want you to just be random, but when you've prayed all you can pray, you've done all you can do, you've qualified it the best you can do it. You kind of got to say, okay, Lord, I'm going to take this step. And when I take this step, I'm going to listen for your voice. And then I'm going to take your step again and I'm going to look for the sensitivity of your voice. And if you say, no, I may have to back up. And if you say, no, I may have to humble myself, but I want to put it in action in some way. And so what I have learned, whether it's working with team members or creating new ideas is sometimes I figure out, you know, it was the lesson of the doing and not necessarily the perfecting. Oh, let me say this real good. Sometimes the lesson is just in the doing, not in

1:04:42 the finished product. Yeah. So, so it'll all, all things work together, right? So it's all going to work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose, but it may not, this particular thing may not work out the way that I anticipated, but it will teach me, grow me, and develop me in some capacity so that when I try again in a different area, I'm armed differently than I was the first time. So I hope that helps you. Thank you.

1:05:12 Okay. Frank, go ahead. Answer. Hello, Pastor Sarah. So as the lady was saying about dreams, you know, I really like in Genesis the story of Joseph, especially like when he was telling his dreams, and because of that he was so enslaved by his own brothers. And I really sometimes can relate to this part because sometimes I want to tell my dreams and goals, but sometimes I kind of regret. So when you know when and to what type of people you want to tell your dreams and goals, you know, that's, yeah. No, that's a word. I do think that there's something to be said about understanding why you're telling them. Because sometimes we're telling them because we want them to affirm or confirm it. And I don't believe that you can just share your dream with the desire to have affirmation with just anyone.

1:06:10 So you've got to be willing to ask the Lord, who is someone who can speak into this dream as it's being crystallized? Who can handle it? And then other times we're just releasing it because we're releasing it because it's in our spirit. And we don't necessarily need someone to affirm it or to validate it in any way. I will say if it's still vulnerable and intimate on the inside of you, if the Lord is still showing it to you in a way that you know it's not clear, I wouldn't just open it up to anyone. I would wait until you feel sure enough about what it is, clear enough about what it is, that it won't be contaminated by outside voices or opinions. That way you can share it without fear of someone else diminishing it. Praise the Lord. Okay, I think we've got time for one more and then. So, yes.