You Don’t Know the Sacrifices I’ve Made

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, you owe him some praise. You owe it to him. You ain't doing him a favor. you owe him thanksgiving you owe him your mind you owe him a shout you owe him a dance after all that I've been through I still got my joy and this joy that I have The world didn't give it.

0:58 Hallelujah! Let's clap your hands if you know He paid a price he didn't owe And you owe a price you can't pay I get joy when I think about. what he's done for me. We're already in revival mode. All this week we'll be in revival, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Prophet Marcus Thomas is in the air from Texas. You need to be in the room Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night.

1:57 Signs and wonders are going to follow. I'm telling you, deliverance is at hand. And there's a prophetic word over your life that is about to be released. So make sure that you are in the building. Would you join me in the Old Testament book of Numbers? The Old Testament book of Numbers chapter 7. Numbers chapter 7, verses 11 and 12. Numbers chapter 7 Hallelujah.

2:56 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Everybody is standing. Numbers chapter 7,

3:16 verse 11 and 12. Lead me, guide me along the way. Oh, my Philly, shaw his head, come out of your heart. Let me walk. outez. he stands

4:08 leave me oh lord y'all are going too fast for me slow it down come on let me hear you leave me That's what I'm looking for.

4:31 Allah If you Come on, let me I'm not feeling alone I'm not feeling alone He's dying He's dying Come on, lead me Lead me me Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Numbers chapter 7 Hallelujah.

5:49 Numbers chapter 7, verse 11 and 12. I need... The all I need you In the city of California, Brescentive from California, Gervais Gervais of California, In the city of California, In the city of California, how

6:59 nói Come on, church! We're here to tell you, yes! We're here to tell you, yes! Yes!

7:27 Come on, you ought to put your hand on it right there. Put your hand on it. Oh, my God. Uw nacho, get sh hold in me Oyeayy So stay, let's go, let's go, let's go Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go Let me do it, let's go Let me do it, let's go, let me do it Let's go, let's go, let's go Come on and let's try it

8:32 Hallelujah.

9:02 to me. With my whole heart I will breathe. And my answer will be, yes, Lord. Bless the Lord. Amen. Thank you. Numbers chapter 7. Numbers chapter 7 verses 11 and 12. Amen.

9:50 Amen. Numbers chapter 7, softly musicians. Numbers chapter 7, verse 11 and 12. Would you read silently as I read aloud? for the Lord had said to Moses, each day one leader is to bring his offering for the dedication of the altar.

10:21 The one who brought his offering first was Nishan, son of Amenadeb. He was of the tribe of Judah. you may be seated in the presence of the Lord Amen.

10:46 For the Lord said to Moses, each day one leader is to bring his offering for the dedication of the altar. The one who brought his offering first was Nishan, son of Amenadev, the tribe of Judah. I want to preach today using as a subject, you don't know the sacrifices I made. you don't know the sacrifices I've made. Would you look at the person beside you and say, you should pray for me because you have no idea the sacrifices I've had to make. Condoleezza Rice, Birmingham, Alabama, NATO, has the unique distinction of being the first black woman to serve as Secretary of State under the first black president of the United States.

12:09 She famously stated, people who end up being first don't actually set out to be first. they just set out to do something they love That statement came alive when I found out about the Freedom House Ambulance Service. Freedom House Ambulance Service, it's hard to fathom that as recently as the 1960s, most urban cities did not have emergency medical services. either the police or local funeral homes would be relied upon to transport people who were having a health crisis. In fact, it wasn't until 1967, in the heart of the black community in Pittsburgh,

13:13 that three men came together to address the issue. They trained unemployed black men from the community to become professionally trained paramedics. Without the benefit of medical school, these brothers learned advanced life support, CPR, and trauma care. The impact was dual-fold. It cut unemployment in the community, and it saved countless lives in that city that otherwise would have been lost.

13:59 Blatant racism forced the organization to close its operation in 1975. And miraculously, strangely, immediately after they were shut down, their blueprint was used as the national model of the United States. Minus equipping black men. Now EMS is a standard all over the country in both cities and rural areas with accredited programs in community colleges and universities for people who want to work in the field. It goes to show you, sometimes when you go first, you won't get recognized.

14:58 Even when you help people out, they won't give you credit. you, by virtue of your presence today, is evidence you are not in Pittsburgh, but you are facing an emergency. You are facing an emergency, and it is the call for you to be a pathfinder and a trailblazer. The gift, the idea, the concept, and the dream that God has put inside of you it is an urgent imperative that you move on it now.

15:41 You are going to have to build the plane while it's in the air. What you are called to do is going to save so many people. It's going to equip so many people that if you do not spring into action, people are going to miss their moment and their opportunity and will remain disempowered only because you were disobedient to your assignment.

16:11 I want to say this to somebody who is in this room and your soul is going to do somersaults. I need you to hear it. Your calling is stronger than your qualifications. I better say it again. Your calling is stronger than your qualifications. Those black men in Pittsburgh were unlettered men, but they were walking around with the difference reserved for the degree. Just because people have more money than you doesn't mean they're better than you. just because they have more degrees doesn't mean that they are smarter than you all you need is to be trained and shown how to get it done and if you are given the opportunity you will make it work in flying fashion the only thing you need is an opportunity and I am standing to announce to somebody in this room brace yourself because I feel like opportunities are getting ready to open up for anointed people who are in this place because what is in you, God, needs it released in this hour.

17:33 I don't want you to shout for your neighbor. I want you to shout for yourself. If you know God, if you open up God, you ain't even got to open the door, crack the door. I'll kick it down myself. All I need is a chance to demonstrate that it's in me. It's an emergency that you start that business now. It's an emergency you apply for the grant now. It's an emergency that you fill out the paperwork now. It's an emergency that you look for an alternative stream of income now. It's an emergency that you get away from those deadweights now. It is an emergency that you pursue the dream now. It's an emergency that you enlist to go back in school now.

18:27 It's an emergency that you get out of that apartment now. It's an emergency that you break off that relationship now. It's an emergency that you surrender to God now. It's an emergency that you tell the devil no now. It's an emergency that you cut some people off now. It's an emergency that you go back to what you wrote down. It's an emergency that you get up in the middle of the night and pray. It's an emergency that you turn your plate over. It's an emergency that you surrender to what you've been assigned to. Albert Einstein said, the person who follows the crowd will never go further than the crowd.

19:25 Did you hear what I just said? The person who follows the crowd will never go further than the crowd. You want to talk about the nerve of going first. the nerve of making a sacrifice, the nerve of inconvenience. Look at what happened in the book of Numbers. The Lord assembles the 12 tribes together after it is that they've come out of bondage, after they've dealt with oppression, after it is that they've meandered through the wilderness, and finally, alas, they got a place to worship. And it's time for them to dedicate it. It had been so long since they had a church home, and finally they found a sacred spot to give God glory after being in bondage. Some of you are watching folk around you shout and scream and exclaim, and you are irritated and annoyed because of their volume.

20:31 And it's because you don't know how long they were in bondage. You don't know how tight the rope was trying to restrict them from their creativity and their individuality. And as soon as God set them free, you expect them to be cute and sedity and bougie later for you. I got to give God glory. You don't know how many years the devil had his foot on my neck. When you finally get to a place of being free is when you realize how much bondage you were in. Sometimes you can be in the thick of it that you don't realize how bad it is until God lets you get away from it and you look back at it and you are ashamed of yourself.

21:32 How did I put up with that so long? How was I that unhappy and that miserable? And I declare I ain't ever going back to the way I used to be because he that the son sets free. I'm free. Praise the Lord. I'm free. No longer bound. No chains holding me. It's just a blessing. Praise the Lord. I'm free. And I know some of y'all are looking around like Alice in Wonderland, like you ain't never been stuck in nothing. But I need some runaway slaves that know one day when I was lost, he died. Hide on the cross.

22:23 So the master brings the 12 tribes together. He said, I got a place for you to worship. I got a place for you to exercise your faith. Demonstrate your thanksgiving. And the very first person to step up with an offering was a brother by the name of Nishan. And it's interesting that all these years you've never heard of him. And he's over the tribe of Judah. He ran ahead of the other 12 tribes to give his offering first. What's different about him is that many people run to be first to be blessed. but nobody wants to be first to make a sacrifice. I got it.

23:22 Everybody want the cars and the clothes and the money, but nobody is volunteering to make a sacrifice. After 9-11, after 9-11, do you know who was heralded and celebrated the most? You ain't going to like it. Who was recognized and honored the most was first responders, not those who watched from across the street but those who ran into the carnage to get somebody out of it at the pool of Bethesda there were all kinds of people there halt, lame, withered, crippled and blind but the Bible said whoever was the first to get in was the one who got healed in their body and in their spirit I came today because God says I'm looking for first responders who say, when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for me, my soul cries out, hallelujah, look at the people next to you and tell them y'all ain't got to shout today.

24:27 You ain't got to scream today. You ain't got to holler today. Praise is what I do. And so if God is looking for the first person to do it, let me be the very first one to make the sacrifice of praise. everybody wants to be the first to be blessed and nobody wants to be the first to make a sacrifice the problem with evangelical Christians in this country is that they want a cross that has a flag but they don't want a cross that has blood. hallelujah see some of you like resurrection but you can't get to easter without good friday no cross no crown he said if you suffer with him then you can raise with him and see the reason why the enemy don't like you is you got blood on your cross you survive stuff that should have killed you but you walked away understanding the joy of the Lord is my strength and the strength of the Lord Don't tell me how to behave if you ain't shed no blood.

25:57 if you never made no sacrifices for your family, don't you tell me how I ought to treat myself. If you don't know what I gave up for my younger siblings, I can't hear nobody. If you don't know how I had to grow up fast, if you don't know how it is that I had to take the high road when I was dealing with folk that were low down, if you don't know the days that I didn't complain in the days that I kept it to myself in the days I rolled over and act like I didn't know what you said about me I made some sacrifices that if I allowed my anger to bubble up I would have stabbed, shot and killed somebody but I held my peace because glory was coming later You made some sacrifices. If you want a better way of life and a better future for your children, you got to make some sacrifices. Denzel Washington said, do what you got to do until you can and do what you want to do.

27:15 You gotta make some sacrifices. Turn off Netflix. Get off social media. Get up 30 minutes earlier. Stay up a little bit later. Don't buy the dress. Don't upgrade the phone. Skip the trip. Read one more chapter. Write one more page. Drink a cup of water. Walk an extra block. Pray for somebody else. Do one push-up. You got to make some kind of sacrifice before God can take you seriously. It's easy to trust God when it don't cost nothing from you. When you got steak in the freezer and got a Mercedes in the driveway and got a pool in the backyard. But when you got to make a real sacrifice, when you don't know where the next check is coming from, and you're trying to make the meat stretch out for Tuesday and Wednesday, when you're trying to iron clothes and sew the button back on the blouse, when you got to make a sacrifice and your children don't even understand that I never told you what your daddy didn't do so that you would never look at him side-eye.

28:34 When you had to cover your mother's weakness and vulnerability When you had to step up double time For a lazy co-worker You made the sacrifice God is getting ready to honor your sacrifice I want to say this to somebody God is about to honor your sacrifice some of y'all don't need this word but somebody else needs this confirmation God is going to honor your sacrifice he saw your tears he saw your suffering he saw you living without He saw you being unhappy. He saw you making a difference. He saw you not complaining. And God brought you here just so you could hear. God is about to honor your sacrifice.

29:29 God honors sacrifice Nashon is the head of Judah and Judah is the praising camp All the praises are in Judah. which gives us an incredible lesson that the modern church has missed, and that is, watch this, stretching myself is equivalent to stretching my hands. I lost you breaking a sweat is the equivalent of breaking a shout getting it done is better than a dance Much of your worship and church requires background music.

30:31 But when you take on the lifestyle of sacrifice, doing that which is not comfortable for you, you are letting God know, I'm giving my all even though I don't have that much. The Bible says that while Jesus was hanging on the cross, watch this about to die watch what the Bible says and he screamed with a loud voice it would have been better for him to reserve his strength but the Bible says watch this he was able to yell even while he was in pain we bring the sacrifice of praise so when you see me giving God glory don't get it twisted it don't mean I feel like it It don't mean that everything is going well. It don't mean all of my bills are paid.

31:24 But I got to pull deep inside of me to say, God, I didn't even feel like coming this morning. But I pressed my way. Can you make uncomfortable sacrifices? Even when it pains you. Even when it's too much for you. Even when it feels like it's unfair. Will you make the sacrifice to give him glory? But pastor, they looking at me. They rolling their eyes at me. They snickering at me. I don't want the camera to pick me up. Forget about all of that. I don't care about your reputation, your image, or your brand. You ought to be making a sacrifice. And whatever sacrifice you make, it don't compare to the cross.

32:23 You may be seated. You may be seated. I got to tell you something. I got to tell you something. I got to tell you this. I got to tell you this. I want you to hear this. God will never let you put something on the altar. Listen to me very carefully. God will never let you put a sacrifice on the altar without him putting something on your future. whenever you make a sacrifice God feels challenged it is the only area where God signs the permission slip and says test me on this said whatever it is that you do now I got a responsibility to do more than you And there's some people in this room, if I pass them this mic, they would be able to testify that in spite of the sacrifices I made, the blessings eclipsed my sacrifice.

33:43 It pales in comparison. I declare what you getting ready to get from God is going to be so good that you ain't even going to remember the sacrifice you made that God is going to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what you can think And I wanted to warn you, it's going to cost you to be your true self. It is way out of your budget to try to be somebody else. It is too expensive for you to fit in. Progress always comes with a price.

34:38 And your problem is you want progress to be synonymous with popularity. can you trust God that in this next level of elevation, folk will never know the sacrifice you made, but heaven will recognize it. See, some of y'all just want to be seen, but others of us want to be out the way. It don't require all of that. I once was young, but now I'm old, then I've never seen the righteous. he runs ahead of 12 other tribes and makes a sacrifice and none of the other leaders do it you can't claim to want to be in charge if you are not equipped to sacrifice you can't lead if your only goal is to be seen not what are you sacrificing for yourself what are you sacrificing for the advancement of the kingdom for God to get the glory in the earth I'm not talking about sacrifices for career advancement and personal development but I want his name to be known in the earth that that when folk look at me They don't see me They see the God that is in me That's why you can't hide your testimony You gotta let folk know It ain't always been like this I don't want the smooth taste to fool you I've had some good days And had some bad days But my good days They are way bad days.

36:39 All these years you've been in church, isn't it amazing you've never heard of Nishan? So over 3,000 churches in metro Atlanta, St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. Paul, St. Philip, St. John.

37:03 You can't find Nishan Tabernacle nowhere. Isn't it amazing black people give their kids any kind of name? Mercedes, India, China, Korea, you ain't even got a passport. You naming them everything. And you've never met one child named Nishan. Because there is no celebration for the sacrificial givers. no honor, no prestige, no recognition, no plaque, no non-profit is named for Nishan.

37:57 I didn't want to bore you, but I feel like I had a responsibility to tell you something. If you'll indulge me, and I'm going to my seat, if you'll take that neighbor by the hand, I just got to tell him, and I don't want him to miss it. I ain't even getting ready to pray. I just don't want them to run. Come on, son. I'm getting ready to go. Nishan is the first one to give for the tabernacle. I'm in Numbers chapter 11 and here's what I wanted you to see in all of your years in Sunday school that you didn't know if you read the Torah if you read the rabbinic scroll it shows you something significant it shows you something meaningful that I didn't want lost on you because when Moses leads the children of Israel to the Red Sea he's not sure how he's going to cross and the Lord says to him, lift up your rod.

39:03 Softly, sir, I'm getting ready to go. Lift up your rod. Watch this, and the Bible says, watch this, the Red Sea parted. the Red Sea parted. That's what you know from Sunday school. But here's what your Sunday school teacher never shared with you. Here's what your home pastor never shared with you.

39:27 As Moses lifts up his rod, the Red Sea parts. Pharaoh's army is behind him. Here's the shouting part. The rabbinical scroll record the first one to step in the water was Nishan. I got the wrong church. The one who made the sacrifice is the first one to step into the miracle. If you don't need a miracle, don't make a sacrifice. But if you're ready to step into something that other people would have drowned in, God is asking where? Be seated. I got to show this to you.

40:21 I didn't mean to keep you this long. I got to show it to you. Moses lifts up the rod, but Moses is not the first one to step in because Moses didn't make the sacrifice. You know Moses as the speaker, but you don't know him as the giver. Can you imagine, I don't know where your faith is, that God will allow you to experience miracles before your pastor does.

40:54 Just because he's the one up talking don't mean that he's got a corner on the market of the supernatural. You get ready to step into something that people who got a deeper prayer life than you will never have access to. because they didn't make the same kind of sacrifices. I need you to lift up that hand. I'm getting ready to go somewhere. I got to show it to you.

41:21 Every place the sole of your feet shall tread upon. I'm getting ready to give it to you. Hallelujah. And when you walk in it, people are going to be trying to figure out who you are because they don't know your name.

41:43 They don't know your resume. They don't know your pedigree. Don't worry about that. I wasn't auditioning for you. God saw the sacrifices I made in private and now he's getting ready to bless me in public God I can't hear no worshippers in here I am shouting not for what I have I'm shouting for what I'm getting ready to step into eyes have not seen and ears have not heard Millions of people crossed the Red Sea and all this time you assume Moses was in head of the line. But he was not the head of the line.

42:38 The giver was. Here's what I need you to know. That when Nishan came through because he was head of the tribe of Judah all of the residents, the citizens, and the members of the tribe of Judah go first. Pastor, what are you saying to me? All the praisers are getting to the other side first. You're going to make it, but you ain't going to make it before me. Come on, I can't hear nobody. My praise is opening up a door for me. The enemy didn't expect me to make it, but not by might, not by power, by his spirit. Lift up that hand.

43:35 Let me pray for you. Let me pray for you. The person who makes the sacrifice will be the person who steps into the miracle. Lift that hand, I want to prophesy and proclaim something over you. And now, may the last be first. And now, let the borrowers become lenders. and now may the tails become the head, and now may those who had to make sacrifices become more than conquerors, and now may God make your name great in the earth, and now unto him who is able, here it is, to do exceedingly, abundantly, beyond what you can think, what you can dream and what you can imagine.

45:10 Will you give God an eruption of thanksgiving? Come on, I need you to do it. I want you to erupt in Thanksgiving. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. How much is standing? All over this room, I need you standing.

45:38 All over this sanctuary, I need you standing. I don't know the sacrifices you made. You never told on them. Never gave you a side of the story. You allow people to live with the lie. you didn't defend yourself you didn't even push back on the assumptions made about you you made the sacrifice God says I'm not going to let you put sacrifices on the altar that I don't let you harvest in your future you're in this room I don't know the sacrifices you made and you ain't new to this, you're true to it.

46:32 You've been making sacrifices your whole life. Whoever it is that you are, wherever it is that you are, you need to walk through the Red Sea because new birth is your promise. He didn't get free until he found a place where he could worship.

46:55 And that's your testimony. You're in this room and you need to be free to grow in God, free to be yourself, free to be creative, free to identify with how it is that God sees you. The Red Sea is now open. I need you to walk through it. People don't know your name. Your social media ain't verified. But there's a whole lot that you have to offer. If that's where you are, I need you to come. Listen to me. 50 of you start walking right now. You're supposed to be in this church. You're supposed to be in this ministry. No singing just yet, please. Thank you. 50 of you start moving right now. With every step you take, you are crossing the Red Sea. I need you coming.

48:00 I need you coming. I need you coming. People don't know what you survived. They don't know what you lived through. They don't know what you've kept inside. It wasn't a secret, it was just private. I need you to get to this altar. There are 15 of you. I need you to get to this altar as quickly as you can. Wednesday, you wasn't even planning on coming here.