You Gotta Tighten Up

0:58 Bless the Lord. You may be seated. I want to preach for a little while today using as a subject, it's time to tighten up. It's time to tighten up. Mike Murdoch wrote a book a few years ago entitled The Craziest Instructions God Ever Gave Me, which details his personal odyssey into obedience.

1:38 And it made me think of some unusual instructions in Scripture. how bizarre, how landish, strange they were. You remember that time Jesus told the disciples, go find me a donkey. Has never been ridden on. And tell the owner that I have need of it.

2:08 You remember in the epistles where Paul told Timothy, Bring me my cape. Bring me my books. All while he was in prison. You can't possibly forget in Genesis when Abraham told his servants, bring wood and bring fire. And whatever you do, don't forget some rope. don't forget how the prophet Elijah asked the widow woman to bring him something to eat when she was getting ready to die but the most mind blowing directive I can find anywhere in scripture is when the Lord told Jeremiah go get a girdle and don't just go get a girdle put it on.

3:07 A girdle. the Lord told Jeremiah of all the things, not a prayer cloth, not a priestly robe, go get a girdle, the undergarment worn around the waist, around the hips, around the abdomen, used to give a slimmer profile and to give support to your posture. That's what you tell the prophet to go get. and to put it on,

3:43 you ask a wearer, they'll be honest with you and tell you it might look good, but it's uncomfortable. Hard to navigate, hard to sit down, hard to lay down. To put it plainly, Emmanuel asked the anointed one, hear this, Emmanuel asked the anointed one, put on something, here it is, uncomfortable. The reason being is that the Lord knows being uncomfortable is necessary because growth never happens in the same room as familiarity. The kryptonite of comfort is that it doesn't just make us feel safe, but it also makes us stay the same.

4:47 when everything feels easy we settle discomfort pushes us to rethink our patterns, stretch our abilities, and to pursue different interests. And the Lord told the prophet Jeremiah, go put on discomfort. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's what God is telling you for 2026. I know you're anointed. I know you're gifted. I know you're intelligent. I know you look good. I know you're well connected. But go put on something uncomfortable.

5:36 I want you to be clear. It's not the enemy doing this to you. It's not racism doing it to you. It's not the economy. God's making you put yourself in a position that's going to stretch you. 2026, challenge yourself. Go to events where you don't know anybody. Follow social media pages that don't align with you ideologically. Learn something on YouTube you have no interest in. Befriend somebody you have nothing in common with. taste a cuisine you've never experienced plan a trip to somewhere nobody in your family has ever visited it may be unnerving but it is necessary God wasn't just calling Jeremiah to be uncomfortable it wasn't just for Jeremiah it was for the children of Israel he was telling them here it is I need you to tighten up I need you to get close to me y'all ain't gonna believe the imagery God is telling Jeremiah I want you to be as close to me as a girdle is to your belly I need you to tighten up.

7:20 I need your circle to get tight. I need your children to get close. I want you and your spouse to tighten up. But more than that, I want you to get tight with me. If you feel distant from God, it is not God who moves. is you. How dare you to just take that neighbor's hand and just squeeze that neighbor's hand and look at him and tell him, that's how tight I'm going to be with God this year. God said, I don't want you distant from me. I want us to be like that.

8:15 Thick as thieves. White on rice. Down like four flat ties. And he says, you and I are not going to be tight because you stopped dating me. the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 and 17 pray without ceasing you have not heard the voice of God because you've been giving him the silent treatment you only talk to him when you need something you gotta start talking to God through the whole day when you wake up in the morning before you reach for your phone start reaching for him on your way to work you got to begin praying god you know what i'm getting ready to step into i need you to bring my supervisor under submission i i need you to check my co-workers i i need you to get there before i ever get in the room y'all ain't saying nothing start talking to god while you're on the break and saying god i'm getting ready to break down, but I need you to give me a breakthrough. You got to talk to God while you at lunch and take bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more. This job does not satisfy me. It does not meet the need of my family and of my financial obligations. You got to talk to God during rush hour telling God I need you to hurry up and do some stuff. I need you to remind yourself that weeping may endure for a night, but joy has got to come before I get back home. You got to talk to God before you climb in that bed. I'm trying to figure out what made you think you were too old to kneel to him.

10:19 You laying in the bed talking to God. You better just lay down right there and tell God, God, you know what kind of day I had. God, please don't let tomorrow remind me of yesterday. I need while I'm asleep for you to address some stuff and to shift some stuff and to change some stuff. And I want to tell you what the old church mothers used to say. The more you talk to them, the better you'll feel. And the better you feel, the more you want to talk to him. Just a little talk with Jesus will make everything. you got to change your prayer life.

11:03 I'm one of those who still believe that prayer changes things. And if it don't change the thing, it'll change the way you look at the thing. Come on, y'all ain't saying nothing to me. You got to start dating God, that you ain't just calling him in a crisis and in an emergency. Stop treating God like some cosmic bellhop bellhop and some supernatural sugar daddy you gotta talk to god like that's your best friend god can handle what you frustrated about god i love these kids but i'm about to kill them god thank you for this job but i'm about to shoot up everything in here god i'm appreciative for this man but they're about to make me lose my mind talk to god about everything sometimes you got to have a stevie wonder prayer i just called to say i love you i just called to say how much i care i i just called to say i love you and i mean it from the bottom of my y'all don't got no relationship with god like that anybody just start talking to god in your car in anybody just start mumbling to God and you don't even know what you talking about If you're dating God, it's going to bring you closer to him because you're talking to him.

12:36 But if you're dating him, you can't just talk to him. You got to touch him. There was a woman who had an issue of blood and she had it for 12 years. and she thought to herself, if I can just touch the hem of his garment. Y'all don't like the Bible. And the Bible says, what says in chapter eight, verse 45, when she touched him, he stopped and said, who touched me? Hallelujah. I want to have the kind of connection with God that when I touch him, He'll stop everything else he's doing, trying to figure out what it is that I'm going through. Last year, I begged y'all to shout and begged y'all to scream and begged you to lift your hand.

13:31 Not this year. Those that need a touch from God will know if he ain't touching me, I'll touch him first. Tag you in. I need God to stop a cycle. I need God to stop the bleeding. Hallelujah. When I'm praising God, I'm sending glory to heaven. But when I worship God, I'm bringing heaven down to the earth. As it is in heaven, so shall it be in the earth. Whatsoever I loose in the earth shall be loosed in heaven. Please forgive me. I only got a few worshipers here that understand when I worship God, it ain't for no cars closing money.

14:26 It's because I just need to feel close to here. I hate that we are distant. I just need to know that he's right there. If I got any worshipers here that know what it feels like to touch God, would you just take 30 seconds and just reach for her? Come on, reach for her. Precious Lord take my hand lead me on and let me stand I don't have no worshippers I am tired come on I can't hear nobody I am weak and I am warm through the night hallelujah I need somebody to just reach for his hand if you don't need them don't say nothing but if I got any worshipers in this room just say and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah I just need him to touch me I need his touch hallelujah I dare to just start laying hands on yourself.

15:48 Hallelujah. Just touch me. Touch me. Touch me again. I see men looking like trees. I need a second touch. God, if you touch me again, I feel better than how I did before. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.

16:11 You got to talk to him, but you can't. Hallelujah. You just can't talk to them in a crisis. You got to talk to them to make it an everyday conversation. Hallelujah. When you are a worshiper, you can't wait till you get to Newbert to worship him. But when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for me, my soul cries out. Hallelujah. See, real worshipers don't need background music. real worshipers just need a flashback to say one day when I was lost he died hey thank you Holy God hallelujah I feel something in this room today you may be seated thank you thank you Holy God hallelujah thank you Hallelujah.

17:13 Is that all you got? Come on. Come worship him. The new generation don't say it, but if he don't do nothing else, he done enough already. I said I wasn't going to tell nobody, but I can't keep it to myself. Worship him. the Lord told Jeremiah he told Jeremiah watch this go buy your girdle In other words, I ain't going to give it to you. You got to go buy it. There is a cost to getting close.

18:10 the cost of your closeness with God is heavier than layaway You getting that close to God, it's going to cost you sleep. you're tossing and turning all night you're getting up before the alarm even goes off getting close to God some of y'all have no understanding of what I'm talking about getting close to God will cost you your plans because where you are is not where you thought you were going to be and what you were doing was not in your cards y'all ain't saying nothing it will cost you relationships because your Holy Ghost irritates their demons. you ain't do nothing to them but show up and because you show up they got an attitude and man and they don't even understand i'm trying to stay off the radar but all eyes on me Getting close to God will close you doors because God wanted you to take the stairs.

19:40 People look at you and think that it's been easy, but they don't know the price you paid to get this close to God. when Mary slipped into that dinner party and broke open the alabaster box, the Bible says it cost her a year's wages. The oil you got cost you all of last year. Hallelujah. But it's going to be worth every tear. It's going to be worth every setback. It's going to be worth every sleepless night. It's gonna be worth every shut door. It's gonna be worth every rumor. It's gonna be worth every rejection You gotta pay the cost to be the boss because people don't understand how much it costs you don't let people handle you cheaply i am not running the mill i am not your average joe you ain't gonna find another me it ain't too many people in this lifetime that have paid as much as i paid just to get the peace that i got in my life right now.

21:01 You don't know what I said no to, what I walked away from, what I could have had. Some stuff would have been easier for me, but I value myself too much. It caused me to be at this level with God. When you feel like you are sinking, become a submarine.

21:31 You can handle being underwater. Open your eyes and look around. You haven't drowned yet, so you ain't gonna drown later. Something incredible is about to hit your life. God just wanted to see did you think it was worth the investment he he wanted to see would you pay the price or were you just gonna try to sit pretty Discomfort reveals strength you didn't know you had. just comfort reveals strength you didn't know you had the caterpillar in the cocoon is fighting to get out of there and has no ideas the wings are on the other side of the struggle to the cocoon to the caterpillar the cocoon feels like a torture chamber but they don't know it's a launching pad.

22:39 You'll never know how strong you are by carrying feathers. God needed to make you the heavyweight champion of the world. I don't know where you are but God told me to tell you those of you that give one last push you get ready to break out of your cocoon. you are not gonna die in what they put you in last year but god said if you stretch one good time if you yell one good time if you jump one good time if you run one good time if you push one good time everything you are supposed to become is going to manifest you just gotta get I got it a cocoon. You may be seated. I'm almost finished.

23:37 The harshest thing, the meanest thing my trainer ever said to me is your stomach is the exhibition hall of your discipline. Your stomach is, hear this, the reflection of your decisions. Don't look at your neighbor, look straight ahead now. Look straight ahead. Your stomach is the exhibition hall. Watch this, of your discipline. It is the showcase of your decisions. And watch what God says. God says to Jeremiah, put on a girdle. Your stomach is the exhibition hall of your decisions.

24:36 And God said, put on a girdle. In other words, God is saying to you, I am not going to let people see the evidence of previous bad choices. you look better than your bad decisions i can't hear nobody in here the reason why y'all ought to be tearing up this church god said i just put a girdle on your dating decisions on your financial decisions on your friendship circle. Folks ain't even gonna see the bad choices you made in your life. Suck it up! The Lord told Jeremiah, put on your girdle.

25:40 As a matter of fact, you ain't got one, so go buy one. and Jeremiah, with no delay and no debate, immediately put it on. At the wedding of Canaan, John chapter 2, they ran out of wine, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, runs up on Jesus and says, Houston, we got a problem. We done ran out of wine, and Mary spins on her heels and starts speaking to the catering staff. Whatever he tells you to do, just do that Jesus had given no instructions yet but he was preparing them God is getting ready to say something that's getting ready to change everything in your life I need you to help me preach because the person beside you is hard to hear look at him and say whatever God tells you to do this year do that if he tells you to change careers do it If he tells you to cut them off, do it.

26:43 If he tells you to get out of that group, do it. If he tells you to block them, then do it. If he tells you to shift your mindset, then just do it. Whatever it is God tells you to do, you got to do it. Because last year you ran out of wine. Be seated. I'm almost finished. Please. I'm almost finished. Please. You'll be seated for just one moment.

27:20 Jeremiah is anointed by God as a heavy anointing. Has an overwhelming assignment. and he's going to and fro doing what God has called him to do. And what is amazing for most of you who is in this room, you know of Jeremiah, but you had no idea that under them robes, he had a girdle on. people have no clue of what's going on with you. they have no idea how you keeping it together when you should be falling apart for the life of them they can't figure out how you ain't bitter, how you ain't angry how you ain't vengeful, y'all ain't saying nothing they don't understand underneath all of this God is keeping me together I'm able to speak to folk that did me dirty I'm able to be polite to people who I know ran my name through mud.

28:36 I'm able to smile when I should be crying. Because under all of this, I will bless the Lord at all times in his praise. you'll know what's going on underneath all of this I'm cranking my workout but I'm ready to crash out I'm making it happen for my family but I'm having a meltdown on the inside I'm still kicking but I feel like crying I'm focused and I'm distracted but underneath all of this God is keeping me together hallelujah people got no idea that you deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for how you just find the strength to brush your hair and how you find the strength to just climb in the shower and put on matching shoes and to brush your teeth God is keeping me together If there's anybody that knows you should have fell apart in 2025.

29:53 But the Holy Ghost been a girdle. It's been keeping me together. When I should have lost my mind. Hallelujah. And the Lord told him, put on your girdle. Watch this. And he didn't tell him, just put on your girdle. Watch what he says. Put on your girdle. This is going to mess you up. And don't wash it. remember the girdle is the closeness of Israel to God and he says I don't want it clean I want all the sweat I want all the blood I want all the tears I know it stinks but I still want you on me God help me It's ugly, but you still mine.

30:57 It's dirty, but it's still mine. It's tattered, but you still belong to me. People don't know what you have been keeping to yourself. Some of us have to declare my life stinks, but God made me come out smelling like a rose. You got no idea. I literally got it out the mud. The prodigal son spent all that he had, woke up in a pig pen. And the Bible says he came to himself. I can do better if I just go to my father. And what I want you to pay attention to is that the prodigal son didn't take a shower first. Didn't spray cologne. Didn't wash his face or brush his teeth.

31:50 he went to the father dirty saying just as I am weary worn and sad I found in him a resting place but he has made me glad I got a lot of perfect saints who were in the room but for the small group in this place that can keep it a hundred to say pastor I've done some nasty stuff in my life I've done some stuff that I'm ashamed of and I don't want to look at and I'd rather not face, but I'm so thankful that God still loves me with all of my mess, with all of my filth and with all of my foolishness. All of the perfect people don't shout with us. But if you've ever been drunk or ever been high, ever been in a hotel, ever rode over with somebody who you didn't know, but you know through it all, I still trust God Do it all I'm not going to keep you, but I can't leave you without showing you verse 11.

33:02 He says, as a girdle is bound around the waist, so shall I bind the people of Israel to me. I wish I had a better sermon. I wish I had something else for you to dance to, to shout to, to run to. But God told me to tell you a very simple message. God told me to tell you this year, God is sticking to you like a girdle. like neutrons are attracted to protons like mass can't resist gravity like goodness is holding the hands of mercy like poet to a poem like electrons dancing with an atom the glory of god is just gonna be sticking to you not to be sticking to you you are not going to be able to shake the closeness of God philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer shares the parable to describe the challenges of human intimacy when he describes a group of porcupines huddled for warmth on a cold day Schopenhauer said that what the porcupines go through is what we have to deal with porcupines on a cold day they come together but when they come together they prick each other so they move away from each other but when they move away from each other they realize how cold it gets and they deduce it's better for me to stick together than to freeze alone.

34:54 Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. I had church hurt, but the cross healed me. Y'all ain't saying nothing. I'm so grateful unto God. It ain't been perfect, but I'm glad that we still sticking together. Look at your neighbor, tell them I've been hurt but I'm still holding on I've been through some difficult nights but I still trust God For the last time today, I'll ask you to be seated. And after this, I'm no longer responsible. we have been quoting scripture wrong we've been quoting scripture wrong and the scripture that we quote in error the most often is romans 8 here's what we have quoted what shall separate me from the love of god that is not what the scripture says the scripture says who shall separate me what you gotta understand the devil assigns somebody into your life to draw a wedge between you and God to make you stop trusting him and to stop praying and to stop worshiping. But the Bible said none of them will be able to separate me. I got to get out of here, but I need you to look at your neighbor and say, who sent you? Come on, look at your neighbor and say, who sent you? Because whoever is in your life was either assigned by God or dispatched by

36:59 the devil and I'm able to gauge who sent you by our relationship does it bring me closer to God or does it pull me further away from him and I hope you sitting beside somebody that ain't gonna take you away from God but that's gonna push you closer to him I need you to grab your neighbor by the hand and say tighten up I'm not like the rest of your friends when I give God glory I'm not just shouting for me but I'm shouting that you'll get closer to here when I open up my mouth y'all gonna be thick as seeds white on rice gravy on grits ain't nobody gonna stop me from giving God the glory.

37:58 I will enter into his gates with thanksgiving. I'll enter his courts with praise. I will bless the Lord at all times. And his praise will continuously be by my mouth. And I came to tell you, Legacy I learned. If I gotta praise him by myself, I'll praise him all alone. Take one minute and praise God for what's coming. Praise God. I gotta get out of here. Grab that neighbor's hand.

38:56 I feel like preaching now. I said grab that neighbor's hand. And say neighbor. I gotta tell you. Me and God. Are tight like that. He don't play about me. watch your mouth don't talk about me I'm one of God's favorites I'm one of his children and God is going to bless whoever blesses me he's going to curse whoever curses me if God be for me who can be against me pat that neighbor on the back I said pat your neighbor and tell your neighbor that ain't me that's the Holy Ghost he's riding on your back he's close to you he's closer now than he's ever been oh my God give three people a pie I said give three people a pie I Thank you, Lord. You've been better to me than I've been to myself. If I had a thousand hands, I couldn't praise Him enough. If I had a thousand talk, I couldn't shout enough. But with the two hands, with the one mouth, with two feet, I gotta praise Him.

40:35 I gotta give Him glory. I gotta