The Problem with a Promise w/ Sarah Jakes Roberts
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Hey there, this is your girl, Sarah Jakes Roberts, and you are listening to the Woman Evolved podcast. It has been a minute since I have sat down at this microphone, and I'll be honest, since the last time that I did, my world just feels very, very different. For those of you who may not know, I'm a woman.

Last Sunday when my dad was speaking, at the benediction of his message, he had what at the time was just this unexplainable slur in his speech. He kind of slumped over. I was watching from home and they cut the live stream. I had no idea, like many of the people who were watching online, what was happening. Obviously, no one had their phone on them in the heat of the moment. And so it wasn't until...

I figured out which hospital he was going to and went to the emergency room that I understood what he was up against. And while I know so many people love him and want details about what happened, I will say, you know, health issues are private. It was life threatening. It wasn't a stroke, which is what I thought it was when I was watching on the live stream. But that was one of the first things that they cleared up.

But it really was, I think, a call to rest, a call to slowing down. And I think anytime something happens that is life-threatening, I mean, he was in ICU for a couple of days. It's also just an opportunity for reflection. And in that reflection, I... Man...

I'm still reflecting. This was just, I mean, this time last week he was still in ICU. But I will say that I have been reflecting on our relationship, my father and I's relationship. I...

who he has been to me, the areas where I felt like maybe there was a void in our dynamic and what can I do with the time that we have left to heal, restore, reconcile. So all while that was going on, I also realized that as the assistant senior pastors of the Potter's House Dallas, that there was also a shift in

I believe my responsibility to the people we're called to serve. I wish I could say that we were just in Dallas because my dad asked me to come to Dallas and we were here to, you know, do what daddy asked us to do. But...

It's so much bigger than that. We were in L.A. We love our community in Los Angeles, love our lives in Los Angeles. And when my father first started talking about needing help, I was like, you have so many spiritual sons. Surely someone else needs.

can help. It was during the pandemic too, so things were kind of shut down. So as a family, we kind of huddled together. And while he was talking about needing help, you know, I was like the matrix, like letting that dodge past me. But I came to this point of surrender. And I'm like, God, if you are asking us to leave our lives, to leave this city, to leave what we love in order to do something here in Dallas, please make it clear that

And there were just a few messages, a few moments of me speaking in Dallas during the pandemic where I couldn't deny that there was something connected to our lives and our destiny that had to do with Dallas. And when my husband felt the same way, we felt like maybe that's our next step is we just show obedience and we see what happens. And now we're standing in this moment and we're

We love the people. We love how God is developing us. We love our lives here and how it's been good for our family and our overall wellness. But I think I sense this responsibility to also cover the Potter's House Dallas while my dad is recovering and to be to the best of my ability.

an added layer of God's covering for them. I'm stumbling even saying that because it feels so surreal that the place where I just spent so much time feeling alienated and unworthy and inadequate is now the place that I feel called to serve.

So the Sunday after all of these things happened, I was already on schedule to speak. I low key feel like I've been on sabbatical because I think it was October the last time I preached. But I was already scheduled to preach the Sunday after this incident. And I just felt a real heaviness stepping onto the pulpit where my father literally lost his life and came back.

where he just blacked out, had this health scare. And standing in that space, the spiritual implications of...

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And after saying all of that, I'm not sure why you would want to hear the message, but I feel like there was this place that I came to and my prayer and devotion

Where God just told me, I'll be honest, I was kind of like, Lord, like, what is your word? What is your, you know, promise to me in this season of shifting the weight, which is the last message I preached. But, you know, in this shift, in this mantle passing, like, what is your word for me right now? What's your promise? Like, you know, God, where do I put my faith on? Like, oh, we're going to...

Take the church to another level. We're going to grow. Like, God, what's the promise? And I just heard God say so clearly to me.

that I do have promises for your life connected to your obedience, but right now it's only about presence. And so I preached a message on Sunday called The Problem with a Promise, and I want to share it with you. And I hope that it blesses you. If you've ever heard me speak before, you know, usually I have some type of analogy, some type of story that kind of weaves into whatever the revelation is that God has given me.

I don't have that this time. I just have what God gave me. And I pray that it blesses you. We are about to close out the podcast this year. And so the next couple episodes will be more like what you are used to. But for now, I am offering you an opportunity to tap into my intimate relationship with God in prayer, in hopes rather, that it will be a blessing to you. So I love you all. And I'll talk to you next week. I'm going to be in Exodus 33.

My subject is the problem with a promise. The problem with a promise. Exodus 33 verses 12 through 17 context is that Moses and the children of Israel are at Mount Sinai. And while they are at Mount Sinai, Moses goes up to have a meeting with the Lord.

And as he's gone, he's gone for 40 days and 40 nights having this meeting. The children of Israel begin to wonder if God is still with them or not. They begin to believe that because Moses has been gone for so long that maybe he has abandoned them. And in response to this abandonment, they create their own God out of a golden calf.

And now they're trying to create a God where they once had a God and Moses comes down from the mountain, realizes what they have done and God is angered at the children of Israel. And God is so good that he doesn't say because you have broken these rules, because you have created your own God, you no longer have access to the promised land. That's not the kind of God we serve. God says instead, you can still have access to the promised land. I'll

send my angel with you but I won't go with you because God can't break his promise and so when we find Moses in the text he's reasoning with God because God is saying that you can still have the promise but you can't have my presence but Moses never obeyed based on a promise he obeyed based on having God's presence and

And so when we enter into the text, then Moses says to the Lord, see, you say to me, God, you told me to bring up this people. But God, you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet, God, you have said, I know you by name and you have also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore, I pray if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way.

That I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight. And consider that this nation is your people. And he says, God says to him, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Then Moses says to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. I am not so obsessed with the promised land.

That I'm willing to head towards the promise without your presence. God, you don't have to fulfill the promise if it means I won't have your presence. If your presence doesn't go with me, don't let me move from this space. Because your presence is just that important to me that I don't even want the promise if I can't have your presence.

If your present doesn't go with me, do not bring us up from him. For how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight, except you go with us? So we shall be separate, your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. So the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken, for you have found grace in my sight. And I know you by name. Amen.

Lord, I want you to know me by name. God, we want you to know us by name. That we would be so obsessed with your presence. So insistent on your presence. That you say, here comes Sarah. Here comes Jessica. Here comes David again. I know them by name because they just keep pressing in. God, these are your people. This is your church. This is your moment. Let me not stand in the way.

God, help me to find the sweet spot where your glory and my gifts and my talents, my experiences converge and you stand before us. Show yourself strong as only you can do. I offer myself a living sacrifice and I say, have your way, God. May I decrease in all of the ways where I need diminishing. May you give me strength in the areas where you know I need strength.

Give us peace, God. Open our hearts to receive this word that it may take root and produce fruit. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. In Jesus name. Yeah. There's a scripture that I learned when I was growing up right across the way.

God, we thank you in Jesus' name for deliverance, for peace, for breakthrough, whatever is necessary. We claim it done in Jesus' name. We thank you, God, that he's in the right place because he's got a community of believers who are believing for the same breakthrough that you have promised to all of us. So we ask that you would dispatch angels in the

of Jesus to meet them in the place of their greatest need and we decree and declare that it is done in the name of Jesus Satan we rebuke you and we call you immediately thrown back to the pits of hell where you came from and we decree and declare that there will be freedom there will be breakthrough there's too much spiritual authority in this church for us to just let anything happen on our way

I said we plead the blood of Jesus over this church. We got too much spiritual inheritance in this church. Our bishop may not be on the

on the wall but he has raised up an army of people who have been filled with the Holy Ghost I thank you God for supernatural covering I thank you God for angels warring on our behalf I thank you God that anywhere that the blood of Jesus is that there will be freedom I thank you for confrontations with the enemy I thank you for a conflict I thank you for a war

that allows for breakthrough to come. In the name of Jesus, we're not scared of no devils around here. We didn't face off with too many. It's all kinds of ancestors and great-great-grandparents who have prayed so that we could walk into this room. So we thank you, God, that you're stirring up the gift of God that's on the inside of us. Isn't it powerful how there are moments where God moves the spiritual world

that we think we must rely on so that we can begin to stir up the gift of God that's on the inside of us. We haven't just been coming to the potter's house and watching the potter's house so that we could rely on someone else's Holy Ghost. We've been tapped in so that it could stir up

own Holy Ghost that's why when Bishop went out people started praying because Bishop it's good when you can preach to us but there's something different when we can pray over the one who has led us through it's going to take the combined anointing of everybody in this room and everyone watching online for God to do what he's going to do in the earth

And sometimes God moves what you've been relying on so that you can step into what God has always known about what he placed on the inside of you. I want to prophesy to somebody who's been feeling uncovered and I want to let you know it's because you're the cover.

I had to move the covering so that you could understand what you need to step into. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. I know your great grandmother had a prayer, but I hear God saying out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. I hear God saying out of your mouth shall come a prophecy. I hear God saying that I put it not just around you,

I placed it in you. And sometimes you need a situation that makes you pull from what God put inside of you. So what you're about to see right now is me pulling from what God must know is inside of me. Even though it's inside of me. Because God sometimes puts you in a situation that makes a demand on the anointing.

That he put on the inside of you. And I got to tell you. I feel a little crazy. Because I feel like maybe just maybe. Maybe just maybe I'm anointed for this. I feel like maybe just maybe. That I'm anointed to step into the moment.

moment when all hell is breaking loose I feel like heavens rises up on the inside of me and start saying I built you for this I anointed you for this I want to talk to somebody where all hell is breaking loose I hear God saying it's time for heaven to start flowing through you wherever it looks like oh

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The reason I love this so much is because it is the holidays and there's things that I've had family members and friends ask me for throughout the year that I simply would not give them the money to get. But I will get them the actual items. So whether it's laptops, hair steamers, dining sets, makeup, better wigs for Lauren LaRosa, whatever it is they need, Amazon got it.

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See att.com slash iPhone for details. Okay. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I grew up in this church and one of the very first scriptures we learned was John 3, 16. It was the prerequisite for vacation Bible school. John 3, 16. If you didn't know any other Bible verse, you had to know John 3, 16.

And while John 3:16 is integral to our faith, it is important in us understanding the foundation of our salvation. It is also a promise. I started going through scripture, I started reading, and I began to recognize that many of the scriptures that we just kind of say cavalierly, scriptures that we just quote casually, are promises. And we don't always recognize

That these scriptures are promises for God so loved the word that he gave his only begotten son That whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's a promise That whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but will have Everlasting life you bring your belief. He gives you everlasting life. That's a promise

All you have to do is believe and he'll take care of the rest. When I look at Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 through 6, I see another promise. It's comforting for sure. It's powerful without a doubt. But it's also a promise when it says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge the Lord in all of your ways and he shall direct your path.

So that means that in order for him to direct my path, he's not just directing my path. The promise is that if I trust in the Lord, if I lean not onto my own understanding, if I acknowledge him in all of my ways, then he's going to direct my path. That's a promise. So in moments where I feel like my path isn't being directed, I have to ask myself some questions. Am I trusting in the Lord with all my heart?

Am I leaning not on my own understanding? Am I acknowledging him in all my ways? If I'm doing all of those things, then the path will be made clear. And if there is no path, there is nowhere for me to go because this is a promise that if I'm doing all of these things, that he will direct my path.

scripture after scripture that we have recited and quoted our promises in disguise and that means that we have an opportunity to recognize the way that God works when he speaks that he's not just speaking casually that he's making promises when I see Genesis 3 and 15 most theologians call this the curse it's the moment where the Lord curses the serpent and he says to the serpent I

This is not just a curse for the serpent. This is a promise for the woman.

This is the promise that though the enemy may have come in your direction, though the serpent may have tricked you up when it is all said and done, I promise you that I'm going to have the last say because he may have bruised your heel. But when it's all said and done,

going to bruise his head this is a promise to the enemy just as much as it is a curse that this battle is not over yet you may have looked like you won in this moment but I promise you when it's all said and done that I'm going to get some glory out of this I promise you when it's all said and done I'm going to get some victory out of this we're not just quoting scriptures

We're declaring promises from a God who cannot fail. We're declaring promises from a God who does not lie. What he said in Genesis 3 and 15 is true. When it's all said and done, death didn't have a sting and Jesus was risen from the grave with all

in his hand and he used a woman the same woman that allowed the enemy access in the garden God takes that woman and says now I'm going to put divinity on the inside of this woman and I'm going to partner with this woman to fix what happened in Genesis this is a promise I want us to understand the nature of what happens when God makes a promise he doesn't change his mind when God makes a promise he fulfills it no matter what

So when I recognize that God is a promise keeper, it changes the way that I move in the world. You'll see everyone else will be moving at their own pace. Everyone else will be doing whatever the culture says, whatever the algorithm says, whatever the newspaper says. But for me, I don't just move when everyone else moves. I have to wait on the Lord. I have to wait.

Lord because there's a promise in Isaiah 40 that tells me that those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. Why am I waiting? Because there is a promise connected to my waiting. I could start running now but I may grow weary. I could start running now but I may grow faint. But because there is a promise connected to my waiting.

else can look like they're going to outpace me. Everyone else can look like they're going to move past me, but I'm waiting on the Lord because when I wait on the Lord, I get endurance. When I Lord, I have wisdom. When I get to see where you tripped up so that I don't stumble over the same thing that you fell over. The Lord has let you go ahead of me so I don't make the same mistakes that you made. You think I'm behind. I'm behind.

I'm waiting on the Lord. There's a promise connected to my waiting. I'm waiting on something. You better nudge your neighbor, say, I'm waiting on something. I'm waiting because there's a promise connected to my weight. I'm waiting. I don't push myself beyond what I'm able to do because I'm waiting on the Lord. And when I wait on the Lord, my strength is renewed. When I laid on the, my courage is renewed. When I, what I get filled with the spirit of fresh, when I

I prophesy differently. When I wait, I handle you differently. When I wait, I don't just speak whatever comes to my mind. When I wait on everything that comes out of my mouth is a reflection of what the Father is saying in heaven. When I wait on Lord, hell starts trembling. When I wait, demons start trembling because when I speak that I'm speaking what God has told me to speak. I wait on Lord because he's always

in my steps and I've made too many missteps in the past. I can't afford to take another misstep so I weigh on the Lord. There's a lot of people who have learned to sit in the pocket of allowing God to fulfill the promise connected to their weight. A lot of people who have learned the art of not moving unless they are stepping into a promise. Oh God help me.

We call Abraham the father of faith as we should. A lot of times though when we call him the father of faith, we call him the father of faith as if what made him so powerful is that he stepped out of his father's house. And while it did require some faith to do that, I think what really ultimately makes him the father of faith is that he trusted that God would not break his promise. It's one thing to step out of your father's house.

It's another thing for God to give you a promise and for you to believe that God won't break his promise. Oh, I wish I could say that better. There are some people in this room.

Who have stepped out on faith because they believe that God won't break his promise to them There are some people who have not given up on what God has told them is going to happen And what is keeping them in the fight is because they have faith that God would not break his promise You want to talk about having faith faith is not just what you do faith is what you believe about what you do I believe that in

that in me activating this promise that God would not break his side of the deal. God told me that if I moved to this city, God, if I started this business, God told me if I wrote this book, that there would be breakthrough, that he would knock a different version of my identity. God made me a promise and I'm crazy enough to shake up my whole life because I've

I didn't step out on a promise. I didn't step out on a dream. I didn't step out on talent. I didn't step out on a gift. I didn't step out on a dream.

I didn't step out on a bank account. I didn't step out on history. I stepped out on a promise from God. And I'm counting on God to keep his promise. My father didn't keep his promise. My mother kept their promise. My little walked away from me. But God is not a man that he shall lie. God told me I was going to be healed. God told me I was going to be whole. So when I stepped into this next dimension...

I stepped out on a promise. Standing on a promise. You sit next to somebody who's standing on a promise. It doesn't make any sense for them to have the thoughts that they have. It doesn't make it...

make any sense for them to have the ideas that they have, but they have stepped out on a promise. It's not on the inside of them anymore. That promise is a part of their being. They're writing with a promise. They're raising children with a promise. They're saving with a promise. They're prophesying with a promise. They're worshiping with a promise. I stepped out on a promise. I

nothing to lose because I walked away from everything but God told me I'd have everything to gain if I stepped out on a promise it may look like I'm lonely it may look like I'm crazy it may look like no one understands me but baby me and my promise got a thing going on me and my promise understand something that no one else understands God doesn't break his promise God oh

Just want you to let that marinate for a little bit. You serve a God who doesn't break his promise. I'm gonna prove it to you a few times over. In Genesis 6, God destroys the earth with a flood due to the wickedness of creation. And this very creation...

That he destroyed the earth over in Genesis 6. We find them in Genesis 11. Building a tower to reach heaven. He's sick of them. Earth just now dried out. And y'all out here doing the most again. Should have wiped them out. But he says, I made a promise to Noah.

That I would never destroy the earth again. So even when the earth deserves it, I won't break my promise because my promise is great obedience. His promise is not contingent on your obedience. If he breaks his promise, make him like us.

says because I can't break my promise I'll confuse their language I'll scatter them across the earth I will do anything but flood the earth again because I made a promise David abuses his power commits adultery murders but God promised him that he would have an eternal throne that he would be a part of the lineage of the Messiah and of his kingdom there would be no end he made him a promise

But David, David does everything that shows he's not worthy of this promise. His actions don't align with the faithfulness of God. And yet because God does not break his promise, even though David didn't deserve it, maybe in our own estimation, God still allows him to be a part of the lineage of Jesus because that was something he promised. I want you to understand that there is nothing that you can do.

There is nothing that you can say. There is nothing that can be spoken over you. There is nothing in your closet that is so scary to God to make him change his mind about what he has promised over your life. There is nothing that you can do. Now, maybe you don't deserve it and you have to work on shame and you got

Your own process of unforgiveness. But I hear God saying one thing I need you to understand about me is that I will not break my promise. If I promised you, you're going to be okay after this. If I promised you that I'm going to order your steps in this next phase of your life.

If I promise you that if you move to this place, if you move to that job, that I'm going to reveal something about my character, something about your development that is going to make it all worth it. I promise you you're going to be okay. The problem with too many of us is that we let his promises slip through our fingers. We disqualify ourselves from the promise.

We think to ourselves that because I've done this or that or because it doesn't look like what I thought it was look like then the promise no longer applies to me. But God doesn't change his mind. That's why he had to go get Peter and resurrected from the cross. Peter had gone back fishing because he thought surely he can't use me to build his church. I denied him three times. Surely he's given up on me because I've given up on myself.

But Jesus goes out of his way to go find Peter because he told Peter on this rock, I'm going to build my church and the very gates of hell shall not prevail. Peter, if you don't get in position, you're impossible for me to fulfill what I said. Have you ever come and get you? You think he just got you because he had nothing else to do that. You are a pit stop. Oh,

way to him doing something else and I hear God saying I came to get you because the promise that I made with your great-grandmother the promise that I made when you took your first breath it hasn't changed no matter what you went through no matter what happened on the inside of you that promise it still exists

The holidays are here, and it's that time of year to think about, yes, gifts. But not only gifts, it's the guests. The party planning and the true meaning of the season. Spending time with family and friends. We know it's a lot, but we're here to ease your mind and share some tips so we'll make it through together. With the season getting underway, now is the time to shop early for amazing holiday deals at Amazon. Amazon has a wide selection for all your holiday needs.

The reason I love this so much is because it is the holidays and there's things that I've had family members and friends ask me for throughout the year that I simply would not give them the money to get. But I will get them the actual items. So whether it's laptops, hair steamers, dining sets, makeup, better wigs for Lauren LaRosa, whatever it is they need, Amazon got it.

And please remember, you can find the best holiday gifts on Amazon. Shop great deals now on Amazon and visit amazon.com slash black effect podcast for my favorite picks. You could sit there and listen to ads or you could take a moment to have a Diet Coke break. First, grab a chilled Diet Coke because if you want it to be perfect, it needs to be crispy. Next, get a big cup of ice because everyone knows Diet Coke is best served swimming in ice.

Then sip it slowly, feel that burn and enjoy your break for as long as possible. When you need a break, don't forget to grab an ice cold Diet Coke and take a Diet Coke break. This Christmas. So you're her, right? You're the boxer? Experience the incredible true story. As long as I'm boxing, I'm going to be okay. Of Claressa Shields. My baby going to the...

Let's go! Critics are calling The Fire Inside an inspirational knockout crowd pleaser. If I'm gonna train for this gold medal, I'm gonna eat exactly what the man get. It's a monumental achievement. I've been working my whole life for this. The Fire Inside, based on the incredible true story. Rated PG-13. May be inappropriate for children under 13. Only in theaters everywhere Christmas Day. You walked away from the promise. Not God.

You changed your mind about the promise, not God. And how gracious it is that he would come and get us in spite of us for the sake of keeping the promise alive. Man, when God makes a promise, he doesn't break it. Which means that navigating the reality of a promise really comes down to our reactions and responses. And I know why we abandon the promise.

I know why we lose faith in the promise. This happens because the promise has to contend with the present. The problem with a promise is that it must contend with the present. And what do you do when the promise doesn't look anything like the present? What do we do when it's easier to let the promise go than it is to hang on to a promise forever?

The present can I be honest with you? Some of us had to let the promise go because holding on to the promise while looking at our present was becoming heartbreaking Devastating thinking to ourselves. It'd be easier if I just shrunk my expectation so I don't have to deal with the anxiety that Exists because of the distance between the present and the promise. This is where we find the children of Israel in my text and

They have a promise, but the present doesn't look anything like the promise. They were slaves coming from Egypt, delivered by Moses and told about a land that their great, great, great, great 400 years ago, grandfather promised them.

They were promised this land, but they were exiled from this land, enslaved. And now someone comes 400 years later saying that I'm going to deliver you and I'm going to take you back to a land flowing with milk and honey and you will no longer be enslaved. And it took them a lot of time.

lot of faith to lay hold of this promise. It took them a lot of work to lay hold of this promise and they had the faith to step out on this promise but then something happens when they are in Sinai that makes them begin to question whether or not the promise is still on. What's interesting about this moment in the text for the children of Israel is that though it doesn't look like their promise is progressing, this is actually a critical moment in their journey.

God help me say it right. It's a critical moment in their journey. On one hand, their leader has gone up to the mountain to meet with God. For 40 days and 40 nights, this man who was leading them day by day, who was giving them direction, who had the rod, who had the direct connection with God, he was leading them. And then he disappears for 40 days and 40 nights. And they're wondering, does this mean that the promise no longer exists?

That's what's happening in their present. Other side of this thing at the top of the mountain, God is having communion with Moses. And what God is doing with Moses is giving him direct information on how to establish the children of Israel. Oh, I'm going to keep working this until we get it.

Based on their perspective, it looks like they are stalled, that they are paused. They don't realize though that from the Lord's perspective, he's

ready to transition them from those who have been enslaved into a nation while they think they're forgotten God is actually doing the work to establish them sometimes God puts you on pause so that he can go ahead of you and give you everything you need because the next step is not going to be a tent journey the next step is going to be an establishing journey so he had to pull you to the side so that he could have fellowship for a minute

We always talk about him going ahead of us and making our crooked path straight. Sometimes for him to go ahead of us, you have to not go anywhere at all so that he can go ahead of you. You may look like you're stuck. I hear God saying, you're not stuck. I've just gone ahead of you because I want the road to be prepared when you get there. Oh God, I wish you'd help me say this real good. Had the children of Israel not had this moment,

They would have never known, they would have never had the tools to become a nation. They were slaves for 400 years. And with being a slave comes a slave mentality. With being a slave comes a certain way of functioning. It comes a certain way of being. You don't think the way you should think when you're an owner.

way you believe when you have a right to be there but God says I'm not going to keep them as slaves forever I'm going to turn them into a nation and a nation has to have laws and a nation has to have government and a nation has to have rules and so while they are wondering God where are

need a master God says I'm actually preparing you to be my set apart people I'm preparing you to be holy you're looking for a master but I'm trying to make you a leader you're looking for a master but I'm trying to make you at the forefront so these moments it's critical not just for them but it's critical for you

To understand, and I preached this once before, that your perspective is not the only perspective that exists. And if you start functioning based off of what you see, because you no longer believe that the promise exists, you're going to miss out on how God was establishing you when you thought you were stuck, when you thought he'd given up on you, when you thought you were in it on your own. And they start functioning like forgotten people. Mm-hmm.

They start functioning like people who have to figure things out on their own. They start functioning like people who have had their back against the wall and will just take whatever comes their way. And they create their own God. Not you, but people you know. When the promise that God gave them isn't fulfilled, they create their own promise. Create their own God. Amen.

Yeah, no, I didn't want what God had for me anyway. What's my God now is my career.

What's my God now is my look. What's my God now is my retirement account. What's my God now is this or that because I couldn't wait for what God had for me because I didn't believe that God was going to do what he said he was going to do. I'm going to settle for something else that may look like a God and only me and God will really know that I manufactured this persona, that I manufactured this idol, but date down on the inside. I know that this is a counterfeit.

Because I gave up on waiting on God There are some people who get so used to being on the run that they cannot fathom what God can do in stillness and God is offering the children of Israel a moment to trust him in stillness While he works things out on the mountain what this revealed to me about the character of God is this as though God doesn't break his promises

This is in the text. God is willing to break his presence. Help me to say this good. I found it interesting that when Moses comes down from the mountain and he's dealing with the children of Israel, that the Lord says to him, I'm going to still take you into the promised land. And I'm going to still drive out all of the people who are inhabiting the land. But instead of me going with you, I'm going to send my angel with you. You can still have the promise.

You just don't have the fullness of my presence with you. Can we take a minute and think about a God that would allow you to still have a promise, but not have the fullness of his presence? If the promise is all that is important to you, then I'll give you the promise, but you may not have the fullness of my presence. Not every promise that you're jealous of is one that has the fullness of God's presence on it.

Not everybody who looks like they have a promise also has the presence. Their lives may look promising on the outside, but if they don't have the fullness of God's presence, then the promise risen isn't really the promise. Oh, I wish I could say that real good because that's the whole message right there.

The problem with a promise is that you can manufacture your way into a promise because God won't break his promise. But God will let you have the promise without his presence. And it is a dangerous thing to have God's promise without his presence. Because if you have God's promise, but you don't have his presence, then you don't have God's promise.

You don't even know how to handle the promise God has given you. You don't even know how to protect the promise. Oh, I wish I could say that the way I feel it in my spirit because there are too many people selling promises, selling destiny, selling purpose,

any presence connected to it I don't want your promise if it doesn't have the presence I don't want your promise if I get a reduced version of your presence God don't take me to the promised land if the promised land doesn't have your presence on it you see these are the types of prayers that nobody's willing to pray because we all want the promise but very few of us are willing to say God I

the promise if it doesn't have your presence. God I know I said I wanted the land flowing with milk and honey but if I get there and your glory isn't there then I don't want it. God I know I said I wanted the marriage but if the marriage doesn't have your presence on it I don't want to just settle on a promise when I could have presence. Amen.

Oh no, we going somewhere. Because I want to break the spirit of God give me a promise for this season. God give me a promise for this next stage of my life. No, no, no. I want you to stop asking for promise and start asking God for presence. Because God's presence is a promise in itself. God, if you don't do anything else, the fact that I could just have access to you. Moses has something.

that the children of Israel don't have. Moses has an understanding of how critical the presence is to his walk. God help me. Moses has become someone that only works if he has the presence. Moses' identity as a leader

His identity as a deliverer. It only works with the presence. That's why he can't count on the promise. He did not get in. He was in Midian. He was fine. He wasn't worried about the promised land, but the presence called him out of his comfort. The presence called him out of his comfort. So God, you can't get me in the wilderness and tell me you can still have the promise, but you can't have the fullness of my presence.

God help me. When I was studying this message, I said, God, I want to be like Moses where I have built an identity that only works if your presence is connected to it. I want to build a life that only works if your presence is connected to it. Just be gifted. I don't want to just be talented. I don't just want to have the people have. I want your presence. I have a promise.

Moses says, if your presence doesn't go up with us from here, let us leave. Understand what the presence means to Moses. The presence took a stuttering, shameful man in Midian and turned him into a leader who could face off with Pharaoh. The presence showed him that a rod is not just a rod, that a rod could turn into a snake. The presence taught him that you don't have to have the words, that I'll give you the words when you get there.

The presence taught him some things that a promise could never teach him. The promise can't teach me how to raise this family. The promise can't teach me how to build this church. The promise can't teach me how to work with you. But the presence, the presence, the presence. God, help me. Moses insists on having the presence. God, I have, I gotta have your presence. Walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I shall fear no evil. And I stand that come your presence.

Gives me the power to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Your presence equips me. Gives me to step into the identity that you have set before me. There are some things I cannot do outside of your presence. God, let me do this without your presence.

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And please remember, you can find the best holiday gifts on Amazon. Shop great deals now on Amazon and visit amazon.com slash black effect podcast for my favorite picks. You could sit there and listen to ads or you could take a moment to have a Diet Coke break. First, grab a chilled Diet Coke because if you want it to be perfect, it needs to be crispy. Next, get a big cup of ice because everyone knows Diet Coke is best served swimming in ice.

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We make our lives about arriving at a destination. God, I just got to get my promise. I just got to get to the land. I just got to get my promised land. The children of Israel, they were sad that he wasn't going to go with them, but they stopped it sad. Moses said, I can't do this without you. I don't want the promised land if I don't have your presence with me. And I don't know why, but I believe that God gave me this message because there are people who have felt stuck.

Because they don't have a promise over this season of their life. You're used to God giving you a promise for every season. And based on the promise, you step out on faith. But what do you do when you don't have a promise? Do you insist on his presence? When I was reading this scripture, I thought to myself, what Moses says in Exodus is,

Is worthy of us committing to our memory. When he says, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. If your presence does not go with us, the heart posture to be like Moses in every season of our lives. Lord, if your presence doesn't go up with us. We talk about going higher, higher, glory to glory. Only if your presence is there.

I don't want promotion if it doesn't have your presence with it. I wish I could unpack to you what the presence has meant to me, but I'm telling you, Bishop said it cradled in a crisis. Not because the crisis wasn't real, but because the presence was stronger than the crisis. The presence of God has given me strategy when I had no words at all. I wish I had about two or three people in this room who could testify.

the presence could do that no promise could have ever done. That the presence allowed me to see my way through grief. The presence allowed me to see my way through depression. The depression was strong, but the presence was stronger. The pain was real, but the presence was stronger. The pain almost tore me up on the inside, but the presence, the presence made the difference. And it made me realize that too many of us have become comfortable

things that keep us from his presence that is standing in the way between you and the presence of God. If it is not dismantled and confronted, you may find yourself with a promise, but no presence. When I was studying this message, God highlighted for me when Moses, when God tells Moses, I know you by name. When we study Exodus, we see time and time again where Moses steals away to be in the presence of the Lord.

I'm going to tell you this and then we're closing. You can start playing. Moses practiced the presence. He practices the presence. It's not just coming to church. Oh, I feel my health coming. When you practice the presence, you do whatever it takes to bring your mind into alignment with who your God is.

And then when you bring your mind into alignment, your spirit into alignment, your body into alignment with who your God is, you start checking what can live in the presence. My depression doesn't exist in the presence. Out of the presence, anxiety comes to get me. When I come out of the presence, I feel the grief again. When I come out of the presence, I start to wonder if I'm okay. But when I'm in the presence...

I'm not afraid when I'm in the presence, I'm confident. When I'm in the presence, I speak against principalities. When I'm in the presence, I can break that generational curse. I have to practice the presence. And too many people are waiting for someone to bring them the presence. And God says, I'm waiting for you to pursue the presence.

I want to know you by name. I want you to set time apart. I want you to go out of your way to practice the presence. I want you to tap into another dimension. I hear God saying there are secrets that I want to tell you. There are instructions I want to give you. And I can only give it if you come up

a little higher. I can meet you where you are for sure, but if you really want me to know your name, you gotta be willing to come up a little higher. How do I come up a little higher? I start saying, God, rid me of anything that doesn't look like you. God, anything that keeps me from getting in your presence, any that weighs me down, God, eliminate it. God, if I could just have five seconds in your presence, if I could just have 10 seconds in your presence,

I need your presence. This marriage only works in your presence. This gift only works in your presence. I can only raise this child in your presence because when I'm in your presence, I'm not as worried as I once was. In your presence, forgiveness comes easy. When I'm in your presence, there's a humility that falls on me. When I'm in your presence, there's no room for my ego. When I'm in your presence, I join with the angels. In your presence, I

that cancer is not too big. When I'm in your presence, I realize that nothing can separate me from the

when I'm in your presence the enemy can't get to me up here when I'm in your presence warfare can't get to me up here I need your presence I need you to hide me in the secret place of the most high I need your presence for this next season of my life I need your presence if I'm going to say yes I need your presence God please don't make me do it without you God I don't want it more than I want you God I want him more than I want you God I need your presence over anything

And if it can't exist in your presence, then I don't want it. God told me that I am offering you an opportunity to return to being presence oriented, not promise oriented. He's not your genie where you just need another promise. You need something to put your faith on. God, if you give me a promise, I just need something to put my faith on. No, no, no. For some reason,

And maybe it's not for everyone in the room. Maybe it's just for me and a few other people. Guess what? I'm not going to give you a vision for what to do next. I'm not going to give you something to reach towards. I'm not going to give you something that you can hustle your way into and push yourself. I'm not going to give you anything but my presence. And you're going to have to believe that my presence is enough.

have to carry some of the weight of being in relationship with God. Oh, I feel my help coming. The children of Israel were so used to being carried by someone else that when no one else could carry them that they gave up altogether. But I hear God saying that you're going to have

to have to carry some of your own weight. You're going to have to grow and allow yourself to pursue my presence just the same way you saw Moses do. Just the same way you saw your grandmother do. Just the same way you saw your pastor do. I'm going to

going to need you to pursue my presence because it is going to take the collective expression of who we are in order for us to shake hell up. We need some people in the kingdom who are searching for the presence of God. How else can you establish the kingdom of heaven if you don't even know where the kingdom of heaven is? I know where the kingdom of heaven is because the kingdom of heaven exists on the inside of me. I seek

the kingdom and all other things are added unto me I gotta pursue the presence the problem with the promise is that it makes us a fiend for another promise the problem with the promise is that it makes us feel like the promise is the presence but the promise is not the presence so even when the promise isn't there doesn't mean you're in trouble don't check for the promise check for the presence

Because if you have the presence, you don't have to worry about the promise. Evolve.