NEW SERMON: "LORD....WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME?!"

LORD…
WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING
TO ME?!
Matthew 26:63-68; 27:27-31 and 62-66

I want you to really consider how much Jesus was despised and why? What must it have been like to have had people ALIVE who believed in God in a real way and they were thought to be crazy. The stories of the Old Testament must have traveled like myths. There must have been people who believed and were thought fools and other who thought themselves to be experts who found the whole thing ridiculous!

But consider this, and I’m speaking about this in a present new Testament kind of way; as much as they didn’t want to believe that that Old Testament savior was real, they sure beat him like they believed! Spend a minute with that. There were people who talked about him, said that they didn’t believe him or believe in him; there were people who thought the entire idea of God, more less a Messiah, a Son of God, kind of being, was stupid or stupendous. Be that as it may! They indeed beat him like they were worried that it might all be true, like what if God loves him and our leaders were wrong?!

Think about the laws and the legacies of people, entire races, genders and orientations, who have been despised and debated, hated and hauled off to jail and a personal hell. Consider that as you consider this: People don’t bother weak people. They leave them to their own devices and let life do the rest. So, I am asking to you consider this as you consider your own life. Why does all of this madness or mayhem keep coming at you? Why does it seem that no matter where you go, something seems to jump off? Why is it when things are just fine in your world, something pops out of nowhere and tries to throw off your rhythm? Why does this always seem to keep happening to you?! There are a lot of people that history has tried to beat down.

They tried to stop women by saying that they have no place but the kitchen. You were just baby-bearing machines that were pretty hand maidens for men, who really do all the work. A man even had the nerve to hold up a sign, in 2008, at a rally for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s run for President, that read “IRON MY SHIRTS.”

They tried to stop gays and lesbians by saying that God never loved you and the law says you are an abomination and not of nature, yet there have been laws on the books trying to stop you from what comes naturally since the beginning of time, even though you are not supposed to exist in the first place. Leaders in Africa and Iran say that they don’t have a “homosexual problem” even as they have “ways to deal with” these invisible, non-existent people.

They tried to stop black folks by saying that you were even human, that you were 3/5 of what they were and that you couldn’t read, couldn’t marry and even threw scraps of leftovers’ leftovers at you and said eat that! You were never going to amount to much because you weren’t even starting with the right equipment, mentally, socially or emotionally.

So many people keep trying to stop people, block people, keep people down, that you forget who the people are who are doing the stopping…this THEY…this THEM! BUT DON'T YOU LOSE FOCUS OR HOPE!

I need to talk to somebody in the room. I need to speak to the heart of somebody in the building who has ever felt under attack, tried to figure out why, didn’t understand how things just turned the wrong corner and you didn’t get what you know you deserved and knew was on its way to you.

I’m not talking to the “woo is me” in the room! I’m not talking to the person who thinks that their life isn’t about much or will amount to much. I’m not talking to the person who still believes, in their belly, that perhaps God doesn’t live them. I’m not talking those in the room who don’t know that God loves them and sent Jesus to die for them and who don’t believe that this Holy Week had anything to do with them. There will be other sermons and songs and inspirational readings on other Sundays to help you out and hook you up on Sundays beyond this Sunday.

I’m talking to the child of God in the building who keeps praying and keeps pressing, keeps trying and keeps trusting, but just when you think things are going your way, something happens. Pastor…WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME?! JESUS!!!!! WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME!?

People buy into things sometimes because of the surroundings, their family, their regional background and they invest in that thinking. The idea that everything that they knew could be a lie is unnerving and unsettling…and some will fight like hell to keep the perception alive. As much as people talk about God hating you, they sure to make laws like they aren’t sure; like God might really love unconditionally.

But let’s not talk about this THEY. Let’s talk about the I, me! I know that I am talking to somebody who is going through something and you had just gotten over a something else. You got out of a bad relationship and then lost your job. You lost your credit card and your keys in the same day and that was the day after your mother told you she loved you but didn’t like the way you were living your life. You got sick and then found out that you just might lose your apartment, too. Some would say “WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS.” You want to cry out…, to the heavens, “LORD…WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME?!”

Why were there whippings AND a crown of thorns AND a stab to the side AND a stone on the tomb AND why post guards outside a dead man’s tomb? As much as people were talking about crucify him and scrutinized him, they killed him like they weren’t sure. It’s like they were trying to beat the Jesus out of him…BECAUSE, IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING THAT THEY KNOW THAT THEY HAD DONE TO HIM, THEY WERE AFRAID THAT HE MIGHT BE SOMEBODY SPECIAL…HE MIGHT BE WHO HE SPOKE…HE MIGHT BE THE VERY JESUS HE SAID HE WAS!

Consider this: the thing that they were afraid he would do is the lie they told to cover what he came to be anyhow! SOMEBODY SAY ANYHOW!

Is somebody getting where I’m going with this?

They whipped him because THEY WERE AFRAID HE WOULD GET UP

They crowned his head with thorns because THEY WERE AFRAID HE WOULD GET UP

They nailed him to the cross because THEY WERE AFRAID HE WOULD GET UP

They pierced him in the side because THEY WERE AFRAID HE WOULD GET UP

They put a stone in front of his grave because THEY WERE AFRAID HE WOULD GET UP

They guarded his tomb all night long because THEY WERE AFRAID HE WOULD GET UP

Why have you been tattered and torn, broken and scorn...BECAUSE THEY ARE AFRAID THAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET UP!

You know the story...they were afraid he would get up BECAUSE HE GOT UP!

Trust that just as a good and living God that sent God’s only son to bleed suffer and die to take all of your pain and ills knew that that would take of the human stain, they wouldn’t be able to handle a You like You!

Raised in the projects, but you got up!
Molested as a child, but you got up!
Raped as a young girl, but you got up!
Days with barely any food in the house, but you got up!
Weren’t supposed to even be able to learn, but you got up!
Had a child at a young age, but you got up!
Left alone by momma’s early death, but you got up!
Told that you weren’t nothing and wouldn’t amount to nothing, but you got up!
Beaten down by the church because of who you love, but you got up!
Credit destroyed because of partner choices, but you got up!
Still walking even though the disease in you has taken others, but you got up!
Made horrific relationship choices, but you got up!
Been sick in your body and were told to make arrangements, but you got up!
Remember being on the cusp of losing your mind, but you got up!
You could see death staring right at you, but you got up!

WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO YOU!?

WHY DOES THIS KEEP COMING AT YOU!?

WHY DOES THIS CONTINUE ATTACKING YOU…?!

BECAUSE YOU KEEP GETTING UP!

You won’t just lie down and die because that’s not in you. You do what Jesus promised you would be…YOU KEEP GETTING UP. He only got up once, to make the point that it could be, would be done. You get up again and again, making his word true and proving that there is a power, a purpose, a point to your life!

“IT” keeps happening to you because you keep having the unmitigated audacity to keep getting up and shaking yourself off and working with less and pushing through pain and standing on God’s word and fighting for your life!

“IT” keeps happening because the devil, the negativity, that lie thought it had you but you sure got away!

“IT” keeps happening because what’s to come is better than what has been and somebody is afraid that you are going to figure out your destiny and that daddy was stupid to leave and that momma was wrong not to support you and that you will realize that you are wonderfully and fearfully made and you will move towards a destiny, in spite of your history, that will make history!

WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO YOU?! BECAUSE YOU KEEP ON HAPPENING! You keep on trusting and believing and digging and thinking and reworking and going back into the fire and considering new ways and making new plans and going for it and living your life like its golden and coming up with new strategies and pushing for new heights and moving on in spite of pain and doing it to death and shouting and running on to see the end and leaping and singing and waving your hands and kicking and crying it out and GETTING UP! You keep on getting up and it’s going to keep happening because you have no IDEA how to PLAY DEAD when God’s still alive! It’s not just Resurrection Sunday for the Risen Savior, it’s Reminder Sunday for every body, each person in here who remembers the time when they should have been dead. YOU KEEP ON GETTING UP!...GET UP!

YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT ANYMORE
Isaiah 53:1-6
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

CANCEL THE PITY PARTY was a sermon that God laid on the Body of Christ 2 weeks ago. The canceling of the party wrapped around pity speaks to the idea, the ideal that you have no idea when the weeping will occur, but you have control over how long the weeping will last if you allow yourself to weep and then…move. But what you do know for sure is that joy will come in the morning, beyond the midnight, beyond the madness and beyond the sadness. Cancel the Pity Party was a moratorium on self-destructive sorrow that stops of us moving forward and living brighter. That sermon was a rousing notation to you if you understand the core of it, the truth of it. But what do you do when the pity is gone and you still don’t feel joy? What do you do when you realize that you don’t have to cry all night but sometimes you can’t tell the dark from the dawn? What do you do when you are so tired, all the time, that you don’t even know how to rest or recognize your complete state of exhaustion? What do you do when it’s a part of your every day and every thought and every movement? What do you do when you don’t know how to change your mind about not the WHAT of what you deserve but the HOW of how to live in it?

The Lord has been speaking to me, telling me that some folks have a problem, an internal conflict with the idea of canceling the pity party, when the reason that they are doing what they do has nothing to do with pity. Some people are the way they are, endure the things that they endure under the umbrella of a lifestyle called Survival. Some people live and love and exist from a place called Survival. Some of us are living in a place that is just a fortress with windows, an armored car with tinted glass not so dark that you can’t see out, but especially tinted so that people can’t see in, can’t see you.

When the Bible implores us that weeping may endure for a night, we are sure that it’s just about weeping. But, some of us have something well beyond just weeping to deal with in our soul. Weeping may endure for a night but what about the pain, what about the past, what about the aching in your soul, what about the yearning and the suffering and the other stuff? What about that? What about that, Pastor?!

I have been compelled to speak to the hearts of men and women today, not with a pithy title, but with a solemn and simple decree. If you have a relationship with the truth, then you can stop the craziness from consuming your everyday living and thinking. You can stop it because you want to stop it, because it must stop, because the more abundant life that God promised is about more than just running on and seeing what the end will be, because you are more than just endurance. When you can realize that God didn’t just come as Jesus to absorb the sins of the world, but to take away our propensity to suffer, that weeping wasn’t just talking about your pain in your past but the past of your pain, your entire life, then you can begin the process of letting go of that old mind, those old ways, that old stuff. You don’t have to do that anymore.

For some, it’s responsibility. For some, it’s about being overwhelmed. For yet others, it’s about following the same course, the same path that has been evident in their family for as long as they can remember.

God wants me to say something very simple but very clearly to you today:

YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT ANYMORE.
YOU ARE NOT GUILTY, BUT INNOCENT!

But Pastor, what if the “fear” is my security blanket. Better yet, what if the fear has been my alarm system?! What if my caution is my cushion? What if my way of being has kept me, protected me, insulated me, helped me to survive? I would ask you…SURVIVE FOR WHAT?!

Why we sacrifice and suffer is the belief that we are built for it; we have a history with it. But, how do we move in Christiandom and have this mindset? Because we haven’t put our mind in the mind of Christ Jesus, who said I WILL KEEP IN PERFECT PEACE WHOSE MIND IS STAYED IN ME.

We think that somehow going through is a quality and qualification of our human experience, but if we could simply disconnect from that message: Taking on people’s stuff; Living for your mother’s pain; Guilty over the fact that you made it out and someone else died; Wondering how you grew up in the same house and she didn’t make it. There are no bonus points for getting your soul kicked in and your joy stomped on and your light snuffed out, just so you don’t feel bad and realizing that you don’t feel at all.

YOU CAN STOP SUFFERING NOW…

When they wrote that hymn “JESUS KEEP ME NEAR THE CROSS,” it was because you were to be reminded that he already took it, did it, suffered it, endured it, wept for it! Jesus keep me NEAR the Cross, not on it.

The Bible says “Ye, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil.”

You have got to stop being afraid to go through what you have to go through, because the You that gets through it is the best of You. Job 23:10 says "But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” You can’t be afraid to walk through your fear because your fear is your last frontier before you can truly tap into your power and not do that same thing anymore.

I WILL FEAR NO EVIL
I WILL FEAR NO FAILURE
I WILL FEAR NO FAULT
I WILL FEAR NO PAIN
I WILL STOP SETTING MYSELF UP FOR SUFFERING
I WILL STOP BELIEVING THAT THINGS CAN ONLY BE SO GOOD
I WILL STOP AND I WILL PROPEL MYSELF…BECAUSE MY BEST IS YET

YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT ANYMORE

WAIT…YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT
SUFFER...YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT
HESITATE…YOU DON’T HAVE THAT
KNOCK…THE DOOR WILL BE OPEN

I KNOW THAT YOU CAN GET CAUGHT UP AND STUCK AND NOT KNOW HOW TO MOVE AWAY FROM, ON FROM THOSE HABITS AND MINDSETS THAT MAKE UP WHO YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE, SO STAY…

STAY, BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID TO BE ALONE
STAY, BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU WON’T GET ANOTHER JOB
STAY, BECAUSE YOU FEAR THAT YOU MIGHT NOT BE AS TALENTED AS YOU THINK
STAY, BECAUSE YOUR MOMMA STAYED AND THAT’S ALL YOU KNOW
STAY, BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU MIGHT NOT GET ANY BETTER

BUT IF THAT IS NOT YOUR GOAL.

IF HERE IS NOT YOUR FINAL DESTINATION. IF HERE ISN’T THE ONLY TIME YOU SEE BUT YOU TRUST GOD FOR A JOY, A PEACE, A POWER THAT LIVES BEYOND RIGHT NOW AND WHATEVER SITUATION YOU ARE IN, THEN…YOU GOTTA COME DOWN FROM YOUR CROSS!

YOU’VE GOT TO COME DOWN FROM THAT CROSS BECAUSE HE DIDN’T LET THAT THING HAPPEN TO TAKE THE BEST OF YOU, BUT TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOU.

YOU’VE GOT TO COME DOWN FROM THAT CROSS BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE FOR YOUR MOMMA OR YOUR EX-HUSBAND OR TO PROVE THEM WRONG.

LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE TO PROVE GOD RIGHT!

COME DOWN OFF YOUR CROSS…AND SAY THANK YOU EVERY DAY, EVERY SINGLE DAY, FOR TAKING YOUR CRAZINESS AND YOUR MESS AND YOUR MUCK AND YOUR MIRE AND YOUR PAIN AND FOOLISHNESS AND LETTING THEM WHOOP THE SKIN OFF YOUR BACK AND HUMAN OFF YOUR SPIRIT AND REVEALING THE RISEN SAVIOR, THE LORD OF LORDS, THE KING OF KINGS, THE REDEEMER, THE RESTORER, THE PROVIDER, THE HEAVY LOAD SHARER, THE WAY MAKER, THE PAIN TAKER, THE NEVER FORSAKER…JESUS!

HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS!

HE WAS BRUISED FOR OUR INQUITIES!

THEY KICKED HIM AND PIERCED HIM AND BEAT HIM FOR EVERYTHING YOU WILL EVER DO, COULD EVER DO, MIGHT EVER DO THAT YOU THINK MIGHT SEPARATE YOU FROM THE LOVE OF GOD!

SO COME DOWN OFF THAT CROSS OF SELF-HATRED!
SO COME DOWN OFF THAT CROSS OF SELF-DESTRUCTION!
SO COME DOWN OFF THAT CROSS OF INSUFFICIENT FUNDS AND JUST ENOUGH AND I’M ALRIGHT AND THINGS ARE GOING OKAY AND BUT THE JOB MARKET ISN’T THAT GOOD AND MY CREDIT ISN’T PERFECT!

YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT ANYMORE!

COME DOWN FOR YOUR MOTHER AND HER MOTHER AND HER MOTHER AND HER MOTHER!

COME DOWN FOR YOUR FATHER AND HIS FATHER AND HIS FATHER AND HIS FATHER!

COME DOWN FOR EVERY LITTLE BOY WHO TOOK HIS LIFE BECAUSE HE DIDN’T THINK HIS PARENTS COULD LOVE HIM ENOUGH AFTER THEY FOUND OUT WHO HE WAS!

COME DOWN FOR EVERY MAN AND WOMAN WHO SUFFERED THROUGH AIDS AND HIV BEFORE THE MEDICINE AND THE OUTREACH REACHED THEM!

COME DOWN FOR THE LITTLE GIRL WHO THOUGHT SHE WOULD DIE, HIDING IN THAT CLOSET FROM DADDY OR UNCLE OR BROTHER OR COUSIN OR WHATEVER MAN THAT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO TOUCH HER LIKE THAT!

COME DOWN FOR EVERY LITTLE BOY WHO STILL THINKS HE’S GAY BECAUSE HE WAS MOLESTED WHO NOW NEEDS TO KNOW THAT HE WAS MOLESTED BECAUSE HE WAS GAY AND SOME PREDATOR THOUGHT HE HAD THE RIGHT TO STEAL YOUR INNOCENCE AND YOUR SEXUALITY BUT HE DOESN’T GET TO STEAL YOUR JOY!

COME DOWN OFF THAT CROSS AND JUST LIKE JESUS, WALK ON THE WATER OF YOUR FEAR…AND MOVE INTO YOUR GREATNESS!

COME DOWN FROM YOUR PAIN AND SUFFERING BECAUSE HE ENDURED ALL PAIN AND SUFFERED ALL HURT THAT YOU MIGHT MOVE ON AND MOVE UP AND MOVE INTO THAT MANSION THAT HE PROMISED THE FATHER/MOTHER/LORD GOD ALMIGHTY HAS PREPARED FOR YOU!

HE WAS BEAT UP SO YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO LIVE A BEAT DOWN LIFE.

HE WAS PIERCED TO REMIND US THAT NO WEAPON COULD STOP HIM FROM RISING.

HE WAS CALLED UGLY NAMES SO THAT WHEN YOU GOT LOST IN THE WORLD, YOU COULD CRY OUT THE SWEETEST NAME I KNOW—JESUS!

JESUS…

JESUS PAID IT ALL!

YOU CAN STOP NOW. YOU CAN STOP SUFFERING AND ENDURING AND CRYING AND GNASHING AND WAILING AND RUNNING AND HURTING AND ACHING AND PUTTING UP WITH AND SURVIVING!

YOU CAN STOP NOW AND START LOOKING, START LIVING, START CALLING DOWN FROM HEAVEN, THAT LIFE, THAT LIFE, THAT LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY!

IT’S YOURS…FOR THE ASKING!
IT’S YOURS…IT’S YOUR BLESSING!

YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT ANYMORE!

YOU CAN DO THIS: FATHER, I STRETCH MY HANDS TO THEE, NO OTHER HELP I KNOW!

YOU CAN DO THIS: LORD HELP ME TO HOLD OUT UNTIL MY CHANGE COMES.


CANCEL THE PITY PARTY

PSALM 30:1 I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. 4 Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken." 7 O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. 8 To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: 9 "What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help." 11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
*
The Invitation: By Oriah Mountain

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mi ne
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

*
I WOULD LIKE TO HUMBLY ADD:

IT DOESN’T “INTEREST” ME WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH,
I WANT TO KNOW HOW LONG YOU ARE GOING TO LET IT GO THROUGH YOU

IT DOESN’T “INTEREST” ME WHAT THEY DID TO YOU,
IT MATTERS TO ME WHAT YOU DO IN RESPONSE, HOW YOU REACT?

IT DOESN’T “INTEREST” ME WHY YOU ARE MAD, IT MATTERS TO ME THAT YOU DON’T STAY MAD SO LONG THAT YOU MISS GLAD AND PEACE AND POWER AND HOPE AND JOY AS THEY KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR EVERYDAY…
*
THE LAST 2 WEEKS HAVE BEEN AN EPIPHANY FOR ME IN A VERY REAL WAY. I HAVE BEEN PRAYING MORE THAN EVER, READING MORE THAN EVER, BEEN PRAYED OVER MORE THAN EVER, AND FINDING GOD IN NEW WORDS AND NEW WAYS.

WHEN I REALLY HEARD THAT SCRIPTURE A FEW WEEKS AGO, I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST AN A-HA MOMENT, BUT IT WAS A REVELATION. THEN LAST WEEK, WHEN I GOT THAT THING ABOUT THIS BEING THE 8TH PLACE AND THIS BEING THE 8TH DAY, THE FIRST DAY WE WAKE UP AT HOME, I PURPOSED TO PRAY ON HOW I WANT TO SPEND MY TIME IN MY MANSION.

I HAD STARTED WRITING OUT INVITATIONS AND TELLING PEOPLE TO SHOW UP…BUT I’VE DECIDED IT’S TIME TO CANCEL THE PITY PARTY.
I WAS BUYING LIQUOR AND COOKING COMFORT FOODS AND MAKING MAD MIXTAPES FOR MY MANTRA OF MADNESS AND SOMETHING TOLD MY SOUL TO CANCEL THE PARTY. GOD TOLD ME THAT IF WE TRULY INTEND TO CLAIM IT AS MINE IN 2009, THEN THERE’S GOT TO BE ROOM FOR MORE, ROOM FOR JOY, ROOM FOR POWER, ROOM FOR EVERYTHING WE ASKED FOR AND THERE CAN’T BE SPACE FOR GRACE IF WE ARE ALREADY CONSUMED BY OTHER THINGS.

GOD WILL RAISE UP A STANDARD AND PULL YOU BACK TO YOURSELF AND REMIND YOU THAT YOU ARE WONDERFULLY AND FEARFULLY MADE…IT’S TIME TO CANCEL THE PITY PARTY AND STOP WASTING SO MUCH TIME AND LOVE ON PROCRASTINATION AND HATEFULNESS…BECAUSE IT’S NOT GOING TO BE AN ALL NIGHT FUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION!

THIS SERMON ISN’T ABOUT BLIND OPTIMISM OR SUGGESTING THAT THINGS DON’T HAPPEN…BUT HOW LONG WILL YOU SUFFER? HOW LONG WILL YOU SIT IN IT?

A MOMENT? A NIGHT?

THE BIBLE SAYS THAT YOU CANNOT LET THE SUN SET ON YOUR ANGER…AND WHEN YOU DO, YOU EXTEND THE MIDNIGHT!

WHAT IS A NIGHT IF YOUR LIGHT IS OFF AND THE CURTAINS ARE DRAWN AND YOUR HEART IS CLOAKED AND NO LIGHT CAN ENTER?

CONFLICT…STRIFE…DISAGREEMENT…LACK…MAY ENDURE…IT MAY LAST…BUT IT MAY NOT.

MAY IS A REQUEST, LIKE MOTHER MAY I? NO YOU MAY NOT…PAIN YOU MAY NOT STAY BECAUSE I AM GOING TO FEEL YOU RIGHT NOW! DEPRESSION YOU MAY NOT MOVE IN…BEFORE I DESIRE BETTER FOR MYSELF…ANGER YOU MAY NOT STAY HERE BECAUSE I CAN’T STAY MAD AT FOLKS IF I DON’T WANT SOMEONE TO STAY MAD AT ME.

I’M CANCELING THE PITY PARTY AND PURPOSING TO MOVE ON AND MOVE UPWARD, EVEN WHEN IT FEELS UNCOMFORTABLE AND I DON’T KNOW HOW BECAUSE I HAVEN’T DONE IT BETTER. IT’S SUPPOSED TO FEEL LIKE SOMETHING BECAUSE WE HAVEN’T DONE THIS THING BEFORE…WE HAVEN’T ASCENDED TO THIS HEIGHT BEFORE…SO YOU MIGHT BE A BIT NERVOUS AND UNSURE, BUT BUTTERFLIES IN YOUR STOMACH MEAN THAT YOU ARE ENTERING A NEW DOMAIN!

THAT’S NOT FEAR…THAT’S FUEL!


WORK IT…WORK WITH IT…SPEAK TO YOUR MIDNIGHT AND LET IT SPEAK TO YOU!

ACKNOWLEDGE IT: YOU ARE HURT. YOU ARE MAD. YOU ARE LOST. YOU ARE BROKEN. YOU ARE WHERE YOU ARE AND THE ONLY WAY THAT HELP CAN FIND YOU IS THAT YOU BE TRUTHFUL ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE!

FEEL IT: THE VIEW, THE SHOW, IS ABOUT HAVING AN OPINION AND BEING HONEST ABOUT IT. WHEREVER YOU ARE, BE THERE AND FEEL IT FROM THERE. YOU’VE GOT TO COME CORRECT IN ORDER TO COME WHAT’S COME AT YOU. GET IT OUT! SCREAM IT OUT! BE EXPRESSIVE AND FIND A WAY TO GET IT OUT.

THE COUPLES
THE MEN
THE WOMEN
THE YOUTH
THE PARENTS
THE USHERS
THE DEACONS

WE MUST EACH HAVE SEPARATE SANCTUARY WHERE WE CAN GO AND GET IT OUT AND THEN GET UP AND GO FORWARD!

USE IT…LEARN FROM IT: DON’T IGNORE THAT MIDNIGHT…DON’T PRAY AWAY THAT MOMENT BEFORE YOU GET WHY IT CAME TO TEACH YOU. IF YOU DON’T FACE IT HEAD ON, YOU WILL HAVE TO LOOK AT IT AGAIN. SO WHILE IT IS DARK, WHILE YO U ARE WEEPING, CHECK IN WITH YOURSELF.

EVER HAVE A MOMENT WHEN YOU SAY…I DON’T KNOW WHY I’M CRYING…WELL, FIND OUT! WHILE YOU ARE WEEPING, GET IT ALL OUT…THE FRUSTRATION AND THE CONFUSION UNTIL YOU GET A CONCLUSION! THE LIGHTS WENT OUT FOR A REASON. THINGS GOT DARK FOR A REASON. SO BEFORE THE SUN CAN RISE FOR YOU TO THE POINT THAT YOU CAN SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY, YOU’VE GOT TO BE CLEAR.

AND THE LAST STEP: MOVE ON FROM IT – ONCE YOU KNOW THAT A THING IS DONE, LET IT BE DONE. YOU DON’T GO INTO THE TRASH TO MAKE SURE THAT ITS FINISHED, SO WHY DO YOU KEEP GOING BACK INTO THE TRASH TO PULL OUT OLD STUFF AND DEAD MEMORIES? IF YOU CAN REALLY ALLOW YOURSELF TO GET THE LESSON AND FEEL THE FEELING, YOU CAN MOVE ON KNOWING THAT YOU MADE IT THROUGH MIDNIGHT AND THAT THE SUN CAN SHINE AGAIN. WHY GO BACK AND KEEP REMINDING YOURSELF THAT YOU MESSED UP, THAT SOMETHING WENT WRONG, THAT YOU FAILED OR SOMEONE FAILED YOU…LEARN THE LESSON…AND THEN LIVE THE LESSON BY PUTTING IT INTO ACTION AND LIVING IT DAY BY DAY!

YOU HAD A MOMENT, A MIDNIGHT, BUT ONCE YOU GET OVER IT AND GET OVER YOURSELF, YOU’VE GOT A HUGE MISSION FROM EVERYDAY FORWARD – CANCEL THE PITY PARTY!

SEND BACK THE SAD CHAMPAGNE AND THE STALE CHIPS…BECAUSE JOY IS ON THE WAY…JOY CAUGHT A FLIGHT ON HER WAY TO YOU…JOY SAYS HOLD ON I’M COMING!!! WAIT FOR IT. WAIT ON IT. WAIT IN IT. BELIEVE IN IT!

WEEPING MAY ENDURE FOR A NIGHT…
WEEPING MAY MAKE IT THROUGH THE EVENING…
WEEPING MAY MAKE A GUEST APPEARANCE
WEEPING MAY SHOW UP…
BUT JOY IS DEFINITELY COMING
JOY IS DEFINITELY THE STAR OF YOUR LIFE AND SHOULD BE
JOY WILL COME IN THE MORNING TIME…

IT’S MORNING TIME, CHURCH FAMILY AND I DON’T CARE HOW LONG YOU ENDURED THE DARK, SUFFERED THROUGH SUNSETS, GOT BLINDSIDED BY BLACKNESS….IT DOESN’T MATTER BECAUSE IT’S MORNING TIME AND JOY…JOY…UNSPEAKABLE JOY…NEXT LEVEL JOY…THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART JOY…PEACE THAT SURPASSES UNDERSTANDING JOY…I’VE GOT A FEELING THAT EVERYTHING’S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT JOY…JOY…THE JOY THAT THE WORLD DIDN’T GIVE YOU AND CAN’T TAKE AWAY!

YOU INIVITED IT NOW DELIGHT IN IT!
YOU MIGHT NOT THINK YOU CAN STAND IT BUT MAKE ROOM FOR JOY!
WEEPING, YOU’VE DONE THAT…
CAN YOU GET INTO JOY?
CAN YOU LIVE A LIFE FILLED WITH JOY!?

JOY!




SHOUT OR GET OFF OF THE POT

NEHEMIAH 4:1 Now when Sanbal'lat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he ridiculed the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brethren and of the army of Sama'ria, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?" 3 Tobi'ah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, "Yes, what they are building--if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall! 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn back their taunt upon their own heads, and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight; for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. 6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height. For the people had a mind to work.

Luke 12:48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

THE JOURNEY TO GREATNESS

There is a convergence that is going to occur in this sermon today. Our DARE TO BE GREAT motto is meeting the National VISIBLE campaign. In order to fully and freely get to greatness, you have to get over your fear of being seen and being known. I’m not talking about being famous, being on TV or being recognized when you walk down the streets. I am talking about being known, having a reputation of being that woman who gets it done, that man who trusts and never doubts, that person who steps up and steps out and doesn’t care if nobody will go with you…you’ll just have to see them when you get back. When you DARE TO BE GREAT and VISIBLE, you are saying that you are willing to move beyond everything that you have ever known and move up to another level altogether. If that’s something that sounds like the You you want to be and can’t seem to find, then I declare to you today that it’s time to SHOUT OR GET OFF THE POT.

See, I think something that we all know from the deepest places in our souls is that we are destined to be great. I think that we know in and at our core that we feel something, from the projects to the penthouse, even as people talk about you and throw their fears at you, that tells us, like a signal or a sonic soul sensory, that we are more than that which we see in our surroundings. It’s why we dream; to get us back on “course” and back to our mission. We know that we are called and created to be great and we sometimes fret because we are afraid of the journey, the road to get from what we know to what we desire, the path from position (where you have yourself located) and purpose (where you’re destined to be).

We know that greatness is upon us but we just don’t know how to get…THERE.

The odd and amazing thing about the audacity of greatness is what once you put greatness on your mind, every step you take from that moment forward involves greatness.

It take great sacrifice to be great. There are places you want to go but can’t. There are people you’ll want to hang around but can’t. There are thoughts that you’ll want to think but can’t. They all interfere with your greatness. The powerful thing about the scripture from Nehemiah was that were are reminded that while you are busy working and busy building, some people will be right there, pointing fingers and laughing, casting doubt and offering negative opinion. Those people should at least be considered your enemies, but maybe times, it’s someone who wears the label friend. Among the great sacrifices that you will make your journey towards greatness are:

Lonely nights
One-sided conversations
Misunderstood dreams
Tired bones
Weary moments
Sleepless nights, when the ideas you avoided all day, come back to you

Jesus bled, suffered and died, knowing that his life was prepared from the beginning for greatness. The task upon him was the salvation of all of mankind and he had to live his life accordingly. He had to pray unceasingly. He had to listen to people’s pain and fear, all day. He had to listen to people publicly talk about him and he had to stay on course.

The reverse of your great sacrifices is that you will also be called upon to make great choices. Now, just like Jesus, you will have the opportunity to handpick your running partners. You will also get to name your business, shape your destiny, determine that you will succeed, daily. You will be called to make great choices that sometimes feel like sacrifices, but they are for the good of you. You will do simple things that you think are simple but the world will see as great because they didn’t expect it from you! Your greatness will begin to bleed into every day and every deed and it will change people’s perception of you. Of whom much is given, much is required, but that requirement isn’t something that will or should bring fear. Your being asked to do a lot is in direct correlation to your dreams. You will get there.

You will get there because you are destined for great heights. Great heights means that you will asked to strength yourself beyond yourself. I know that you want to attain great position in life and that position isn’t here. It’s there. One of the things that you have got to realize when you open your mouth to speak greatness, to seek greatness, is to tell yourself that greatness isn’t a place that you can take a cab to or just walk to. It’s calling you to expect more, wait for more, dig deeper for more and yes, go to places that others may not think you can stand. That’s fine. Tell them HI…from up There!

The last step to attaining your personal greatness is your willingness to perform great tasks. You have got to be clear that greatness is calling you into action and if you aren’t prepared to act, don’t speak greatness because greatness doesn’t just happen to you. Greatness is something rises up from you and it comes from your standing, your working, your walking, your living…something. Greatness happens not when you happen upon it, but while you are doing it. Greatness is an action, an active, doing, happening that you walk into everyday because you can’t sit down. You’ve got to move and continue towards it everyday.

Now, with all of the parts and points of greatness being spelled out for you, this is now your chance to bail out on greatness and live a simple life.

Time out for piddling around and saying you don’t know…what to do, how to do it or what you need to do next.

Time out for wasting time and saying it’s too hard or people get in your way or this or that. If anything or anyone is in your way from being great…it’s you.

So I have a command for you today: SHOUT OR GET OFF THE POT! Enough of shoulding, mighting or I cannotting all over your dreams and saying that you don’t know and you can’t and you think that people aren’t supporting you. Your greatness is on you, so SHOUT…STAND…FIGHT…LIVE…SCREAM or just get off the pot. Move into your Momma’s basement and be a loaf. Work a low-paying job and just get by and don’t think about anything else. Stop fighting it. Just stop. GET OFF THE POT.

But if your intention is to be great, if your intention is to move to heights, to perform tasks, to make sacrifices and to make choices that have never been made in your life or in your family, SHOUT! SCREAM! It’s your life and if you aren’t willing to make the most noise for it, the loudest shout about it, then that greatness within you can’t be shaken from its core and its resting place within you. VISIBLE means you’ve got to be willing to step out and away from what was and into the line of fire! DARE TO BE GREAT means that you are willing to have people say you are a fool, lovers to walk out on you cuz they don’t believe in you, have people remind you of who you used to be because they’re afraid of who you’re about to me. You’ve got to be willing to stand up for you and scream out for you and not move, while you keep it moving! You’ve got to SAY SO AND STAY SO!

Rev. Brahma shared a powerful statement that our late Sister Sunshine Pam shared with her that really completed this sermon for: KEEP CHECKING FOR ROCKS IN YOUR SHOES!

KEEP PUTTING YOUR DREAMS IN THE FOREFRONT OF YOUR MIND AND ON THE TIP OF YOUR TONGUE! KEEP MOVING TOWARDS YOUR DESTINY AND PUSHING YOURSELF TO BE MORE, LIVE MORE, EXPECT MORE, SPEAK MORE! KEEP TELLING GOD THAT YOU BELIEVE! KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT YOU BELIEVE AND THAT YOU DESIRE WHAT YOU DESERVE AND THAT YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU DESIRE! KEEP LIFTING YOURSELF UP AND TELLING JESUS ALL ABOUT IT! KEEP ON…SHOUTING! KEEP ON!

---

I CAN SEE YOU

I CAN SEE YOU
Who Told You That You Were Naked? &
I Knew You (Jeremiah)

The theme that Archbishop imparted to the Body of Christ at Convocation 2008 was VISIBLE.

How we are to be visible to God (the ways that Christians are supposed to show up) and Senior Bishop Jones’ sermon about “visible secrets in the church” both really captured the direction and tone as we move into the new season.

VISIBLE: SEEING YOURSELF AS GOD SEES YOU…YOU DO REALIZE THAT GOD CAN SEE YOU, RIGHT?

Madea in Diary of a Mad Black Woman, the play comes to her niece's house and there she finds her brokenness and tattered because her husband has left for another woman. The woman then has the audacity to show up at her home, talking smack. Madea then steps up to the woman who tries to be bold and loud, but she didn't know who she was messing with. Madea shoots at her. The woman hid under the table in a bright green dress and Madea approaches, gun in hand and say...I CAN SEE YOU!

I CAN SEE YOU! God says that every day. With all of your mistakes and missteps, I CAN SEE YOU and I see the person to whom I assigned the tasks. GOD CAN SEE YOU and you've got to acknowledge and realize that YOU CAN'T SOMETIMES SEE YOURSELF! So here, in a quick and hopefully impactful list of steps, is HOW YOU CAN SHOW US AS VISIBLE FOR YOURSELF!

8 STEPS TO LETTING YOUR TRUE SELF BE SEEN

Stop trying to impress upon people the importance of you, especially if you don’t know it yourself

Stop acting like you don’t know your gifts and wondering why God isn’t present—YOU KNOW IT AND YOU AIN’T DOING IT! Stop running from your destiny.

Stop proving yourself worthy to other people when at the end of the day, you still don’t feel worthy to yourself.

Stop making bad choices and acting like you don’t know why you make them. YOU’RE NOT READY TO DO ANY BETTER YET!!!! TRY!

Stop moving like you know where you’re going if you don’t….STOP! Stop fronting and faking it and really submit and tell the Universe when you can’t take it anymore.

Stop acting like you know everything when you don’t and let people know what you don’t know so you can find out what you need to know.

Stop trying to do everything. Delegate. Delegate. Delegate. Letting people help you and do their own thing is the best way you can support people in their own growth and development.

Stop. Learn to rest and just be sometimes. God can see you pushing and not living well or right and then you get to crying and begging for longer life and better health and YOU are the main culprit in your physical demise! I CAN SEE YOU!

Through these 8 steps, activately and actively present in your daily life, you can FINALLY and FREELY see yourself as God sees you and do what you are called to do without fear or fault, because you are beautifully and wonderfully made!

---

CAN YOU SEE ME?

Matthew 20:29-34

29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" 31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" 32 Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 33 "Lord," they answered, "we want our sight." 34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

I don’t often do this in sermons but it will have a very important impact on you and the person beside you in a minute. But for right, could you turn to your neighbor and say NEIGHBOR…

CAN YOU SEE ME?! There are some immediate and valuable lessons in these 5 scriptures; lessons that will unshackle and unshame you with the quickness if you let them. If you can hear me and just do what the Lord says in these 5 scriptures, you will be so visible that even your enemies will have to take and acknowledge your presence, haters will come out of the woodwork to roll that eyes directly at you and people who thought they were afraid to approach you will be compelled to step up and get to know you better. So if you would tonight, Unity Family, I would like to walk you through my unbreakable, unshakeable, indisputable, irrefutable 4 Step Plan to Visibility!

STEP ONE TO VISIBILITY:
You have got to ignore those who tell you to shut up. When you share your dreams or your joys, your hopes or your visions and people try to tell you to shut up, ignore them! THEY DON’T REALIZE THAT FOR CHRISTIANS, SHUT UP IS WAR-CRY!….THEY SAY SHUT UP AND THAT FIRE IN YOU GETS IGNITED AND EXCITED!!!! You’ve got to believe in yourself enough to be willing to say it again and again and again and again, even when and especially when haters hate on you and try to get you to simmer! SHUT UP…IN MY BONES! When they say SHUT UP…you tell them that the thing that you desire is so passionate, so powerful, so deep, so real that it is a part of you…SHUT UP…IN MY BONES!

STEP TWO TO VISIBILITY:
Be audacious. Get bold. Open your mouth! Do the opposite of what they told you to do! THEY SHOUTED ALL THE LOUDER! This is completely different from ignoring those taunts at you to be quiet. This is about you being true enough to yourself to get louder. Sometimes, people and situations come along and they bark at us, bite at us, yell at us and we get up but we don’t always get up the same. We want to love again, but we don’t be the same openness to the next relationship. We want to try to open another business, but the last time we failed. You’ve got to get louder and bolder and stronger and clearer and freer and believe in yourself NOW, more than ever…why? Because…

STEP THREE TO VISIBILITY:
When Jesus shows up, TELL HIM WHAT YOU WANT! You can’t be stuck in old hurt, old heartache, old pain, old past. You’ve got to be steadfast and unmovable, sure and clear, because when Jesus shows up…HE CAN SEE YOU! You realize that the problem was that you couldn’t see yourself, but when Jesus shows up…he knows just where to turn, just where you are, just how many steps it will take to get to you and you’ve got to have it made up in your mind that you deserve what you desire and that you desire what you deserve…BECAUSE JESUS IS COMING AND HE CAN SEE YOU AND HE WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT, BUT YOU’VE GOT TO DECLARE THAT YOU WANT IT. Not that you want it, but. You’ve got to be willing to have a new relationship God and realize that it’s not just on Sundays or at Convocation that God is watching, but that GOD CAN SEE YOU! You might have thought that those things that happened were signed that God was separated from you, but God is, was and will always be RIGHT HERE WITH YOU!

Can you see me? I can sho’ nuff see you!

STEP FOUR TO VISIBILITY:
Checking in to make sure that you can be seen is the final step to being visible. See, those two blind men were two blind men. Each blind man was hanging out with a blind man who couldn’t see himself OR the friend when was hanging with…but NOW that you can see….You’ve got to hang around people who can see too, so that you can check in on each other and make sure that they know YOU CAN SEE THEM and what they are doing and not doing. You can encourage them, support them, lift them up and settle them down when they start to freak out:

GIRL, I’M SCARED TO SING THIS SOLO TONIGHT!

MAN, I’M SCARED TO PREACH MY TRIAL SERMON AT THAT MORNING SERVICE!

HEY, I’M SCARED TO JOIN THIS NATIONAL COMMITTEE!

Tell them…I CAN SEE YOU AND I KNOW THAT YOU DO GOOD WORKS AND THAT’S WHY THEY PICKED YOU!!! CALM YOUR HAPPY BEHIND DOWN….I CAN SEE YOU AND YOU DO WHAT YOU DO, BOO!!!

See, when the Holy Ghost falls down on the building, I believe that it’s the Spirit of the Lord, checking in to see if I am on my job, doing what God called me to do! I know that the word of the Lord says that in the end, we will stand before the Lord and God will say WELL DONE MY GOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, but I believe that every once in a while, the Lord stops by just to check! Kirk Franklin had that song called LOOKING 4 U and that’s the Lord, coming through the hoods and the hallowed halls, looking to see if we are doing what we were built to do! IS GOD PLEASED THIS EVENING, IN THIS BUILDING? LORD, CAN YOU SEE ME?! See, we serve a mighty God that knows every hair on every head and when the Holy Ghost comes sweeping through the building, it’s the Lord doing roll call to see if you are on your job, doing what you were called to do this night for the Lord!

The Lord is in her Holy Temple this evening, looking for the Queen who was given the assignment to preach the gospel tonight. I ain’t the first Queen called to preach for the Lord but when the Spirit comes looking on the 3rd floor of the Radisson Hotel in Culver City, I want the Lord to see me on my job, about my daddy’s business. I want Mother God to say THAT’S MY BABY!

When the Spirit of the Lord comes sweeping through the building, I want those who know that they were given the assignment to clap their hands to be on their feet, able to say LORD, CAN YOU SEE ME…I’m right here, clapping and praising, shouting and extolling.

When the Spirit of the Lord comes sweeping through the building, I want you to be able to stand for roll call:

Where is the big girl that the Lord gave the job of signing in the choir?

Where is the queen that the Lord gave the assignment of serving on the usher board?

Where is the straight young man born to a lesbian mother who can stand to his feet and give God glory, no matter how many people try to question his sexuality, he’s knows he’s here because God knows his spirituality?

Are you on your job this evening? Can you cry out to the Lord…LORD, CAN YOU SEE ME?! It’s me Lord, singing in the choir…like to told me! It’s me Lord shouting in the aisle, like you told me! It’s me Lord, the cream in the middle of all this coffee, giving you glory like nobody but me can…CAN YOU SEE ME LORD!? CAN YOU SEE ME?!

I ALMOST LET GO…I THOUGHT FOR A MINUTE THAT I WASN’T WORTHY…I THOUGHT THEY MIGHT NOT LET ME IN BUT YOU TOLD ME TO WAIT ON YOU AND BE OF GOOD COURAGE…AND THEN TO KICK THE DOOR IN ANYHOW! CAN YOU SEE ME!?

They told me I was too stupid to go back to school and now I’ve got a 4.0!

They told me I was born a man and I should stay that way, but you know my heart and my wholeness!

They told me to shut my mouth and be quiet while they laid on top of me and stole my childhood, but you said RISE, GET UP AND WALK!

They told me that I would never make it and that I should get my house in order, but here I stand tonight, clapping my hands!!!

You ain’t the first queen to be called to preach the gospel. God is just asking you to do it IN SPIRIT & IN TRUTH, with your husband in his rightful place and not hidden on the Deacon Board

You ain’t the first suit-wearing sister to be anointed to sing for the Lord. You are just being called to do so with YOUR SUIT ON STAGE and not just in the pews.

GOD IS TRYING TO CHANGE YOUR WALKING PAPERS…

DON’T BE CONFORMED OF THIS WORLD BUT BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND…GOD IS WATCHING…IS ALL OF YOU VISIBLE!?

THE WOMAN WITH THE CRUMBS, SHADRACH, MESHACH AND ABEDNEGO, DAVID (WITH GOLIATH), ELIHU (WITH JOB), THE OLD MAN IN THE BOOK OF TITUS, THE WOMAN WHO PUSHED TO GET TO THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT AND LASTLY ARCHBISHOP WHO WAS WILLING TO TAKE “HAPPY, CAREFREE AND GAY” AND NOT ONLY SING, BUT SING IT TO THE GLORY OF GOD!

I DIDN’T COME HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS…I CAME TO MAKE CHANGE!

I DIDN’T COME TO MAKE YOU AT EASE…I CAME TO STIR THINGS UP!

YOU ARE REAL…AND SO IS YOUR CALLING! YOU ARE HERE AND SO IS YOUR PURPOSE! I WAS BLIND AT ONE TIME AND COULDN’T SEE MYSELF! BUT IF YOU WILL BEAR WITNESS TO ME AND TELL ME THAT YOU SEE ME, THEN I KNOW I’M HERE AND IF I’M HERE, I GOT WORK TO DO!!! LOOK AT YOUR NEIGHBOR AND SAY NEIGHBOR…CAN YOU SEE ME?!