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00:00:00 I want you to go to Daniel chapter 2 verse 46.
00:00:15 Daniel chapter 2 verse 46, the Bible says, "Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his
00:00:19 face and worshipped Daniel and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors
00:00:27 unto him.
00:00:30 The king answered unto Daniel and said, 'Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods,
00:00:40 and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.'"
00:00:51 Getting close, you're not quite there but you're further than you used to be.
00:00:54 "And seeing thou couldst reveal this secret, then the king made Daniel a great man and
00:01:04 gave him many great gifts and made him a ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief
00:01:15 of all the governors over all the wise men in Babylon.
00:01:21 And Daniel requested of the king," and see, this is probably the most important part about
00:01:29 promotion that most people forget.
00:01:34 He said, "I appreciate what you did for me but I got a couple of homies.
00:01:44 If it's all the same to you, whatever you gave me, can you hook them up too?"
00:01:52 Look at your neighbor and say, "Neighbor, before this service is over, I'm going to
00:01:58 pray and ask God to bless both of us."
00:02:03 Now, if you're a little nasty, hating neighbor, they ain't say nothing to you, I would move,
00:02:11 I would not spend the rest of this service sitting next to nobody who wouldn't speak
00:02:16 into my life and I am not playing.
00:02:18 We got like one seat here, the whole place, I got two seats.
00:02:22 If you sit next to somebody who didn't say nothing, I would sit Indian-style in the floor.
00:02:27 I'm going to give you another chance because one can chase a thousand, two can put 10,000
00:02:35 to flight.
00:02:36 Daniel said, "I'm about to go to the next level but if it's all the same to you, can
00:02:41 you help the three dudes that came here with me to go up?"
00:02:46 Look at your neighbor and say, "Neighbor, it is my prayer that by the time this service
00:02:52 is over, we both got something to shout about."
00:02:56 Give them a high five.
00:03:07 You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.
00:03:19 So if I was giving this sermon a subject, I would call it "The Unusual Suspect."
00:03:23 Subtitle, "God is getting ready to take you from the unseen to the unsuspected."
00:03:34 He's going to take you from the unseen to the unusual.
00:03:41 There is a phrase that we use in culture and it's an old phrase.
00:03:49 They even made a movie about it about 30 years ago called "The Usual Suspects."
00:03:57 Whenever you hear the terminology that somebody is the usual suspect, it simply means that
00:04:02 whenever an action or a thing takes place without much thought, you already know who's
00:04:08 culpable.
00:04:11 So every parent in here, if you got more than one child, if something in your house get
00:04:15 broke, you about know who did it.
00:04:21 You know the one that's meticulous and is afraid of you and you know that other joker
00:04:26 don't care nothing about nothing unless they scared to death.
00:04:30 How many of y'all got, you know Cain and you know Abel.
00:04:39 One of your children, they're going to go to school and the teacher is going to give
00:04:42 them a good report and say, "Oh, they're amazing."
00:04:45 And they pay attention to their work.
00:04:47 They eat their Brussels sprouts and they drink their orange juice.
00:04:51 And then you got another one when they call him like, "If you don't come and get Daniel."
00:04:56 Daniel up here, he don't listen to nobody.
00:04:59 He skip in class and then when you catch him talking, he say it wasn't him because you
00:05:02 already know who the usual suspect is.
00:05:05 Some of y'all ain't laughing because you are the one.
00:05:11 It just can't get it right.
00:05:14 And in culture, I remember and see these usual suspect ideas, they're usually shrouded in
00:05:22 suspicions without expression.
00:05:26 I will even tell you myself and there is a difference between these two words and I'm
00:05:31 going to say prejudices, not racism, but prejudices.
00:05:33 It's when you put an unfair, a thought process on an individual without due process.
00:05:42 You see, everybody isn't racist, but all people are prejudice.
00:05:47 Everybody has prejudices and I know you like to think that you don't, but you have prejudices.
00:05:51 You can look at if you're walking down the street at night and you see a tall six-foot-four
00:05:58 black man about 235 pounds with dreadlocks and a bandana on and a wife beater and his
00:06:06 pants hanging off his butt.
00:06:07 I don't care how pro-black you are, if you see him, you crossing the street.
00:06:13 Come on, talk to me somebody.
00:06:15 And you can talk about everybody else.
00:06:16 They racial profiling, but don't nobody racial profile like black people.
00:06:20 Oh, y'all ain't got to say man, but you can say out.
00:06:25 We see certain people, you can see a young lady with pink hair and you automatically
00:06:29 think she ghetto and you'd be like, look at it, it's all to be ashamed and she might own
00:06:33 her own company and your hair jet black and you work for somebody.
00:06:39 Because we all have prejudices.
00:06:43 I'm telling you one of the times I remember having one, y'all remember in DC when the
00:06:48 snipers were killing people.
00:06:51 I'm not now, please Lord, forgive me.
00:06:53 But when they said that people were being killed in DC by a sniper, I said, man, what
00:06:58 white man in his middle-aged life is out here shooting people?
00:07:06 It was a prejudice that I automatically assumed statistically backed up that most serial killers
00:07:12 are middle-aged white men.
00:07:14 And so my prejudice made me assume they already knew who the usual suspect was to my surprise.
00:07:27 That we found out that it was a black man in a cutlass.
00:07:32 Oh, y'all remember them cutlass on them Dayton's and them spinners, spinning and spinning.
00:07:40 It was a black man in a cutlass with the keyhole knocked out of a trunk with the ability to
00:07:45 shoot people from a distance.
00:07:49 That ain't something we know how to do, but he did it because he was an unusual suspect.
00:07:58 And the reason why they couldn't find him is because they were looking for the usual
00:08:01 suspect.
00:08:02 They were going all around the world with their profiling.
00:08:07 It was a white male, middle-aged, probably bullied, probably from rural America, somewhere
00:08:19 in some city.
00:08:20 They took their profile and the profile of the usual suspect had them looking in their
00:08:26 own direction and they couldn't find him because he was doing something unusual.
00:08:34 So the reason why the devil keeps finding you is you do what you usually do.
00:08:42 You are where you usually are.
00:08:44 You say what you usually say, but this is the season for you to get him off the scent,
00:08:52 get them off track, find something else to do.
00:08:57 Find a new language, find a new way of thinking, find a new concentric circle of friends and
00:09:03 throw the devil off the trail because in this next month, over the next few weeks,
00:09:08 I'm going to talk to you about doing things unusual, doing things that nobody in your
00:09:14 family has ever done before, speaking in ways in which nobody in your family has ever spoke
00:09:24 before.
00:09:27 I want you to get a notebook and I just want you to just start writing unusual stuff.
00:09:33 I'm going to have $40 million by the end of the year.
00:09:38 Some of you won't do it.
00:09:39 You know why?
00:09:40 Because the only thing you have the courage to document is what you believe.
00:09:48 This won't be for everybody in the room.
00:09:49 I'm talking about promotion.
00:09:50 I'm looking for 1% to 3% of you all in this room and 1% to 3% of you online to shock the
00:09:59 future with what's about to happen in your life.
00:10:05 What I'm talking about is not some pie in the sky that you're going to get 45 years
00:10:10 from now.
00:10:11 I'm not talking about the hope of glory for 10 years from now.
00:10:14 I'm talking about by the time July get here, by the time my kids go back to school, I won't
00:10:28 have to drop them off on the way to work.
00:10:32 I'll be at home already at work with an LLC in my name, producing the same kind of income
00:10:40 from home that I was when I was working 50 hours a week, driving in traffic, trying to
00:10:45 get there.
00:10:46 I'm going to do it from a computer on my kitchen table, who I'm talking to in this room today.
00:10:51 Somebody say unusual.
00:10:52 Unusual.
00:10:53 I'm going to do unusual things.
00:10:56 I'm going to do unusual things in my life.
00:11:00 I put that out there for you to look at it because we always talk about Daniel as this
00:11:05 guy who got out of the lion's den and this prophet of sorts who was able to speak to
00:11:10 the king.
00:11:11 I'm going to tell you his story.
00:11:12 Can I just tell you his background?
00:11:14 From what he just went through, he wasn't supposed to be here because there was an evil
00:11:20 king named Nebuchadnezzar who had made up a province in a place called Babylon.
00:11:24 Everybody say Babylon.
00:11:26 Are y'all all right for me to teach you this week?
00:11:29 So there's a place called Babylon.
00:11:30 Well Nebuchadnezzar was kind of like a dictator.
00:11:32 He was an evil king in a place called Babylon.
00:11:36 Now let me tell you why this is important because Babylon in antiquity is the same land
00:11:42 mass and area called Iraq.
00:11:48 So Iraq where you remember there was an evil dictator when we were looking for weapons
00:11:53 of mass destruction, they weren't there but we were looking for them there and there was
00:11:57 a dictator there by the name of Saddam Hussein.
00:12:03 All of that power, all of that authority, all of that military might and we found him
00:12:10 hiding in a hole.
00:12:15 Was all over the area and they found him crouched, rich, powerful in a hole.
00:12:31 The keys to a military with tanks and jets but they found him in a hole.
00:12:41 Are you listening to me?
00:12:43 That's where this place of this story is taking place and this is the same place in one chapter
00:12:51 you will see a golden image that has been erected and it is said that if you do not
00:12:58 bow to this golden image, one chapter, you will be thrown into the fiery furnace and
00:13:06 who was thrown into that fiery furnace?
00:13:08 Three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
00:13:12 The same three men that Daniel said, "If you bless me, you got to bless them."
00:13:20 Now let me tell you why I'm telling you this because what if the fire is the promotion?
00:13:27 All right, I can tell this sermon ain't going to be good because when Pastor Philip was
00:13:35 up here talking about promotion, all you saw was your car get more expensive and all
00:13:42 you saw was another zero on your check and all you saw was another furniture set from
00:13:49 Ashley.
00:13:57 I know you saw your walk-in closet.
00:14:00 Come on, dream with me and ain't nothing wrong with it.
00:14:02 Can we dream right now you saw your walk-in closet?
00:14:05 It is so big in your closet right now that this is how you're walking around it.
00:14:14 And this is just your shirt section.
00:14:23 You just got into your Birkin section.
00:14:29 This is what you saw.
00:14:30 You saw the house, you saw the cars, but I bet you nobody saw the fire.
00:14:38 I bet you nobody saw the lion's den.
00:14:42 I bet you nobody saw friends you thought you could trust flaking.
00:14:48 I bet you nobody saw a pink slip.
00:14:51 I bet you nobody saw a future crumbling because David said, "It was good that I was afflicted,"
00:14:56 and sometimes like a bow and arrow in order for God to take you forward, he has to take
00:15:07 you back and sometimes promotion, listen, is losing your current status.
00:15:12 This is where I'm going to take my time.
00:15:21 Because you never saw yourself at the funeral of someone you loved and that being the thing
00:15:29 that sparked something in you to say that I must do better.
00:15:35 You didn't see the deal falling apart.
00:15:42 You didn't see it.
00:15:43 And so it is my opportunity, my observation, and my job to tell you that promotion is a
00:15:49 multifaceted exercise and that we do not go from mountaintop to mountaintop in this life.
00:15:58 In order to get from one mountaintop to the next mountaintop, you must go down into the
00:16:05 valley.
00:16:07 Anybody still want a promotion?
00:16:13 We are entering into a text.
00:16:15 Tell me, because I'm going to give you this whole story, that I'm not sure that a lot
00:16:20 of us are familiar with how Daniel got to notoriety.
00:16:25 Daniel was taken captive as a slave by a man named Nebuchadnezzar because he, Shadrach,
00:16:38 Meshach, and Abednego, and a bunch of other Hebrews had a relationship with God.
00:16:43 Listen to me.
00:16:44 Nebuchadnezzar brought them into his province because he thought that if he could capture
00:16:51 some of God's people, he could get some of God's glory.
00:16:57 Do you know that some people have you around them?
00:17:04 Not because they love you, but because they see favor on your life and they think by having
00:17:11 you around them that the favor that is on your life will somehow find its way into their
00:17:19 life.
00:17:21 But you must understand in Scripture, you can't borrow my relationship with God.
00:17:27 I tell your neighbor, "I'll praise God with you, but you can't borrow my praise.
00:17:33 The reason why you can't borrow my praise is because you didn't borrow my pain.
00:17:36 You wasn't with me when I was crying.
00:17:38 You wasn't with me when I was contemplating suicide.
00:17:41 You wasn't with me when I was spending $125 an hour on therapy.
00:17:45 So the praise, the relationship, the glory is mine, but I will go to the throne of grace
00:17:50 with you."
00:17:58 You can't get to heaven because I'm going.
00:18:05 God ain't going to...he's not going to bless your house just because you next to me.
00:18:12 He brought them in because of the relationship that he had with God and he thought that by
00:18:17 having them in his life, it would change his life.
00:18:20 I'm just telling you to be careful that everybody who ingratiates you into their life doesn't
00:18:28 have you there because they believe in your abilities.
00:18:31 They don't have you there because they think you love them or they love you.
00:18:35 They have you there because they think they will benefit from the glory that's on your
00:18:39 life.
00:18:42 I'm just telling you.
00:18:44 I'm just telling you.
00:18:45 And you can always tell because when you need them, they're not there for you.
00:18:54 And if you ever decide to not be there for them, then they're going to say something
00:18:58 like, "Oh, you acting funny."
00:19:02 You think you're better than us, or you ain't the same like you used to be.
00:19:08 When you ain't had nothing, you was a lot more nice, but now you funny acting.
00:19:13 Let me translate.
00:19:14 Can you help me?
00:19:17 Translation, let me manipulate you into feeling bad about your success so you'll give me what
00:19:24 I'm not willing to work for.
00:19:31 And that's why Nebuchadnezzar invited Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, and Belshazzar, Daniel,
00:19:40 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into his life.
00:19:45 He falls asleep and he has a dream.
00:19:48 Y'all good?
00:19:50 I'm telling you this story because this is one of those stories.
00:19:53 Everybody gets to the fiery furnace, everybody gets to the lion's den.
00:19:56 I got to tell you how they got there.
00:19:59 Are y'all good with that?
00:20:01 They were taken as slaves.
00:20:05 And in that time, they didn't have the written word like we have it, so God spoke to them
00:20:09 in dreams.
00:20:12 And Nebuchadnezzar fell asleep and had a dream.
00:20:17 And he wanted Daniel or the Hebrew boy, since they knew God, to interpret the dreams.
00:20:23 But God didn't give them the power to do it at first, so Nebuchadnezzar hired a whole
00:20:28 team of people whose job it was to do nothing more than interpret what he saw.
00:20:37 And let me tell you how hard that is.
00:20:40 Some of y'all had a dream yesterday and you don't even remember what you dreamed about.
00:20:45 Have you ever had a dream where you're like, "I don't know where we was at, we was somewhere,
00:20:48 and I don't know who was there, but we was somewhere, but I was falling."
00:20:55 Have you ever woke up in pain in a dream like, "Jesus, did somebody hit me when I was asleep?"
00:21:05 He had a dream.
00:21:08 And the people he hired, the usual suspects, couldn't interpret this one.
00:21:17 And he really realized, and some of y'all, if you really look at your friendships, this
00:21:21 is what the king said in verse 9.
00:21:23 He says, "I don't even want y'all to interpret this one because y'all been lying to me the
00:21:26 whole time."
00:21:27 If you really settle down and start looking at the people you trust, you find out that
00:21:34 not all the people you trust are trust.
00:21:41 He was just comfortable.
00:21:43 And he says, "Y'all been lying to me."
00:21:45 And he said, "Because y'all been lying to me, I'm about to kill everybody."
00:21:48 You ever seen "White Men Can't Jump"?
00:21:49 He said, "I'm going to my car.
00:21:52 I'm going to get my gun."
00:21:54 He said, "I'm tired of everybody."
00:21:56 He says, "I'm trying to get this dream interpreted and y'all can't interpret it."
00:22:00 He says, "Kill everybody."
00:22:03 He said, "Kill them all.
00:22:04 Destroy all of the wise men of Babylon.
00:22:07 Do away with them all."
00:22:09 Daniel said, "Hey, bro, why everybody got to die?"
00:22:16 He said, "We ain't done nothing wrong.
00:22:19 Why everybody got to die?"
00:22:20 He said, "I'll tell you what.
00:22:22 If you just let me talk to God, I'm sure we can work this thing out."
00:22:28 I'm paraphrasing.
00:22:29 If I just go to God, I'm sure I can talk to Him and He'll talk to me and we can get this
00:22:34 thing worked out.
00:22:35 Now, watch this.
00:22:36 In any other instance, when Nebuchadnezzar got his dream revealed, he had to tell them
00:22:42 what he dreamed about and they interpreted it.
00:22:46 This time, he says, "I'm not even going to tell you what I dreamed about.
00:22:51 And somebody better tell me what I dreamed about without me telling them what I dreamed
00:22:55 about or everybody's going to be a dream."
00:23:01 Are you all following me?
00:23:03 How many of you all didn't know this part of the story?
00:23:05 Raise your hand.
00:23:06 See, this is why I'm going through this background.
00:23:08 So now you're about to find out how they ended up there.
00:23:10 So Daniel goes to God and says, "Lord, you got to do something because He's about to
00:23:21 kill everybody." and then he goes to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and says,
00:23:27 "I'm about to stick my neck out on the line for us.
00:23:29 Watch this.
00:23:31 Y'all pray for me."
00:23:34 And the Bible says that they went to God and they prayed for Him.
00:23:38 Now, do you see why he took care of them in the end?
00:23:44 Because he prayed with them in the beginning.
00:23:49 Can I tell you to be leery of people who you promote in your life who don't pray?
00:23:56 In your life?
00:23:57 Oh, God.
00:23:59 Most of us are promoting people for the wrong credentials.
00:24:03 You're promoting people because they were there.
00:24:07 Some of y'all need to promote your prayer warriors.
00:24:10 Stop always promoting the pretty people in your life and the rich people.
00:24:15 You need to get some people in your life.
00:24:16 They may not have money.
00:24:18 They may not have fame, but they know how to get down on their knees and call a Holy
00:24:23 Ghost revival and something happens in your life.
00:24:26 Stop asking people, "Can we date?" and ask them, "Can we pray?"
00:24:29 Ask your neighbor, "Will you be my prayer warrior?"
00:24:32 You're looking for a husband, you need a prayer warrior.
00:24:34 You're looking for a wife, you need a prayer warrior.
00:24:36 You're looking for a significant other, you need a prayer warrior.
00:24:46 Then you said, "Y'all pray with me."
00:24:47 They prayed and he promoted them.
00:24:51 I want you to start to promote the prayers in your life.
00:24:59 What I just gave you is so valuable, but most people will miss it because most
00:25:05 people are too intimidated to pray in public places because you feel like you
00:25:09 got to sound like a theologian.
00:25:11 It don't matter.
00:25:12 All you got to do is say, "What did Peter say when he was drowning?"
00:25:16 He didn't have a philosophy, he didn't have a benediction,
00:25:20 he didn't have any fancy words.
00:25:22 The man started to drown and he simply said, "Lord, save me."
00:25:25 Because when you're in trouble, you don't have time to string together
00:25:28 multi-syllabic expressions.
00:25:30 All you got to do is say, "Lord, I'm in trouble.
00:25:33 I need your help."
00:25:34 Ask your neighbor, "Will you pray with me?"
00:25:40 I'm giving you sound doctrine.
00:25:44 You need to employ more prayer warriors in your life because the way the devil is
00:25:51 going to come after you after you get the promotion, you're going to need somebody
00:25:56 who knows how to steal away, who knows how to fast and get some anointing and some
00:26:02 oil and get in a room and be praying for you while you're out there trying to kill
00:26:07 the giants.
00:26:08 You need somebody in the closet praying while you are in the boardroom.
00:26:11 You're going to need somebody praying while you are opening the company.
00:26:15 You need a prayer warrior in your life.
00:26:17 Ask God to send you somebody in your life who will pray for you.
00:26:24 I'm telling you what I know.
00:26:26 And we start with the blessing in mind.
00:26:31 Now, knowing you're going to need a foundation of prayer before you get there,
00:26:35 what was one of the first things the disciples asked Jesus before they started
00:26:39 performing miracles?
00:26:40 "Lord, teach us how."
00:26:43 Watch this.
00:26:49 He says, "Not only teach us how to pray."
00:26:50 They said, "Lord, teach us how to pray like John taught his disciples."
00:26:55 You better learn how to pray.
00:26:59 At church, we tell us how…give them a high five.
00:27:03 We talk worship, but we don't talk prayer.
00:27:07 And the Bible says that my house shall be called of all nations,
00:27:12 not the house of praise, not the house of miracles, but the house of prayer.
00:27:20 Look at how quiet we are when we talk about prayer.
00:27:27 Y'all didn't break up because y'all had a misunderstanding.
00:27:32 Y'all broke up because y'all didn't know how to pray.
00:27:38 No, no, no.
00:27:39 You can ask anybody in here who's been married 30, 40, 50 years,
00:27:42 they're not together because they liked each other.
00:27:46 Every moment of the day, they're together because when they didn't
00:27:49 like each other, they went to somebody who loved them both and said,
00:27:52 "God, do something in both of us."
00:27:55 Y'all ain't got to say, "Man, I know what I'm talking about."
00:27:57 But see, we live in this generation where we don't want to have to work through and
00:28:01 fight through, but sometimes you're going to have to pray, "Lord,
00:28:04 hold my mule.
00:28:05 Lord, do something with my mind.
00:28:08 Lord, I'm sick of my own mess."
00:28:09 Can I just get about 100 people who will be honest that you're sick
00:28:12 of your own mess?
00:28:13 I know you're sick of everybody else's stuff, but have you ever got tired of you?
00:28:20 Give yourself a high-five and say, "I'm sick of you."
00:28:25 That's a neighbor you need to talk to.
00:28:26 The king ran out of patience and he said, "I'm telling you,
00:28:40 I'm telling you, I pay too much money not to be getting what I'm paying for.
00:28:46 If one of y'all don't tell me what I dreamed about last night,
00:28:51 I'm killing everybody."
00:28:53 I used to be mad when my mama would say, "Who did it?"
00:28:57 And then nobody say nothing, she'd be like, "All y'all."
00:29:05 And listen, the way our siblings was, you better not tell on nobody because
00:29:10 when mama ain't looking, everybody get here.
00:29:16 She said, "All right."
00:29:18 Everybody lined up.
00:29:21 I said, "I'm going to take care of the king, so I'm going to take care
00:29:24 of everybody."
00:29:25 And then you said, "All right, okay, all right, all right.
00:29:27 Let me go to the Lord.
00:29:29 Let me see if he pleases the king.
00:29:30 Let me see if I can figure this out."
00:29:32 And in an instant, let me tell you, it didn't even take long.
00:29:36 In an instant, Lord, help me Jesus.
00:29:40 In an instant, you see a Hebrew slave be promoted from a prisoner to a prophet.
00:29:49 I'm going to say it again.
00:29:53 There was no orientation period.
00:29:57 There was no sitting before the board of directors.
00:30:01 When it was his season, watch this, and the moment matched his gift,
00:30:09 and the gift was in him before the moment.
00:30:12 But God is going to make sure that the gift is used at its appointed time.
00:30:17 And when the appointed time came, all of a sudden, he went from shackles
00:30:23 to prophet.
00:30:24 I'm speaking to 22 people.
00:30:29 That it is not going to take years, it's not going to take months,
00:30:33 it's not going to take weeks.
00:30:35 In the course of a few hours, there was a promotion that is coming
00:30:40 because the moment that God has is about to match the skill set that he gave you.
00:30:47 And everything that you didn't understand about yourself is about to make sense.
00:30:55 Let me just find...I told you it was only for 1%.
00:30:58 How many people in this room have certain things about yourself you keep asking,
00:31:02 "Why do I do that?
00:31:04 Why am I nice to people even when they're not nice to me?
00:31:08 Why am I so forgiving?
00:31:10 Why do I have so much grace?"
00:31:12 It's because there's an opportunity that's coming, that's looking for somebody
00:31:19 who's made just like you.
00:31:21 Slap somebody and say, "This is my time."
00:31:27 You're missing it.
00:31:30 I'm looking for people.
00:31:31 How many of you got things that you just don't understand?
00:31:33 Why can I hate people?
00:31:39 Why can't I be a hater?
00:31:43 Why am I long-suffering?
00:31:46 Why do I give grace to people who don't give me grace?
00:31:50 Why do I forgive people who keep lying to me?
00:31:53 Why do I keep turning the other cheek?
00:31:55 Because there's a situation and a moment that's coming that's looking for a
00:31:59 long-suffering, cheek-turning saint.
00:32:04 Slap somebody and say, "My season is here.
00:32:06 My moment is here.
00:32:07 My time is here.
00:32:08 I was made for this moment."
00:32:20 Why do I keep making people a priority that make me an option?
00:32:30 Why do I keep chasing people who won't even look for me?
00:32:35 It's because the moment that's coming is looking for somebody who will chase people
00:32:39 who ain't looking for them.
00:32:40 And I'm telling you, all of the things that you don't like about yourself,
00:32:43 it's about to fit.
00:32:48 And it's about to make sense.
00:32:50 And then you're going to look like, "Oh, I didn't know that I had to go
00:33:00 through that to get to that.
00:33:06 I didn't know that cooking every day for somebody who wouldn't even...
00:33:16 I didn't know that wiping the behind of some child that was going to grow up and
00:33:20 be ungrateful was going to turn into.
00:33:25 I didn't know that working in ministry without ever being appreciated was going
00:33:30 to turn into.
00:33:35 I didn't know that looking like a fool was going to turn into."
00:33:43 Watch this.
00:33:44 Here's the word of the Lord.
00:33:44 God says, "I'm about to give you beauty."
00:33:52 I told you it's only for 3%.
00:33:54 I'm about to give you beauty for ashes.
00:33:57 God says, "I'm about to exchange your trauma for a testimony."
00:34:03 In a moment, you're going to go from a prisoner to a prophet.
00:34:07 If everybody in this room believes that this is the moment for promotion in your
00:34:10 life, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to give God glory in advance.
00:34:19 Three people say, "Promotion, promotion, promotion, promotion,
00:34:22 promotion, promotion."
00:34:22 Promotion on my job, promotion in my company, promotion in my mindset,
00:34:28 promotion with my finances, promotion in my friend circle.
00:34:32 God, get all these dummies out of my circle.
00:34:34 Get all of these haters out of my circle.
00:34:36 Get all of these envious people out of my circle.
00:34:38 Surround me with some prayer warriors.
00:34:50 I don't know what you're facing, but you have a pre-designed skill set for the
00:34:57 moment you're about to walk into.
00:35:11 Listen to me.
00:35:14 I know you don't like yourself.
00:35:17 And yes, you should continue to work on yourself, but there is a king somewhere
00:35:22 who needs your gift.
00:35:30 There is somebody with an opportunity who needs somebody who knows how to do what...
00:35:38 Listen to me.
00:35:39 Not just what you can do, but only what only you can do.
00:35:43 Because remember, he already had a staff of people who could do what Daniel could
00:35:48 do, they just couldn't do it like Daniel could do it.
00:35:52 They needed information.
00:35:53 Daniel was like, "You ain't got to tell me nothing.
00:35:55 Let me go talk to my dad."
00:36:02 And the moment you realize you ain't like nobody else, they can interpret dreams,
00:36:11 but they need the dreamer to tell them what the dream was about.
00:36:14 The small difference between you is you so connected to God,
00:36:18 you don't need information, all you need is anointing.
00:36:24 Everybody repeat after me, "I'm different."
00:36:31 Tell somebody, "I'm different out here, cuz.
00:36:33 I'm different out here.
00:36:34 I'm different.
00:36:35 I'm different.
00:36:36 I don't see nothing the same.
00:36:37 I'm different.
00:36:39 I used to think I was weird, but I'm different.
00:36:41 I used to think I was cursed, but I'm different.
00:36:44 I used to think that I was weird, and I was different, and I was the least,
00:36:50 but I'm different.
00:36:55 I'm different, and I'm okay with it."
00:37:03 Need you to say, "I'm different, and I'm okay with it.
00:37:07 My child is different, and I'm okay with it.
00:37:11 My relationships are different, and I'm okay with it.
00:37:16 I see the world differently, and I'm okay with it."
00:37:20 Stop trying to fit in with people who don't recognize your difference.
00:37:30 Everybody shout, "I'm different."
00:37:37 Then you said, "Lord, please, please, please, please, please,
00:37:41 please don't let me down.
00:37:43 I'm about to go out here on a limb.
00:37:46 I'm about to go out here on a limb.
00:37:47 I'm about to show up to Not Your Typical and start prophesying, and I don't know
00:37:54 what this is going to look like.
00:37:55 I'm going out here, and I'm trusting you."
00:37:59 See, sometimes you just got to go out there.
00:38:02 Some of you all plan it too safe.
00:38:03 You're just going to have to...
00:38:07 How many of you all guilty of just planning it safe all the time?
00:38:09 Just, "All right, I'm going to get A done, then I'm going to get B done,
00:38:12 and then I'm going to get B, then I'm going to get C, and the Lord is going
00:38:15 to provide, and I'm going to go to C to D."
00:38:17 And there's about 1% of you all here, so you know I'm going from A to Z.
00:38:19 I don't care nothing about all that stuff in the middle.
00:38:21 The Lord is going to take care.
00:38:22 He's Alpha and Omega.
00:38:23 I'm going all the way.
00:38:28 I'm not going to get my wealth by getting $1.15 more per hour.
00:38:32 I'm about to go from making what I'm making to making what I thought about and
00:38:36 dreamed about, and that's just the way it's going to be.
00:38:39 And people are going to say I'm acting funny, and yes, I am acting funny,
00:38:43 and yes, I am moving because I can't stay around people whose mindsets are going
00:38:48 to keep me stuck in where I came from.
00:38:51 Now, if you want to go where I'm going, let's go, but I'm not staying where I am
00:38:55 to make you happy with me.
00:38:56 Let's pray.
00:39:08 Lord, help me to see the dream of the king.
00:39:15 And he started bidding.
00:39:19 I saw this, I saw that.
00:39:23 You saw this, you saw that.
00:39:25 This is what you said, this is what you felt.
00:39:28 He started to explain the man's dream to him, and the man didn't even tell him the
00:39:32 subject matter of the dream.
00:39:33 And the Bible says that Nebuchadnezzar fell to his face and laid prostrate.
00:39:45 Please don't say prostate.
00:39:51 He was prostate before the Lord.
00:39:52 No, he was prostrate.
00:39:59 You know, Christians will leave at least four letters out of every word.
00:40:10 I wish I could illustrate it to you, but I don't want to bend my shoes.
00:40:12 He was...
00:40:14 Just imagine this is the floor.
00:40:17 Y'all know how we act when we get new shoes on.
00:40:42 He lays out prostrate before Daniel.
00:41:01 And Daniel witnesses something unusual.
00:41:07 When have you ever seen a king worship a slave?
00:41:16 This is an unusual...
00:41:17 Listen, first of all, normally you see the slaves worshiping the king.
00:41:30 When have you ever saw an evil king worshiping a slave?
00:41:41 Oh, God help me in this place.
00:41:44 And he falls on his face and he begins to worship him.
00:41:52 And let me tell you why Daniel was blessed of God, because somewhere in our text, he
00:42:02 goes from worshiping Daniel, read it in verse 46, 47, 48, he starts off by saying he praises
00:42:10 Daniel.
00:42:12 Somewhere in there, he says he starts to praise Daniel's God.
00:42:27 Why do we initially see him worshiping Daniel?
00:42:32 And all of a sudden now we see him worshiping God.
00:42:39 I believe through the context of the text.
00:42:44 Somehow, someway, Daniel must have said, "All the glory belongs to you."
00:43:04 This ain't got nothing to do with me.
00:43:07 He gave me the ability.
00:43:09 See, the reason why some of us can't be promoted is because we would accept the praise.
00:43:16 Daniel rejected it, said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:43:21 I don't want anything that belongs."
00:43:26 Are y'all listening to me?
00:43:27 He said, "I don't want anything that belongs to me."
00:43:30 Listen, he says, "I will accept the prizes.
00:43:33 I will accept the position, but I will not accept the praise.
00:43:40 I will take what's mine, but I do not want what's his."
00:43:49 If God is going to promote you, you have to know the difference between appreciation and
00:43:55 praise.
00:43:56 I'm going to settle here because if you are starving for glory, you won't reach your goals.
00:44:16 Daniel says, "I am perfectly fine with interpreting your dreams and you giving God the credit."
00:44:22 One of the things that is tearing our society down is idolatry, human worship.
00:44:44 I am your pastor.
00:44:46 I pray so that I can preach to you.
00:44:51 I study hours and hours to make sure that what I give you is from heaven.
00:44:57 I may lay hands on you and you may be healed through the power of the Holy Ghost, but please
00:45:06 don't worship me.
00:45:08 Please.
00:45:11 I wouldn't die for you if I was given the chance to.
00:45:14 Jesus died on the cross for your sins.
00:45:18 He is the one that rose up on the third day morning with all power.
00:45:21 The Holy Spirit is your helper and your comforter.
00:45:25 We've got to learn to get out of human worship and give the glory back to God.
00:45:30 You can thank God for the man that he used, but when it's time to give glory, you give
00:45:34 it to the God who made the man.
00:45:37 When somebody in this place just practice it for the next 30 seconds and give God the
00:45:42 glory.
00:45:55 This is the reason Satan was kicked out of heaven, is because when the glory came in
00:46:01 his direction, he did not redirect it to the one it was supposed to go to.
00:46:06 Don't let anybody worship you because anybody who worships you will also look for perfection
00:46:13 from you and will lose their witness when you let them down.
00:46:24 Daniel said, "Yes, God used me, but just because he used me doesn't mean I'm God."
00:46:29 And you have to resist the devil's temptation to make you feel like you are God when he
00:46:36 uses you.
00:46:41 There are more people in the earth who have a God complex than we'd like to admit, because
00:46:51 when people don't worship us, we don't know how to be faithful.
00:47:03 All the glory belongs to him.
00:47:09 We need to teach this in every church around the world.
00:47:18 No human worship.
00:47:25 Daniel said, "I will take the money, but you give him the glory."
00:47:36 And if you get confused about that, please know I don't want it.
00:47:43 It was like when Pastor Phillip was talking, I get uncomfortable.
00:47:48 I get uncomfortable.
00:47:49 Yes, it's good.
00:47:50 You should.
00:47:51 The Bible says that the man of God is worthy of double honor.
00:47:54 The Bible says that he's worthy of his higher.
00:47:56 I get all of that kind of stuff.
00:47:58 Give and it shall be given unto you.
00:47:59 I get all of that.
00:48:00 What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his soul?
00:48:02 That's the other side of it.
00:48:03 So after you finish thanking God for me, then thank God, period.
00:48:15 Because I can't heal you unless he gives me the power.
00:48:22 I'm not the one that was crucified for your soul.
00:48:28 I didn't shed one ounce of blood for you to be saved.
00:48:33 And I definitely don't have a Holy Spirit that I left to comfort you and to be with
00:48:38 you.
00:48:39 It was him and him alone.
00:48:41 And for that, he deserves all the glory and all the honor and all the praise.
00:48:55 I thought that was worth saying.
00:49:00 I know it may have been boring for some of you all, and maybe you didn't need to hear
00:49:03 it.
00:49:04 I thought it was worth saying, and not just in my direction and yours too.
00:49:07 Don't require people to worship you.
00:49:12 Don't require people to worship you for you to be happy in your house.
00:49:15 Don't require people to worship you for you to have a smile on your face.
00:49:18 Don't require people to worship with you to put your attitude behind you.
00:49:23 Don't require...
00:49:24 See, some of us require people to worship us so that they can get the best of us, but
00:49:28 that makes you God.
00:49:31 And the thing about God is he's good even if you're not.
00:49:38 I thought it was worth saying that when Daniel was praised by the man, he said, "You need
00:49:50 to point that praise in another direction."
00:49:56 Some people are only comfortable in relationships where they're worshipped.
00:50:03 Come here.
00:50:04 Come here.
00:50:05 I can't find nobody, because you can't find nobody to worship you.
00:50:10 You ain't single because there ain't no good men.
00:50:12 You just can't find a good worshiper.
00:50:14 I'm going to stay right here.
00:50:17 I'm going to stay right here.
00:50:19 It ain't no good men in the earth.
00:50:20 There's a whole lot of good men in the earth.
00:50:22 You're just looking for somebody who will worship you, and you don't want to be with
00:50:24 anybody who will challenge you and tell you your attitude stink, and you need to shut
00:50:28 your mouth and sit down sometimes.
00:50:30 But if somebody...
00:50:31 Whatever, happy wife, happy life.
00:50:32 Not all the time.
00:50:33 Oh, y'all, come here.
00:50:34 Come here.
00:50:35 Let's talk.
00:50:36 Let's worship.
00:50:37 This statement, "Happy wife, happy life," and every man has to always make sure that
00:50:46 everything is comfortable for you, that's worship.
00:50:54 Look at all the women.
00:51:16 Don't require people to worship you in order for you to give the best of yourself.
00:51:23 I'm going to give this man...
00:51:26 You read that word in the Scripture, it said, "Oblation."
00:51:30 It means a meat offering with no blood.
00:51:36 And where did Daniel set up his office?
00:51:44 Once he became governor...
00:51:45 Now, watch this.
00:51:46 Let me just say this.
00:51:47 Not only did he become governor, he became governor of all of the governors.
00:51:52 So this man went from a slave to being the governor of the governors.
00:52:00 You want to know why they can't stand you?
00:52:04 Because they found out that if you ever get the promotion, it ain't going to be equal
00:52:13 to them.
00:52:15 I'm telling you, the only person in your life who doesn't know that you are anointed
00:52:25 to be over the people you follow is you.
00:52:31 You have a supernatural anointing on your life where God says, "I'm going to make you
00:52:36 CEO of CEOs.
00:52:42 I'm going to...
00:52:43 I'm not just going to make you an author.
00:52:44 You're going to be a New York Times best."
00:52:50 And since the devil knows that you have a supernatural anointing that will make you
00:52:55 governor of governors, he keeps you in your insecurity and in your trauma and in your
00:53:04 past because it is difficult to be promoted when you're always in pain.
00:53:16 So what we never see Daniel do when he gets the promotion...
00:53:20 Who am I still preaching to?
00:53:21 Because I think I'm losing some of y'all.
00:53:23 What we never see Daniel do when he gets the promotion is say, "Oh, now you see who I am.
00:53:29 Oh, now you want to promote a brother.
00:53:33 You weren't saying all of that when you had me in hand because I don't know."
00:53:36 Because most people are so engulfed in their trauma that when the promotion comes, they
00:53:42 talk about the pain.
00:53:45 Steve, bring this down here.
00:53:50 I'm going to preach from the floor because they're playing with me.
00:53:56 Y'all adjust these lights.
00:53:57 I'm down here.
00:53:58 Sit it right there, right there because they're playing with me.
00:54:00 I'm coming down close.
00:54:01 Y'all playing with me.
00:54:05 Most people can't get the...
00:54:06 Imagine somebody enslaves you.
00:54:10 Imagine somebody changes your name.
00:54:13 Imagine somebody tears your family apart and then all of a sudden because you can do something
00:54:18 for them, they say, "I like you now."
00:54:19 You're going to be like, "Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh."
00:54:26 Come on, talk to...
00:54:27 I want everybody who I'm talking to just raise your hand right now.
00:54:29 "Uh-uh, uh-uh.
00:54:30 I got...
00:54:31 It's going to take me some time to get over this.
00:54:33 I just can't just jump up because you want me to jump.
00:54:35 I just can't...
00:54:36 I just can't be ready because you want me ready.
00:54:40 It's going to take me...
00:54:44 I'm going to have to get over this.
00:54:46 It's going to take me some time."
00:54:48 You don't see anywhere in the scripture where Daniel needed time to get over what he went
00:54:52 through because when the moment comes, you better be ready.
00:54:57 When the moment comes, you better be ready to go.
00:55:00 I'm talking to some of y'all because the reason why your moment keeps passing you is because
00:55:05 every time it's your time, you're not ready.
00:55:08 You've been getting over stuff since stuff start happening.
00:55:20 Your trauma has kept you in the basement when your gift was designed for the rooftop.
00:55:30 We all have been through stuff.
00:55:32 We all have cried tears.
00:55:34 We've all been betrayed, but some of us have made it because it is not about what I've
00:55:39 been through.
00:55:40 It's about what I'm going to.
00:55:42 I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the upper call.
00:55:47 Can I have somebody say "press"?
00:55:52 Nobody got time to be dating you for nine months, hearing about your last relationship.
00:55:56 If you're still in it, you should have stayed in it.
00:55:58 When I get with you, I want to hear about what we're going to do, not what he did.
00:56:03 You're going to be single the rest of your life because you're still married to somebody
00:56:08 you ain't with.
00:56:14 Somebody taking you out to Mastro's to hear about your problems?
00:56:18 Work that stuff out in therapy.
00:56:21 But when it's your moment, you better be ready.
00:56:25 It's called a date, not a therapy session.
00:56:36 You working your stuff out with somebody you're asking God to be your husband.
00:56:40 He ain't a professional.
00:56:41 She ain't a professional.
00:56:42 Some of that stuff you got to work out before you go out or stay home.
00:56:52 You don't hear Daniel talking about, "Never could have never before I interpreted a dream.
00:56:57 Can I just tell you how I felt when you did what you did to me?"
00:57:02 Oh my God.
00:57:08 "How long will you mourn me?"
00:57:13 Some of you are old enough.
00:57:14 Yeah, I see that smile there, baby.
00:57:15 Yeah, I knew you knew about it.
00:57:21 Oh my God.
00:57:22 That was a real eye roll too.
00:57:23 I mean, I felt them touch my ears like, "Ugh, because when I was 12."
00:57:30 You're 90.
00:57:34 Are you ready for this opportunity or not?
00:57:37 Are you going to interpret this dream or not?
00:57:40 Do I have to go get somebody else or not?
00:57:44 Are you ready?
00:57:46 Is you is or is you ain't?
00:58:00 This is what's standing in between us and our promotion date.
00:58:06 You're always getting over something.
00:58:08 How much time do it take for you to get over what you've been getting over in?
00:58:14 I'm still working on it.
00:58:19 As long as you've been working on it, if you was a mechanic, you'd be out of business because
00:58:22 everybody car would still be in your shop because you're always working on it.
00:58:27 Touch your neighbor and say, "Stop working on it and work it out."
00:58:40 Let me tell you why.
00:58:41 Let me tell you why people do this.
00:58:44 It's because some people, sympathy is more important than promotion.
00:58:50 They love when people feel sorry for them, but then they get frustrated because they
00:58:56 feel sorry for themselves.
00:58:59 You're going to have to get to the point where you don't need somebody else's sympathy to
00:59:03 feel good about yourself.
00:59:07 I don't need your thank you to be kind.
00:59:09 I don't need your thank you to be a long-suffering.
00:59:12 I don't need you to pat me on the back.
00:59:14 If all of y'all sat down and didn't say amen, I'm still going to preach like this.
00:59:17 Because I don't need your amen to give God glory.
00:59:20 He called me to preach, not you.
00:59:28 And this is what stands in the way of our promotion, especially as a people.
00:59:34 Because black people, we have been through four, five, six, 700 years of trauma.
00:59:41 That's a guarantee.
00:59:43 And it is not easily washed away on top of the fact that we went through a slavery transunion,
00:59:49 we went through that trauma, and that was passed down to your great-great-grandmama.
00:59:52 She gave it to your great-grandmama.
00:59:54 She gave it to your grandmama, gave it to your mama, and your mama gave it to you.
00:59:58 And so now, we live in a world where the Jim Crow of times past has only been more sophisticated
01:00:09 and is now implemented in the same way.
01:00:11 So the world is the same.
01:00:13 So instead of us waiting on the politicians to change, why don't we just decide as a people
01:00:19 that we're not just going to want people to give us reparations, but we're going to take
01:00:24 what's ours.
01:00:26 We're going to pull our resources and start talking to one another, get out of this crab
01:00:31 in a barrel mentality, and start sharing information with one another.
01:00:43 Please don't discount the fact that I know it is hard and that I know we have a lot to
01:00:47 go over and that a lot has been done to us and the trauma that has been afflicted on
01:00:51 us is difficult, but there is a difference between somebody who recognizes that trauma
01:00:55 and wants something for that trauma and somebody who recognizes that trauma and is going to
01:01:00 work to take something in the timeframe that you've been given on this earth so that you
01:01:05 can create a legacy for the gift that is placed in you.
01:01:12 Because if one of us did it, all of you can do it.
01:01:19 And in the meantime, while the world systems try to hold us back, we're going to ask Ananias,
01:01:24 Azariah, and Mishael to be praying because there are some unfair policies, Jerry rigging
01:01:34 in the voting system and gerrymandering.
01:01:38 They're changing all of the laws, and you've got all kinds of stuff that's going on.
01:01:42 I know it's hard, but that don't mean you get to sit home and cry about it, and it doesn't
01:01:48 mean you get to turn the news off because you don't want to know what's going on.
01:01:51 And every time you turn the news off so you don't know what's going on, you won't read
01:01:54 a newspaper so you don't know what's going on, and then you start talking about, "I don't
01:01:58 know what's going on."
01:01:59 You know why you don't know what's going on?
01:02:00 Because you won't look at where it's happening.
01:02:04 Turn the television on, watch all of the stations, and form at least an opinion.
01:02:08 And being ignorant is not a solution.
01:02:11 Now, I don't even...
01:02:14 I don't even supposed to be over here.
01:02:16 Let me...
01:02:17 I'm trying to show you how to interpret the dream.
01:02:26 Trying to get promoted as a people.
01:02:32 And when you find out something, don't be content with just being the king so everybody
01:02:39 has to come to you to get it.
01:02:41 Let me tell you something, black people.
01:02:47 When you get in the real systems, you will understand that the real systems are too big
01:02:51 for one king.
01:02:56 If we get in the banking system, you'll realize ain't no one bank.
01:03:03 If we get in the entertainment, you'll realize ain't no one production company.
01:03:09 There are pillars where we are absent and infrequent and we have the skill set to be
01:03:20 effective and to make change if we do it.
01:03:29 Most of you all will sit next to the person in church all day that you don't know and
01:03:33 won't say nothing to them.
01:03:38 Another thing you're trying to figure out if they're sitting on your dress.
01:03:45 It's kind of close in here.
01:03:54 I need bigger seats.
01:04:07 Watch this.
01:04:12 When Nebuchadnezzar changed his worship from Daniel to God, look what he does.
01:04:23 He says, "All of y'all," talking to the same people that he was trying to get to interpret
01:04:31 the dream, "All of y'all who are over here with me, y'all start praising God too."
01:04:50 He went from not knowing God…
01:04:54 The Bible says this was in the second year of his reign.
01:04:57 He's a new king, so he goes from not knowing God…
01:05:01 To talking about God.
01:05:04 To making sure that everybody who worked for him was praising Daniel's God.
01:05:13 In other words, he used his authority to ensure that everybody who was around him was praising
01:05:23 God too.
01:05:24 Do me a favor.
01:05:25 Tell your neighbor, say, "Neighbor."
01:05:28 You may not put anything in the offering, but you will put something in the atmosphere.
01:05:46 You might not give at offering time, but when I start praising my God, I highly suggest
01:05:51 you do it too.
01:05:52 Now, just look at him.
01:05:53 Say, "I highly suggest.
01:05:54 You don't play with me.
01:05:55 Now, don't play about my God.
01:05:56 I ain't the boss of you, but I'm telling you right now, in the next 30 seconds, I'm
01:06:01 about to give God all kind of glory, and if you're going to sit by me, you're going to
01:06:04 do it too."
01:06:05 I want you to look at the person in front of you, behind you, on the left of you, and
01:06:10 on the right of you, and tell them over the next 30 seconds, "I promise you, you're going
01:06:14 to say something."
01:06:15 Now, if you're standing up and they're sitting down, just kind of lean over and say, "Did
01:06:20 you hear what I said?
01:06:22 Over the next 30 seconds, we're about to blow this place up because I highly suggest that
01:06:30 you give my God..."
01:06:36 I can't hear nothing.
01:06:37 That's weak.
01:06:39 That's weak.
01:06:40 You're going to have to praise him on the level I praise him.
01:06:44 You're going to have to praise him on the level I praise him because God's about to
01:06:48 do something in this room, and I'm not about to have anybody in this room who won't put
01:06:52 something in this atmosphere.
01:06:54 I need about 2,000 people to shout, "Glory in this place!"
01:07:04 Tell them, "Neighbor, put it in the atmosphere," because when praises go up, blessings come
01:07:10 down.
01:07:11 Grab a neighbor by the hand and shout, "Neighbor, God's about to use you in an unusual way."
01:07:20 If you believe it, then an incredible God deserves incredible praise.
01:07:29 Open your mouth and give God...
01:07:30 Good God Almighty, give your neighbor a high five and shout, "Neighbor, I speak unusual
01:07:47 in your life!"
01:07:51 Watch this.
01:07:54 I feel the glory.
01:07:57 Tristan, when I came to church this morning and I got out of the car, what was the first
01:08:04 thing you said to me?
01:08:05 Do you remember?
01:08:06 He said, "Sir, where's your voice at?"
01:08:10 Because I had lost it.
01:08:14 I had no voice when I got here.
01:08:15 Nick got me...
01:08:16 Has anybody ever had that?
01:08:17 Is it medicine?
01:08:18 Medicine ball from Starbucks?
01:08:19 Because I don't go to Starbucks.
01:08:22 They charge too much.
01:08:23 But he had one for me, and I was drinking, and I'm like...
01:08:28 I'm sitting down here.
01:08:29 The worship service is going on, and I'm like, "Oh, my God, I can't participate."
01:08:33 I was like, "Oh, my God, I swear to you, I almost was going to tell Pastor Torrance,
01:08:38 have Pastor Subra to preach because he's already in the vein."
01:08:42 And then the Lord said, "No, it's your time."
01:08:46 Now all of a sudden, here I am talking to you.
01:08:49 And just an hour and a half ago, I didn't have a voice.
01:08:52 But see, this moment matched my gift.
01:08:59 And when it's your time, God will give you what you didn't have.
01:09:04 Give your neighbor a high five and shout, "Neighbor, I speak..."
01:09:12 Thank you, Holy Ghost.
01:09:13 "I speak unusual.
01:09:14 I speak uncommon favor."
01:09:15 If you believe it, open up your mouth and give your God an unusual praise.
01:09:16 Open up your mouth.
01:09:17 Just let people say, "Promotion is here.
01:09:18 Promotion is here.
01:09:19 Promotion is here."
01:09:20 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:21 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:22 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:23 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:24 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:25 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:26 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:27 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:28 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:29 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:30 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:31 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:32 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:33 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:34 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:35 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:36 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:37 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:38 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:39 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:40 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:41 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:42 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:43 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:44 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:45 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:46 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:47 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:48 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:49 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:50 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:51 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:52 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:53 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:54 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:55 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:56 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:57 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:58 I'm not going to do that.
01:09:59 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:00 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:01 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:02 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:03 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:04 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:05 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:06 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:07 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:08 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:09 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:10 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:11 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:12 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:13 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:14 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:15 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:16 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:17 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:18 I'm not going to do that.
01:10:20 I'm about to leave y'all alone, but I need you to do one more thing.
01:10:28 Remember when Daniel went and received the blessing, the Bible says he put his office
01:10:38 at the king's gate.
01:10:41 The king's gate, remember, enter into his...
01:10:45 The king's gates is where judgment and decisions were made.
01:10:52 Watch this.
01:10:53 So now Daniel is literally saying that I am about to protect the guy who put me in slavery
01:11:05 and in four chapters is going to put me in a lion's den.
01:11:14 Why is this important?
01:11:16 Because promotion dictates that you protect that witch trying to harm you.
01:11:29 So I know your daddy didn't raise you, but honor your mother and father that your days
01:11:35 might be long.
01:11:37 I know he broke your heart and divorced you, but buy him a wedding gift and a card and
01:11:43 congratulate him on where he's going because it necessitates that you protect that witch
01:11:50 harmed you.
01:11:53 And if you are not ready to protect that witch gave you pain, you are not ready for promotion.
01:12:11 I will take no part in destroying you.
01:12:16 Remember, oh God, if you just keep reading this book, you're going to find out that Nebuchadnezzar,
01:12:28 this rich king, remember, where did we find Saddam Hussein?
01:12:32 Keep reading it.
01:12:33 In a few chapters, you will find Nebuchadnezzar on the ground eating grass.
01:12:42 You ain't got to do nothing to anybody who enslaved you.
01:12:49 God has the final.
01:13:03 God has the final.
01:13:18 From a palace to a pasture, eating grass because you messed with the wrong people.
01:13:37 There is an unusual suspect in this room.
01:13:44 You weren't supposed to make it.
01:13:48 You weren't supposed to be here.
01:13:50 You were supposed to be somewhere crawled up in a room crying about the trauma of your
01:13:55 history.
01:14:01 You were supposed to swallow them all and die in convulsions in your bathroom.
01:14:11 The divorce was supposed to kill you and the absence of your father and mother in your
01:14:17 life was supposed to destroy you.
01:14:20 The betrayal of your sibling was supposed to put you in a position where you wanted
01:14:26 to just die.
01:14:32 I remember that uncle that molested you.
01:14:36 That was supposed to kill you too.
01:14:40 That stepfather who touched you inappropriately, but you were afraid to tell your mother because
01:14:45 you knew your mother would choose him over you.
01:14:51 That was supposed to end you too.
01:14:56 And yet in the year of our Lord, 2023, bloodied and bruised from the chains and shackles of
01:15:22 life, you are still here.
01:15:30 And that's the real testimony.
01:15:33 I know it wasn't easy and I know it wasn't a cakewalk and I know you lost somebody you
01:15:41 loved along the way, but you're still here.
01:15:49 Because God needed you in this world for such a time as this.
01:15:56 And I know you wanted to die, but you couldn't because somebody's life depended on your breath.
01:16:08 Do you have the courage to live?
01:16:13 Do you have the courage to interpret the King's dream even when you know he is using you for
01:16:23 himself?
01:16:26 I promise you there will be promotions that will break out in this room.
01:16:36 And those of you all who are watching online, the praise reports this month are going to
01:16:41 be crazy.
01:16:52 Tell your neighbor, "If you pray for me, I'll put a good word in for you.
01:17:01 If you pray for me, I promise you when I start getting my stuff, I'm going to remember you.
01:17:08 If you pray for me when I get that promotion, I'm going to remember the conversation we
01:17:11 had.
01:17:12 I'm going to find a way to implement your skill set in the dreams that I have for my
01:17:18 life."
01:17:21 Never forget that the opportunity of a lifetime is only good for the lifetime of the opportunity.
01:17:33 And if you're not ready when it is your moment, you will watch somebody else eat your honey
01:17:42 and drink your milk.
01:17:46 You better be ready.
01:17:51 You better be ready when it's your time.
01:17:52 You don't have time to get ready.
01:17:55 You got to be ready.
01:17:57 Now the old folks used to sing a song that said, "I got my ticket in my hand.
01:18:02 I got my bags packed."
01:18:03 Ask your neighbor, "Will you be ready?"
01:18:11 Put your hands in this place.
01:18:24 I want you over the next few moments just to...
01:18:26 The Bible lets us know that our worship sends up a fragrance.
01:18:33 And out of the sweet, savory place of your belly and your lips, I want you to begin to
01:18:37 say something sweet to God.
01:18:39 Come on, put something in the atmosphere.
01:18:42 Let's create an altar of incense.
01:18:51 Sweet, savory place of your belly and your lips.
01:19:19 Come on, come on, come on.
01:19:28 Fills this room.
01:19:29 Fills this room for this is holy ground.
01:19:50 Come on, say it.
01:20:09 This is holy ground.
01:20:32 This is holy ground.
01:20:57 So I want to do two things, three things really.
01:21:23 The seeds that are going to be sown in this atmosphere are going to yield much fruit for
01:21:30 many seasons of your life.
01:21:34 But also know God told me that I've got to extend the invitation to Christian discipleship.
01:21:41 And I also know that we have to pray.
01:21:46 The Bible says that man should always pray and never cease.
01:21:54 The intersectionality of trying to figure out how to do all of those things in a way
01:21:59 where those who are carnal would not take advantage of the moment is the pageantry.
01:22:07 So for everybody who's watching online and for everybody in the room who doesn't have
01:22:12 another 10 minutes, leave your gift with one of our ushers.
01:22:17 (gentle music)