21 Bridges | Pt 4 "Be the Bridge" - Stephanie Ike

hey family i'm pastor torre i'm pastor sarah and listen you're getting ready to hear an incredible word for the lord i believe it's going to bless you i believe it's going to be timely do me a favor share the message if it moves you share the message and then also you have an opportunity to be a part of not only helping to spread this message but to be a part of our outreaches we're doing a lot of practical things to be a blessing to someone so feel free if god so moves you to use the information here in the video to support what we're doing we're being a blessing not just people spiritually we're being blessed to be practically we love you get into this message gonna change your life [Music] hallelujah family is such a pleasure to be with you today you see for the past two sundays our pastors started a series on bridges and breakthrough and today i'm going to be speaking to you about being the bridge be the bridge be the bridge be the bridge just put that in the comments be the bridge you see i believe that the word that god has for you today is so unique and is certainly just for you watching on the other side of this you know to even come to this moment to be able to share the word there were so many things that had to take place in very extreme measures but before we get started let's just say a word of prayer together heavenly father we thank you we thank you lord god for your word we thank you for who you are we thank you lord god that you have you are meeting us right here in this moment the lord everyone that is watching on the other side of this the lord you are in their home with them we thank you for your presence o god it is your presence that guarantees that we would be everything that you have called us to be and to holy spirit have your way in jesus mighty name amen amen you know family something very unique happened while i was preparing for this word and i'm going to share with you so i started studying you know and i'm like god what is it that you have to say to your people because one thing if you have been connected to this house for any amount of time you would know that we don't just like pick any just do like a you know any money more with the bible and say boom i'm going to talk about that we really it's it's very it's a very serious thing to us about no what is god saying for right now what what is the word that he wants you to listen to because i recognize that you can be distracted by so many things in this world so any moment that you would want to tune into a sermon or a message that it would be a word that god has for you right where you are and right now and so i was just before the lord and i'm asking them like god was it what is it that you want to say to your people and it was just all this like you know puzzle pieces like maybe 10 of the puzzle and so i'm like you know what let me just step back let me step away let me take a break you know so i step away and i'm like okay let me just chill out and then right when i make a decision i'm like okay lord i'm coming back in what are you saying the whole power goes out in my in my in my apartment so i called a friend of mine who lives in the same building and i'm just trying to make sure it's not my bill because it's supposed to not be my bill so i'm like yo is the power out and so she's like no the whole the the whole building the power is out and some of the buildings next to us and so at first i just felt like oh now look at the devil right now the power is out i was about to go study now i can't so at first i'm just like waiting i'm like okay lord when the power comes back i'm gonna get right back to it but there was a moment something hit me and i'm like wait i don't first of all i'm from nigeria you know we didn't always have constant power but something hit me and i kept feeling like god there is something that you're trying to communicate to me with this power outage i'm not sure what it is but the power outage doesn't stop me from studying it doesn't stop me from asking you questions it was like for a moment in time i thought that the darkness that i'm experiencing in the home that it meant that everything had to be stopped that there was no room for progress in that moment but i'm like no lord i mean we can still talk about the message we need to talk about sunday what are you talking about for the people and then all of a sudden he brings this scripture to mind and it's a it's something that david shared it's in psalms 139 verse 12 and it's a i'm gonna read it with you right now it says but even darkness is not dark for you and the night is as bright as the day darkness and light are the same to you and the lord tells me write this down and he said as you write it down the power would come back and so i write it down on a piece of paper i'm like okay i was like the dark is not dark to you and i'm like okay this is what god wants you know this is connected to sunday before i could even write sunday the power comes back on so i called my friend again i said oh my gosh look at what the lord is doing here and i had to take a moment i said god there's something about this scripture that is so critical to your people that you will cause a whole power outage just for me to understand the weight of what you want to say and so i began to seek the lord lord what is it about what is it about the the the even the dark is not dark to you and so slowly but surely the lord began to show me you see darkness sometimes we find ourselves feeling like we're in a dark space or we feel like you know what based on the circumstances of life i just feel like this is just you know this is this is not good for me but darkness in itself you know you may have heard about this that darkness is not really a thing right that darkness is the absence of light so darkness is about something being absent so for example we all know that 2020 has been quite the year and there are many people that have felt this weight of either hopelessness anxiety depression because they felt as though 2020 brought them into this dark space we find ourselves we know when you experience something like loss you feel like you're in this dark space because there is an absence of something when you experience the death of a loved one you feel like it puts you in a dark space because there is the absence of that person anytime we we find ourselves feeling anything close to darkness there is an absence of something but the truth is that when you look at it from the perspective of god for example the death of a loved one we know that even though they are not absent in the body they are present with the lord and if i am with the lord if i am always in the presence of god then i am close to my loved ones when we think about the loss of maybe your job many have experienced that in this season that we're in right now many will find themselves in this dark place because they're like man i just lost this job but it's the absence of the knowledge of what god has for you the absence of his promises concerning your life so you may feel like this placed me in a dark place but god is like no no no no you see darkness is not dark to the lord because he is light and whenever light shows up darkness is expelled so he doesn't see things the way that we may see things sometimes because he's like no i understand how all of this serves you and so as i began to look into this i said god but what is this connected to what exactly do you want me to communicate to your people you see like i said we've been talking about being a bridge builder and one of the things that our pastor talked about about what it means to be a bridge is that bridges are created to solve problems and as we're looking into a new year 2021 the truth is i can't really tell you that 2021 is going to be a year that makes you think that 2020 was just an accident it was a mistake a fluke something has started something has shifted and the circumstances of life i don't i can't tell you that it may it may get better the way that you the idea that you have of better i'm not going to be here and tell you that you know what wow everything is just going to stop or whatever i'm not here to tell you that i don't have the authority to say that but the one thing that the lord began to show me was connected to your calling you see that in order to be the bridge in order to be the bridge that he has called you to be that there are things in your life there are certain obstacles there are certain circumstances that you may feel like this cannot allow me to go forward there are certainly things that may look like darkness but the ultimate light is to know that the presence of god is with you you see when the lord was speaking to me in my home because funny enough i had put the candles on and he told me to blow it out and i'm like okay lord this actually just creates a darker space in my home he began to talk to me about his presence he said stephanie i am right here with you i am with you i was with you when the lights were on and i am with you when the lights are out you don't need the lights to study you don't need the lights to call upon me there was something about that that he was not trying to communicate to me and understanding not just about the natural darkness but when sometimes in life you feel like there's an opposition against you to recognize that because the presence of god is with you that you have nothing to fear and in a very unique way he started talking to me about certain people in the bible you see when we think of someone like elijah we would be reminded about how sometimes jesus would talk about the spirit of elijah because there are anointings behind people so it's not about the person but it's about the anointing that they carry to fulfill the very purpose of god on the earth and the lord showed me there were eight key people that i want to talk to you about from the bible because this eight people actually would represent a lot of you if not all of you some of you may identify yourself with one of them or maybe two of them and i'm going to talk to you about the very things that could be an obstacle in your in there were obstacles in their lives but in recognizing that the presence of god is with you you would know that i can overcome this too there is a demand that god has placed upon your life for the earth in 2021 he's asking he's saying hey hey what i invested in you it needs to come out what i invested in you it's time for it to come out and i'm going to take you on a journey here and i'm going to start with a man that is not unfamiliar to many a man named jeremiah you see jeremiah was a man who he was young when he was called by god but jeremiah actually represents change agents you see when the lord encountered jeremiah jeremiah's like no lord i am i am young i'm not the one i i don't even know how to talk but let me read something about their their interaction here in jeremiah chapter one from verse four to ten it says then the word of the lord came to me saying before i formed you i knew you and before you were born i sanctified you i ordained you a prophet to the nations then said i ah lord god behold i cannot speak for i am only by the youth but the lord said to me do not say i am a youth for you shall go to whom i send you and whatever i command you you shall speak do not be afraid of their faces for i am with you to deliver you says the lord then the lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and the lord said to me behold i have put my words in your mouth see i have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant when the lord showed me about jeremiah he began talking to me about this notion of change agents you see what the enemy wants you to believe is that because you are young and young doesn't have to it's not just about age it also has to do with experience that sometimes there are places that the lord will send you to their fields their industries that the lord will call you to and you have no experience in those fields but yet god has called you to that place so when he when when he talks about only your youth it's not just about the age there's some of you that you feel you will connect with the story of jeremiah and you could be in your 50s because it also speaks to experience but the lord showed me this notion of change agents you see when god is calling you to be a changed agent he doesn't need you to be experienced in the old he doesn't need you to be experiencing the very thing that he's calling to be uprooted but what the enemy does is to give you this idea that who do you think you are to just come into this industry with big ideas and big goals and big visions where did you come from do you even know our lingo do you know the language of this industry do you know the language of this people who do you think you are and god says that is the advantage because i don't need you to know their language i'm calling you to change it so jeremiah is thinking that hey i am only but a kid i have no experience in this place and god says that is the advantage because many many of the people that have had an experience of what they thought was my word that maybe they started holding it that i would tell them to do certain things and they will start questioning me maybe they had they had things that was based on the generational way of doing things you see right now we're in a pandemic right and one of the hardest things to pivot even as a the not our church but the big church is this idea from going into from you know gathering as as a family to going online there was so much debate about it no this is the devil the devil is trying to shut down the church but you know the people that we're not debating the people that don't even have an experience of what we're talking about they said don't know we're we're ready let's go online this is going to be graceless i'm on fire for god the people that were debating about this and it's not to say that there is that the lord is not in the gathering that's not what i'm talking about but i'm saying that one of the biggest obstacles to growth is what you knew before one of the biggest obstacles to growth is on learning when we have an experience of certain things all of a sudden that becomes the obstacle for what god is saying is next because we're like god no it can't be this is what we've always known this is what we've always done it is the reason why even the israelites when moses went came to set them free it wasn't the very same people that moses set free that got into the promised land it was a new generation that was born in the wilderness because the people that moses set free they had the experience of bondage they didn't know what it meant to just to go and be warriors they were in bondage for over like for about 400 years that is what they've known but the next generation the generation that joshua led they didn't know that they only knew it based on stories they didn't have the experience of that so a man named joshua would have the boldness to command the son to stand still for the war to continue because this he he wasn't he wasn't bound by the experience of bondage the point of this is that when god is calling you into a new space a new field the jeremiah's the change agents do not take on the narrative of the enemy that says who do you think you are you you don't know this space and you have to look you have to look in the mirror and say exactly i am god's advantage in this very field he needs me here because of this very thing that you think is actually working against you you see my brother for example when my mother was pregnant with my brother my older brother first of all he didn't want to come out [Music] my mother mentioned how she she carried him for 11 months i mean that is you know it's pretty long i don't know how possible that is but my mother got to a point right where she was exhausted she said this child needs to come out right now about today so she goes to the she calls her pastor you know she said if anyone can bring out this baby it's going to be the lord she calls her pastor she says hey this child needs to come out of me she goes to her pastor the pastor anoints her belly and starts praying for her and when when he was praying for her he said something to my mother funny enough he she actually gave birth that day but she said something to my mother and you're like that this child you're karen this was my brother right you're like he is going to be a minister of the lord and he's going to have a sister and they're going to do ministry together she gives birth to him after him you know my mother gets pregnant and here i am but my brother is not in ministry not yet but my brother is not also someone who is really concerned about the church and anything he's just like hey you know what me and jesus were cool like you know but because he doesn't have any like he has never cared about church culture none of that i grew up i encountered god early so i was always excited to just go to church and understand what's going on but when i would have conversations with him because when i talk to him i'm like you know i'll call him apostle even though he can't stand it but we would talk about god and we will talk about jesus and we'll talk about church and all kinds of things there is a perspective that he has that i am so inspired by we would have conversations and his insight would actually give me a perspective that i'm like wow this is god but it's a perspective that comes from the advantage of fresh eyes he doesn't have the experience of okay what is church culture what is this what is that he doesn't have any of that so he has a way of seeing things that the lord says okay there is something unique i can do with you that you don't even understand yet we were talking one time and he was like you know what if he started telling me about what would happen if he ever opens a church but he's like but that's not me now i'm not really a church guy i said that's that's exactly is the point if god calls you to do that and you feel like you know what this is not my thing it is because you have the advantage of fresh eyes are you a jeremiah listening to this are you called as a change agent i want you to understand that your inexperience is not your darkness it is actually your light god is with you in that thing and he looks at you as his advantage the second person that the lord um just had me look at was elijah you see elijah points to the reformers and the activists elijah was a man i want you to read this story if you're if you feel connected to this in first kings 18 and 19 read both chapters elijah was a man that killed the prophets of baal now his story i find very fascinating because when elijah when it when it came down to like you know shutting the you know elijah prayed the bible tells us about how he prayed and there was no rain and when he was trying to show the people that you know the lord is god and all that stuff how god sent fire from heaven so there are all these things that god does but when it came down to executing the prophets god could have literally just sent fire from heaven to kill the prophets of bowel but elijah himself took on that notion took on that that calling to kill the prophets of bow now the prophets of bow they represent spiritual injustice and spiritual injustice any type of injustice always starts in the spirit realm so when we're talking about spiritual injustice it's not just spiritual but it's natural because the prophets of baal these were the people that were leading israel astray they were leading them to do things that were against the call of god on their lives and even against their own selves because baal was that was a god that was worship it's a it's a false god but it's a principality at the same time so elijah the anointing on elijah's life is to bring an end to injustice whether natural or spiritual you may feel this call of god in your life to be an activist to be a reformer and sometimes you may feel this opposition you see the the interesting thing about elijah's story there's a woman named jezebel elijah does all this stuff right when you read the when you read these two chapters and probably just read first kings they will bless your life elijah does all this stuff jezebel hears about it and jezebel is like you know she's the person in charge behind the scenes jezebel hears about this and jezebel threatens elijah's life and she's telling him you know what if i don't kill you by this time tomorrow she even puts a time to it all of a sudden the threat on elijah causes him to run away you see being an activist is not an easy thing there is always the threat that your life might be at danger because there are things that god has put in your heart to go against he's he's put things in your heart to bring an end to but the truth of the matter is that no matter the threats of jezebel it was not going to work because god was with elijah her threat was only going to reveal to elijah that you have allies in other places you see when elijah ran away the lord encountered him and when the lord encountered him he gave him strategy he tells him to anoint a king a certain king named jehu he tells him to anoint someone that would be his kind of like his spiritual son actually his spiritual son named elisha and he says to elijah what you don't kill jehu will kill and what jehu doesn't kill elisha would kill it was a legacy it was that you elisha elijah rather you have help in places that you do not even know of there are people that have been preparing behind the scenes that whenever you need help that they would be ready to accompany you you see there is going to be some resistance that you're going to experience in 2021 there's going to be some resistance you're going to experience for the very things that god has put in your heart to do as an activist but i want to encourage you right now let me send this word into your future that for those watching this and in your heart even as i'm speaking my prayer was that every time i would talk about somebody that if it is for you that you will just feel this fire on your chest that you would know that lord something is i feel i feel a bit restless because god is trying to communicate something to you this word is a word i'm sending now but it's going into your future the ones that god has anointed as activists there are some things that are going to come against you but this is to remind you that god is with you the opposition is not going to bring you to a dark place because the lord is with you and be a person of prayer because every injustice starts in the spiritual realm you see this woman jezebel that caused elijah to panic a little bit her background is very interesting because first of all jezebel by herself we see her name coming up in different places in the bible jezebel is a person in the old testament but then in the new testament we hear about jezebel i mean in the new testament in revelation we hear about jezebel again we hear about the lord telling a certain church that they need to cast out jezebel and you're like which jezebel is this because it's not about the person it was about the spirit behind her you see jezebel had a father his name was very very unique and interesting to me his name was ethbau and it meant like unto bow his very name pointed to the god that he worshipped and so when if he would name if his parents would name him according to their god then it made me understand that even jezebel was named according to something according to a certain principality and so when you are someone that god has anointed to bring an end to injustice you have to be a person of prayer just like elijah there are things that you have to understand that you have to war in the spirit and show up in the natural you can't be lacks about your spiritual life there are things that you have to because you see it was words that caused elijah to run but what happens in prayer we are also declaring words there are things that you can declare to bring down the very principalities and powers that are causing that are behind the systems and structures that are causing injustice in our world today maybe that's you maybe you're the one that god has called as a reformer as an activist and this is to remind you that whatever comes against you whatever threat upon your life to know that god is with you and there is help in places that you know not of you have help in places of influence and places of authority you have help in places that are hidden but known to god and all you ever have to do in that time would be to call on the name of the lord lord this is what you have assigned me to do and i need you to send whoever are my helpers send them make them known to me oh god do not panic and do not be in fear now the third person or the third group now this i found very interesting the lord highlighted shadrach meshach and i'm not gonna do it a bad some people say a bad negro i did it okay so shadrach meshach and abednego now these three people are very fascinating because when we when we when we hear about their stories we always hear about them you know as a as a group and the lord began to show me that these are seeds of movements you know one of the things that he highlighted was like the metoo movement you see shadrach meshach and abednego there was something so interesting that happened i want you to study this if this you if you connect with this study daniel chapter two to chapter three there was a moment that the very king they were they were they served a king rather you know they had been taken into captivity by this king but they served under this king nebuchadnezzar and when they served under this king what was so interesting is that one moment he promotes them as a result of you know a dream being revealed that's another story he promotes them but the very same king that promoted them in one moment the next moment he says he has a statue made of himself in gold and he makes a command right that everyone who sees this should bow down and all this stuff there's this whole thing read this we don't read the whole bible but read daniel two to three but shadrach meshach and abednego they were like no we're not gonna bow down to your statute because we only bow down to the lord when the king heard about this he was like okay what are y'all talking about and they told him to his face we're not gonna do it we only serve the lord and the king was like let me know which god will deliver you from what i'm about to do to you so he tells his servants to heat up this furnace like to just you know go crazy with it and to put shadrach meshach and abednego in the furnace and they were like look our god is able to deliver us but even if he doesn't that's why we will still not serve your god they throw them in the furnace all together as a group and all of a sudden the king notices he says wait well first of all the people that threw them in the furnace died and they were in the furnace having a party because all of a sudden the king says there's someone else in the fire with them and it was the presence of god he says there's a fourth person in the fire and the people are not bound anymore they're walking around they're having a good time and as i saw this i'm like god what are you showing me you see as a result of what took place in this story first of all the king tells them hey bring them out and he honors he says you know what your god is truly god and i want you to see something he said before i explained this in your own terms in daniel 3 from verse 28 to 30 it says nebuchadnezzar spoke saying blessed be the god of shadrach meshach and abednego who sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him and they and they have frustrated the king's word he's talking about himself and you they're their bodies that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own god therefore i make a decree that any people nation or language this is the king this is very fascinating to me i make a decree that any people national language which speaks anything amiss against the god he doesn't even serve their god anyone who speaks against the god of shadrach meshach and abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made an ash heap because there is no other god who can deliver like this and then the king who promoted them then demoted them all of a sudden then the king promoted shadrach meshach and abednego once more now here is what it looks like for you there are people the lord began to show me industries and there's some of you that you you have like almost like you work you have like your friends and you guys come together and they're things that you discuss about the certain injustice that takes place within your industry and just like the metoo movement that happened with a group of women that are now that started speaking up and they were speaking up about the very industry that opened doors for them but they opened doors for them with conditions you see the open doors that were conditional to you being subject of whatever happens to you being subject of of being violated being subject of an injustice the very thing with shadrach meshach and abednego yes they were promoted by the king but they were their promotion is conditional as long as you do the things that are that i require even though it's against what you believe in you will keep your promotion but shedrick said look first of all all authority comes from the lord so you can have your promotion if you want to throw us in the fire we are not worshiping your god there are some of you the very industry that opened doors for you the very industry that puts you on a platform and it is not for you to turn a blind eye to the things that you know that are happening there are some of you that you feel that there's a weight that god is calling you the things that he has called you to speak about and your fear is that if i speak about this this is going to throw me in the fire in our own you know in society we call we call it canceled culture whatever but people think i'm crazy would this burn me in the end because there are things that you're called to speak about that goes against the very place that you have been established in because the lord is saying look i'm not done with exposing i'm not our pastor called this year the year of revealing and when he said that he said look this message about the year of revealing could be for a year it could be for a decade there are many things that the lord is not finished with but there are people assigned to that and some of you you feel a resistance and the lord drew you to this message there are things that you have seen and you know and you have been a victim of and he says my son and my daughter you have a group there there you you you have people that you work with and and all of you have been talking about this very same thing and he said this is the seeds of movements just like shadrach meshach and abednego you all are gonna come together and you're gonna say you know what we're gonna stand for what's right that's what they did they stood for their faith and they said if we go down then so be it they didn't care that yes king you open the door for us but you can have it if you think you're the one who has the authority to promote us all of a sudden when they threw them in the fire the fire was actually the very thing that caused everyone around them to know who their god truly is and not just the people around them to the point that the king who did not even serve their god makes a decree that anyone that speaks against the god of shadrach meshach and abednego they should be cut in pieces i mean that is a bit extreme but the point of the point of this is that the fear that you have that you feel like no this is going to put me in a dark place this is going to oh my gosh this is going to end my career god says i would be with you in the fire the fire is not going to consume you because god is known as the all-consuming fire he would consume whatever tries to consume you he says i would be with you yes they're going to throw you in but i will be the one to restore you and i will be the one to make it known that i am the one who validates you and i will confirm the very things i've called you to do do not be afraid about what god has called you to do in in your industry because just like shadrach meshach and abednego no he's gonna be with you now the next the next person that the lord showed me was david david and this actually speaks to the influencers that's a very popular term in culture you see david was a man it's so interesting because david was king right but david really embodied what in revelation there's a there's a scripture that talks about how the lord has made us you know um king and priest unto the father right i'm paraphrasing but basically it says that we have been made as king and priest there's another version in the old testament that talks about a kingdom of priests but um there are multiple versions that gives us this idea that we are called as kings and priests so your kingship has to do with your natural position of dominion but your priesthood has to do with your spiritual position of authority now david is one that was called by god to be king over the people in israel david you know god gives the anointing all of this stuff david used to be a shepherd boy and all of a sudden now and he was not just one that was a king he had the influ he had influence amongst the people because even before he became a king they were singing songs about him they were singing songs in a manner that praised him above the current king because there was a favor on his life that caused an attraction that caused him to to reign even before he started reigning so david becomes king but david is also one who functions in his priesthood david never played about the presence of god when you read the psalms that he wrote he always talks about the one thing that i will seek after is to be in the house of the lord and there was not that there was actually a structure of the structure or a temple he was talking about the presence of god david understood that the everything what makes me who i am it is my access to god's presence that is priesthood he understood that the authority that i even have what people are looking at is as a result of my anointing so david lived in this balance of kingship and priesthood but there was a certain time that something happened right david's men go out to war and david is on his balcony and he sees a woman that he you know he admired i guess and he calls for her he sleeps with her she gets pregnant when the news came to david that this woman is pregnant he plans how her husband who is in his army should be killed now i really i asked the lord about i was like okay what is it you're showing me about this you see when david killed this man because i'm like why is he killing the man you know maybe he could just take the woman as his wife all of it is wrong first of all you know not co-signing anything but the fact that david will kill this man you see this was an honorable man in david's army and i begin to wonder could it be that david in trying to protect his kingship does not want to make himself look dishonorable even though he just committed something that was of dishonor you slept with a man in your army his wife now she's pregnant is it that david was was so concerned about losing the influence of the people that what will be said about him david you got this you got her pregnant come on man you the husband is someone who is for you could it be that david was so concerned about losing influence with the people because you can have authority and you and the people may not like you could it be that david was so concerned that he's like okay how do i cover this up and then he kills the man and he's going about his business no conviction nothing then the lord sends a certain prophet named nathan to rebuke david basically to show david to show him himself when that happened the next thing that david says he has this whole psalms where it's literally like a prayer of repentance but there was something in that particular psalm and this is in psalm 51. now in verse 11 he says something he says do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit from me david in this moment realized i have put my kingship above my priesthood i was so concerned about protecting my influence that i was actually living in a manner that is not worthy of who you've called me to be as a priest we are all called as kings and priests but the mistake of culture because right now everybody's so concerned with the following with influencing with with all these things with numbers all this stuff it's data all of this but we're so concerned about it how many people watch my story today how many people liked it how many people watched the video how many people said something was so concerned about having like uh having influence amongst the people in culture that are we putting our kingship above our priesthood because the moment we begin to put kingship above priesthood we are walking in darkness and calling it light because the very reason that god will give you a platform it's not because of your it's not for us there is a purpose we are called to serve the platform serves as a vehicle the platform is not the reward it is a vehicle to do the very thing that god has called you to do and sometimes there are things that may feel like hey you know what it could cost you the platform but as long as the presence of god is with you whatever he needs you to be on platforms can come and platforms can go whatever it is that god has assigned for you he knows how to get it to you and i'm saying this not just to influence us but in particular there are mistakes and there are things that you have been your there is a depression i i saw you so clearly you see yourself as an influencer but there are things about your life that you are covering up and it's killing you there are things you have done there are mistakes you have made and and every single time all you're so concerned about is how to cover up the cover-up and it's killing you and the only reason it's killing you is because you are so scared of what the truth will do when david got bathsheba pregnant there was no need he he never intended to have bathsheba because that's why it was never when he saw her if it was about making bad she bought his wife that could have been a that could have been a discussion in the beginning it was never the intention of bathsheba to be his wife it was just to satisfy his flesh but when bathsheba was pregnant the fruit of his sin was revealed david's concern was now how do i cover it up how how do i hide this and in trying to hide it it was costing him his priesthood all to keep his influence you see there are many of you and you're watching this and the lord is saying the truth is what will set you free it's not you trying to hide the truth will set you free i gave you the platform i'm not saying me stephanie you know i'm not that important the lord gave you the platform the lord said something to david in the scripture he said david i am the one who took you from being a shepherd boy to being king over my people it was a reminder that david this was not because of your good looks it was not because of the things you did it's not because you're a man of war because all of this is actually by my grace and there are many of you and you have forgotten how you got to where you are and you got there because of the hand of god upon your life and it is your priesthood that actually keeps you there and if you keep trying to cover things up because especially now in a coveted life where everything is online you're like oh dead people have so much time on their hands what are they going to do with this information but the lord is saying to you that the truth will set you free the truth will set you free stop trying to hide it because nothing stays hidden for two for too long and the cost of you trying to hide it actually the the consequence is much greater because you see as a result of david killing this man the the consequence was that the the child that she was pregnant with would die and now this is known to everyone so what you've been trying to hide all along is still known but now it comes at a heavier price are you the davids and for some of you maybe you haven't there there are so many things that you may have not even made a mistake yet but i want to encourage you we're all we're we i mean we error is is is a given okay whatever mistakes you make in your life whatever mistakes you have made or might make in your life don't be so consumed with trying to hide it that it ends up costing you everything the truth is what will set you free it is your priesthood that actually keeps your kingship your kingship should serve your priesthood not the other way around let's not be so distracted with influence that we forget the very purpose of it the next thing i want to talk about the next person i want to talk about is a woman named esther and just for clarity this is not about sex it's not about male or female when i'm saying david's again it's about an anointing it's about a grace it's about a calling you could be i'm i could be talking about david and as a woman you're connecting to that i could talk about esther and as a man you're connecting to that and so esther's first of all you know you want to read the whole book of esther it's amazing to really understand and and really the the weight of her story but you see esther is is this almost like this hidden hidden power because esther she came from nowhere to now you are the the wife of the king esther's are the people that have the ear of the king they have the ear of the ceos they have the ear to the executives they have the ear they're the people that influence behind the scene and what the lord began to show me because when you studied the book of esther esther was someone that when when she got the ear to the king he was ready he said you know what babe what do you want you want the kingdom i got you you having the ear to those in authority the mistake is to cause it to serve you is to make it about you what can this person do for me there are certain relationships that god has placed in your life there's a certain type of favor that you have in your work environment and it's not about you but it's about the things that is connected to you and what i mean is it's not about your selfish you know ambition or whatever but what is connected to you in regards to the kingdom of god the things that god wants to establish through you but it is going to be through you as a result of the relationships that he has placed in your life because you see there are certain people that they don't have an ear to god but they they will listen to you they don't have a personal relationship with god but they look at you and they're like you know whatever whatever you tell me there's a there's an influence you have on their lives that can cause them to do the very things that god is trying to get to their attention but they cannot perceive it if god could get the king's attention because it's never about if god spoke if god didn't speak there's a word when the lord said behold i do a new thing do you not perceive it so god is always trying to communicate something but the problem is our ability or inability to perceive so there are some relationships that god has placed in your life and there are certain things that the lord will require you to to ask of and it has nothing to do with you and your hesitation is ah i don't know what this is gonna look like ah you know maybe this could actually cost me the relationship because if esther said the wrong thing maybe the king would have treated her like he did his ex-wife like you know what you are banished from this kingdom and esther is like look i came up you know i was an orphan now i'm queen like i'm just trying to keep you know keep the good life here maybe she didn't say it like that but the point is the reason that of your relationships is that god is trying to get a word out and if they would not perceive it from him directly then they will perceive it from you it's not just about you it's not about you saying this is who i know and and oh have you seen my contact list there is a purpose for those relationships there is a strategy behind the relationship and if you see it right then you will walk and manifest the very thing connected to your call as i'm speaking whenever you feel connected to whoever just put that in the chat right now if you feel like god you have positioned you like an esther put her name in the chat if you feel like god has positioned you like a david i'm so intrigued i want to know what god is also speaking to you relationships you have but those relationships they have a strategy of god and you have to see it right you see we have entered a new era and there is something that will be discussed at a different on a different time but the lord showed me something about this year that is very fascinating not even just this year almost this season in the book of revelation this is not even in my notes but i feel led to share this in the book of revelation there's a moment where it talks about different seals there are seven seals and each one being broken one at a time the first seal that was broken had to do with the lord conquering and the other seals uh some of them are a bit extreme but we are in um we there's something has started something has and i mean it's not even about like don't miss it you know making it about conspiracy theories and covert and other stuff something has started that is going to cause the lord to establish his kingdom and he establishes his kingdom the the lord that reveals himself as the one who conquers he does it through you and so when god is positioning you in certain places and positioning with certain people there is a strategy behind it and if you see it right then you're going to walk in the very manner that god has called you to now the next one there's just two more i want to just briefly talk about is job now this is a difficult one because this has to do there is an anointing for affliction unfortunately because you see with job you know many of you may have lost a lot of people not just this year i'm talking about back to back to back to back it almost feels like every year you're burying somebody it almost feels like it's one thing after the other one lost after the other you see with job he couldn't understand it it was just back to back to back and we don't really understand even the the time span it just happened like one two three and for some of you that may have felt like this past seven years the past 10 years it just feels like if it's not this is the next thing and it's that thing and it's this then it's that thing but you see the interesting thing about job you want to study the whole book of job i'm sure you're aware about his story because job was the one who the enemy was like hey first of all the enemy is having a party walking around the earth he comes he comes to the father and the lord is like hey you know satan you know where have you been and satan is like i've been you know checking out the earth looking for who to devour you know like he satan is but that just offended me but the lord literally god himself appoints he he he's over here nominating job he's like have you have you seen my servant job have you seen job if you're looking for somebody check job he will prove me to be true but basically job suffers one loss after the other another and another and then another one if another one from dj khaled couldn't sound more horrible it happened in the life of joe he's like i don't want to hear dj khaled ever in my life if dj khaled existed in the time of job but back to the focus but the thing about job is the bible tells us that job was a man of influence and the story of job has such an emphasis on his friends that his friends or this whole thing about you know his friends being around the friends talking the literally the book of job you have job talking you have god talking you have his friends talking there was such an emphasis and the lord showed me something i never paid attention to until today that when it came to job's friends it was not just about these particular friends it was about the fact that job was a man of influence like the bible tells us and so it was about what the people were watching you see the anointing of job it's a it's a heavy one it's when the lord can trust you with a burden we always want the lord to trust us with a blessing but the lord can is also looking for those he can trust with a burden because when we talk about the scripture that says you know um we overcome by the word of our testimony but before the testimony is a burden and so the anointing of job comes from the place of when god first of all because there's something in it for you it is first attracted to when god wants to reveal to you who he truly is outside of the things that he does for humanity but who he is the person of jesus the person that is a comforter the person that is a friend the person that is for you because at the end of the day family everything we have in life we are not owners of we are only stewards our relationships our businesses our children whatever it is we don't own anything we are only stewards over it so whenever god wants to call it back he has the right to but god wants to reveal himself in a way because many many people that that even this thing about job it is drawn to those who have a fake relationship with god and what i mean by that is your relationship with god is by the way of what you've heard it's by the way of your pastor your grandmother your mother this minister is by the way of your neighbor but you've never met the lord so all you know about god is what others have said and when it doesn't look like what others said you begin to question does god really exist and so all of a sudden when god begins to strip you of the things that other people said that this is what it looks like to walk with god he says because it's not about the things you don't even own it my relationship with you is personal to you that is why the very the only thing that the lord said to satan do not touch his life because this is where me and him connect it's not i don't reveal myself just because of how i bless you i reveal myself to you that my person is the gift what i give to you is just you know the extras so when god wants to reveal the authentic nature of his relationship and that through you others will be inspired about who who is god for real it is a heavy burden but i want to encourage you some of you even feel like is it witchcraft what is happening in my family because i'm sure job would have thought the same thing that was this witchcraft what is this but it was god approved it we're only stewards and there is an authentic relationship that god desires to have with you he would restore you he would establish you just like he did for job but through your relationship with god it's going to also there are people watching you and that is the bridge you're building because there were people watching job there were people around him that could testify to the way he acted the words he spoke there were people that were looking at him and there are many people that unknown to you are going to be inspired by your story and so don't give up don't think that because this is happening the lord is not with me no the lord is actually with you and lastly i'm going to talk about abraham you see the lord began to show me those that have been building they have built empires and there is this attack on your mind that makes you feel as though it's not worth it because i don't even have the person that is going to take over this when i die your mind is already going that i'm getting older and i don't see who is going to be my heir to this empire that i have built but you see abraham it was not just about him having an air and the lord told me that there he would there are things you don't even have to worry about but keep building don't stop building now don't feel like you want to pull back because now you're wondering what who's going to take after this keep building because abraham's life was not just about his his um his natural son the bible tells us that because of abraham in abraham all the nations of the world will be blessed based on what the lineage of abraham produced which also involves our lord jesus all the nations will be blessed the bridge you're building is for generational it's generations to come they're things that people would be able to do easier in their calling because of what you built god would establish the the worries you have he's going to take care of that but you have to understand that what god is calling you to build is beyond your family name it's beyond a child of yours being able to take over it it is that you're establishing something on the earth that generations down the line would acknowledge and honor who you are that because of you what god also called me to do was made easy you see family i believe that there are many things that god is doing in this time but one thing that i know for a fact is that he's established in his kingdom and the only thing that would slow you down is this idea that he is not with you is this idea that when calamity hits when it feels like there's a circumstance when it feels like there is darkness that he is not with you because in his presence we are we have the validation that we are going to see the other side of it moses said to the lord when when the lord instructed him to take the people into the promised land he said we're not going anywhere unless your presence goes with us if you are with me then i am fine and i am here to tell you that even in what would look like darkness that god is with you that you are not alone in this this is a word that i want that you would end up coming back to it is a word that has been sent into your future and into your now because there are things that the lord is going to require of you and there are things that will stand as an opposition to it but you have to remember these very words and the things that the lord will reveal to you in your quiet time in your devotional time the presence of god is with you and he is with you to establish what he has called you to do you see family maybe you're even watching this and you feel drawn to some of the people that i have mentioned but you have not yet given your life to the one whose presence you need and if you want to open up your heart to jesus today just put in the comments here i am here i am here i am what is coming family the only way that we would thrive the only way that we would have joy the only way with that we would know freedom and liberty is to know the presence of god and to know that his presence is with us and so for those of you that are saying jesus i want to know you i want you to just say this prayer with me heavenly father come into my heart and make my heart your home lord jesus i confess with my mouth as i have received in my heart that you are my savior you are my lord and you are god you died on the cross for my sins and when you were raised up i was raised up to i was raised up free with power and with authority lord have your way in me i want to be everything you've called me to be and on this day i surrender my life to you thank you jesus family we love you there's many things to unpack through this message but take it and spend some personal time with the lord whatever spoke to you study about it because it will be an anchor in times to come god bless you you

Channel: ONE | A Potter's House Church

Views: 62,734

Rating: 4.9413629 out of 5

Keywords: LA Churches, TPH, The Potters House, TPH LA, The Potters House LA, One LA, Toure Roberts, Sarah Jakes Roberts, tphla

Id: LqshNDqcJf8

Length: 63min 0sec (3780 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020