I Am Not Going Back | I AM | (Part 8 ) Jerry Flowers

well hello once again everybody it is your favorite time your favorite time on your favorite day of the week it is time for Thursday night service and listen I have a word for you I pray that this word inspires you convicts you gives you hope comes for your edges gives you motivation and most importantly glorifies the Lord we're less than number eight of our IM series tonight we are talking about I am NOT going back because sometimes your most of finding moment can't arrive until your most familiar place finally departs enough will be preaching before I preached let's check out this message I prayed that it's good for you thank you once again for joining us let's get to the message so what is up everybody on this wonderful Thursday night I'm excited and I hope that you're ready there is a familiar passage of Scripture that we're going to go to it is the gospel of mark mark chapter 8 verses 22 through 26 mark chapter 8 verses 22 through 26 and once you're there could you put in the room I got it it says they came to Masada and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him he took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village and when he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him Jesus asked do you see anything he looked up and said I see people and they look like trees walking around once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes then his eyes were open his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly and Jesus sent him home saying don't even go to the village our clause of concern and where we're gonna park and unpack on tonight takes residence in verse 26 jesus sent him home saying don't even go into the village father I think that you bless this word anoint my lips to be the PA system of heaven touch the hearts of your people in Jesus name we pray amen so church we are now in lesson number 8 kemberly we've been in this topic for eight weeks lesson number eight and what I would like to speak about on tonight from IIM series is I am NOT going back I am NOT going back and out of all the lessons all the lessons in this I am series if I'll be honest this is probably going to be what am I most passionate and my favorite this particular message is a message that has been designed and constructed to intimidate Hill this particular message is to remind the enemy that yes I may have been knocked down but don't get it confused I'm not knocked out this particular message is a declaration of war for I fight better when I worship we talked about worship last week I fight better when I worship and I forgot to mention we spend so much time talking about the but remember that conjunction junction what's your function we spend so much time talking about the but at midnight that there was something that I overlooked the Bible says Paul and Silas were singing hymns to God so they were worshiping God and all of the sudden there was this great earthquake and I believe you know why there was a great earthquake because God inhabits the praises of his people and the prison cell was too small for God to fit God inhabits the praises of his people and the prison cell was too small for God to fit because when we worship and when we praise it allows God to step in on your situation when the King steps in deliverance has to break out when the King steps in hearts have to change when the King steps in chains have to fall off and this is why you have to be careful never judge somebody else's worship and never to judge somebody else's praise because the text says Paul and Silas were singing hymns unto God it didn't say the prisoners were singing hymns he says Paul and Silas were singing praises unto God because somebody else's praise could be your locksmith this message is a declaration of war I'll fight better when our worship I fight better when I'm fasting I fight better when I'm praising because praise is a detonator in the spiritual realm and we talked about this and this series about being anointed when you are anointed the anointing breaks yokes so stuff has to break off my mind stuff has to break off my heart stuff has to break off my name stuff has to break off my bloodline because I am anointed worshipper and what God is articulating to us on tonight is there some places that he does not want us to go back to can we talk some of us don't even realize the fight that you're in it's not even about you this war that you're going through it's not even about you you're fighting in this particular battle to gather a testimony you're going through this so that you can gather a blueprint and hand it to somebody on the side of you or hand it to somebody behind you when a soldier has gone to war when they have been through several tours they should gather enough information and Intel to be able to tell a private this is what you do when your adversaries do this this is what you do when the enemy does this this is what you do when the enemy tries to flank you you should gather enough information to be able to pass on to another generation and this is why please hear me this is why we must be victorious with slam that uncircumcised philistine we must lay our Goliath so that we don't have to fight grandmothers Giants and pawpaws Giants and Uncle Ray raised Giants the only reason people on the side of you and behind you should face the same giant is due to their rebellion not our unfinished combat this fight is not about you and came on tonight Church family to give you a reminding word to remind you you still have some fight left you still have some fight left everybody in the room I want you to type this I can go another round I can go another round because you still have some fight left as long as you have a pulse you still have some fight left the reason you're on the canvas and you really can't settle when allowing the ref of life to get to Tim you're thinking about it while he's at five you're considering it while he's at six you're thinking more when he's at seven but something won't let you settle you just keep on getting up it's because you still have some fight left the reason you can't get comfortable in that dysfunctional relationship is because you still have some fight left there's something on the inside of you that is like you know what I must be caught for more than this there must be more to life than this because you still have some fight left by the grace of God nobody under the sound of my voice and watching online nobody will have a stillborn destiny you will not have a miscarriage destiny in Jesus name you will go full term because you still have some fight left one day I was sparring was in the gym with a boxing coach and I'm sparring and I'm boxing this dude I'm really trying to do some good stuff by round three I'm exhausted by round three I'm tired and I go over to the corner I'm about to take my headgear off and he says flowers what are you doing go back out there you still have some fight left so I'm a little irritated because I'm thinking I didn't pay this dude to tell me I can keep going I'm really just trying to get a little workout in and slim down that's all I'm trying to do so I go out there and fight him round four I come back in the corner he's like you know what keep fighting flowers you still have some fight left round five my arms are like noodles I'm talking I'm swinging extra slow I'm tired and my coach lost his mind he lost his mind y'all I go back in the corner and he says we're not sitting down this time you gonna stand up now if you don't know anything about boxing at end of three minutes you're supposed to sit down for 60 seconds and catch your air and breathe so for him to say flowers we not sitting down this time we standing up I was mad I was ticked off at him I'm tired he's telling me to keep on fighting round after round you still have fight left and he says you're not sitting down this time go back out there and fight you still have some fight left and so I go out and I'm fighting and I do my best but around 7:00 I'm going to cry on my list I don't care what this dude say I'm bout to take my headgear off I started taking my hair girl from I'm mad I said why you let me keep going out here this is quiet don't ever speak a language that makes your adversary think he's winning see you don't even understand it every time you're coming out round after round and fighting you're discouraging your enemy because he's giving you the best he's got and when you didn't sit down that was psychological warfare because he was over there gasping for air he was breathing hard he was struggling but you over there standing on the ropes like I still got some more you said on the ropes like I still got some more fight in me and every time you worship people when you feel dirty every time you pray even when you feel like prayer is not working every time you continue to seek God's face it is a reminder to the devil I still have some fight left and he gets intimidated because he's giving you his best shot but you're coming round after round after round I came to encourage you on tonight try again you still have some fight left this is not the season please hear me this is not the season for you to get discouraged for you to get distracted or doubtful or worried or even weary but this is the season for you to amplify your focus please hear me on tonight this is the season look after this quarantine is over if you don't have a new skill set if you haven't completed a book if you don't have some type of side hustle and your prayer life hasn't gotten stronger with God unless you're a medical worker or something the problem was not a lack of time was a lack of discipline this is the time to amplify your focus this is the time for us to get radical many of us were always complaining I don't have enough time to wear I don't have enough time to pray I don't have enough time to commit to that I don't have enough time to do this you were complaining about all the spiritual disciplines and I feel like heaven is saying do you have time now do you have time now it's like we said week after week when God does not have your attention oh he knows how to disturb what does this is the time for you to develop that prayer life this is the time for you to have I'm gonna do it anyway attitude I don't feel like it but we discuss this is only two times for you to commit to your spiritual disciplines when you feel like it and when you don't and I know it may get difficult I know you may experience hit after hit but I want you to remember that you may feel overwhelmed but you are never outnumbered you may feel overwhelmed but you are never outnumbered never confuse a bad round as the whole fight never confuse a bad round as a whole fight we're just going through a bad round and a lot of us have confused bad weather as a bad season let me tell you something truthfully the weather gets the most violent when seasons are shifting y'all don't hear what I just said right now we have shifted from winter into spring and so the rain is a little heavier the Thunder is a little louder the winds are blowing a little more fierce why because it's irrefutable evidence that your season has changed and a lot of us are calling this a bad season but really it's bad weather this is just a sign that your season is shifting and if we don't allow God to shift us if we don't get over the icicles that we have formed in winter we'll never be in position to embrace the pollination of spring God is trying to shift us somebody say shift maybe this has more to do with God shifting you then God punishing you see maybe God allows you to hit rock bottom so you could discover the rock at the bottom maybe the reason he's allowing for us to go through the fire is so that we can come out on fire there a certain type of prayer life you get once you've been in the fire there's a certain type of perspective you get once you've been in the fire there's a certain type of outlook you've get once you've been in the fire there's a certain type of preach you get once you've been in the fire and this is why now God has leveled all churches all churches those pick those preachers and ministers who just gave sugar-coated messages are in trouble because people don't want to hear your colloquialisms and your jokes they need hope they need hope they need direction don't give me hype I need some handles don't just give me inspiration what am I supposed to do I got laid off what am I supposed to do I got to stay with my wife every single day and we have used jobs as an escape that we don't like each other if I just be real a lot of us are recognizing that we're really not good parents you didn't know that your child could read until this quarantine happened and now you have a chance to see your child is locked up to part you don't really like your spouse you don't really like your family and God has where you got to spend time with people so now you have to develop skill sets in relationships this is a time where God is shifting you you get a certain type of preach once you've been in the fire and yes the walls of discomfort will eventually come down but I want us to consider this question will we fight hard enough to get the walls to come down and once they do will we crawl over the rubble and fight and so much talk about how Joshua and the men of the army of Israel walked around the wall of Jericho seven times and as I was studying I was like it's crazy sometimes following God feels like you're going in circles he'll walk around this wall seven times seven times because it wasn't about necessarily the circle it was more about the obedience and in once they shouted now we have to climb over the rubble and fight are you gonna fight once the wall has come down I think the problem especially for the American church is we've gotten so accustomed to shout about it more than to fight for it about act like you lost your mind versus how do I actually pray when I feel like I am losing my mind and so now we recognize I've been given I've been given a whole lot of motivation but I have not been given roots and how do I would stand the storm when people have walked out on me when I'm losing my stocks but I don't understand how do I stand the test of time and I'm trying to convince us not to go back to the things that we thought gave us peace but really never gave us peace so we have to learn how to change the narrative we have to learn how to change the narrative it happened to me I saw this post the other day if you wouldn't mind putting it on the screen Carl's just this post I saw about changing the narrative it says go laugh in the places you've cried change the narrative and I begin to think about and the mission of all of this what if you were to change the narrative maybe you're not experiencing failure change the narrative this is growing pains because when you are working out you push to muscle failure you're trying to reach the point of muscle failure wide because you're tearing down weaker muscles and the reason you're sore is because newer muscles are developing change the narrative maybe you didn't fail this is growing pains change the narrative I know that you feel like God has you on the back burner change your narrative at least your own fire change the narrative you feel like they rejected you but God actually redirected you change the narrative rejection is an events not an identity please listen to what I just said rejection is just an events not an identity my wife when I meet people all the time who tell us man if we would have saw this stuff four or five years ago if we would have heard this content six seven years ago and I always change the narrative on them I said you know what I believe it's whatever you went through the last five or six years ago that caused you to be hungry enough to glean from content like this because if you didn't go through what you went through back in the day I don't know if you'll be as hungry to crack open a devotional like you are now I don't know if you'll be as hungry to join a livestream as you are now and back in the day you probably would've been looking at Netflix but now you're looking at a sermon it took for you to go through that for you to get through this and I want to talk about consistency for a second I'm deviating away from my notes but I was thinking about something this is why you have to be consistent because sometimes your gift is tied to a season but if you keep picking it up dropping it dropping it picking it up dropping it picking up when it's time for people to glean you won't have the platform large enough for others to walk on it because when God was trying to build the foundation of your discipline and consistency you kept doubting it and I think about this like years ago those five six years ago I wish I would had this content first of all six seven eight nine ten years ago I was still in college I didn't believe all this content they were pushing forth now and if we were to be honest back then bad boys was in bad boys bad boys what you gonna do what you gonna do when they come for you i'ma chicken my chicken I took a that was popular back then bad boys ducks now now people again you know what I probably need to get some standards cuz I'm tired of living my life and recovery mode now it's like you know what if they don't pray BAE can't stay now it's like you know what I want the will of God versus my own will because if I keep looking the resume of my choices why I trust me so much now if you have a heart where I just want God's will and that's it because it is better to be in the hands of God didn't to be in a warm bed with the real devil now it's changed so now the gifting is necessary and people could glean from because the times are hungry for what God put on the inside of you change the narrative at midnight yes it's dark but it's actually a new day change the narrative whenever the devil tries to lie to us about your situation change the narrative and I want us to see this image where you guys can get this I thought it would be pretty good I want you to see this Karl if you could put this image of this book up okay I want us to see this all of us our whole life is gonna be a story all right so what happens is there's an author an editor a publisher and a reader this is our signed narrative a signed narrator and a lot of times what we do we let readers be the narrator for our life readers are just people they get to just see your story but they're not the author of your story God is the author and finisher of your faith and so what the devil wants to do the devil wants us to be insecure and he wants us to doubt and he doesn't want us to believe so that he could edit our story he doesn't want us to go to chapters that God has promised us he doesn't want us to reach our full potential he doesn't want us to go full term he wants to make edits oh that could be the publication of your life and of your story but the problem is edits cannot be published unless they are first approved by the author and God is the author and finisher of our faith and he says I know that they messed up but I'm not publishing that I have editorial rights I'm editing out that out the story it's called the blood of Jesus the devil tries to do all of these things to edit our story but he doesn't have editorial rights God does he's the author let the author be the narrator of your life now this is how I think a lot of us live our lives let's flip the other image Carl we care more about the readers and we keep on trying to make edits and that's what we want to publish and God is at the bottom the authors at the bottom because I care more about what people think so I'll make the necessary edits I wear my Cleveland's out like this I hustle like this I'll smoke like this I want to be accepted by the readers and I'll make the necessary edits but God won't publish that because God wants to have a redemptive stories if we were to change the narrative put it back our first image if we were to change the narrative and have God be the author so before we make a decision that can affect chapters 8 through 15 we first say author what is your will right now while I'm in chapter 8 because I don't want to spend chapters 8 through 15 trying to recover from choices I've made that have edited some things because the Bible does say why must you die before your time he wants us to live lives that are an agreement with him so there's some pain that we won't feel somebody say change the narrative so I believe everybody watching this message nobody would claim that they want to be blind everybody would claim I want to see but by default any time we place ourselves in an environment or in a circle of people that are not spiritual contributors for our purpose we are choosing to be blind okay I'm gonna take it a step further some of us the very people that we're calling friends or Boo obey are the knots in our blindfold they are assistance in our blindness and before you stone me please hear me I'm only suggesting that there's a you that you want to be that can be held hostage by an environment that you won't walk out of I must say that again there's a you that you want to be because there's a you inside of you and sometimes when you're not living according to that you that you bothers you and you start to hear this voice like man why am I even here I don't even like these people every single time I come here I gotta wear a mask I gotta act fake that's not other side of you that's that Kingdom you that's that next level you that wants to come out and the you that you've been called to be the only way that's going to come out is I got to come out of an environment if we look at our text if we look at our text verses 22 and 23 I always want us to remember Jesus said this the blind cannot lead the blind and many of us have yet to recognize sometimes your most define moment will arrive once your most familiar place finally departs and verses 22 and 23 it says they came to miss ADA and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him and he took the blind man by the hand and let him outside of the village there's so much to unpack here I just want to point out a few things first thing this dude had to have some real friends because number one his friends knew he was blind it's a dangerous thing when you're hanging out with a whole group of people and don't nobody know we blind we are bumping into doubt we are bumping into green we are bumping into lustin nobody knows we blind this type of person has some real friends and you may be saying the Bible never says that there were his friends but the reason I'm calling the friends is because true friends lead you to Jesus friends or anybody in your life that pushes you closer to Jesus and these type of individuals didn't lead him to the club didn't lead him to get faded didn't lead him to the Hooker bar did leave him and get some Hennessy didn't lead him to go Netflix and Quarantine didn't let him do none of that these friends led him to Jesus because they recognize you blind you blind and we can't fix it but we know somebody who can't and the second thing I see that is so powerful Jesus doesn't heal him look at verse 23 he doesn't heal him he took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village took him outside and I think Jesus is trying to show us sometimes before I could really take you in I have to first take you out please don't miss this before I could take you in I have to first take you up what you're asking me to do in your life if you want this miraculous atmosphere some things are gonna have to shift if you want to go to the next level there's gonna have to be a purging of your former level every time God gets ready to take you to another level there must be something that we leave behind and before Jesus even has the conversation before he begins to perform this miracle he leads him outside the village I believe Jesus said if you want that to go and if you want to grow come on let's go you can't grow if you don't let that go I know you're saying God I want to get rid of this but God's saying okay you got to leave that if you want to grow that has to go endings are married to syndics there are some things he can't send until certain things end until this ends this can't be sent endings are married to sendings because when you're growing certain outfit stuff it in when you're growing certain outfit stuff in it my three-year-old son there's some outfits that he can wear today that he can't wear this time last year because the evidence of growth the ultrasound of growth is when you can no longer sit and wear certain outfits you can't wear agreed anymore you might be able to wear agreed back in 2016 but you should have outgrown that by now you could have been prideful back in 2014 but hopefully by now you should have outgrown that in fact if all of your friends have owned the exact same outfit they had on when you met them you have a dead circle as nobody is growing this is why there's a difference in the size of the pre-k chair and the size of the fifth grade chair because after a while there's some some places you shouldn't be able to still sit in because you're growing and Jesus says before we talk any language of a miracle I got to take you out Jesus grabs this man by the hand leads him outside the village touches his eyes and says what do you see now this bothered me all because I don't really see anywhere else in the text where Jesus does a halfway miracle this man went from blind to blurry and Jesus asked him what do you see we're talking about the all-knowing all sufficient God doing it half way miracle he was better but he wasn't restored he was better but he wasn't restored see I know we have songs about it make me better I understand all that but what if I told you God doesn't want to make you better you to make you whole God doesn't want to refurbish your life he wants to give you a new life for any man that is in Christ they are a new creature gonna think like him why did he ask him what do you see in the men said I see people and they look like trees walking around see however you see God is what you'll get from God if you view him as just a teacher you only get lessons if you view him as only a mentor you'll only get mentorship if you view him as just a doctor you only get prescriptions and this is why it's dangerous to one God for treatment and not God for God because once you get symptoms improved you'll leave see it all the time once this crisis is over once kovin 19 is over if we only prayed because we want a treatment for our symptoms we'll stop praying because we only come to God for him to treat our symptoms but God doesn't want to treat just your symptoms he wants to treat your life he wants to treat your life and I believe he's asking this question how bad do you really want it how bad do you really want it and some of us if we just want to be better your is leaving before the benediction of your miracle so what do you see I see people and they look like trees walking around and there's so many people who are content because you went from blind to blurry police is not that bad at least I got hired again at least I got and so the passion to see God all the scriptures were seeing everybody preaching on Facebook live now everybody hear about any mama err by old Facebook preach a sermon everybody everybody but when it goes back to normal we will see those who wanted God just for treatment are those who wanted God for God what do you see I see people look like trees walking around he was better but he wasn't whole and then Jesus puts his hand on him again and I believe that second touch that second touch is only for people who want the king and not just his hand that second touch is even when life gets better I'm still praying when I get the promotion I'm still worshiping when I get the raise I'm still worshiping because my faithfulness to God is not tied to my circumstance because if it's tied to your circumstance you'll be content with just being better but God doesn't want you to be blurry he wants you to be whole he says puts his hand on him and then the Bible says he sees all things clearly I want us to see this believe this is verse 24 verse 23 and 24 he took the blind man by the hand led him outside the village when he spit on the man's eyes he put his hands on him and Jesus asked do you see anything he looked up and said I see people they look like trees walking around and then if we keep reading in verse 25 once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes then his eyes were open and his sight sight was what's that word restored hold up wait a minute let us put some exegesis in it restored hmmm he put his hands on the man's eyes now let's take a little bit deeper how does a blind man know what trees look like unless there was a time in his life when he used to be able to see and I know this is true because the text says restore the prefix read to do again replay repeat restore again his sight was restored and this is our verse of concern verse 26 jesus sent him home saying don't go into the village so what is he saying don't go back there I came here tonight to give you this word maybe this passage is showing us you lost your vision you used to be able to see but you allowed your place to get into a village get into an atmosphere get into a relationship get into a mindset get into a thought pattern that made you lose your vision and God wants to restore your sight and if it takes you being quarantined to restore your sight so be it if it for you to actually be uncomfortable so that you could be have an encounter with the king of glory and for him to touch you in a way that he's never touched you before and then the instruction after he touches you is let's not go back there let's now go back to prayerlessness listen let's not go back to to not seek in my face until something happens because crisis shows us who Christ is to you let us not get to the place to where you come to me when you're just in trouble I want to have a relationship stop giving me your leftover strength stop letting prayer be your last resort instead of your first response I love you and I care for you I should not have to use trouble to get your attention that's the only way we talk unless if you don't go through we don't talk if you don't if you don't have things hit your pocketbook if you don't have things coming to your world that causes you to look to me we don't talk let's not go back there let's not go back there don't go back to his Instagram you're gonna start having all these thoughts because you're quarantined in the house you haven't really seen a whole lot of people don't go back to that Instagram don't go back to her Facebook don't go back to the old thread it's real when you don't just delete the contact delete the contact delete the thread it and sometimes deactivate the social media you have to be serious about this and he said don't go back there because when you were there you lost your vision you lost your vision I am NOT going back there and I don't know who this is for but God is saying right now I'm gonna give you your sight back I'm touching you in ways that you haven't been touched I'm causing you have experiences that you haven't had with me in so long don't go back to that because I have not just the guard hook it fulfill the symptoms I'm the God who wants to fulfill your heart so father give us the strength to not go back to the village but let us be individuals that recognize you're the author you're the editor you're the publisher and our life is supposed to be so that other people can read our story which makes you look good because we're living epistles help us to come out of atmospheres we lost focus of you because this is a time for us to amplify our focus in Jesus name we pray Jesus doesn't want for you and I to just have a better life he wants us to have an abundant life life and life more abundantly he doesn't want to just make you better he doesn't want to give you just a refurbished life he wants to give you a whole new life for we are a new creature in Christ Jesus I pray that this word blessed you and listen I'm surprised for y'all I have a surprise for everybody watching this but I'm not gonna share with you until next Thursday night so you want to keep watching every single week because you don't know what we're gonna do you don't know what surprises we may have for you and I'm praying a special prayer for all medical workers and for everybody who's an essential worker and on the front lines and the midst of this kovat outbreak and may God provide healing to our land in Jesus name I love you all so much I can't wait to see you next week god bless you [Music]

Channel: REDEFINED TV

Views: 16,959

Rating: 4.9764309 out of 5

Keywords: redefinedtv, redefined tv, jerry flowers, pastor jerry flowers, I am not going back, Michael todd, dharius Daniels

Id: vJtDNHQxNVg

Length: 36min 10sec (2170 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 02 2020