Woman Evolve with Sarah Jakes Roberts - Woman Evolve Replay: You're Still Covered w/ Sarah Jakes Roberts

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

Previously Recorded W.E. know the wilderness loves to see a wild woman coming—‘cause Sis gon’ thrive in EVERY situation! In this throwback episode, we’re tossing the mic to a teachable moment from The Potter’s House of Dallas. As a proud member of the “make it make sense ministry”, SJR takes listeners on a journey where she reveals the many expressions of God. And while the place that He prepares for you won’t always be pretty, it will spring forth a perpetual promise so long as you call Him by name!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you do not know the layers of God, you will begin to convince yourself that you are in a situation on your own Not recognizing that this new situation is an opportunity for a new introduction I hear God saying to expect the unexpected To not limit God to the way you saw him showing up before Because God said for this new season, I've got a new expression showing up before because God said for this new season, I've got a new expression. What's up, friends? This is your girl, Sarah Jakes Roberts. We're back with another episode of the woman evolve podcast. I am your host, SJR.

And I want to let you know that I received your feedback from last week when we were in Johannesburg. Well, we weren't in Johannesburg last week, but we played the sermon from when we were in Johannesburg and it, we weren't in Johannesburg last week, but we played the sermon from when we were in Johannesburg. And it seemed like that message really resonated with so many of you. And so we wanted to stay in that sermon vein, especially as we talk about woman evolve. When we first started thinking about what it means to surrender, we recognize that part of the reason why we cannot surrender is because surrender feels like going through dry places,

through a wilderness. When I think about the children of Israel, when they were leaving Egypt and they found themselves in the wilderness, the wilderness was this dry, deserted place where God drew them out to have an encounter with them. P.T. was speaking at the Potter's House Dallas, and he started talking about how we hear God the most clearly

when we are in the wilderness, because there's no sound from outside environments. If you think about going camping and you get far enough away from the city, you're in the middle of the wilderness, the forest, wherever it is, you are the woods, and you can hear nature so clearly. It's not that nature is not making a sound when you're in the city. It's just that the city is obscuring all of the sound because of all of the other noises and elements. And sometimes what we have built has eliminated that sound. But

there is something about being in a space that is uncultivated, come on, wild woman, and which we are able to hear most clearly what it is that God is saying to us. Surrender is the undoing of what we have built. It is the undoing of our ideas, our thoughts, and the acceptance, the posture of receiving God. What is it that you are saying? I want to share with you a sermon that speaks exactly to this, this deliverance from the wilderness. I preach this message in Dallas, and I believe that it's going to be one that blesses you tremendously. We've got some exciting interviews coming up as well, but I just felt like you needed to be reminded of this reality. You're still covered even in the wilderness. You're still covered.

God is not just the God of breakthrough. He is the God of follow through. And I want you to know that no matter where you are right now, you are not without access to God's covering, but you may only get to experience it if you are willing to surrender. Let's get into this week's episode. Exodus chapter 16, verses three through eight. The hardest part of speaking for me is coming up with the title so I'm not going to give one. God told me at first you're still covered was the topic you're still

covered. We'll see what happens. Context when we enter this part of the Bible in Exodus, Moses has successfully delivered the children of Hebrew from Egypt. And as they have been delivered from Egypt, they find themselves in the wilderness. At this point in the text, they are exactly one month out of captivity. And as they are one month out of captivity and as they are one month out of captivity they're having to learn what all freedom is going to look like. They had an idea of what liberation would look like and now they're living with the reality of it. One of those realities is that they don't have food as easily accessible to them as they had before. And the children of Israel said to them, this is to Moses

and Aaron, oh that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that

they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, at evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord for he hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we that you complain against us? Also Moses said, this shall be

seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and in the morning bread for the fool for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against

us but against the Lord. Spirit of the living God, I need you. Clear my mind. Open my heart. Give me your pace, your wisdom. I'm asking you God for a wisdom, insight for prophecy. I'm asking that you give me some Thank you God for being mindful of us. Thank you for sending this word. Now help me to release it and for this word to land on good fertile ground that it would take root and produce fruit. In Jesus name I pray amen. Amen. Can you all help me thank Naya Cotton for her worship today? Thank you so much for being here. We love you. We honor you. You can tell when someone's just performing and when someone came to literally show us the heart of God and we thank you so much for

letting us sit at the feet of Jesus. We don't take it lightly and we don't take it for granted. Thank you for the price you paid outside of this moment to lead us into this moment. We honor you and thank you. Can you guys help me again? Just thank Naya. It is not uncommon when we're young to romanticize adulthood.

We think to ourselves, when I get grown, when I become an adult, I'm gonna be free. I'm gonna be free from restrictions. Nobody's gonna tell me what to do. I'm not gonna have no curfew. Doesn't take very long if I may borrow from a country song to realize that freedom ain't free baby. Freedom that freedom comes at a real price that mortgage comes every month freedom I couldn't wait to become an adult so that I could stay up all night now if I don't go to bed by 8 o'clock I can't even adult properly. I need to be home and in the bed. Okay it's just not, it didn't give what it was supposed to give and we try to tell children all the time just wait for it eventually you're gonna have all of

these responsibilities gonna be worth it but we don't listen and then we all find ourselves in the same situation wishing that we could just go back to school they don't even let you off I won't stop complaining but I just want you to know that like I don't think it should have summer off because it does not prepare you for the real world baby because this job don't care nothing about July August or September they want me to come and I'm trying to be on summer break. I think they don't care. Talk about PTO. I've never heard of her. Who is she? I don't know what's more traumatic, the frequency of the bills and their responsibilities or

this reality that I feel like no one ever talks about. And that is that as you become an adult, it also changes the lens in which you look at your heroes. From a certain vantage point, when you're a child and you look at your heroes, you see them as perfect and without flaws and you think they have all of the answers and they never struggle and they never have insecurities. And then you become an

adult and you begin to realize because you're struggling as an adult to figure out what the answers are, that the people who raised you must have been trying to figure things out on their own as well. You learned that not only did adults not always have all the answers, sometimes they didn't even know what the questions were. Not only were they tucking you into sleep, they were probably crying themselves to sleep at night.

While they were making sure that you were provided for, there were some people who were still nursing their own emptiness and their own voids. I think one of the most difficult parts of adulthood is seeing the humanity in your heroes. And if you survive this clearing of the lens, if you survive this expanded perspective and you can do it and still maintain some element of honor and respect and a healthy discord what you learn is that it's not necessarily all bad that you see the humanity in your heroes. It changes who you contact. Sometimes you are just calling your mother. Then other times you're calling a woman who knows what it's like to go

through a breakthrough, breakup. You're not just calling your father. Sometimes you're calling someone who will finally let you into grown folks business and you're talking like friends and you realize that it's the same person they just have a different expression. I wish I could unpack that better. I think the same thing happens I have an adult children now and it has been difficult and challenging for me to not just see them as my child. To recognize that they're now partners in relationships. I just knew them as my child, to recognize that they're now partners in relationships. I just knew them as one way, but I've had to expand my perspective to make room for

all of who they are. They're building their careers, they're talking about starting families, and it takes a renewing of my mind to not keep them limited to that one expression of who they are. I believe that the friendships that have the most longevity are the friendships that were flexible enough to make room for new expanded versions of who you are. That I'm not just your best friend but I'm also a professional and you can respect who I am as a professional without allowing it to take away from who I am as your friend. When you have someone who

has the flexibility to meet you no as your friend when you have someone who has the flexibility to meet you no matter where you are you have a relationship that you can cherish because You don't just see them in one lane same person Expanded expression I feel like this has been Part of what I have learned in my relationship with the Lord. Oftentimes when we have an encounter with God, we meet God and we limit God to that one initial expression.

And when we limit God to that one initial expression, we feel uncovered when we move into new seasons. I wish I could say that better I'll tell you when I was studying I started imagining Imagine if Adam and Eve had only seen him as creator God If they only knew him as creator God They would think that they had to hide and cover themselves when they ate from the fruit. But because he's not just creator God, he is redeemer God. They had to recognize based on their situation that it is the same God he

just has many expressions in Scripture. It often talks to us about unlocking the mysteries of who God is. That means that the God that saved you, the God that delivered you, may be a different, there may be a different expression for the God that you need in this season of your life. I wish I could break this down the way God gave it to me, but as I was studying for this message, God was showing me that there are layers to who he is and there is someone who's in a season right now where they're questioning whether or not they are covered because they knew God as deliverer

but they didn't know God as sustainer and now they think that God's power is only reserved for deliverance not recognizing that I'm not just the God of breakthrough I'm also the God that wants to sustain you and I'm not just the God who sustains you I am the God who wants to heal you and I'm not just the God who sustains you, I am the God who wants to heal you. And I'm not just the God who heals you, I'm also the God who will defend you. And I'm not just the God who will defend you, I'm also the God who will comfort you. And if you do not know the layers of God, you will begin to convince yourself that you are in a situation on your own, not recognizing that this new situation is an opportunity for a new introduction. I got a prophetic word for you, Potter's House.

I know you're in a new season of your life, and you don't know exactly who you are, and you don't know exactly how you should expect God to show up. And I hear God saying to expect the unexpected, to not limit God to the way you saw him showing up before because God said for this new season I've got a new expression. Oh I feel my help coming I'll prove it to you Time and time again in the Bible We see people who knew God

also naming God based off of how he showed up in a particular situation. Abraham knew him as a covenant-making God. In Genesis it shows us that he makes covenant with him but it wasn't until there was a ram in the bush when he was getting ready to sacrifice Isaac that he learned that he's not just the covenant-keeping Jehovah, but he's also Jehovah Jireh my provider There's something that happens when we recognize that you're not just the God who made me a promise You're also the God who will provide for the very promise that you made me Oh, we don't have a good time in here today You see because I feel like someone needs to understand

that when Daniel was in the lion's den, when Daniel was in the fiery pit, and he's in this fiery furnace, that he had a new revelation of who God was. First, God helped him interpret dreams, and maybe he would have thought, if he was small in his thinking, that God only exists to help me interpret dreams,

but it wasn't until he was in the fiery furnace that he realizes you're not just a dream interpreter, you're also the man who stands in the fire. Oh, I wish somebody got a revelation in this room that the God that you serve is going to show up in unexpected ways. And when God starts showing up in unexpected ways, you need starts showing up in unexpected ways you need to expand your definition of what God can do to not just let it slip through your fingers but it all changed the way you relate to God it ought to change the way you connect with God because God wants you to understand the layers and dimensions to who he is isn't that why we worship anyway? When we lift our hands

and say when I think of all the things that you brought me through, what we're saying is I didn't know that you could even bring me through that type of trauma, but when I think about all of the things that you brought me through, I didn't realize that you could really be a father to the fatherless. I didn't realize that you could be a mother to the motherless. Some people are laughing about him being a lawyer in the courtroom, but if you've ever had a court case up against you that didn't make no sense and you couldn't afford a fancy lawyer and you didn't have a law degree, but some kind of way God went ahead of you. A doctor in the surgery room. The doctor didn't understand what was happening in your body. I once was sick but now I'm

healed. It wasn't the medication that did it. My doctor showed up. My doctor's name is Jesus. He didn't go to Yale. He didn't go to Harvard but he knows something about the blood. When I think about all the things you brought me over, I'm not just worshiping because someone sang a song. I'm worshiping based off of what I knew. God, I didn't have a father, but you helped me to become one. God, I call you Father. I call you great God. Abraham, you're not just Jehovah, you're Jehovah Jireh.

Can I tell you a few of his names? Because I want you to understand that when you call on the name of God, that you can call on a specific name of God based off of what you are facing. God wanted the children of Israel to know that I'm not just the God who sent the plagues, I'm also the God who can heal you. So you can call me Jehovah Rapha, the God who heal. When I pray, I'm not just praying to God, I'm praying to Jehovah Rapha. I need the healing power of God

to fall on every cell in my body. When I call on Jehovah Rapha, I'm telling the tissues and the organs to begin functioning in the way that Jehovah designed. Jehovah Rapha is my healer. Jehovah Rapha will guide the hand of the surgeon. Jehovah Rapha will give them the strategy for the cancer. Jehovah Rapha is working on my healing.

Right now I call him Jehovah Rapa. I call him Jehovah Jireh. You gotta know. You gotta know who your God is. Cause if you don't know who your God is, you don't know what weapons are available to you. So when you say the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, you gotta know what your weapon is.

So when I'm in the fire, I don't call on Jehovah Jireh. I don't call on Jehovah Rapha. I call on Jehovah Nezi because he's my banner. Which means that when I'm in a battle and you're wondering whose side I'm on when I'm in a battle and you're wondering whose army I'm on Jehovah Nisi is my banner Jehovah Nisi Jehovah Nisi the Lord is my banner. I'm on the right side. If you're wondering what side I'm on, I want you to know that the kingdom suffered violence, but the

violence, take it by force. How do I take it by force? Because I understand Jehovah-Neh-See is my banner. So yes, I pick fights with the devil. You want to break a generational curse? You're talking about picking a fight with the devil. You can't pick a fight with the devil. You wanna break a generational curse? You talking about picking a fight with the devil? You can't pick a fight with the devil with your own banner. But there is a bloodstained banner. And we call him Jehovah-Nesee. Uh-oh, somebody's waving something in the air. And they think it's their hand.

But I hear God saying it's in the air, and they think it's their hand. But I hear God saying this in the spirit realm. You making hell nervous. In the spirit realm, devils are backing off of you. Jehovah-Nesim, not depression, not anxiety. The Lord is my banner. Not the diagnosis, Not the trauma. The Lord is my banner. He covers me. He covers me. He protects me. He's my shield. He's my sword, he is my banner, when I don't have anything else to wave, and I just say the name of Jesus.

I'm not just repeating it for repetition. I'm repeating it because saying his name waves a banner. Jehovah-Nehisi. The Lord is my banner. Oh, I got a few more of them. If you're taking notes, I want to tell you about Jehovah Shalom. Shalom. Somebody don't know him. But I know Jehovah Shalom who gave me peace when I shouldn't have had none. I know Jehovah Shalom in the middle of a storm.

Jehovah Shalom be with you. Jehovah Shalom walk with you. Jehovah Shalom walk with you. Jehovah Shalom order your steps. Jehovah Shalom be with you in the fight. You know what I love about Jehovah Shalom? Is Gideon names him Jehovah Shalom at a time that he was afraid of the calling that was on his life. But he had an encounter with God that helped him to understand that I'm not just the God who called you, but I am the god who will

peace. In the middle of chaos is my peace. I don't necessarily need Jehovah right now. I'm not fighting. What I need right now is peace. So, I So I call on Jehovah Shalom because Jehovah Shalom gives me peace at a time when I don't have any. You want some more of them? Jehovah Rah, the Lord is my shepherd. I got a shepherd, not just a provider who shows up when I'm in need, but yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I got a shepherd

Jehovah rise my shepherd He'll guide me He'll convict me. He'll correct me. He won't let me get lost Jehovah shema The lord is there When he tells Ezekiel What he plans to do in restoring the city He says that place that I restored

Will call it Jehovah Shema Because there will be no denying that the Lord is there. I don't know who you are But I hear God saying you may be standing in a place of destruction right now But that place of destruction when God gets finished with it, you'll have to rename the place of destruction Jehovah-shema because where there was once destruction there is now restoration I want you to think about every area of your life where you've experienced brokenness where you've experienced destruction And I just want you to know that Jehovah Shema wants to dwell there, wants to rebuild. He wants to make his home in the place where there was once destruction, Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts. When I pray that God would dispatch angels, I'm not asking Jehovah Jireh

in this instance. I'm not asking Jehovah Nisi. I'm asking Jehovah Sabaoth to release angels because he is the Lord of hosts. He is the Lord of all of heaven's armies. So when I ask God to dispatch armies, I'm asking the top man in charge. You are in charge of all of the armies. When I need a weapon because I'm experiencing warfare and I don't know what kind of weapon to use, do I fast my way through?

Do I pray my way through? Do I just sit still? I don't just ask anybody. I ask Jehovah, Sabbath, oath because I need to understand what is the best weapon to use for this warfare. Because he is the Lord of hosts. Time and time again through scripture, we see the same God with a different expression. God says, I can be whatever you need me to be. I can be what you don't even know you need me to be.

Your only job is to not limit him to one expression. When I find the Hebrew children in my text, they're having to undo 400 years generational oppression and captivity. They're having to renew their mind about who God is. They cried out to God because they wanted to experience breakthrough. They cried out to God because they wanted to experience liberation. But they cried out to God not recognizing that sometimes liberation releases you into

a new dimension that you are not equipped to handle. Oh, I wish I could say that real good. Sometimes all we pray for is breakthrough. God, if you get me out of this breakthrough. God, if you help me to get out of this situation, to get out of this relationship, if you help me to start

this business, if you give me the breakthrough I need, then I won't need anything else from you. And when we limit God to only being the God of our breakthrough, we find ourselves hungry in unchartered territory. We find ourselves navigating a breakthrough we prayed for without the God who can give us direction on how to make that breakthrough turn into the promised land. Have you ever had a breakthrough drop you off in unchartered territory. I got the breakthrough, but now I'm in an environment where I don't understand the politics or the culture.

I got the breakthrough. I have the right people around me or no people around me. I got the breakthrough, but now I don't know how to be on my own. I got the breakthrough I was praying for. I asked God for the resources but maybe now I can't handle them. I asked God for the breakthrough. I finally left the job but now I don't know what to do with the time I have on my hands. I got the breakthrough but now I'm in unchartered territory. And while everyone is clapping because you got the breakthrough

Only you and God know that you don't know how to sustain what he broke you through Hmm And so The Hebrew children Do what we do? We start looking for someone to blame The Hebrew children Get Moses and Aaron and they say to Moses and Aaron, could you not have just left us in Egypt?

They prayed for the breakthrough. But when the breakthrough doesn't look like what they thought it would look like, they start complaining. They don't realize that they're not complaining to Moses and Aaron. They're actually complaining to Moses and Aaron, they're actually complaining to God. How much different would their posture have been

had they realized that you were not complaining to a person? You're complaining to God. Not you, but maybe people you know may complain about a job that God gave you, that you asked God to give you. Because it's easier to complain about the job than it is to admit to God that I'm actually afraid, that I cannot be sustained in the very thing

that I prayed for. I want you to ask yourself next time you're complaining, am I complaining or am I actually just afraid? Am I complaining about the person or am I afraid of what the person may be able to do to me or do through me if I don't have the right tools? What am I really complaining about? Because the children of Israel picked

the lowest possible denominator in Moses and Aaron. They prayed that God would deliver them but when they got frustrated they didn't take their complaint to God because it would require them questioning God. Maybe it's because they only wanted God's power for the breakthrough. They didn't realize that God wanted to be in relationship with them. When I was studying, God told me that this part of the text and really their entire journey was going to be very critical because it would

be the time that they learned that he is not just the God of breakthrough. He is also the God of follow through, which means that I did not just break you through to leave you. I want you to understand that I also am going to follow through with what I allowed you to break through. You got that revelation since I saw you stand up. I want you to understand that you're not just serving a God of breakthrough, where you tap him in

when you need strength and power that you don't have on your own. God says, I wanna be the God of follow through. I wanna show you how to navigate this new season. I wanna show you how to sustain yourself in this wilderness. I didn't just break you through from captivity to leave you in a wilderness. We talk about the wilderness like God left them in the wilderness. I'm just in my wilderness season until I get to

the promised land. God says that the wilderness could be the promised land if you stay connected to me. That anywhere you are, I can make the place where I am. Because if you stay connected to me, I'm not just the God of breakthrough. I'm the God of follow through. I want to break the spirit of wilderness in this room, where you feel like you got to be in the wilderness by yourself, like you're suffering without covering,

like you're suffering without protection. And I want you to understand that you do not just serve a God of breakthrough. Stop praying for the wilderness to end, stop and start asking God to show up in the middle of the wilderness. God, I don't need you to change the environment. I need you to become the environment. God, you don't have to move me out of the situation.

If your presence can show up in the middle of the situation, you need the wilderness because you need to understand that the wilderness does not keep God's hand off of you. If you think God only shows up in breakthrough and God only shows up in the promised land, you will miss that you have a God who wants to sit with you in the wilderness. I want to sit with you in depression. I want to sit with you in anxiety. I want to sit with you while you grieve your mother because I am the God who can show up in the wilderness. I can sustain you. I can provide for you.

I can heal you. I can feed you. I'm not just the God of breakthrough. I wish I could say that. I feel like there's something that I'm missing in trying to unpack this. I feel like there's something that I'm missing and trying to unpack this I feel like someone needs to understand that one of the things that maybe we have done wrong and our relationship with God

Maybe it's cultural Where we only tag someone when we absolutely need them And because we're used to figuring everything out on our own We have robbed ourselves from the ability to experience the presence of God in the wilderness and Yet we complain about being on our own Complain about being on our own. Complain about being hungry. Not realizing that when you complain,

mind you, God never gets upset with them for complaining. He just tells them that you're not even complaining to the right person. Nothing wrong with your complaint. You're just directing it towards the wrong person. God says, I want you to bring me those questions I want you to bring me those complaints because you're complaining to someone who can do nothing for you but if you would bring it to me I can show you the way that I can make in the middle of the wilderness you You gotta be careful about people who receive your complaints like they're your God.

Moses and Aaron had enough sense to let them know that you're not complaining against me, you're complaining against God. It's important for you to understand this because some people will take It's important for you to understand this because some people will take god's credit for how he blessed your life.

And then when you turn around and want to give them their complaint, they try and act like they didn't have anything to do with it in the first place. That may be the best gift they ever give you because when you realize they didn't

bless you, you'll also see that they cannot curse you, and if you did not bless me, that means that you cannot curse me, which means I need to talk to your manager. I need to talk to someone who is above you. I don't even need to have this argument with you anymore. I need to talk to someone who is above you, and Moses and Aaron say, I'm gonna go get the manager.

And then going to get the manager. They end up revealing to the children of Israel that the wilderness. I have to be honest with you, I think that you need leadership who doesn't mind not having all of the answers. You need leadership who knows how to go get an answer. I don't need you to be perfect. I don't need you to know everything, but I need to know that when you don't know, that you don't mind seeking the face of God until you get a revelation about what we're supposed to do in this season you need people who understand this did not start with me so I don't have to have all of the answers Moses and Aaron teach us as leaders a

valuable lesson in raising our children and leading our business that I don't have to have all of the answers But God started this thing and because God started it. I know that God must have a plan where I have lack And so they turn them over to God So they turn them over to God. I feel like what God highlighted for me in this text is that it shows humanity's inability to trust that even when we're exposed, we're still covered. What we see them experiencing is the nakedness of being called

into uncharted territory the vulnerability the exposure But also God's ability to show up When God gave me this message, I believe wholeheartedly I'm not going to tell you what that you're going to be put on Front Street where people are watching and looking and learning and growing because God says, I'm going to use you as a model. Oh, I don't know. I don't know who this is for.

But the children of Israel are important to us in scripture because they serve as a model of how God wants to connect with creation. And when God has called you to serve as a model, He's going to highlight the areas where you need development so that it will not be a surprise when someone else comes up behind you and sees that they are exposed to. I wouldn't even be able to preach this message unless the children of Israel had gone ahead of me. But because they went ahead of me, I know something about God that I otherwise would not have known.

I want to prophesy over some trailblazers in this room. I want to prophesy over some people who have been called to lead and to break generational curses. And I want you to understand that exposure is not inadequacy. I want you to understand that exposure does not mean that you are not fit for the job.

Exposure is how you become fit for the promise. Exposure is how God develops you. I hear God saying you better fall in love with the wilderness, because in the wilderness I'm gonna pull everything out of you that should not be in you. I'm gonna pull everything shaky out of you. I'm gonna expose your sin.

I'm gonna expose your brokenness. I'm gonna expose everything shaky out of you. I'm gonna expose your sin. I'm gonna expose your brokenness I'm gonna expose your weakness Why because I cannot let you into the promised land as a toxic version of who you are I need the healthiest version of who you are so that I can set a new example for your family So I can set a new example for your church so I can set a new example for your industry I hear God saying that you're gonna have to surrender to the wilderness The wilderness is here to teach you about you and about how God can sustain you

God wants to sustain you in the wilderness. And so when you find yourself in the wilderness and you start feeling uncovered and you start wanting to complain and you start thinking to yourself, I wish I could just go back to where I came from. I wish I could just do things differently because I feel too exposed.

I feel too vulnerable. I feel like I might fail. I feel like I might fail. I feel like I might not make it to the other side. I feel like I don't have what it takes. That's your insecurity talking because you feel exposed. But God says, I want you to understand that I did not just deliver you from Egypt, I delivered you to me.

We talk about them coming out of Egypt, like he delivered them from Egypt with no destination in mind. If you make your journey about getting to the promised land, you're going to miss that God did not just deliver you for promises. God says, I delivered you for connection. I delivered you for companionship. I delivered you for relationship. I delivered you so you could know my commandments. I delivered you so you could know my commandments.

I delivered you so you could understand my heart. I delivered you so that you could save a generation. I delivered you so that you could have a new testimony. I delivered you so I could change your mind. I delivered you so that you could walk with power. I delivered you so that you could know that you're more than a slave, that you're also a warrior. I delivered you so that you can know

that you're not just damaged goods, that you're also a warrior. I delivered you so that you can know that you're not just damaged goods, that you're actually the person I wanna build nations on. I delivered you so that you could understand that no matter how much they devalued you then, that I still find value in you. I delivered you so that you could understand that you were never what they called you. You were always what I saw.

I delivered you so that you could walk with authority. I delivered you so that I could walk with authority. I delivered you so that I could send glory through your bloodline. I delivered you so that you could lift up a nation. I delivered you so that you could bear the weight of what it means to build something that is bigger than you. I delivered you not so that you could just have milk and honey.

I delivered you so you could have no milk and no honey, but still have a praise. I delivered you so that you didn't need a circumstance but that you could do all things through Christ who strengthens you. I didn't just deliver you. I delivered you to me and I don't know who's trying to rush into the promised land season But I hear God saying that if you rush into the promised land season that you might get ran right out I hear God saying you need to let it take as long as it takes in the wilderness Because you'll never be without I got manna that can fall from heaven. I got water that can come from bitter waters

I got quail that can run that can feed you. God says I can sustain you in the wilderness. I'm closing. But I want you to know that God's sole mission and having this moment in the text is that he wanted to test the children of Israel to see if they would keep his commandments. You should read the whole thing. It starts in Exodus 15. He makes them a promise that I'll be with you, that I'll cover you, that I'll take care of you. The only thing you have to do is keep my commandments. If you keep my commandments, you won't have to worry about what you're gonna eat.

If you keep my commandments, you won't have to worry about who's staying or who's going. If you keep my commandments, I'll keep you. If you keep my commandments, I'll cover you. If you keep, I know you want to get back. I know they hurt you, but if you keep my commandments, I'll cover you. I know you want to know what the end is gonna be, but if you keep my commandments, I'll cover you I know you want to know what the end is gonna be but if you keep my commandments, I'll go ahead of you which means They have to resist Taking matters into their own hands I'm closing you can keep playing. I just want to tell you this one thing

When you read all of Exodus 16, you'll see that God was very specific with how he told them to collect the manna. He told them to gather only a certain amount and when you gather this certain amount, he said to make it gather only what you need Make it don't keep any leftovers On the sixth day Gather twice as much So on the Sabbath day you can rest very specific instructions

These Hebrew children Who have a slave mentality, they gather more than what they need and they try to keep leftovers because they are so used to thinking efficiently that they think they have a better strategy than God. God I know you told me to only gather what I need but if I gather more than what I need if there's a rainy day or if for some reason it doesn't come tomorrow I'll be prepared if you withdraw I'll be prepared if you don't show up again I want to talk to somebody who is afraid that the provision that God has today won't show up for you tomorrow. And so you're trying to gather

things that you don't need. You're trying to hang on to attention and connections that you don't need. You're trying to plan like the same God who did it yesterday won't do it today because you don't know God as sustainer. There was nothing wrong with their mentality. It was efficient based off of where they came from. It was smart even, but it was not God's commandment. Some of us do too much because we don't trust that God will do enough and we're tired and we're weary pushing ourselves beyond what God required because we don't trust that God will show up and take care of us tomorrow we don't trust that God will

give us the wisdom we don't trust that God will give us the wisdom. We don't trust that God will show up for that child. And so we have become their savior. Taking on more than what we have to. Because we don't know how to rest. This lack mentality. A lot of times we talk about a. A lot of you don't trust that he can be your banner and the lord of hosts and because you don't trust this new expression, you have allowed yourself to over

exert yourself. God told me that my only assignment in today's message was to convince you to rest off. I don't even know what to tell you to rest in. God told me that you're so used to working, so used to striving, so used to working so used to striving so used to getting it done That you don't know how to rest in his provision To rest in his covering You don't know how to trust that tomorrow will take care of itself

And I hear God saying that some of you in this room are literally worrying yourself sick because you don't trust God. Your worry is an assault to God's covering. Your worry is an indictment on God's covering. to worry, to stress, to say, God, I don't believe that you'll take care of it. I don't believe

I can trust you with this. And early on in the Hebrew children's deliverance, God says, I want you to understand that if this is going to work, you're going to have to depend on me. You're going to have to trust me. You're going to have to only do that which I require you to do. Evolve.