The Courage To Do It

Part 3:

Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Nashville  |  Weekend Series  |  September 2026 Sermon Series

Watch the full Sunday service: https://www.youtube.com/@mtzionnashville/streams

September 20th, 2026

Scripture: John 5:1-9 (NKJV)

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.

3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.

4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

 And that day was the Sabbath.

Prayer

Father, we thank You for what You have for our lives today. We pray, God, that our hearts will be open, that our spirits will be open to receive the revelation that is about to go forth today. We need to hear from You. So, God, in Your Word today, we ask that we be made better because of what we are about to receive. We thank You for being a God who speaks to us right where we are, and we believe that we are going to be changed because of what we are about to receive. We give You glory. We give You praise, because we believe somebody’s life is about to be changed forever. In the name of Jesus we pray, let every heart say amen.

I. INTRODUCTION

There are moments in all of our lives when life knocks us down. If we could pass this microphone around, people would testify, “You know what? I know what it feels like to be knocked down.” Knocked down financially, knocked down emotionally, knocked down spiritually, knocked down physically. Being knocked down is one thing, but how you respond to it is another. It is incredibly important to understand that whenever you have been knocked down, the enemy’s intent is for you to stay down, to create a sense of hesitancy about any possibility of ever coming back to the place God would have you to be. Sometimes you try, and you try, and you keep getting disappointment after disappointment. It can be demoralizing, frustrating, irritating. Somebody here today, you have tried, and you put everything in motion to do what you thought you needed to do, and yet you experienced that gut punch, and you are right back at square one. This is what happens to people of God. This is what opens up a whole new understanding of resilience.

This is what is important for us all to understand in this season. It is not so much about being knocked down. It is about understanding that God is a God who wants to help you get up. God is doing His work today, because I need you to understand that regardless of whatever circumstances knocked you down, being knocked down, staying down, is not your destiny. Your destiny has everything to do with where God is about to take you. So it is important to get this Word today, because we are introduced to a man in John chapter 5 who finds himself down. The Bible declares that we meet him in Jerusalem, by the sheep market, at a place called the pool of Bethesda. It has five porches, and five is not by accident, because the number five represents mercy, it represents grace. Put a pin there.

And while he is there, he is not alone, because it is a holiday. It is a gathering of people who have various maladies. Everyone who shows up at the pool has something wrong with them. Some are blind, some have leprosy, a variety of different ailments. Something is wrong with everybody who shows up at that pool. Something is wrong with everybody who shows up at 7594 Old Hickory Boulevard, Whites Creek, Tennessee. Something is wrong with somebody who is sitting in your row today. I don’t need you to feel any kind of way that something is wrong with you, because I need you to look at your row and say, “Something is wrong with all of us.” All of us have a condition. All of us have something we need to deal with today.

We are going to find out that God not only is aware of your situation, but that God has the power to turn your situation around. Here at this pool there is one man, and the Bible says that he has been there, watch this, for 38 years. Can you imagine? Thirty-eight years, going at a certain season to this place. People take him there. What is interesting is that he goes there because at a certain season a certain angel comes down and troubles the water, and whoever gets into the pool first is healed of whatever malady they have. It was a mad fight down there. There was no hospitality. There was no chivalry. It was every man for himself. Some days he would go and think, “This will be my year,” and then somebody would jump ahead of him. Other days he thought he had the right position. He thought, “This is going to be it. I did everything. I planned it out. I had a master plan laid out. Now it’s my time.” And as soon as he thought it was going to be his time, somebody else jumped in ahead of him. Thirty-eight years of going back and forth, back and forth, experiencing the same result. Frustrated, irritated. And now the Bible says that Jesus comes by.

The Bible says that He knew how long he had been in that situation. I want you to understand something, people of God: Jesus knows how long you have been dealing with what you have been dealing with, even if the people around you have no idea. He knows how long you have been crying. He knows how long you have been on your face believing Him for a miracle. But guess what? He not only knows about it, He is about to do something about it. Because the Bible says that Jesus walks up and has a conversation with that man. Don’t miss your shout right here. There are a lot of people at the pool, a lot of people with various maladies, but guess who is there? It is that man’s day. Because when it is your time, no devil in hell can stop it. When it is your time, the Lord will skip over all the people just to get to you. And somebody who is watching me right now, God says it is your time. I am speaking to you. Don’t let the crowd confuse you. You are here for a reason, because God wants you to know that He knows exactly how long you have been there.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

And Jesus comes with a question: “Do you want to be made whole?” What kind of question is that to ask somebody who has been down like that for 38 years? “Do you want to be made whole?” It seems comical to ask someone that. But Jesus is not asking this question because He is seeking information. He is asking this question because He is trying to measure the man’s expectation. Can you see your situation beyond where you are right now? Can you see your life beyond the pain you are experiencing right now? There is something greater on the other side. I just want to know: are you expecting it to happen? And I believe this house is full of people who have expectation. Do you wonder why the atmosphere was off the chain today? It is because people came in today not for business as usual. We have somebody here who is expecting God to do something. I am believing that before I leave out of here, something is about to happen in my life. God is about to turn my situation around. I believe in this crowd that you won’t leave here the same way you came. Who am I talking to? I am just looking for the section that is expecting something. I am looking for the people who are not saying the same old thing. I am expecting a miracle. I see the invisible. I feel the intangible.

7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

Now look at the man’s response to Jesus: “Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to help me.” I don’t have nobody to help me. Jesus is giving him a declaration and he is giving Jesus his dilemma. It is a paradoxical situation, because on the one hand he is in a place of mercy, but he is living in misery. What does it mean to be in a place of mercy and expectation but privately carry a place of misery? Today I want to have a real conversation with you, because how Jesus brings this miracle to pass is, I believe, going to be so impactful to many of us. And it begins with recognizing what knocked you down.

II. RECOGNIZE WHAT KNOCKED YOU DOWN

You are not there because of nothing. Something happened in your life, and you have got to be honest about it. What was it that allowed this man to be in this particular condition? What knocked him down? What caused him to be on his back that many years? Sometimes when you are really sensitive to this, you have a level of empathy, and you do not walk into people’s lives, look at their situation, and make judgment calls. You don’t walk by the pool of Bethesda and say, “What’s wrong with all those people?” The question is not what is wrong with you. In the words of Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey in that great book, the real question is, “What happened to you?” Because what happened to you is a story that a lot of people don’t want to sit down and learn about. People just classify you and make judgment calls about you without knowing that you inherited some stuff you never intended to inherit. You have been through some stuff that people don’t understand. If they understood what you are going through, they would understand how you ended up in the place where you are today. You are sitting next to a story. You are a story. And guess what? God can handle your story. God can handle your scars. Even when people can’t handle it, God says, just be honest about what you are dealing with.

• Admit it
• Accept it
• Abandon it

How did you end up in this situation? It is OK to say, “God, this hurts.” I don’t have to over-spiritualize this. I don’t have to walk around like everything is fine all the time. Everything ain’t fine all the time. Some people just walk around, every time you ask how they are doing, “Hallelujah, praise the Lord.” Hey, I have some days like that. But some days it is not “hallelujah.” Some days it is, “I’m almost depressed. I’m bitter some days. I don’t feel like being bothered by life. I’m trying to figure this stuff out.” Who am I talking to? Whatever it is, God can handle it. You have to recognize what made you fall. You have to admit it. I have got to be honest about what happened. I cannot heal from what I am hiding. I admit it, but I don’t accept it as my permanent reality. I accept the fact that something happened to me, and I recognize that it hurt. I am not in denial about what hurt me, but I will not stay here. I may be right here now, but the next time you see me, I won’t be where I am right now. I wish I had somebody who could see what you’ve got to do. You have got to learn to face what happened without allowing it to define you.

A. You have to face what happened without allowing it to define you.

Notice something about him that is quite intriguing. The Bible says there was a man by the pool of Bethesda, but the Bible never gives him a name. It is interesting, because he is defined by his condition. So many people allow themselves to be defined by their condition. You are not what happened to you. You are who God created you to be. But if you allow yourself to be confined by your condition, the woman with the issue of blood, the man by the pool of Bethesda, the blind man unclear: “a mess”, you will hear, “Why can’t you call me by my name? Why do you have to call me blind?” Because people always want to associate you with your condition. But when you understand who God called you to be, you don’t respond to people who like to label you based on your condition. You are not who they say you are. You are who God says you are. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are a royal priesthood. You are a chosen generation. You know who you are. You do not allow yourself to be incarcerated by people’s understanding of who you are, tied to your condition.

B. You can get so used to being down that down becomes normal.

Watch this. There comes a time in your life when you have got to declare over your life that you are not going to normalize this. Because you can get so used to being down that down becomes normal. Thirty-eight years in the same situation, and if you are not careful, watch this, the danger of being down so long is that you can actually forget what it feels like to be up. Sometimes the greatest enemy is not the thing that knocked you down. Sometimes the greatest enemy is becoming comfortable on the floor. Because if you have been down long enough, you will start decorating the floor. You start organizing your life around the floor. You become a private hater of anything better that is not on the floor. People on the floor start looking at you like, “Why aren’t you on the floor?” I am not on the floor because that is not my destiny. Because what happens is you have normalized the floor, so what are you trying to do? You are trying to bring people who are up in the tree down to the floor. People up in the tree ain’t coming down to the floor. They are trying to get you to come up to the tree.

It is called normalization, psychologically and sociologically. Normalization is what happens when repeated exposure to something causes you to adjust to it. Even something that was once painful, unusual, and unacceptable now becomes ordinary. In other words, you can live with something so long that you stop recognizing that you are living beneath what God intended for you. And I want you to understand that normalization moves you into the space of adaptation, because adaptation is how you learn to function in environments that are not healthy. You learn how to survive things that were never supposed to be permanent. Just because you have learned how to adapt to something or survive it doesn’t mean that is the thing God has for your life. You can adapt to the moment. You can adapt to the dysfunction. You can adapt to the disappointment. You can adapt to rejection. You can adapt to living paycheck to paycheck, but that ain’t God’s plan for your life. I am not going to sit back and say, “This is just how I am.” The devil is a liar. This is what happens to some of you: “This is just how I am.” That is not how you are. That is not who God wants you to be.

• You experience it
• You endure it
• You accommodate it
• You normalize it
• You defend it

Let me show you how this works. First, you experience it. Something happens, something knocks you down. Then you endure it. You learn how to live with it. Then you accommodate it. You start changing your behavior because of it. Then you normalize it. You stop seeing that there is something that needs to change. Then you defend it. You begin explaining why you have got to stay the way you are. That sounds like the conversation you had with your cousin. You are defending dysfunction. Are you defending dysfunction because you have normalized something? You have adapted to it. Being down is all you know, and in a new environment where everybody is down, you wake up and everybody is down, and everyone you hear is talking down. Everybody is living down. Everybody is loving down. Guess what, all you’re going to do is go down. I just talked to somebody about this the other day. Declare over your life that this is the last day you’ll see me this low. Look at somebody and tell them, “This is the last day you’re going to see me this low. Am I talking to anybody here? I am on my way.

This normalization, this institutionalization, is so tricky. You have got to be careful. Why do you keep going back? Why do you keep calling that number that should have been deleted? Israel knew Egypt was bad. God delivered them from Egyptian bondage, from the taskmaster Pharaoh, and when they got out of Egypt, they could not let go of the concept of romanticizing it. Each of us does that, because they remembered the food in Egypt. “At least we ate in Egypt.” But you forgot how much the food cost in Egypt. And some of you romanticize seasons and forget how much they cost you in your life. You forget how many years it took off of your life. I am not talking to anybody here today. That is why I just have to tell somebody, you ain’t going back to Egypt. Don’t go back. Don’t go back. Don’t go back. I don’t care what it looks like. Don’t you go back. God has something greater in store for your life.

And people of God, hear me. Sometimes God has to interrupt your routine to let you know that you have been in this place long enough. God has interrupted. I know it is uncomfortable for you, and sometimes you feel like you are under attack, but God is just disrupting your routine. You have been there long enough. You have cried long enough. You have been hurt long enough. You have been in this situation long enough. You have been down long enough. Now it is time for you to get up. Pick up your bed. It is time for you to go forward and walk. And watch this. It is time for you to get up. Your get-up season begins right now.

III. RELEASE WHAT HAS KEPT YOU DOWN

And watch this. Jesus shows up. I want you to pay attention to this. Jesus says, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” You must follow the progression of the text. The text says that Jesus knew how long he had been in that situation. He knew what case he was in, meaning that He understood his case, as a clinical term. You have a file. I know what is in your file. I know what you are spiritually, emotionally, physically. I know exactly where you are. And watch what happens. This is so important. The man could only default to this: “Sir, I don’t have anybody, when the water is troubled, to help me get in. I’m all by myself down here. Nobody down here will help me.” There comes a moment when you have got to ignore, watch this, foolishness and walk in faith. You have got to ignore what you see and walk in what you know. If you notice, Jesus says, “Do you want to be made whole?” The man says, “Sir, I have no one to help me,” and Jesus immediately says, “Take up your bed. Get up and walk.” What is Jesus trying to show you? He is trying to help you understand that, if you pay attention, this miracle is not going to happen by your system. It is going to happen by the Savior. You missed this. You are so codependent upon what you thought was going to happen. You thought the pool was going to bless you. I am not here to help you get positioned by the pool. I am here to tell you I created the water in the pool, so I am getting rid of the pool. The pool could never bless you.

A. Stop carrying what God is trying to change.

8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

God told me to tell somebody, your miracle is about to come in an unorthodox way. It will not come the way you thought. You say, “I ain’t got nobody to help me. I ain’t got nobody to help me. I ain’t got nobody to help me.” And you are talking to the answer. You missed that. You sound like Mary and Martha when Jesus showed up at Lazarus’s tomb and they said, “If You had been here.” “I am the resurrection.” The One you need is standing in front of you. If you knew the man like you knew the man, you would be giving God glory. Because God will show up, but the system can’t do it. When the system doesn’t have the money, God will get you the money for the system. When the system doesn’t have a spot for you in the program, God will get you a spot in the program. With the systems that you don’t qualify for to get the house, God will fix it so they lower the price and make you qualify.

But you have to understand something. The man’s bed is krabattos, the Greek word for a bed. He is not on a Posturepedic. He is not on a king-size or queen-size bed. He is on a small mat, a thin, uncomfortable mat. He has normalized making something comfortable that wasn’t intended for comfort. The mat was for an overnight stay, not for the long haul. Some of you were giving tenure to stuff God intended to be temporary. Jesus says he is blind, because he is so into the matt. I am going to change your association with the thing that has been carrying you. I am going to show you what this looks like. For 38 years this bed has been carrying you, but now I am going to swap it. What has been carrying you? I need you to carry it. Can I talk to somebody right now? The very thing that has been carrying you, God is about to flip that fate, and now you are about to carry it. Who am I talking to? The thing you have been depending on is going to have to depend upon you. You have no idea what your future looks like. Touch your neighbor and say, “My future looks bright.” You have got to start carrying stuff you never even imagined. Somebody give God glory. What used to carry you, now you are carrying. Now you have authority over it. I want you to hear this. He is carrying it up. “Rise, take up your bed.”

When the Lord shows up, you ain’t got no choice but to look up. Sometimes you can be so low you ain’t got no choice but to look up. But you have got to pay attention to the progression., because Jesus tells him, wait, “Rise up.” You have got to pay attention, because if you study it, “rise up” is one part of the verse and “walk” is another. Are you seeing the text now? So “rise up” means get up, it means change your posture. Look like you may be in it, but I feel something happening. Who am I talking to? I may be at the same address, but I feel something happening. I may be in the same situation, but I feel something moving in my life. And wait a minute, wait a minute. “Take up your bed.” Take this thing here. I need you to start rolling it up. Put it on your arms.

B. Forgiveness is part of getting free.

Watch this now, before we leave. There was a place by the sheep market with five porches, mercy. It is a colony of hurting humanity, and if you know anything about hurt, hurt people hurt people. Jesus was aware of his case. He was aware of what he was physically, psychologically, relationally. Are y’all getting this? So now we have got to get to the place where forgiveness happens, because forgiveness is a part of getting free. I can’t let you leave Bethesda with bitterness in your heart, because according to your case, you are holding on to what the people did to you. They stepped over you. They walked over you. Somebody manipulated a relationship with you. Some got close to you to get what they wanted, and when they got what they wanted, they left you. Some people disrespected you. You have been down here 38 years, you are an OG, and they still walk over you, step over you, like you don’t even exist. What does that do to a person? How does that deal with a person’s heart? You become jaded and bitter, and you have a different posture about people. Jesus says, no, no, no, no, I am not letting you leave here with that in your heart. I am not going to let you leave here until you learn how to leave the residue behind. I am going to let you leave the pain behind, because that ain’t real deliverance if you leave here but you are still carrying what people did to you in your heart. Touch your neighbor and say, “God is about to teach me forgiveness.”

Listen, and forgiveness is not waiting on the people in Bethesda to tell you they are sorry, because if you are living waiting on an apology, you are going to be down there another 38 years. Forgiveness is not about waiting on an apology. Forgiveness is about you releasing them from the obligation so you can get that out of your heart and turn that thing over to God. I can still forgive you, but I can also limit access to you. I can forgive you, but I ain’t inviting you to the picnic, because once you burn me, that is all I need. Am I talking to anybody here today? I came to tell somebody, before you walk out of this place, you have got to let it go. Tell somebody, let it go. Let it go. You have got to stop letting people live free in your mind. Let it go. You have got to stop walking around still harboring what happened to you. You have got to let it go.

Listen. There is a lady who went through a divorce, and she is so bitter about what happened in the divorce and what happened in the marriage. Someone asked later how she was doing, and she kept talking about how painful the divorce was and what the person did to her, and the person stopped her and said, “When did he stop hurting you?” She kept on talking, and then it hit her: “When did he stop hurting you?” It resonated with her. The question was really causing her to reflect, because the papers were all signed, the property was already divided. He had moved on with his life, and she is still talking about what happened. She can’t move on with her life, because she is so immersed in the toxicity and pain of what somebody did to her. God is about to take that stuff out of your heart. What God is about to take you to, He is about to purify your heart. It is time to let it go. Whatever people did to you in Bethesda, you have got to turn that thing over to God and recognize, “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,” and He is the Lord that pays. Some people forgot what they did. They are living their best life, and you are still hung up on what happened to you. There comes the moment when you have got to let that stuff go. Paul put it this way:

Philippians 3:13-14 Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Somebody shout, “Let it go!”

IV. RISK THE COURAGE TO GET UP

A. You have to move before you feel ready.

So here he is. He is on his way out. But I am going to tell you, the Bible teaches us the final thing that you have to have: the courage to get up. Getting up is risky. It is risky because he has spent 38 years on his back, and now he has to be on his feet. But you have got to move before you feel ready. When the Lord says get up and go, sometimes you have got to move before you even think you are ready to go. You don’t think you are ready to go back to school, but go in anyway. You don’t think you are even ready to apply for that job, apply anyway, because somebody knows all you need is one word from God. I can tell you something: the miracle is in your movement. The miracle is in your movement, because when he got up, the Bible says “immediately.” Can I tell somebody, God is about to do something in your life immediately. The moment you start making a move in the right direction, the moment you start doing what God tells you to do.

9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

B. When you get up, don’t go back to where you fell.

I want you to see the man now. The thing that was holding him, now he is holding it, and now look at where he is going. He is leaving this place of pain. And guess what? When you get up, don’t go back to where you fell. I came to tell somebody, in this season you have got to declare, “I am not going back to the madness that I fell into.”

Can I help you understand what the real shout is? Don’t miss this. Look at him walking out of this place, the five porches, watch this, five porches around one pool, everybody depending upon the system, but he is now on his way out, walking. But please understand this, he ain’t just walking. He has walked through a system that everybody else is depending on. Let me see if I can make it make sense. For 38 years, other people decided where he was going to be. For 38 years, somebody said, “I’m going to put you on porch number one.” Somebody said, “I’ll put you on porch number four. We’ll just figure this out.” For 38 years he had no say in where people put him. But now, guess what, he is walking out on his own accord. He is walking wherever he wants to go, because this time he is going to go as God leads him to go, not as people dictate to him. In this season, when God gives you a miracle, God is going to give you a miracle in a way that is going to blow people’s minds.

Because there were two people who got a miracle that day. Here it is: one person got a miracle because they waited for the troubling of the water, and the system gave them a miracle, and we celebrate that. Congratulations. But there was another person who got a miracle, and they can’t tell you how they got the miracle, except this way: they didn’t go by the system. They got the miracle because the Savior touched their life. And when the person who got touched by the Savior has to see the person who went by the system, the person who went by the system is scratching their head, trying to figure out, “How are you in the same program? How are you in the same neighborhood? How are you making the same money?” “I’m making it because I didn’t go by the system. I went by the Savior.” And somebody here, God is about to blow your mind. Am I talking to anybody here? Look at your neighbor and tell them, “I don’t go to the pool. I’m not depending on the system, baby. Everything I have is because of God.”

So I came to tell you, you get up! Get out of that place. First, it is time to walk it out this time. Don’t just walk into your destiny. It is time to walk into your peace. It is time to walk. And come home. It is time. Home is not a building. Home is an alignment. Home is a place where joy is, in peace. Home is a place where everything begins to feel like I am exactly what God wants me to be. Home is a place where God got me off my back, and God put me on my feet, and God made me walk by systems that I didn’t have to depend on no more, because my blessings do not come from a system. My blessing comes from the Savior.

CLOSING INVITATION

Today, the Lord knew how long you have been in this situation. He brought you to this place today because He wants to talk to you. Can you rise up and walk and come home? I need a relationship with Jesus Christ. Rise up. Come home. He can handle it. Did you hear today, and you say, “Pastor, I heard this Word, I need to recommit my life. You were talking to me, that was me. I’ve got to let go of some stuff”? Come on and give your life to Christ.

Have a blessed new week with the Lord! ❤️

Work the Word Part 3:

Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

August 16th, 2026

Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV)

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

1. INTRODUCTION

Watch the full Sunday service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wx7vHZWEEg

Today, many of us will testify that what we need in this season is not necessarily more information. What we’re after is alignment. Alignment is important, because we live in a time where people want affirmation, but not adjustment. People literally want comfort but do not want correction. It’s important to notice this: while you are praying for transformation in your life, you have to also be open to truth in your life, because we’re going to discover that God’s word for us today is never meant to simply inspire us. It is meant to come into our lives and intervene in the deepest places of our lives, to bring about change. The word does not come to coddle our confusion; the word comes to straighten us out.

We shout on scripture on Sunday, but do not have the ability to live it out on Monday. We want God to change our circumstances, but we don’t want God to touch our character. That’s why we can say, “God, change all that, but just leave me alone” — but God is not just in the business of changing our circumstances; it is God’s desire to change us from the inside out, because once you change internally, things turn around — you begin to change externally. The word has a way of getting past our appearance and dealing with our intentions, going deeper than many of us even realize today.

I want you to understand that the word of God does not need permission to do what it does. It comes in because it is authorized by truth, and when the word of God comes into your life, please understand — God’s word is accurate, and God’s word comes in at the right time, at the right season. God speaks into my situation exactly where I am, but He’s not going to leave me the way He found me today.

We’re going to understand that there are some errors in all of our lives. We need God’s word to straighten us out. Let’s be honest — we all showed up with some stuff that needs to be straightened out. We can act like it ain’t us, but let’s be very clear: all of us have some stuff — attitudes, ways in which we’ve been dealing with some stuff we haven’t talked about. We all have some gossip areas we need God to straighten us out in, and if you’re open to it, I guarantee your God’s going to straighten some stuff out today.

A lot of the people in this book were Hebrews — believers who were Jews who had converted to Christianity — and they were under great distress. Many of them were frustrated because they were dealing with social isolation and spiritual persecution, and they were really wondering if it was worth it to continue on in their faith. It’s interesting because this book is written in a way the hearer could understand contextually what the writer is saying, because even though they were contemplating abandoning their faith, Hebrews encourages them to understand the power and efficacy of the word of God, because the word of God is what sustains us — it keeps us. When you begin to look at chapters 3 and 4, you begin to understand that the writer reflects back over Israel, and what they were carrying through the wilderness. He makes references to that — they were delivered from Egypt, but in the wilderness their problem was not so much the wilderness. Their problem was not obeying the word of God, not doing what God’s word said they should do.

It’s interesting because when you begin to look at that, we arrive at verse 12. This verse isn’t a random drop into this space — this word really is an explanation as to why unbelief is so dangerous, because God’s word is alive. It keeps speaking whether you hear it or not. God’s going to keep on speaking and keep on speaking and keep on speaking. God’s word is alive; He’ll keep on talking to you until you finally open up your ears and hear it.

So let me move real quickly — it’s important, because the Bible says His word — watch this — it is active. It is sharper than a two-edged sword. This is a reference this audience would understand, because Roman soldiers understood what a two-edged sword was. Please understand — a Roman soldier operated with long swords and short swords, but the short sword was the gladius. It was the two-edged sword, whereas the long sword was for slicing — it was for literally coming through, randomly just cutting. But the gladius, the two-edged sword, was more precision — it pierced the armor. It was something a soldier would really have to practice for years to perfect, because battles were not won by how long the sword was — the battle was won by how precise the sword was.

So the writer of Hebrews intentionally borrows this imagery, because God’s word never swings carelessly — it never wounds unnecessarily, it never misses its target. It reaches exactly where God intends, with divine precision. It’s a sword — the sword of God cuts with precision. It cuts both ways every time. God’s word confronts us — it’s cutting away something that doesn’t belong. God will remove unbelief, but He’ll build your faith. God will expose pride, but He’ll build humility. God will move deception away, but He will allow truth to take root.

And so today I come to tell somebody — God’s going to do what God’s going to do, if you open up your spirit and you are ready for God to do what God’s going to do. Somebody say, “Lord, do it. I need You to straighten me out in areas so that I don’t self-destruct.” So today we’re going to have a conversation. It’s going to get real up in here.

1. THE WORD IS ALIVE, NOT ARCHIVED

1. God’s Word Is Present Tense Power, Not Past Information.
2. Abraham spent time in Egypt during a famine.
3. Joseph governed Egypt.
4. Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s household.
5. The prophet Jeremiah found refuge in Egypt.
6. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary.

Now I want you to understand something: God’s word is present tense. Watch this — God’s word is alive and not archived. Somebody say, “God’s word is alive and not an archive.” That’s important because it means something — God’s word is living, not legendary. God’s word is not some relic. I want you to understand what God’s word is. God’s word cannot be looked at as something from history — it is functioning, it is real, it has authority. God’s word is right now. Your technology must be upgraded, updated, all that stuff — but God’s word does not need to be updated, because every day God’s word is fresh. It is relevant. It is right now. When I look at God’s word, I have to recognize something — I will not look at it like a social media archive. Social media archives will tell me where I was at that particular date; God’s word will give me a revelation of where I am right now. God’s word always speaks into my right-now situation.

When I understand that, when I open up the word of God, I am not looking at just an archived history of what occurred — I am trying to find out, “God, what are You saying to me in this very moment right now?” That means when you’re trying to figure out what you’re going to do with your family, God’s word is alive. When you’re trying to figure out what direction you’re going to take your career, God’s word is alive. When you’re trying to figure out how you’re going to navigate the storm you’re dealing with, God’s word is alive. He speaks to you right now in the midst of your situation — you don’t need another opinion, you just need to go to the Word and find out what God is saying right now, because there is a difference between knowing the story and getting the word.

You can know the story — thank God for the story. I know the story of how David defeated Goliath, but what I needed was the revelation for how I can handle my giants in my life. Thank God for the story of how Peter stepped out of the boat and started walking on the water, but I need the word to tell me how to get out of a situation that has me stuck in a boat mentality — how I can step out and do what people say I cannot do. So when the word now becomes real in my life, it becomes practical in my situation. The Bible is not just telling you what happened then — the Bible is showing you what God can do right now, because if He did it before, He can do it again.

That’s why you should not let your Bible sit on your shelf while your problems stay on your mind. You can’t have a closed Bible but an open anxiety. We’re living in a time now, biblically, where people just don’t read the Bible anymore. People just want one little devotional message on Instagram — one little click here, one little click there — and people don’t know the difference between the Psalms and the book of Job. Let me talk to you and help you understand — you’ve got to learn how to study God’s word. You’d better get to a place in your life where you’re built up and rooted in God’s word, “study to show yourself approved,” so you’re not out here gullible just because somebody’s quoting scripture out of context and it sounds good. It’s not always sound — you’ve got to know the word of God for yourself.

The word is alive, and it knows what to meet you where you are. It will meet you and will not leave you where it found you. You can read the same scripture in one season, and then God will use that same scripture in another season and speak to you wherever you are in either season. Somebody knows what I’m talking about. Let me help you understand this — that’s why there’s a difference between knowing the scripture and needing the scripture. Sometimes I know the word — I ain’t gonna lie, I know the word — but there are times I need a word. There’s a time I preach the word, but there’s a time I need a word. Who am I talking to? That’s why I come to this house of God — that’s why I stay in it, so that somebody gets justified. I’m not here trying to look famous. I’m not here trying to get somebody to like me. I’m not here trying to show up for something — I’m trying to get a word from God. Somebody came through the crowd today because you needed a word from God. Anybody know it only takes one word from God that can change your situation — one word from God can keep you from losing your mind, one word from God can help you get where God’s trying to help you get.

Watch this — you can’t just count the word, you’ve got to activate it. Don’t just highlight it, live by it. Don’t just quote it, but trust it. Here’s the deal — God’s word is present tense, not past information. It’s not some museum piece — the Bible is a mirror. You’ve got to look at the word of God and ask, “What is this showing me about me?” Let me help you understand something — watch this carefully, — God speaks now as good as He spoke then, and I must understand the word confronts me in my current situation.

• When The Word Feels Dull, Resistance Has Replaced Receptivity.

Some people ask, “How can this book, Pastor, written thousands of years ago, still speak to me today?” Can I tell you how — because the author is not bound by time. God stands outside of history while seeing all of history at once. He knew about social media before social media was a thing. He knew about AI before you even discovered computers. As a matter of fact, God knew all about you before you were even a thought between your mom and your dad — before He formed you in the belly, He knew you. God stands outside of history, and God already provides an answer before you even have a problem. God already provides a solution before you have the question.

So what’s important to understand — technology changes, the world changes, but God’s word remains the same. And as a consequence, I recognize that God’s word remains the same, but I’ve got to stop questioning that word, because God’s word speaks to us in our human condition.

There’s somebody who has a cousin who literally asked a question: “How can I trust this Bible? Isn’t this the white man’s religion?” Let me answer for you — history doesn’t support that claim. Christianity did not begin in Europe; it began in the Middle East, the land of Israel, before the gospel ever spread throughout Europe. Scripture was deeply connected to Africa. As a matter of fact, Abraham spent time in Egypt during the famine — you already know Egypt is in Africa. Joseph governed in Egypt. Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s household. The prophet Jeremiah found refuge in Egypt. After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph fled with Him to Egypt — making Africa the first place to shelter the Messiah. In the book of Acts, one of the earliest recorded Gentile converts was an Ethiopian official who carried the gospel back to Africa, and by the second and third centuries, North African cities such as Alexandria and Carthage had become major centers of Christian theology, producing influential leaders like Tertullian, Athanasius, and Augustine. Long before Christianity was ever displayed by Europe, the truth was already flourishing in Africa.

So don’t reject the Bible because somebody misused the Bible. The problem has never been the word — the problem is people who ignored the word while trying to promote their own agenda. Even enslavers tried to isolate certain passages to justify slavery, but they ignored the larger story of scripture — the story of a God who delivered His people from oppression, declares that every human being bears His image, and tears down the walls of oppression. The abuse of scripture by sinful people doesn’t invalidate scripture any more than counterfeit money proves real currency isn’t worth anything. So the word worked then, and the word works now — the word worked for your grandmother and the word works for you, it worked for your granddaddy and it works for you. The same word that brought one generation through is the same word that can bring you through right now.

1. THE WORD CUTS TO CURE

1. Exposure Is Not Punishment, It Is Preparation For Healing.

Who am I talking to — anybody know that’s how much power is in God’s word? Listen, listen, listen, listen — let me help you understand something. The word cuts to cure. What do you mean, Pastor? The word cuts me to cure me — God uses the word to expose you. He’s doing it to heal you. Surgery requires cutting — cutting brings about healing. If I can’t open you up, how can I solve the problem? So the surgery hurts, but the surgery also heals. My God is not addressing the superficial issues of your life — God is going after the deeper issues of your life. God is going for the root, because if we don’t get to the root, you’re going to keep producing crazy fruit, and people see the fruit and wonder why it’s so weird, when really it needs to be addressed because you’ve got some deep roots going on.

So you don’t come to church for a shallow message — you don’t come to church for something superficial. You need somebody to go down to the root. I need to go past the armor of my pride, go past the armor of my resistance, go past the armor of my rejection, and speak to the place nobody wants to speak to — go to the deeper place in my life. Can I help you understand — people of God, listen carefully — exposure is never punishment, it’s only preparation. Sometimes when God exposes us, He’s not trying to embarrass us, He’s just trying to reveal to us what’s wrong with us. When you go to the doctor and the doctor tries to expose you, that’s just being thorough. When the doctor gives you a diagnosis, they’re showing you your problem — the diagnosis is not judgment, it’s just the beginning of your treatment.

So when God gives you a diagnosis, God is saying, “Here is where we are, and here is where we need to go.” That’s what the word of God does — it shines a light on the places we would rather keep in the dark. It exposes the attitudes and insecurities and pride and fear and bitterness and secret habits and unhealthy relationships and unforgiveness, and it takes it to God, down to the deep places of our life. Some of us have gotten good at managing the symptoms instead of dealing with the source — we smile, we straighten up, but we come to church and say, “I’m blessed” — underneath the blessing we’ve got a bunch of unresolved issues.

Can I talk to somebody for a moment — God is trying to help you understand something: “I love you too much not to address it.” So when God sends His word, He’s not picking on you — He sends His word because He loves you enough to help you deal with the stuff you’ve been avoiding. Can I tell you something — when God does it, you’ve got to accept that, you’ve got to open up. Whenever you find yourself in a place where you know God is touching that place, you’ve got to say, “Lord, I thank You” — not, “God, why do you keep bringing this up,” but start asking God, “What are You trying to heal in my life? Why do we keep coming back to this?” — because God is trying to make sure. He’s not doing it to sabotage you — sometimes you are holding onto stuff that might prevent the thing God is trying to do in your life.

• Avoiding Conviction Keeps You Locked In Your Condition.

Here’s the deal, and here’s the problem — we are afraid of conviction, because avoiding conviction will keep you locked in your condition. Conviction is not God condemning you — conviction is this: I know there’s some things in me that ain’t right. OK, let me talk to this side — I acknowledge there’s some things in me that aren’t right, but the problem is some of the stuff I know ain’t right, I don’t want to change. Real people here — you keep telling me what I will not do, but you don’t tell me how not to do it. So if all I hear is “you’re not doing this, you’re not doing that,” and you haven’t given me a strategy on how not to, then I’ve got an excuse — I just don’t know how to not do it. I just can’t help myself, so I’m going to sit on the side of doing it because I like doing it. I’m like the apostle Paul, who wrestled — there was something in me that I wanted to do, I didn’t want to do; that I didn’t want to do, I kept doing. I keep going back and forth and I can’t figure out why I can’t stop.

I don’t know who I’m talking to, but let me help you for a moment, because you know what you do when you do it, and you know why you do it. Here’s the deal — the only way to not do it is to come to a place of conviction. Now I want you to see yourself like this — when you got saved, you got the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to wait for the Holy Spirit to come — people get saved and I hear them say, “I’m still waiting for the Holy Spirit to fall.” No, no, no, no, no — you have the Holy Spirit. The problem is you don’t recognize the Holy Spirit because you’ve got too much of yourself in the way. The reason I’ll be a fool for the gospel is because we believe less of me, more of Him — the less of me, the more He fills. So if you ain’t full of Him, you’re full of something.

Watch how it works — God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. God is my divine surveillance — He is the God who watches out for me, He is the God who has His eye on my situation. God the Word is my direction — the word I hide in my heart so that I may not sin against Him — that word is a lamp unto my feet to light my pathway. God the Holy Spirit is my teacher, my guide to truth, and they all work together because they are one, not separate.

So watch how conviction works — you sit under ministry like this and you get the word, and you go through something and the Holy Spirit brings that word back to your remembrance, but He can never bring back what hadn’t been sown. Conviction works like this: you know yourself better than anybody else, and God made you, so He knows you. You are the sheep of His pasture — it is He that created you, not you yourself. So God knows what your tendencies are, He knows what you are capable of. So there was a time you could cuss somebody out, go put a cigarette in your mouth, and go have the best night’s sleep of your life and not even think about it. But now, if you cuss somebody out, your conviction — the Holy Spirit — begins to rise up inside of you and trouble your spirit, and you’re like, “I shouldn’t have said that, Lord.” I feel so bad, let me text, let me call and try to make it right — that’s what conviction is, and here’s how it works: the closer you get to God, the greater your conviction. The farther you are from God, the less your conviction.

So if you can act a fool, if you can go do what you do with whoever you’re doing it with, and don’t feel nothing, you’ve got to check your distance from God. But if you find yourself falling short, and you feel horrible after, it’s not a time to condemn yourself — it’s a time to say, “Thank You, Holy Spirit, for convicting me, because I wouldn’t feel this way if I wasn’t getting closer to You.” Somebody give God glory — the enemy wants you to feel bad because you messed up, because you made a mistake, but conviction is different — for some of you, when you do stuff, you’re like, “I can’t even focus anymore, my whole day is messed up.” That’s how the Holy Spirit works — He purposely convicts you. Conviction is a gift — the absence of conviction means God has given up on me.

So today I just want to take a moment and pray: “Lord, if I’m wrong, correct me. If I’m drifting, redirect me. If I’m hiding, expose me. Lord, if I’m wounded, heal me. If I’m bound, deliver me. Lord, if I’m proud, humble me. If I’m comfortable, disturb me — because I don’t want to be comfortable and stuck in this place. Whatever You’ve got to do in this season, make sure I am aligned with what You have for my life.”

1. THE WORD DISCERNS WHAT WE DENY

1. Pornography & Sexual Immorality

Psalm 119:9 — “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.”

2. Unforgiveness

Colossians 3:13 — “Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

3. Fear

2 Timothy 1:7 — “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

4. Pride & Self Reliance

Proverbs 16:18 — “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

5. Gossip & a Critical Spirit

Proverbs 16:28 — “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

6. Infidelity (Emotional & Physical)

Hebrews 13:4 — “Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.”

7. Identity & Shame

Romans 8:1 — “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

1. God’s Word Reveals Motives We Hide from Ourselves.

Let me tell you this — the word is a discerner of what we deny. The text says the word discerns the thoughts and the intents — and you and I cannot discern somebody’s intent. Do you think you can tell somebody what was in their mind? You don’t have the ability to do that — that’s low-key demonic. You’re not authorized to try to interpret somebody’s intent. Only the Holy Spirit and the word can interpret somebody’s intent. All you have the ability to do is interpret behavior based on historical realities in your own personal life.

So here you are, a young lady — you cross the street and some guy blows his horn. He’s not blowing the horn because he’s trying to holler at you — people blow the horn so you don’t get run over — but your history has taught you that when somebody blows a horn at you, they’re trying to holler at you. I’m trying to help you understand — you’re interpreting behavior based on your own personal history, and sometimes your trauma can cause you to miss a moment. You’ve got to get to a point where you recognize only the Holy Spirit can determine somebody’s intent. God’s word addresses my intent and my motive — the word gets beneath the surface. The word helps us deal with the stuff we don’t want to address, all that stuff you’ve been carrying and struggling with.

Let me go deeper — so many of us know how to behave well but believe wrong. We’ve got the behavior down — we know the theological phrases, we know how to behave, we know how not to look bad — but we don’t believe right. Jesus says, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” So here’s the deal — God’s word reveals the motives we hide from ourselves. God is going to do this with His word — that word is going to confront what you’ve been justifying, that word is going to come and show you what your real motive is. I know you want the position, but I’m going to show you why you want it — do you want the position because it’s going to feed your need to be needed? Are you trying to feed some narcissistic side of you? Do you want to be popular, do you want to be famous, or do you want to help people? What do you want here — the word will always expose you.

You want to ask somebody, “Do you want to be with me?” The word discerns why you want to be with me — do you want to be with me because I elevate you, or do you want to be with me because we elevate each other? What’s going on over here — the word of God exposes this.

• Transformation Begins When Truth Interrupts Intention.

Let me help you understand — break this down with childlike understanding: transformation begins when truth interrupts intention. Let me make that make sense — change happens in your life the moment you allow the word to interrupt what you were trying to pull off. God knows what you’re doing when you’re doing it. You try to act naive like you don’t know, but He knows your intent — you know it ain’t right, what you’re trying to do. You know when you’re stealing what you’re doing when you steal — that’s why you go through all the trouble to try to get away with it. You know what you’re doing here, because you spend so much energy trying to get away with it.

Can I talk to somebody here today — God loves you so much that the moment you allow God’s word to interrupt your intention, that is the moment your change happens.

So you were about to send the text, and God sent a word that said, “No.” You were about to clap back at somebody — you had it all planned out — and then God said a word that said, “Vengeance is Mine.” You were about to walk away from where God placed you, and you were so frustrated, but then God said a word that said, “Be not weary in well doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not.” God sends a word just when you need it, at the right time, because He’s trying to make sure you don’t self-destruct — because He knows the plans He has for your life. He knows what your intent is, but thank God He will interrupt your intent to bring change. That’s why the interruption is a blessing — the word interrupts your intentions before your intentions become your mistake. The word interrupts your anger before your anger becomes your regret. The word interrupts your fear before your fear becomes your decision. The word interrupts your pride before your pride becomes your downfall.

So today we declare: “Lord, interrupt me. The way You want to interrupt my plans, interrupt my attitude, interrupt my appetite, interrupt my relationships, interrupt my habits, interrupt my thinking, Lord — whatever You’ve got to do.” Because God’s word does not come to make you feel better — God’s word comes to make you better. I did not come to comfort your dysfunction, God says — I came to direct you. I did not come to confirm everything you already believe — I came to transform who you are.

Somebody give God glory that God stepped in right on time and said a word to disrupt you. You get to the airport, everything looks fine — no clouds in the sky, we can take off, everyone’s settled in for takeoff — and you’re sitting there wondering why you aren’t taking off. Come to find out the pilot is not the only one making the decision — there’s someone in the tower that can see what the pilot cannot see. If you’re looking from air traffic control, you can see the whole picture — they can see another aircraft approaching, a storm developing, they can see something on the runway, they can see traffic that the pilot cannot see from the cockpit. Suddenly a voice comes over the headset of the pilot: “Hold your position.” I can imagine the pilot saying, “But everything looks fine right here.” The tower says, “I understand what you see, but hold your position.” The pilot doesn’t argue. The pilot doesn’t say, “I don’t feel like holding.” The pilot doesn’t say, “I’ve already planned my departure.” The person in the tower has information the pilot does not have.

That’s why God is telling you — I know you’re educated, I know you’ve got your plans all figured out, but sometimes God will tell you, “Hold your position,” because there are some people who ignored God’s voice and their lives are jacked up as a result. But when I give God glory, it’s because God held me up, and if you found out some stuff that could’ve taken you out, I give God glory that He interrupted me so that I did not wreck my life. Somebody ought to give God glory that He was able to keep you from departing when you wanted to depart, and now God kept danger away from you. Can you open up your mouth and give God glory — thank God for divine interruption. It was never designed to frustrate your flight — it was designed to protect your destination.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death — you’ve got to let God set the tone. I have seen God say one word to somebody who came into a service having already made up their mind that after this day, they were going to take their life, and I’ve seen the word come and interrupt their plans. I have seen someone come in ready to give up, ready to quit — I’ve seen the word interrupt their plans. I have been pastoring, and I have seen students come in here and say, “I’m going home, it’s too hard,” and I have seen God’s word interrupt their plans, and now they’re right here doing great things, because God is not going to let you walk away from what He has for your life.

Have a blessed new week with the Lord!