Stephanie Ike - Don't Count Yourself Out

Hey family, I'm Pastor Torey. Welcome to one YouTube channel. You're getting ready to hear a phenomenal message. It's gonna bless you. I have a couple of quick announcements really quickly. First of all, if you're not subscribed to this channel, go ahead and click the subscribe button so that you'll be notified. Anytime we go live, anytime. We've got something that's gonna bless you. Number two, if you want to support our ministry. We do great things, as you're going to experience, but we also do great practical things and we can certainly use your support. The instructures are on the screen if you want to give. And last, but not least, my new book Balance is available for pre order now. It is a game changing, life changing book. You can go to the balancebook dot com and get it and there's certain things that you will have access to just by pre ordering, So go to the website. All the information is there. Then let's get into this powerful, amazing word. God bless you family, Happy Sunday, So excited to be with you on this dand just excited for what God is going to do in your lives. I sent greetings once more. From our pastors, Pastor Teray Roberts and Pastor Sarah Jix Roberts. And so even just thinking about you know, I was with you last week phrase God, and if you did not tune in last week Sunday, I talked about some of the things that caused spiritual deafness. Right. We explored just conversations around distractions, desires, disappointments, and dishonor. And for me, you know, I took a page out of my own teaching because God was also highlighting areas in my life that was blocking me from when He needed to download into me. You see, like I mentioned last week, it's when you're talking to God. You could talk to God anywhere at any time, and you could also hear from God at anywhere at any time. But when God wants to download vision into your life. When God wants to download what can structure and just lay a foundation for your life, for what could impact the season or the next couple of seasons in your life. You have to be more intentional than just when you're cooking and praying. It's just like you know, if you think about it, in a company, they when the company wants to cast vision or when the company wants to have a conversation with where they're going. Normally they will plan a retreat. They'll say, you know, well, let's get all the employees together, let's plan a retreat, and let's talk about the vision for the next five years. What more about your life? Right? When God wants to download something into your life about what this season and what upcoming seasons will hold for you, you got to get home. You have to just get away from distractions, right, And there are other things, but for me in that message, what was highlighted to me was distractions and in particular my environment, and so on Sunday that last Sunday, actually checked into a hotel, turned off my phone and really just spent them alone time with the Lord. And it was truly remarkable. There were so many things. I came prepared, all the areas in my life. I had it written down. Everything I'm connected to, I have it written down, everything that the Lord has placed in my hand, to steward, I had it written down. And in prayer, I was just like, God, speak to me. I came out of my distractions and I came up to meet with you. Speak to me about what you require of me. In every area, and it was just pages and pages and pages of downloads and it was just remarkable. So I also charge you if you feel like you've just been going going NonStop, but you can sense that there is something that God wants to say to you, because it is the word of God that reveals that manifests and activates, and so whoever you would be in this season and in the next season, a word must come to you to reveal that version of you. It's so beautiful, you know. I just think about the scripture that says, delight yourself and the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Do you know that sometimes you don't even know what you truly desire yet until you delight yourself and the Lord. That there are things that have not even come into your heart, because it is it enters your heart when you first delight yourself in God, that when you begin to focus and reverence the name of the Lord, all of a sudden you're filled with new passions and desires because God is saying that I will put in your heart what you are supposed to desire, what is connected to your truth, what is connected to your identity. I will cause you to desire what is next for you? You know? In my life, I mean crazy enough, Like lately, I started having a desire to learn sign language and it came ou out of nowhere, Like it was one day I was watching a message and it was such a powerful message, and I was just so moved emotionally because I began to wonder, how about the people who don't have the ability to engage in this message the same way I do that? What about them? And I just had this desire come over me to learn sign language because I recognize that God, I don't want it. I don't even want the ability to communicate to be a barrier to reaching someone else with your word. If I have if I meet someone that I cannot communicate to the way I'm communicating right now, and the only way is to sign, I want to have the ability to do that. But you see, that desire did not come from me. That desire came from the Holy Spirit, because only he knows where he's preparing to take me to that would require me to have that ability. And so when you delight yourself and the Lord, all of a sudden he starts to put the right desires in your heart I'm sharing this because when a word of God comes to you, it begins to show you who you are. It shows you a version of yourself that you have not even walked in. Because life with God is a constant revealing and unveiling, the journey of life. You are constantly being revealed. And that is because there are parts of your lives. That's part of your life that is locked up in times and seasons. There's a version of you you will never meet until the right time comes and God sends a word to you to reveal who you need to be for that season. But this is the journey of life. We are constantly being revealed. That is why you can never define yourself by what you do, because God, it would always add to you. God can pull you from something and take you into something else. You define yourself by who you are. You're a child of God, You're a disciple of the Most High, and everything that He brings to you, they're all vehicles. Right. But here is the thing. Some of the things that the Lord showed me. And any time a word of God comes to you, the things that the Lord will show you will always be bigger than you. It would always reveal a version of you that you are becoming, not one that you have become. And so I'm looking at things that the Lord is revealing to me, and I'm like, oh, wow, we have a journey. But in the midst of that, the Lord gave me this message for you and for myself, and it's that as God is revealing you, don't count yourself out. Don't count yourself out of what his word shows you. Don't count yourself out of what he calls you. Don't count yourself out of his promises. Don't count yourself out of the greatness you see some of you Lately, you've been having dreams that you can't even understand. You're having dreams where you're sitting and you're meeting people that You're like, what in the world would bring me in the same room? You know some pun intended there, but what would bring me in the same room with these types of people? Your wonderaing, like, God, Like, why am I seeing myself in having dreams with certain people? The Lord is putting this so heavy on my heart. And it's because the Lord is showing you there's a place I'm about to take you. Don't count yourself out of it. Don't count yourself of the way that I will call you. Don't count yourself out of the words that I would instruct you, that you will stay obedient to the path and obedient to the assignment. Do not count yourself out. I'm showing you who you are and showing you where I'm sending you. You see, as we talk about this message, we're gonna look at the life of a man named Moses. We're gonna look in the context of when God encountered him. And I don't want to just assume that everyone listening knows the story of Moses. So before I go into this text, I'm just gonna give you a little bit of a backstory about Moses. You see, Moses was a Hebrew boy. He was born in a time where the king was the King of Egypt was threatened by all the Hebrews because the hebrew Men were growing at a number that he could not understand. Right, they were increasing abundantly, and he was threatened by their numbers, and so he had a plan that, you know what, we are gonna make them slaves. He enslaved the Hebrews, and in his insecurity, he actually ordered the midwives that any Hebrew, a woman that gives birth to a male child that that child should be killed. But the Bible tells us that the midwives they feared the Lord. So although the king gave this instruction, they were like, you know what, we do not answer to you, So they did not follow his instruction by killing the male children. So Moses's mother, when she gave birth to him, the Bible says that she looked at the child and saw he was a beautiful baby. Now, how many of you know every mother believes their child is just stunning. I remember my mother told me that when I was born. She didn't say it. Now my aunt told me the other side of it. So my mother is like, wow, look at my beautiful child, and everyone around there like, you know, this child is not that cute. Avertly they felt like I wasn't a cute baby. But you know what, the Lord does wonders right. But my mom is like, you know what, anyone who wants to disrespect my child can walk away from this houspital of the room. But every woman believes her child is beautiful. But that is not the point. The point is Moses his mother sees her baby boy and she's like, Wow, this beautiful child, there is no way that I can let you go. So she hid him for three months. When the three months expired, she's and she's trying to decipher, how can I allow this child to live at least find a way for him to just live. Not even about whether he's living a normal life or not, but I just need him to live. So she comes up with a plant, She makes a little boat. She puts him in this little boat and puts him on the river by the plants, and she's watching to see what would happen. Now, as God will have it, the king's daughter finds Moses, and later on we learned that she raised him up as her son. So Moses now a Hebrew in a time that his people are in bondage. He was raised up as royalty. He was living in the palace, he was trained in the way of royalty. But no matter how you dress it up, as long as his people were in bondage, Moses was in bondage. So one day Moses has taken it's taken a stroll, and he's going in the fields to check up on his people, and he sees one of the Egyptian tax masters and beating a hebrew man and Moses looks for the right time. In his mind, he thought what he did was in secret. He kills this man, buries his body and believes that nobody saw it. Moses had a passion for his people. Moses felt like, perhaps while I am in the palace, maybe I am god secret weapon. Maybe while I'm in the palace, I can create change. That there is something that I can do while I'm in the palace. And so even if it's for me to take them out one by one, I will do that for my people. Moses had a burden that he wanted to bring deliverance to the Hebrews. So another day, Moses is checking up on his people and two hebrew men are fighting. They're having a quarrel, and Moses is trying to separate them, and they looked at him. Moses never realized that they didn't respect him, because they're looking at him like, you're just privileged. Who gave you the right to act like you are our deliverer? You are privileged. You are raised in royalty. While we are out here in the sun, what we are in bondage. You are enjoying the beauty of the palace. Moses didn't realize they never respected him, and when he was out there trying to help them in this quarrel to separate them, they looked at him and said, oh, do you want to kill us like you killed the Egyptian. Moses realizes that what he did in secret was not secret after all, and the people that he was trying to save told on him. Next thing we know, the king is aware of what Moses has done, and the king is angry with Moses because all of a sudden, the king feels betrayed. So Moses runs away. He runs away from the palace, running for his life, and he finds himself in the wilderness. Forty years goes by before we get to the scripture that we're about to read, but during that time, Moses is married, he has children. The Bible actually tells us that Moses became content. Now, when you think about contentment, you think about happiness. Right when you finally find you know you're at peace with where you are. But that is not always a great thing. Because Moses became content not just with where he was. He became content with what was perceived as failure. Moses became content and believing that he is not the one to ever bring deliverance to the Israelites. He became content, feeling as though, you know what, that failure was actually a sign that I am not the one for the job. He became content in the place of obscurity. He became content in the place of feeling insignificant to the task. He became content, feeling that he had no value to give when it came to the deliverance of his people. He became content. How often do we find ourselves feeling content in a place that is actually where we settled That we settled because we didn't want to try again. Maybe it was the hurt of the embarrassment, or whatever it happened. He said, I never needed I don't need to sing anymore. That show didn't work out. It's not for me. I don't need to try this anymore. I went to so many auditions. They told me. No, I'm content with never having to do another audition. How many times do we try to make our contentment holy when it actually it is sin, Because you see, sin is anything that causes you to miss the mark of your life and one of the things that God had actually spoken to you about. But when you gave it a shot. It didn't work out. He said, well, I'll be content in the areas that are working for me. Moses found contentment as a father, as a husband, as a son in law. He said, look, this is working for me. I will be content here. I no longer want to explore this desire that was in my heart placed by God to bring deliverance to the Israelites. Moses was content. But you see in the beauty of God the place of obscurity. And I actually say place intentionally, because obscurity is not just about a season of your life. It is a place where you encounter God, and not just where you encounter God. Where God encounters you. The place of obscurity is God's opportunity to encounter you. Now, let's look into this scripture. You're gonna see what I'm talking about. This is an Exodus three, verse one to six. The scripture says, now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father in law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horreb, the mountain of God. Now it's important to note that Horreb was only known as the Mountain of God, not because that was what it had always been known as. This is when the story is not being recounted from hindsight. Horror was not called the Mountain of God at this time. The meaning of horror was actually a desolate place. Horror was also another name for Mount Sinnai, now Mount Sinai would would mark the spot for many significant life changing moments that God would later have with Moses. But in this moment, this is now the first significant moment that we are seeing in this desolate place. And it says that and came to horror the mountain of God, and the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame, in a flame of fire from the mist of the bush. So he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why the bush does not burn. When Moses turns to see this, he is not looking. He's not thinking this is something that is holy. He is just thinking this is something that is just intriguing and fascinating. And so when the Lord saw that, he turned aside to look. When the Lord saw that, Moses turned the side to look. God called to him from the mist of the bush and said Moses, Moses, and he said, here I am. Then God, God said, do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Now, when Moses is found in this mountain, it is believed that because you see, the Bible says as he was, he was tending to his father in laws flock. Right, So it is believed that perhaps he was looking for some food for the flock, not that he was going with the intention to pray, or he was going to seek the Lord. Moses was just going about his day to day business, and in the Lord's wisdom, he chose to encounter in a desolate place. You see, a desolate place speaks to emptiness. It speaks to barrenness, and being barren is simply the inability to produce. God meets him at this desolate place, in this barren place and calls him. But you see, first of all, what I love about God is he has such a track record with coming into spaces of barrenness. God has such a track record of revealing himself through barrenness. When we look in the Bible, we see the story of Sarah. Sarah was barren. Matter of fact, Sarah had passed the time, she had passed the age to even conceive children. But yet through her, God God revealed his plans and purpose because Sarah, who was once barren, would give birth to a nation, her miracle child, her promised child named Isaac. It was through him that we have that the nation of the Israelites were established. Then you have another lady by the name of Hannah. Hannah was also barren, but the Bible actually tells us that God closed her womb. Haron was not barren because of medical reasons. God actually shut her womb. And that just seems like outrageous. Why would the same God who says who commands actually be fruitful and multiply shut your ability to do the command to activate the very word that he gave us be fruitful and multiplier. The Lord shut Hannah's womb. And what I recognized in God's pattern is that what may look like natural barrenness is actually the Lord waiting for an appointed time to bring forth to birth his agenda, because Hannah would also give birth to a child named Samuel. Samuel is I mean, arguably one of the most significant prophets in the Bible when you look at what Samuel was connected to, what his purpose was connected to, his impact was beyond his times. But you see, Moses was also barren. God encounters Moses not in the palace. He didn't meet Moses when he was, you know, in royalty, because God never needed Moses's strength. When God encountered Moses in the barren place, it was also a reflection of Moses. Moses was also barren. Moses did not have the ability to produce deliverance for the Israelites, and this is where God meets him. But you see, the beautiful thing about God is that he is drawn to barrenness because the Bible tells us that he fills all things with his glory. There's actually a scripture I want you to take right down Isaiah six, verse three. It says, and one called out to another, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Host. The whole earth is filled with his glory. It is the nature of God to feel things, and so God is drawn to barrenness because he can feel it with his glory. He can reveal his essence and his glory through barrenness because he says, where there is emptiness, I can occupy. Where there is emptiness, I can fill it with my glory. You see Moses in his inability. When Moses was in the palace, he believed he could do something. He believed that he had his own strategy. But the word of God says, but our ways are not God's ways. God was waiting for Moses' strategy and agenda to fail, that he would introduce to Moses the strategy that cannot fail. He was drawn to his barrenness. But yet Moses, when you reed further in the scripture, you see how Moses is arguing with God every chance he gets. When the Lord is telling him, Moses is like, but God, who am I that I will go before Phari Phio? And God says I will be with you. Moses comes up again. He's like, you know what, but I'm slow of speech. Matter of fact, talking to you right now is really slow. This we are taking all the time in the world because I am slow of speech, God says to Moses, I will be with your mouth. Every time Moses revealed his barrenness, God revealed his glory. He says, Moses, where there is barrenness, my glory would fill it up. What about your life? Have you ever felt like, you know what, you've counted yourself out because of the areas of barrenness in your life? You see at the height of the pandemic, I noticed many people so that moving, whether they move back to where their family members were. It affected a lot. It affected people financially, It affected people just in so many ways, relationally, all types of things. Some people to move back to a city that felt barren to their dreams. People had to move back to places, people have to start working jobs that felt like barrenness to what God has spoken over their lives. Could that be your story? Could it be that maybe you're you move back or God has called you to move to a place that feels like barrenness that God, how what does this city have to offer me in what you've called me to do? God? What does this location have to offer me in what You've called me to do? I'm not going into abundance. It looks like I'm actually moving into lack Or is your potential what is barren that what you desire to do is not what your potential can carry. What is it in your life that feels like a desolate place? Because that is the area that God says I would reveal my glory. You see when the Bible says that the whole earth is filled with his glory, because the whole earth speaks to the wonder and the awe of God. Why there are still things that scientists have been researching for so many years is because the whole earth speaks to the awe of God. We are still discovering what certain plants have the ability to heal, We are still discovering what certain animals have the ability to do. Because all of creation points to the Creator. The glory of God is what speaks to his greatness, his splendor, his power, his majesty. And God says, I cannot fill you with my glory if you are full of your wisdom, if you're full of your strategy, if you're full of how things will happen, then there is no space for me. And so when God sends you to that barren place, or when God recognizes that you were in that barren place. It is an opportunity for an encounter with his glory. You see, I was I was looking, I was reading up on the news. One of those actor I was I was watching rather a speech he did, an actor named Chris Pratt, and I was so intrigued by just I was like, who is this guy? I was listening to this speech and even just what he was talking about with his faith, and I just wanted to understand his background. And I realized that he was an actor discovered while waiting tables at a restaurant. You want to talk about barrenness. He was waiting tables at a restaurant and that is where he was discovered and that led to the launching of his career. God knows how to meet you anywhere. God is a master at being a waymaker. He doesn't need all the conditions in your life to be perfect to open the perfect door. God is a master because when he opens that door, it would not speak of your glory. It would point to His glory. And God wants to reveal that through your life. You see, even when you think about our Lord Jesus, he was raised in a barren place. He was raised in a town named Nazareth. And it was so interesting because when a man named Nathaniel who would later be his de disciple, heard about Jesus. When they were telling him about Jesus, they were like, hey, come and see this man. We believe he is the Messiah. When Nathaniel heard where he was from, Nathaniel said he started questioning, are you sure? Because can any good thing come from Nazareth? He was kind of wondering, if God will pick a place for his son to be raised, why would he pick a barn place because it reveals his glory. Don't count yourself out because you have recognized the barrenness in your life. It is when God's glory would meet you and flow through from you. See another thing about Moses when we study about him and that scripture, when it says he hid his face from God because because he was afraid, you have to recognize that becoming you is a process. When God encounters you, he doesn't expect you to be everything that you are, because becoming you is a journey with God. But it is a process. And so when God encounters Moses and Moses realizes that it is the Lord, he hides his face from God. Reminds me about the first time we hear about people hiding from God all the way in the Book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve hid from the Lord right after they had sinned. When we see the hiding from God, then it is easy to assume shame and guilt. Could it be that in that moment, Moses recognizes that the one who sees all, if he sees my face, I don't want him to look at my past. I don't want him to look at when I killed a man. I don't want him to look at when I ran away. Could it be that there was shame and guilt connected to that moment? That God calling Moses opened some old wounds? You see, the reality in life is that where God is about to take you, it will open some old wounds, or it would surface certain insecurities. Perhaps you might start doubting yourself, Could I really be the one for this, Because when it's a God thing, it is absolutely far bigger than where you are. It opens things that you would rather keep buried. God, are you sure? But when you recognize that it was not Moses trying to search for God, it was God who found him. When you think about perhaps where God met you. When I encountered God at nine years old, I didn't even know if I believed if he was real or not. But in God's love and in his mercy, he still met me. Some of us may have encountered him at the bar, behind someone's car, in a sex house, all kinds of craziness. But when God meets you wherever you are, it is for you to recognize he saw everything about you, and he still said yes to you. This is what echoes what Jesus did on the cross, because when Jesus died on the cross, he died for the version of you that would even curse him. He said, I still love you, and I you say yes to you. Jesus's death on the cross was the yes to every mistake, everything that you would ever do, for him to say, regardless of it, I still choose you because he died for all of humanity. And so when God encounters you, he only echoes what already happened on the cross. Remember, I already paid for this. I'm not here to remind you of your failures. I'm not here to remind you of your shame. I'm not here for any of that. I'm here to call you into who you are. I'm here to call you into the assignment connected to your life. And don't worry if it looks like it's connected to barrenness, because it would reveal my glory. I will be with you. That is the greatest thing that God can ever tell. Tell you that I will be with you. And that's exactly what he told Moses. And so you need to know that becoming you is a journey. It is a process, and it is a process with God. I love this so much. There's a scripture that I want to read to you. You see. Actually before I get to that, it's in Deuteronomy. The Lord began to speak to me even last night because I'd been studying for this word from when he gave it to me. But last night there was a piece that he mentioned, make sure you speak about this and I wasn't planning to. It wasn't really in my notes, but he was show He was talking to me about legacy. And this is what I want to highlight when you think about Moses, when we think about then what must we do to get to this place that God partners with us, That God's glory is revealed through our lives. It's just about obedience. Be obedient to what exactly what the Lord has told you to do. And obedience is not sluggish. Obedience is not dragging your feet. Obedience is not just in saying, God, I'll do it. Obedience is when your whole essence comes into alignment with the word of God. You become passionate about what God has called you to do. You're in agreement with what there is, oneness with what the Lord has said. Even though you might struggle here and there, but you're gonna go and you're gonna do exactly what he did what he said to you. But here is the thing that the Lord began to speak to me about, because sometimes what cripples us is because of how grand and the vision might be, or how grand what the Lord puts in our heart is, we feel paralyzed and we feel crippled that God, even if you cause the sun to stand still, I don't know how I would accomplish all of this in my lifetime. I don't know where the help would come from. I mean, God, it sounds great, but it's actually it feels more paralyzing than activating. And here is the thing concerning Moses. And here is what I before I share this scripture. You see when you read Exodus chapter three, I want you to study that in your personal time. What happens when God first encountered Moses, he gave him. He cast it vision. He casted vision from a kingdom perspective concerning the Israelites. He said, Moses, this is what I'm gonna do. I will deliver my people. This is God speaking. I will deliver my people of bondage. I will bring them out of Egypt, and then I will bring them into a land of milk and honey. So there is two phases to this vision. There is phase one. I will bring them out of Egypt. Then there is phase two. I will bring them into a promised land. God is casting vision. Then the first thing he tells Moses, now Moses, I am sending you right. He's sending Moses as his representative, as his partner on the earth. Now, Moses, bring my people out of Egypt. He speaks about phase one of the vision. What cripples us is that we are thinking from the beginning, how do we handle phase one and phase two? God cast that vision to you. God cast that vision in your heart. He showed you something that he desires to do. But there are things that you start that others would finish. It is not for you to be so perplexed about how am I going to start and finish this thing? But once you start, what is connected to you would be revealed. Your legacy would be revealed. As you start in the path that God has called you to. When you start writing the script, when you start working on the book, all of a sudden, things start lining up to finish the vision that God has placed in your heart. When you start working on the business, things start lining up. Moses did his part. Moses brought the people out of Egypt, and it was through his legacy that there is entered the Promised Land. When many people look at Moses, they think Moses was a failure because he didn't enter the Promised Land. But you have to understand his relationship with God because when God told him Moses, you're not You're gonna see the Promised Land, but you're not going to enter it. But you have to study how Moses died. God literally said to him, Moses, come up here and die. And you have to understand the context of this because there were many scenarios that God will tell Moses things like, you know what, I'm tired of this people, the Israelites. I'm read to wipe them out, Moses, I'm wiping out all of them. And Moses would intercede for them. He said, Lord, you cannot do that. You did not bring them into the wilderness to die. What will be said of them? What will be said of you? And the Bible will say, Oh, the Lord repented. I mean, this was something remarkable that the Lord changed his mind speaking with Moses. When God said to Moses, Moses, come up here and die. I can argue that Moses had the ability if he truly wanted to wait it out and enter that promised line. Moses could have said, but Lord, I've been your guy. God did not inflict Moses with some kind of sickness and killed and just killed him. He gave Moses the option. He said, Moses, come up and die. Moses could have interceded for himself. But Lord, I mean, come on, now, I made a mistake. I'm sorry. You know, I apologize from the heart. I don't know if you've watched a thin line between love and hate. But Moses did not even argue his case. Why because Moses has actually seen his next The Bible says this in Deuteronomy thirty four, verse nine. It says, because the person who would finish what Moses started was a man named Joshua. And this is what the Bible says. Now, Joshua, son of None, was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid hands on him. Moses recognized, I know where I have imparted. I don't need to be here for the rest of the journey. I see who would continue what I started. You see whatever God has called you to do. Don't be so weighed down by how do I start it? How do I get to the middle point? And how do I finish it? There are people that would be bridges to manifesting the vision God placed in your heart, but you have to start in your obedience. You have to go Moses with all his wrestling, all God needed of Moses. Just go, just go and do what I said, and My glory would be revealed through you. And in the process, everything I said to you in the beginning, it will happen. Moses, don't worry about your old age, don't even worry about yourself, because when it comes to the point where you have reached the end of yourself, where you no longer have what it takes to lead these people. What you produced will finish the job. You see. For some of you, what you produce is in the very thing God has been telling you to write. God has been telling you to say. God has been telling you to build, and it will lead you to the next thing. But whatever the Lord is showing you, I need you to walk that thing out in confidence. You see, at the end of the day, you want it to be said of your life. God did this. God did this. I had a dream a few days ago and a certain man was showing me the journey of his life. He was showing me where he was raised up from where, and the whole time in the dream, he's telling me, I am only who I am because God did this. I am there is nothing connected to my life if it was not the mercy of God. And I started to and it's like this same story kept recurring because I have a prayer call I do with some of my friends who do it every Monday. And on Monday this past Monday, one of my friends was telling me and she was like, man, Stephanie, I was about to go so I was about to go to an event. IM about to get emotional. I don't know why I announced it because I don't like crying. But she tells me. She was like, I'm about to go to this event, and I put in you know, the address or whatnot, and the GPS re routes her and it takes her. This is someone who God has established her and God has raised her up. And she was going through a process where she started wondering, like, God, how am I supposed to do the next thing that You've called me to do? God, I don't know if I'm the one. And she just wanted to throw it, throwing the towel, and she said to me that I'm dealing with all this frustration and anxiety about the next thing God is calling me to do, and I'm about to go to an event, and my car actually takes me somewhere else, and my car took me where I found myself. She was like Stephanie, going from there to the event, I went by all the places I lived in the very start of this journey, when I didn't have a place to stay, when I was struggling, when nothing was working, And she realized God did this and I thought about my life who and when you look back, you see when you have been on the platform got set for you for such a for not even such a long time, for any amount of time, you sometimes forget where God brought you from. And I thought about my life, and I said, God, I was just a kid in Nigeria, but the single mom, and all I wanted to do was to live for you. I just wanted to make your name know. That was my desire. Everything else was like a fun passion or whatever. And I was just like, and you look back and you see how far it God brought you, Then how dare you question if God will take you even further? How dare you question if God can do what He's showing you when all you have to do is look back? And so I began to think of myself, and I said, you know what, Lord, everything you showed me and everything you spoke to me, all I have to be is obedient. It doesn't matter if I feel like I am functioning from a barren place, because in the new thing, your capacity right now is not what it is not enough to carry you in it. Because God, I know that your glory would flow through me. The same way it has been flowing through me. You want your life to be marked by God's glory, and I'm here to encourage you stop complaining. You see, sometimes a person can tell you to shut up in a holy way, because sometimes we just get caught up in all the things we want to say. But God, but God, shut up. And I mean that with love. People have to be able to tell you to shut up when it's time and align yourself. Align the full essence of who you are, to be obedient to what God said, and watch him reveal himself in that barrenness. God wants to fill up your desolate places. God wants to fill it up with his glory, and you allow him through your yes that God, No matter what I think of myself, no matter what I think I'm equipped or not equipped, no matter what the case is, God, I say yes. And I'm not saying yes while dragging my feet. I'm saying yes with confidence. I'm not confident in mean Lord, but I'm confident in You. You see. Sometimes when Moses will find himself at the crossroads. One of the biggest ones was when they were at the Red Sea and the Egyptians are coming after them and what is in front of them is water. And even if you can swim like a fish, at some point you're gonna drown because it was a huge body of water. And Moses does not look at himself. Moses is not looking at the trees and wondering and asking can anybody build a boat in here? He's not asking who are the skilled people that can find us a way out. What Moses does he calls on the name of the one who brought him to that point in the first place. And when he did, You see, it's so intriguing because God could have told him, knowing that Moses would reach a moment where he needs the Lord to intervene. God could have given him a blueprint. But the answer to everything was Moses, I would be with you, and God is with you too. He gave us a promise, never will I leave nor forsake you. When Moses was at the Red Sea, the moment he called on the name of God, God gives him wisdom a strategy. He says, Moses, lift up what is in your hand, Lift up that rod, And as he lifted it up, the water's parted into two. God could have told Moses at the beginning Moses on this journey, there's gonna be a moment where you're gonna hit a redsay, and when you do, just lift up the rod. Every time you find an obstacle, just lift up the rod. But God said, no, this is gonna be a step by step, because every time you hit an obstacle, I want you to call on me because I'm right there, and I would give you wisdom. The Bible says that God is our ever present help in time of trouble. He is ever present. He knows where he sends you. Matter of fact, when Jesus was sending out his disciples, he said something to them that is so intriguing. He said, I send you as sheep amongst wolves, but be wise as a servant and be gentle as a dove. He also tells them, you're gonna get in front of people. You're not gonna know what to say. But the moment you need to speak, I will give you the words to speak. Jesus is the same pattern in which we see the Father. He says, I would be with you. You have nothing to fear. I will be with you. God knows where he's sending you, and God knows what he is instructing you. And whenever you feel like you are at the end and you don't know how to continue, call upon His name. Can you do that right now wherever you are. I just want you to begin to call upon the name of Jesus, Say Lord, I need you, Lord, what is ahead of me? I cannot do it on my own. Lord, I need you, Lord, fill up this barren place. As the Lord was giving me this message, he began to show me even women who are literally facing physical barrenness. And I just released, under the authority of God, that you will bear your children. And watch the children that God releases to you. They are gonna be world shakers. Pay attention to them because there's gonna be such a mighty move of God that would come through your children. You have been experiencing infertility and barrenness, but you still have a desire to say, God, I want to carry my son. I want to carry my daughter. I want to ca carry these twins. I want to carry my children. And the Lord told me to tell you pay attention to the children that you would have, because what you thought was barren as in a natural was God preparing to invest his seed within you. His agenda his plans and his purposes that would be known as your sons and daughters. They will carry out his works. And wherever in your life feels like a barren place, maybe it's your story. The Lord was showing me people, and it was men and women that have been sexually abused, physically abused, verbally abused. There are some that you have never said a word to anyone because you don't want. You don't want You don't want to be perceived as damaged. You don't want to be perceived as broken. You're like, look, I already have enough to deal with. I don't want people to start feeling pity on me. But internally it is breaking you because you feel like you have nothing to give and what you had was taken from you. But the Lord says, even in that barrenness, you would see what I would do with you. My glory would be revealed through you. That your brokenness, it's not I'm not I'm not threatened by it. I'm not worried about it. Because He is the one who feels all things. He will fill you up, He will make you whole. What you have been seeking for is found in him. I want to pray with you, and maybe you're listening to this message and you've never fully committed yourself to the Lord because you felt maybe like Moses in the beginning, you felt like the one who has to hide his face from God. But do you know that Moses went from hiding his face from God to being the one that God bragged about. When he will say, look, Moses, my friend, I speak to him face to face. The same face that Moses was hiding was the same face that God bragged about. The Lord will say things like, if there if there are prophets among you, if there are people that speak on my behalf, He said, I speak to them through dreams and visions, and dreams and visions. They're powerful, you know. But he was bragging. He said, but Moses, my servant, Moses, my friend, I speak to face to face. When the Lord was saying this, he was talking to Moses's family because they had, you know, they were saying things about him. And the Lord said, how aren't you afraid to speak about Moses? Because this is the guy I speak to face to face and you have the audacity to speak about him. You see what you thought you needed to hide from. You thought you needed to hide your scars. But God is gonna brag about you. He's gonna say, oh my gosh, have you seen my daughter? Have you seen my son? Look at what they're doing. Oh my gosh. He's gonna be such a proud father every time he looks at you. He is already right now. But maybe you've turned your face away from God because you thought it was his judgment you would meet. You thought he was gonna remind you of your mistakes. And God says, come on, I want to brag on you. I want to call you. I want to invite you into who you are. You didn't know that this was a love affair, and even what may feel like, oh my gosh, this hurts Lord, this being in process. It's only God's discipline. And you want to make the Lord your personal lord and savior. You want to say, God, I'm all arms, I'm open, I want this. Then I need you. Then just in the chat, just say here I am right now, Just say here I am. We are cheering you on, and angels of the Lord are cheering. They are rejoicing. Every time someone comes to the Lord. There is a heavenly party happening. Thank you Jesus, Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Jesus, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. You know as there are many of you, but the Lord is highlighting to me, I see someone in a yellow beanie. And as you're listening to this message, you are wrestling with yourself and you were saying, Lord, could it really be you? And that's why he's showing me what you're wearing. You have a yellow beanie and even now you are grabbing that beanie. The Lord knew exactly when you would watch this message, and the Lord knew what you would be wearing. The Lord is after you. He is after you. He is after you, He is after you, and he's saying, come on home, come on home. You see sometimes when the Lord begins to highlight people because the Lord sees you're wrestling. I talked about a man named Nathaniel. When Nathaniel was like, can anything good happen for in Nazareth? The Lord Jesus knew that Nathaniel was wrestling with this idea, how can Jesus, how can the Messiah come from this barren place? When Nathaniel met the Lord, the Lord said, I saw you. He described to Nathaniel where he was and where he was coming from. Why did he do this? Because he said, Nathaniel, my eyes have always been on you. You question who I am. But let me reveal my deity to you. Let me reveal that I am not an ordinary man. I am the son of God. God sees you. God sees you. The Lord is showing me another gentleman. Your name is Aaron, which is so interesting because Moses had a brother named Aaron. And you are also wrestling with the Lord. You are wrestling because of how you have identified yourself. And you say no, but God rejected me, And the Lord said, I never rejected you. People rejected you, but that was never me. People made you feel unworthy, but that was never me. God says, I'm calling you, son, I'm calling you. I'm calling you. I'm calling you. Come on home and let me show you who you really are. Hallelujah, Heavenly Father. We thank you, Lord Jesus. We love you. You are a good, good father. Where can we go? Who would we be if not for you? David asked the question of our hearts. Who is man that you are so mindful of him? Who are we that you are so mindful of us? Lord? We thank you? You have brought us from a long way to where we are right now. And Lord, we even ask for your mercy if we have ever taken for granted the journey, if we have ever taken for granted our story and our testimony. Lord, we believe and we are dependent on You, have your way in and through our life. Heavenly Father, I thank you for those who are saying yes to you for the very first time. They're saying, Lord, I'm not gonna struggle any longer with this decision. I recognize that my life is truly found in You, and even what I thought was my brokenness, it was only an opportunity for your glory to be revealed. Lord. I want to brag and say, God did this. I want to boast. If I should boast in anything, let me boast in the Lord. So Lord have your way, and I thank you for the word that has gone for it, that you will steal it in the heart and the minds of your children. In Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Family