Warning – July 24, 2026: God Is Testing Your Faith Before Opening New Doors | Pastor Mike Jr.

For keeping us from danger. This can preach now. Seen and unseen. I'm going to say this and only three people may resonate with this. I got a lot of things to be frustrated about, but in the overall totality of my life, God's been good to me. Am I preaching to anybody? So my greatest gift because I told you and it's on the screen in established relationships, gift-giving becomes more emotional and symbolic. It's not about the amount, you know. It's not about what it is. At the time, I didn't do anything crazy. It was a sacrificial offering for me because even in the Bible when Jesus is examining the people who are giving, people are putting large sums of money in the offering. Jesus sees a woman with two mics. Let's just say two pennies. And he said, 'Now, she gave the greatest gift.' See, because man sees what's given, God sees what's left. He said, 'Yes, they gave a lot of money, but they had a lot of money. She didn't have nothing and she gave something.' So it's about the symbolism or the emotional attachment to the gift. You know this when you're in a relationship, if a stranger walked up and gave you some flowers, what you going to say? Oh, that was so nice. You going to keep it moving. But when you're in an established relationship like right here, and then that brother walk up to you and you be like, 'Hey, baby, you know, one day I'm going to get you a ring, but I can't get that ring right now.' So I was at the gas station thinking about you and I saw a ring pop. And so I got this ring pop right now, baby, cuz I want you to know at this level I'm committed. And I know it ain't much, but I just want you to know that it's on my mind. You going to sit there and be like, 'Oh, Ricky, you ain't have to do that. Go on somewhere doing too much.' You going to be on the phone like, 'Girl, you got me a ring pop.' Cuz it's going to mean something to you. Fellas, don't act like that. Let you come home and all of a sudden she tell you she got you an F-150. You like, 'You give me an F-150?' Then she break it out. Bam. I went to the toy store. And I know you always talk about you gonna get you a truck. And baby, we can't get no truck right now, but I got you this F-150. This what we going to do. We going to put it on the dresser. So every morning we wake up, we going to look at that F-150 and say one day, you know what you're going to say to her, man, go on with that. As soon as your kids, who touched the F-150 in the room? Because it what means. The question I have is if no part of you ever wants to give something to God, what you're saying subconsciously is whatever he's done for you don't mean nothing. And so what I'm trying to get you to realize is this week gifts have the potential to shift the relationship from good to great. So that's why this week the thing I want to give my church is hope. I want to give you hope.

And hope is more than a feeling. It is more than optimism. It is, put this in your notes, a spiritual force that refuses to bow to what it sees. Come on, Michael. Because it's anchored in what God said. Who going to help me preach this morning? It is a spiritual force that refuses to bow to what it sees because it's anchored in what God said. See, when the culture talks about hope, they say things like, 'Well, did you apply for the job? I applied. You think you're going to get it?' 'I hope so.' When they say, 'I hope so,' they are using it as if it's wishful thinking. What I'm telling you is when you walk in faith, we don't have wishful thinking. We don't say, 'I hope so.' We say I know so because hope is confidence. Please put this in your notes. It's not on the screen. Somebody in the comments put it in. Somebody in overflow be my captain today. Hope is confidence rooted. We're going to talk about it in about 12 minutes. In the character of God. That's important. Hope is confidence rooted in the character of God. Why is that important, PMJ? Because the gift of hope, first definition, is the divine ability to stay convinced. I think I'm going to run on the inside, even when everything on the outside don't make sense. This the last service of the day. I may have church. The gift of hope is the divine ability to stay convinced on the inside when nothing makes sense on the outside. It is the confidence to stay convinced on the inside when nothing makes sense on the outside. Let's run this again. It is the ability to remain confident on the inside when nothing makes sense. See, on the outside, there is a certain amount of money I should have in order to pay these bills. I don't have that amount of money on the outside. Yet, I'm not tripping because I don't allow what happens on the outside to affect the inside. I allow my inside to impact my outside. And that's why people can't figure you out. That's why folks still trying to figure out why you ain't with cuckoo for cocoa puff. Have you ever been in a situation where folk knew your business? Have you ever been in a situation where folk know your business and you can tell they've been gossiping and folk waiting on you to come around? Then you walk in the room and they be looking at you sadder than you be and they give you that look like you okay? I'm good. Are you sure? No, I'm good. You don't have to be tough with me. Look at me. I'm good. Are you sure you good? No. No. You more concerned than I am. My hope ain't in them. My hope is in God. And because I got God on the inside, I don't care what's happening on the outside. Am I preaching to anybody? Seven of y'all were this week. That's what you going to have to tell folk. No, I got something on the inside that won't let me lose my mind. That's why I'm so proud of that boy right there. We've been playing football all year. I've been telling y'all all year about my little quarterback at Hillary Town. Ain't it? Don't have no scholarship. Don't have no scholarship. Keep the faith. Keep coming to church. Well, this week, two scholarship offers. I walk up to that joker. I said, 'Which one you going to?' He weighing my options. How you go from nothing to options? And I prophesy over you because you've been faithful, because you've been kind. God gave you a season of options. That's hope. Still had to play. That's hope. And what I'm trying to get you to realize is hope. Even when there's no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping.

Y'all didn't hear what I just said? Look at it. It's right here. Romans 4:18. Even when there was no reason, just a little bit in the monitors, no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping, believing that he would become the father of many nations. Here it is. For God said to him, 'Okay, I would have to up all my churchy folk. Where my churchy folk at?' Churchy churchy. No. No. So churchy like I would old PMJ. I would have towed this up right here. I would have preached cut cuz the text says, 'Huh? The text says that in Romans 4 and 18 it says even when there was no reason to hope. Abraham, he kept believing. Yeah. And he kept hoping.' I don't know who I'm preaching. I could preach now. Don't get it twisted. I came from a Baptist church now. I can go. So the 30 in me would have said, 'Oh, I would have preached that.' He kept hoping. But none of them 40 shorty. I see why he kept the hope. Look at it. Why did he keep the hope right here? He said, 'I kept on hoping. I kept on believing that I was going to become, don't forget I said that. I was going to become 10 people put that in the comments. Don't forget I said that. I was going to become the father of many nations.' Why you hoping, Abraham? Cuz God said to him, 'That ain't going to make sense to everybody.' But for five of y'all, I just gave you language as to why you won't quit. And people keep trying to convince you you should give up. They don't realize I can't quit. God gave me a word. Am I preaching to anybody today who can say God gave me a word? He made me a prophetist. That's critical. Look at Jeremiah 29:11. He says, 'For I know the plans that I have for you.' Who's ever heard that scripture growing up? Declares the Lord. Here's what we only know cuz we only quote scriptures. We don't read them. Plans for you to prosper. But that's not what the scripture says. It says plans for you to prosper and to give you hope. But can I show you what the problem is? A text without context becomes a pretext, thus conning you out of the truth. You can't even preach verse 10 if you don't know verses uh you can't preach verse 11 if you don't know verse 10. And you can't preach verse 11 if you don't talk about verse 12, 13, and 14. Look at verse 10. Look at this cuz this all we talk about. Well, I got for God. I know the plans you got for me. We say that every time we think we going to get something big. But look at verse 10. This is what the Lord says. No amens right here. When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. Verse 11. For I know the plans I Wait, wait a minute. Wait. Ain't no shouting now, is it? Now you just told the whole church up a minute ago, for I know the plans. Yeah. Plans for you to prosper. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to prosper. Now, that sound good, don't it? But look at verse 10. He tells them, 'Yeah, I know the plans I have for you, but go back to verse 10.' After 70 years, this can preach. God tells them, 'I'm going to get you out. I just ain't going to do it today.' So this is what we going to do. In 70 years, I'mma come back.

And you cry cuz didn't happen this week. Look at verse 10. This is what the Lord says. When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise. Verse 11, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Look at verse 12. Then you will call on me. Can I free you real quickly? Can I free you real quickly? Some of you looking like it's going to take 70 years for him to come through when God is looking like it's going to take 70 years for you to finally call me. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. Verse 13, you will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, verse 14, I will be found by you, declares the Lord. And I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nation and places where I have banished you, declares the Lord. And I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile. We walk by and not by. We walk by and not by. Faith is the substance of things for it is the faith is the substance of things. Hope there's that word again. So can I ask you a question? Can I talk to you real quickly? Can we be honest? Who honestly sometimes believe faith and hope is the same thing? Ain't nothing wrong with that cuz we never talked about it. When you say faith, it's like I just got faith or I got hope. No, faith is now. Hope is next. Did you catch that? Faith is now. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. So no, there is a delineation between faith and hope. That's critical. Faith, put this in your notes. Faith, next slide. Faith is when we believe God. Hope is when we expect God. Michael, faith is when we believe God. Hope is when we expect God. Okay. I like making things practical. Who knows somebody right now, family member or a friend who got some money? You know they got some money. They make it clear they got some money. All right. So you got faith. Go back to slide. I want them to see this now. They you got faith, which means you believe they got money, but you know they stingy, which means you believe they got the money. You just don't expect them to give it to you. So it's possible to have faith and not have hope. Or this is when it gets toxic. You got hope but don't have faith. Which means you expecting people you really don't consciously don't believe in. So faith is when we believe God. Michael hope is when we expect God. I'm going to say this. Only two of y'all going to catch it. The two who going to catch it, we may have church together. The rest of the thousand of y'all we'll be back to get you later. Cuz it's two words that should shift the whole room if you got faith and hope. And when you talk about it, something in your spirit should leap. Cuz for me in 2026, I expect y'all miss what I just said. Y'all miss what I just said? Thank you. That's 1 2 3 4 5 six of us. Six, seven. Thank you so much to the nine of us who caught that. I don't even need to fill in the blank. I expect no. Yes, I got faith. I believe God is a healer. I believe God is a provider. I believe God is a way maker. Now I don't progress from believing to expecting. Watch this. An expectation is a belief. My go or assumption that something will happen or that a certain outcome is likely.

That's good. Each service just get better and better, don't it? Expectation is a belief or assumption that something will happen or that certain outcomes are likely. All my 20somes give me a what what teens give me a what? What? 30 somethings give me a what? What? 40 somethings give me a what? What? 50s give me a what? What? 60 give me a what? What? 70s give me a what? What? Huh? Any 80s? All right. So let me ask you this question. When I was younger, there was certain things I needed cuz I wasn't mature. See, look at that definition on the screen. Expectation is a belief or an assumption that something will happen. I thought hope was expectation because it will. Now that I'm 40ome and I done lived a little long, I've experienced disappointment. I'm going to free you right here. I've had seasons where God didn't. You got to be older to catch that. See, cuz when you young, you only remember the seasons God did. I want to say that better. When you young, you only appreciate the seasons God did. When you get older, you thank God for the seasons he did. Y'all do not hear me when I say this. And so now that I'm 40 shorty now, I just don't think thank God for the he will. I thank God that certain outcomes are likely. You missed what I just said. So let's do the math. Let's do the math. Has God come through? Has he ever provided for you? When you look around your circle, do you have instances where you can see how God moved in them? So I'm not sure if it'll happen, but what I can say is it's likely. If he has healed, he will heal. It's likely he'll heal. And if he has come through, then it's likely he'll come through. Why PMJ? Next slide. Because expectation is the mental anticipation. Please put that in your phone. It is the mental anticipation of a future event based on experience, desire, or evidence. So in your notes when you write that definition, certain things I want you to underline. I want you to underline mental anticipation. Most of us break down because we do not anticipate. We do not anticipate. Jaden, catch this for me real quick. You ready? Let's go. Line your hands up cuz I told him to catch it. So when his ears heard catch this, his mind created strategy. His mind told his hands, 'Get in the right posture.' Why? So the fact that he went like this and nothing happened doesn't mean he's silly. It mean he had mental anticipation. Did you catch what I just said? It means he was ready. It means when he goes to the mailbox, he open it like it's going to be something. When he go on interviews, he walk in like he going to be here. When he walk in dealerships, he walk like God can do it. My problem is you don't realize, put this in notes. Expectation influences behavior. Michael expectation, I am preaching influences behavior. Expectation influences behavior. Expectation influences behavior. Which means if you're really expecting it, act like it. Michael, I'm going to come over there cuz they are not having church over here. Oh my God. I cannot stand them. Y'all we going to have church. Expectation means it influences my behavior, which means I should be acting like not where I am. I should be acting like where I'm getting ready to go. I should drive my hoopy not like it's a hoopy. I should be driving it like it's a bins because I may not have it now but I expect. Am I preaching to anybody? So hear me when I say this is expectation. So hear me. Pastor Mike, you doing too much. Bruh bruh bruh bruh. So y'all know how yall do old people. Ram was on one day. Middle age people, man. He really said some good stuff. Teens bro in it, wasn't it? In it. He was in it. But I'm being honest. So let's just be practical. Who believe in God to move in 2026? You want to move? Can you show that for me? Go to the crowd. I want everybody at home to see that. Look who everybody moved. You see that? Who already packed? No, you ain't. You ain't packed. So your stuff in boxes. So if I come to your house after church, all your dishes in boxes, all your clothes out the closet. See there? But you said you expect to move. Oh, I see what it is. You ain't really got hope. You really saying, God, when you do it, I'll respond. Hope does not wait for it to happen. Hope. Act like it's going to happen even when I don't have the evidence that it's about to happen. Now, Pastor Mike, you're being too super spiritual now. Oh my god. Squad. Squad. They you being too super spiritual now. See, that's why I don't like all these church folks how to pack my how stupid I look. Going home putting all my stuff in. So when I get ready to cook where I'm supposed to find some dishes if they all in the box, what's the difference between a box and a shelf? Go back in that box. Pull out one plate. I don't need 10 plates. I ain't going to be here for 10 dinners. I'm going to take it a plate at a time. You like that? I'm going to take it a plate at a time. Pastor Mike, you tripping. There you go. That's I was with you, but you're being super spiritual. Every mother, give me a what? What? You pregnant? How far are you? You 7 months. What? Y'all excited? You excited? You happy? I found your phone. Say I five month. You five. That's your fifth baby. I got five. Yeah, girl. Seven months, huh? You already got Pampers. You got baby food. You got clothes. Boy or girl? Girl, you already got the baby room. You already got the wallpaper, everything. Crib. So can I ask you a question? Why you got pampers and clothes for somebody who ain't here yet? It's because she's expecting. And if I'm expecting, I should act like that. Am I preaching anybody? I expand. I don't know where I'm going to college, but you're going, right? So start filling out financial aid. You want a promotion, right? Then why your resume ain't updated? I'mma mess around in sign language one Sunday. Hear me. I'm being serious. What you expect? I don't want to stress nobody out. I don't want to scare nobody out. They got to get scared. I don't expect to be your girlfriend or your boyfriend for another 6 years. No, they going to get invited over and they going to see colors. Hey, what's Hey, what size you wear again? Cuz we wearing bronze and orange like what? No, I'm expecting a wedding. What do you think this is? Huh? I heard somebody this dude stopped me at a gas station. He was like, 'Man, you be preaching.' I be like, 'I've been doing it all week.' Huh? I expect I expect I had no members, no balcony and would preach shout in the balcony. Miss Pope, we had 100 members and was saying we're the city's church. Hire you the city's church with 300 seats. The city can't get in. Then you go to the BJCC 12 years later cuz we expect it. You want to know why you need to change your circle? Not cuz they messy. See, I'm going to free you. There's certain people in your circle who messy, but they can stay. They going to grow out of that messy. See, I can deal with your messy. You got to go cuz you don't expect nothing. And I ain't got time for your no expectation to be grinding and trying to suffocate my expect. I'm preaching to somebody whether you receive it or not. It's hope. That's all I'm trying to get you to realize is that we making stuff more complicated than it is. She getting ready for this baby cuz she expect the only difference between her in the natural and us in the spiritual, she has physical proof that it's coming. And what I'm trying to tell you is now if God made you a promise and you've been faithful and you've been consistent, stand on that evidence.

Why is that important, PJ? There are three reasons we don't have expectation. I'm going to shut it down in 10 minutes. Three reasons we don't have expectation. Watch this. Expectation is the mental anticipation of a future event based on three things. Put this in your notes. Experience, desire, evidence. I already saw y'all shirt. When y'all walked in, I saw y'all's shirt. I was like, in 11 minutes, I'mma preach that shirt cuz I knew I was going. No. Expectation is the mental anticipation of a future event based on like my son Mason. Like he playing ball. My son Xander. My son Xander didn't have no scholarship. I was no nothing. But we expect. So I say stuff like when you get ready to make your decision, you got to do so and so so and so. On signing day, baby, we got to do so and so so and so. I'm the type of crazy daddy. I'm the type of crazy daddy that once I hear them start whispering schools they like I go on Amazon and buy shirts. So he be at the house like there go there go there go cleansing tower. There go and so tower there go. Cuz even if it don't happen I am training his expectation. Did you catch that? That's what I'm doing. See, cuz so it's mental anticipation of a future event based on three things. Experience. So young people in your notes, when you put experience, right? Me and God got history. I am so hot. I think my intrusive thoughts just took over. Are y'all still a little hot? Okay, go ahead and fan. So we the camera on you, fan real quick. All right, now stop cuz you're going to make me nervous. But I want to say this and I mean this from the bottom of my heart. It is a level of expectation. Even y'all being hot today for the people who were at our small church back in the day, we used to say I used to say we didn't have heat. So in the winter time we would get these kerosene blow torches, propane. Remember that? Me and Gotti and all would get there at 5 in the morning with these propane tanks. And those propane heaters, we used to be like, we used to blow fire in the sanctuary all night. And we would turn it on from 5 to 8 trying to heat the place up. So when people came at 9:00, they have no money. They have nothing. And like to say in the sermon, when I get a church, y'all going to burn. I expect. So when you go home and they say, 'Why that man got that heat on 90?' He expected it 17 years ago. But it's based off experience. If God has kept you, you have experience that he will kept keep you. Number two, desire. Can we not be deep right here? Can we be very simple? Do you want it? Then act like it. If you want it, act like it. Can I ask you a question? Here's a question the Holy Spirit had me answering for the last 24 hours. Don't let who took your confidence? Oh no, we got that back now. Who took it? Don't let that school take your confidence. How are you thinking you not who you are? Don't let life take your confidence. Every now and again, you just got to go back through your phone and remember what God done did for you.

You ever went back through your phone and looked at pictures and looked at old videos and was like, you know what? Come on now. Come on. I done put on a little bit, but don't get it twisted. Don't get it twisted now. Come on. So, so it's based on evidence. I love that shirt. I got up to preach. That shirt literally says, 'I am God's evidence.' This is why your circle is important. It ain't to kick it, baby girl. We can find friends. But who going to go eat with me? Go eat by yourself. It's so fun. Oh my god. You don't even realize how much space at the table till you go by yourself. You be sitting that thing like no appetizer right here, meal right here. Can I get another plate so I just don't have to? You be sitting there like all type of options on the table. Tea, water, dessert. You be trying stuff. Then guess what? When you're ready to go, we ready to go. When you tired, we tired. I need a friend who's appetite.

I've never really been a money offering raising preacher. So, as a consequence, we had thousands of people coming to church, but I never really had money. I just always felt like if it was his will, it's his bill. I'm going to trust God. My time is coming. So, when it came time to get buildings, I never really knew my hope would always be low 'cause I never, this is the honest to God truth. I never thought we would have nice things. Like that's... I'm just being blunt with you. I had faith. I felt like we would be this big church that influenced people, but we would never have anything. So I would say stuff in my mind like, 'Well, I don't need a building. I don't need someone. It's cool. I'm going to be all right.' Until I started, my circle changed. I put my whole staff on a plane one time and went to a city and said, 'We're just going to go look at this church.' And we just walked through it. I was like, 'Oh my god. Oh my. Look how clean. Look.' Then I came home and was like, 'God, I needed evidence.' I said it once and if you've never heard me say it, you may want to write it. You can only dream at the level you've been exposed.

This is good. Can I remix it for 2025? You can only hope sometimes at the level you've been exposed. So once I went and saw one community, I was like, 'Oh my god.' When I went and saw Concord, I was like, 'Oh my god.' Never forget one time Mike Todd invited me to preach during the pandemic. He said, 'You want to come preach?' I said, 'Yeah, sure. I'll come preach.' But I put my whole team on a plane. They had just got the ring. I said, 'We got to go look at it.' I said, 'I ain't going to even be arrogant. I just want to see.' And after I got done preaching, I said, 'You ain't got to give me nothing. Can you just walk me through here with my team so they can see?' And we walking through there looking. And while we looking, we texting each other like, 'God can do this. I needed evidence.' Pastor Mike, you're the pastor. And I still have hope deficit. A hope deficit. [laughter] That's good. Like you can have a vitamin D deficiency. I had a hope deficit. Faith was through the roof. Favor through the roof. Hope was low.

I have hope deficit. I ain't have no evidence. I couldn't look in my near vicinity and see people who had stuff.

Seeing this guy named Jason coach his son when Mason was in kindergarten raised my hope to be a dad. Mason's on his team and I'm seeing how he coaching his son. He got travel bags, all this stuff. I'm sitting there like, you know what, that's me. And when I saw that, something in me was like, that's what I was trying to do. And the next year, I'm coaching my boys team, coach them all the way through. Everybody want to be on Pastor Mike's team, yada yada yada. But I had to see the evidence. Some of you don't think you can be happy in a relationship 'cause you ain't seen evidence. Some of you think you can't have stuff 'cause you ain't got evidence. I speak by faith. This week, God going to show you evidence.

You going to be in the elevator with somebody like, 'What you do for a living?' And it's going to blow your mind. God, give us evidence.

That's why like this week I was talking with Angel Reese and I told her, I did her podcast and I was telling her, I said, 'I pray for you so much.' I said, 'Baby girl, 'cause you evidence.' I said, 'It's little girls who going to see you and play. I can do this and I can be a boss and I can be an athlete and I can control my market. I can rise from where I am. I can go from a Maryland to a LSU and still become XYZ.' I'm telling people now when I see him, you evidence, bro. You got to be what God called you to be. It's nephews and little kids who going to look at you and say, 'If he can do it, I can do it.' The devil is trying to break you not 'cause of you. He's trying to break you 'cause he don't want you to be the poster child for what God can do.

I got to go. Let's talk about this. Expectation is the posture of the heart that prepares you. I'm not going to finish today. I'm going to finish this. Expectation is the posture of the heart that prepares for what God promised before it shows up. Basically, hope is tied to the nature of God. Once I do this, I'ma stop. But you can't leave before I do this or it ruins everything I preach. Seriously. Because all that sounds good is not going to last. Everything I just told you won't work without what I'm about to say. Okay? Many of us will never have hope of biblical hope 'cause we don't know the nature of God. The nature of God is the sum of his eternal character, attributes, and ways. It is who God is in his essence. It's who God is. Take a picture of that screen. Take a picture of the lower third if you have to. I want you to put this in your notes. The nature of God is the sum of his eternal character, his attributes, and his ways. Why is that important, PMJ? I need you to catch this. Because God's nature, everything God does flows out of who he is. You got to get this. Hear me. Everything God does flows out of who he is.

God's nature is his unchanging identity that reveals his heart, his power, and his purpose toward humanity. Why is that important, PMJ? Are you ready for this? Cause how you going to have hope, baby girl, if you don't know who God is? Can I put it like this? You know what God do. You don't know who God... All my teenagers give me a what? What? Everybody in their 20s and 30s give me a what? What? Everybody in my 40s give me a what? What?

This week I'm giving you homework. If you have a parent still alive, I dare you to go sit with them and ask them questions 'cause all you really know is what your folks did. You really don't know who they are. And if you knew who they were, it may make sense of what they did and did not do. I'm finding out stuff about my parents now. It's like, 'Oh, that makes sense.' Me and D sitting down like, 'Oh, that makes sense.' Now it gives me another level of compassion. It makes me almost want to be a better son. Like, 'Dad, I ain't know that. Dang, mom, I ain't know that.' Yeah, we couldn't do nothing. It was so and so, son. So, me and your mama. When you was a baby, it was so and so, then I had to do this and your dad. I'm like, 'Whoa.' And that's how we are with God.

God's nature, I'm going to give you the PMJ definition. God's nature means God is always God. No matter how inconsistent life or we may be, God is always God. No matter how inconsistent you are, he's still going to be good. No matter how flaky you are, he's still going to be good. You want to know why? Here's his nature. Put it on the screen. Take a picture if you have to look at God's nature. It's on the screen right here. Look at what it said. His nature. God is holy. God is love. It's on the screen right there. It's his nature. So, here we go. You ready for this? What's his nature, PMJ? God is holy. What does that mean? God is set apart and completely pure. He is undefiled. There is no snake, no jank, no nothing in him. He is pure. His holiness reshapes our identity and calls us into a higher life. He's pure. Which means when we put our life against the mirror of God, it should make us want to come up.

What else is he? He's love. Oh, that's good. God is love. God's core posture towards his creation is self-giving love. Why is that important? It reminds us, listen to me closely, that we are accepted before we achieve. You don't have to do for God to love you. He loves you. Look at this. Look at 1 John 4:8. 1 John 4:8. But anyone who does not love does not know God. For God is love. Look at the message version of this particular scripture. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God because God... So can you put this in your notes? Love is not something that God does. It is who he is. Look at what the scripture says. So look at this scripture. 1 John 4:8. Put it on the screen. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God because God is love. Give me my next scripture. I want them to see this. Verse 16, I believe. There it is. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God. So when you show love, you are actually showing people God. They get a glimpse of God.

I'm at the gas station when they got the boys something to eat. I'm at the gas station last night right here in 280. At the gas station, I get out my truck. Dude get out his truck. Had a black and had a little crown. A little crown royal whatever. He doing his thing. He look over and say, 'I know you lying, PMJ. Man, my mama love you, bro. Man, get over.' He come running to me. Black and man, you came running to me. All that. He look back in the car. They surely look back in the car and say, 'Hey, guess who it is out here?' They look they open the back door... who know what I'm talking about. They open that back door and it said whoosh. All right. So now I'm looking and they like, 'Oh, it's PJ.' And he walking to me with this like... You know what? And this what I'm supposed to do, brother. Brother, not with that in your hand, brother. Not not with what just hit me, brother. I'm a man of God. No, you get get back in that car. That's why people don't go to church. That's why people have a hard time with Christians because 1 John 4:16. And so we know and rely on the love of God. God is love whoever lives in love. Put verse eight on the screen so they can see it real quickly. Verse 8, look at what it says. The person who refused to love doesn't know the first thing about God. So you you mean to tell me they would have got off that pipe? No, I ain't going to move. What's up, boy? Boy, man, what you doing? You ain't got no security out this thing, man. I'm out here. I'm out here. Huh? I'm out, man. Man, I don't go to church or nothing like that. We were just talking about this fool. We don't even go to church. None of that, man. You know, my mama love you woo. But it's like, you know, when I see you on the TikTok and stuff like that be the message for me, you know, but I ain't know I'm out, you know. You know, I'm out, you know, but but it's like, yo, the man, bro, keep doing. I'm like, man, love y'all, man. That mean a lot to me, bro. What y'all been doing now? We going to get... we been to get in, you know? You know, I like word. I said, can you do me a favor? Like, what? I said, do me one favor. I said, bro, I see what you got in your head. You got out the driver's seat. I said, let somebody else drive. Like kids. I said, 'If something happened to your little son, would be able to take it.' I said, 'So, bro, do me a favor. Y'all have a good time tonight. Do your thing, man.' I said, 'But don't don't.' He said, 'You right. You're right.' But but fool you, right? Told y'all he real. I like, 'Man, love y'all, man. Boom. God bless you.' Now, I got all of what was in their car on my hoodie. I done dapped them up.

Now, you want to know what happened? Let somebody have been in the store. 'Y'all favorite pastor out here with.' But guess what? Something going to happen in life. You know what that brother in the car going to say? 'I got to get to that pastor.' 'Cause for once, he didn't judge or condemn. He showed me love.

If a sister walked in here right now, if that door opened and a girl walked in and half her butt was hanging out from a dress and all her cleavage was showing and she was fine, let's be honest, 'cause y'all base church clothes based off of how they look. Y'all hypocrites. They have on the same thing. If her shape better than yours, she inappropriate. So if that girl walk down the aisle, right, that girl walk down the aisle and she sit right here on this row. Soon as she walk in, the first thing this whole church going to do is look at her like this. When you don't know what if that girl was dancing last night, something traumatic happened. Some man tried to do something in her car. She said, 'I got to get my life right now.' And she stopped at the first place she thought of. So, she walked in here broken and hurting looking for love. But the church just going, she wrong for that. You mad 'cause she looked publicly how you look privately. If we're going to be the church, at what point do we stop condemning and be what God is? 'Cause God is love.

No. Come here, girl. I got you. Give me a hug. Father, in Jesus name. No. Then I hug her and she cry. And she never had a man not want her. So here you come now. No, baby girl, we got you. Come on. We got you. What size you at? No, I got you, too. Where you work at? No. My girl, the hiring manager at something. And we flip her whole life. We love... the sad it ain't what we do. We judge. We talk. We like tea. We sit up and watch documentaries about how people lives got ruined and tweet about them. We like seeing people fall. We like 'cause so and so. And God is like, 'What part of that is me? If you made in my image, why you ain't looking like me? But anyone who does not love does not know God. For God is love.'

God is faithful. God keeps every word, every time. [sighs] Please, I'm just trying to get you this. Look at this. This is crazy. Look what it says. He's faithful. Why does him being faithful matter to us? Look at the why it matters. We can build our future on his promise. God made me a promise. He made me a promise. He made me a promise. Nope. He's just. That's why even with our country sometimes I don't understand how we treat people the way we treat. How are we a nation under God when God is just? God does what is right and defends the oppressed. So no,

He is always on the side of the least, the lonely, the left out, and the lost. He's always on the side of the oppressed. Look at this right here. God is merciful. This ought to tell the whole church up. God withholds judgment we deserve and offers grace. Now listen to this. Why does that matter to you? Look how simple I made it. Why does it matter to you? We live with confidence because failure doesn't disqualify us.

Can I ask a very real question? Who sometimes don't pray the prayer you should pray 'cause you feel disqualified? I know what it's like. I was the problem child. I was the one who gave everybody headaches. I'm the one who dropped out of college. I'm the one who got to fighting in college. Three days after my 18th birthday, the campus police broke up the fight, took me to the campus jail, found out I was 18, then took me to the real jail. I did hard time. 22 seconds of hard time. They took this a true story in Livingston, Alabama. I was at West Alabama, got into a fight. They took me to the local jail. They did my fingerprints. I took my pictures. They put me in cuffs, walked me into prison, closed the door. I sat there and said, 'Oh my god.' And then like 22 seconds later, they said, 'Go back and get him.' His friends came. My bail was like $150 in a college town. I was in there for 22 seconds. 22 seconds. Lock down. I did time. Huh?

That might be why I resonate with you 'cause you like me. I could tell like he had it in him. Huh? Huh? Huh? That was me though. That was me in handcuffs in the back of the car. They took me to the campus. Everybody was out on the yard. I was saying Mike, they got Mike. They got Mike. I'm in the back of the car like this. Then my friend Brandon Mason and Calvin Lang, they came and got me. And Brandon Mason came, put the $100 up, $150 up. I got in the backseat of Brandon C. He was like, 'Boy, everybody on campus talking about how you locked up.' So I went right back on campus and walked back on there like, 'Mike, you okay? You went to jail?' like like like but that was me. A dad had to come up there. A dad had to come up there. Mike, this is not what you sent. Just always a disappointment. Had a child out of West Alexander's not by my wife. I had him before I got married. Had to I'm the pastor's son. So I had to stand before the whole church. Imagine that being a kid. You stand I was like what 21 maybe 22. Had to stand before the whole church. I don't even know where the boldness I had came from. I said everybody I made a mistake. Got so and so and so. The reason I'm telling you guys is I'm not going to hide it. He's never going to be a secret for me. I said, 'And that's not going to be my trump card.' But I felt like my life was over. All I wanted to do was be a man of God. Here I am. I ain't never been cute, never been popular, never been. And the first time that like, oh God. But you know what? I failed. That's what he's talking about right there, right? I failed.

I failed. Didn't have a dime. I'm talking about rolling quarters to eat. Me and Lady Mike, and Xander going to Taco Bell. Split meals. Nothing. Power out, no water, no nothing. Nothing. Nothing. When I say nothing, nothing. Two pair of jeans and faux shirts. I had ironed them so many times when I preached. They used to it, stuff started shining. I was just that's all I had. Nothing. Fast forward bankrupt twice. Nothing. I never really raised offerings like this. I was always kind of know it's God. So we ain't have nothing. And this ain't in the past. It's 2019. Nothing. The year I told y'all it's going to be big. I had nothing. The whole world singing big and I got little. That's the story that people need to hear.

2019 Christmas, we had nothing. Barely had the lights on. But I'm standing in church every week. 'Hey, are y'all excited? Come on, let's give God praise.' Every... And just so happened, I mentioned to my team, well, this week, this year been rough. I'm not going to get the kids nothing. So, what we going to do is I'm going to teach them how to give. We're going to be all right, though. God got us. And my team went behind my back and started raising money for me. I never forget the day they handed me that check. And I'm just sitting there. I took that money, went and bought my kids a trampoline. That's what everybody got for Christmas. I put I stayed up all night. I ain't get it till the 24th. They stayed up all night putting it together in the backyard. I went to five envelope and racked up for McKinley. McKinley thought she killed it. She had 70 gifts all for $27. She got up that morning all she I said, 'That's all you, baby.' I got the baby doll in this box, her wig in the other box. It's a set. You got the baby doll, the wig. I separated the clothes, put them in another. Her baby doll was naked with no hair, no clothes. She was just open and bad. It's the clothes. [screaming] Oh, it's the clothes. I ain't have nothing. That's 2019. It's 2019. So, what I'm trying to show you is...

the reason I never... You never heard me complain. Not once. You heard me? Not once did you ever hear me on a Sunday say, 'Well, hey y'all, man, listen. God's going to... I'm telling the world.' And it's going to be... That song was prophetic. Y'all still don't even realize I wasn't singing to you. You could have... You could have told me.

You could have told me. You could have told me 'cause I've never been perfect. I've never had it all together. I used to live my life waiting to blow this. I used to say to them, I'm not going to get excited 'cause I know I'm the type of person who finds a way to ruin it. There was always a ceiling on my life. And the reason I was able to keep the hope was because I learned the character of God. And you not going to have hope listening to some superstar preacher [snorts] like I'm just as ragged as you. Me and my wife fuss just as much as y'all. My kids get mad at me just the way your kids get mad at you. My stuff stank just like you. Don't let this stage make you think that because I'm up here talking I'm better. I'm just available. And what I want you to realize is you are not disqualified because you made a mistake.

P like I got a record. So what? He do too? I've never seen the righteous forsaken. No exceed revenge. No weapon formed against me shall be able to prosper. Hear me. And so when I say that he's holy, he's love. He's faithful. He's just, he's merciful, he's sovereign. Take a picture of the next chart. This another one. Look at this. Go to the next chart if you don't mind. He's omnipotent. I know your grandmama said omnipotent, but if you break that word down, he's omnipotent, which means he's all powerful. He's omniscient. You want to break that word down? He's omniscience. He's all knowing. He's everywhere. He's omnipresent. He's immutable. God doesn't change. He's the same today, yesterday, and forever more. He's good. What does that mean? God's intentions toward us are always righteous and beneficial. He's creative. For all my creatives in the room, for all my entrepreneurs in the room, the reason you feel that itch to be creative is because he come from a creator. So look at this. He's creative. God brings worlds and purposes and possibilities into being. He's relational. He desires to be close. That's why your life feel off 'cause God is like, 'Bro, I don't like not talking to you. You don't even realize you don't like it till you start like something off of and God like is, hey, it's us. You talking to everybody but me.' He's redemptive. God brings broken things back to life. And I'm telling you, man, so when I tell you to have hope, what I'm telling you...

And I'm telling you, man, so when I tell you to have hope, what I'm telling you is this ain't a game for me. This ain't a game for me. This ain't... I don't care about none of what people think I should care about. You want to know why? I got one goal. Push people to Jesus. I'm going to do that through messages. I'm going to do that through music. If I got to make you laugh for 20 minutes just so it'll click, I'll do it. 'Cause I want you to realize if you go through this life without him, only what you do for Christ. Father, in Jesus name.

God, I thank you. I pray somebody leaves here today with hope. I pray God that they realize that grandmama wasn't playing when she said my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and his righteousness. And God, we tend to trust on other stuff. We trust our jobs, but they'll shut down. We trust our savings, but the bank can collapse. We trust our degrees. We trust our relationships and resources. But God, when life gets thick, all we got is you. So God, I ask that you cover, keep, bless, and protect us, that you keep your hand on us. I pray somebody leave here today, log off of here today and say, you know what, my hope just went to another level. That God, yes, I believe God, but now I expect God. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, come on, jump on your feet. Y'all got me crying in everything today, Lord. But I mean this from the depths of my heart. I love you so much. I'm praying for each and every one of you. Do me this favor. Don't leave your car.