Mike Todd’s Introduction
- Let’s put our hands out toward God as a sign that we are ready to receive, tell God, “I’m ready to receive. Today, we come submitted and committed to whatever you want to say to us God.”
- Today, we’re starting Week 4 of “Anchored.”
- We honor God – up, down, and all the way around
- Transformation Church (TC) was started by Bishop Gary & Debbie McIntosh. Next week, Sunday, February 7th, is Transformation Church’s church anniversary, celebrating 22 years of the church existing and Pastor Mike and Natalie being the lead pastors for 6 years. It will be a powerful time in the Lord, with the title, “What a Time to be Alive.”
- Be forewarned that what will be shared today is a fulfillment of prophecy. There is going to be a moment of chain breaking in your life today. Today, God is going to get you anchored.
- Today, we’ve decided as a church that we’re going to be anchored.
- Last week, we decided it’s not safer in the shallow. We’re destined for the deep.
- Say, “I’m destined for the deep.”
- If you’re going beyond your comfort zone, and into the deep waters, know that God is going to be with you.
Isaiah 43:2 New Living Translation (NLT)
2 When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
- “If God is for us, then who can be against us.”
- Some of us want people around us to be “for us” so bad that we don’t remember “who’s with us.”
- If we’re going through the deep, we have to remember God is with us.
- I will not drown as long as God is with me.
- I will drown, if God is not with me.
- Could the drowning happening emotionally, relationally, and financially be happening because God is not with you in that?
- God does not cosign things that He has not said – you have to seek Him for the plans in your life
- Deep is where we will dwell all year. It’s deeper than where we are now. i.e., if you feel like your prayer life is good now – deeper, your relationship – deeper, your love for people, your ability to deal with politics – deeper. Welcome to the deep.
- Do not be frustrated if it doesn’t feel secure. You’re in the deep.
- It won’t feel comfortable and you won’t be in control – you’re in the deep.
- “What are we doing in March, February, in May? Give me a word God” – Hold On! We’re now in the deep.
Message Title: Welcome to the Deep
1. So We Out Here!
God is going to call you to places where all you can say is, “so we out here!”
God you’re calling me to lead a small group, write a devotional with nobody to read it – “so we out here!”
This will be your crazy faith statement for 2021.
Every week, Mike meets with Bree, and at some point, they say, “so we out here.”
What do we do when we don’t know what to do? “So we out here.”
God will be good enough to sustain you in the deep.
It doesn’t matter what’s going on, what it looks like, if you have the finances, who comes, who goes, if you don’t have it – we out here. We out here in the deep.
Welcome to the deep!
The deep is lonely – isolated – not where you find the crowd, but the committed. Welcome to the deep.
This is a prophetic picture of the rest of 2021.
Your friends can’t save you out here.
People that don’t hear from God can’t stay in the deep.
If you’re committing to the deep in 2021, you need to make sure you have an anchor.
We have to be prepared for the deep, not just be deep.
God will prepare you himself. Let’s look at Mark 4:35.
Say, “I will dwell in the deep.” – Make a decision to go deeper even before you know the obstacles and the detour.
Decide before you detour.
The disciples will be faced with a decision in the midst of a detour.
Mark 4:35-36 New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).
If You’re Going To Dwell In The Deep:
2. Don’t Ever Forget Your Anchor
Jesus is your anchor.
If God gave you an instruction, you still have a decision if you’re going to take Him to where you’re going to go.
Did you go to the deep, but forget your anchor at the shore? Take him to the bedroom, board room, basketball court, work, etc.
Do not go anywhere and forget your anchor.
There are many people in the deep with no anchor. You may be screaming, you’re going to be in the deep, but left Jesus back in 21 days of fasting.
You went without the anchor.
Your anchor/Jesus is not for attraction – it’s for action. He doesn’t want to be impressive, but impactful.
He doesn’t care that people are impressed that you know scripture, but that it shows up in your life. Let Him be the anchor that lets you forgive people, lets you be generous.
He rather you be impressive to nobody, but impactful to everybody.
God doesn’t want to be the anchor in your life for just attraction.
This yacht cost more than most of our homes combined.
While there are elements of the yacht that are sexy, like the glass, the most impactful part of this boat is the anchor.
The anchor is positioned to hold you in the midst of the storm – not to impress anybody.
Be a husband who’s not trying to impress his college buddies, but to be an anchor for your family, impacting the next generation to be impactful.
You can be more impactful than impressive. You don’t need to do the silhouette challenge young lady.
It doesn’t matter if anybody thinks what we’re doing is good or not. It matters that we’re doing what God has told us to do.
Jesus was more intentional about impacting the disciples than impressing the crown.
Mark 4:36 New Living Translation (NLT)
36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).
3. Your Boat is Not Built for Everybody
Other boats followed, but everybody wasn’t able to get on that boat.
They moved out, leaving the crowds behind.
Who is on your boat and weighing you down? Everybody is not going to your destination. You will delay your destiny trying to bring a committee.
Your boat is not built for everybody.
The most spiritual thing you may do this year, is delete them. This is not cancel culture, this is concentrated culture.
When a thorough bread horse runs in the Kentucky derby, they’re worth millions of dollars, but there’s a $15 piece of equipment placed on them to keep them concentrated on their lane and the finish line. That means, everyone can’t get on the boat and go to the finish line.
Are you asking me to get on this boat and go alone?
Are you asking me to actually wait on you?
In the deep you may be saying, “Hello? Anybody out there? I will trust you…this sucks…eenie meenie minie moe, miss mary mack, all dressed in black, purified, you came from heaven to earth to show…me something” – because the deep feels stupid. The deep doesn’t have friends. The deep is calling me to be separate, consecrated, refined, and sanctified. We talk about the blessings, but He calls us to be these things.
How many people are in a storm right now?
What happens when Mark 34:7 comes up? You left the crowd, decided to go to the deep, but it should be easy now because you’re with me right? But a fierce storm comes up. Nah – that’s not possible because I trusted God, I keep showing up, Jesus told me to go to the other side, He’s the one that told me to move, to go to that school, then under Jesus’ instructions, a fierce storm came?!
It sounds and feels like, “How am I out here?!” “I’m out here and it’s dark now! Nobody is helping me. I don’t hear from God.”
The anchor does not excuse the storm.
4. The Anchor Does Not Excuse the Storm
You can have Jesus and still have a storm.
Your marriage will be tested whether you pray in tongues or not. Your children will need to be taught.
Many of our whole last year looked like a fierce storm.
Many of us try to get down and row our way into a new school, a new church, etc. – the storm hasn’t subsided because God may be trying to teach you something in the storm.
Jesus usually escorts you into the storm.
Jesus, why didn’t you tell me to stay in the shore? God said, the blessing is in the deep.
When Jesus was baptized in water, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. He was escorted by God. Some of you have been calling your storm a devastation, but it’s preparation.
On day 21, maybe Jesus wondered if the storm was over yet, and on day 31, same thing. Some of us have been living in, “is the storm over yet?”
For some reason, God doesn’t take you out, but sustains you in the middle of it.
If you’re going to dwell in the deep, know that:
5. The Deep is not for Devastation, It’s for Preparation
Mike remembers when him and Natalie had good credit and were in a place to buy their home, then got hooked up with a bad contractor, and for 3 years, their credit went down, and they were drained of thousands of dollars. Mike wanted to know why, he was fasting, praying, serving the youth, serving bishop – and God said this is not for devastation, it’s for preparation – this is when Mike learned the tools and the trade he would need to know to buy the Spirit Bank Event Center being sat in right now.
Maybe you need to rename your storm. It sucks, but it’s going to be sanctified. It’s hard, but healing is coming out of it.
John 16:33 New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
In this world, you will have a storm, but your anchor has overcome the world.
James 1:2-4 New Living Translation (NLT)
Faith and Endurance
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
You can have any kind of storm – marriage, financial poverty, any kind of storm. Consider it an opportunity for great joy.
Is my storm joyful? According to the word of God it should bring be joy, because when faith is tested, endurance has a chance to grow. When endurance is fully developed, you’ll be perfect and complete needing nothing.
At some point, it’ll get darker.
Mark 4:35-41 New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
Things got worse. You’re about to lose your house, things are rocking and starting to reel. Where is Jesus? Have you ever said, “where is Jesus?!”
38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
You’re in a shaky situation and Jesus is sleeping.
When the storm is happening, nothing is sure.
What happens when Jesus has decided to sleep in the midst of your storm? Do you still trust Him? Will you still wait on Him?
There’s a lot that goes into trusting a God who seems idle when your situation is so dark.
They woke Him up shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
Jesus woke up and asked who took them into the storm. The storm in your life does not catch God by surprise. He will use it even if He didn’t cause it.
If you’re going to dwell in the deep, never trust an anchor with anxiety.
6. Never Trust an Anchor with Anxiety
If your anchor has anxiety, that is the wrong anchor.
The storm did not take Him off of His game. He remained in a state of peace in the middle of the storm and so can you.
God is the only one – He gave us a forever picture of Him resting in a place where everyone else was freaking out – He will give us peace.
The storm might not stop yet, but I’ll give you peace immediately. You’ll still need marriage counseling, take your kids to therapy, get the small apartment, still have to catch the bus – but He will be your peace in the middle of the storm.
When He woke up, He said, storm, stop.
39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.
7. Thorough the Rain, the Anchor Remains
We’ll still be here after the storm subsides. You may have not gotten to your destination when you wanted to but you’re still here.
Think back to the last 5 years and with faith and gratitude in your heart say, “I’m still here.” Do you remember what the doctor said, what was in your bank account, when you couldn’t get into that school? Say, “I’m still here.” Even our church is still here despite what they said we couldn’t build.
Your testimony should be, “God you sustained me.”
If you’re going into the deep, your trust needs to be more in Jesus, your anchor. Some of us trust that the storm will take us out more than Jesus will sustain us in the storm.
When Peter was walking on water, he didn’t fall until he looked at the storm around Him. Jesus was the one who said “come.” He was the one who said your marriage will be saved, axiety will no longer have a hold over you, that molestation will not define you, the images you have from pornography will not prevent the purification of your heart and the ultimate changing of others. He asked them, why are they afraid? Why don’t they trust Him?
40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
The visibility of an anchor doesn’t dictate it’s value.
8. Don’t Confuse Visibility with Value
An anchor doesn’t have to be seen to be doing the work.
Stay anchored, Jesus will sustain you.
When Jesus said, “Silence be still” – 41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
Our anchor has authority.
9. Our Anchor Has Authority
Jesus is the only one who can look at the wind and the waves. He can look at what you do see and what is indivisible. He can look at both the marriage and the underlying insecurity. He can look at both the financial situation you see and the mindset of poverty that you don’t see. God is not working the situation out in one dimension, He’s working it out in 2D, what you see and what you don’t see. He’ll be the anchor in that situation.
We’ve been talking about being anchored and living in the deep. You try to fake it with everybody else like everything is good. Some of you are in the middle of a storm.
You can still be worshipping in the storm.
“Your mercies are new every day… So I will trust You!… YOU SUSTAIN, IN THE MIDDLE!!!”
10. Your Storm Has an Expiration Date
Every storm has an expiration date. At some point, the winds will stop. The marriage will have to turn around. The diagnosis will have turn around. The sun is moving from a place of darkness.
The son, Jesus, is rising in your situation. The son, our anchor, Jesus, has decided that no storm last always. Your storm has an expiration date, so why don’t you worship in the midst of the storm?
For every moment that goes by, we’re getting closer to the storm subsiding.
Jesus will be your anchor in the middle of every storm. Your posture should be, “I will trust you.”
We don’t know what will happen tomorrow or how it will work out, but “I will trust you.” It’s not completely sunshine but you see the sun starting to shine, declare that you will trust Him.
The storms will come. You have an anchor in the middle of the storm. Welcome to the deep.
It can’t be sugarcoated. You won’t get “we’re going to be happy messages.” You’re going to grow this year and develop in the deep.
Prayer: God, for my brothers, sisters, and myself in the middle of the storm, I thank you that we won’t forfeit the other side because we are afraid of the storm. There’s something on the other side that has to go through the storm. The children of Israel had to go through the storm. Today father, we’re going to praise you for the storm. Father, I thank you that the storm was not meant to devastate me, but to develop me. I will trust you. Father, you are a God that sees all. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The author and the finisher. We trust you. We declare father that we will trust you in Jesus name.
All week, this needs to be your declaration, “I will trust you in the middle.”
Altar Call: If you’ve never given your life to Jesus, this is your moment. This was a picture of your life drifting from bad thing into bad thing. Accept Jesus as your Lord and personal savior, and that He lived and died for you, by faith. This decision took Mike from being a liar, a manipulator, and addicted to pornography. This didn’t make him perfect, but progressing. He has done a deep work. You don’t have to change all of your hobbies and habits today, give Him your heart and He will heal you. You’ve run to food, binge watching TV, men, women, and God has asked, “Has it filled you up yet? Give me a try”. This will be the best year of your life if it’s your best year spiritually. Today is the day of salvation. Lift your hand to be included in the prayer, 1. You’re making the greatest decision you’ve ever made, 2. Everybody will not go with you on this boat, but God is with you on this boat, and 3. Lift your hand.
Let’s Pray Together: Father, in the name of Jesus, we declare you’re doing something powerful in our friend’s life. Jesus, thank you for coming to be my anchor. By faith, I believe you lived, died, and rose again, just for me. Today, I’m going to the deep. Be with me, every step of the way. Change me, renew me, transform me, I’m yours. In Jesus name, Amen.
- Text ‘Saved’ to 82828 for resources and content to help you get anchored
Join us for Monday night prayer tomorrow night.
Go online and watch all the sermons. Go back and watch “grace Like a Flood”, watch “Marked”, watch “Relationship Goals”, watch “You Are Loved”, and “Forgiveness University.”
For every believer that decided to stay anchored, know that 2021 will be our best year ever because we will be anchored.
Thank you Father God that we will be anchored. We declare that in every area of our life, we will trust You, have Your way with our lives.
You can still get “Relationship Goals” the book and study guide today for additional support:
Latest Arrivals in Merch
SUMMARY NOTES
- So We Out Here!
If You’re Going To Dwell In The Deep:
- Don’t Ever Forget Your Anchor
- Your Boat is Not Built for Everybody
- The Anchor Does Not Excuse the Storm
- The Deep is not for Devastation, It’s for Preparation
- Never Trust an Anchor with Anxiety
- Thorough the Rain, the Anchor Remains
- Don’t Confuse Visibility with Value
- Our Anchor Has Authority
- Your Storm Has an Expiration Date
Link to full Video (share this message💕): TBD
Join TC for prayer every Monday night at 6PM (CST).
Transformation Church would love to hear how God is touching your life through this ministry! Tell us your story by emailing mystory@transformchurch.us!
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For more information about Transformation Church, visit https://transformchurch.us/.
To join a Belong Group, visit https://transformchurch.us/BELONG/ or text BELONG to 828282
The D.I.G. stands for Deeper In God and it is a conversation where we dive deeper in God. Join us this Wednesday at 7pm (CST)! — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYv-siSKd3Gn9IsliO95gIw
Abby Olurin Dames
I love Jesus, my husband, Will, my toddler daughter, Sola, and the beautiful friends and family in our lives. Me and Will are from the Bahamas, but we currently reside in Austin, Texas. We joined TC Nation as online members of Transformation Church in 2017 when we moved to Austin from Miami, Florida. In 2020, we also happily took on a more active role with the E-Fam of Elevation Church by fellowshipping with other married couples and were pleased to have the opportunity to join TC Beta Belong Groups. I believe that representing God doesn’t have to be done in “traditional spaces”. After listening to Pastor Mike's sermon, "Who's the Minister Here?", it became my mission to shed light on Christ in all arenas, including, but not limited to, corporate America, marketing, technology, and finance. I'm not perfect, but I'm progressing. I am a marketer, but first, I am a Christian, and the aim of this blog is to publicly share my sermon notes as a form of stewardship. I hope that these message notes can bring clarity to anything you may be seeking and help you to experience the peace and glory of Jesus Christ. I'm happy to pray for you as well if you ever wanted to shoot me an email. The effectual fervent prayers of many of you have helped countless circumstances in my life and in the lives of those around me. Thank you! Also, for any Amazon specific links that you see, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
