Touré Roberts - Don't Trust the Rules

I want to talk today about this subject, and I want you to understand this: don’t trust the rules. Don’t, don’t trust the rules. God bless you; you may be seated. Don’t trust the rules; don’t trust them. I can’t trust the rules because I don’t know who made them. I can’t trust the rules because I don’t know what rules God has anointed to be broken in my life on my behalf. Oh, you’ve got to catch what I’m saying. I can’t trust the rules because I don’t understand. I do not quite know how far God has called me to go. Are you tracking with me? When I read that last passage, it was the psalmist basically saying that he had a portion and that his portion was good, and that the lines, or the boundaries, of his portion had fallen into pleasant places. In other words, there is an inheritance; there is a predetermined inheritance for my life. There is a predetermined amount of internal resource and external blessing, and the only challenge is that I don’t know how far God has taken this thing, which puts me in a place of reaching.

Let me tell you about one of the things that drives me. One of the things that drives me is the concept of stewardship. For me, the concept of stewardship means that I believe my life is not my own, and I believe that God has placed things in me and put things outside in the world. What’s in me is supposed to connect to the things that are outside in the world, and greatness is supposed to happen through my life. My fear is that I will allow preconceived limitations to rob me of the full expression of my life being manifest according to what God knew before He put me in my mother’s womb. Why are you tracking with me? I want you to get this: what drives me to continue to grow is that I am never satisfied. Hello, somebody! I am never fully satisfied. What drives me to continuously grow, increase, become better, and evolve is the understanding that who God sees me as versus who I see myself as are two different things. In other words, I don’t know my limits; I don’t know what I can do. Are you tracking with me?

So, if there are lines set for me, if there are boundaries set for me, and I don’t know what those boundaries are, the only way that I’ll reach them is if I continue to stretch. Are you tracking with me? This is what Paul was talking about when he said that he had not attained; he had not arrived. But here’s one thing I do: I forget what’s behind me. In other words, I’m not celebrating yesterday’s victories; I’m more excited about tomorrow’s testimonies. Are you tracking with me? Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit, and some of you right now are consumed with what is. The reality is that your next is greater than what you see now. You are intimidated by your current situation, but the next is even more glorious than the now. There are things inside of you that God is getting ready to stir up and cause to be produced, and you are going to show up next, greater than your past, and even greater than all the things you see now.

So, I’m challenged every single day. Some people ask me what my greatest fear is, and my greatest fear is not reaching the lines God pre-established for me because I have these rules in my head—these unseen, invisible rules—that tell me how far I can go. Let me take my time and teach today. We may not shout, but we can grow. Is that okay? Can we grow instead? I’m afraid that there is a silent «can’t» in my spirit that’s keeping me from realizing everything that God has placed inside of me. There’s more to you than you think, but the challenge is that you will never fully know where that border is. Are you tracking with me? Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered how far this thing will really go? Have you ever been there before? That’s me. I’m like, «God, you know, because every round goes higher and higher in life.» For God, it’s perpetual upgrades. Are you tracking with me?

It is perpetual upgrades. That’s why, for a believer, if you’re honest, we experience ups and downs. We have ups that are like, «Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!» And if we’re honest, I don’t know about you, but the moment I get too comfortable, I get nervous. I get nervous when I’m not being stretched. If you aren’t stretched to the point where you feel awkward and uncomfortable, if you look in the mirror and question who you are, you start thinking things you’ve never thought before. If you haven’t done that, you haven’t even begun to grow into the type of person that lays hold of everything that God has called you to be because the process of growth requires this great discomfort. I am not what I was, but I am not where I’m headed, and I am somewhere in the middle. I have to live in that place in the middle. Isn’t that horrible? Wouldn’t it be awesome if God could just take you from level to level, like you go from one good place to the next?