Touré Roberts - Rock Steady

My title, if I had one, is «Rock Steady.» Rock steady. Rock steady in this season when everything is suspended in craziness. There’s so much going on in the office and in our world, and I want us to look at it because I want to explain where we are—not just in our country, but in our world. I want to explain it to you, and I don’t want to do it by saying, «Look at this» and «Look at that.» I think all of us feel something; we just don’t know what it is. Sometimes we can’t express what we feel, or we don’t understand what’s going on, and that creates a lot of things, including strange behavior. I can take my time and teach tonight about this very strange behavior. In Romans 8:22, it says, and I’m going to put it right back up there: «For we know"—right? Paul’s writing that there’s a place we can get to in God where we understand what’s up. It says, «For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.»

So, when you look at this and you try to interpret it, you see crazy things happening in our country like shutdowns and infighting at the highest levels of government. Then you see something somewhat similar happening in Britain, and you go over to Venezuela and Greece, and you see all this shaking and groaning. Hello, somebody! Where are my international people right now? When we see all of this and all the complicated issues affecting our world, all of it can ultimately be summed up into this: things have to come to a head. Everything has to come to a head because something amazing is going to be birthed by God. Right now, the whole creation is groaning. America is groaning right now—can’t you hear it? You have to be able to understand spiritually what’s going on naturally because the natural is the byproduct of something happening spiritually. You’ve got to understand that, and that’s why you and I have the advantage as spiritual beings—we’re not governed entirely by sight.

A priest recently said we are governed by insight. God gives us insight so that we’re not moved by sight, understanding what’s happening beyond current events, recognizing that the Holy Spirit has led us into something, if we commit to not being so distracted that we miss it in this season. If you didn’t have a prayer life before, it might be funny, but God has called me to much deeper prayer in this season. I’m spending a lot more time in consecrated, set-aside prayer—not just drive-by prayers. Come on, somebody! You know what I mean: just bless my food, Father, thank you for this food—then we move on. But God has me in this season. I feel like everyone who has a clue is praying more now—not because you’re afraid or anxious, but because you recognize there’s so much going on that you need a clear line to God. You have to have a clear channel; you must put yourself in position to hear from God.

Can we talk like this tonight? You have to rap for the Lord. It’s not going to happen just because you come to church on Thursday nights and Sundays. That’s just warm-up; it keeps you spiritually stimulated, but as part of your daily regimen, you need to sit with God, talk to Him, and listen. Pray the model prayer if you don’t pray anything else: «Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.» Then take a moment to unpack what each of those things means. «Give us this day our daily bread.» But what I’m getting at is your prayer life has to go to another level in this season. The other day, I gave a drive-by prayer, and that was all I did for most of the day. By the time night came, I told my wife, «Man, I feel sinful, ” and I hadn’t done anything. But this atmosphere, this season, necessitates a prayed-up spirit. You know what I’m talking about—a prayed-up spirit. Like God, I’m not after your hand. Oh, you’re going to get it tonight; I promise you this relationship I think that…