Touré Roberts - Shifts and Adjustments

I want to draw your attention to the Book of Acts, specifically Chapter 6, and we’re going to read the first seven verses. The title of the message I have for you today is «Shifts and Adjustments.» Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit! Sometimes the difference between pain and healing is simply a shift or an adjustment. Sometimes the difference between sadness and happiness is just a shift and an adjustment. Sometimes the difference between being stuck and progressing is a simple shift and an adjustment. I feel that for some of you, that’s the season you’re in right now. You’re wondering, «How is it going to happen?» But God is going to show you; He’s going to give you a strategy, and you’re just going to make an adjustment, and the problem is going to heal itself. It’s kind of similar to the body—sometimes you just need an adjustment, just an adjustment, a shift and an adjustment. Some of you are like a car: when you’re driving and you know your car isn’t responding well, you don’t feel like you have much power. I hear God saying there’s another gear. There’s another gear, and I’m going to show you how to shift into that next gear. You’re going to gain power that you didn’t think you had; you’re going to experience velocity and speed that you didn’t believe you could achieve. There’s another gear in God for you, and He is getting ready to show you how to make that shift and how to make the right adjustments.

I want to show you passages in Scripture where the disciples of Jesus had to make a shift, had to make an adjustment. It says, «Now in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying.» Let me tell you what those days were like: God was on the move, just like He is today. He was working miracles, signs, and wonders. He was on the move; He was doing stuff. People were being saved everywhere, healed everywhere. There was abundance, blessing, prosperity, peace, gladness, and singleness of heart. It was a wonderful time—not without opposition. Can I just tell you right now, you will not pursue your destiny without opposition? Opposition can arise from anywhere. Are you tracking with me? In fact, we’ll see that this opposition came from within, right within the community.

Now, in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists. Those were the Jewish believers because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. There was some injustice—there was a little bit of prejudice right there in the kingdom. There was prejudice then. The twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, «It is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables.» These were the elders along with the disciples; these were the ones leading the movement. They recognized and acknowledged that there was a problem in the camp, but they said, «I don’t think we should stop doing what we’re doing to address the problem.» Not that the problem is insignificant, but I think we need to make an adjustment instead because there’s a mission at hand. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

Turn to your neighbor in Denver and say, «Delegation!» Come on, LA, turn to a neighbor and say, «Delegation!» Come on, online, turn to your dog, your friend, or your sister, and say, «Delegation, delegation, delegation!» So they found seven people and said, «Look, we’re going to find seven people and let them do this, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word because this is our purpose, this is our mission, this is our destiny, and we cannot let the enemy distract us from what we are doing.» So we have to make a shift and an adjustment. My life is too valuable; my mission is too meaningful, and I can’t get caught up in things that are beneath the highest use of my gift. The saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. Verse 6 says they set them before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. I think that’s awesome! Even when you delegate, you can’t just delegate and walk away. You can’t delegate to the incompetent for the sake of delegation. Are you tracking with me?

I want to talk to some leaders, some businesspeople. I want to talk to everyone, even if you’re not a leader of people; you first have to be a leader of yourself. Are you with me? So, they didn’t just delegate; they prayed and laid hands on them. Now listen, I have to stay focused here, but you are connected to me. Oh God, I feel the Lord! I know we need to sit down in a minute, but I feel the Lord. People who are connected to you have to understand who you are and what you’re about. They need to understand that you’re not someone to take lightly. They need to recognize that there’s a calling on your life, that there is a vision for your life, and that there is a destiny for your life. If you are going to be connected to me, you have got to know who I am.