Touré Roberts - Time to Get Ahead

I want to draw your attention to Deuteronomy chapter 28. We’re going to look at verse one and then at verse 13. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 1 and verse 13. I want to talk about this theme, this subject: It’s time to get ahead. It’s time to get ahead. If there were a subtitle, it would be «A Next Mentality.» A next mentality. It says, «Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord.» Say «voice of the Lord.» Voice of the Lord! Say it again, «Voice of the Lord!» I want to pray into something really quickly. Father, I pray—Father, you’re going to pray with me. That’s cool, we can do that. All right, so since we’re doing it, I’m cool with that. Do me a favor, then. Since we’re going to do it together, I want you to put one hand over your ear if you can, because I want to pray about your ability to hear the voice of the Lord. Father, I pray right now that you would touch your sons and your daughters. Let’s make it personal: I pray that you would touch me. I pray that you would touch me and allow me to hear your voice like never before. In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, now it shall come to pass: «If you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.» Now we’re going to skip to verse 13. It says, «And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail. You shall be above only and not beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.» Here’s what I believe God is doing: I believe with all my heart that there are some people here—and it can be all of you—but I believe that some people are going to catch this by faith, and their lives will be changed. There are some people here, and God is going to take you from where you are to headship positions in industries, in business, in politics, and in culture. What’s interesting is that, as I look at that text, it’s actually a very startling text because it says that if we follow God, then God will set us above all nations and make us the heads and not the tails. It’s startling to me because when I look at the church, I don’t necessarily see the church in the place of headship. Can we have a conversation really quickly? That’s okay, because I don’t base what will be on what is; I base what will be on what God said. If God said it, it’s going to happen. It just means I have to align myself so I can participate in what God has already preordained.

I want you to hear this clearly, and I want you to hear it as a word directly to you: God is getting ready to make you the head. He’s getting ready to make you the head because, according to this text, it is unnatural for believers who listen to God’s voice. I’m not talking about those who go to church; anybody can go to church. I’m talking about those who have access to the voice of God, who know how to discern God’s voice speaking to them. When they begin to align themselves with that voice and do what that voice commands, there’s a promise on the other side of it. He says He’ll set you high, and just in case we didn’t misunderstand what He was saying, He says you will be above only and never beneath. I feel like some of you are literally getting ready to go straight to the top. I see it. I see it.

I have a few things to say to you: I was in a meeting on Wednesday with a few brilliant people in the music industry, in particular. We were having an awesome lunch, but all of a sudden, the lunch turned into a complaint session. There were complaints about the nature of the music industry now and how there’s not as much money in it because of streaming and different factors, and how some of the labels have these 360 deals. It turned into a momentary complaining session about how the artists are being left out. Something happened to me in that meeting. As I sat back and listened to them talk about how things have changed and how they were now the tail, something arose in me, and I zoned out of the complaining. At first, I could hear it clearly, but then I interjected and said, «Well, what are you going to do about it?»