Let’s get into this. I’ve been talking about it for weeks now, and I think I’m going to come down and talk to you, is that okay? I’ll come down and talk to you because this is where we’re going to have a conversation tonight. I won’t go nearly as long as I did last service—well, I hope not. I figure if we get out of here by 2:00 in the morning, we’ll be okay. I kind of almost judged the earlier service because this is the first year we’ve done two services on New Year’s Eve. We had a 7:30 service, and I was excited to see it full. But then I thought, where are you all going after you leave here? I’m like, aha! But I’ll take whatever I can get.
So I celebrate you for bringing in the New Year here in church. It’s awesome in the house of God, and I believe in origins. I believe that how you start is not always predicated on how you end. I don’t believe that’s always the case, but there is something special about starting something right. If you start something right, even if you get off track, you can come back to that right foundation. Are you tracking with me?
I pray every year, and you can go back through our archives to really listen to the words that God gives me about each year. You would be surprised how very on point they are—not because I’m on point, but because I’m truly seeking the Word. My value and my being an asset to this church have nothing to do with gifting and skill. That’s part of it, but it’s not the foundation. It’s my ability to hear from God, my love for you, and my desire to give you words, revelation, and information that I don’t pull out of the sky, but that I fast, pray, and press into God to receive and give to you—so that you have something that will bless you and help you grow. That’s literally my life.
My life is different from many pastors, and I respect everyone’s process. Some get into the Bible and just start reading, looking for what to preach that day. They read until they find something. I don’t do that. What I do is work on my channel. What that looks like for me is that I literally get before God and work on my preparation, focusing on myself—my heart and my mind—so that I can be clear enough to hear and produce not out of my brokenness, but out of my wholeness. That’s why things happen the way they do.
Every year I pray for what’s coming in the next season: what we should look for. I start praying early in the year; by July or August, I’m already asking God to give me clarity about the next season. I don’t think you know this, but there are several calendars: the Gregorian calendar, the Roman calendar, and even the Hebrew calendar, which are all different. I don’t think God is bound by a calendar as much as He understands how we operate. Some of us will only listen on December 31st, hello somebody. You follow what I’m saying? He knows the cycle of an era and how they operate and function. When I say this, I’m not saying it’s just a January 1st thing; I’m saying that this is the moment we are in, the timing we are in, and God has given me a word about this era. He told me that this year is the year of alignment.
I want to explain that and break it down a little bit. You know, the year of alignment—what does that mean? What is alignment? Let me begin by saying that in Romans chapter 8, verse 19, there is a powerful passage of scripture we must understand. It says that all of creation—everything that has been created, all that God has made—is eagerly waiting for the revealing or manifesting of the sons of God. Let me explain what that means: it says all of creation eagerly awaits the revealing of the sons of God. This word is spoken into an earth that has people in it. It’s not just about people being in it; it’s about people being in it according to who they were created to be.
Okay, I’m going to take my time. All of creation is eagerly awaiting the revealing of the sons of God. «Sons» has nothing to do with sex; God is Spirit; He has no sex. We just call Him «Him» because you know… this is so complicated. I don’t even know why I said that. Now I’m talking to myself. Would it be more accurate to call Him…
