Pastor Daryl Black - Break the Cycle, Rewrite Your Story

God, we honor you, we bless you, we thank you, we reverence you in this place, God, when we say that all we need is you, we don't just say it to placate the moment we mean it. We need you above everything else, above everything else, God, we don't even want you to be first in our lives, we want you to be the center of it. We need you, we need you. God, open up our hearts, our minds, our ears to receive everything that you have for us today. God, that we will not leave this place the same way we came in. We will leave here delivered, healed, ready, excited, courageous, to do, be, and live like you have called us to live. In Jesus' name, and everybody says, amen. Come on, give God a hand of praise right there. Yeah, before you sit down, I need you to say this real loud, say, the cycle ends here. The cycle ends here. Tell somebody next to you, the cycle ends here. Tell somebody on the other side, the cycle ends here. You may be seated. I believe, well, let me do this first, let me do this first, hi. I'm so excited to be here, glad to be here, Times Square Church, and Pastor Delaney and his wife, and so just glad, and I'm glad to be anywhere, but glad to be here. My wife is with me, three of my daughters are with us, and Tracy and I have been together over 30 years. We have five children, two boys, three girls, and we still in love, and we regularly make our children uncomfortable because the honeymoon has never stopped, and so if it wasn't for Jesus, we would probably have more children, but forget y'all, my wife's fine, forget y'all. But I want to jump in here. I believe tonight is not just another Friday night, it is breakthrough. It's a breaking point for us, not just breaking and that you fall apart, but this is a breaking point where chains fall off.

I believe there are people who are in this room and people who are watching online who love Jesus, but they are tired of fighting the same battles, same fear, same insecurity, same anxiety, same shame, same patterns in relationship, same spiritual heaviness. You've prayed about it, you've cried about it, you've fallen on your knees about it, and maybe privately you've wondered, why do I keep ending up back here? Anybody? Oh, we can be honest, we family. Why do I keep ending up back here? I came to give you this word tonight that you are not called to repeat what Jesus died to redeem. Your history may explain you, but it does not have permission to define you. Today, the cycle ends here. There are cycles that run through families and cultures and minds and churches and secret places, but the power of the Holy Spirit is greater than the patterns of your past. Tonight is breakthrough. Say breakthrough. Breakthrough. Tonight is breakthrough. Breakthrough. It's breakthrough. Tonight is about freedom. Tonight is about rewriting your story, because some of you have inherited things that God never inherited. Intended you to keep carrying Sometimes we've learned how to manage dysfunction We've learned how to manage dysfunction instead of confronting it and the danger of cycles is that they become familiar And when something becomes familiar it stops feeling dangerous But Jesus has a way of interrupting Cycles Okay, y'all ready say it with me again the cycle ends here

The cycle ends here We're gonna break some cycles, but but we're gonna talk about the cycles in order to do that We have to want God to actually change our situation We we have to be willing to confront what we keep sustaining. Oh Yeah, we're gonna have a good time I've learned something about God that God will not heal what you pretend isn't there So if we're going to break the cycle The first thing you must understand Is you cannot break what you refuse to confront? We got to confront You got to call some things out Yeah, yeah, we don't get in here. We don't get in here Some of y'all are gonna love me by the end of this some of y'all gonna be mad Some of you are gonna feel free some of you are gonna say why is he stepping on my toes? We don't talk we don't have some fun y'all ready Jude chapter 6 verse 1 Get your Bibles get your apps get your notes We're gonna walk through this Jude chapter 6 Verse 1 The Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight they did what? Evil in the Lord's sight so the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years The Midianites were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in the mountains in the caves and the strongholds Whenever the Israelites planted their crops Marauders from Midian Amalek and the people of the east would attack Israel Camping in the land and destroying crops as far as away as Gaza They left the Israelites with nothing to eat taking all the sheep the goats the cattle and donkeys The enemy hordes coming with their livestock and tents were as thick as locusts they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count and They stayed until the land was stripped bare

Underline that So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help Think about your own story for a second They messed up They kept messing up Because they kept messing up God said gone I'm gonna turn you over to the mess up that you want Go ahead. Let them people whoop up on you and They take all your stuff Then they cry out to the Lord anybody Okay, I'm talking I'm talking to real people right here anybody in here ever act up Consistently Over and over again the Lord told you not to but you still did it. Okay, okay When they cried when verse 7 when they cried out to the Lord because of median the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites He sent a prophet He said this is what the Lord the God of Israel says. I brought you up out of slavery in Egypt I rescued you from the Egyptians and from all who oppressed you I drove out your enemies and gave you their land I told you I am the Lord your God You must not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live But you have not listened to me You stubborn? You thick-headed? You you hear what the prophet said I delivered you from the thing that you asked me to deliver you from and Then I told you who I was who is you I am the Lord I? So I delivered you and then when you ask who deliver me the Lord deliver me So what do you want me to do Lord now that you've taken? me out of the slavery that I was in that was messing up my whole life. I just want you to remember that I am God and nothing else is but you have not listened to me. Can I talk to some stubborn people? I said we're gonna be real. We got some stubborn two hands and maybe some toes.

Stubborn people. This is you. This is us. Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Oprah Winfrey. No that's not what it says. At Ofra which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abieza. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a wine press to hide the grain from the Midianites. He's threshing wheat at the bottom of a wine press. Essentially he's doing above ground work below ground. He's threshing wheat which is supposed to be done on farm level. He's hiding. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said mighty hero the Lord is with you. He is in his lowest point of life. He's hiding. He's afraid that what he's planted that someone else is going to take it. He's hiding. He's scared. He's scared and the angel of the Lord calls him a hero. King James says mighty warrior. Don't look like a warrior. You look like a scaredy cat. Mighty warrior. You don't look like you can fight. You look like you get beat down. Mighty warrior and then he follows it up with the Lord is with you. Verse 13 Gideon replied if the Lord is with us why has all this happened to us? This is one of the most realist questions in scripture. If the Lord is with us why has all this happened to us? Have you ever asked that question? Like God if you're here then why did this happen? God if you're with me why didn't the marriage work? If you're with me why did I lose the job? If you're with me why aren't my children saved? If you're if you're with me why am I still struggling? If you're with me why does it look like this? He even says where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say the Lord brought us up out of Egypt but now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites. Sometimes we can't reconcile God's presence with our pain and when we can't we actually start blaming God for what broke us. And I love how God responds. God doesn't rebuke Gideon for sharing how he feels. God is not intimidated by your grief or offended by your tears. If you're struggling tell him. If you don't like how it looks tell him. God I'm mad tell him. God I don't understand how they got promoted and I didn't. Tell him. You mean she got another raise? Tell him. God why does it look like everybody else is bawling out but I'm broke? Tell him. Why am I still struggling with this stuff? You're here. My mama used to talk about

how you were here. They talk about at church and all the old stuff that you tell them. Don't keep it in. Tell them God wants your stuff. There's a book called Psalms. Y'all ever heard of it? Half of the book of Psalms is David lamenting over stuff. There's a passage where God, where David is saying, God, they got new chariots, new clothes, Louis Vuitton. They got all this stuff and they're evil. Tell him. Don't hold it in. Tell him. God wants what's in your heart. Tell him. Tell him. This is how God responds. This is what I love. Then the Lord turned to him and said, now he just gave his grievances. He just said, it don't even feel like you're here. And God responds by saying, go in the strength you have. God, I don't think you heard me. I don't even think you see me. If you remember when we first started this conversation, I was in a wine press, threshing wheat, not supposed to be threshing wheat in a wine press. And you call me a warrior. Now you're telling me to go in the strength. I ain't got no strength. You said go. Wait a minute. I just I just spent some time complaining. I just Excel spreadsheet at you, my grievances. And you just told me, go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I'm sending you. Go in what you have. Why? Because what you have is enough. I know it's easy to think, oh, I need a little bit more. If I had a little more. If I had a little more money, I would know you would go with the money that you that you have. Go. This is this is happening in real time. My wife and I were talking the other day and I was telling her about something that God had laid on my heart. The Holy Spirit been telling me to call these people. And I said, I'm going to call these people. And my wife means well, she's wonderful. She is my greatest cheerleader. But the first. Yes, she is. Come on. That's not my wife screaming, by the way. But but thank you. Thank you. I appreciate the support. I I'm telling my wife because we share dreams, we talk about dreams and things that God is calling us to do. And so we don't just talk about bills and stuff like that. We talk about where God leading us in the future. So I'm sharing with my wife that something the Holy Spirit laid on my heart to do. And I said, I'm going to do this thing. And my wife immediately responds. You know, we got to get some more money first. Right, baby. It's something like that. Yeah, she meant well, because she keeps the books. So she wasn't wrong. But I immediately had to respond by saying, if we always wait. Until we have more. We won't move. I can't because God didn't give me the word and say and then wait.

He gave me the word. Now the responsibility and the onus is on me to do what he said, because in case you did not know, God owns all the money. And there's a lot of things that you even you even you. God has told you to do some things. And you're going as soon as I. As soon. For some of you, that's the cycle you're stuck in the soon as cycle cycle. As soon as I get my body right, then soon as I lose 10 more pounds, you've been losing those 10 pounds. So soon as the kids grow up, as soon as I get a soon as there's nowhere in Scripture where God gives a word and then after the word, he says soon as. Abraham, I want you to go. Well, as soon. as you. Stop being the soon as person. But that's sometimes we're looking for more resources and God is calling you to be resourceful. Okay. All right. Let me get back to the text. I gotta get back. Gideon is hiding in a wine press, threshing wheat. Midian has oppressed Israel. The angel of the Lord shows up and calls him a mighty warrior, calls him a hero. And Gideon responds with the question that many of us have asked. God is with us. And why are we living like this? What I understand is before God changes Gideon's future, he exposes the cycle. When we read the first verse in chapter six, it tells us that the Israelites did evil in the Lord's sight. They kept returning to idols. God delivered them. They got comfortable. They turned back to their compromise. That's the cycle. God, come get me. Okay. He's gotten you and you go to church on time for a minute. And then you get comfortable. I'll be there when I get there. They better be glad that I came. Then we get comfortable and we start compromising things that God told us to stay away from, away from. And we start saying things like, it ain't that bad. I mean, what's the big deal? I mean, it's really not a big deal that it's just music, right? I mean, what's the big deal that they're cussing every other word? It's just the beat is good though. I mean, I don't even listen to the lyrics. Have you ever? I mean, maybe not you, but maybe somebody

you know, maybe someone. I don't even listen to them. I know they're talking about promiscuity, but I don't even listen to the lyrics. Then how do you know that? We start compromising things. We cry out to God. We want deliverance from consequences while protecting the very compromise that created the consequences. And a lot of people want deliverance from compromises that they are protecting. And we refuse to name the things that we need to be confronting, but you cannot defeat what you refuse to define. Say the cycle ends here. We're going to expose some cycles because what stays hidden stays empowered. But here's the tension. Even when God reveals it, even when you see it clearly, even when you finally admit it, this is the issue that doesn't still guarantee freedom because you can confront the cycle and still stay stuck in it. Why? Because what you believe about yourself will always override what God is trying to do in you. You will never outperform the identity you agree with. Gideon is in a wine press. In Numbers chapter 13, the children of God are going into the land of Canaan to check it out. That's the job. God says, the land that I'm giving you, go see about it. All I want you to do is to go see if it's what I said. That's it. I want you to go into the land to see if what I said to you is exactly what it is. So 12 people go into the land, 12 tribes of Israel go into the land and they see it. And it's exactly what God says. They come back 40 days later, they give the report to Moses. They say, guess what Moses? What God said about the land. That's it. It's the land of milk and honey. They had grapes so big that two men had to carry it on a stick. Those are some big old grapes. It's what it says. Go read it.

But as they're telling this story about what they saw, they also say there's giants in the land. And then identity kicks in. They said, we see ourselves as grasshoppers and so do they. Did you check it? God said, it's yours. He says, go into the land. I'm giving you. Yeah, God, but we see ourselves as grasshoppers and so do they. When you read the text, what you would discover is that the children of Israel never talked to the Canaanites. So why is your identity wrapped up in some people that you didn't talk to? You ever done that? They don't like me. How do you know? I just I just I just I just I just think they wouldn't like me. Why don't you go over there? You haven't talked to them. And it may not even matter. They ain't gotta like you. This belongs to me. God said he's giving it to me. Check this out. Several verses later, when they finally do 40 years later, 40, 40 years, they're stuck in the wilderness for 40 years because of what they thought about themselves. Not because what God said. But because of what they thought, you will never outperform the identity you agree with. If you think you small, you'll live small. If you think you're broken, you'll live broken. But if you believe you're healed. Oh, I walk different. I talk different. I live different. 40 years later, when they finally do make it into Canaan, the Canaanites said, where y'all been? This is what they said. When you read the text, it says our hearts melted when we found out you were coming. How many of you right now were you actually waited for a period too long? And when you finally got to the place, the people were like, yeah, this is yours. When you finally got there, you were like, oh, it wasn't that hard anyway. All this time. Oh, you mean all I had to do was put the dot on the thing and cross that? That's yeah, that's go where God sent you. This is not about your identity. God is not looking for your skill set. God is not talking to Gideon because he's good at stuff. He calls him a mighty warrior, not because he's a fighter.

He's calling him out of the identity of God. OK, OK. OK. You must stop identifying with the old story of you. Second Corinthians, chapter five, verse 17, I'm a move swiftly. Is that all right? Therefore, if anyone, if who? How many ones? If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Say new. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. How many things? So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Creation, not an improved, not a managed, not a cleaned up, but new, not modified, but new. You are a new creation when you are in Christ. Jesus knew you are new. The enemy fights identity because identity determines behavior. If I can make you believe that I'll always be this way. If I can make you believe that, well, I was just born like this. If the enemy can make you believe that, well, that's just my culture. Then you'll be living beneath the means that Christ paid for. You'll be living beneath. Gideon says when you read verse 15, you got to go home and read this. I love reading the Bible. It's so wonderful. After God says that I will be with you. you get in response to God and says yeah but my clan is the weakest and I am the least in my father's house my clan is the weakest and I'm the least in my father's house isn't it interesting how quickly we argue with God when he tells us who we are get in you're a mighty warrior no I'm not you're a hero no antihero anybody ever done that what God is calling he says you're chosen you're going I'm unqualified he says you're calling you like yeah but I'm broken God is calling you out and God does not call you based on your ability he calls you based on your identity that tonight God is not only breaking change he's breaking agreement with the lies that made those chains yeah cycles cycles cycles cycles keep you stuck and cycles don't just affect your behavior they affect your

belief Gideon wasn't just hiding from the Midianites he was he was hiding behind an identity I'm weak and I'm the least and if Gideon could tell you anything today he would say you cannot walk in the new future while worshiping an old identity cannot do it let me ask you this question just take five seconds what identity are you hiding behind what's the thing that you keep telling yourself about the cycle that you're in what did someone else tell you what are the words that you heard from a parent or someone in middle school or high school or somebody on a job what's the identity that you're hiding behind because you have to expose and ask yourself why won't I do the thing that I'm called to do that which is wise in Scripture all throughout Scripture there are these words over and over again where God and prophets and Paul and other writers are reminding us of who we are why why are you spending so much time telling me who I am in Christ why because your identity will affect your behavior like if you know you who you are you act different you walk different you you talk different it is why in Genesis chapter 3 after Adam and Eve sin God comes to them and and they've been they've stripped themselves they see themselves different their glory has been removed and they've taken some leaves and stuff and put them over themselves and they're ashamed and God asked this question who told you that who told you that I'm not good enough who told you that I'll never be anything who told you that who told you that God is not telling you that why are we so quick to believe us over the Word of God I'm sure you love your mama sure she's a wonderful woman she's not Jesus I'm sure I'm talking to somebody because I've heard these words in my own life I'm sure I'm talking to somebody that said you just like your daddy no I'm not I'm just like Jesus don't do that don't do that don't don't don't be putting other people's identity oh you just like no I'm just like the Holy Spirit come on hey so you have to expose it say expose it and expose it once you expose it and

you address your identity maybe there's a question that you ask well what happens when I try to change and I still feel pulled back back to the old identity? Great question. What happens when I know who God says I am, but I feel the weight of who I used to be? This is where a lot of people get stuck and discouraged. The answer is that you were never meant to grow in your own strength. It is the Holy Spirit that gives you power to live different. Verse 6, chapter 6, verse 12, he says, the Lord is with you. Verse 16, God again says, I will be with you. That's the message. I will be with you. God, how am I going to do the things that you said that I'm supposed to be doing? Because I will be with you. What else are you looking for? I will be with you. When God comes to Moses on a burning bush, and he says, Moses, you are to deliver the people out of the land, and Moses says, who shall I say sent me? And God says, I am. You tell, that's not even grammatically correct. He says, who, when they ask me, when your people, your Hebrew and your Jewish people, when they ask me, well, who sent you? I mean, which is a weird thing to be saying to people. Anyway, Moses is going to go to the Israelites and say, hey, guys, check this out.

I know I'm a farmer, and you see me with some sheep, but check this out. I was up on the side of this mountain with all these sheep, and then there was a burning bush. And the bush was burning, but it wasn't burning, but it was burning, but it wasn't burning. And they may go, Moses, it seems like you've been burning some bushes. Well, the Lord told me, he said, and the Lord showed up, and he said, take off your slides, because this is holy ground. So he takes off his Nike slides, and the Lord says, you're going to lead the people out of Israel. And he says, well, when they ask me, who sent me, what should I say? He said, you tell them I am. You tell them I am that I am. What does that mean? I don't know. Moses is not sure, but Moses knows that they know. Because when they hear whatever God said, they're going to go, ooh, you have not been burning some bushes. You've been talking to the Lord, which means God is going to be with us. Why does your marriage work? Because God is with me. How have we been together for nearly 31, 32 years? Because God. Because God, listen, I know that we have gone through seasons

where my wife wanted to take me out, but the Holy Spirit, he was with us. That's I will be with you. The Holy Spirit gives you the ability to live, to walk, and to talk differently. The Holy Spirit is stronger than the cycles of your past. And this is what I love when you continue to read in the text in verse 16. God says, you shall strike the Midianites as one man, meaning when you fight them, no big deal. Why? Because what may be overwhelming to you, no big deal. Why? Because what may be overwhelming to you is not overwhelming to God. God, I can't do this. No, you can't. But I can. You need to hook up with me. You need to be with the Lord. The Holy Spirit is what gives you the power to change things and to transform things. The Holy Spirit is what gives you the power to be brand new in your life. Now, I want to make this clear, because I love the practical side of this, because sometimes we miss the practical side of this. Acts chapter 1, verse 8, it says, when the Holy Spirit came upon them, then they receive power.

Power for what? Power to break cycles. Power to change lives. Power to heal. Power to break chains in their life. Now you have some power. Well, it's good for you to have power, but you also. Need a plan. Say plan. This is where we mess up. Lord, I've identified it. I've exposed it. This is my issue. I've declared that the cycle ends here and I know I need the Holy Spirit. Whoo! Holy Spirit. Now you need a plan. This is where we mess up because we come down to the altar, which we're gonna do here in a few moments. We come down to the altar, we cry, we slob, boogers running all out of your nose. We on the floor. We got oil. Everything. We fall down. Oh, hallelujah. Hey, Jesus. And that's wonderful and that's beautiful and we need that moment, but transformation is not one emotional moment. It's a process. You need a plan. Say plan. I need a plan. In John chapter 8 verses 1-11 is a woman who's caught in adultery. Caught. Caught. They bring her in front of Jesus. Caught. They throw her down. She's ashamed. She's bruised. She's caught. After Jesus writes down in the sand. Y'all know what he wrote? Anybody ever told you what he wrote? No, because we don't know. So, I was asking y'all if y'all knew what he wrote because I don't. But he writes down in the sand and they accuse her. Jesus stands up and after he gets through talking, all of the accusers are gone. He turns to the woman who can't see. Clearly, her eyes are closed because she's ready to be condemned because she did do the thing that they said she did. So, she's ready to meet her judgment. Jesus says, where are your accusers? She opens up her eyes and says, I don't see any. And then Jesus says, neither do I condemn you. He says, neither do I condemn you. Freedom. That's freedom. That's deliverance. Then he says, go and sin no more. Instruction. We love the freedom part. I'm not condemned. We love that part. We shout and we dance on the freedom part. But then he also gives instruction. That's process. Go and sin no more. I think what Jesus was loving and he would never judge, go and sin no more. There's two things happening in one phrase. Go and sin means I am recognizing that what you did

is wrong. You've missed the target. He's exposed the fact that what you did, you should not have done. Instruction. Sin no more. Same Jesus. Same Jesus who says, I'm not going to let anybody throw bricks at you. It's the same Jesus saying, you need a process. When you get up here, don't just get up here delivered. Get up here with the process. Go and sin no more. Go and sin no more. I need you to hear this was the right way. Jesus is not just freeing her from something. He's showing her how to stay free. Go and sin no more. And Galatians chapter five, verse one, it says, so Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free. Make sure you say go and sin no more. I understand this is the part that we get hung up on. I wrote a whole book about it called you're not crazy. Everyone gets anxious because I understand that we can be free, but then we don't have a plan. We can be free and then we're not breaking through. Say the cycle ends here. Breakthrough requires obedience because freedom is not just an event. It's a new way of life. It's a new way of living. Some people want God to break the cycle, but they don't want to build the structure that keeps them from returning to it. Well, I'm an alcoholic. Well, then why are you a bartender? I just wanted the Lord to take the taste out of my mouth. The taste is out, but there's still alcohol in your blood. You have an addiction. You don't need to be around those things anymore. You need a plan and a process for the next step. God deliver me from these relationships. Stop getting in the same ones. I don't know why I keep ending up here. Yes, you do. You keep dating the same dude. I don't know why I keep dating the same dude, because you keep going to the same place. And the other part might be because you're not healed. You're free, not healed. You're free, which means God freed you from stuff, but you're still acting the same way. You need a plan. What's your plan?

Now, now, instead of going out, read your Bible. Yeah, I know you don't like that. Read my Bible. Yeah, read your Bible. You know how you would go out at night and you stay out till two or three o'clock in the morning? Read your Bible till two or three o'clock in the morning. Read your Bible. Read your Bible. Chapter 2, 12, Romans chapter 12, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's not behavior modification. That's spiritual renewal. Spiritual renewal happens when you make a decision to say, Lord, I'm going to do different. I'm going to spend some time with you. The Holy Spirit is going to take the little that you do and make it exponential, and you're going to be like, ooh, I'm different. I don't think how I used to think. I don't act how I used to act. Why? Because I spent a few minutes, and I know what some of you are going to say, so let me help you. That's why I love plans. I love a good plan. Sit down, read your Bible. I go to sleep when I read my Bible. Good. Good for you.

Read it anyway, because you need the Word talking to you in your dreams. I can't read my Bible. Let me help you. Some of you might be going, I can't read my Bible for 30 minutes, then read it for 20. I can't read it for 20, then read it for five. I can't read it for five. Read it for three. I can't read it. Then read it for two. Be committed, be consistent, and watch your life change. Watch it change. It will change. The Holy Spirit, the Word of God will work on you, and you might be going, well, I don't understand it. You don't have to. The work is happening in your soul. Just read it and let the Word do its work. Before you know it, I guarantee you, I guarantee you, that just got real country, I guarantee it, if you started being consistent in your spiritual disciplines right now, six weeks from now, you won't recognize yourself. And it doesn't take a whole lot. It don't take real long. It don't take all day. It just takes consistency. If all you can do is read two minutes a day, then read two minutes a day. If that's it, then do it. Do it consistently. Every time... You can use the shortest scriptures in the Bible, repeat something, memorize something. Every time the devil shows up, you can say, Jesus well.

If that's all you can remember right now, just remember that. You ain't no good. Jesus wept. You were saying, Jesus wept. You're not good enough. Jesus wept. And then that thing gonna get into... It's gonna get into your... You're gonna become an old preacher. You ain't no warrior. Jesus wept. You're gonna start preaching, Jesus wept for me, and he wept for you, and he... He's done weeping because he's living... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Let me... Let me... Sometimes you need another alto moment. You do. Sometimes you need some new habits, and some new boundaries, and some new disciplines, and some new thinking, and some new community. You need some new community because you're not designed to do this by yourself. You're not designed to do this by yourself. You need the Holy Spirit and some people. You need some people. who have the authority to call you out. Hey, James, you shouldn't be over there. You should be away from it. Yeah, you, James, yeah. Stop.

Lisa, no. Lisa, don't talk to him. Nope. Nope, because he just like, nope, he just like Harold, stop. You need to, no, Lisa. You need people in your life who can come alongside you and care. You know what I love? One of the stories in the gospel where the four friends, they bring the lame man, the quadriplegic. There's nowhere in the scripture that says that that lame man wanted to go. It says four friends brought they friend to Jesus. You need some friends who are willing to come over your house and say, we going to Jesus. We gonna pray. We gonna be here. We gonna sit here. We gonna talk. We gonna cry. We gonna be here. Well, I don't want you here too bad. You shouldn't have gave us the key. So we gonna pray. Tonight, there's two types of people in this room. There's some who need a breakthrough. But there's some who need a blueprint.

And I believe the Holy Spirit wants to give you both. He's not a one or the other kind of God. He is a both and God. You're not here by accident. You're here by divine appointment. And if tonight you're saying, I'm tired of the cycle. I'm tired of the cycle. I'm tired of this thing that I keep repeating. And I've read the self-help books and it doesn't, you don't need self-help. You need spiritual help. You've read the books. You've gone to the seminars. You've watched the videos. You need to make a decision, expose the cycle and then get a plan. And so we're gonna come down to this altar tonight and we're gonna pray for several things. One, we're gonna be praying for unforgiveness because some of you are running in these cycles and it's showing up in other relationships. It's showing up in your finances. It's showing up at work because you mad and you haven't forgiven. Forgiveness does not mean restoration. Forgiveness does not mean that they got away with it. Forgiveness means that I refuse to allow it, them or the circumstances to lock up my future. And forgiveness is not a one-time event. It's every day.

I'm gonna keep on forgiving. Every time you wake up mad about forgiving again, every time you're walking down the street and you'd be like, ooh, there they go. Ooh, I forgive you. Don't hide, don't run, forgive. Need forgiveness. We're gonna pray over past hurts. Some you've done to others. Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is ourselves. But also what others have done to you. We don't wanna walk with bitterness. You cannot walk around free with bitterness. We're gonna pray over past mistakes. Some of you can't move forward because it didn't work. And your evidence for it never working is because it has not worked. When God comes to Moses and tells Moses that he's going to lead the children of Israel, have you ever noticed that God never brings up the fact that Moses killed a guy? If God is not holding you to your past, then why are you? Amen. And we're gonna pray over destructive patterns. There are some things that you keep repeating and you know it's bad. And you feel like I can't figure out how to not keep doing this thing that I'm doing. You need a pattern. You need the Holy Spirit.

You need some friends. You need some family. You need some friends. You need some friends. You need some friends. Holy Spirit, you need some friends. You know you can't have all that ice cream in your refrigerator. I don't know why I keep gaining all this weight. It's because you like Rocky Road. Destructive patterns. I don't know why my blood sugar is so high. I don't know why I have diabetes. You do. You know why. I know it's a little funny but it's true. We make excuses for things that are destroying us. Someone told me some years ago that they were doing something that was destroying them and it ended up breaking my heart to the point that I was angry at them. My own father. My father died when he was 46 years old. 46. Angry. Made me angry. My father had a triple heart bypass surgery. Two weeks after his triple heart bypass surgery, me and my brother are with my father and he goes to this place called Mother's Fish. Yeah. It's as greasy as it sounds. Two weeks. Still with the staples in his chest. Two weeks. We're sitting in a restaurant. And me and my brother are looking at him like, really? All of this stuff was just in your veins. And he said, well everybody got to die of something.

You don't have to die like this. Don't justify your destructive behavior because it's not just affecting you. It's affecting me. I lost a father because of your destructive behavior. It's not just you. There are people who are around you who need the gifts and the talents that you have. They need them. So don't just destroy them. You're not just living for you. You're living for the community. So we're going to pray. If that's you and you're going, I need to come down here and break some cycles. Don't wait. Run down here. Make a decision. I'm not going home the same way I came in. I don't know how we do lines and stuff here. I don't know how y'all do all that. Make your own line. I don't care. You can make a line. I keep picking the wrong man line. I keep picking the wrong woman line. I keep messing up my finances line. How does it work? I don't know. I need to forgive some people line. I got some past hurts line. Is that how we're doing it? I'm sorry I'm messing all this up. At the end of the day, I don't care what line you're in. All of this is breakthrough line. All of this, we're breaking the cycles. So we're going to have prayer partners down here. Can I pray over y'all first? But I want y'all to declare this really loud. The cycle ends here.

God, I'm believing for deliverance and breakthrough right in this moment. Before they even make it up here, chains are breaking right now. Families are being transformed. Relationships are being healed. Marriages are being restored. Finances are being checked and budgeted right now in the name of Jesus. God, we're believing for deliverance and freedom and breakthrough. God, and we're believing for courage to walk out the plans that you give us with consistency and fervor. God, let your anointing reign in this place. Let your Holy Spirit reign in this place.