Potential | Andra D. Morrell

and mercy. We stand grateful. We don't take this morning for granted because there's many that didn't make it. Many that didn't make it and we're full of regrets, full of missed opportunities. But God, you've graced us in this place to come into your house, to be focused in on you. One more time, you've granted us and graced us this day for your grace and mercy is new every morning. So God, here is the time for us to get it right. For us to posture our hearts towards you once again. For us to be able to lay down our crowns and lay down our pride and what we want. Lay down our kingdom, Lord God, in order for your kingdom to come and your will be done. And for your kingdom to work through us, your spirit and your power to work through us. God, I thank you for one more day. I don't take it for granted that the sun comes up. I don't take it for granted that your promises come up when the sun comes up. And that we can hold on to your promises and that they are yes and amen. So Lord God, today let your grace do what it does. Let your power do what it does. Let your deliverance do what it does. Let your healing do what it does, Lord God. Let us be brand new in your presence. For in your presence is a fullness of joy. For in the presence is the fullness of life, Lord God. Love forevermore. Peace forevermore, Lord God. We thank you today that you're not a dead God but you're alive and well in us. Living, breathing, working through us. Great purpose is upon us because you live in us. In Jesus mighty name, if you believe in today church, come on, shout amen. Come on, shout amen. Before you sit down, greet somebody next to you, say hi. It's good to see you in the house of the Lord. I'm glad you're here. You're looking good, smelling good. Say your name too. Some of y'all just be just hi. What's your name? Where are you from? I'm from Detroit. No, I'm not. You're in Houston. How are you feeling today? You feeling good in the spirit of God? I'm excited today because we get to start a new series and we're in our summer campaign. There's a lot of great things that are happening in the summer. I love the summer. Even though in Houston it is horribly hot, but I still love the summer and we've got a lot of great things that's happening. Hey, do you know that we've got a summer camp for all of our students for our junior high and high school? We're calling it Camp Union

and it is going to be... We're going to have a time, y'all. I'm telling you this right now. We are going to have a time. We have been planning with the team. We're so excited. I got a ghillie suit that I'm going to just be out in the woods just ready to scare these students. It's going to be awesome. We're doing Capture the Leader and the highest prize that you can win for your team is the fine dre. I'm going to be out in all black just squinting around. You're not going to see the white of anything. I'm just going to be dark as all get out just in the middle of the woods. You got to come find me. But it is going to be great. Hey, if you have a junior high, high school kid, hey, you got a nephew, niece, come on. If you want to get rid of them for a week, we got you. We got you. Come on. Union got you. And you can sign up online for that for Camp Union. We're super excited for that. Our youth are doing fundraisers for that. If you're somebody in a room and say, I want to sponsor a kid for camp, you can do that. You can go on to our push pay and give to youth on it. And that helps us sponsor students. Many people every year we when we did conference here in town, many people sponsor a student for conference. But you can sponsor a student for camp as well. We also have a fundraiser. We're doing a car wash on the 13th right here. You get to roll your car up right here. We're going to we're going to wash the car and and we're going to get all the community. I'm gonna be on the corner in short shorts, you know, waiting for me. I'm bringing them in. I'm doing it for the kids, Fabian. I'm doing it for the kids right up here. Short shorts. Just but fundraiser for the kids on the 13th so you could come through on that information is online for that on the 13th. Come and wash your car. We got we got an expert that's going to oversee. Make sure they don't do no scratches or anything, you know, on your on your rap and so forth. But come through on that. We're super excited about what God has for us this summer. I want to go to Galatians. Sorry, not Galatians. Sorry. Genesis eight. and 22, Genesis 8 and 22. I wanna welcome all of our people that are finding us and streaming us on the Pando app that are behind bars.

I wanna welcome you to Union Houston. Yeah. We are super excited that you are with us. And I know that many of you guys write in, continue to write those letters, we see them. And write those letters, the ways we can pray for you and your family. I know many of you send your families here in the local area. You send your families that come here. We are excited that you are connecting to the word of God, but we wanna see you on this side of the fence. Come and see us when you're out. We'd love to call your family. Genesis 8 and 22. This is actually our scripture that we find here in our curriculum book. It says this, as long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. This is what we call a promise. As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night never cease. We're in this series called Seeds. And I love the little subtitle to it. It says tomorrow starts today. I want you to make sure you get your books. You can get them out in the lobby. You can also get them online. You can get them on Amazon.

They're about, I think, 10 bucks or what have you. Sign up today for your group. We have two intros that you need to be prepared for. Our groups start on the week of the 15th and we want you to be ready for your group on week one. There's those two intros. I'm speaking about intro one today. And then there's a treat next week. Bishop Kenneth Danto is speaking next week. The bishop is gonna be here and he's bringing the anointing straight from Africa. Straight from the motherland. Today, I wanna talk about potential. There is potential in a new year. There's potential in a new job. There's potential in new relationships. When you get a new house, there's potential in that new place that you live. In a new school year, there is potential. In every new season, there is potential. Potential makes you dream. Potential gives you vision. Potential lets you imagine what could be. But potential can also be frustrating because potential does not always become the fruit we're looking for. A seed has potential, but a seed in your hand is not a harvest. A seed on a shelf is not a tree. A seed in your pocket is not a field.

A seed that is admired but never planted will never become what it was created to become. And that is where many of us get stuck when it comes to seed time. We admire change. We imagine change. We pray for change in our own lives. We talk about change, but we never plant the seed to produce the change. So today, the question is not just what do you want God to do in your life? Because that sometimes is our prayer. God, what do you want me to do? What is it that you have for me? But maybe the question is, what seed are you willing to plant? Because tomorrow, it starts today. Here's my first point. I want you to remember this today. God hides futures in seeds. God hides future in seeds. In Genesis, when God created plants and trees and fruit, he created them with a seed in them. That means God built the future into creation. The tree had future trees in it. The fruit had future fruit in it. The present had future inside of it. That is how God works. God hides. It's big things in small things.

Listen, he hid a nation inside of Abraham. He hid a king inside of David. Come on church, he hid deliverance inside Moses. Come on, he hid redemption in a baby born in Bethlehem. He hid a movement in 12 disciples and he hides harvest in seeds. So do not despise the small things God is asking you to do. Do not despise the small prayers, the small habits, the small acts of obedience. Come on, the small apology you may need to give, the small conversation that you may need to have, the small invitation, the small group you need to be in, the small yes that you may need to have. Because in the kingdom, small does not mean insignificant. Small is often how significance starts. Listen, God works through process. He works through process, not just promise, through process. I know we talk about promises all the time. Promises can not ignite us, can get us excited, but we've got to understand that there is a process that God works through, it's in his nature. This is where we find in Genesis 8 and 22. As long as the earth endures, there will be what? Seed time and harvest. This will never cease. Some of us, we try to jump the gun, we try to get out to the harvest time, but I'm telling you, you notice the order.

God does not say harvest and seed time. He says seed time and harvest. Seed time comes before the harvest. That is not just agriculture, that is life. In this book, the curriculum reminds us that life is seasonal. There's cold and heat, there's summer and winter, there's day and night. Life has a rhythm, but life is not the same thing over and over again. And life is not instant. We live in an instant culture, you know this. We got instant food. I love hot dogs. The young people call them glizzies. I know, you're like, oh. And you know, I like a good boiled hot dog. I know, I know, I'm from the north, guys. I know y'all are Texans, but I'm from the north. But the other day, I had some hot dog buns and some hot dogs in the refrigerator. And I said, mm, I wanna eat poor today. You ever went that? You ever like, I wanna eat poor today. Like, you want some ramen? Some stuff that, you know, at my age, you should not be eating, right? You ever went like cheap pizza and it's like, you know what, I want that little Caesar's hot and ready. You gotta eat that little Caesar's hot and ready

when it's hot, because when that bad boy cools down, that's just cardboard. You just want some cheap stuff, then I want that hot dog. But you know, a good hot dog is grilled. A good hot dog, you gotta spend some time with it. Not too hot, but you gotta get it at the right temperature. But you know what, I was so impatient that I put that bad boy in the microwave. I was impatient, I had things to do. I had things to get done. We live in an instant culture. We have instant food. How many got DoorDash in the room? Oh, sometimes there's nothing better when I have disposable income, is to get that food to come straight to the door. Don't interact with me, just drop it at the door and just let me know it's there. You don't have to hand it to me. I'll wait till you leave the driveway, then come out and grab it real quick. Do y'all do that? I don't want you to look at me because probably what I ordered was really big back. And I don't want you to look at me while I'm enjoying the things you just delivered. Grease just coming out the bag, my Lord. We've got instant answers. We've got instant shipping.

Sometimes I order a whole bunch of stuff and stuff that even before order for the church sometimes gets to my house. And sometimes like when you ever get a package, you didn't remember what you ordered. And you're like, ooh, what is it? It's like Christmas all over again. I don't know what it is, but it's exciting. You ordered two days ago, how did you forget? We want instant shipping. We want instant access. We want instant. Results Listen, you can download an app, but you cannot download character You can stream a sermon, but you cannot stream surrender You can get food delivered to your door, but you cannot get a healthy soul delivered by tomorrow morning God can do miracles in a moment. But most of the time hear me out church. Don't go nowhere God makes People he grows people he grows us mature through process a Process is not punishment because sometimes we think that We think of the dark times that we go through the things that are not going our way We look at it as punishment, but process is how? potential becomes fruit This is where we have to be mature because immature faith once harvest without seed time Immature faith once outcomes without obedience immature faith once change without consistency Galatians 6 says this do not be deceived God cannot be mocked a person reaps what they sow Paul says do not be deceived because this is one of the easiest places to lie to ourselves We think desire is the same thing as sowing it is not church

Wanting to be close to God It's not the same thing as planting a seed of time with God Y'all get me Wanting a strong marriage is not the same thing as planting better words to say forgiveness humility Wanting community is not the same as showing up and being known I know some of my introverts. I know y'all it's like I was there but you didn't say hi to nobody I didn't see you. I didn't you left before service left before service got out You want this community but it's not the same as showing up and being known wanting peace is not the same as surrendering control Wanting purpose is not the same as obeying the last thing God told you to do Here's the point I want you to remember the seed works in the dark The seed works in the dark. I want to sit here for a little bit the hardest part of seed time Is not always the planting Hear me out. Don't go anywhere all the way in the back the hardest part of seed time is Waiting It's waiting You plant the seed and then nothing There's no applause. There's no evidence. There's no visible proof There's no fruit at first. There's no harvest. There's just dirt This is where many of us get discouraged Because we think if God was working we would see something If God is real and if God loves me, I would see something But seeds do some of their most important work in the dark When you feel like this is a dark time when you feel like things are not working out The seed is covered before it is revealed Sometimes we've got to get buried Sometimes we've got to get buried in order to flourish The seed is hidden before the heart before it's harvested. The seed goes down before it comes up

The seed has to be buried before it can be fruitful. Some of you are in a dark season And you have been calling it abandonment Because some of us here we feel like God is not near and God is not hearing us you've been praying And you've been calling us God. You've abandoned me. Where are you? Oh Lord But maybe it is that you're planted Maybe it is that you're planting. What if God is growing roots before he shows fruit? What if God is doing something in you before? He does something through you Because I think we all want to be used by God we all want to Have a moment where I'm like the Lord used me to be able to connect with that person to see them Breakthrough and see them saved and see like give them hope but maybe God is refining you before he can do something through you Fruit without deep roots cannot survive storms. I have I had a an orange tree when I first moved in the house I'm in right now was was the nine years ago nine years ago and I had an orange tree in the back but shortly after we moved in that house there was a freeze that year and that tree end up just dying dying dying and so in order to get that tree up and going I never did this but I wish I did but we're gonna get that tree up and going there's some things you have to do to the roots for the it to come back alive again but it was too much work so I was like no I'm not gonna do that so that tree is still dead in my backyard listen if you've been them over my house my yard is abysmal I need somebody that knows how to do some lawn service because it is a very dry and desolate and the worship team knows they came with my house and was in here roasting me because of my yard what is this there's just dirt in the front yard but but we find ourselves deep roots cannot if you don't have deep roots it cannot survive the storm we want visible blessings but God is developing invisible depth in us we want platform but God is building character we want influence but God is building integrity we want open doors but God is building obedience we want harvest but

God is building deep roots in us the dark is not always demonic church dark times and things that don't work out for us are not always demonic I think sometimes we like to pin that on all the devil is working in my life and I sometimes the dark is developmental he's developing you in the dark you may ask hey I got Bible for it let's ask Joseph come here Joseph when he was in the pit it looked like darkness when he was in the prison it looked like delay but God was growing something in him that a palace would later require oh come here shepherd boy David the field looked like he was hidden the cave looked like it was unfair but God was growing a king where nobody was clapping and applauding come here Jesus let's call on the Savior it says the tomb looked like it was final the grave looked like it was defeating Friday looked like failure but Saturday looked like silence but early Sunday morning proved that God does his best work in places and people that think it's over John 12 and 24 says unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed but if it dies it produces many seeds Jesus was not just teaching about seed language Jesus was showing us his mission they thought they were burying him but heaven knew the father was planting him they thought the tomb was the end but God knew the tomb was soil they thought death had won but God knew resurrection was coming that is the gospel Jesus became the seed so we could become the harvest he has he was planted in death and raised in power he was planted so we could be forgiven he was planted so that we could be redeemed he was planted so dead things in us could come alive again so when God calls you to a planted season do not panic just because it's dark don't panic because it's unexpected don't panic because it's not what you wanted darkness does not intimidate the seed seeds know how to grow underground they know how to grow in darkness here's a point I want you to remember do not quit in seed time don't quit in seed time in Galatians 6 and 9 let us not become weary it says and doing good for at the proper time the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up this verse is powerful because Paul does not deny the weariness that we may have he says do not become weary because

he knows doing good at times can be tiring come on when you want to cuss that person out but you didn't but you didn't because the spirit said ha ha ha come back you you ever you ever come on if you ever have a moment of flesh and you You wanted to do something, but then you got in your car and you had the whole conversation that you would have had. And you in there, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. I know that's some of y'all. I should have said this. That's what I should have said. You in the car, it's an invisible car. They're not even there. Don't get weary in doing good. Sewing, come on, sewing can get tiring. Obeying, it can get tiring. Come on, young people, young people. I know God's called you to the straight and narrow and you be seeing everybody have fun and doing their thing. And then maybe for some of us that are older, you've been like, God, you calling me, I'm living life right. But you be seeing the most wicked people getting blessed. The most wicked people overcoming. The most wicked, how in the world? And sometimes you wanna be like, you know what? I just, you know what? I'm gonna do with the flesh once. Paul is saying, don't get weary.

Serving can get tiring. Come on, we know it because some of y'all don't just be showing up. You were scheduled for 9.30 service. You didn't show up. I understand, serving can get tiring. Praying can get tiring. Because some of us, we go in our prayer closets and we in our cars and we've been praying about the same thing over and over again. And we're not seeing our answers. I get it, believing can be tiring. Showing up can be tiring. Doing the right thing when nothing looks different can be tiring. But people, people, listen, people rarely quit in harvest time. Where they quit is in seed time. They quit when they are planting, but not seeing. They quit when they're praying and not feeling. They quit when they're serving, but not being noticed. They quit when they are forgiving, but still hurting. Oh, that one's real. They quit when they're giving, but still wanting or needing. They quit when they are changing, but nobody around them is changing. Come on, young people, I get that one. When sometimes you're doing your thing and your friends ain't coming along with you,

they still out there being ratchet and wretched. And sometimes it's like, ah, well, I wanna be out there being ratchet with my friends. I wanna do ratchet things. They don't talk like that, I'm sorry. I wanna do ratchet things with my friends. But I get it. It's like the things that are around you, like I wanna involve myself too, but God is calling you into being planted so that he has a harvest for you that's gonna be greater than what they got. But Paul says, do not give up. Why? Because harvest has a proper time. I wanna say this again. Harvest has a proper time, not a preferred time. A proper time, not a convenient time. A proper time, not a microwave, I live in 2026 time. A proper time, the harvest will come. So listen to me, here's what I want you to know. Do not pull up in frustration what God planted for formation. Don't pull it up. The enemy does not need you to stop believing in harvest. He just needs you to stop planting. He does not need you to deny God. He just needs you to disconnect from the soil. He does not need you to hate the church. He just needs you to be isolated.

Oh, come on church. He does not need you to reject scripture. He just needs you to distract, to be distracted from receiving it. He does not need you to destroy your life in one day. He just needs you to plant the wrong seeds every day and call it normal. This is why this summer matters, church. This connect group that we're in, this connect group campaign for seeds is not just a program. It is a planting season for us. It is God giving us soil. He's giving us soil for our conversations. He's giving us soil for healing. He's giving us soil for accountability. He's giving us soil for our families. He's giving us soil for our students. He's giving us soil for our friendships and soil for prayer. He's giving us soil for the word of God, soil for people. to stop doing life alone. Some of us, some of you who are ones in the planting season, you're one planting season away from a different kind of life, so don't give up. What seed does for your future? I'm gonna ask, what seed do you need to plant that your future requires?

The curriculum ask a powerful question, where do we want to be next year? And we've gotta have measures in our life that we see that we're growing. Are you gonna be the same person you are next year that you are right now? Let me ask you a better question. Do you wanna be the same person next year that you are right now? Do you wanna be in the same place? Do you wanna have the same frustrations, same struggles? You don't. But things don't just magically change. We have to go through seed time to get to harvest. In your relationship with God, in your marriage, with your kids, in your career, in your friendships, in your finances, in your emotional health. That is a good question, but here is a deeper question that we need to ask ourselves. What seed does that future require today? God is not asking you to produce the whole harvest today. He is asking you to plant the seed today. You may not be able to fix it. Your situation that you walked in here with, you may not be able to fix it today. But what you can do is plant seed. You may not be able to heal everything today, but what you can do is plant a seed. You may not be able to change your whole family today,

but you can plant a seed. You may not be able to become everything God called you to be all in tomorrow, but you can plant a seed. You can pray today, you can forgive today, you can apologize today. That's for somebody. You can sign up today for your connect group. For a seed, you can sign up today. And you can show up. You can surrender today. You can be planted today. Today, I wanna ask you a question. What seed is God asking you to plant? If you can, just everybody in the room, just close your eyes. It's just you and God in this moment. I don't wanna be long in a complicated word, because a word like this has action. A revelation like this has action. And I think the action starts in your mind and your thoughts. As you meditate in this moment, what is it that God is moving you to? What do you feel down in your knower? What is the step that you may need to take today? What is the thing that you may need to cut off today? What is the habit, maybe the stronghold, maybe the addiction? Don't be afraid to let your mind go there. I think if you can think of those things,

I think the Lord is gonna speak to you about what seed needs to go into the ground. What new practice needs to go into the ground? What new action needs to happen? If you're in the room today and you're saying, yeah, Dre, I hear about the seed and harvest time. I hear what Jesus has said, but you may be thinking, I don't know what it is to have a relationship with the Lord, but I don't wanna pass this moment in our service by and not give you an opportunity to say yes to Jesus, because that's maybe some of the seed, one of the seeds that we need to plant today to see our relationship with God flourish. If that's you today and you're saying, God, I need to get right with you in order to see a harvest that you have me. I need to get right with you. I need to put my posture towards you. I need to put my mind and thoughts and actions on the things that you have. And if you've never prayed that prayer, today could be the day. Maybe you've shifted and you've kind of grown away from God or walked away from God. And your first step. It's just turning around to him, we call that repentance. Turning away from whatever our lifestyle is, whatever what we had, whatever had our focus, whatever had our attention,

and our focus and posture toward Jesus. And maybe today you may need to rededicate your life, and that may be the seed that you're putting into the ground. Well, today is the day. Tomorrow starts today. I was told this when I was young, that tomorrow is not promised. So when it comes to a decision saying yes to Jesus, right now is the time, not tomorrow, not next week, right now is the time. And if that's you today, just simply right now between you and God is saying, thank you, Jesus, for you died on the cross. You died for my sins so that I may have harvest. You rose again so that I might live again. And today, make a declaration that you make Jesus your Lord and Savior. Amen. If we can, let's stand on our feet, everybody. We all wanna harvest. We all want change. We want change in our finances. We want change in our relationships. We want change in our marriage. We want change in our children because you tired of them baby kids. They're getting on your last nerves this summer, and now that they're out of school, it's like, oh, they're here 24-7.

I gotta feed them, I gotta entertain them. We all want these changes. And that's the harvest we're all looking for. But what is the seed that you need to plant today? I hope that everyone here under the sound of my voice gets connected in our connect group. I hope you sign up today because I believe just as hearing God did for us last year, last summer, I think seeds is gonna take us even further. I believe God is going to begin to help us water that seed, and we're gonna see a harvest of change within our finances, change within our relationships. We're gonna see growth within our children and in our kids and our teenagers. We're gonna see them at a great summer camp and coming back on fire for God. That's what summer camp does, church. All because we're sowing the seed. We're sowing the seed. Prayer partners, come up. As I end today and dismiss in a minute, you can come up for prayer for anything. I know for some of us, we need to be strong in what God has called us to, but some of us, we feel weak. We feel like we're not enough. Well, this is why we have moments of prayer like this. It says, come to your brothers and sister. It says sometimes to confess our sins to one another

so that we may be healed. Prayer allows us to do that. That's why these prayer partners are up here, ready to be able to intercede for you, to go into the behalf of the throne room of God to be able to believe for your miracle and your sign and your wonders that God is gonna do in your life. Let me pray for you as we dismiss today. Let me pray for you and what God has for you. Father, show us the seed. Show us what you are asking us to plant. Show us where we have been admiring potential, but avoiding obedience. Give us courage, oh God, to be planted. Give us faith to trust today. Trust you even in the darkest times. Give us endurance not to quit in seed time. Let your word take root in us, oh God. Let the life of Jesus be formed in us. Let the summer become holy soil. Let the families be restored and let marriages be strengthened today, oh God. Let students be planted. Let friendships be formed, oh God. Let loneliness people find community, oh God. Let weary people find strength, oh God. Let the dead things come to life. And at the proper time, oh God, let us be patient. Let us wait on you.

But at the proper time, oh God, let there be harvest in Jesus' mighty name. Amen and amen. You can come up for prayer for anything. Hey, if you've made a decision for Christ, I wanna know. Stop off by the Connections Point area. We got a free gift for you, a Bible and clear next steps. But until then, it's seed time. Sign up for your Connect groups. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he shine his face upon you. May he be gracious to you. May he give you peace and show you favor. God bless you. I'll see you next week.