The Village People

Pastor Keion Henderson is the lead pastor of The Lighthouse Church in Houston, Texas. Lighthouse is an organization that serves the body of Christ through our 5 pillars. We always ANTICIPATE a move of God in every experience, so we constantly set a great ATMOSPHERE, and we ACCEPT everyone through love. We believe the best way to impact people is by being AUTHENTIC to who we are and by taking ACTION to move everyone towards greater.

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Autogenerated Transcript

Pastor Keion (00:00:03):
Lemme introduce Father. I believe that we owe God a praise. So the Bible says they came to Beth said, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. Go to the next verse, and he took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Everybody say the village. This is important because what’s getting ready to happen here is getting ready to change the trajectory of the gospel in this particular area. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside of what? When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him. Jesus asked, do you see anything? Ask your neighbor, do you see anything? We

Speaker 2 (00:00:58):
See

Pastor Keion (00:00:58):
Anything. Now, the Bible says that he looked up and said, I see people, but they look like trees. This is so important. This word has consequences. Everybody say this word has consequences. He says, I see people but they look like trees, which means if he knows what a tree looks like, then he used to see, so he hasn’t been blind his whole life because in order to know what a tree looks like, you have to have seen. Just do me a favor, touch your name and say, I can’t put my finger on it, but I’ve seen this before. I’ve seen this. I’ve seen this movie before. I’ve heard this story before. I’ve been around. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve seen this before. Go to the next verse. Once more, Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened and his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly. Next verse, Jesus sent him home saying, don’t go into the village. I can’t even stand what I just read. Where was he when Jesus found him in the village? Where did he take him? When he healed him out of the village, where did he tell him not to go back to Once he was healed.

(00:02:50):
This is why the Lord told me to speak on this subject today, and some of y’all are going to have to get away from the village people. That’s what I want to talk about the village people, because I’m trying to figure out was he blind or was he in a blind spot, a village to raise? It takes a village to raise a child. Yeah, and if the wrong village raises the child, you raise a blind child. I am telling you that your circle and your village has consequences to your destiny, and some of you all are struggling to get out of the village, but you will never go any further or you will never see any clearer than your village. Do me a favor before you sit down and ask your neighbor, can you see, because I, I ain’t got time to be blind for the next 50 minutes. I just want to know, can you see? Did they say yes,

Speaker 2 (00:04:10):
You

Pastor Keion (00:04:11):
May be seated in the presence of the Lord? Just talk about the village people. Yes ma’am. I’ll do my best. How many entrepreneurs and business owners do I have in the house? Make some noise. Entrepreneurs and business owners identify yourself online and we apologize for the drop. We’re back up and streaming right now. I want you to identify yourself if you are a business owner, because the first five minutes I’m going to be talking to people who know that you have an entrepreneur inside of you. There is something in the world of business called a unique selling proposition, A USP. Some people call it a unique selling point. What is a USP? A USP is the particular thing that the business or the service has that separates it from the other people in the same industry and thereby gives you Reggie a competitive edge. Everybody say USP,

(00:05:25):
Unique selling proposition. It is the essence of what makes a company or service better than its competitors. Let’s just throw some out there. Nike, how many of y’all wear Nike’s? Anybody wear Nike’s? Here’s their USP. It’s not just do it. That’s a slogan. Okay, here’s their unique selling proposition. Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete. You see Nike commercials all about inspiration. Okay, now here’s Adidas competition developing lightweight and comfortable sports apparel that other competitors cannot manufacture. So you have one company focused on the athlete. The other company says, okay, you take care of the athlete, we’ll take on the comfort. Now, if you’ve ever put on some Adidas, there’s just no doubt that the Adidas is a more comfortable shoe. It is just no doubt. If you deny that fact, then you only have Nikes. But anybody’s ever put on a Yeezy, anybody’s ever put the flip flops? Let’s just take the flip flops just on the face of it, but one says it’s okay because that’s what our unique selling proposition is. We’re going to out comfort. You. See, here’s the deal. If you ever find out what your difference is,

(00:06:54):
You won’t have to make people like you. When you find out what you offer, the people who are looking for what you offer will find you. This is why competition is necessary in commerce. Let’s take another company. How many Coca-Cola drinkers in the house who says Coca-Cola tastes better than Pepsi? Who says Pepsi tastes better than Coca-Cola? You see that now the Coca-Cola people are delusional. I mean the Coca-Cola people are like the Coca-Cola. People are like, what are you talking about? The Pepsi people are like, are you serious? Right? But they both do. Well now lemme tell you, Coca-Cola by far is the bigger company by far,

(00:07:47):
By far. But when you do a taste test, most people will say, Pepsi tastes better. So how is the company that tastes better not as big as the company that isn’t? You know why? Because they have two different unique selling propositions. Coca-Cola has found out that you can sell beverages with here’s their USP, refreshing the world and making a difference. See, people drink it because they don’t know. Subconsciously they’re connecting to a company that meets their value standards and that is making a difference. If you ever seen the Coca-Cola commercial, it’s a polar bear rolling a ball and it ain’t even about, it’s not even about the soda. Now, Pepsi on the other hand, Pepsi says this is their unique selling proposition. Convenience. Just make sure we’re available everywhere. If you ever notice you go in the arena, you can get a Pepsi in most gas stations, they just make sure that they are available everywhere so that way when you are thirsty, even if you don’t prefer them, you can find them.

Speaker 2 (00:08:52):
Okay?

Pastor Keion (00:08:53):
Is this helping anybody so far? Just touch your name and say you’re being set up right now. Listen, I’m going somewhere. Look, people who’ve been knowing me, they just like, yeah, where are you going with this? Rev, Domino’s Pizza, $5 billion last year, $5 billion. Here’s their unique selling proposition. You get fresh hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or what? See what separates them from everybody else is not that their bread is better, is that you’re going to get it quicker. And lemme tell you something, when people are hungry, they don’t care how it tastes when it show up. So dominoes, they’re not even selling pizza, they’re selling speed. Come on, y’all help me. We’re going to get there in a minute. We’re going to get there in a minute. Let’s take, oh yeah, this is going. See this Next one is class warfare. Walmart versus Target. Now watch this. First of all, Walmart’s unique selling proposition is every day low prices target’s unique selling proposition. Watch this, expect more and target people done change the whole name of the store. People who shop at Target think they better than us. Walmart people. Oh, it’s tar. Shut your face. It’s Walmart.

(00:10:52):
I mean you can do that with any store. Anybody don’t feel inferior because you sharp at Marshalls. It ain’t Marshalls, it’s DeMars. So Walmart says low prices. Now they can’t keep the prices low because y’all keep stealing everything. Now y’all hear me online, stop stealing everything so we can get our low prices back. Every time you go in the store, now you got to push a button. Somebody got to come with a key so you can get a toothbrush. It’s up there waiting. Now you 22, when you go in, you’re 27. When you come out for toothpaste, you see same concept, different. When you go into Walmart and you push their carts, it sounds like you got a cat stuck under wheel. Just target carts don’t make a sound. They sound like Rolls-Royces are just, all right. This next one, some of y’all might be too, too young, a young Thundercat. Y’all got all kind of as food restaurants like ma, all this stuff like that. But when we grew up, you had two options. You had McDonald’s and Burger King. How many of y’all grew up in that generation? That was it. Now, McDonald’s unique selling proposition is food folks and fun. Did you ever notice everybody who’s eating McDonald’s is always having a good time.

(00:12:34):
They wake up at six o’clock in the morning and they got their coffee skipping on the way to work. Don’t nobody go to work like this. This how people go to work like dang, burger King never. You really never see any person in a Burger King commercial. You see the little man with the head, but you don’t see. Tell me the last time you seen a group of people having a great time in the Burger King commercial. You haven’t seen it. Why? Because their unique selling proposition is the only thing they talk about is the flame they sell. The fact that their hamburgers are actually real. McDonald’s is like, come and get this in 15 seconds or less. Burger King, like if you come in here, you better have a two hour lunch break. You going to be here all day, but at least you can have it. Are y’all listening to me? Now? Every company has a unique selling proposition and show you for your own life. My question is what do I get when I get you? And here’s the thing about a unique selling proposition. A unique selling proposition allows you to identify yourself without speaking for yourself. So my question is, what is it about you that people get from you that you don’t have to explain that you do?

(00:14:18):
Because if you got to tell people I’m a nice person, chances are because the USP says, when I’m in your presence, I already know who you are. If you are honest and consistently yourself, people know what they get when they get you.

(00:14:45):
I’ve known my whole life, my unique selling proposition for my life is I help people to continue in spite of the fatigue they feel. So even when you’re tired, my word is always get up. Let’s go keep going. That’s how I’m able to get a foothold in ministry is because I’m not trying to deal hope like this preacher and I’m not trying to hoop and holler every Sunday like this preacher. I just get up and find tired people and say, don’t give up and don’t be weary and well doing for induced season, you’ll reap a harvest if you faint not. And because I know what my UPS is or USP, I bring it to bear in every message at some point in time. One of the greatest personal UPSs I’ve ever heard from somebody was like, I asked them what was their unique selling proposition, USP, and they said, my destiny is to help you find yours. What is in your journal and your notebook about yourself? What is your brand? And a brand is not a logo. A brand is a promise that you will consistently deliver. What is your personal brand? What do I get when I get you? And if your brand or your personality is inconsistent, no wonder you don’t have consistent customers

(00:16:11):
And offers and opportunities because you have to be consistent for people to trust you. Are you listening to me? Popeye’s got to taste the same every time you go. If it don’t taste the same every time you go, what do you say? I ain’t going. You don’t stop eating Popeyes. What you say? I ain’t going to that Popeyes no more because they don’t know what they’re doing. What am I talking to so far?

(00:16:43):
Now? Why did I bring all of that up? Because in the days of Jesus, Jesus had a perceived unique selling proposition and the unique selling proposition of Jesus was if you met him, he would do it immediately. That was his USP immediate woman with the issue of blood. For 12 years she met Jesus and she was healed, man, laid on the bed for 38 years, met Jesus and immediately he did what? Picked up his bed and walked. Jesus shows up to a wedding feast at Cane of Galilee. They’ve been drinking wine all day. Everybody’s drunk. They put water in the water pots. Jesus shows up and somewhere between them filling it up with water and Jesus getting near the water pots, by the time they looked in it, it was what wine. Because Jesus’s unique selling proposition, at least perceived was that if you met Jesus, you was going to leave with something immediately. If you are hungry, 5,000, not including the women and the children, if you were hungry immediately he would find a little boy with two fish and five loaves of bread and then give you 12 baskets of leftovers. We see nothing where the fish fry happened. We didn’t see the grease warm up. We didn’t see the ovens come out. All we know is that they were full

Speaker 2 (00:18:06):
Because

Pastor Keion (00:18:07):
The unique selling proposition of Jesus was that he would do everything immediately. Let me introduce you to Mark chapter number eight so that you might discover that Mark messes up the mission and upsets the equilibrium for he introduces us to another part of Jesus where he doesn’t do everything immediately. This is why I said this sermon has consequences because whenever it doesn’t happen right away, you think it’s not God. But let me introduce you to the prophet of process. The one who knows that his friend is dead and still waits four days to show up Lazarus to bring him out of a tomb because sometimes Jesus walks,

(00:19:09):
Every time you see Jesus in scripture, he’s always walking. Never in scripture does it say Jesus ran. Never does. It says that Jesus showed up in a hurry. Every time you see Jesus, he’s walking because he knows that no matter what’s happening, when I get there, I am the answer. I don’t have to be in a hurry. It doesn’t matter if I get there on Tuesday, it doesn’t matter if I get there on Thursday. It doesn’t matter if I get there next month. It doesn’t matter if I get there next week when I show up, everything has to change. Somebody say Jesus walks.

(00:19:43):
If you live in the time of Jesus, you would’ve seen that. It’d perceived that he did everything in a hurry. But in Mark chapter eight, it upsets the uniqueness and Mark upsets this by showing us that God is actually the God of the process. If I ask you the question and just stick with me because we’re almost there when I asked you the question, when Jesus fed the multitude, what’s the first story that comes to your mind? He fed 5,000, not including the women and the children and he had 12 baskets of leftovers. For most of us, when we hear about Jesus feeding a multitude, it’s the 5,000. How many of you knew that he had another thing where he fed 4,000? There was another banquet. Now this time he didn’t get the fish and the loaves from a little boy. He asked the disciples how much bread y’all got. They said, Jesus, we got seven loaves. Jesus said, give it to the people. They said, Jesus, why? We got to get ’em our bread. Y’all ever heard something they could go to work too? They could pray too. Why we got to give him our bread? Jesus says, give him the bread, and Jesus took their bread and he multiplied it and he fed 4,000. Now this is important. This is important. Are y’all listening to me? Most times when we hear about Jesus feeding the multitude, it’s the 5,000. We very rarely talk about the 4,000, but this is important because when he fed the 5,000, he fed them at a place called Beth Sayada.

Speaker 2 (00:21:12):
This

Pastor Keion (00:21:12):
Is important. When he feeds the 4,000, he feeds the 4,000 people at a place called the Garan. This is important. I need y’all to wake up. He feeds one at Beths, he feeds another 4,000 in a place called the Gs or the Guer. It’s near the Sea of Galilee. This is important because if God is the prophet of process, he is showing us that he is the God. Sometimes not the immediate miracle but the two-stage miracle because when he fed the 5,000 at Beth and the second at Garan one, the 5,000 was Jews. The 4,000 was Gentiles, Romans one, he came first for the Jew. Don’t like Bible preaching and second for the Gentiles, because we serve a God of process. Stop thinking that it’s not God because you had to wait on him.

Speaker 2 (00:22:22):
I’m

Pastor Keion (00:22:23):
Going to preach,

(00:22:24):
Stop thinking that it’s not God because you didn’t get the job the first time you filled out the application. Stop thinking that it’s not God because he didn’t heal your back the day you touched yourself and rubbed yourself with oil. Stop thinking it’s not God because the relationship you were in didn’t work the first time. God says sometimes I come for the Jew and then I come for the Gentile. In other words, I’ve got a two-step process. Sometimes I touch you and you see me in as trees and then sometimes I touch you and then your entire sight is destroyed and I want to know, can you trust me In between touches, oh, this going to be a hard one. Touch him every say. Can you trust him in between touches? Lemme say, can you trust him in between jobs? Can you trust him? When you used to get paid a whole lot and now you’re used to a certain lifestyle and now you can’t find anything that mirrors where you came from and you’re trying to figure out God, have you forgotten to be God says no. I’m trying to see if you’ll trust me in the touch.

(00:23:34):
I’m trying to find out, are you shopping with me because of my USP? You only shop with me because you thought I was immediate. I want to know, will you come back to the store if I’ll make you wait in line because sometimes I’m McDonald’s and sometimes I’m Burger King. Sometimes I’m Target and sometimes I’m Walmart. Sometimes I’m just, but sometimes I’ll flip a table over. Sometimes I’ll give you grace, but sometimes I’ll make you wait. Sometimes I’ll heal you and sometimes I’ll let you go through the therapy, but I’m God on both sides of the touches. Oh, I can’t get no help. Do me a favor. If you ain’t sleep yet, touch somebody and say God is both the healer and the waiter. Sometimes he shows up in a hurry and sometimes they’ll say, Jesus, the one whom thou lovet is sick, and Jesus will say, don’t worry about it. This sickness isn’t under death and he waits four days and if you are honest, most of us have a Mary and Martha reaction to when God makes us. Wait. If you had been here dog, if you’d have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. If you had been here, my family wouldn’t be going through this. If you had been here, we wouldn’t be struggling. Jesus looks those women in the eye and says, oh, I got it. I got it. You don’t know who I am.

(00:25:12):
Your brother’s going to get up. She said, yeah, he going to get up. And the last day at the resurrection, Jesus said, you’ve been in church your whole life and you ain’t learned nothing. Yes, he’s going to get up in the last day at the resurrection, but here’s what you forgot. I am the resurrection and the life and I came to tell somebody in here who’s dealing with a dead situation, slap somebody and say The resurrection is in the room when Jesus shows up, water turns the wine when Jesus shows up, dead men rise up when Jesus shows up, deaf tongues are released When Jesus shows up, shriveled hands straighten out. The resurrection is in the room, but can you trust him in between touches? Can you trust him? I know you can trust him when you up, but do you trust him when people are almost about to forget about you? Oh, I know you can trust him when your whole house is furnished, but can you trust them when you’re sitting on the floor trying to save up enough just to get somewhere to see, come here. I’m talking to the people who got empty bedrooms. Nobody can tell from the street. From the street it looks like God, it’s good. Oh, the on the inside it looks like God has forgotten about you, but they that wait on the Lord,

(00:26:38):
I just need about 400 of y’all. The rest of y’all, I’m going to appreciate your life. Just touch somebody, say, I’m going to trust them in between the touches. I’m going to trust them in between the jobs. I’m going to trust them in between the relationship you broke my heart, but I’m not going to break my rhythm. I’m going to trust them in the somebody shall trust them. In the meantime, next time somebody fire you, I want you to walk out with a smile. I want you to walk out like, okay, well thank you for sending me into my destiny. You got to trust him in between the touches. You got to trust him in between the touches, and this is good because remember Bishop, when he turned the small fish and the loaves into the banquet for the 4,000, the Pharisees, which are the religious class, they come out and said, well, if you God, ain’t that something if I’m God, you don’t know who I am. I mean I skipped through fortitude, generations gracious. I actually put myself in a woman went from God to human, let myself be born, let myself die and then got myself up.

(00:28:12):
Oh, by the way, that was the second part. You remember when I said let there be there was. Remember, there was no light until I spoke it. There was no water until I spoke it. There were no treason until I spoke it if I’m God. See, what you have to understand is when people don’t know who you are, it’s because they missed your beginning. You missing it. See, you caught me on the cross, but you don’t know this is a part of the plan. I’m not on the cross because I’m powerless. I’m on the cross because I’m trying to save the people who put me up here, which makes me the most powerful. The Pharisees said, well, if you God, then perform another miracle. Y’all hear me in the balcony and this is what I want you to understand. God says, I ain’t performing no miracles to make you believe. See, here’s the problem with most of you all. You perform too much for people who didn’t pay to get into the show and when you keep giving out free performances, no wonder nobody respects your authority and anointing. Slap somebody say, this ain’t for free. This anointing costs me something you don’t know how much hell I went through to get where I am and you not going to get it for free because you don’t want to pay the cost.

(00:29:42):
Jesus says, I’m not performing a miracle to prove anything to you. If you don’t know I’m God already. You’ll find out in the end,

Speaker 2 (00:29:54):
Stop

Pastor Keion (00:29:55):
Trying to prove yourself to people by performing miracles and then getting disappointed when they don’t appreciate the performance. See, this is what kills most men because we’re performers. We’re always performing. We’re all trying to put on a show. We’re always trying to show you what we can do and when you don’t perform from an authentic place but you perform for a reaction, then you want to end it all because you didn’t get the reaction that you anticipated. You have to understand anticipation and reaction are two different things. People will only respond to what they appreciate, not what you did. I got to say that again. Y’all missed all that. See you thinking, you doing something that they appreciate. You don’t understand they had that all of their life. You’re trying to impress them with something they had all their life. You have to find out what impresses them and perform in the area of that expectation. Jesus says, if I got to do a miracle to make you believe, you just won’t have one, and that’s where a lot of people are in the church right now. God perform a miracle then I’m going to believe God said, believe in I’ll perform a miracle.

(00:31:11):
You’d be surprised how many people in this church right now and watching online are like, God, if you do this, then I’ll believe God says, I ain’t doing nothing so you’ll believe you believe and then I will do it, but I don’t have to perform. I am God. I created the moon, the stars, the dog wouldn’t bark unless I told the truth. The snake wouldn’t hiss unless I gave it the sound. The cat couldn’t me out without me and I got to perform a miracle for you. You ain’t never flung no stars in the sky. I did. I gave the sunflower its color. By the way, the fact that you are alive is a miracle in and of itself. Jesus said when they told him to perform a miracle, this is what I love. This is what some of y’all need to do. The Bible says that Jesus said he took a deep breath in the spirit. You need to find your spiritual breath. I believe the reason why Jesus took a deep breath. He was Finn to be like, man, woo. Y’all don’t know Jesus was like that. I mean when he went into that temple and they were in there shooting dice, Jesus said, ah,

(00:32:34):
Everybody just do this. Say you need to find that spiritual breath that you can take so that you don’t respond negatively in between touches. How many of y’all got that in you just before you know it, you just done climbed up ’em and cut the head off? Some of y’all, you got to repent. You can’t even ask God to slow you down because you didn’t already kill them. Now you’d be like, Lord, forgive me for the sins that I created that I didn’t mean to do, but Lord, you know how my heart is and I didn’t mean to. Jesus said,

Speaker 2 (00:33:17):
Ooh,

Pastor Keion (00:33:17):
Y’all getting on my nerve. He said to the Pharisees, to the disciples, he said, where the bread at? Where’s the bread? We got to go to the other side. I got something I need to do over here where the bread, where’s the bread? The Bible says that them jokers only brought one loaf of bread. See, and I’m going to tell you something, I know Jesus was frustrated. He was frustrated. The reason why you asked him where the bread was is you have to understand that Jesus made his bread different than anybody else. I don’t bake, but I do know this from scripture. The way they made bread is that they would take a pinch of bread from the old loaf and put it in the new loaf and the leaven from the old loaf would be enough yeast in the new loaf for it to rise. This is how they made bread so they would make bread and this is brilliant. They would never have to introduce new yeast. They would make bread. Take a pinch, put it in there. See, because Solomon said it this way and Paul said A little leaven, leaven If the whole loaf, what does leaven mean is a metaphor for sin, which is why whenever you add leaven to bread, it

Speaker 2 (00:34:42):
Puffs up.

Pastor Keion (00:34:43):
Well, what is pride? It is an overinflated view of yourself, which is why at the Lord’s Supper or the last Supper, you see why the bread is so flat that we served you because there’s no leaven in it. It didn’t rise. So the reason why we serve unleavened bread at the Lord’s Supper is because we are saying the bread has no leaven and the bread of life had no sin. So you want to know why the bread isn’t fluffy, has no leaven. You want to know why Jesus has no pride, he has no sin. Does that make sense? So Jesus says a little 1111 of the whole loaf, so Jesus says to the disciples, he says, y’all got to be crazy. I am so tired of explaining myself to y’all. He says to them in the text, he says, why y’all don’t get what I’m saying? See, this is one thing I’ve learned as a leader. I can say the same thing over and over and over again and the people around me still say, we don’t understand.

(00:35:54):
I can say it every day and I’ll come to the next meeting. They’ll say, well, we don’t know what he meant and here I am just continuously explaining myself and I’m trying to figure out how can I be any more clearer on what I’m saying and sometimes I start to believe that it’s me. That’s not being clear, but then I have to realize what Jesus said to them. He says as he’s going to the other side, he says, I’ve just explained to y’all what my vision was. Y’all don’t get it. He says, beware of the Pharisees and harrises bread. Then I realized that the reason why people don’t understand my menu is because they have their mind on other recipes. See, when you used to make your bread like Herod and the Pharisees, then you don’t understand the new menu. It is not that I’m being unclear, it’s that you are measuring your perception based on my vision. Ain’t got to say, man, I’m talking for myself right now. That’s why there’s so much confusion in your house is because everybody in it has a perception and ever since Adam and Eve perceived that they could get life from another place, nobody has been sure of anything else since perception entered into the world,

(00:37:12):
And this is why your clarity is unclear is because it’s your recipe and your bread versus Harris bread and they’re trying to figure out your bread. Harris bread, your bread ain’t got no taste. Your bread is flat even though there’s life in your bread, it doesn’t taste as good as the bread I want. Okay? If I offered you sweet tea and ice tea, you’re going to take the ice tea and make

Speaker 2 (00:37:47):
It

Pastor Keion (00:37:50):
Not recognizing that you degrade the value by trying to make it taste like the other thing. This is why you have to be careful that people continue to add their ingredients to you so that you become what they perceive. I’m going to preach whether you say amen or not touch somebody, say I’m allergic to those ingredients. You can add to what God has already perfected. I may not do it how you want it. I may not say it how you want it, but you’ve got to understand the difference between my bread and heritage bread and you think it’s not bad because it’s only a pinch, but a little leaven, a little negativity ruins the whole atmosphere. Have you ever been with somebody and just a little bit of negativity about something amazing? It makes you say, you know what? Don’t worry about it.

Speaker 2 (00:38:52):
Amen.

Pastor Keion (00:38:55):
Jesus says, y’all not unclear. He was so upset with them. He says it is in the Bible. He says, how long you evil and perverse generation? He says, how long do I have to deal with you? Then they came and said, Lord, perform a sign for us. Jesus said, why listen to me young people. He says, why does this generation always need a sign? It’s in the Bible. What is it about this generation that you always got to have God perform for you to believe him? There was a time that we said if he don’t do nothing else, oh God, y’all going to make me preach. I’m trying my best. How many of y’all remember the time in the church we would get up our testimony service if he never does anything else? He’s already done enough. This generation, we need God to kill our baby daddy. We need God to make sure that we get a job we don’t qualify for. We need God to continue to do all of these things. Why does this generation seek a sign? Why does God have to continuously prove himself to you? You walked away from something other people don’t walk away from. Why is it that God has to prove something to you? You were born in a house, one was an alcoholic and one was addicted to drugs and yet you are a prosperous sit. Why does God have to prove anything to you? They told you that you would never be able to conceive and now you got three children. Why does God?

(00:40:34):
I’m just wondering, is there anybody online in this house that says God never does anything else? I said, I’m looking for somebody who will say if God never does anything else, he has already done, why seeketh he a sign? Remember, if you study it, the sign is not the miracle, it’s the thing that points to the miracle. So nothing’s wrong with seeking a miracle. He’s saying, why are you looking for a signal that I’m God? How many of you ever said, well God if just show me some sign and if you show me I’ll follow you. God says, follow me. I’m the way, the truth and the life. I will not perform miracles. I will not perform miracles to get Christians. I’m not about to swoop in and just do whatever you want me to do just so that you can tell people you believe, tell ’em you believe and then you’ll see that thy faith

Speaker 2 (00:41:52):
Has healed them.

Pastor Keion (00:41:56):
But I know why we struggle to have that kind of conversation. Why? It’s the village. It’s the village. It’s the conversations you have. Listen to me, your life goes in the direction of whose advice you take. You have somebody tell I wouldn’t take all that. Well, you didn’t take it and it didn’t take. You have to be careful whose advice you take. You have to be careful

Speaker 2 (00:42:47):
Whose

Pastor Keion (00:42:48):
Spirit you let in your soul. You have to be careful at who you spend an hour on the phone with. You got to be careful. Alright? Y’all don’t want to say nothing, you don’t got to say nothing. We related and

(00:43:09):
There is nothing in the scripture that says that you have to take the advice of people you’re related to if they are detrimental to your destiny. You can be related to people and not let them pour in your spirit. Hallelujah. I can love you but understand that you are toxic for me. So if I got to go find people that don’t have the same blood type but got the same spirit type, then I’ll do what I have to do to make sure that I get to the other side. Do I have a witness in this church? If I’m talking, you say, say amen. Here it is, y’all good? I’m going to say something to you. You probably have never heard. The only reason why or one of the reasons why God performs a miracle is not to make you shout, although we do that God’s primary purpose for performing miracles is to change perception. I knew you wouldn’t shout because it ain’t sexy. It don’t sound amazing. God performs miracles to change perception and since the intrusion of the ability to perceive in the garden, certainty has left the earth, truth is the only thing that can be known.

(00:44:35):
Say it. Boy, if you heard what I just said, you would understand Truth is the only thing that can be known. When you say you have a perception, what you don’t really realize what you’re saying is I have partial awareness and one of the mistakes we make is believing that having an opinion means we have knowledge. That’s me. Amen. And myself, since y’all sitting there like I ain’t saying nothing, I have to read 12 chapters to get that statement. You just listen to me to perceive is not to know. Just because you see something a certain way don’t mean you know what you talking about. Can I help you to perceive is to be certain about a distorted form of knowledge. Most of us are absolutely sure about something that’s incorrect. Talking, dog talking,

Speaker 2 (00:46:05):
Talking.

Pastor Keion (00:46:07):
You are absolutely sure you will fight for it. You will post about it. You’ll call and tell everybody this is what you perceive and don’t even know you’ve just posted distortion. We so good at finding something, a one line on somebody page and then posting it. They ain’t studied before they posted it and you ain’t verified before you posted it and you just posted distortion because it made you feel good at the moment. Preach Keon and most of you’all are not posting facts. You’re actually posting to talk to somebody that you won’t call. So you put it out here and we all got to see it. When you’re really talking to your ex trying to act like you’re kicking knowledge, no, you’re trying to fight in the spirit. Oh yeah, I’m going to get him good with this one. Wait till he see this. He is on a date and he’s in Cancun. He ain’t looking at your post. I ain’t going to let y’all scare me today.

Speaker 2 (00:47:16):
So

Pastor Keion (00:47:17):
God says, listen. He says, I want to perform a miracle, but I understand that I got to work on you because if you cannot listen to me church, listen to me online. God says, if you cannot receive appropriately, you will never be able to perceive accurately and I won’t waste my miracle on the wrong perception. Miracles need the right environment to be performed. If you’re talking about I need God to perform a miracle but I just feel like I’m failing, I just feel like it’s all over. I need God to perform a miracle but I’m tired and I want to give up. God says I am not about to step in that negativity and put my miracle in that atmosphere. That is like taking an apple seed to Alaska and putting it in the ice and asking it to make a tree. In order for a seed to grow, it has to have the right atmosphere and if you are negative, you are killing your seed. Y’all ain’t got to say amen, but I came to preach and set the captive free today, Lord, right now in the name of Jesus for everybody who is accustomed to your immediacy, I am here to preach about this two stage. God, let your real children understand that your unique selling and proposition is you don’t always do it right away.

(00:48:37):
I’m trying to show you a different side of God so you’ll stop not trusting him because you prayed on Monday and didn’t get it Monday night. Sometimes God lets the acorn fall to the ground and get embedded in the soil and it has to wait a generation to become a tree and maybe your life was never meant to feed you. Maybe your life was meant to give the rest of your family saved, but you’ll never be happy if God created you to be shade and you want to be fruit, you have to be satisfied with what he made you to be and you don’t get to tell God, God, I want to be an apple tree. God says, no, I made you an oak tree. I wanted you to provide wood so that other people in other generations can create furniture out of your substance and you want to be fruit. God says, I can’t perform miracles until the atmosphere is right. Lemme tell you something, we were at winter Wonderland wonder of the ladies in our church. She’s been here and we were out in the front and she’s been going through a lot and I was praying for her and I listened to her and this is the honest to God truth. I probably listened to the young lady without responding for seven to 10 minutes, but once I start talking and she tried to interrupt me, I rebuked her

(00:50:27):
Because I told her, God can’t perform a miracle in this atmosphere when you keep telling me how long you’ve been waiting and what he ain’t doing and how frustrated you are and this and that. I get all of that. I’ve been through my own hell and high water, but when you get enough courage to ask God to do something, you got to also have enough courage to let God have his way. I don’t know who I’m talking to in this place today and I prayed for the young lady and as they took her away, I pray, Lord, let her faith fail. Not because most of us lose our blessing in between the touches. I almost named this sermon, the two step God,

Speaker 2 (00:51:24):
Come on.

Pastor Keion (00:51:25):
Because most of us are used to God responding as soon as we push the button. But what happens when you flip the switch and the lights don’t come on? Will then you assume he has no power or would you perceive that he was protecting you from a shock? Oh, and by the way, daughter, the young lady who was in the wheelchair that I was just talking to you about, thank you Holy Spirit, the lady that I was talking to you about that was in the wheelchair on Saturday. I’m looking at her now. She’s standing in the sanctuary. Do me a favor and tell your neighbor God can do it overnight.

Speaker 2 (00:52:13):
God do overnight

Pastor Keion (00:52:15):
If you I said repeat after me, don’t quit and he can do it overnight. If you believe I came to preach today, y’all I came to, I did not come to entertain you. I did not come with fluff. I came so that you can have a weapon to fight the devil back with. How many of y’all need this word online? Let me know if you hear me. Here’s what the Bible says in Matthew 17 and 17. He says, after he kept fighting with them, he says, oh, unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me. God says, bring the boy to me because if the boy stays in your environment, the demons won’t leave. So get him out of his village so he can get victory. Because if he stays around, see some of y’all can’t get where you’re going because everybody around you is negative and unbelieving and they’re condescending and they’re always moping and they always got their lips tuck out. You need to find some friends that can find joy and chaos. You need to find some friends who can worship in spite of it all

(00:53:46):
High five, your neighbors say, will you praise God with me even though you’re waiting on them, even though you don’t have money in the bank, even though you got sickness in your body, even though you are waiting on the doctors to give a report, can you just worship God with me? I hear somebody who got the Holy Spirit saying yes, God, yes God I know the sound of the Holy Ghost when I hear it. Holy Ghost, you’re going to have to saturate this atmosphere because right now I got one group stuck on the other side of the touch, but I can still feel some of y’all still trying to get because I’m fighting against what you’ve been through and I’m fighting against what you perceive. I’m fighting against what you were taught. I’m fighting against your orientation, but I can see some of y’all leaning in if you got to, you got to pick up a leg and drag yourself to the other side, but I want you to leave all of that negativity behind so that God can get in the atmosphere and begin to create a new work in you. Who am I talking to on the balcony?

(00:54:57):
You got to trust them on both sides of the touches. Are y’all still with me? Watch what Jesus says. Well, lemme tell y’all how many of y’all got Google or something like that and it’s frustrating but it keeps you safe. The two step verification. How many of y’all opt to do that now? It’s an extra step. You got to put your number in, put your password in, send you a code. Then if you got an iPhone, it populates the code. If you don’t have one of them, then you got to write it down on a sheet of paper and then put it in manually. You’ll eventually get there. I am telling you. Then it sends you the code. Then your security question, what’s your mama’s this and what’s your favorite that? And you got to put all that just to get in, but you better. You know why? Because, and I just sent this to our security team right now because of what’s going on in other parts of the world, the FBI is saying that we have to be on high alert and mostly churches. You better be careful right now they’re going after identities and places of haven and all that kind of stuff, especially during the holidays.

(00:56:16):
So you got this two-step verification process to keep somebody from hacking your process. And God says, sometimes I’m a two stage God because I have false Gods hacking my process. I got false prophets hacking my process, trying to lay hands on the sick, but can they lay hands on the sick and they stay dead and then show up four days later and then come out of the grave close. God says, I introduced another process to deal with the people who pretend to be me. So God says, I’m verifying that I’m God because I’m doing it in a way that only I can. I’m the only one who can touch your eyes and give you partial sight and then come back and touch it again and give you full sight. And then I asked myself, I said self myself said, hmm. I said Self. Why did God split the process in two? He did all this other stuff immediately and now he wants to touch and touch again. Be honest with you, it would’ve made me doubt him. He touched the man. He went from blind to 2060. I see men as trees. Partial sight, partial sight. God, what are you doing?

(00:57:54):
What are you trying to show us? I mean what we have been excited about. The miracle of the man was on the bed for 38 years and he got up and he said, my right leg didn’t work but my left one did. That ain’t God. What are you doing? Show us what you’re doing. The Lord gave me a revelation. We always shout about the second touch. Come on, I have anybody want to look. The second touch is the one that makes the church go crazy. He touched him. Boom. He starts seeing church goes crazy. It wasn’t until this week that I had a greater appreciation for the first touch. I see men as trees. What’s the first living thing we see in the Bible? In the middle of the garden there’s a tree. Where do we see Jesus being crucified in the New Testament on a tree? What do we use to celebrate Christmas? Where do we get the ability to have the knowledge of good and evil at the tree and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nation? Blesses the man that walk not in the council of the ungodly nor standard in the way of the sinner, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and he does meditate on it day and night and he is like a

Speaker 2 (00:59:53):
Tree.

Pastor Keion (00:59:57):
It’s like a tree planted by the rivers of water. And bishop, when I saw this, it literally blew my mind. The Bible says in Romans eight and 10, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit of life. So when you see the word treat in the scripture, it means life. And the word life according to Paul is translated spirit. So it means that when the man was touched a second time he saw the substance he saw clearly, but if he hadn’t known, he actually saw clearer the first time because the first touch allowed him to see in the spirit, oh God, I don’t know who I’m talking to, but God said, don’t ignore the first touch because I’m about to give you the ability to see in the spirit. Touch five people to say different dimension, different dimension, different dimension. Dementia. You have been so accustomed to thinking it’s God because you can see the way you used to see, but God says, don’t negate the fact that I’m about to give you the ability to see in the way you’ve never seen before. But before you can see in the spirit

(01:01:41):
The Bible says that Jesus comes to the man and grabs him by the hand and leads him out of the village. The truth is you would be able to see if you could get out of your village. He had to leave where he was in order to see. And the reason why some of you all can’t see is because you so addicted to your village that you don’t recognize that they are contributing to your blindness. That’s your dog. That’s why you blind. That’s your clique. That’s why you blind. That’s your friend. That’s my best friend. That’s why you blind your problem ain’t your eyes, your problem is your village. Jesus said if you want to see, you’re going to have to get away from these people who have contributed to your lack of sight because you will never see if you stay preach. Boy, stay where you are if you want and you’ll always be searching. Your village is the issue. Everybody in your little village just gossip all the time.

(01:03:27):
And this is how you know that God is trying to disrupt your village. He’s trying to get you around people that you won’t be comfortable around when you first get around because they don’t do the stuff that your old village did and you’ll do what the children of Israel did When God tries to bring you to Canaan, you’ll figure out that things are different and then you’ll want to turn around and go back to your village and then been wondering why it took you 40 years to get a miracle because God says, I’m not performing miracles here around these people. Why? Because if I bless you in the wrong village, you going to bless the village and I cursed it. Can I just tell you something? You have a blind spot. You’re going to leave church today and y’all going to go get on the phone and go to Chili’s. I don’t know why I picked that place. I don’t even go there so I don’t even know why I said that. Y’all going to go pick a restaurant and you’re going to sit around the table and you’re going to talk about everybody’s outfit and talk about how everybody looking who was dating who And you could have spent the same time talking about the word

(01:04:47):
And encouraging each other and building each other up. But it’s your village. No matter how many times God tries to lead you out and you’re like, God, I’ll catch up. I’ll catch up. I’ll be there eventually I’ll catch up. God, I ain’t ready to cut ’em off yet. I ain’t ready to move on. Okay, well stay blind and don’t tell anybody. I’m not a miracle worker. When you can’t seek, come ye out from among them your village. People are making your blindness elongated. You should have been seen by now, but it’s your village. And let me tell you something about village people. They have a compelling argument as to why you should keep them village. People think that because they helped you build the village that you should keep them when they start tearing the village down. As long as you are contributing to the vision of this village, there was a place for you. But I am not going to subjugate my village to your inability to get out of the boat. I want you to identify your village and I guarantee you, you are underperforming because you are surrounded by people who keep you blind.

(01:07:00):
And what’s worse is they know what they’re doing. They know exactly what information to give you and what information to keep from you so that you can see what they show you, which is still blindness. Who am I talking to? God is about to touch you in a way and you will start to see things in the spirit. Listen to me and it’s going to scare the hell out of you. You’re not going to recognize yourself because you’re going to start to have different reactions to things that you used to react differently before. And listen, let me and don’t let the devil make you think that because you reacted differently. You’re weak. I just said something because the one thing nobody wants to be is weak. And so if you’re perceived to be weak based on your new response, then you’re going to go back to being ignorant, what you call strength. Let ’em think you’re weak, but you’re going to soon recognize that when you see in the spirit, you handle things slowly, which makes your enemies think they’re getting away with it. You’re not getting away. We’re just going to deal with this on my terms.

(01:08:56):
Never let anybody make you react to war when you should be offering peace. I am the God of the immediate, but I am also the God of the second touch. And let me tell you right now, he’s reaching out his hand and he wants to know, do you want to see if you do

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
Follow me?

Pastor Keion (01:09:57):
And when you get homesick, whatever you do, please don’t go back to the village people. There is nothing over there for you. That stage of your life has given you everything it’s ever going to give you. Okay? Y’all been friends for 10 years. It served its purpose. You don’t have to be mean to move on. See, and this is the one thing that we got to do better as a generation of people when it’s time to move on, don’t just move on, have a conversation and it don’t matter. Well, they’re not going to understand it. If I tell ’em, at least you would’ve said what it needs to be. But when you leave ambiguity in the equation, then you cannot distract me from what I perceive without a conversation from you. If it means nothing to you, it means nothing to you. But if it means something to you, I’m talking to people who recognize that when you are a kingdom person, you have to get rid of your village mentality. Can I speak to you bluntly? You are too big to act so small. Can I just be real? You are too smart to act that dumb.

(01:11:40):
You are too powerful to be that weak. But if you stay in that village, did you know everybody who stays in the same village? They starve together. They prosper together, they live together. They Abraham. You got to move. You got to come from among your kin folk. And I’m talking to somebody and I know I’m ministering right now because your next stretch and break is going to be from family members. I’m talking to people in this room who had to move halfway across the United States of America and you feel lonely sometime and you want to go back home because that’s where you had your family at. God says, I did not move you to Houston, Texas for you to go back to your village. I’m trying to do something and it’s going to take at least a generation to get that stuff out of your family, stay planted by the rivers of water. I see you. I hear you, and I’m going to bless you. I don’t know why I’m doing this, Lord Jesus. Why I’m I about to do this? Everybody who is in this church and join this church and you are not from Houston, come to this altar.

(01:13:02):
Why am I doing this? Lord Jesus, you ready? I had no idea. All I know is every week, my wife and I, we go in that room and every Sunday, don’t even know this. Every Sunday it is like 50 to 70 people joining church and we’ll ask the question. We’ll say, who isn’t from Houston? And everybody will be like, and then I say, my wife. I say, baby, tell em because my wife isn’t from here. She says, whatever you can do, meet somebody that you don’t know because you’re going to need them. What she’s basically saying is, you got to find your new village I against loneliness. You are in the right place on purpose and I know when you came here, you were expecting the land to be flowing with milk and honey and it will, but you’re on your first touch and you are about to turn around and go back to the village and you’re going to get back there and find out two things. Number one, you were not supposed to be there, and number two, when you get back, the people are going to be upset with you for leaving. So you’re going to be more alone when you returned than you were when you left.

(01:15:36):
There is nothing in Egypt for you. I am not from here, but this is my home. I wasn’t born here, but I feel like a son of the soil because when you get where God has planted you listen to me. What you don’t know is I have to go through hell for you to get here. When I got to Houston,

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
I wanted

Pastor Keion (01:16:15):
To leave. I hated it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:20):
Yes.

Pastor Keion (01:16:21):
In fact, when I got here, hurricane Ike had just hit the city. When I got to Houston, there was no power and it was a hundred degrees. The church that I came to, we had to have service outside for two weeks. This is the promised land. I was told by the pastor who brought me here. He said, God told me that you are going to take over this church, and for nine months I preached every Sunday I served him faithfully, never disrespectful, never late, never insubordinate, only to be fired on a Sunday morning without cause. He fired me on a Sunday morning and told me to leave the church. When he said, leave the church, I heard something different. When he said, leave the church. You know what I heard? Go back home, went home. Mad as hell. Start packing up my stuff. I’m out of here. You don’t want me. See, this is what I’ll go where they want me, but you got to understand every place people want you is not where you’re supposed to be. I’m going home, I’m going back. I’m going to Gary, Indiana. What would I have done in Gary, Indiana that I hadn’t already done

(01:17:48):
The street? I grew up on Ellsworth Place. The average age for a black man on the street I was living on was 25, which means that had I returned my life expectancy would’ve shortened. At that time, Gary, Indiana was the murder capital of the United States of America, the neighborhood that we grew up in. It wasn’t nothing to find a dime bag or an eight ball sitting right on the steps of the house where a dope man stood. I remember the first time I found my first dime bag. I went to my sister Danielle. I’m like, we about to be rich. I’m about to turn this 10 into a 20 and we about to get a burden. We about,

Speaker 2 (01:18:40):
Sorry,

Pastor Keion (01:18:40):
Man. See y’all don’t understand. We was talking about bricks. When I was 12. There was a drug dealer that lived across the street from us when he got raided when I was in the sixth grade, his granddaughter was my girlfriend. When he got raided in the sixth grade, they found $2 million cash and 17 keys under his bed, and I was there in the sixth grade. I pulled my first gun on a man when I was 12. After fighting the lunchroom, they let me go first. They let him go second. What they didn’t know is we lived in apartment five, apartment five. He lived in apartment two. They sent us to the same house and didn’t even know we lived together. So I knew what he had. He ain’t know what I had. I got home. I got my gun. My mama was looking through the window and as I got to 22 and put it in between his eyes, I hear my mama screaming from the window. Keyon put the gun down. My sister Danielle, she comes. This is why she’s always been my protector because just before I shoot the boy, my sister comes. She jumps down all of the steps in the hallway of the apartment building. Where’s Danielle? She jumps down the steps. If it wasn’t for her, I would’ve shot him.

(01:20:03):
She jumps down, she grabs me, knocks the gun out of my hand. Now, I got to admit to you after that, we beat the snot out of him together. I had to do something. I’m glad I didn’t shoot him, but I had to let him know dog, and we beat the brakes off of him. Lord, forgive me, sort of. Kind of. He deserved it, but I didn’t mean to in the spirit. I see trees, see trees. I see trees

Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
More to

Pastor Keion (01:20:36):
Touch. So I got here thinking, oh God. Oh, I’ve been through so much. Oh, I was so stupid. I did all of these dumb things. I remember one time called myself Sean off with a gun. I’m just, you know what? They can put it on the internet. I don’t care. I can’t help nobody. If you don’t know where I came from, forget the image. Okay? Polish me up. I did some stuff I wasn’t supposed to do. I remember having a gun. I got out of my Lincoln navigator, didn’t even know my finger was on the trigger. I accidentally pulled the trigger and the bullet went through the house in front of me. I ran over to the house, looked in the house and saw the bullet hole. I knew my life was over because I knew in the house was a woman with four children. I saw her every day. She would stand on the porch. She would wave to me. This was when I was living in Fort Wayne. We would talk. I knew the kids. She would wave. I had no idea that she foreclosed on the home and snuck out in the middle of the night so that they didn’t catch her. Swear to God, honest to God, the day that I shot the house, it was empty.

Speaker 2 (01:21:59):
Thank you.

Pastor Keion (01:22:01):
That’s where I come from, said that’s the stupidest stuff I used to do, and here I am standing on the stage, but I need to tell you, this ain’t the thing that helped me. I can see clearly now, but it was that first touch when I got here and the preacher said, leave and all of that temper and all of that anger that was there didn’t get enacted at that moment. And because I didn’t act a fool publicly,

Speaker 2 (01:22:45):
People

Pastor Keion (01:22:45):
Started to follow me privately.

Speaker 2 (01:22:47):
Come on down, come on now. Thank

Pastor Keion (01:22:51):
You God. And now I’m looking at all of you all

Speaker 2 (01:22:56):
Because

Pastor Keion (01:22:56):
I didn’t go back to my village. Don’t let struggle make you turn around. Don’t let missing your mama make you turn around, build the company and move your mama here. It is too cold. Her bones hurt. Anyway, get her out of that cold and get her in some heat. Build your house and put a mother-in-law suite in it. If you don’t want live, what you put her down the street. Some of y’all ain’t ready for that yet. If you want to be near her, but you don’t want to live with it. I got all that. But I want you to look it around at all of these people who made the same decision you made and you felt like you were the only one and all God did was send you to find your village.