The Converge Network with Pastor Michele Jackson

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Today on the Converged Network, Pastor Michelle will be sharing
God's heart with you through the Word of God before
she ministers to you. Michelle Jackson serves as Senior Pastor
of Hope Christian Church in Belfielle, Maryland. She is the
founder of the Converged Network, which is home to Harry
Jackson Ministry's Hope Connection and her podcast for Women Life

(00:24):
in the Overflow. Today's teaching, we'll explore how the Lord
is using people like you and me to build his
kingdom and usher in a new air of glory. Here
we go.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hey, everybody, this is Pastor Michelle. I'm so glad that
you're with me today. And today we're going to be
talking about mantles. We're in our Reformers Mantles series and
I want to talk to you today about mantles. I
don't know about you, but when I was growing up,
Superman was huge Christopher Reeves version, of course, and I

(01:02):
think I'm dating myself, but anyway, but the whole idea
of him being a regular guy, but underneath the suit
was the s was the supernatural super power. And I
believe that is what each believer has, supernatural power of God.

(01:23):
Moving in their life. And even as we are moving
about our daily lives, people can look at us and
just see the woman in the suit or the guy
in the suit. But there is a supernatural dimension that
God's called us all to walk in. And so in
this Reformers Mantle series, I really want us to be
talking about, you know, together and you discovering in your life,

(01:46):
what has God called you to do? How is He
calling you to walk in his supernatural grace, to be
that supermanner, that superwoman walking in the supernatural grace of God.
So mantles always represent authority. In the Old Testament, prophets

(02:06):
were mantles, and they signified the annoying the call of God.
They're being called as separate unto God to walk with him,
to be a voice for him. And so when we're
talking about the reformer's mantle, we're talking about the fact
that the Lord has called many of us in the
body of Christ to be change agents for his glory,

(02:28):
to bring solutions to modern day problems. And so if
we look in the Word, we can see that there
are many examples, godly examples of what a reformer looks like.
If I think about Niamayah. Niamayah had a gift of leadership.
Niamayah had a gift of administration. Even though he served

(02:48):
as the cup bearer in the king's house from the
tribe of Judah, he had an administrative gift. He had
a leadership gift, and he also had entrepreneurial annoying because
he was able to manage even governor. He was able
to manage the budgets, make sure that he was not
heavily taxing the people, that the economy could grow. And
so there was a wisdom that God had given him

(03:10):
to be an agent of change for a godly purpose
in his generation. Also Daniel, Daniel would be a reformer.
Daniel walked into excellence, as the Bible tells us, but
he also was an administrator. He was one who oversaw.
So he had a leadership component to his reformers mantle.

(03:33):
And so even now I believe that the Lord has
been showing us in society aspects that he wants us
to be involved in. Normally, how the Lord will highlight
to us our passions and our desires that He's placed
in us. Even the dreams that He's given us is

(03:53):
through our angst are angst about societal issues, are angst
about things that we see, gaps that we see in provision,
or gaps that we see in service. Oftentimes, the things
that give us adjada or the things that cause us
to lose it are the things that we've been uniquely
wired by God to address and to be a solutionary around.

(04:15):
And so in this series, we're going to be talking
about taking up a new mantle, taking up the garment
the burden of the Lord, and showing how to move
in that grace, and how the Lord is going to
use those who he's calling to be reformers in this
time to push back the darkness on the nation and

(04:38):
to bring the Kingdom of God to bear on the earth.
So let's just pray really quick before we get really
into what I believe the Lord wants to share today.
So Father, we just thank you, We just lift you up.
We just ask that you would just illuminate to us
and prepare for us what's ahead, Prepare us for what's ahead.
Even as we step into this new place. We thank

(04:59):
you Lord for what you're doing in our own lives
and our own families and communities, and in our nation.
In Jesus saying we pray Amen. So today, you know,
I just want to talk to you about the fact
that we have been in a time of testing. We've
seen many shakings. Hebrews chapter twelve tells us that everything

(05:20):
will be shaken so that what remains is of the
Kingdom of God. And so we've seen many shakings, and
there were many things that we relied on, but the
Lord has allowed those to be peeled back, pushed back,
in order to show us what's essential. And so even today,
as a reformer, even today, as someone who's been called

(05:41):
to be a godly change agent, it's time for us
to prepare ourselves for the new wineskin, for the new
garment that God is placing over us. Anytime the Lord
takes us through a time of testing, whether it's obedience test,
integrity checks, purity checks, come on, I know that the
Lord proves us, even as he proves silver and gold

(06:02):
is a refiner spire. We know that the Lord has
been purifying his body and purifying his church so that
we would have a posture that can carry the weight,
the posture that would not break under the weight of
His glory. And so right now, as we prepare for
what's ahead. We truly need to understand what it means

(06:24):
to be a reformer. So today I want to talk
to you about the life of Daniel in the life
of Nehemiah, because I believe that there's some truths that
we can see in their lives that will help us
understand even seasons of our own captivity. Daniel and Niemiah
were born in captivity. We know, according to the Bible,

(06:48):
that Israel went through a time of idolatry and decadence,
and because of that, the Lord God used Nebuka Neezzar
to be his deputy, to strip the temple that Solomon
had build of its silver and gold, to strip Israel
of its dignity, and to cause it to be a
laughing stock of the nation. And even the tribe that

(07:11):
through which Jesus would be born, And that the king,
that King David, was born in the tribe of Judah.
That tribe was taken into the King's household to be munichs,
to be servants, to be charmers and diviners, and to
serve in this Babylonian structure. And so many of us,

(07:34):
when we come to the Lord, we forget that the
Lord was sovereignly working in Daniel's life and in the
Amiah's life. Even in the time of working in Babylon,
even in the time of being under the subjugation of
foreign power, of even pagan power, God was working to
put in them the skills and the abilities that they

(07:55):
would need for what He was calling them to do
in the days ahead. We just want encourage you, even
as you've been called to be a reformer, that the
times where you've had to work under certain conditions, that
it wasn't that you were cut off from the purpose
of God. Even in our days before Christ. The Bible
says that He loved us when we were yet sinners,

(08:17):
and so there's a redemptive work that God does that
nothing is lost in our experiences in life. And so
you may be discounting what happened on your last job,
you may be discounting the experiences that you had in
a different career field. But the Lord us it's all
things to come together for its purpose. And so we

(08:38):
know that Daniel became a standard bearer for a standard
of righteousness under the kings that he served. He served
several administrations, and it was because of his excellence and
leadership and administration, his ability to handle the wealth of
the nation. That he was promoted. We know that promotion

(08:59):
comes from the Lord. It doesn't come from the north
to south, the east, or the west. It comes from
the Lord. And so today I want to encourage you
that you can last working in what we would consider Babylon.
You can work in the marketplace and survive. You can
work for people who are not godly leaders and still

(09:22):
survive in the marketplace. And that is what we saw
in Daniel's life. He was able to excel because the
spirit of wisdom, revelation, and knowledge operated in his life. Well,
how did that happen? The Bible says that Daniel consecrated himself,
that he would fast and pray, that he had encounters
with the Lord, that he had dreams and visions that

(09:44):
God gave him, and that he lived his life as
one who was set apart for God's purpose. Even though
he was in a place of leadership, even though he
had been exalted over his peers, he was heads and
shoulders above the rest. He did not allow him success
to cause him to become lackadaisical in his relationship with God.

(10:05):
As a matter of fact, I would say he was
even more passionate and even more pursuing of the presence
of God. And even when they tried to find fault
with him, fault could not be found because Daniel operated
in such a keen way, because he was reliant upon
the power of God. And the Bible tells us that Daniel,

(10:29):
when prayer to any other God was banned, Daniel opened
his windows and continued to do what he had always done,
which would submit his life to the Lord. We are
in a time and where we can get off course
as believers when we are not as consecrated, as focused

(10:52):
on the will and the way of God, even when
we have been exalted or promoted to a certain level,
we can lose our edge. But the Bible says in
Daniel chapter six that even when his peers, other administrators,
other high officers began to search him and try to

(11:12):
find fault in him, or a reason to criticize him,
or reason to condemn him or tear him down as
a leader, he was always found faithful, always responsible, and
completely trustworthy. And so the only thing they could do
was attack his faith. That's how powerful your relationship with
God is as a reformer in the marketplace. Your relationship

(11:36):
with the Lord, your prayer life will cause you to
be one that cannot be criticized except for your relationship
with God. It's powerful to think about this in a
modern day context. In a modern day context where now
with the pandemic and the changes that have come to society,

(11:56):
the Lord is causing us as his body to have
supernatural wisdom to lead and go beyond the limitations of
what has been and to pioneer new things. And we
see new leaders emerging every day. But the foundation for
the reformer, the one that's been mantled to bring godly

(12:16):
solutions into society, is one that has a strong prayer
life and operates in the wisdom and the knowledge of God.
So when we talk about dreams, because we talk about
dreams a lot, I want you to think about that
dreams are like a vision that you have for your life.

(12:37):
Oftentimes people say they come to the United States for
the American dream. So sometimes when we're talking about dreams,
we mean actual dreams like that you had at night,
or visions that God's given you. But also it's those
foundational things that provide a vision or a grid for
your life. The Lord wants to give us a new
grid in this season. And that's what was happening for

(12:58):
Daniel as he began to progress in Babylon. The Lord
continued to give him revelation through prayer of how to
answer the King's dreams, but also how to manage the
positions of influence that he'd been put in, and he
lived a life beyond reproach. Okay, Niamiyah Namayah was the

(13:19):
cut bearer for the king. Right. So these are two examples,
and I'm giving you of reformers, right, those who brought
godly solutions into society, who were exemplary leaders. So Niamiyah
was the King's cup bearer, and when he heard of
the devastation that was happening with his people, he began

(13:41):
to cry out to the Lord in prayer and travail
for this circumstance. So one thing we can see for
those who've been called to be reformers that the way
that we receive the anointing, the grace for the assignment
is through prayer communication with God. And so through that
time of prayer, the Lord began to give Niamyah a

(14:03):
burden for the people that he was then going to
be serving, because he was concerned about what was happening
in the land, that they had no protection, that they
didn't have the resources that they needed. The Lord began
to give him a burden. Well, how much more today
is the modern day church. We can sip our lattes
and we can have a good time, and you know,

(14:26):
but we can't forget that there are people who are
living in places that don't have clean water, that don't
have all the resources they need, that don't have the
basic necessities of life, food, shelter, and water. And so Niamyah,
he began to be purdened, he began to be overcome,

(14:46):
and the Bible tells us that he was so overcome
in his place of consecration that the King began to
ask him, what's wrong? What's happening with you? And because
of that he was given re that launched him into
the dream that God had given him, which was rebuilding
the wall of the city. What am I saying to

(15:09):
you today? There are burdens and dreams that the Lord
is kiving us in this time that are for others
to benefit in. And so we may be thinking today, well,
I don't have the resources to start it. I don't
have the resources to be involved in this, and this
is too big, beyond what I've done. But here is

(15:29):
someone Nehemiah, who did not have the finances. He was
a servant in the king's household, and yet the king
backed him. The king financed him, and also the king
gave him security in order to be able to travel international,
travel internationally at that time, across country boundaries, to be

(15:52):
able to do what God had put in his heart
to do. So there's no limitation, there's no boundary. When
God's called you to do something, he will make provision
for the vision. We hear that a lot in faith circles.
But it's true. There is an unlocking that happens when
we submit to God's plan, and unlocking of resources. That

(16:14):
might be time to get it done, that might be
staff to get it done, that may be finances to
get it done. But when you are in the will
of God and you are taking up the mantle or
the anointing that you've been called to walk in, and
you begin to step out and pray and begin to
intercede and begin to allow the Lord to give you

(16:35):
a burden, and then you begin to walk in that
burden in obedience God will begin to open up for you,
open up resources, but also open up the way. And
so we see through the story of Nia Maya, and
you can go to scripture and look at that. From
that vantage point, we see that he tightly held and

(16:55):
guarded the vision that God gave him. He tightly held it.
Mean when he traveled with all the resources, he kept
that he even went at night and looked at the
devastation and the status of things, and looked at everything
so that he could see the vision that God had
given him in real time and be able to walk

(17:17):
the land and be able to pray and really just
get God's heart for how he would move. And I
just believe that many of you who are listening to
me today are called to make solutions and to bring
solutions to our society, and to help improve the education system,
to help improve what's happening in government, to help improve

(17:39):
what's happening in the military, to help improve and the
Lord will allow you to be elevated or to be promoted,
to have a say, to have a voice. And the
question today is will you allow your voice to be
used for God? Come on, There's so many things that
we do to promote ourselves to have a measure of success.

(18:01):
But we can see that the reformer is called to
bring godly solutions into society. And while our faith has
been proven, our faith has been tested in this season,
even with all of the things that have happened in COVID,
but also the regular test and trials of the day.
Come on, You're stronger than where you started, and God

(18:21):
is breathing upon your heart today to begin to allow
him to use your voice in a new dimension. So
as we prepare for what's ahead, we need to be
prepared to be a voice, a voice that is anchored
by humility, a voice that's anchored by service, first to

(18:42):
the King and the kingdom and then to those around us,
knowing that our gifts are not for us, They're actually
for others. That's why we were given them. We were
given gifts not just to say, oh, I'm so gifted
in this, but to be a gift to other people,
to show forth the glory of God. I want to
pray with you today. I want to pray that the

(19:02):
Lord begins to breathe upon you in a new and
a fresh way. Even as you've been called to be
a reformer and to be a change agent right where
you are. So, Father God, I just thank you today
for everyone who's under the side of my voice. I
thank you, Lord. I thank you for where you have
them in their journey with you. I thank you for
this time of testing, this time of purification. I thank

(19:23):
you Lord that you've been pulling back the layers E've
ben causing us to know what's important, what's on your heart,
what's important for our lives. God, you're calling us to
one direction, and that's towards You, towards your purposes. And
so Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus, that
she would continue to uncover and recover all of the
areas where we need you to speak in to us,

(19:47):
to pour into us, so that we can have the
strategies from heaven to be able to be your voice
in the earth. God, I just thank you for uncommon
favor resting upon your people, for open doors and promotion,
and when they're given a opportunity to speak, Lord, that
they would be an oracle for God, that they would
be able to operationalize and institutionalize the wisdom of God

(20:09):
for their sector that they've been called to. We give
you glory, We give you praise in Jesus name. Thanks
for joining me today and I look forward to talking
with you again and to ministering to you again on
This Reformer's Mantle series.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Thank you for listening. Catch Pastor Michelle on Pray dot
com Radio Monday through Friday at six thirty pm Eastern.
Stay connected with Pastor Michelle by visiting Thehope Connection dot
org forward slash Converge network. You can follow her on
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(20:51):
friend today