Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our King. I’m excited to welcome you to “The Potter’s Touch”. I believe that God is going to bless your life in a very powerful and profound way because the message we’re sharing today is called “God Does His Best Work Undercover,” or “God Goes Undercover”. You didn’t know that about him, did you? He actually does his greatest deeds in secrecy.
So when you think of God going undercover, think of the secret work that God is doing in your life that people don’t know. And sometimes, quite frankly, you don’t even know. These are times in our lives when God goes undercover, and moves things around, and orchestrates things, and does things. That’s why we have to praise him, because sometimes he’s doing things we don’t even see him doing at all. Get your Bibles, go to the Gospel of Saint John chapter number 14, verse number 16, and hear ye the Word of the Lord.
Jesus says, “For he dwelleth with you,” underline “with you,” “and shall be in you”. “He dwelleth with you and shall be in you”. “He dwelleth with you and shall be in you”. “He dwelleth with you,” comma, “and shall be in you”. I wanna preach in between that comma. The, “With you,” comma, “and shall be in you”. Right in that gap between “With you,” and “in you” is a shift, is a transition, is a change. It’s a new idiom of thought. It’s a new ideology. It’s a new philosophical idea. It’s a concept that the God that has dwelt with you for thousands of years shall be in you.
When you think of understanding where we are today on Pentecost Sunday, it is the commemoration then of what has happened between Passover to Pentecost, from Passover to Pentecost. Passover, you remember. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you”. So, “When I see the blood, when I see the sacrifice, when I see the shed blood, when I see the blood on the doorposts and the lintel, I will pass over you”. The reason that the death angel passed over the children of Israel in Egypt was when he saw blood on the doorposts, he had no reason to come in the house. Because the blood was a sign that death had already been there.
Oh, yeah, you see what I’m sayin’? It was not that this house was better than that house. It was not that this house were more holy than that house. It is not that this house was more spiritual than that house. But the death angel was passing over Egypt. And any place that he did not see blood, he went in to kill. But any place he saw blood, he didn’t go in to kill, because the blood was a sign that death had already been there so it passed over.
What was the Passover in the Old Testament for the children of Israel in Egypt becomes the cross for the New Testament church. Jesus becomes my sacrificial Lamb, who shed his blood. His blood is an admission, first of all, that I am not inexcusable. I am worthy of death. The death angel should come in my house. “The wages of sin is death”. It is right for me to die. He couldn’t break his word about it. “The day you eat of the tree, you shall surely die”. God could not change his word, lest he become a liar and cease to be the truth. And so in order to keep his word and remain the truth, he had to make sure that he didn’t wink at my sin or clothe my sin.
I wanna pause right there ’cause I want that to sink in. All the things that you should get, all that the things that you deserve to get, all the things that your behavior should prepare you to get, the only reason they didn’t happen is because Jesus stood in and threw the blood over your house. And when justice tried to get you, mercy made justice… if I had, like, five, or six, or seven, or eight people who were glad for the Passover, it would make this service really… yeah!
You don’t have to tell nobody your business, but shake ’em by the hand and say, “You’d be surprised what passed over me. Yeah, you’d be surprised what passed over me. You’d be surprised what should have killed me. You’d be surprised what should have took me out. You’d be surprised what almost happened. You’d be surprised what threatened to take me out. You’d be surprised what came up against my house. You’d be surprised what happened to my cousin, but it didn’t happen to me. You’d be surprised what happened to my sister, but it didn’t happen to me. You’d be surprised what happened in my neighborhood, but it didn’t happen to me. It was supposed to happen to me. I should have been a statistic. I should have been a case study. I should have lost my mind. But when it came to get me”…
I wanna have about 30 seconds of Holy Ghost praise for the things that passed. And it is no mistake that on the night that Jesus was to be betrayed, he took bread and broke it, and wine and blessed it on the night of the Passover and said, “Take, eat, this is my body that was broken for you”. He is then identifying himself as being the Passover Lamb. And right after that he goes to the cross. And on the cross he dies, and he sheds the blood so that death could pass over. It caused such a turbulence that it broke up the graves in Jerusalem, upset the stones, eradicated the entombment, moved stones and boulders out of the way. Dead men were seen walking the streets of Jerusalem.
In order to determine where Pentecost is, you have to count 50 days past the Passover. Fifty days past the Passover is seven weeks. Seven weeks with seven days is forty-nine, the seventieth week of Daniel, seven times seven, forty-nine days. And 49 days had to pass by in order to enter into the 8th week of new beginnings. The 50th day is the 1st week of the 8th week of new beginnings. Eight, Michael, is the number in the Bible for new beginnings. So when the day of Pentecost was fully come, good God of mercy, since death passed over, it had to pass over for purpose. Passover for purpose. If death passed over, it passed over for a purpose. So the gap between the Passover and Pentecost is discovering the purpose.
The 50th day is a new beginning. In other words, let me break it down. God said, “I passed over all of your old mess, so that you could have a new beginning”. This is new beginning Sunday. Slap your neighbor and say, “Get ready for the new me”. Yeah, this is the time that you find out what the warfare was about. This is the time that you find out how God delivered you and what he delivered you for. This is the time that you discover that God saved you for a purpose, and you’re ready to step into your supernatural purpose. This is Pentecost Sunday. I want everybody who understands the words that are comin’ out of my mouth to give God a praise right now. I feel a breakthrough about to come forth in this place. There’s a break forth about to come through in your life. There’s a new you about to come out of you. There’s a shift that’s about to take place.
I want you to understand that the process of going undercover is not something that was founded by Hollywood for “Beverly Hills Cop”. It’s not developed in a criminal justice course taken in colleges. It’s not a ideology that is passed down through a psychologist who specializes in criminology. No, no, no, no, no, no, God is the founder of the concept of going undercover. There’s a lot of preparation that has to go into going undercover, a lot of study, a lot of research. It takes a lot of time to go undercover. You don’t just go undercover suddenly. It takes a while to learn the lingo, and the language, and the dress, and the styles, and the times, and who the kingpins are, and where to go, and how to act. You have to train to go undercover.
For 42 generations, God trained to go undercover. He was studying to get out and preparing himself, and, “Said, ‘Lo, I come (in the volume of the book) to do thy will, O God, it is written of me.'” “I’m goin’ undercover”. He found a virgin named Mary and said, “Mary, I’m gonna use your womb as a dressing room so I can style my clothes. ‘Cause if I come as God, they can’t handle it. So let me step over in your dressing room and wrap myself up in flesh”. And there in a manger, with nothin’ to witness but cows, and sheep, and camels, he went undercover. He said, “I’m gonna put my Son undercover in the earth. I’m gonna let him be born like a man, grow up like a little boy. I’m gonna let him grow up as a carpenter’s son. I’m gonna let him live like a man. I’m gonna let him get sleepy, and tired, and hungry, and thirsty like a man. ‘Cause he’s God undercover”.
He’s so undercover. You know, when you go undercover, generally you have to almost kill somebody for the gang to accept you. “And in order for them to believe that he’s legitimate, I’m gonna let him die like a man. And it’s gonna shake up the heavens when he dies like a man”. That’s why the ground gets nervous. That’s why the sun can’t look at it. Because they’ve never seen the day where the Son died. And when he died, the ground started tremblin’. “But don’t shake, ground. Don’t be scared, sun. He’s just undercover. I did all of that so I could slip him in, into the heavenlies, into the heavenlies.
So that you would have somebody kin to you in heaven. So that you would have a Priest that can be touched by the feeling of your infirmity. So that when a famine broke out in your world, when your world got crazy and people started killing, and shootin’, and diseases started runnin’ wild and crazy, and death was everywhere, and there was a famine in your land, you could cry out to heaven and there’d be somebody in there to represent you. A Mediator between God and man. That is to say, the Man Christ Jesus”.
Jesus is our Man in heaven. He is God gone undercover. He’s undercover. I need you to whisper, ten people, “He’s undercover”. Anything that’s undercover, it does not yet appear what it shall be. It ain’t over yet, it’s undercover. Don’t judge it right now, it’s undercover. Anything that’s undercover, it hasn’t been revealed yet. It’s undercover. You’re healed, but it’s undercover. You are rich. You’re already delivered, but it’s undercover. Shhh, it’s undercover. Don’t tell anybody, he’s undercover. “I have been with you, but I shall be in you. I’m goin’ undercover”.
The Bible says that if the princes of this world would have known what they were doing, they would have never crucified the Lord. “What they meant for evil…” Oh, I wish I had some Bible scholars in here. “What they meant for evil, God made it good”. When they crucified him, they thought they hurt him but they helped him. Because when they crucified him, he slipped.
See, let me explain. They crucified him to get rid of the body. It was a plot to get rid of the body. “We gotta get rid of the body. We’ll crucify him. We’ll take the body away”. God’s expression is out of the earth. It’s gone. “Roll a stone in front of him. It’s gone”. They didn’t know. They couldn’t remove the body because the body was goin’… so, this is what he did. The physical body led them out as far as Bethany. He said, he led them out, “Come on out”. You can’t be security. You just stand there. You stay right there. He led ’em out as far as Bethany. Uh-huh, just sit right there. Yeah. Come on, he kept leadin’ ’em out. Led ’em out as far as Bethany.
Uh-huh, he says, “Now, this is as far as I can go with you. I brought you here. I’m with you. But I want you to go on to Jerusalem. When you get to Jerusalem, the God who was with you… now, this is what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna get in Jerusalem. You’re gonna be in one place. You’re gonna be with one accord. You’re gonna be talkin’ about me. You’re gonna be singin’ about me. You’re gonna be clappin’ your hands about me. You’re gonna be worshipin’ God about me. You’re gonna be remembering me. You’re gonna be thinkin’ about me. And when it’s just right, when it’s just right, when you finally hit the right, “Hallelujah,” when you hit the right, “Glory to God,” when you hit the right, “Thank you, Jesus,” when you hit the right, “Bless his name,” I’m not comin’ in till you get it right. But when you get it right… Ohh, the devil is in trouble this morning.
Somebody’s about to offer the right praise. Y’all didn’t hear what I said. You on the verge of the right praise. That next praise is gonna set it up. Get it right, right now! And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, and they were in one place, and they’re with one accord… lock arms together, y’all. They were in one place, with one accord. Now just go forward. I’m in you. They can’t see me. They’re just gonna see you. But Christ in you, the hope of glory. “They’re gonna hate you ’cause they hated me. When the enemy comes in, I’ll lift up a standing against it. I’ll fight your battle. The battle is not yours. It belongs to me. Be still and see the salvation of the Lord. Everywhere you go, everything you do, everywhere your feet trod, I want you to know one thing. You are never by yourself. I’m always with you. I’m always in ya. I’m always undercover”. If this is blessing somebody, give the Lord a praise right now.
I’m sorry, I’m out of time. I’ve gotta stop there. I would love to go deeper in this. Perhaps you can get the message in its entirety so that you can hear all that God spoke to us that particular day. The message, “God Goes Undercover,” is powerful. And it is designed to make you understand that he is working even when you don’t see him working in your life. I’d like to pray with you today. Perhaps you don’t know Jesus Christ and the free pardon of your sins. You can know him today. He’s available to you. You don’t have to even get to church to know the Lord. He’ll come right in your living room, in your car, or in your house so that you can accept him as your Savior. And then you ought to find a good church so that you can feed what he has began in your life.
Let’s pray together, you and I. “Father, I thank you that Jesus died for my sins. I confess my sins. I forsake my ways. I open my heart and allow Christ to come into my heart and set me free. In Jesus’ name, amen”. It’s simple. It’s easy. It’s quick. But if you meant it, you just changed the trajectory of your entire destiny. “Stay strong in the Lord and in the power of his might”. “For he is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that you may ask or think”.