Latest / THE WORLD'S BEST PREACHER / T.D. Jakes Sermons Favor Ain't Fair Part 1 - The Potter’s House of Dallas
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Is there anybody in the room who knows what it
- 0:03Speaker 1: is to just stumble up on some blessings that almost
- 0:08Speaker 1: look like they were waiting on you? See, you're living
- 0:15Speaker 1: in the second chapter of Ruth. You know you're in
- 0:18Speaker 1: the second chapter of Ruth when all of a sudden
- 0:20Speaker 1: you're just walking along minding your own business and boom,
- 0:23Speaker 1: here comes a blessing. And you're walking over, boom, here
- 0:26Speaker 1: comes another blessing. Boom, here comes another blessing. You see,
- 0:30Speaker 1: they had already pulled the wheat. She didn't even have
- 0:32Speaker 1: to pull it. It was just laying on the ground.
- 0:35Speaker 1: All she had to do was pick up what was
- 0:37Speaker 1: being laid on the ground. There are some things... That
- 0:42Speaker 1: God can bring into your life. That you didn't even
- 0:46Speaker 1: work for it. He said, I'll give you houses you
- 0:51Speaker 1: didn't build. I'll give you vineyards you didn't grow. I'll
- 0:55Speaker 1: just let you stumble into things. And all of a sudden,
- 0:58Speaker 1: all you got to do is have enough faith to
- 1:00Speaker 1: receive what I've released in your life. I could tailor
- 1:05Speaker 1: the continuity of my thought process into a linguistical form
- 1:08Speaker 1: that would cause me to be heralded for my massive
- 1:11Speaker 1: ability to articulate the concepts of God. But I choose
- 1:15Speaker 1: to go beyond all of that and just tell you
- 1:18Speaker 1: like my grandmama would tell you. The reason that people
- 1:23Speaker 1: have an attitude when that begins to happen in your
- 1:26Speaker 1: life is that God has given you favor. I know.
- 1:36Speaker 1: Favor now is preferential treatment. It is preferential treatment. Favor
- 1:45Speaker 1: is distinctive treatment whereby you have reached an elite status
- 1:50Speaker 1: that you don't even deserve. And the reason they're upset
- 1:55Speaker 1: is that favor ain't fair. Favor isn't.
- 2:01Speaker 2: Ain't fair.
- 2:02Speaker 1: If you're taking notes, be sure you get that. Favor
- 2:04Speaker 1: ain't fair. God may be just, but he's not fair.
- 2:08Speaker 1: When God gets ready to bless you, he doesn't just
- 2:11Speaker 1: bless you because you deserve to be blessed, but God
- 2:15Speaker 1: has a way of just choosing to bless you and saying,
- 2:19Speaker 1: that lady right there, I'm going to leave that house
- 2:21Speaker 1: for her. Can't nobody buy the house but her. Everybody
- 2:24Speaker 1: else that tries to buy it, everything's going to be
- 2:27Speaker 1: tied up. That's her house. Nobody's going to get it
- 2:29Speaker 1: but her. Favor Greetings in the name of Christ, our King,
- 2:41Speaker 1: our risen Lord. Yes, I am excited. I'm fired up.
- 2:45Speaker 1: I'm motivated. I'm in the process of getting ready for
- 2:48Speaker 1: what is going to be the most explosive meeting that
- 2:50Speaker 1: we have ever done. Megafest is a meeting everybody's talking about.
- 2:54Speaker 1: They're coming to Dallas on trains to be a part
- 2:57Speaker 1: of this great meeting. And I'm excited about all the
- 3:00Speaker 1: response I'm hearing from you. And today, today, today, we
- 3:04Speaker 1: get to share a message that has become, for me
- 3:08Speaker 1: in many ways, the alma mater through which we walk
- 3:11Speaker 1: and live and move. The message is called Favor Ain't Fair.
- 3:14Speaker 1: In fact, we've entitled the whole series like that. If
- 3:16Speaker 1: you know anything about walking in the favor of God...
- 3:20Speaker 1: you understand that God's favor and God's grace over your
- 3:23Speaker 1: life has nothing to do with your background, your past,
- 3:26Speaker 1: where you came from, or what your haters have to
- 3:28Speaker 1: say about it. If God be for you, he's more
- 3:31Speaker 1: than the world against you. Sit back, get you a
- 3:33Speaker 1: cup of coffee, check this out. Favor, maybe it ain't fair.
- 3:38Speaker 1: We believe that nothing just happens, that God, in fact,
- 3:41Speaker 1: orchestrates our lives, puts us at the right place at
- 3:44Speaker 1: the right time around the right people to receive what
- 3:47Speaker 1: we need to go to the next level of life.
- 3:49Speaker 1: That is important because sometimes life seems chaotic and painful
- 3:53Speaker 1: and uncertain. And it helps me to know that God
- 3:56Speaker 1: has some master plan, that there is some method to
- 4:00Speaker 1: the madness, that ultimately there's going to be some purpose.
- 4:03Speaker 1: Even out of painful situations, there will be purpose. And
- 4:07Speaker 1: so we've been taking a good look at Ruth and
- 4:10Speaker 1: how God ordered her steps and how she is a
- 4:13Speaker 1: Moabite woman, in case you're not familiar with her. She is,
- 4:16Speaker 1: in fact, a Moabitess, a Moabite woman coming out of
- 4:19Speaker 1: the land of Moab, an idolatrous and perverse nationality of
- 4:24Speaker 1: people who did not recognize God as God. But because
- 4:29Speaker 1: Bethlehem and Israel in particular were going through a famine,
- 4:32Speaker 1: Naomi took her two sons and her husband and they
- 4:36Speaker 1: went down into Moab and met these two girls. And
- 4:40Speaker 1: we talked about Ruth and Orpah. who married Naomi's two sons.
- 4:44Speaker 1: Now you got to understand these characters because if you
- 4:46Speaker 1: don't understand these characters, you won't understand the metaphor of
- 4:49Speaker 1: what it means to you. The two sons that these
- 4:53Speaker 1: two girls married died and Naomi's husband died. And we
- 4:57Speaker 1: talked about how these three women who were engulfed in
- 4:59Speaker 1: the grief and the sadistic pain of losing their companions
- 5:06Speaker 1: engulfed each other in tears and wept. Orpah goes back
- 5:09Speaker 1: to Moab. because she can, and she's released to go.
- 5:12Speaker 1: Naomi says she's going to Bethlehem, where she came from.
- 5:16Speaker 1: She's wilted and withered. Ruth, standing in between Naomi, who
- 5:20Speaker 1: represents where she wants to go, and Opa, who represents
- 5:24Speaker 1: where she came from, turns toward Naomi and says, I'm
- 5:27Speaker 1: going with you. Thy God shall be my God. Thy
- 5:30Speaker 1: people shall be my people. Where thou lodgest, I shall lodge.
- 5:33Speaker 1: Where thou diest, I shall die. But the cost of
- 5:36Speaker 1: her decision is quite painful because now she is in Bethlehem,
- 5:41Speaker 1: a Moabite woman, a minority woman, a woman who is
- 5:45Speaker 1: considered a second-class citizen, not a legitimate citizen of Bethlehem.
- 5:51Speaker 1: She is impoverished and she's widowed. She has an economic
- 5:56Speaker 1: issue as well as a spiritual issue, but she is
- 5:58Speaker 1: willing to go through the adversity because she has been
- 6:01Speaker 1: so impressed with Naomi and her God that she wants
- 6:05Speaker 1: to be where Naomi is, experiencing Naomi's God, walking into
- 6:11Speaker 1: the abundance that Naomi has decreed possible. And so she
- 6:15Speaker 1: is in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is translated to mean the house
- 6:18Speaker 1: of bread. and yet she's starving for bread. Isn't it
- 6:22Speaker 1: funny how you can be in the right place and
- 6:23Speaker 1: still have a great need? Isn't it funny how you
- 6:27Speaker 1: can be in the place where blessings are flowing, and
- 6:30Speaker 1: because of your situation, you are unable to enter into
- 6:33Speaker 1: the blessing that other people have? But she knew she
- 6:36Speaker 1: was in the right place, and that is imperative for
- 6:40Speaker 1: you to be able to do what God has called
- 6:42Speaker 1: you to do. Theologically, Naomi represents the nation of Israel
- 6:48Speaker 1: who through the death of her husband typifies the separation
- 6:52Speaker 1: that Israel experienced from the wholesome worship of Jehovah their God.
- 6:57Speaker 1: Her two sons and the death of her two sons,
- 7:00Speaker 1: the birthing of her two sons represent Israel dividing into
- 7:03Speaker 1: two kingdoms. The death of her two sons represents the
- 7:06Speaker 1: end of the era where Israel has divided into two kingdoms.
- 7:10Speaker 1: And the ending of that era is signified by Ruth
- 7:15Speaker 1: making up her mind to follow Naomi back home. Now,
- 7:18Speaker 1: Ruth following Naomi back home is the type of the
- 7:21Speaker 1: church whose umbilical cord to God comes through the rich
- 7:25Speaker 1: soil of Judaism. We have a Judeo-Christian society. There is
- 7:31Speaker 1: a cord between Judaism and Christianity. What we call the
- 7:35Speaker 1: Old Testament teaches us the identity and the personality of
- 7:39Speaker 1: our God. And so Ruth goes back with Naomi representing
- 7:44Speaker 1: the church now coming into a covenant relationship with God
- 7:48Speaker 1: through her association with this older woman named Naomi who
- 7:53Speaker 1: incidentally happens to be her mother-in-law. Now when we look
- 7:58Speaker 1: at Ruth then we see that she is a metaphor
- 8:02Speaker 1: for the church, her life Her struggles, her acquisition of
- 8:06Speaker 1: land become the picture or a template, as it were,
- 8:10Speaker 1: for the church. Now I've got you totally confused. Good.
- 8:15Speaker 1: You'll be all right. Ruth now is coming into Bethlehem.
- 8:21Speaker 1: She's gleaning over in the corners of the field. There's
- 8:24Speaker 1: a famine there. The woman is hungry. She's gleaning. Gleaning
- 8:28Speaker 1: is to gather wheat. She's gathering whatever wheat she can,
- 8:31Speaker 1: wherever she can, over in the corners of the field.
- 8:34Speaker 1: She hopped up on Boaz's field. Boaz is rich. He's loaded.
- 8:40Speaker 1: He has influence and affluence. And he sees her gleaning
- 8:44Speaker 1: in the corner of the field. Now you ought to
- 8:46Speaker 1: be ready to catch hold to me and go forward.
- 8:49Speaker 1: Boaz is talking to some women who are gleaning. And
- 8:53Speaker 1: he looks over there and says, who is that over
- 8:55Speaker 1: in the field? And they said, that's Ruth, the Moabitess.
- 8:57Speaker 1: And he says, this is what I want you to do.
- 9:00Speaker 1: I want you, she's going to be coming this way.
- 9:03Speaker 1: And when she follows this direction, I want you to
- 9:07Speaker 1: leave some handfuls of what you have harvested. Just drop
- 9:12Speaker 1: them on the ground for her to find. Now watch this.
- 9:16Speaker 1: Here comes Ruth from the background to the forefront, from
- 9:19Speaker 1: obscurity to the notoriety. Isn't it nice to be in
- 9:22Speaker 1: the right direction? You haven't gotten there yet, but you
- 9:27Speaker 1: know that you're moving in the right direction. If you
- 9:31Speaker 1: as a church, as a Christian, begin to move in
- 9:33Speaker 1: the right direction, there's a certain little signs that are
- 9:36Speaker 1: indicative of the fact that you are in the right direction.
- 9:40Speaker 1: Little signs such as this. When I look back over
- 9:43Speaker 1: my shoulder and see where I came from, I might
- 9:49Speaker 1: not look successful to you, but when I realize that
- 9:53Speaker 1: I came out of a famine and I'm glad that
- 9:57Speaker 1: I'm just here, it's And so she survived it. And
- 10:04Speaker 1: then she went from being survival into a place of
- 10:06Speaker 1: being sustained. And now she's coming into a place that
- 10:10Speaker 1: she notices increase. Somebody say increase. All of a sudden
- 10:16Speaker 1: she's gathering up and she said, look at this extra wheat.
- 10:20Speaker 1: Look at this extra. We're just laying on the ground.
- 10:23Speaker 1: What Ruth doesn't know is that Boaz has had a
- 10:26Speaker 1: conversation about her that she didn't even hear. He has
- 10:31Speaker 1: commanded the release of blessings. Somebody say release. He has
- 10:36Speaker 1: commanded the release of blessings. She didn't even hear the conversation.
- 10:40Speaker 1: But she is a recipient of something that he has
- 10:44Speaker 1: said about her that caused her to start receiving things
- 10:49Speaker 1: that had been released for her that she doesn't even
- 10:51Speaker 1: know how it happened. There are a few people in
- 10:54Speaker 1: this room who have just in an attempt to follow
- 10:59Speaker 1: God have noticed increase. We didn't hear the conversation. We
- 11:13Speaker 1: don't know what was said in heaven. We don't know
- 11:15Speaker 1: how the blessing started, but we just noticed that as
- 11:19Speaker 1: we attempted to walk with God, that there were some
- 11:23Speaker 1: things that just worked out that had never worked out
- 11:27Speaker 1: before as if somebody had just left some things around
- 11:32Speaker 1: for us and we started coming into things that didn't
- 11:35Speaker 1: make it. Is there anybody in the room who knows
- 11:39Speaker 1: what it is to just stumble up on some blessings
- 11:44Speaker 1: that almost look like they were waiting on you. See,
- 11:50Speaker 1: you're living in the second chapter of Ruth. You know
- 11:54Speaker 1: you're in the second chapter of Ruth when all of
- 11:56Speaker 1: a sudden you're just walking along, minding your own business,
- 11:59Speaker 1: and boom, here comes a blessing. And you're walking over, boom,
- 12:02Speaker 1: here comes another blessing. Boom, here comes another blessing. You see,
- 12:06Speaker 1: they had already pulled the wheat. She didn't even have
- 12:08Speaker 1: to pull it. It was just laying on the ground.
- 12:11Speaker 1: All she had to do was pick up what was
- 12:13Speaker 1: being laid on the ground. There are some things... That
- 12:18Speaker 1: God can bring into your life. That you didn't even
- 12:22Speaker 1: work for it. He said, I'll give you houses you
- 12:27Speaker 1: didn't build. I'll give you vineyards you didn't grow. I'll
- 12:31Speaker 1: just let you stumble into things. And all of a sudden,
- 12:34Speaker 1: all you got to do is have enough faith to
- 12:36Speaker 1: receive what I've released in your life. Still to come
- 12:43Speaker 1: on The Potter's Touch. And of course, they're going to
- 12:46Speaker 1: be upset. Of course they're going to roll their eyes
- 12:49Speaker 1: when you walk in the room. Of course they're going
- 12:51Speaker 1: to have an attitude. Of course they don't like you.
- 12:55Speaker 1: Of course they resent you. They're frustrated because God preferred you.
- 13:00Speaker 1: Gave you preferential treatment. And the next time you run
- 13:04Speaker 1: up on somebody who's looking at you all funny. And
- 13:07Speaker 1: God is blessing you. Yeah, I know what it is.
- 13:10Speaker 1: It's okay. It's okay. I understand. Go ahead and have
- 13:13Speaker 1: all the attitude you need to. Because this is favor.
- 13:17Speaker 1: And favor ain't fair. It's not fair, is it? Put
- 13:21Speaker 1: it on the back of your car and say, it
- 13:23Speaker 1: ain't fair, is it? Put it on your house, right
- 13:26Speaker 1: on the mailbox. It ain't fair. When you get that
- 13:29Speaker 1: new job, put it right there on your computer. It
- 13:32Speaker 1: ain't fair. It ain't fair. It ain't favor. It ain't fair.
- 13:35Speaker 3: When God blesses you, What arose in America as the
- 13:42Speaker 3: biggest event of its kind is back. And now the
- 13:45Speaker 3: stage is set.
- 13:46Speaker 1: You have never seen a meeting like this.
- 13:49Speaker 3: Together again at Megafest 2013. We're taking over Dallas.
- 13:52Speaker 1: We're out of here. you're gonna catch abundance you're.
- 13:56Speaker 2: Gonna catch god's blessing encouraging women.
- 13:58Speaker 1: Peacemaker is somebody who declares war on anything that disturbs
- 14:02Speaker 1: their peace there is a principle that will cause a
- 14:07Speaker 1: shift in your situation if.
- 14:08Speaker 2: He can deliver me he can deliver you equipping men we.
- 14:13Speaker 1: Have more fear in running out than we do faith
- 14:21Speaker 1: in running over this is going to be big elevated
- 14:26Speaker 1: to walk in that destination.
- 14:28Speaker 3: Meet us in dallas texas august 29th through 31st register
- 14:32Speaker 3: at mega-fest.com or call 1-800-BISHOP-2 today.
- 14:38Speaker 1: We do it big in texas He said, I'll give
- 14:45Speaker 1: you houses you didn't build. I'll give you vineyards you
- 14:49Speaker 1: didn't grow. I'll just let you stumble into things. And
- 14:53Speaker 1: all of a sudden, all you got to do is
- 14:54Speaker 1: have enough faith to receive what I've released in your life. Now,
- 15:03Speaker 1: the people who are responsive to that are people who
- 15:06Speaker 1: have experienced that. There are people who are living in
- 15:10Speaker 1: the book of Ruth right now. They're just seeing some things.
- 15:14Speaker 1: All the work was taken out of it. It was
- 15:16Speaker 1: just there. It was just available to you. And you
- 15:19Speaker 1: started receiving the blessings of the Lord. When it happens
- 15:23Speaker 1: like that, you have to understand, because some of you
- 15:25Speaker 1: are not used to the way that we worship. And
- 15:27Speaker 1: you have to understand, when you see people who explode
- 15:31Speaker 1: into clamorous, bodacious praise, and you sit back and you conclude, oh,
- 15:37Speaker 1: isn't that interesting? Oh, look at those people. Oh, they're
- 15:45Speaker 1: so animated and so emotional, you know. That's nice. It
- 15:52Speaker 1: is not that we're emotional. It's just that it's very
- 16:05Speaker 1: difficult to be in a burning building and find a
- 16:09Speaker 1: fire escape and remain aloof. It's very difficult to be
- 16:16Speaker 1: at the end of your rope and something just drops
- 16:18Speaker 1: on your plate out of nowhere just in the nick
- 16:21Speaker 1: of time. And if God hadn't have done what he
- 16:23Speaker 1: did when he did it, you would have never been
- 16:26Speaker 1: able to survive what you went through. Just when your
- 16:28Speaker 1: enemy thought he had you, boom, God just trots a
- 16:31Speaker 1: blessing up. It will make you have to praise him.
- 16:34Speaker 1: It will make you have to thank him. It will
- 16:37Speaker 1: make you have to rejoice. It will make you, even
- 16:40Speaker 1: if you have to do it in your house and
- 16:41Speaker 1: lock the door and pull the blind and throw your
- 16:44Speaker 1: hand up and say, Lord, I thank you for what
- 16:46Speaker 1: you did for me. God has a way of making
- 16:52Speaker 1: you excited. And I want to say something to you
- 17:03Speaker 1: because you have to understand this. All these women are
- 17:06Speaker 1: out here working in the hot sun, harvesting wheat. And Ruth,
- 17:13Speaker 1: because she responds to the beckoning of Boaz, comes along
- 17:18Speaker 1: without half the work. receives just as much harvest as
- 17:24Speaker 1: if she had pulled it, plucked it, cleaned it, and
- 17:27Speaker 1: prepared it. It was just laying there waiting on her. Now,
- 17:31Speaker 1: I want to talk to some people. Is there anybody
- 17:34Speaker 1: in here who's had some blessings just fall on you?
- 17:40Speaker 1: You came on the right Sunday. This sermon is for you.
- 17:45Speaker 1: You need to understand because when this starts to happen,
- 17:48Speaker 1: people react strangely to you. They react strangely to you because,
- 17:57Speaker 1: I could say it eloquently and articulately, I could say
- 18:01Speaker 1: it prolifically and profoundly, but I choose to avoid that
- 18:04Speaker 1: and just to break right down into Ebonics and I
- 18:13Speaker 1: could tailor the continuity of my thought process into a
- 18:16Speaker 1: linguistical form that would cause me to be heralded for
- 18:19Speaker 1: my massive ability to articulate the concepts of God. But
- 18:23Speaker 1: I choose to go beyond all of that and just
- 18:27Speaker 1: tell you like my grandmama would tell you. The reason
- 18:31Speaker 1: that people have an attitude when that begins to happen
- 18:34Speaker 1: in your life is that God has given you favor.
- 18:41Speaker 1: I know. Favor now is preferential treatment. It is preferential treatment.
- 18:53Speaker 1: Favor is distinctive treatment whereby you have reached an elite
- 18:58Speaker 1: status that you don't even deserve. And the reason they're
- 19:02Speaker 1: upset is that favor ain't fair. Favor isn't. ain't fair.
- 19:10Speaker 1: If you're taking notes, be sure you get that. Favor
- 19:13Speaker 1: ain't fair. God may be just, but he's not fair.
- 19:17Speaker 1: When God gets ready to bless you, he doesn't just
- 19:20Speaker 1: bless you because you deserve to be blessed, but God
- 19:23Speaker 1: has a way of just choosing to bless you and saying,
- 19:27Speaker 1: that lady right there, I'm going to leave that house
- 19:30Speaker 1: for her. Can't nobody buy the house but her. Everybody
- 19:33Speaker 1: else that tries to buy it, everything's going to be
- 19:36Speaker 1: tied up. That's her house. Nobody's going to get it
- 19:38Speaker 1: but her. Favor And of course, they're going to be upset.
- 19:53Speaker 1: Of course, they're going to roll their eyes when you
- 19:55Speaker 1: walk in the room. Of course, they're going to have
- 19:57Speaker 1: an attitude. Of course, they don't like you. Of course,
- 20:01Speaker 1: they resent you. They're frustrated because God preferred you, gave
- 20:06Speaker 1: you preferential treatment. And the next time you run up
- 20:09Speaker 1: on somebody who's looking at you all funny and God
- 20:12Speaker 1: is blessing you, you just want to say, uh-huh, yeah. Yeah,
- 20:15Speaker 1: I know what it is. It's okay. It's okay. I understand.
- 20:17Speaker 1: Go ahead and have all the attitude you need to.
- 20:20Speaker 1: Because this is favor. And favor ain't fair. It's not fair,
- 20:24Speaker 1: is it? Put it on the back of your car
- 20:27Speaker 1: and say, it ain't fair, is it? Put it on
- 20:30Speaker 1: your house, right on the mailbox. It ain't fair. When
- 20:33Speaker 1: you get that new job, put it right there on
- 20:36Speaker 1: your computer.
- 20:37Speaker 2: It ain't fair.
- 20:37Speaker 1: It ain't fair. It ain't, favor ain't fair. When God
- 20:41Speaker 1: blesses you, You do understand that many of the things
- 20:50Speaker 1: you got aren't even fair. You're not even qualified to
- 20:55Speaker 1: have the position, but you got it. You're living in
- 21:04Speaker 1: a house and it don't even work out on paper
- 21:06Speaker 1: how you got the house. Favor Ain't fair. Ruth just
- 21:19Speaker 1: started being blessed. It wasn't even fair. Just, the Bible
- 21:24Speaker 1: said that, please sit down. The Bible said that Boaz
- 21:32Speaker 1: had spoken to the reapers and said, just leave our
- 21:36Speaker 1: handfuls on purpose. Handfuls provision on purpose. There is an
- 21:42Speaker 1: umbilical cord between provisions and purpose. God doesn't give you
- 21:46Speaker 1: provisions just for your own personal gain. God gives you
- 21:51Speaker 1: provisions for purpose. Everything you've got, your talent, your singing,
- 21:57Speaker 1: your speaking, your ability, your charisma, your articulation, your IQ,
- 22:02Speaker 1: your financial dexterity, it makes no difference what it is.
- 22:05Speaker 1: God gave you those favors. For his divine purpose. So
- 22:14Speaker 1: the statement reads in the Bible, drop some handfuls on purpose.
- 22:27Speaker 1: If you know your purpose, God said I'll leave stuff
- 22:31Speaker 1: just laying around for you. If you know it's not
- 22:34Speaker 1: for you, I'll just leave some handfuls. On your purpose.
- 22:42Speaker 1: If you know your purpose. If you don't allow people
- 22:44Speaker 1: to manipulate you and control you and have them move
- 22:48Speaker 1: you into their agenda. If you know who you are
- 22:51Speaker 1: and stand your ground and stay on your purpose, your
- 22:53Speaker 1: provision is in your purpose. When you find your purpose,
- 22:57Speaker 1: you'll find your provision. Oh, do you hear? Your provision
- 23:01Speaker 1: is in your purpose. When you find your purpose, you'll
- 23:04Speaker 1: find your provision. And he dropped it. And so what
- 23:11Speaker 1: happens to you is you get to this stage where
- 23:15Speaker 1: God just starts leaving you blessings. And the first reaction
- 23:22Speaker 1: you have, you want to tell people. Child, you will
- 23:26Speaker 1: not believe. Have you ever called somebody and you said,
- 23:33Speaker 1: how you doing? What you doing? What's going on? You
- 23:35Speaker 1: didn't really want them to answer. You want them to
- 23:37Speaker 1: hurry up so you could tell them You would not
- 23:42Speaker 1: believe what just happened to me. I was just, I was,
- 23:47Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I just stopped by the grocery store.
- 23:49Speaker 1: Didn't even know I was over there by the chicken wings.
- 23:51Speaker 1: I was getting ready to pick me up some chicken
- 23:53Speaker 1: wings because I had to rush back home. Ran into
- 23:56Speaker 1: the president of Texaco. They're getting some chicken wings. If
- 23:58Speaker 1: I hadn't have gone to get the chicken wings, I
- 24:00Speaker 1: never would have met him. Found out there's a position
- 24:01Speaker 1: right over there. Now that they're phasing out my job,
- 24:04Speaker 1: had they not phased out my job, had I not
- 24:06Speaker 1: gone to get the chicken wings, had not he gone
- 24:08Speaker 1: to get the chicken wings, we never would have had
- 24:09Speaker 1: this conversation. And without having to go through all the
- 24:11Speaker 1: red tape and all the technology, you would never believe
- 24:14Speaker 1: how God just... God just... Give me a second. I'll
- 24:24Speaker 1: be back after this. There is an umbilical cord between
- 24:28Speaker 1: provisions and purpose. God doesn't give you provisions just for
- 24:32Speaker 1: your own personal gain.
- 24:34Speaker 2: God has taken special care of you every step along
- 24:36Speaker 2: the way. Ever wonder why? Because favor ain't fair.
- 24:40Speaker 1: Everything you've got, your talent, your charisma, God gave you
- 24:45Speaker 1: those favors. For his divine purpose.
- 24:49Speaker 2: When you write us, visit our website or call 1-800-BISHOP-2.
- 24:53Speaker 2: You will be given Favor Ain't Fair on three DVDs
- 24:56Speaker 2: just for helping us reach others with your best gift.
- 24:59Speaker 1: You can't be blessed and everybody just sit back and
- 25:02Speaker 1: fold their arms. It ain't going to happen. It's going
- 25:04Speaker 1: to be a whole lot. I don't believe it. But
- 25:06Speaker 1: in spite of the chatter, if God has blessed you.
- 25:10Speaker 2: And when your gift is $ 89 or more, you will
- 25:12Speaker 2: also receive your own Psalms 90 tote bag, the Favor
- 25:16Speaker 2: Ain't Fair journal set, and T.D. Jakes Classics Volume 5
- 25:19Speaker 2: DVD series, full of timeless wisdom. You are highly favored
- 25:23Speaker 2: of the Lord. Isn't it time you walked in it?
- 25:26Speaker 2: It's coming. The biggest family-friendly festival is back. Megafest 2013.
- 25:33Speaker 1: People are asking me, what is Megafest all about? Is
- 25:35Speaker 1: it a conference? Yes, it's a conference, but my God,
- 25:38Speaker 1: it's so much more. It's festivity. It's fun. It's restaurants.
- 25:42Speaker 1: It's shopping. It's People of God relaxing. We've been through
- 25:45Speaker 1: the fire. We've been through the flood. We made it.
- 25:47Speaker 1: It's time to celebrate.
- 25:49Speaker 2: Bigger, better, grander than before. Three event-packed days for the
- 25:53Speaker 2: whole family.
- 25:54Speaker 1: All types of entertainment for your family, for your kids.
- 25:57Speaker 1: We've got material that men are going to need to
- 26:00Speaker 1: cause you to stand up and be powerful, to be
- 26:02Speaker 1: the man that God has called you to be at manpower.
- 26:04Speaker 1: The woman, our Lucy, you already know. It's incredible. I
- 26:08Speaker 1: want you to put your family first. in a spiritual
- 26:11Speaker 1: environment and show them that it's fun to be a Christian.
- 26:14Speaker 2: Megafest 2013. Get your tickets now. Visit mega-fest.com or call 1-800-BISHOP-2.
- 26:21Speaker 1: We're at a party in Texas. You know what? We
- 26:25Speaker 1: do it big in Texas. Every time I reached after
- 26:28Speaker 1: something that didn't work out, I couldn't figure out why.
- 26:31Speaker 1: But I waited patiently on the Lord, and in due time,
- 26:34Speaker 1: He began to make me see that He wasn't hurting me.
- 26:37Speaker 1: He was blessing me. He was blessing me by saying no.
- 26:44Speaker 1: And my direction came through my rejection. If I had
- 26:49Speaker 1: not had rejection, I would have never gotten clear direction.
- 26:55Speaker 1: It was the doors he shut that showed me the
- 26:58Speaker 1: doors he opened. So the trick to it is, It's
- 27:10Speaker 1: not to wait on the Lord. The trick is not
- 27:12Speaker 1: to wait because you really have no choice. You have
- 27:13Speaker 1: to wait. You have to wait. You can't get there
- 27:16Speaker 1: until you get there. You got to wait. But the
- 27:18Speaker 1: trick to it is while you're waiting to renew your strength.
- 27:24Speaker 1: To mount up on wings. To run and not be weary.
- 27:30Speaker 1: If you can deal with the no's in life and
- 27:35Speaker 1: the rejection and still remain positive and centered and focused
- 27:41Speaker 1: You're a person of faith. If you can go through
- 27:43Speaker 1: adversity and know that God has a master plan, you're
- 27:47Speaker 1: a person of discipline. I've got to stop there, but
- 27:50Speaker 1: it's been a real joy and a real blessing to
- 27:52Speaker 1: share the word of the Lord with you. And I
- 27:54Speaker 1: want to encourage you to just embrace the idea of
- 27:57Speaker 1: walking in God's favor. Breathe it in. Pray in it.
- 28:01Speaker 1: Walk in it. Think in it. Expect in it. Favor
- 28:04Speaker 1: is yours for the taking. And God is distributing out
- 28:07Speaker 1: to his children favor. That just puzzles the mind. I
- 28:11Speaker 1: thank God for you. I'm praying for you. I hope
- 28:14Speaker 1: to see you at Megafest. And know that our hearts
- 28:17Speaker 1: are toward God. And toward you.