Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / It'll Work If You Work It - Bishop T.D. Jakes
Transcript
- 0:14Speaker 1: We are going to 1 Kings chapter 19 verse 19
- 0:17Speaker 1: through 21. And then we're going to 2 Kings chapter
- 0:22Speaker 1: 2 verse 7 through 18. Oh, the offering. Oh, I forgot,
- 0:36Speaker 1: I forgot, I forgot. Pass it all the way down
- 0:38Speaker 1: to the left. This is for the kids. Yes. Lord
- 0:45Speaker 1: have mercy. I made all that appeal and broke that
- 0:49Speaker 1: sweat and dance and everything. And yeah. They're giving that
- 0:54Speaker 1: over their phone and over everything. Y'all responded. Oh, I
- 0:59Speaker 1: love you so much. Thank you for helping me help
- 1:02Speaker 1: other people. Thank you, Jesus. You're fabulous. Father, you said
- 1:10Speaker 1: you would bless us and curse us. I thank you
- 1:13Speaker 1: for the reciprocity on this scene as we saw it
- 1:16Speaker 1: right now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Give God praise.
- 1:24Speaker 1: Tell I got the break dancing stuff. I thought I
- 1:26Speaker 1: was Michael Jackson. I forgot. Okay, so we're going to
- 1:32Speaker 1: 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 19 through 21, and 2
- 1:35Speaker 1: Kings chapter 2, verse 7 through 18. Let's go. So
- 1:43Speaker 1: Elijah went from there. Elijah, watch this closely. It's a
- 1:47Speaker 1: familiar passage of scripture, but watch me close. So Elijah
- 1:52Speaker 1: went from there and found Elisha, son of Shaphat. He
- 1:56Speaker 1: was flying with 12 yoke of oxen and he himself
- 2:00Speaker 1: was driving the 12th pair. Elijah went up to him
- 2:05Speaker 1: and threw his cloak around him. Elijah then left his
- 2:12Speaker 1: oxen and ran after Elijah. Let me kiss my father
- 2:17Speaker 1: and mother goodbye, he said. And then I will come
- 2:21Speaker 1: with you. Go back, Elijah replied. What have I done
- 2:25Speaker 1: to you? So Elijah, so Elisha left him and went back.
- 2:32Speaker 1: He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He
- 2:36Speaker 1: burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave
- 2:40Speaker 1: it to the people and they ate. Then he set
- 2:43Speaker 1: out to follow Elijah and became his servant. Oh my God,
- 2:54Speaker 1: that's good. Now go to 2 Kings right quick. And
- 2:57Speaker 1: we're going to put this together. This is years later.
- 3:04Speaker 1: Elijah and Elijah had walked together for a while. 50
- 3:07Speaker 1: men from the company of the prophets went and stood
- 3:10Speaker 1: at the distance facing the place where Elijah and Elisha
- 3:14Speaker 1: had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak rolled
- 3:19Speaker 1: it up and struck the waters with it. The waters
- 3:22Speaker 1: divided to the right and to the left and the
- 3:25Speaker 1: two of them crossed over on dry ground. Imagine that,
- 3:30Speaker 1: hanging around a dude that bad. Yeah, that's what's up.
- 3:35Speaker 1: When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elijah, tell me
- 3:38Speaker 1: what can I do for you before I am taken
- 3:41Speaker 1: from you? He said, let me inherit a double portion
- 3:47Speaker 1: of your spirit. Elijah replied, you have asked a difficult thing,
- 3:54Speaker 1: Elijah said. Yet if you see me when I am
- 4:00Speaker 1: taken from you, it will be yours. Otherwise, it will not.
- 4:09Speaker 1: As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a
- 4:14Speaker 1: chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated
- 4:18Speaker 1: the two of them. And Elijah went up to heaven
- 4:22Speaker 1: in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried, my father,
- 4:27Speaker 1: my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel. And Elijah
- 4:33Speaker 1: saw him no more. Then he took hold of his
- 4:39Speaker 1: garment and tore it in two. Elijah then picked up,
- 4:45Speaker 1: Elisha then picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from
- 4:50Speaker 1: him and went back and stood on the bank of
- 4:54Speaker 1: the Jordan. This is critical. He took the cloak that
- 4:58Speaker 1: had fallen from Elijah and struck the waters with it.
- 5:04Speaker 1: And said, where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah,
- 5:09Speaker 1: he asked. When he struck it, when he struck the water,
- 5:14Speaker 1: it divided to the right and to the left. And
- 5:19Speaker 1: he crossed over. Stay there, stay there. I want to
- 5:21Speaker 1: read that again. He took the cloak that had fallen
- 5:25Speaker 1: from his teacher and struck the water with it. and said,
- 5:31Speaker 1: where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah? The
- 5:37Speaker 1: question we always want to know is what I am
- 5:43Speaker 1: being taught effective for me? Will it work for me?
- 5:55Speaker 1: It's nice to hear about it and to give sermons
- 5:58Speaker 1: about it and to shout about it, but in the
- 6:01Speaker 1: back of our mind, there is a mental block that
- 6:05Speaker 1: says that's nice for you, but will it work for me?
- 6:10Speaker 1: So when Elijah says, where is the God of Elijah?
- 6:15Speaker 1: He doesn't even call him the God of Elisha. He
- 6:19Speaker 1: calls him the God of his teacher. Where is the
- 6:23Speaker 1: God of my teacher? And then he took what he
- 6:28Speaker 1: had and struck the water and it divided to the
- 6:34Speaker 1: right and to the left and he crossed over. And
- 6:39Speaker 1: I'm going to pause right there. I'm going to read
- 6:40Speaker 1: a little bit more, but I'm going to pause right
- 6:42Speaker 1: there and tell you what my subject is. It'll work
- 6:48Speaker 1: if you work it. Look at somebody and say, it'll
- 6:58Speaker 1: work if you work it. Give me the rest of
- 7:03Speaker 1: that text. The company of the prophets from Jericho who
- 7:07Speaker 1: were watching said, the spirit of Elijah is resting on Elijah.
- 7:12Speaker 1: And they went to meet him and bowed to the
- 7:16Speaker 1: ground before him. Look, they said, we, your servants, have
- 7:20Speaker 1: 50 able men. Let them go and look for your master.
- 7:25Speaker 1: Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has picked him up
- 7:28Speaker 1: and set him down on some mountain or in some valley. No,
- 7:32Speaker 1: Elijah replied, do not send them. But they persisted until
- 7:37Speaker 1: he was too embarrassed to refuse. So he said, send them.
- 7:41Speaker 1: And they sent 50 men searching for what was, who
- 7:46Speaker 1: searched for three days, but did not find them. When
- 7:52Speaker 1: they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he
- 7:56Speaker 1: said to them, didn't I tell you not to go?
- 8:02Speaker 1: When it's over, it's over. I want to talk to
- 8:06Speaker 1: you from the subject, it'll work if you work it.
- 8:11Speaker 1: Let's pray. Spirit of the living God, we are at
- 8:16Speaker 1: the point with our church. We have taught them about faith,
- 8:23Speaker 1: but we have not taught about works. And faith without
- 8:29Speaker 1: works is dead being alone. If we leave it in
- 8:34Speaker 1: the euphoric atmosphere of just believing and don't bring it
- 8:40Speaker 1: down to the practicality of the works that are required
- 8:46Speaker 1: to follow in the footsteps of the mighty, we would
- 8:49Speaker 1: have failed them. illuminate their minds and captivate their spirits
- 8:53Speaker 1: and hold them over the next few moments as I
- 8:56Speaker 1: discuss with them what you have discussed with me. I
- 9:00Speaker 1: thank you in advance for what you're about to do.
- 9:02Speaker 1: Have your way, great God, that you are. In the
- 9:04Speaker 1: name of Jesus, we pray. Somebody who believes God, shout amen.
- 9:12Speaker 1: On your way to your seat, look at somebody and
- 9:13Speaker 1: say it'll work if you work it. This is somebody's word.
- 9:21Speaker 1: I don't know whose, but this is somebody's word. It
- 9:25Speaker 1: is somebody's word. It will work if you work it.
- 9:30Speaker 1: The text before us has been one of the most
- 9:32Speaker 1: abused texts in the Old Testament. In some cases, it's
- 9:37Speaker 1: not just abused, it's been misunderstood. But whether it's misunderstood
- 9:43Speaker 1: or misappropriated, It has been the catalyst through which a
- 9:47Speaker 1: spirit of covetous entitlement has stopped us from grasping the
- 9:53Speaker 1: power and the intent of the text itself. This is
- 9:58Speaker 1: not about blabbing and gloating. This is not about coveting
- 10:02Speaker 1: what somebody else has and getting up under them so
- 10:05Speaker 1: you can get an opportunity. It is my hope to
- 10:07Speaker 1: shed insight that will contextualize the powerful and brief relationship
- 10:18Speaker 1: Underline brief relationship through which God in his providence passed
- 10:25Speaker 1: the mantle and the mission from one man to another
- 10:30Speaker 1: to accomplish his purpose, not their agenda. His purpose, not
- 10:36Speaker 1: their agenda. This is about what God has purposed to do,
- 10:40Speaker 1: not what you have decided to do. God has accomplished
- 10:45Speaker 1: his purpose and agenda by using these two men who
- 10:50Speaker 1: walked together for a brief six years. He was gone.
- 11:00Speaker 1: This is about that. This isn't about the transference of
- 11:04Speaker 1: property or platforms, nor is it a backroom deal where
- 11:09Speaker 1: influence is conveyed. It's not about ego and ambition. This
- 11:14Speaker 1: is about the will of God's eternal purpose. It isn't
- 11:17Speaker 1: about the ambition of one generation for the goods of another.
- 11:22Speaker 1: He wasn't asking Elijah for his stuff. This is deeper
- 11:27Speaker 1: than that. God chose Elijah to be a prophet in
- 11:31Speaker 1: Elijah's stead. It is the mysterious influence of the Holy
- 11:36Speaker 1: Spirit and his ability to transfer the unction of the
- 11:42Speaker 1: Holy Spirit's work throughout ages for his glory. And it
- 11:47Speaker 1: is not about Elijah's ambition, ego, or career. Are you
- 11:54Speaker 1: with me? Because of God's ability to use whomever he chooses,
- 12:01Speaker 1: his work has never been void of a representative. Never.
- 12:06Speaker 1: God will always have somebody from, say, from Moses to Joshua,
- 12:11Speaker 1: from Elijah to Elisha, from Saul to David, from David
- 12:16Speaker 1: to Solomon. God's purpose will always have a successor. No
- 12:23Speaker 1: man being moved will stop God from doing what God
- 12:28Speaker 1: is about to do. God will find somebody else and
- 12:32Speaker 1: use that person for his glory and his honor. Do
- 12:35Speaker 1: you hear what I'm saying? No Elijah is irreplaceable. I
- 12:40Speaker 1: don't care how gifted you are. Never allow the devil
- 12:43Speaker 1: to make you think that you are so gifted, a speaker,
- 12:46Speaker 1: a teacher, a singer, a draftsman, a doctor, a philosopher,
- 12:51Speaker 1: an engineer, that God doesn't have somebody else in the
- 12:54Speaker 1: wings who can do what you do like you do
- 12:57Speaker 1: or better than you do. No Elijah is irreplaceable. No
- 13:03Speaker 1: Elisha is self-appointed. No, Elisha is self-appointed. You can't just
- 13:14Speaker 1: sit there and decide to be me. Number one, you
- 13:20Speaker 1: don't know what all goes along with being me. This
- 13:24Speaker 1: hour or so on the stage is the tip of
- 13:27Speaker 1: the iceberg. The real work is beneath the surface. If
- 13:32Speaker 1: you watch the swan from the top of the water,
- 13:35Speaker 1: the swan is just moving nicely across the water. But
- 13:38Speaker 1: if you look up under the water, it's flapping like
- 13:41Speaker 1: crazy to keep things going. You want the flow, but
- 13:45Speaker 1: you don't want the flap. This is the Lord's doings,
- 13:54Speaker 1: and it's marvelous in our eyes. I feel good. Y'all
- 13:58Speaker 1: in trouble. I don't know what y'all are going to
- 14:00Speaker 1: do this morning because I'm feeling good. First Kings shows
- 14:03Speaker 1: us how God spoke through the prophets of old. It
- 14:07Speaker 1: reminds me of Hebrews when it says, Hebrews 1, when
- 14:11Speaker 1: it says, God, who at several times and in diverse
- 14:14Speaker 1: manners spoken to us by the prophets, but have in
- 14:17Speaker 1: these last days spoken unto us by his son. In
- 14:21Speaker 1: First Kings and Second Kings, you are seeing God. Speaking
- 14:25Speaker 1: to us through the prophets. Tearing down kingdoms. Destroying idolatry.
- 14:31Speaker 1: To bring his people into right standing through his infallible word.
- 14:37Speaker 1: That's what he was doing. Through his prophets. God's word
- 14:40Speaker 1: is sovereign. It's sovereign. It's sovereign range. It rules. It's
- 14:46Speaker 1: the boss. It's in charge. It is absolute. His word
- 14:50Speaker 1: preexisted pen and paper. When I say God's word, I'm
- 14:54Speaker 1: not just talking about Bible. God's word predated printing machines.
- 15:04Speaker 1: God's Word predated pens and pencil. In fact, the Bible said,
- 15:09Speaker 1: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
- 15:12Speaker 1: with God, and the Word was God. So when you
- 15:15Speaker 1: say the Word is infallible, you're not talking about the
- 15:18Speaker 1: book you hold in your hand. You're talking about the
- 15:21Speaker 1: integrity of God, that God's Word, if He said it,
- 15:25Speaker 1: He'll bring it to pass. Do you understand what I'm saying?
- 15:29Speaker 1: Glory to God. Glory to God. The word preexisted pen
- 15:34Speaker 1: and paper. His word is his integrity. It is his integrity.
- 15:40Speaker 1: Whatever he speaks is true. He's greater than any doctrine,
- 15:45Speaker 1: stronger than any opinion, more powerful than human creeds, boards,
- 15:51Speaker 1: or bishops. He will use whomever he chooses. He is sovereign.
- 15:58Speaker 1: He is God. He will use the jawbone of an ass.
- 16:03Speaker 1: Do you hear what I'm saying? He will speak through
- 16:06Speaker 1: a goat. He will use a woman or a man.
- 16:11Speaker 1: He will use a child and a little child shall
- 16:14Speaker 1: lead them. You don't get to decide who God uses
- 16:18Speaker 1: because God is God and God can use whoever he
- 16:23Speaker 1: wants to use for his glory. He will use the
- 16:27Speaker 1: professor and the intellectual and he will use the illiterate.
- 16:31Speaker 1: Look at the dichotomy between Paul and Peter. Paul is
- 16:35Speaker 1: an intellectual and Peter is an unlearned man. And yet
- 16:41Speaker 1: God used them both. This is not flesh at work.
- 16:49Speaker 1: This is the Holy Spirit at work. The two texts
- 16:55Speaker 1: I have chosen are dealing with how these two men met.
- 17:00Speaker 1: An appointment with destiny. It is about the passing of
- 17:05Speaker 1: the baton. See them as bookends. The first story is
- 17:13Speaker 1: one part of it and the last text is the
- 17:16Speaker 1: end of it. The first story shows how it started.
- 17:20Speaker 1: The next text shows how it ended. Elijah is outside
- 17:26Speaker 1: working in the field. He is oblivious. He is oblivious
- 17:34Speaker 1: to the fact that his entire life is about to change.
- 17:38Speaker 1: He has no idea that today would disrupt all of
- 17:41Speaker 1: his family and change the trajectory of the rest of
- 17:45Speaker 1: his life. It's just another day. Of getting up early
- 17:49Speaker 1: in the morning and perhaps having the breakfast at 4
- 17:51Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning. My grandmother would get up before day.
- 17:55Speaker 1: Morning was dark. And you ate breakfast in the dark.
- 18:00Speaker 1: Because working the field starts in the dark before it
- 18:03Speaker 1: gets hot. And Elijah is just working in the field.
- 18:08Speaker 1: Working in his parents' field. Working in the field of
- 18:13Speaker 1: the dreams of his parents. Working in the field that
- 18:18Speaker 1: he will inherit. Working in the field that he will own.
- 18:24Speaker 1: His life is set. It is nice. It is neat.
- 18:28Speaker 1: It is traditional. It is orthodox. He is in it.
- 18:33Speaker 1: This is just another day. He has no idea that
- 18:39Speaker 1: God is about to disrupt his entire life. One text
- 18:45Speaker 1: can disrupt your entire life. One phone call can disrupt
- 18:50Speaker 1: your entire life. One meeting of one person can disrupt
- 18:54Speaker 1: all of your plans and everything about it and put
- 18:57Speaker 1: you in conflict because all of a sudden he has
- 19:01Speaker 1: to wrestle with what he has imagined to be his destiny.
- 19:08Speaker 1: All of a sudden evaporates through one meeting. And what
- 19:12Speaker 1: about the expectations of his parents? The pressure that's on
- 19:19Speaker 1: him to be who they raised him to be. They
- 19:23Speaker 1: didn't raise him to be gallivanting across the country with
- 19:26Speaker 1: this weirdo. They raised him to run this farm. He
- 19:34Speaker 1: was their legacy. He was their future. He was their destiny.
- 19:39Speaker 1: And all of that was fine until he was exposed
- 19:43Speaker 1: to something. Exposure will bring about conflict. Exposure will bring
- 19:50Speaker 1: about a disalignment and confusion and can you imagine the
- 19:55Speaker 1: pressure that's in him to live up to the expectations
- 19:59Speaker 1: of the people around him and can you imagine the
- 20:01Speaker 1: pressure that's on you to live up to the expectations
- 20:05Speaker 1: of people around you. The expectations of people will make
- 20:08Speaker 1: you cut your hair. It'll make you grow your hair.
- 20:11Speaker 1: It'll make you get your teeth replaced. The expectations of
- 20:14Speaker 1: people will make you go back to school. The expectations
- 20:17Speaker 1: of people will make you lose weight or gain weight.
- 20:19Speaker 1: The expectations of people will drive you crazy. The pressure
- 20:23Speaker 1: to be everything that everybody wants you to be is
- 20:26Speaker 1: killing us. The pressure we put on ourselves Because we
- 20:35Speaker 1: don't want to face the disapproval of the people we love.
- 20:41Speaker 1: All of this has come into play. God has not
- 20:44Speaker 1: spoken to Elijah. God has spoken to Elijah back in
- 20:50Speaker 1: the cave and told him that Elisha would be a
- 20:54Speaker 1: prophet in his room. But God did not speak to Elisha.
- 21:00Speaker 1: God has spoken about him, but not to him. What
- 21:06Speaker 1: has God spoken about you that he has not spoke
- 21:10Speaker 1: to you? And there you are, focused on what's in
- 21:15Speaker 1: front of you. God always chooses somebody who is focused
- 21:20Speaker 1: on what's in front of him. Because if you can't
- 21:22Speaker 1: focus on what's in front of you, you can't focus
- 21:26Speaker 1: on what's ahead of you. If you're not faithful over
- 21:31Speaker 1: what's in your hand, You're not going to be faithful
- 21:35Speaker 1: over what's in God's hand. Every time God ever called anybody,
- 21:41Speaker 1: they were busy. They weren't laying on the couch watching
- 21:44Speaker 1: soap operas. They weren't laying on the couch reading magazines.
- 21:48Speaker 1: They weren't playing with gaming. They weren't sitting around. Every
- 21:52Speaker 1: time God found anybody, they were focused on what they have.
- 21:56Speaker 1: Some of you have decided, as soon as I figure
- 21:59Speaker 1: out what I'm supposed to be, I'm going to focus.
- 22:01Speaker 1: You'll never be anything. You got to focus on what's
- 22:04Speaker 1: in front of you. Whatever is in your hand, focus
- 22:07Speaker 1: on that. And if you focus on what's in your head,
- 22:10Speaker 1: your future will find you. Your future finds you. You
- 22:17Speaker 1: don't find it. Elisha's not looking for Elijah. He's looking
- 22:24Speaker 1: how to plow this field before the sun gets hot.
- 22:30Speaker 1: Elijah is looking for Elisha. But Elisha was not looking
- 22:36Speaker 1: for Elijah. He was just plowing on the 12th yoke
- 22:40Speaker 1: of oxen. This is a big field. It's a lot
- 22:43Speaker 1: of property. His parents have a lot of land. It's
- 22:47Speaker 1: how they eat. And he's young enough to work and
- 22:53Speaker 1: they need him. to be who they expect him to be.
- 22:58Speaker 1: And there are some of us right now that we
- 23:00Speaker 1: cannot get loose from people who need us to be
- 23:05Speaker 1: what they expect us to be. And it was all
- 23:14Speaker 1: cool and organic and orthodox and natural and normal until
- 23:20Speaker 1: Elijah shows up And he messes everything up. Because he
- 23:28Speaker 1: exposes Elisha to something that we all secretly need. It
- 23:33Speaker 1: wasn't just his mantle. Elisha saw somebody who was like him.
- 23:43Speaker 1: And isn't that what we all really want? To find
- 23:48Speaker 1: somebody who gets us And whatever we're doing while we're
- 23:55Speaker 1: waiting is just filling space until we have an encounter
- 24:01Speaker 1: with somebody who gets me, who speaks my language, who
- 24:07Speaker 1: understands where I'm coming from. Somebody who represents the possibilities
- 24:13Speaker 1: of what I could be. This plow is my father's plow.
- 24:20Speaker 1: These oxen are my father's oxen. I'm busy doing what
- 24:25Speaker 1: they expected. And I'm talking about having the courage to
- 24:33Speaker 1: be yourself. The courage to be yourself sets you in
- 24:46Speaker 1: conflict with your environment. Do you hear the words that
- 24:53Speaker 1: are coming out of my mouth? The courage to be
- 24:57Speaker 1: yourself sets you in conflict with your environment because your
- 25:01Speaker 1: environment is pre-described and predisposed for you to function in
- 25:07Speaker 1: predictable ways. And now here comes Elijah and he throws
- 25:13Speaker 1: off the predictable pattern of Elisha's life and puts him
- 25:17Speaker 1: in conflict. Shall I stay with the people who have
- 25:22Speaker 1: invested in me all of my life and try to
- 25:25Speaker 1: be their dream filler? Or shall I go for myself
- 25:30Speaker 1: and go after my own dream? Oh, I want to
- 25:36Speaker 1: stay there. I want to stay there. I know this
- 25:38Speaker 1: is going to be hard for me because I want
- 25:40Speaker 1: to stay there because some of us are stuck in
- 25:43Speaker 1: that place, in prison by expectations. You'd be surprised at
- 25:51Speaker 1: the things people do to keep peace. The jobs they
- 26:00Speaker 1: don't take. The careers they don't pursue. The entrepreneurial pursuits
- 26:06Speaker 1: they don't go after. The churches they won't attend. The
- 26:10Speaker 1: religion they won't embrace. All just to keep peace because
- 26:13Speaker 1: I want to be what you expect me to be
- 26:16Speaker 1: so you'll be quiet. Keep everything nice and keep everything
- 26:20Speaker 1: neat and keep everything quiet. And all of you people
- 26:23Speaker 1: who need everything to be nice and neat and be
- 26:26Speaker 1: quiet have contorted yourself and distorted yourself into a mere
- 26:32Speaker 1: caricature of who you could have been because you lack
- 26:36Speaker 1: the courage to be your own person. I love you,
- 26:44Speaker 1: but I gotta be me. You love me, but you
- 26:49Speaker 1: gotta be you. And the only reason our marriage has
- 26:52Speaker 1: survived is that we have finally grown to give each
- 26:56Speaker 1: other the permission to be different. Instead of trying to
- 27:04Speaker 1: make me be her or me make her be me,
- 27:08Speaker 1: we finally realize that God didn't make a mistake when
- 27:12Speaker 1: he made her the way he made her and he
- 27:15Speaker 1: didn't make a mistake when he made me the way
- 27:17Speaker 1: he made me and I am through shutting my mouth
- 27:23Speaker 1: to fit in to anybody's expectation. I want you to
- 27:31Speaker 1: see How difficult it is for Elisha to make this
- 27:38Speaker 1: next move. All of the hopes of his ancestors is
- 27:43Speaker 1: on him plowing in this field. Stay right here. This
- 27:49Speaker 1: is what we designed for you. We are teaching out
- 27:53Speaker 1: of a patriarchal society where the father's word was lost.
- 28:01Speaker 1: And if daddy didn't approve it, it didn't happen. And
- 28:05Speaker 1: all of a sudden, instead of him living up to
- 28:08Speaker 1: the expectations of his father, he has to have the
- 28:12Speaker 1: courage to confront them and be himself. You'll never be
- 28:20Speaker 1: successful at being me. You'll only be successful at being you.
- 28:26Speaker 1: You have to figure out who you really are aside
- 28:30Speaker 1: from who you are expected to be and ask God
- 28:34Speaker 1: to bless who you are because God does not even
- 28:37Speaker 1: know who you pretend to be. Adam, where art thou?
- 28:42Speaker 1: Doesn't mean you disappeared. It means you lost your identity.
- 28:47Speaker 1: Oh God, help me, help me, help me. I'm talking
- 28:50Speaker 1: to somebody. I don't know who it is. Elijah passed
- 28:58Speaker 1: by that boy and threw his mantle on him for
- 29:03Speaker 1: a moment and it was, it was a glimpse. It
- 29:08Speaker 1: was a glimpse. I preached a few weeks ago about glimpses.
- 29:13Speaker 1: Have you ever caught a glimpse? Just a glimpse of
- 29:17Speaker 1: something that didn't even fit your surroundings and didn't fit
- 29:20Speaker 1: your environment and didn't fit your paycheck and didn't fit
- 29:24Speaker 1: your pedigree and didn't fit your degree and didn't fit
- 29:27Speaker 1: your background, but you got a glimpse. And it was
- 29:32Speaker 1: so attractive. It was so alluring. It was so dynamic.
- 29:37Speaker 1: It was so magnetic. It was so sexy. that all
- 29:41Speaker 1: of a sudden that once you have been exposed, you
- 29:44Speaker 1: can never be unexposed. That's why the devil doesn't want
- 29:54Speaker 1: you to be exposed. Because once you know, you can
- 29:57Speaker 1: never unknow what you know. Once you know it, you
- 30:00Speaker 1: know it. Once you know it, you know it. There
- 30:03Speaker 1: was something about this mantle that spoke to him in
- 30:08Speaker 1: such a way that he gathered his courage to go
- 30:16Speaker 1: with Elijah. Wait a minute. Elijah didn't know that Elisha
- 30:23Speaker 1: was going to follow him. Because God had told Elijah
- 30:28Speaker 1: to anoint Elijah, but he didn't say he was going
- 30:32Speaker 1: to have to live with him. And Elijah said, look, dude,
- 30:42Speaker 1: I'm just supposed to anoint you. And now you have
- 30:46Speaker 1: upped the ante. You want to follow me? What have
- 30:51Speaker 1: I done to you? Go away. God doesn't give either
- 30:56Speaker 1: one of them all the details. And some of you
- 30:59Speaker 1: are waiting on all the details before you make your
- 31:02Speaker 1: next move. You will die an old lady and not
- 31:06Speaker 1: have all the details. God fills in the blanks as
- 31:11Speaker 1: you activate on what he has already given you to do.
- 31:15Speaker 1: Day by day, the steps of a good man are
- 31:19Speaker 1: ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his ways.
- 31:24Speaker 1: Away with all your questions of what do we do
- 31:26Speaker 1: when we get there? Where are we going to stay?
- 31:28Speaker 1: And what do the people think? And what, and what,
- 31:31Speaker 1: and what? You have spent years asking questions rather than
- 31:35Speaker 1: obeying commandments. I'm talking to somebody I don't even know
- 31:42Speaker 1: who it is. God is not going to give you
- 31:46Speaker 1: all the details for the just shall live by faith.
- 31:53Speaker 1: God Almighty, I feel something about to happen in this place.
- 31:57Speaker 1: I feel a stirring in the spirit. This was the
- 32:01Speaker 1: call on his life. This was the call, a call
- 32:06Speaker 1: to something. A call is in front of you, not
- 32:09Speaker 1: behind you. If I say, Serena, come here, I can't
- 32:15Speaker 1: be there and say, come here. A call is futuristic.
- 32:23Speaker 1: But calls put you in conflict because in order to
- 32:27Speaker 1: answer the call, you have to leave there to come here. Separation,
- 32:40Speaker 1: come on. It means you had to leave the familiar.
- 32:48Speaker 1: It means you had to leave the comfort of the chair.
- 32:51Speaker 1: It means you had to leave your surroundings. It means
- 32:53Speaker 1: you had to leave your position. It means you had
- 32:56Speaker 1: to leave how you knew yourself. It means you had
- 32:58Speaker 1: to step out on something you didn't even know I
- 33:01Speaker 1: was going to do. When God calls you, you don't
- 33:04Speaker 1: know what's going to happen next. You didn't know I
- 33:06Speaker 1: was going to call you. You didn't know what I
- 33:09Speaker 1: want you for. You don't even know what I'm going
- 33:11Speaker 1: to do now. You just obeyed. because I called you.
- 33:15Speaker 1: Give God a praise. That's what he wants. That's what
- 33:17Speaker 1: he does. That's how he moves. That's how he works.
- 33:20Speaker 1: That's how he speaks. That's how he delivers. You gotta
- 33:23Speaker 1: have courage to walk away from everything that's comfortable to
- 33:28Speaker 1: you and do what God called you to do. I
- 33:32Speaker 1: call you, Elijah, come here. Somebody praise him, baby. Somebody
- 33:41Speaker 1: praise him if you understand what I'm talking about. Glory
- 33:49Speaker 1: to God. Type on the line, he called me, he
- 33:51Speaker 1: called me, he called me, he called me, he called me,
- 33:54Speaker 1: he called me. And all the while, you've been praying
- 33:57Speaker 1: about where you're sitting. And the reason God isn't answering
- 34:02Speaker 1: you is because it ain't about where you are, it's
- 34:05Speaker 1: about where you're going. Stop praying to me about the
- 34:09Speaker 1: field and the ox and the plow, because I'm calling you.
- 34:16Speaker 1: If you have the courage... To detach yourself from the
- 34:24Speaker 1: expectations of others. Do you have the courage to be yourself?
- 34:39Speaker 1: I'm asking, do you have the courage? The courage to
- 34:44Speaker 1: be your authentic self. How long do you think you
- 34:48Speaker 1: can play this role? How many years of your life
- 34:55Speaker 1: are you going to waste playing a role just because
- 35:02Speaker 1: that's where you are? That doesn't mean that's where he
- 35:07Speaker 1: called you. And I want you to see How much
- 35:12Speaker 1: Elijah sacrificed to say yes to God. Type on the line, sacrifice.
- 35:22Speaker 1: How much he had to sacrifice. He had to risk
- 35:25Speaker 1: his relationship with his mother and his father. He had
- 35:28Speaker 1: to risk being made to look like a fool. He
- 35:32Speaker 1: had to risk everything in his life to follow Elijah.
- 35:42Speaker 1: And Elijah, on the other hand, didn't know this dude
- 35:46Speaker 1: is going to start following him. Elijah goes from being
- 35:53Speaker 1: the leader in the field to being a servant with
- 35:59Speaker 1: the master. Oh, God. Leader, servant, leader, servant, leader, servant.
- 36:06Speaker 1: Am I going to be a big fish over here
- 36:09Speaker 1: or am I going to be a servant over here?
- 36:11Speaker 1: And because you can't humble yourself to serve over here,
- 36:16Speaker 1: you lead in a small pond rather than to serve
- 36:19Speaker 1: in a big pond. You lead in your history rather
- 36:23Speaker 1: than to serve in your destiny. Servant leadership means you
- 36:28Speaker 1: have to have the dexterity and the ability to transition
- 36:33Speaker 1: from being the boss over a bull to being the
- 36:39Speaker 1: servant of a prophet. And most of us will never
- 36:49Speaker 1: respond Because we like being a boss over a pond,
- 36:55Speaker 1: over a little place. He gave up being in charge
- 37:01Speaker 1: and his inheritance. And he gave up being a boss
- 37:05Speaker 1: to serve. Because the secret to leadership is always servitude.
- 37:17Speaker 1: And until you can wash feet, Peter, you cannot be
- 37:23Speaker 1: my disciple. As long as you see being disciples as
- 37:28Speaker 1: stages and lights and camera and action, you're not fit
- 37:34Speaker 1: to be my leader because you're not willing to be
- 37:37Speaker 1: a servant. If I, your Lord— can switch from being
- 37:41Speaker 1: Lord to washing feet? How much more ought you to
- 37:45Speaker 1: be able to make the transition? Somebody say, I got
- 37:49Speaker 1: to switch. I got to switch. I got to switch.
- 37:51Speaker 1: I got to serve my way up. I got to
- 37:54Speaker 1: serve my way up. I got to serve my way up.
- 37:57Speaker 1: I got to serve my way up. I got to
- 37:59Speaker 1: serve my way up. So it's going to require sacrifice
- 38:07Speaker 1: and it's going to require service. And so when he
- 38:12Speaker 1: asked Elijah, can I go with you? Elijah said no.
- 38:21Speaker 1: Elijah goes back and burns up the ox and the plow.
- 38:30Speaker 1: Do you know how long it took to raise an ox?
- 38:35Speaker 1: He cooked him. He burned up the plow. He cooked
- 38:44Speaker 1: the ox to say to Elijah, there's nothing to go
- 38:49Speaker 1: back to. I want you to shut the door on
- 38:53Speaker 1: your exit strategy. I want you to shut the door
- 38:57Speaker 1: on your backup plan. I want you to shut the
- 39:00Speaker 1: door on your safety net. If you really believe that
- 39:05Speaker 1: this is God, it is time for you to shut
- 39:08Speaker 1: the door Who am I talking to? I feel like
- 39:13Speaker 1: I'm talking to somebody. I don't know who it is,
- 39:16Speaker 1: but I knew when the Lord gave me this Word,
- 39:18Speaker 1: He would give me the right people to deliver it to.
- 39:22Speaker 1: Somebody in this room, God is talking directly to you.
- 39:28Speaker 1: He cooked the ox. He burned up the plow. He said,
- 39:36Speaker 1: I've got nothing to go back to. I honestly believe
- 39:42Speaker 1: that when the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea
- 39:46Speaker 1: and Pharaoh chased them down to the water, That when
- 39:49Speaker 1: the Red Sea closed in and drowned Pharaoh, it didn't
- 39:53Speaker 1: just drown Pharaoh, it closed up any possibility of them
- 39:59Speaker 1: ever going back to Egypt. Because sometimes when you follow God,
- 40:04Speaker 1: you get scared and you want to go back to
- 40:06Speaker 1: what's safe and you want to go back to what's familiar.
- 40:10Speaker 1: But in order to follow God, you got to close
- 40:13Speaker 1: up your exit strategy and make up your mind, for
- 40:17Speaker 1: God I'll live and for God I'll die. I'm throwing
- 40:20Speaker 1: all my chips in it. I'm throwing everything I got
- 40:24Speaker 1: at it and I shut the door. You praise God
- 40:32Speaker 1: for the doors he opened. I praise God for the
- 40:35Speaker 1: doors he closed. I praise God for the doors he
- 40:39Speaker 1: closed so I could never go back to that just
- 40:43Speaker 1: because times got hard. I wanted to go back. I
- 40:47Speaker 1: missed it. I longed for it, but he shut the door.
- 40:57Speaker 1: If the Word of God is speaking to you this morning,
- 41:01Speaker 1: take 30 seconds and give Him crazy praise. Honey, come
- 41:25Speaker 1: bring me some water. Honey, no, I don't want you
- 41:28Speaker 1: to do it. I want her to do it. Come on. Honey,
- 41:31Speaker 1: come bring me some water. You mean you gave up
- 41:46Speaker 1: being first lady? Just to give me some water? Pour
- 42:04Speaker 1: the rest of it on my hands. Just pour it right,
- 42:08Speaker 1: let it go on the floor, just pour it right
- 42:09Speaker 1: on my hands. He poured water on the hands of
- 42:14Speaker 1: the prophet, all of it. He poured water on the
- 42:18Speaker 1: hands of the prophet. He poured water on the hands
- 42:21Speaker 1: of the prophet. He poured water on the hands of
- 42:25Speaker 1: the prophet. No recognition, no name for himself. He just
- 42:29Speaker 1: served the man of God. The anointing you serve is
- 42:34Speaker 1: the anointing you receive. The anointing you serve is the
- 42:39Speaker 1: anointing you receive. The anointing you serve is the anointing
- 42:44Speaker 1: you receive. Did you hear me on the screen? The
- 42:47Speaker 1: anointing you serve is the anointing you receive. You can't
- 42:52Speaker 1: be it if you can't serve it. It's just water.
- 43:09Speaker 1: It'll be all right. It'll be all right. What I
- 43:12Speaker 1: want you to see is that the true essence of
- 43:18Speaker 1: leadership is servitude. I am the leader of the potter's house,
- 43:27Speaker 1: tis true. But in reality, I am serving you now.
- 43:34Speaker 1: I am serving you right now. I am pouring water
- 43:39Speaker 1: on your hands, water on your dreams, water on your prophecy,
- 43:45Speaker 1: water on your potential, water on your possibility. I am
- 43:50Speaker 1: pouring water on your hands right now. If you have
- 43:53Speaker 1: the willingness to receive it, I am pouring water on
- 43:57Speaker 1: you right now. That's why Paul said, one man plants
- 44:01Speaker 1: and another man watereth, and God gives the increase. Good
- 44:06Speaker 1: God Almighty. Hallelujah. All we are are water pourers, watering
- 44:12Speaker 1: your dreams, watering your prophecy, watering your future, watering your potentials.
- 44:33Speaker 1: I want to water seeds that are in your ground
- 44:37Speaker 1: that you didn't even know you had. I want to
- 44:40Speaker 1: water potentials that you didn't even recognize. I want to
- 44:43Speaker 1: water dreams that will blow your mind. I'm watering them
- 44:47Speaker 1: right now. I'm watering through my preaching. I'm watering through
- 44:51Speaker 1: my doing. I'm watering through my business. I'm watering through
- 44:54Speaker 1: my entrepreneurship. I'm watering through my foundation. All of that
- 44:59Speaker 1: is pouring water on me. on your dream water on
- 45:01Speaker 1: your I didn't know that was possible I never thought
- 45:03Speaker 1: about doing that I didn't know you could be two
- 45:05Speaker 1: things at the same time you could be ten things
- 45:07Speaker 1: at the same time according to the grace that worketh
- 45:11Speaker 1: in you don't do it just to imitate me but
- 45:14Speaker 1: if God gives you the grace for it and you
- 45:17Speaker 1: have the same kind of spirit I am just modeling
- 45:20Speaker 1: the possibility that you don't have to be locked into
- 45:23Speaker 1: one dimension that you have the freedom to be your
- 45:28Speaker 1: authentic self Can I go just a little bit further?
- 45:39Speaker 1: So sit with me. He followed Elijah as a servant
- 45:48Speaker 1: for six years. For six years. For six years. He
- 45:58Speaker 1: goes from Gilgal to Bethel. From Bethel to Jericho. From
- 46:06Speaker 1: Jericho to Jordan. Because after everything is said and done,
- 46:14Speaker 1: you have to have sacrifice, you have to have service,
- 46:20Speaker 1: and you have to have stability. Stability. Means I have
- 46:29Speaker 1: pastored this church when I felt like it. And I
- 46:33Speaker 1: have pastored this church when I didn't feel like it.
- 46:37Speaker 1: Means I have preached with power when my heart was broken.
- 46:40Speaker 1: And I have preached with power when I was on
- 46:43Speaker 1: the top of the mountain. I have preached and sometimes
- 46:46Speaker 1: you didn't even know it. I was hollering up at
- 46:49Speaker 1: you from the valley. Stability means that I don't take
- 46:52Speaker 1: you on the rollercoaster ride of my personal experience, that
- 46:57Speaker 1: I am professional enough to function in my capacity with stability.
- 47:02Speaker 1: And the reason God can't use you is that you
- 47:05Speaker 1: are too into your feelings. You're talking about how you
- 47:08Speaker 1: feel about this and how you feel about that and
- 47:11Speaker 1: how you feel about the other. God's plan cannot be
- 47:14Speaker 1: hindered by your feelings. You're liable to feel anything. You
- 47:18Speaker 1: know you have Christ. You're schizophrenic anyway. You can't do
- 47:22Speaker 1: this according to feeling. You have to open up the
- 47:25Speaker 1: business and be open when it's good, and be open
- 47:28Speaker 1: when it's bad, and be open when you're happy, and
- 47:31Speaker 1: be open when you're sad. Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always
- 47:35Speaker 1: abounding in the work of the Lord. God wants you
- 47:38Speaker 1: to have stability. If you can't say amen, say ouch.
- 47:48Speaker 1: You don't understand sometimes you pass the test by staying.
- 47:54Speaker 1: It's not about winning. It's about staying. It's about being stable.
- 47:59Speaker 1: Preach the Word, Timothy. Be instant, in season, out of season, reprove,
- 48:05Speaker 1: rebuke with all long suffering for the time will come
- 48:10Speaker 1: that men will not endure sound doctrine. They're going to
- 48:14Speaker 1: be flaky, but don't you be flaky. Preach the Word.
- 48:17Speaker 1: Be stable. Be steadfast. Be unmovable. Oh my God, who
- 48:23Speaker 1: am I talking to? You're in the middle of a
- 48:26Speaker 1: test of your stability. You're not stable. How can you
- 48:34Speaker 1: lead if you are not stable? For what God was
- 48:44Speaker 1: getting ready to lay on Elijah, He had to pass
- 48:49Speaker 1: the test of six years of stability. Stable at Gilgal.
- 48:58Speaker 1: The place of cutting, the place of separation. Stable at Bethel,
- 49:05Speaker 1: the house of God. You're not even stable about the
- 49:09Speaker 1: house of God. And yet you want God to be
- 49:13Speaker 1: stable about blessing you. If you're not not preaching, you're
- 49:20Speaker 1: not coming. If the choir's not singing, you're not in it.
- 49:30Speaker 1: He had to be stable at Bethel to the house
- 49:36Speaker 1: of God. That means you gotta worship in the hospital.
- 49:41Speaker 1: You gotta worship in grief. You gotta worship in pain.
- 49:46Speaker 1: You gotta worship when your mama's dead. You gotta worship
- 49:49Speaker 1: when your feelings are hurt. You gotta worship when somebody
- 49:52Speaker 1: ticked you off. You gotta worship when they got on
- 49:54Speaker 1: your nerves. You gotta worship when somebody cussed you out.
- 49:58Speaker 1: You have to pass the test of stability because of
- 50:01Speaker 1: the weight of glory that God is getting ready to
- 50:05Speaker 1: lay on you. You can't have that kind of glory
- 50:09Speaker 1: and fluctuate. Six years! The number of man. It was
- 50:21Speaker 1: on the sixth day that God made man. Six years
- 50:25Speaker 1: God spends making Elisha a man. Forming a man. Six
- 50:35Speaker 1: years of stability of forming a man. Forming him. In
- 50:42Speaker 1: good days, in bad days, in bleeding days, they circumcise
- 50:48Speaker 1: at Gilgal. The separation place from Gilgal to Bethel. Away
- 50:57Speaker 1: with your feelings. You cannot serve God out of your feelings.
- 51:05Speaker 1: God doesn't care how you feel. How do you think
- 51:09Speaker 1: he felt about going to the cross? And still he died.
- 51:15Speaker 1: He hated it, but still he died. The Bible said
- 51:19Speaker 1: he despised the shame, but for the joy that was
- 51:23Speaker 1: set before him, and still he died. Be steadfast. Unmovable.
- 51:36Speaker 1: always abounding, always, always abounding, always abounding, always giving your best,
- 51:43Speaker 1: always doing it to the limit, always leaving it all
- 51:46Speaker 1: on the floor. I'm only happy when I walk away
- 51:49Speaker 1: from this pulpit and I feel like I left it
- 51:51Speaker 1: all on the floor. I left it all on the floor.
- 51:54Speaker 1: I gave it my all. I'm not competing with anybody else.
- 51:57Speaker 1: I'm competing against the voice that's down inside of me.
- 52:01Speaker 1: When I walk off the stage, I am only confident
- 52:04Speaker 1: when I left it all on the floor he was
- 52:11Speaker 1: stable in the house of God he was then following
- 52:17Speaker 1: him to Jericho Jericho the place of possibilities the place
- 52:25Speaker 1: where it all started the place where the promise became
- 52:28Speaker 1: real the place where the battle ensued the place where
- 52:34Speaker 1: the walls were high the place where the challenges were.
- 52:38Speaker 1: He followed him even to Jericho. And they're having a
- 52:43Speaker 1: walk at Jordan. They're just walking along. And Elijah asked Elijah,
- 52:56Speaker 1: late in the journey, not the first year, not the
- 53:03Speaker 1: second year, Not the third year. Not the fourth year.
- 53:08Speaker 1: The fifth year. He says, what shall I do unto thee?
- 53:13Speaker 1: And he says, I would like to have a double
- 53:17Speaker 1: portion of your money. Oh, I'm sorry. A double portion
- 53:26Speaker 1: of your platform. A double portion of your contacts. A
- 53:30Speaker 1: double portion of your stage. No, he says, I want
- 53:35Speaker 1: a double portion of your spirit. Do you know what
- 53:41Speaker 1: to ask for? Are you asking for the wrong thing?
- 53:48Speaker 1: Are you asking for the thing that is covetous rather
- 53:53Speaker 1: than prophetic? What you call faith, the Bible calls coveting.
- 54:01Speaker 1: You are not to covet your neighbor's oxen. You are
- 54:04Speaker 1: not to covet your neighbor's wife. You're not to covet
- 54:06Speaker 1: your neighbor's stay. That is not what he wanted from Elijah.
- 54:11Speaker 1: He didn't want Elijah's stuff. He wanted his unction. I
- 54:18Speaker 1: want the unction. I see the unction. If you give
- 54:21Speaker 1: me the unction, I can get my own stuff. Give
- 54:24Speaker 1: me the unction. I want a double portion of your unction.
- 54:27Speaker 1: I want a double portion of your power. I want
- 54:30Speaker 1: a double portion of the power of the Holy Spirit.
- 54:33Speaker 1: And Elijah says to him, you have asked a hard thing.
- 54:42Speaker 1: Because only God can give a transference of spirit You
- 54:50Speaker 1: have asked something that is beyond my ability to give
- 54:55Speaker 1: just because I like you doesn't mean I can make
- 54:59Speaker 1: you what he didn't create you to be. So how
- 55:05Speaker 1: dare you feel rejected of me because you have asked
- 55:08Speaker 1: me for something that I can, I tell you what,
- 55:12Speaker 1: if you see me when he shows up, If you're
- 55:20Speaker 1: still here when the boss shows up, if you are
- 55:27Speaker 1: still there when he shows up and they're just walking
- 55:30Speaker 1: along and suddenly the heavens opened up. I don't know
- 55:39Speaker 1: who I'm speaking to, but God said you're going to
- 55:41Speaker 1: get a suddenly moment. And when God gives you a
- 55:44Speaker 1: suddenly moment, after years of service you're going to have
- 55:48Speaker 1: a suddenly. Service, suddenly. Service, suddenly. Stability, suddenly. Nothing and
- 55:56Speaker 1: then suddenly. After years you say it's not working, it's
- 55:58Speaker 1: not working, it's not working. Don't stop doing what's not working.
- 56:02Speaker 1: Because it will work if you work it. It will
- 56:05Speaker 1: work if you work it. It will work if you
- 56:07Speaker 1: work it. It will work if you work it. It
- 56:09Speaker 1: might not work on year one. It may not work
- 56:12Speaker 1: on year two. It may not work on year three.
- 56:15Speaker 1: But if you stick to your guns, it'll work if
- 56:17Speaker 1: you work it. And suddenly, somebody shout suddenly. Somebody shout suddenly.
- 56:23Speaker 1: Somebody shout suddenly. That's how your prayers are going to
- 56:26Speaker 1: be answered. That's how the door is going to be opened.
- 56:29Speaker 1: That's how the mountain is going to be moved. That's
- 56:31Speaker 1: how the way is going to be made. I don't
- 56:33Speaker 1: know who I'm talking to, but I'm talking to somebody
- 56:36Speaker 1: in this room. God said, I'm going to give you
- 56:39Speaker 1: a suddenly. Nudge your neighbor and say suddenly. After years
- 56:44Speaker 1: of looking like you weren't getting anything. After years of
- 56:47Speaker 1: being overlooked. After years of being ignored. God said he's
- 56:51Speaker 1: going to give you a suddenly. A suddenly is going
- 56:54Speaker 1: to break out in your marriage. A suddenly is going
- 56:57Speaker 1: to break out with your child. A suddenly is going
- 56:59Speaker 1: to break out in your ministry. Somebody give him a
- 57:02Speaker 1: praise for a suddenly.
- 57:24Speaker 1: The heavens open up.
- 57:40Speaker 1: And the chariot came. Now the guy who, watch this,
- 57:46Speaker 1: stand on your feet, because if you don't, I'm going
- 57:49Speaker 1: to keep going. Stand up. You got to stand up.
- 57:53Speaker 1: You got to stand up, because I'm fired up about this. Suddenly,
- 57:58Speaker 1: the guy who wants a double portion of Elijah's spirit,
- 58:04Speaker 1: when he got to the place that he could get it,
- 58:08Speaker 1: he suddenly realizes I don't want the mantle. I want
- 58:14Speaker 1: the man. My father, my father, the chariots of Israel
- 58:24Speaker 1: have carried you away. And now I realize what a
- 58:31Speaker 1: privilege you are. Oh my God. I will see you
- 58:45Speaker 1: I will see you no more. I will have to
- 58:50Speaker 1: walk the rest of the way without you. He wasn't
- 58:58Speaker 1: crying out, the mantle, the mantle, the mantle. He was saying,
- 59:03Speaker 1: my father, my father, my father. Everything I learned, I
- 59:10Speaker 1: learned it from you everything I understand I understand it
- 59:14Speaker 1: from you everything you taught me it made me who
- 59:18Speaker 1: I am and I will see you no more oh
- 59:26Speaker 1: God I will see you no more.
- 59:35Speaker 2: How can I do this without you? The chariots of
- 59:40Speaker 2: Israel have carried my father away. You see, I left
- 59:51Speaker 2: my other father. And you're the closest thing to a
- 59:58Speaker 2: father I have. And I will see you no more.
- 1:00:09Speaker 2: Forgive me for valuing the mantle more than I did
- 1:00:13Speaker 2: the man. Because it's going to be hard to be you.
- 1:00:25Speaker 1: Without you. In fact, it's going to be hard to
- 1:00:30Speaker 1: be me without you everything I ever did I did
- 1:00:37Speaker 1: it with you everything I ever learned I learned it
- 1:00:39Speaker 1: from you everything I ever accomplished you got me into
- 1:00:43Speaker 1: Gilgal you got me into Bethel you got me into
- 1:00:46Speaker 1: Jericho you brought me across this Jordan River we just
- 1:00:51Speaker 1: crossed over and I don't even know for sure that
- 1:00:55Speaker 1: I know how to get back without you And he
- 1:01:03Speaker 1: ripped his garments, which in the Old Testament, the ripping
- 1:01:07Speaker 1: of your garments is a sign of utter grief. He
- 1:01:15Speaker 1: ripped his clothes off. And he snatched his father's mantle.
- 1:01:30Speaker 1: And he raised it high. And he said, where is
- 1:01:36Speaker 1: the God of Elijah? Where is the God of Elijah?
- 1:01:48Speaker 1: What that means is, will it work for me? You
- 1:01:58Speaker 1: have been hearing me preach for years. But it doesn't
- 1:02:02Speaker 1: mean anything if you don't learn how to make it
- 1:02:08Speaker 1: work for you. Will it work for me? And God
- 1:02:22Speaker 1: says nothing back to him. He gives him no assurance.
- 1:02:31Speaker 1: He gives him no promise. It's not like Joshua, where
- 1:02:35Speaker 1: he told Joshua, as I was with Moses, so shall
- 1:02:38Speaker 1: I be with you. God shut his mouth and left
- 1:02:43Speaker 1: him to discover that it will only work It won't
- 1:02:58Speaker 1: work because you listened to it. It won't work because
- 1:03:01Speaker 1: you took notes on it. It won't work because you
- 1:03:04Speaker 1: shouted about it. It won't work because you spoke in tongues.
- 1:03:07Speaker 1: It will only work if you work it. And so
- 1:03:09Speaker 1: what he did, he did what his father did. not
- 1:03:15Speaker 1: just heard what his father said. He said, let me see.
- 1:03:20Speaker 1: He bound up the mantle. He took the path and
- 1:03:23Speaker 1: he bound it up like the old man had bounded.
- 1:03:26Speaker 1: And he took it and he smoked the water. And
- 1:03:30Speaker 1: when he smoked the waters, the waters went hither and thither.
- 1:03:35Speaker 1: But they only parted because he worked it. And the
- 1:03:41Speaker 1: Lord told me to tell somebody who's been praying to Him,
- 1:03:46Speaker 1: I don't know whether this is gonna work. He sent
- 1:03:51Speaker 1: me through all of this to tell you He heard
- 1:03:55Speaker 1: your prayer. Come on, come on. He sent me through
- 1:04:04Speaker 1: all of this to tell me He understands your anxiety.
- 1:04:11Speaker 1: your insecurity, your uncertainty. But in order for there to
- 1:04:19Speaker 1: be real succession, we've gone through sacrifice, we've gone through service,
- 1:04:27Speaker 1: we've gone through stability. Succession, it will only work if
- 1:04:35Speaker 1: you walk it. How many years we been married? 39.
- 1:04:49Speaker 1: 39 years, soon to be 40. No, no, no. Don't
- 1:05:01Speaker 1: clap for us. We haven't been married 40 years because
- 1:05:05Speaker 1: everything's been easy and everything's been good and everything's been
- 1:05:09Speaker 1: nice and I've been the perfect husband and we've always
- 1:05:11Speaker 1: agreed and everything went right and we didn't have problems
- 1:05:15Speaker 1: and we didn't have tests and we didn't have trials
- 1:05:17Speaker 1: and I didn't get on her nerves and she didn't
- 1:05:19Speaker 1: get on my nerves. No, no, no, no. We've been
- 1:05:21Speaker 1: married 40 years because we worked it. Marriage only works
- 1:05:31Speaker 1: if you work. Work it. I started my church with
- 1:05:38Speaker 1: seven people in a building cooking ribs and chicken to
- 1:05:43Speaker 1: pay the rent. That boy y'all brought out here the
- 1:05:49Speaker 1: other Sunday almost wrecked me. He was the first face
- 1:05:53Speaker 1: to walk through the door of my storefront. Ron Smith
- 1:06:00Speaker 1: and Judy were the first people to walk through the
- 1:06:03Speaker 1: door in my empty storefront and they were the first
- 1:06:07Speaker 1: people to join my church. When they were calling me
- 1:06:17Speaker 1: the boy pastor and they were making fun of me
- 1:06:21Speaker 1: and said I would never be nothing, they were the
- 1:06:25Speaker 1: first people to walk through the door. And I was
- 1:06:30Speaker 1: working a job full time, something that most young preachers
- 1:06:34Speaker 1: won't do. They'll raise an offering, but they won't work
- 1:06:39Speaker 1: a job. I worked a job and I preached on
- 1:06:42Speaker 1: the side and I put my check in the offering
- 1:06:46Speaker 1: to keep the doors open. And whatever we had left,
- 1:06:49Speaker 1: we cooked up and sold dinners to raise money to
- 1:06:52Speaker 1: get another month to fight again. And don't you come
- 1:06:57Speaker 1: here 45 years later and ask me for the keys
- 1:07:03Speaker 1: when you haven't done the time. Until you have preached
- 1:07:17Speaker 1: when you didn't have no car, until you have thumbed
- 1:07:21Speaker 1: to Bible class and walked up the road like this
- 1:07:25Speaker 1: with your thumb out and climbed across the railroad tracks
- 1:07:30Speaker 1: and not pulled us off your pants and went in
- 1:07:33Speaker 1: and taught on the tabernacle to a handful of people.
- 1:07:36Speaker 1: Don't you come here with your cute suit on and
- 1:07:40Speaker 1: tell me that you are my successor because until you
- 1:07:44Speaker 1: are my sufferer, you can't be my successor. It may
- 1:07:49Speaker 1: not be the same way. It may not be the
- 1:07:51Speaker 1: same story. But in some area of your life, you
- 1:07:55Speaker 1: have to earn the right to be Elijah. Every one
- 1:08:11Speaker 1: of our children were born on a Sunday morning. And
- 1:08:17Speaker 1: I was in the labor room with a clergy collar on.
- 1:08:25Speaker 1: And my wife was pregnant and was asleep on the
- 1:08:29Speaker 1: pew in between the morning service and the night service,
- 1:08:34Speaker 1: waiting on the night service so we could have church again.
- 1:08:43Speaker 1: We preach with our lights off. We preach with our
- 1:08:47Speaker 1: water off to get to where we are right now.
- 1:08:51Speaker 1: And I came to tell you today, whatever it is
- 1:08:57Speaker 1: you are trying to build,
- 1:09:12Speaker 1: sign and blame
- 1:09:15Speaker 1: and impress people for it you don't have the right
- 1:09:19Speaker 1: to get it until you will stay up at night
- 1:09:22Speaker 1: and go to school while other people are watching the
- 1:09:25Speaker 1: game and read and study and work and pray to
- 1:09:28Speaker 1: get to be whoever it is you are trying to
- 1:09:31Speaker 1: be you have not got the right it will work
- 1:09:38Speaker 1: I said it will work what's the rest of it
- 1:09:42Speaker 1: it will work It will work. It will work. It
- 1:09:49Speaker 1: will work. It will work. There are nearly 60,000 people
- 1:09:56Speaker 1: listening at me right now around the world in other
- 1:09:59Speaker 1: tongues and other languages who never saw me fry fish.
- 1:10:05Speaker 1: They never saw my mama putting fish in hot grease
- 1:10:10Speaker 1: behind a wall of the stage I was preaching in.
- 1:10:15Speaker 1: Am I telling the truth? You know exactly what I'm
- 1:10:18Speaker 1: talking about. I got living witnesses right now. But you
- 1:10:21Speaker 1: want to come in when the glamour is. And you
- 1:10:24Speaker 1: want more glamour. And you need more guts. You need guts.
- 1:10:32Speaker 1: You can't be this without guts. And if you think
- 1:10:39Speaker 1: I'm an easy takedown, try me. I preached a year
- 1:10:50Speaker 1: and a half in an empty room. And I paid
- 1:10:55Speaker 1: all my staff and didn't lay off not one of them.
- 1:11:06Speaker 1: Because I'm in my 60s, but I'm still bad. It
- 1:11:12Speaker 1: will work. It will work. It will work. It will work.
- 1:11:21Speaker 1: It will work. It will work. This is God's word.
- 1:11:28Speaker 1: Forget about my dream. What is your dream? What is
- 1:11:31Speaker 1: your purpose? What is your goal? And how much work
- 1:11:35Speaker 1: will you put into it in order to get what
- 1:11:38Speaker 1: you're trying to get from God? How much? It will
- 1:11:43Speaker 1: only work. If this message spoke to you as a man,
- 1:11:58Speaker 1: where are my brothers at? I have no fear of
- 1:12:08Speaker 1: how high she goes or how great she becomes or
- 1:12:12Speaker 1: how much money she makes or how successful she becomes.
- 1:12:17Speaker 1: That is between her and God. Because her being great
- 1:12:34Speaker 1: don't take me down. You can either cower down and
- 1:12:48Speaker 1: give up and let your wife become your mama. Or
- 1:12:55Speaker 1: you can stand up like a grown man and handle
- 1:13:01Speaker 1: your business. Where my sisters at? Get out of your feelings.
- 1:13:16Speaker 1: It's not going to come to you emotionally. People will
- 1:13:19Speaker 1: not work for emotional people who have meltdowns and freak
- 1:13:23Speaker 1: out and hold grudges. You have to be bigger than that.
- 1:13:27Speaker 1: You might can do that at home, but if you
- 1:13:29Speaker 1: come out into the corporate space and the work world
- 1:13:32Speaker 1: and the business space, we don't have time to deal
- 1:13:35Speaker 1: with your attitudes. So stop popping your neck, hold your
- 1:13:39Speaker 1: head up, get yourself together, get out of your feelings
- 1:13:43Speaker 1: and get ready to fight the good fight of faith.
- 1:13:48Speaker 1: You can't raise your children in your feelings and you
- 1:13:52Speaker 1: cannot keep nagging your husband to death and wonder why
- 1:13:56Speaker 1: he left. It will work. It will work. Oh, y'all
- 1:14:06Speaker 1: kind of weak now. You kind of weak now. It
- 1:14:08Speaker 1: will work. It will work. It will work. This is
- 1:14:14Speaker 1: what I want and I'm going to go close. Because
- 1:14:18Speaker 1: I'm throwing a party for our pastors. I want on
- 1:14:28Speaker 1: this altar people who realize that you have not thrown
- 1:14:31Speaker 1: your best shot. That you have not slung your furthest arrow.
- 1:14:38Speaker 1: That you have faced your giants, but you have not
- 1:14:40Speaker 1: thrown your best rock. And this message spoke to you
- 1:14:45Speaker 1: today in a prophetic way that you got some work
- 1:14:49Speaker 1: to do. I want those of you that are online,
- 1:14:52Speaker 1: you cannot be physically, but I want you to indicate,
- 1:14:56Speaker 1: type on the line, include me in the prayer. You
- 1:14:58Speaker 1: spoke to me. You talked to me. You made things
- 1:15:01Speaker 1: clear to me. You answered questions that I've been praying about.
- 1:15:05Speaker 1: I've been wondering why it didn't happen. I didn't realize
- 1:15:08Speaker 1: he walked with him six years. I didn't realize I
- 1:15:11Speaker 1: had to serve to lead. I didn't realize that I
- 1:15:13Speaker 1: had to be stable in the house of God. Nobody
- 1:15:16Speaker 1: ever taught me how much it costs. Greatness is expensive.
- 1:15:20Speaker 1: succession is expensive I want young people who are next
- 1:15:27Speaker 1: in line this does not work like your phone this
- 1:15:30Speaker 1: does not work like an app you have to work
- 1:15:32Speaker 1: it and you have to work it a long time
- 1:15:36Speaker 1: and it doesn't happen overnight for most people yes there
- 1:15:40Speaker 1: are one or two people who put something on YouTube
- 1:15:42Speaker 1: and they got discovered and they went famous but out
- 1:15:46Speaker 1: of millions of people those are only one or two
- 1:15:48Speaker 1: the rest of us have to work it Clap if
- 1:15:52Speaker 1: you know I'm right. I'm going to close out the
- 1:16:01Speaker 1: service with this prayer. But I want every entrepreneur, every
- 1:16:06Speaker 1: business person, every leader, every thinker, every dreamer, every person
- 1:16:10Speaker 1: who's got a prophecy on your life, I want you
- 1:16:13Speaker 1: on this altar. I want every person who's dealing with
- 1:16:17Speaker 1: something that ain't working right on this altar. I want
- 1:16:22Speaker 1: you on this altar. I want you on this altar.
- 1:16:27Speaker 1: It will work if you work. Every discouraged person, every
- 1:16:31Speaker 1: person who's at their wit's end, every person who's been
- 1:16:34Speaker 1: feeling like it's just not working, it's just not working,
- 1:16:37Speaker 1: it's just not working, it's just not working, it's just
- 1:16:39Speaker 1: not working. I pay my tithes, I come to church,
- 1:16:42Speaker 1: I shout, I dance, I speak in tongues, but somehow
- 1:16:46Speaker 1: it's not working. This was your message. If I never
- 1:16:50Speaker 1: preach again, This was your message. This was your message.
- 1:16:57Speaker 1: This was your message. It will work if you work it.
- 1:17:06Speaker 1: Where is the God of Elijah? He's right here. He's
- 1:17:25Speaker 1: right here. Where is the God of Elijah? Where is
- 1:17:36Speaker 1: the God of Elijah? We need to show Dallas, where
- 1:17:53Speaker 1: is the God of Elijah? It was not easy. It
- 1:18:10Speaker 1: was heartbreaking. It was grieving. People died along the way.
- 1:18:18Speaker 1: We cried along the way. We went through scandals and
- 1:18:23Speaker 1: disgrace along the way. And we kept on walking. You
- 1:18:32Speaker 1: think you can wish your way up? You cannot wish
- 1:18:36Speaker 1: your way up. You have to be steadfast. It'll work
- 1:18:44Speaker 1: if you work it. It'll work if you work it.
- 1:18:49Speaker 1: If I'm see you again Remember these words it will
- 1:18:55Speaker 1: work If you work it I Rebuke every giving up spirit.
- 1:19:04Speaker 1: I Rebuke every quitting spirit I rebuke every spirit of depression.
- 1:19:09Speaker 1: I rebuke every spirit of depression. I rebuke every spirit
- 1:19:13Speaker 1: of forlornment. I rebuke every spirit of frustration. The devil
- 1:19:18Speaker 1: is a liar. He's trying to talk you out of
- 1:19:21Speaker 1: your future, talk you out of your dream, and talk
- 1:19:24Speaker 1: you out of your destiny, and tell you you cannot
- 1:19:27Speaker 1: do what God called you to do. I call you
- 1:19:35Speaker 1: out of other people's expectations. I break you loose from
- 1:19:39Speaker 1: trying to please everybody but yourself and your God. I
- 1:19:46Speaker 1: speak to you right now in the name of Jesus
- 1:19:52Speaker 1: to cook your ox and burn your plow and set
- 1:19:59Speaker 1: your feet like hinds feet. This is a war. This
- 1:20:04Speaker 1: is a fight. This is not a game. This is
- 1:20:07Speaker 1: a fight. It will work if you work it. It
- 1:20:12Speaker 1: will work if you work it. I call you out
- 1:20:16Speaker 1: of your emotions. I call you out of your frustrations.
- 1:20:20Speaker 1: I call you out of feeling sorry for yourself. I
- 1:20:23Speaker 1: break every excuse that you have given yourself to fail.
- 1:20:28Speaker 1: My mother wasn't there. My father wasn't there. My husband
- 1:20:32Speaker 1: left me. My wife forsook me. Whatever lie you told
- 1:20:37Speaker 1: yourself as evidence of your right to fail. I take
- 1:20:44Speaker 1: it away from you now. And I command you in
- 1:20:47Speaker 1: the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
- 1:20:52Speaker 1: by everything that lies inside of me, and everything that
- 1:20:56Speaker 1: I've ever learned about God, everything I've ever read in
- 1:21:00Speaker 1: His Word, to rise out of the ashes of your despair.
- 1:21:06Speaker 1: It costs what it costs. It will take what it takes.
- 1:21:10Speaker 1: Let no man steal your crown. Lift your hands up.
- 1:21:15Speaker 1: A fresh anointing is coming upon you. A fresh anointing
- 1:21:19Speaker 1: from God. A fresh anointing is coming from God. A
- 1:21:23Speaker 1: fresh anointing is coming from God. A mantle is falling
- 1:21:27Speaker 1: in your hands. A release is coming in your spirit.
- 1:21:31Speaker 1: A mantle from the divine. A move of the Holy Ghost.
- 1:21:35Speaker 1: A flow of the Spirit. It falls on you now.
- 1:21:39Speaker 1: It falls on you now. It's going to go home
- 1:21:42Speaker 1: with you. It's going to get in the car with you.
- 1:21:45Speaker 1: I command you to get your fight back. I command
- 1:21:49Speaker 1: you to get your fight back. I command you to
- 1:21:51Speaker 1: get your drive back. I command you to get your
- 1:21:54Speaker 1: dream back. I command you to stand up and respond
- 1:21:59Speaker 1: to what God created you to be. Take me higher.
- 1:22:03Speaker 1: And right now, in the name that's been exalted above
- 1:22:09Speaker 1: every name, I release angels. over your house, over your business,
- 1:22:16Speaker 1: over your car. Open up your mouth and begin to
- 1:22:20Speaker 1: praise Him. Here comes the glory, the glory of the
- 1:22:24Speaker 1: living God, the anointing of God from the crown of
- 1:22:28Speaker 1: your head. To the soles of your feet, open your
- 1:22:32Speaker 1: mouth and receive, and receive, and receive a fresh anointing,
- 1:22:42Speaker 1: a fresh anointing. I can hear you.