Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / T.D. Jakes Sermons - Don't Be Afraid of the Gift God Gives [Part 1]
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Fear can make you give up something that God is
- 0:03Speaker 1: going to use to bless you. Fear can make you
- 0:07Speaker 1: try to put away, as Joseph did, the only redemption
- 0:12Speaker 1: that was available to him. He was about to give
- 0:15Speaker 1: it away because of fear. Be careful that you do
- 0:20Speaker 1: not allow fear to rob you of God's gifts.
- 0:26Speaker 2: This is the Father's time.
- 0:31Speaker 1: Oh, thank you for allowing me to be a part
- 0:33Speaker 1: of this very special day as we commemorate the birth
- 0:37Speaker 1: of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a
- 0:40Speaker 1: great time. And I want you to understand how significant
- 0:45Speaker 1: it is to Christians all over the world to acknowledge
- 0:48Speaker 1: the entrance of the divine into the human. Jesus Christ,
- 0:54Speaker 1: the Lord of glory. The message, don't be afraid of
- 0:57Speaker 1: the gift. May it bless you today. Enjoy your family
- 1:01Speaker 1: and friends. Enjoy your life. And from our house to
- 1:05Speaker 1: your house, Merry Christmas. You know, when we hear beautiful
- 1:10Speaker 1: songs that have been shared with us, oh come all
- 1:12Speaker 1: ye faithful, oh holy night, oh little town of Bethlehem.
- 1:17Speaker 1: When we watch the beautiful renditions that are depicted through
- 1:21Speaker 1: the auspices of Hollywood.
- 1:23Speaker 2: And the modern technology of television.
- 1:25Speaker 1: DVDs and VCRs all come together in collaboration to bring
- 1:30Speaker 1: to life the miracles, the magic, the wonder and the
- 1:34Speaker 1: splendor of Christmas. Sharing with us the great story of
- 1:39Speaker 1: our Lord's entrance into the world. That the King of Kings,
- 1:43Speaker 1: the Lord of Lords, and the mighty God would step
- 1:45Speaker 1: down from eternity, down into time. Wrap himself up in
- 1:49Speaker 1: flesh that he acquired from the dressing room of Mary's womb.
- 1:53Speaker 1: And tabernacle amongst men is cause for even angels to
- 1:57Speaker 1: celebrate the glory and the presence of God. And because
- 2:02Speaker 1: of this great gift that God has given to us,
- 2:05Speaker 1: the world stands in awe and the church in splendiferous
- 2:09Speaker 1: praise unto God, celebrating the gift that he has given
- 2:13Speaker 1: us through Jesus Christ.
- 2:14Speaker 2: And that gift expressly is eternal life.
- 2:19Speaker 1: Without his coming into the world and without him taking
- 2:22Speaker 1: on human form and becoming kin to me, he could
- 2:25Speaker 1: not redeem me as kinsman redeemer from the ills and
- 2:30Speaker 1: the plight of humanity and the consequences of sinful endeavors
- 2:34Speaker 1: are all eradicated in the presence of Jesus Christ. For
- 2:38Speaker 1: wherever Jesus is, tis heaven there. And whenever Jesus shows up,
- 2:44Speaker 1: deliverance is bound to happen. We celebrate his entrance into
- 2:49Speaker 1: the world. But be careful in all of the splendor
- 2:56Speaker 1: and all of the glitter and the pageantry and the
- 2:59Speaker 1: beautiful lights and the gift giving and all of the
- 3:01Speaker 1: wonderful things that we do to commemorate the birth of
- 3:05Speaker 1: the Lord, the depictions of the mangers and all of
- 3:08Speaker 1: the holy scenes that we have. Be careful to understand
- 3:12Speaker 1: that the first Christmas was not quite as beautiful as
- 3:15Speaker 1: the ones we see today. The first Christmas was not
- 3:20Speaker 1: filled with all the splendor and all the wonderment and
- 3:23Speaker 1: all the fine foods and all the pageantry and all
- 3:26Speaker 1: the wrapping paper that is engulfing your living room right now.
- 3:30Speaker 1: The first Christmas was not even filled with all the
- 3:33Speaker 1: joy and all the praise and all the wonder that
- 3:36Speaker 1: we feel right now, particularly in the life of some
- 3:40Speaker 1: people who were directly affected by Christ.
- 3:43Speaker 2: Coming into the world.
- 3:44Speaker 1: You would think that there would be joy, but the
- 3:46Speaker 1: reality is most in generally with the gifts God gives us,
- 3:50Speaker 1: we have joy in retrospect as we look back and
- 3:55Speaker 1: see that his plan was better than ours. I want
- 4:00Speaker 1: to warn you, my brothers and sisters, that initially when
- 4:03Speaker 1: God gives you a gift, it does not always evoke
- 4:06Speaker 1: joy and praise and splendor. It often causes confusion, mayhem,
- 4:11Speaker 1: and chaos. And you wonder in your own mind whether
- 4:14Speaker 1: this is a gift from God or a plot.
- 4:18Speaker 2: From the enemy to destroy your very life.
- 4:24Speaker 1: You would think that Joseph would be filled with glee
- 4:27Speaker 1: and excitement about the birth of Jesus Christ. That God
- 4:30Speaker 1: had chosen the woman that Joseph had chosen. That God
- 4:34Speaker 1: had set her aside even as Joseph had set her aside.
- 4:38Speaker 1: That God himself had selected her should have eased all
- 4:42Speaker 1: ill in his mind as to whether she was a
- 4:45Speaker 1: virtuous woman. But sometimes being chosen of God and selected
- 4:50Speaker 1: of God and receiving gifts from God leaves a fellow ungrateful.
- 4:55Speaker 2: In disarray.
- 4:58Speaker 1: And so when we see Joseph, we don't see him
- 5:00Speaker 1: dancing and celebrating. We don't see him opening up gifts
- 5:03Speaker 1: with joy and exuberation. No, we see Joseph worried and upset.
- 5:08Speaker 1: Because generally when God gives a gift, it often worries
- 5:11Speaker 1: you before it blesses you.
- 5:21Speaker 3: Oh. Oh.
- 5:23Speaker 1: Frankly, at the time that Joseph leaps on the pages
- 5:27Speaker 1: of this Holy Writ, he is not trying to find a.
- 5:29Speaker 2: Way to get closer to the.
- 5:31Speaker 1: Baby Jesus or his mother, his mother who is pregnant
- 5:36Speaker 1: with him. No, he's trying to figure out how can
- 5:39Speaker 1: I get out of this? Just as quietly and as
- 5:44Speaker 1: calmly as possible without drawing any attention to myself. Just
- 5:48Speaker 1: show me the door so that I can exit and
- 5:51Speaker 1: get away from this gift. I want to warn you
- 5:53Speaker 1: that many times when God gives you a gift, instead
- 5:56Speaker 1: of running toward it, our propensity is to run from it.
- 6:02Speaker 1: Because after all, who knows what's in a gift given
- 6:05Speaker 1: until it's unwrapped. Perhaps it is not so much the
- 6:15Speaker 1: gift that I want to warn you about because ultimately
- 6:18Speaker 1: God's gifts always will pay off in the end. Perhaps
- 6:21Speaker 1: it's not the gift that I should sound the alarm
- 6:24Speaker 1: about and tell you to watch out for. Perhaps it
- 6:27Speaker 1: is the wrapping paper. Because God's greatest gifts are often
- 6:33Speaker 1: wrapped in problems, in anxiety, in worry, in chaos. God's
- 6:44Speaker 1: greatest gifts often come to us camouflaged in a fine
- 6:49Speaker 1: array of disgusting, perilous circumstances that seem insurmountable. Great gifts
- 6:56Speaker 1: can come wrapped up in being fired from a job.
- 7:02Speaker 1: Great gifts can come wrapped up in a package where
- 7:04Speaker 1: somebody you thought you couldn't live without walked away and
- 7:08Speaker 1: left you.
- 7:11Speaker 2: In fact, God can give you a.
- 7:13Speaker 1: Gift and you not feel gifted at all.
- 7:19Speaker 2: In fact, being.
- 7:20Speaker 1: Gifted can be a problem with God because many times
- 7:23Speaker 1: when God gives you a gift, people are not happy
- 7:26Speaker 1: for you. They don't celebrate the gift that God has
- 7:30Speaker 1: given you. They don't come to worship the gift. They
- 7:35Speaker 1: often come to kill you. the gift, to destroy the gift.
- 7:40Speaker 1: I suggest to you, my brothers and sisters, that we
- 7:42Speaker 1: must move beyond the meek and murky borders of just
- 7:46Speaker 1: discussing the birth of Jesus Christ from its historical perspectives,
- 7:50Speaker 1: as wonderful as it may be, but to extract from
- 7:53Speaker 1: this historical illustration some contemporary word of wisdom that we
- 7:58Speaker 1: can use it against the challenges that we face today
- 8:01Speaker 1: is what makes our faith vibrant and relevant and effective.
- 8:05Speaker 1: We didn't come to just commemorate a historical God for
- 8:09Speaker 1: something that happened 2,000 years ago. We came to recognize
- 8:14Speaker 1: a relevant God who is still effecting change in our
- 8:17Speaker 1: contemporary society. The very first thing the angel says to
- 8:31Speaker 1: worry Joseph is fear not. Touch somebody and say fear not.
- 8:39Speaker 1: Why did they tell him to fear not? Because fear
- 8:41Speaker 1: can paralyze your faith. Fear can limit your perspective. Fear
- 8:47Speaker 1: can intimidate you from growth. Fear can make you give
- 8:50Speaker 1: up on something prematurely, not recognizing that God is not
- 8:54Speaker 1: through working his magic and his miracle in the gift
- 8:58Speaker 1: he's given you.
- 9:00Speaker 2: Fear can make you.
- 9:01Speaker 1: Give up something that God is going to use to
- 9:04Speaker 1: bless you. Fear can make you try to put away,
- 9:08Speaker 1: as Joseph did, the only redemption that was available to him.
- 9:14Speaker 1: He was about to give it away because of fear.
- 9:19Speaker 1: Be careful that you do not allow fear to rob
- 9:21Speaker 1: you of God's gifts. There are three different types of
- 9:27Speaker 1: fear that I believe engulf Joseph's mind and I want
- 9:30Speaker 1: to share them with you today. Not only so that
- 9:32Speaker 1: you might have a deeper and more intrinsic understanding of
- 9:35Speaker 1: Joseph and the propensity, the fear on his life, but
- 9:38Speaker 1: that you might be able to effectively use them in
- 9:40Speaker 1: your own life as you face God's gifts. New jobs,
- 9:45Speaker 1: new marriages, new children, new opportunities, new obstacles, new enemies
- 9:52Speaker 1: can all be gifts from God.
- 9:55Speaker 3: Still to come on The Potter's Touch.
- 9:58Speaker 1: He said in revelations I have set before you an
- 10:02Speaker 1: open door can you receive that word for yourself that
- 10:08Speaker 1: God has set before you in the coming year he
- 10:14Speaker 1: has set before It's firm.
- 10:17Speaker 2: It's anchored. It's concrete. It's unbreakable. It's unreversible. It's unmovable.
- 10:23Speaker 1: He has set before you an open door.
- 10:28Speaker 4: He has a place in mind.
- 10:30Speaker 2: Somebody ought to thank God for shut doors.
- 10:33Speaker 4: A peace in store.
- 10:34Speaker 1: God can give you some things that your money cannot buy.
- 10:39Speaker 4: And provision for your need.
- 10:40Speaker 1: He already had the manger in place. While man was
- 10:46Speaker 1: shutting doors.
- 10:47Speaker 4: So don't be afraid of the gift God gives.
- 10:49Speaker 1: Don't be afraid when he bypasses a hotel and takes
- 10:53Speaker 1: you to the barn. Because God had the way of
- 10:56Speaker 1: turning a barn into a penthouse suite. Don't be afraid
- 11:00Speaker 1: of the gift God gives.
- 11:03Speaker 4: For helping us reach others with your best gift.
- 11:05Speaker 5: We would like to give you Don't Be Afraid of
- 11:07Speaker 5: the Gift God Gives on CD, as well as a
- 11:09Speaker 5: bonus message, The Rainmaker, on DVD. And when your gift
- 11:13Speaker 5: is $ 150 or more, receive our Blessed and Loved calendar,
- 11:16Speaker 5: a Blessed and Loved journal for recording your experiences to
- 11:19Speaker 5: new heights, and our Blessed and Loved Inspiration Cup when
- 11:22Speaker 5: you visit our website or call 1-800-BISHOP-2 today.
- 11:32Speaker 1: I know you're used to the traditional gifts that come
- 11:34Speaker 1: wrapped in beautiful packages, but not God. He doesn't wrap
- 11:38Speaker 1: his gifts that way. There were three things that I
- 11:41Speaker 1: believe that caused Joseph to be in a conundrum of
- 11:45Speaker 1: fear and adversity. Number one was the fear of perception.
- 11:51Speaker 1: What will people think? Often when God gives you a gift,
- 11:57Speaker 1: he gives you a gift that causes you to become
- 11:59Speaker 1: controversial in the eyes of people. And if you were
- 12:03Speaker 1: not so gifted, my brothers and sisters, you would not
- 12:06Speaker 1: be so hated. If you will notice our society, we
- 12:17Speaker 1: seldom waste hate on people who are not gifted. And
- 12:24Speaker 1: if you understand it correctly, it's a privilege to be
- 12:26Speaker 1: hated for his name's sake. It's an honor to be
- 12:31Speaker 1: so chosen and so selected and so gifted that somebody
- 12:36Speaker 1: has set out a decree to kill you. I want
- 12:38Speaker 1: to tell you, somebody's on the hit list of hell,
- 12:41Speaker 1: but it's only because you're gifted. Tell somebody to say
- 12:47Speaker 1: you're gifted. Even if you didn't receive anything from Christmas,
- 12:52Speaker 1: even if you're in a nursing home and nobody came
- 12:54Speaker 1: by to see you, even if you're a lovely mother
- 12:56Speaker 1: and your kids didn't recognize you for Christmas, you are
- 13:00Speaker 1: still gifted with life and health and strength and integrity
- 13:05Speaker 1: and ideas and concepts and creative potential.
- 13:09Speaker 2: Oh my God, you are gifted.
- 13:14Speaker 1: If you do not allow fear to rob you, Fear
- 13:18Speaker 1: of perceptions, what will they think? What will they say?
- 13:21Speaker 1: What will they do? How will they feel about me?
- 13:24Speaker 1: The fear of misperceptions often robs us of the gifts
- 13:29Speaker 1: that God came to give us. So on this Christmas morning,
- 13:32Speaker 1: I would encourage you to shake off the fear of perception.
- 13:38Speaker 1: Because if you can shake off the fear of perception,
- 13:43Speaker 1: on Christmas, then in the new year, you'll be ready
- 13:47Speaker 1: to receive the abundance. I've got something to tell you.
- 13:54Speaker 1: There's something coming for you in the new year that
- 13:57Speaker 1: will justify But you can't receive it if you're more
- 14:07Speaker 1: concerned about perceptions than you are receiving the power of
- 14:11Speaker 1: what God has to give you. Number two, I want
- 14:15Speaker 1: to warn you against the fear for provisions. Can I
- 14:23Speaker 1: afford this gift? Do I have what it takes to
- 14:32Speaker 1: maintain This gift. I never will forget of the young
- 14:38Speaker 1: man just starting to work and make a nice living.
- 14:41Speaker 1: I decided to take my mother out to dinner, took
- 14:43Speaker 1: her to a very nice restaurant. I grew up in
- 14:46Speaker 1: an age and an era where we didn't go out
- 14:48Speaker 1: to dinner very much. And I took her to a
- 14:50Speaker 1: very plush and posh restaurant to show her the depth
- 14:54Speaker 1: and the height and the breadth of my love toward her.
- 14:57Speaker 1: And we sat down as the waiter dropped a white
- 15:00Speaker 1: linen into our lap and began to discuss the options
- 15:03Speaker 1: and entrees that were available to us. And I noticed
- 15:07Speaker 1: as I peeked over top of the menu that my
- 15:09Speaker 1: mother did not seem particularly happy. Her reaction was not
- 15:14Speaker 1: what I had expected it to be at all. She
- 15:17Speaker 1: peered over top of the menu not to say what
- 15:20Speaker 1: a great son I was.
- 15:21Speaker 2: She said, child, have you seen these prices? I was frustrated.
- 15:34Speaker 1: I said, mother, I didn't bring you here to worry
- 15:37Speaker 1: about how much it costs. I brought you here to
- 15:40Speaker 1: enjoy the meal. Be careful that God doesn't take you
- 15:43Speaker 1: a place of blessings and you're so worried about how
- 15:47Speaker 1: much it costs that you don't enjoy the meal. I
- 15:59Speaker 1: am not trying to imply that Joseph had no resources
- 16:02Speaker 1: at all. Obviously, he had enough resources to have a
- 16:05Speaker 1: diary in order to espouse the virgin to be his bride. Obviously,
- 16:09Speaker 1: he had enough resources that as they traveled, he and
- 16:12Speaker 1: his pregnant fiancee moving from place to place, he wasn't
- 16:17Speaker 1: looking for benevolence. He was looking for hotels. You don't
- 16:20Speaker 1: look for hotels if you have no money. But when
- 16:24Speaker 1: you are dealing with provisions, you must understand that sometimes
- 16:27Speaker 1: you need provisions that money cannot buy. Joseph had the money,
- 16:35Speaker 1: but the ends were all filled. And isn't it a
- 16:37Speaker 1: frustrating thing that by the time you realize the money
- 16:42Speaker 1: you need for the places you need to go, suddenly
- 16:45Speaker 1: you find out that money is not the only provision
- 16:47Speaker 1: that you need to sustain.
- 16:49Speaker 2: You where God.
- 16:50Speaker 1: In other words, I'm trying to tell you that God
- 16:52Speaker 1: can give you some things that your money cannot buy. Amen.
- 17:00Speaker 1: Touch a neighbor and tell them God's going to give
- 17:02Speaker 1: you something that your money cannot buy.
- 17:07Speaker 2: Don't be afraid. Fear not. Fear not.
- 17:11Speaker 1: God has the provisions covered. He already has a place
- 17:16Speaker 1: prepared for you. He already has a provision set up
- 17:21Speaker 1: for you. And when people shut the door on you,
- 17:24Speaker 1: it's only a sign that God.
- 17:26Speaker 2: Is about to open another door in your life. Oh
- 17:30Speaker 2: my God, I don't know who.
- 17:32Speaker 1: I'm preaching to this Christmas day. But somebody ought to
- 17:36Speaker 1: thank God for shut doors. Look at some man say
- 17:49Speaker 1: he shut the door to open a new one. Lord,
- 17:53Speaker 1: I thank you for shutting doors. They shut him out.
- 17:56Speaker 1: You can't come to this hotel. You can't stay at
- 17:59Speaker 1: this motel. We're filled for the night. No vacancies over here.
- 18:03Speaker 1: But God has an open door. When man closes a door,
- 18:07Speaker 1: God opens another door. To God be the glory for
- 18:10Speaker 1: the doors he opens and for the ways he's made.
- 18:19Speaker 1: How many people are believing God for open doors?
- 18:24Speaker 2: Oh, I thank him.
- 18:26Speaker 1: Oh, how I thank him. For doors he opens, no
- 18:31Speaker 1: man can shut. And doors he shuts, no man can open.
- 18:37Speaker 1: God will open a door for you and you don't
- 18:40Speaker 1: have to live in fear of somebody shutting the door
- 18:44Speaker 1: that God has opened. He says in Revelations, I have
- 18:49Speaker 1: set before you an open door. Can you receive that
- 18:56Speaker 1: word for yourself that God has set before you in
- 19:00Speaker 1: the coming year?
- 19:03Speaker 2: He has set. It's firm. It's anchored. It's concrete. It's unbreakable.
- 19:10Speaker 2: It's unreversible. It's unmovable.
- 19:12Speaker 1: He has set before you an open door. Touch your
- 19:30Speaker 1: neighbor and say, don't be afraid of the gifts God gives. Yes.
- 19:37Speaker 2: It is true.
- 19:39Speaker 1: Wherever God guides, he will provide. I wish I had some,
- 19:44Speaker 1: he will provide folks.
- 19:46Speaker 2: In here today. He will provide.
- 19:56Speaker 1: Number three, the fear for providence. The fear for providence.
- 20:03Speaker 1: Providence simply God's guidance. The fear if I go, Will
- 20:10Speaker 1: you go with me? if I say yes to this
- 20:15Speaker 1: new door and this new opportunity and this new direction,
- 20:18Speaker 1: if I seize the gift that I used to run from,
- 20:22Speaker 1: if I embrace the thing that historically I've been terrified of,
- 20:25Speaker 1: I could do it better if I knew for sure
- 20:28Speaker 1: that you were going to go with me because I
- 20:31Speaker 1: know if you go with me, the storm can break out,
- 20:35Speaker 1: the lightning can flash, the thunder can roll, and the
- 20:38Speaker 1: boat still will not sink as long as I understand
- 20:41Speaker 1: that you.
- 20:48Speaker 1: Maybe I should understand that Christmas looks better in retrospect
- 20:54Speaker 1: than it did in reality. And maybe life looks better
- 20:59Speaker 1: when you look back at it than it does while
- 21:02Speaker 1: you're going through it. And maybe there's somebody in here
- 21:05Speaker 1: right now who's rejoicing about something that you used to
- 21:08Speaker 1: cry about.
- 21:13Speaker 2: Maybe it's in.
- 21:14Speaker 1: Retrospect that God calibrates the issues and the vicissitudes of life.
- 21:19Speaker 1: Maybe it's when we look back at it that we say,
- 21:22Speaker 1: you know what? It was good for me that I
- 21:25Speaker 1: was afflicted. Because if I didn't go through what I
- 21:30Speaker 1: went through... If I had not gone through it, if
- 21:40Speaker 1: I hadn't faced it, if I hadn't endured it, if
- 21:43Speaker 1: I hadn't have been fired, if I hadn't have been rejected,
- 21:47Speaker 1: if I hadn't have been turned down, if I had
- 21:49Speaker 1: not been ostracized, I wouldn't have found the door that
- 21:53Speaker 1: God had in store. In fact, thank you for hating me.
- 22:00Speaker 1: Thank you for leaving me. Thank you for rejecting me.
- 22:06Speaker 1: Thank you for disappointing me. Thank you for shutting the
- 22:09Speaker 1: door and telling me you can't stay here. You're not
- 22:13Speaker 1: welcome here.
- 22:14Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 22:22Speaker 1: If you had not done that, I would have never
- 22:26Speaker 1: gotten to spend the night in a barn serenaded by angels,
- 22:33Speaker 1: illuminated by stars. And behold, the wondrous splendor of God's
- 22:39Speaker 1: provision often takes you away from normal places. Because where
- 22:45Speaker 1: God is going to bless you may be outside of
- 22:48Speaker 1: the box, outside of the system, away from the norm,
- 22:55Speaker 1: in a place that you never thought a blessing could be.
- 22:58Speaker 2: God may bless you in an unlikely place.
- 23:03Speaker 1: Don't be afraid of the gifts God gives. Don't be
- 23:07Speaker 1: afraid when he bypasses a hotel and takes you to
- 23:10Speaker 1: the barn. Because God has a way of turning a
- 23:13Speaker 1: barn into a penthouse suite. Don't be afraid of the
- 23:17Speaker 1: gifts God gives. I know it's Christmas morning and you're
- 23:24Speaker 1: excited and you're all dressed up and you're ready to
- 23:27Speaker 1: hurry up and get home and open up gifts and
- 23:29Speaker 1: eat turkeys. But touch three or four people and tell
- 23:32Speaker 1: them God is up to something. Yes, God is up
- 23:38Speaker 1: to something. In every barn, in every manger, with the
- 23:43Speaker 1: mooing of every cow, the gathering of every lamb, in
- 23:46Speaker 1: the midst of every gathering of hay and goats and sheep,
- 23:50Speaker 1: God is up to something. Anytime God takes a holy
- 23:54Speaker 1: thing and puts it in a mundane thing, God is
- 23:57Speaker 1: up to something. Anytime God promised you a blessing and
- 24:01Speaker 1: you see yourself going down instead of up, God is
- 24:04Speaker 1: up to something. Anytime God takes you outside of the system,
- 24:10Speaker 1: who am I preaching to? God! God is....
- 24:29Speaker 2: He's up to something. Stop being afraid of change.
- 24:33Speaker 1: Because whenever God is getting ready to rearrange your life,
- 24:36Speaker 1: you've got to open up and say, change whatever needs
- 24:39Speaker 1: to be changed. Move whatever needs to be moved. Shake
- 24:43Speaker 1: whatever needs to be shaken. I'm available to you.
- 24:46Speaker 2: I trust you. I open this gift by faith.
- 24:50Speaker 1: God is up to something.
- 24:52Speaker 2: Take a look inside. Fear not, Joseph. Fear not. Calm down.
- 25:12Speaker 1: Joseph, you're so troubled that you're worried in your sleep.
- 25:18Speaker 1: And I had to speak to you in your dreams
- 25:21Speaker 1: because when you're awake, you're so worried you're not listening
- 25:24Speaker 1: to me. And so I invaded the only space left
- 25:29Speaker 1: available to speak to you. When you finally give up
- 25:32Speaker 1: on your thoughts long enough to hear my thoughts, I
- 25:36Speaker 1: spoke to you in the night because you're not listening
- 25:38Speaker 1: at me in the light. Fear not, Joseph. Hold somebody's
- 25:45Speaker 1: hand and say, fear not. The Lord is with you.
- 25:58Speaker 1: Here are a few takeaway points. That I want you
- 26:02Speaker 1: to get out of this text. He says, fear not Joseph,
- 26:07Speaker 1: that that is within Mary has been conceived by the
- 26:10Speaker 1: Holy Ghost. What he is saying, stop worrying about how
- 26:14Speaker 1: things are going to turn out. Because whatever God starts,
- 26:22Speaker 1: he will finish it.
- 26:24Speaker 2: Hate to stop you right there, but I'll be right back.
- 26:27Speaker 4: He has a place in mind.
- 26:29Speaker 1: Somebody ought to thank God for shut doors.
- 26:33Speaker 4: A peace in store.
- 26:34Speaker 1: God can give you some things that your money cannot buy.
- 26:38Speaker 4: And provision for your need.
- 26:40Speaker 1: He already had the manger in place. While man was
- 26:45Speaker 1: shutting doors.
- 26:47Speaker 4: So don't be afraid of the gift God gives.
- 26:49Speaker 1: Don't be afraid when he bypasses a hotel and takes
- 26:52Speaker 1: you to the barn. Because God had the way of
- 26:55Speaker 1: turning a barn into a penthouse suite. Don't be afraid
- 26:59Speaker 1: of the gift. God gives.
- 27:02Speaker 5: For helping us reach others with your best gift, we
- 27:04Speaker 5: would like to give you Don't Be Afraid of the
- 27:06Speaker 5: Gift God Gives on CD, as well as a bonus message,
- 27:09Speaker 5: The Rainmaker, on DVD. And when your gift is $ 150
- 27:13Speaker 5: or more, receive our Blessed and Loved calendar, a Blessed
- 27:16Speaker 5: and Loved journal for recording your experiences to new heights,
- 27:19Speaker 5: and our Blessed and Loved Inspiration Cup when you visit
- 27:22Speaker 5: our website or call 1-800-BISHOP-2 today.
- 27:28Speaker 3: Just in time for the holidays, Bishop T.D. Jakes and
- 27:30Speaker 3: the Potter's House present This Christmas, complete with your favorite
- 27:34Speaker 3: Christmas classics like Silent Night, The Christmas Story, O Holy Night,
- 27:40Speaker 3: with a special holiday prayer from Bishop Jakes and more.
- 27:43Speaker 3: Receive your CD today when you visit us online or
- 27:46Speaker 3: call 1-800-BISHOP-2. Also, check out this CD and other holiday
- 27:50Speaker 3: specials when you log on to tdjakes.org.
- 27:58Speaker 1: As we come to a close today, I pray that
- 27:59Speaker 1: God's choices and blessings would be given to you and
- 28:02Speaker 1: that you would have the grace and the faith to
- 28:04Speaker 1: receive the gift because it does take courage to receive
- 28:08Speaker 1: what God has for you. Our series, Don't Be Afraid
- 28:11Speaker 1: of the Gift, is challenging you to be all that
- 28:15Speaker 1: you can be.
- 28:16Speaker 2: May God bless you. May heaven smile upon you. It's
- 28:19Speaker 2: my prayer.
- 28:22Speaker 1: This is the part of suffering.