Latest / Jakes Messages and Purpose / Your Biggest Breakthrough Is Hiding Inside This Storm — God Is Preparing You for Something Greater

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Your Biggest Breakthrough Is Hiding Inside This Storm — God Is Preparing You for Something Greater · Jakes Messages and Purpose

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: That will avoid the fact that storms are built into
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: God's plan for getting you to the other side. You
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: have to know that he equips you with a fire
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  Speaker 1: extinguisher and a life raft and an emergency exit and
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  Speaker 1: a door that moves and an automated system and a
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  Speaker 1: microphone that even when you can't see him, you can
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  Speaker 1: hear him and if you will follow his voice, You
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  Speaker 1: will get to the other side. The problem is storms
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  Speaker 1: are noisy. And they're loud and they're disruptive. And there's
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  Speaker 1: so many people screaming and hollering. And people are saying,
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  Speaker 1: hold back. And people are saying, push through. And people
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  Speaker 1: are saying, turn the wheel. And somebody else is saying,
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  Speaker 1: grab the rudder. And somebody else is saying, throw the
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  Speaker 1: weights off. And somebody else is saying, cast the anchor.
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  Speaker 1: And somebody else is saying, put up the sail. And
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  Speaker 1: you're standing there. You don't know whether to put up
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  Speaker 1: the sail, throw the anchor, cast the side. And the
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  Speaker 1: real art I have learned so far in the storm
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  Speaker 1: is not fixing the storm. The first thing we do
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  Speaker 1: when we get in the storm is to try to
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  Speaker 1: fix the storm. The storm is not yours to fix.
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  Speaker 1: The storm is yours to survive. You cannot fix the storm.
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  Speaker 1: That's number one. You cannot fix the storm. You cannot
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  Speaker 1: fix the storm. And this drives you crazy. And I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to make a generalization. It's not always true, but
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to make it anyway. But it's particularly difficult
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  Speaker 1: for men because we are raised to fix stuff. We
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  Speaker 1: grew up fixing stuff. Women grew up, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: women grew up with relationships with dolls, with doll babies,
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  Speaker 1: playing house, all that kind of stuff. You grew up
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  Speaker 1: with that kind of stuff. We grew up fixing stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Most of us, they didn't give us doll babies. They
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  Speaker 1: probably should have. Maybe we'd have been better fathers if
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: we'd have practiced with babies. We'd practice making them better
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  Speaker 1: than we did having them. So maybe we would have
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  Speaker 1: been better. But they gave us tools and they gave
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  Speaker 1: us stuff to build and they gave us stuff to fix.
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  Speaker 1: And so whenever you give us a problem, we want
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  Speaker 1: to fix it because we feel like we're a failure
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  Speaker 1: if we don't fix it. And there are some women
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  Speaker 1: who feel that way too. You feel like you failed
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  Speaker 1: if you don't fix it. If your daughter doesn't turn
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  Speaker 1: out the way you wanted her to turn out, if
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  Speaker 1: your son doesn't turn out the way you wanted, if
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  Speaker 1: your marriage doesn't turn out the way you want it
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  Speaker 1: to turn out, you lose self-esteem because you feel like
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  Speaker 1: it's your fault because you can't fix it. And you're
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  Speaker 1: embarrassed to admit to other people that you're on your
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  Speaker 1: third marriage and that you can't fix it. And you're
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  Speaker 1: embarrassed to admit to other people that you have been
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  Speaker 1: here a year and gone through three jobs and you
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  Speaker 1: can't fix it. And I came to tell you, every
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  Speaker 1: storm that comes your way is not your job to fix. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to let that sink in a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: Because a lot of you pride yourself on being able
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  Speaker 1: to fix people. And that's why you pick out fixer uppers.
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  Speaker 1: Because you think you're so good at fixing stuff that
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  Speaker 1: you are drawn to people who are fixer uppers so
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  Speaker 1: that you feel needed and you can fix them up.
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  Speaker 1: You are not on this boat to fix this storm.
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  Speaker 1: When they set sail, everything was cool. Jesus is taking
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  Speaker 1: a nap because this is an important trip. This is
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  Speaker 1: an important trip because to cross over the Sea of
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  Speaker 1: Galilee and go to the other side was to go
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  Speaker 1: to Gadarenes. Not just that the man was possessed with demons,
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  Speaker 1: but the man who was possessed with demons was a Gentile.
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  Speaker 1: And getting the gospel over to the Gentiles was a
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  Speaker 1: very important trip. It was a prophetic trip. Jesus experiencing
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  Speaker 1: the Jews on one side and the Gentiles on the
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  Speaker 1: other was a prophetic picture of what was going to
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  Speaker 1: happen to the early church. The early church was going
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  Speaker 1: to start being offered to the Jews and consequently end
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  Speaker 1: up going to the Gentiles. It was going to start
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  Speaker 1: out being based in Jerusalem and end up based in Rome.
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  Speaker 1: The church was going to take the same journey that
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  Speaker 1: the boat did. The church is the boat. The sea
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  Speaker 1: is the world. And here we are trying to navigate
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  Speaker 1: the church through the tempest of the world. And the
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  Speaker 1: boat has one culture and the sea has another culture.
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  Speaker 1: And we are in it, though we're not of it.
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  Speaker 1: And we have to survive it, being in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of it. Because even though we're not of it, we
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  Speaker 1: are still in it. And we get tossed and beat
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  Speaker 1: to and fro because we can't get the boat to
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  Speaker 1: work without putting it in the water. And the church
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  Speaker 1: doesn't work without the world. The church doesn't work without
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  Speaker 1: the world. Every time the church has tried to escape
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  Speaker 1: the world, we've made fools of ourselves. If you know
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  Speaker 1: church history, there are many times we've gone up on
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  Speaker 1: the mountain to wait for Jesus. We've colonized and moved
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  Speaker 1: out and become cultists to wait on Jesus. Anytime the
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  Speaker 1: boat tries to escape the sea, it ends up embarrassed
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  Speaker 1: because the boat only works in the sea. And the
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  Speaker 1: church only works in the world and the world is unpredictable.
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  Speaker 1: One text can change the next 10 years of your life.
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  Speaker 1: One phone call can change how the rest of your
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  Speaker 1: day goes. One text and you're trying to book a
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  Speaker 1: flight to get out of here on the next flight
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  Speaker 1: possible to get to some place that you never expected
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  Speaker 1: to get to as quickly as you could because all
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  Speaker 1: of a sudden a storm hits you. Storms don't always
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  Speaker 1: warn you that they're coming. It's not like they send
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  Speaker 1: out a notice and say, you get ready to get
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  Speaker 1: on a boat and all hell's going to break loose. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: about 50 fathoms out into the water. You're going to
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  Speaker 1: run into the worst time of your life. You're going
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  Speaker 1: to think you're going to die. Oh, once you get
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  Speaker 1: so high in the air, the pollen is going to
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  Speaker 1: pass out and you're going to be scared out of
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  Speaker 1: your wits and you're going to almost lose your mind. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to have a baby and the baby's going
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  Speaker 1: to die in your arms. And you're going to be
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  Speaker 1: sadder than you've ever been in your life. You're going
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  Speaker 1: to lose all three of your first pregnancies. Your husband
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  Speaker 1: is going to leave you for your girlfriend and your sister,
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  Speaker 1: your auntie, your cousin, run off with your mama. Nobody,
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  Speaker 1: you don't get to pick. Oh, you think that's funny?
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  Speaker 1: You think that's funny, don't you? Yeah, you think that's funny,
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  Speaker 1: but that's happening. That's happening. That's happening. That's happening. That's
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  Speaker 1: happening all around you. Nobody gets to tell you that
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  Speaker 1: your beautiful bride is going to fall in love with
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful bride and leave you home alone. But it's happening.
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  Speaker 1: And how do you sit down at the sports bar
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  Speaker 1: and tell your boys you lost your girl to a girl?
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  Speaker 1: But it's happening. You don't get to pick the storm
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  Speaker 1: you face. Peter didn't ask for this storm. He didn't
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  Speaker 1: vote for this storm. He didn't have a meeting with
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  Speaker 1: God and say, oh God, I want to deal with leukemia.
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  Speaker 1: I pick leukemia. What do you want? Do you want
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  Speaker 1: to go blind or would you prefer leukemia? How about
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  Speaker 1: losing a couple of toes? Would you rather lose your
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  Speaker 1: family or lose your toes? Would you rather lose your
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  Speaker 1: leg or lose your sight? Would you rather lose your
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  Speaker 1: mind or just lose your memory? Which you don't get
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  Speaker 1: to pick what life is going to hand you. You
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  Speaker 1: cannot control the storm. And to all those control freaks,
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  Speaker 1: which come in both genders, you have a special degree
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  Speaker 1: of trauma because the only time you feel safe is
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  Speaker 1: when you're in control. And what binds together the story
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  Speaker 1: between the airplane and the boat is both of them
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  Speaker 1: faced a season of being totally out of control. And
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  Speaker 1: I confess to you, I hate it. I absolutely hate it.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to be in something I can't control.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to be in a plane because I
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  Speaker 1: can't fly it. And if you can't fly it and
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  Speaker 1: I can't fly it, I don't want to go. I
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  Speaker 1: don't want to operate on myself because I'm not trained
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  Speaker 1: to do it. I don't want to be picked for
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  Speaker 1: a job I can't perform. I want to know clearly
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  Speaker 1: what the expectations are for me before I get the job.
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  Speaker 1: Because I'd rather give you the check back than to
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  Speaker 1: take the money and disappoint you because I can't deliver
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  Speaker 1: what you're asking for. And when you're in a storm,
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  Speaker 1: the big question in your mind is, do I have
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  Speaker 1: what it takes to to stand against this storm? Am
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  Speaker 1: I equipped? Am I fully equipped? Can I get my
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  Speaker 1: hand on my life vest? Can I swim out of here?
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  Speaker 1: Can I withstand how cold this water is going to be?
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  Speaker 1: Can I make it through at my age? Can I
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  Speaker 1: make it through at my stage? Can I make it
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  Speaker 1: through at this moment in my life? Can I make
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  Speaker 1: it through after all the other stuff we've been through?
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  Speaker 1: After all, we were busy before we got on the boat.
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  Speaker 1: We were journeying before we got on the boat. All
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  Speaker 1: hell had broke loose before we got on the boat.
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  Speaker 1: And now I'm on the boat and I'm so tired
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus has gone to bed. This is not a
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  Speaker 1: good time to have a storm. I want to talk
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  Speaker 1: to some real people who were tired before it ever
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  Speaker 1: even started. All hell was breaking loose before it ever
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  Speaker 1: even started. And you know if Jesus went to bed,
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  Speaker 1: Peter was sleeping. Because everywhere Jesus had been, Peter had been.
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  Speaker 1: And the worst time to have a storm is when
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  Speaker 1: you're already tired. That's why the enemy waits till you're tired.
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  Speaker 1: He waits till you're burned out. He waits till you're frustrated.
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  Speaker 1: He waits till you're out of gas. He don't jump
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  Speaker 1: on you when you're fresh. He don't jump on you
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  Speaker 1: when you're feeling strong. He don't jump on you when
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  Speaker 1: you got it all together. He waits till you are exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: and you feel like if one more thing hits me,
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  Speaker 1: I am going to lose it up in here. And
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  Speaker 1: that's when the storm comes. Over and over and over
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  Speaker 1: and over and over and over. From Old Testament to
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  Speaker 1: New Testament, there's one consistent phrase you see over and
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  Speaker 1: over again. And it came to pass. And it came
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  Speaker 1: to pass. And it came to pass. After many days,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus was in Gennesaret. And it came to pass that
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  Speaker 1: Ezekiel found himself in a valley. And it came to pass.
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  Speaker 1: And what you don't realize is that phrase is not
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  Speaker 1: just a lead-in to the story. Every storm that ever
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  Speaker 1: hit the planet came. Let me try this side over here.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe I can find a little bit more faith. Every
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  Speaker 1: storm that ever hit the planet, no matter how fierce,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how devastating, no matter how many homes were destroyed,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how many people died in it, they always
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  Speaker 1: come back. They give them new names. They give them
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  Speaker 1: different names. They run out of alphabets for it. Hurricane Ira.
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  Speaker 1: Hurricane Zozo. Hurricane Mabel. Hurricane, I don't care what you
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  Speaker 1: call it, it's still a hurricane. And no matter how severe,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how terrible, no matter how many lives were lost,
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  Speaker 1: dogs were lost, horses were lost, people were lost, families
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  Speaker 1: were lost, it still comes to pass. Yes. One of
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  Speaker 1: the saddest stories I heard in Katrina, I was down
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  Speaker 1: there with the men that were pulling people out of
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  Speaker 1: the houses. One of the saddest stories was so much
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  Speaker 1: water had filled up the apartment that the dresser had
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  Speaker 1: pinned the father up against the wall. And he had
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  Speaker 1: a little baby and he was holding the baby up
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  Speaker 1: in the air. And they found him, him and the
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  Speaker 1: baby dead. And he was trying to keep his child
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  Speaker 1: alive in the storm. Dying with his arm extended. Trying
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  Speaker 1: to minimize the loss of the storm. Storms as fierce
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  Speaker 1: as that are over. Hundreds of thousands of people dead.
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  Speaker 1: But the storm is over. How many times in your
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  Speaker 1: life Have you gone through something you thought you wasn't
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  Speaker 1: going to make it? Where are my real people at
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  Speaker 1: this morning? Where are my real people at this morning?
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  Speaker 1: You remember Fred Sanford when he grabbed his chest and said, oh,
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  Speaker 1: this is the big one. I had grabbed my chest
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  Speaker 1: so many times I should have a handprint on my
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  Speaker 1: chest because I swore, oh my God, this is the
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  Speaker 1: big one. I'm never going to make it out of this.
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  Speaker 1: Oh God, this is too bad. I can't handle it.
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  Speaker 1: I can't take it. I can't. And half of the
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  Speaker 1: stuff that broke my heart and brought me to tears
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  Speaker 1: and almost drove me crazy, I can't even remember. I
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  Speaker 1: can't even remember. I can't even remember what I was
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  Speaker 1: so frantic about. I can't remember why I was so frantic.
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  Speaker 1: I can't even, it's in my rear view mirror. But
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  Speaker 1: in that moment, in that second, when that storm hits
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  Speaker 1: and your feet get wet and the boat starts filling
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  Speaker 1: up with water and Peter, who is an experienced sailor, doubts,
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  Speaker 1: can I be steady in the storm? I've had some
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  Speaker 1: tough storms. I'm not without storms. I've had storms on camera.
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  Speaker 1: I've had storms in people's face. And I learned that
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  Speaker 1: what I have to do is be steady in the storms.
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  Speaker 1: Can I talk to you this morning? I never will
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: forget when we were doing our first mega-fest. You have
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  Speaker 1: to understand, I've never done it before. My pastor hadn't
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: done it before. None of my pastor friends had ever
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  Speaker 1: done it before. Everybody thought I was crazy to do it.
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  Speaker 1: I was upstairs in the conference room when we came
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  Speaker 1: up with the name Megafest. We really wanted Manifest, but
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: somebody else had that name. So we ended up calling
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  Speaker 1: it Megafest. I had a vision for which I had
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  Speaker 1: no name. So you remember when the event occurred. I
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  Speaker 1: remember when the name came. I named my vision. And
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  Speaker 1: then I got in the vision. And it was working.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: And nobody knew for sure whether it was going to
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: work or not. It was working. But it didn't feel
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: good working. Because I could not get away from the fact,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: do you really have what it takes to pull this off? 86,000
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: women had registered. Not to mention the men. We were
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: over a hundred and some thousand people. The Georgia Dome,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the World Congress Center, the Phillips Arena were all jammed
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: and packed. I should have been happy. I wasn't. I
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: was sick. I was nauseated. I was worried. I was afraid.
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  Speaker 1: Did we forget anything? I remember we had to pay $ 300, 000
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: just for insurance because we had 10,000 children. Yes. Yes.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Because you got to have your life, yes. And you
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: got to have your fire hydrant. You can't jump into
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: this and be faint of heart. Stop wishing for other
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: people's stuff because you don't understand all the things they
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: have to put into it to be ready to handle it.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: So it's the night before the press conference that leads
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: up to it. And Jordan, we had 300 different press
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: outlets from as far away as the London Times to
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: the New York Times to all over the world. And
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: I'd never done a big press conference like that. And
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the devil said, they're going to eat you up in
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: the morning. They're going to have you for breakfast in
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: the morning. You might as well come over there with
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: a coffee pot because you are going to be the muffin.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: So frantically, about 2.30, 3 o'clock in the morning, I
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: called my PR person and I just went nuts. I
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: just went nuts. I just said, this is crazy. This
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: is stupid. What in the world are we doing? What
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: were we thinking about? We should have never got into this.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: We don't have to have no press conference. We don't
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: need no press conference. This is silly. And then I
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  Speaker 1: don't know. And she said to me, I hope she's
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: watching right now. She said this to me, Bishop James.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: She said, the whole world has turned its head To
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  Speaker 1: hear what you have to say. Do you have to
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: say anything or not? And I hung up the phone
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: and I thought, is that what this is? All I
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: saw was what could go wrong. And all she saw
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: was what could go right. I called her about my agony.
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  Speaker 1: She told me my agony was my opportunity. And all
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: of a sudden my perspective about the storm changed because
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: it is your perspective that has to change. If your
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: perspective doesn't change, you will misunderstand that God allowed the
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  Speaker 1: storm to give you an experience that nobody else ever
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: got to have in all of their lives so that
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  Speaker 1: you would know him in a way that other people
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: never knew him because you went through something that other
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: people didn't know. You want an uncanny anointing? Go through
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: an uncanny storm. You want an uncanny influence? Go through
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: an uncanny storm. You want an uncanny influence? Endure an
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  Speaker 1: uncanny storm. You don't get this by wishing for it.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: You don't get it by getting on your knees for it.
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  Speaker 1: You don't get it by me putting oil on your
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: head for it. You get it after you've suffered a while.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: The Bible said, I'll establish you and make you perfect.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: There are no shortcuts to the storm. Hallelujah. The girl
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: paid a price to sing that song. She paid a
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: long price. The song was not nearly... as long as
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the sickness. But if she hadn't have been sick, she
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have got the song. So you couldn't bless millions
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: of people if you didn't go through months and months
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and months and perhaps years of utter agony to sing
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: a three-minute song. But it was the storm that put
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: an anointing in your voice to minister a healing that
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: you couldn't have gotten any other way. Oh, do you
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: hear what I'm talking to you about? And I'm talking
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: to you because some of you are right smack dab
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: in the middle of your storm. And this is not
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: a time to faint. And this is not a time
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: to give up. And this is not a time to die.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: The man said, I can't fly, but I can talk. Hello. Hello. Hello.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know etiquette. I don't know what I'm supposed
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to say. I don't know what to do. Hello. Hello.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Sometimes God takes you through something that you don't have
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: a point of reference for. That it looks like you
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: got it together. And nobody helps you because it looks
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: like you got it together. And you are scared out
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: of your mind. You are nervous as all get out.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: You got the worst case of diarrhea that you have
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: ever had since you were two months old. And nobody
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: knows it. I'm just keeping it real. I'm not talking
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: about that little bit of stress where your hands are shaking.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about that kind of stress where your bowels
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: are disrupted and you can't sleep at night and you're walking,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: looking out, talking to yourself and you're looking out into
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the night and you're wondering if this is, oh, this
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: is a big one, Agnes. I'm coming home. I'm going
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: to die. And God sent me to tell you to
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: be steady in the storm. Third thing, you didn't cause
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: the storm. The storm is not your fault. It's not
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: like Peter went in the wrong direction. It's not like
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: this guy knew that this guy was going to pass
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: out on the plane. You did not cause the storm.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: So stop allowing that voice to accuse you because Satan
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: is an accuser of the brotherhood. And he will say,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: you brought this on yourself. You're a fool. You shouldn't
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: have never done it. You must have lost your mind.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: What is it about you that made you think you
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: could do something that big? You must be crazy. You
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: must know storms come to everybody. Anointed people, saved people,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: unsaved people, backslidden people, whorish people, straight people, gay people,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: cute people, ugly people, fat, bow-legged people. Everybody has storms.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: What made you think that you would be exempt from
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: going through storms? Everything that I know about God that matters,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: I learned it not in a concordance, not even in
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: a scripture. I learned it all in a storm. I
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: learned it all on the cliff. On the edge of
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the cliff, about to die, so sick I could throw
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: up and wondering if I would live to see another day.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Everything I learned about God that mattered came through a crisis,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: not a promotion, not an advancement, not a check in
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the mail, not the accolades of men that don't teach
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: you jacked. Going through sickness and pain and chaos and
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: trouble and heartbreak and disgrace and embarrassment and frustration and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: humiliation and depression and grief unbearable. Everything I ever learned
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: about the Lord is my shepherd. I learned it in
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: a storm. I learned it in a fight. I learned
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: it in a crisis. I learned it when the odds
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: were against me. I learned it while they were talking
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: about me like a dog. I learned it while they
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: were rolling their eyes. I learned it while they were
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: blogging about me. I learned it while they were lying
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: on me. Who am I preaching to? And the word
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: of the Lord is to stay steady. In the storm,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: don't back up, don't give in, don't give up, don't retreat,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: don't run from people, don't worry about what they think.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Their opinion is not your victory. Changing their mind is
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: not the crown that you're going to wear. People are
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: going to think whatever they're going to think. People are
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: going to say whatever they're going to say. Don't be
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: distracted into trying to manage a storm that wasn't yours
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: in the first place. What you have to do, this
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: is a little bit I've learned, is to be steady
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: in the storm. And I ask myself when I read
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the text, I say, when Jesus, when they woke up Jesus,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Jesus didn't just rebuild the winds and waves. He rebuilt Peter.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I said, well now Lord, wait a minute. What did
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Peter do wrong? You told us to pray without ceasing.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: You were sleeping. All Peter did was wake you up.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: What did Peter do wrong that made Jesus rebuke Peter?
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Number one, Peter forgot the power of his presence. Peter
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: was addicted to Christ's performance. and not his presence. Had
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Peter recognized the power of his presence, he would have
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: known that the storm was lying because there was no
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: way that Jesus could be drowned. Not the one who said,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: I come that you might have life and have it
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: more abundantly. The very fact that Jesus is still with
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: you is a sign that the storm is alive. I
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: don't know how you're going to make it out. I
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: don't know whether you're going to float out on pieces.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you're going to float out on
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: a raft. I don't know if you're coming out on
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: a boat. But as long as you got your anointing, baby,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: when all is said and done, the presence of God
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: is enough to take you through anything. Hallelujah. Catch your
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: name and say, Jesus is on the boat. The other
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: thing that Peter did wrong, Peter is in charge. And
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Peter became hysterical. And he started acting like he wasn't
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: in charge of what he was in charge of. And
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: what God wanted Peter to learn was how to be
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: steady in the storm. You got to be steady in
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the storm. You can't be a leader if you're not
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: steady in the storm. You can't run in the high
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: to be a leader. You got to be steady in
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: the storm. Tears may be running down your face, but
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: you got to hold on to that wheel. You'll never
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: get out if you let go of the wheel. And
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: by the way, the storm ain't that bad. There was
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: water in the boat, but it wasn't enough water to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: wake up Jesus, and Jesus was asleep in the bottom
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: of the boat. So if the storm had been that bad,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: how come the water didn't wake up Jesus? But the
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: enemy has a way of amplifying trouble in your mind
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: to make you think that it's worse than it really is,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: and you panic because the devil knows his storm can't
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: take you out. It's your fear that's going to take
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: you out. And what God is trying to teach you
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: to do, I'm talking to somebody. I don't know who
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: it is, but God is saying, be steady. All hell
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: is breaking loose. Be steady. Your emotions are all over
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the place. Be steady. Your enemies are everywhere. Be steady.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: You got to be steady in the storm. You got
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: to be steady when they lack you. You got to
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: be steady when they don't like you. You got to
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: be steady when they're saying Hosanna. You got to be
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: steady when they say crucified. You got to be steady
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: at the wedding. You got to be steady at the funeral.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: You got to be steady when things are up. You
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: got to be steady when things are down. Don't take
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: your hand off that wheel. Come hell or high water,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: hold on to the wheel and keep on aiming for
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the other side. Keep aiming for the other side. Keep
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: your eyes on where you're trying to go and aim
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: for the other side. The third thing Peter did wrong
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: is he failed to believe that he had what it
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: takes to get through what he was facing. The fact
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: that Jesus rebuked him for waking him up means I
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: equipped you with enough stuff to make it through this storm.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: This was not a storm for me to rebuke. This
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: was a storm for you to rebuke. And you are
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: asking me to do what I have called you to do. Behold,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I give you power. I give you power over the enemy.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: I give you power over what's happening in your life.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: I give you power over what they said about you.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: I give you power. I give you power. And you're
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: giving up the power when you're frantic and frustrated. And
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: you allow your emotions... To control your decisions. I cannot
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: afford to call an emotional leader. Because you're going to
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: have to preach for me on the day of Pentecost.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Because you're going to have to spread the word into
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: cities that don't believe in you. Because ultimately you will
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: be crucified upside down. And I need to know when
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I commission you to go that come hell or high water.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: You will hold fast to your profession of faith. And
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: don't panic. The storm was just a test in a
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: controlled environment to prepare you for what I'm about to
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: do in your life. Who am I talking to? I'm
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: preaching to somebody. The Holy Ghost said, be steady in
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the storm. Don't back up. Don't give in. Don't faint.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Don't collapse. You may have to get on the walkie-talkie.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: You might not know the right language. You might not
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: use the right word. But survival is the ultimate goal.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Be steady in the storm. I don't know what you
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: call it, but I'm like, hello, hello, hello, can you
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: hear me? If I'm preaching to you, shout in this house.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Almost every day of my life, I got people telling
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: me what all went wrong. Very seldom do they call
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: me to tell me what went right. They always call
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: me to tell me what went wrong. And so a
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: constant bombarding with we got a problem. We don't have
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: this result. We don't have that result. We don't have
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: the other result. After a while, it feels like a
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: tsunami coming from every direction. And when they get a
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: moment with you, they quickly get to what's wrong. Because
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: I don't get to talk to you often, so let
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: me get right to it. Like you're not even human.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: They don't even ask me, how am I? Are you
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: having a good day today? Is this a good time
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: to have a conversation? Let me tell you what I need.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you what I need. Let me tell
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: you what it takes. Let me tell you what's going on.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you this. And what I learned is
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: that I cannot react to their stimuli. I have to
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: keep a steady head. so that I can make a
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: calm calculated accurate decision and I can't make an accurate
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: decision off of one person's opinion because every time I
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: made a decision off of one person's opinion I had
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: to go back and fix it because I found out
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: they didn't tell me everything So my word as a
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: leader is to be sober and be vigilant. For your
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: enemy goeth about as a roaring lion. Watch this. Seeking
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: whom he loves. If he's seeking whom he may devour,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: that means there's somebody he can't devour. I want to
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: be the guy he can't devour. I want to be
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: the guy who makes it to the other side. I
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: want to be the guy who crosses over because I
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: got an assignment waiting on me. Let me show you
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: one more thing. In front of every major move of God,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: there will always be some sort of storm, some sort
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: of challenge, some sort of test. When you run into
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: your Goliath, you have come into your kingdom. David needed Goliath.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Goliath announced you have arrived. Goliath is not there to
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: kill you. Goliath is there to introduce you. Until Goliath comes, oh,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: I feel like preaching now. Until Goliath comes, David is
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: just a shepherd boy. But Goliath put David's talents on
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: full display. Goliath separated David from the other shepherd boy.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Goliath put him in a class all by himself. If
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: anything at all, David should have paid Goliath because the
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: king wouldn't have paid David no attention if it wasn't
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: for the Goliath he fought. The reason you're fighting what
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: you're fighting right now is that God's creating a stage.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: for his anointing to restore. Do you hear what I'm
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: saying to you? The only reason this storm is out
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: here in the first place is that Jesus is bringing
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: the gospel to the Gentiles. This is huge. And the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: storm is trying to stop it. And the greater the storm,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: the greater the assignment. If God trusts you with that
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: level of trouble, you got to be somebody. You got
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: to be somebody. You got to be somebody. The storm
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: didn't fall on nobody except somebody. The storm didn't fall
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: on nobody. It only fell on somebody. And if the
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: storm is in your life right now, guess what? You somebody.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Do you hear the words that are coming out of
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: my mouth? Somebody shout, I am somebody. I know I'm somebody,
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: not because of my degrees, not because of my accomplishment,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: not because of my money, but because of the storm
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: that has come in my life. The devil wouldn't attack
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: me if I weren't somebody. Shout yes. Yes. Shout yes again.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Shout yes. Whoever I'm preaching to, you're about to step
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: into something. You're about to come into another dimension. You're
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: about to come into another realm of the spirit. And
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: the reason all hell is broken loose, this is Satan's
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: last attempt to stop you from landing on dry ground.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: But the devil is alive. I'm going to be steady. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: This young lady sang, everybody loves to hear you when
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: you come out. But when you're in, don't nobody want
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: to hear you. When you're in pain, don't nobody want
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: to hear you. When you're struggling in your faith, don't
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: nobody want to hear you. But you're just paying your dues.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: This is a toll bridge. You have to pay to
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: make it to the other side. Y'all don't understand what
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: a toll bridge is. It means it costs you something.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: To get to the other side. And once you've paid
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: the price, you ain't going to let nobody take your
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: prize away from you. I need 30 seconds of crazy, spontaneous,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Holy Ghost, supernatural praise in this house. Praise it. Praise it.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Praise it. Praise it. Praise it like you a king.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Praise him like you're a demon chaser. Praise him like
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: you're a water walker. Praise him like you're the head
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: and not the tail. Praise him like you're a person
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: of increase. Praise him with a significant praise. A significant praise.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: You are under significant attack. Give him a significant praise.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Stand to your feet, I'm going to stop. I feel
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: glory in this place. I feel anointing in this place.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: I feel power in this place. I'm raising up another
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: generation of leaders. I'm raising up another generation of leaders.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: That's why I keep talking about leaders. I'm raising up
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: another generation of leaders. And I want you to understand
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: the trouble is normal. The trouble is a part of
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: the job. The attack identifies you as being significant. The
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: more significant you are, the more hellish the attack is.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: You don't have to fight the storm. You have to
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: fight the temptation to become hysterical in the storm. You
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: got to remain steady. Steady means whatever you were doing
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: before the storm started, keep on doing it. When COVID came,
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: I said I was preaching before it hit. I'm going
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: to keep on preaching. They said, you ain't got nobody
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: to preach to. I said, I don't care. I'm going
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: to be steady in the storm. So every Sunday morning
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: I got dressed. Wasn't nobody there to see me get dressed.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: I preached. Wasn't nobody there to shout hallelujah. Nobody said
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: it's me, Bishop. You talking to me. But I kept
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: on preaching. Because you'll never win if you stop being steady.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: You got to be steadfast. So everybody talks about Jesus
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: rebuked the winds and the waves. And let me show
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: you something. Another thing that the storm did, it made
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: them reassess who Jesus was. Because when Jesus rebuked the
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: winds and waves, they said, what manner of man is
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: this that even the winds and waves obey his will?
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: And I thought, y'all still think he a man? You
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: mean you a disciple and you still think he's a man?
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: You talking about what manner of man is this? You
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: the disciples. These ain't Pharisees. These are not Sadducees. These
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: are the church leaders who still have not recognized that
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Jesus is God. But you're going to learn today. You're
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: going to learn today. You're gonna learn today. You're gonna
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: learn today. You're gonna learn today, baby. You're gonna learn today.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: You're gonna learn his voice. You're gonna learn how to
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: obey his voice. You're gonna learn how to hear his voice.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: You're gonna learn that he can walk you through the
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: worst moments of your life. The worst moments of your life.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: the worst moments of your life. I was sitting right
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: over there with my mother's casket laying in front of
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: the church in the old building. I was sitting right
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: in front of it and I told her all my life,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: she said, I want you to preach my funeral. I said,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: I ain't preaching your funeral. I'm telling you now so
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: I don't have to feel guilty when you die. No.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: But I was sitting over there and I thought, this
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: is your last chance To do something. She wanted you
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: to do. So I told God. With grief. Like some
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: of you ain't never seen till it happened. Pushing you
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: down to the floor. I said if you give me
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: enough grace. For the grief. I'll stumble up there and
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: do it. And be steady. Be steady. I might fall
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: apart when I get home. I might fall apart in
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: the car.