Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / I Didn't Know I Was Me - Bishop T.D. Jakes [September 29, 2019]

Transcript

I Didn't Know I Was Me - Bishop T.D. Jakes [September 29, 2019] · Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go right into the word of God.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: We can pick up the offering at the end. I'm
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: ready to unload this thing. I'm ready to unload this thing.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It's kind of heavy. I want to get it out. Amen.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: How many people came to get a word from the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Lord this morning? God has been dealing with me about
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: this message all week, and I'm excited to be able
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to share it with you. I believe God's going to
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: do great things. Go to Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 4
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: through 5. Yeah. Yeah. And then go to Judges 6
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: through 11. I'm going to read Judges 6 through 11.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Judges 6 through 11 first. 6 through 11. 11 through 16.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: 6 chapter 11 verse through 16. And then I'm going
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to pick up the 18th verse. Just for some extra.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: It's our custom to stand for the reading of the word.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: That's why people are standing all around you. They're not leaving.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I don't guess. Say amen, somebody. When you get to
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Judges 6, 11, we'll read down to the 16th verse
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: and then we'll read the 18th verse and we're going
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to go further. When you have it, say amen. The
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: angel of the Lord came and sat down under the
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abizrite, where
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: keep it from the Midianites. Watch that closely. He was
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Now really zone in on this. When the angel of
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, the Lord is
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: with you, mighty warrior. Pardon me, my Lord, Gideon replied,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: but if the Lord is with us, why has all
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: this happened to us? Oh, I get that all the time.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: If the Lord is with us, why has all this
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: ancestors told us about when they said, did not the
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Lord bring us up out of Egypt? But now the
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: of Midian. See, this is going to be real good
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: for all of those people who are going through something
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: right now and you feel abandoned. And you wonder, is
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the Lord with you? The Lord turned to him and said,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: go in the strength you have. Isn't that good? See,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I have preached to you so long, I have produced
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: a church full of preachers. I don't even have to
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: get to the point. You're picking my points out for me.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Go in the strength you have and save Israel out
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: of the Midian's hand. Am I not sending you? Pardon me,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: my Lord, or say what? Gideon replied, but how can
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and I am the least in my family. The Lord
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: answered and said, I will be with you and you
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive. Oh
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: my God. Get in in some mood that he says
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: to the angel, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Please do
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: not go away until I come back and bring my
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: offering and set it before you. And the Lord said,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I will wait till you return. That's good, isn't it?
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: That's good, isn't it? Now, remain standing. I'm going to
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: pray with you. And then I'm going to preach. And
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: this is the subject, preach, teach, whatever it is. I
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: got a little bit of drainage, so don't let it
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: distract you. This is my subject this morning. I didn't
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: know I was me. I didn't know I was me.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I would have done it differently but I I didn't
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: know I was me. I would have paid more attention
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: but I didn't know I was me. I would have
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: been more careful but I didn't know I was me.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I would have resisted the enemy better but I didn't
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: know I was me. Am I in the right house?
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Let's pray while we're standing. Spirit of the living God,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: we stand here right now in need of you. There
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: is no other attraction. There is no star. There is
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: no vanguard. There is no attraction here but you. Anybody
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: cannot come but you. We need you. You are the
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: centerpiece of all that is set at the table. And
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I want you to manifest yourself in this place that
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: we get more than we expected, that we receive more.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: I want us to receive so much that we eat
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  Speaker 1: off it all week. I want to receive so much
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  Speaker 1: in our spirit, Lord, that we walk out of here
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  Speaker 1: stronger than when we came in. I want you to
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  Speaker 1: touch us in a supernatural way. Inform us, inspire us,
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  Speaker 1: educate us, impart to us, invigorate us, motivate us, liberate us,
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  Speaker 1: saturate us. Great God that you are. I believe you
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: for stuff I don't even have the intellect to articulate.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: I'm asking you for things I can't even express. I'm
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: asking you to answer the question that comes out as
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: a groan. The pain that comes out as a sigh.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: The question that falls like a tear. I want you
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: to read the sign language of my pain. Get in
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  Speaker 1: the DNA of my spirit and move in a supernatural way.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I thank you in advance for what you're going to do.
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  Speaker 1: I don't even need to see you do it. I
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  Speaker 1: praise you now. You can do it later. In Jesus' name.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Come on, Potter's House. Do what you do. You may
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: be seated. Let's go to work. I'm going to spend
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the first five or ten minutes getting into some fairly
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: heavy stuff, which is the framework through which I'm going
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: to put the picture of Gideon's experience in. If you
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: miss the opulence of the frame, you will not be
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: able to appreciate the details of the picture. For the
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  Speaker 1: frame dignifies the picture with context. And what good is
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: a text? Hey, man, how you doing? Got my lawyer
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: back in the house. Stand up, bro. I appreciate you.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Been praying for you. Give God praise for this brother.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Never thought he had him but he got away healed
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: him brought him back into the service of God welcome
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: back what good is a text without context what good
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: is music without score what good is dance without feet
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: what good is rhythm without music so putting the text
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: in context requires that I begin this discussion from an
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  Speaker 1: unusual place I want to begin it with God With God,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: God himself, God, the notion of God, not church, not religion, God.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: The one who rules and super rules and reigns and
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: has absolute control. The auspicious one, the omnipotent one, the
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  Speaker 1: omnipresent one, the all-sufficient one, the El Shaddai, the consolation
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: of Israel, the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, God.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Not appointed, not elected. God. Nobody put him in, nobody
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  Speaker 1: can take him out. God. With all power, the sovereign one.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Nobody can impeach him. God, the one who sits on
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the circle of the earth. That heaven is his throne
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and earth is his footstool. God, who gives you oxygen
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: and movement and freedom and liberty and life and activity.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Who kept your heart beating while you were asleep you
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: know you didn't do it but it was beaten while
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: you it was still beaten because God regulated your temperature
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: your blood pressure the rhythm of the way the blood
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: runs through your cells was God orchestrating all things up
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: under his power and I call him the puppet master
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: because he manages all the artifacts on the stage of
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: my life. Where does God live? What is his address?
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Where can I get to God? Where do I find him?
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: God lives in eternity. Eternity doesn't deal with geographical locations
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: or addresses. God lives in eternity. And we live in time. Hey,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: I'm seeing all kinds of folks I know as I preach.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: We live in time. I don't know whether a preacher
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: eats chicken wings. God lives in eternity. Let's think about that.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: God lives in eternity, which transcends time. Time is a
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: matrix inside of eternity. Think of time being something that
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: God created, not subject to. In the beginning, there was
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: God before there was a first day. So God existed
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: before there was a calendar. Before there was a watch,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: before there was a tick or a tock, there was God.
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  Speaker 1: Before there was a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
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  Speaker 1: there was God. Before there was an evening or a morning,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: there was God. Before the sun rose or set, there
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  Speaker 1: was God. Before the moon glistened against the dark sky,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: there was God. Before the first earthquake tremored in the ocean,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: there was God. There was God before there was an angel.
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  Speaker 1: There was God before there was a choir. There was
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  Speaker 1: God before there was anybody there to acknowledge him as God.
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  Speaker 1: God is God. God alone is God. And beside him,
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  Speaker 1: there is no other. God lives in eternity. And if
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: you don't get that in your spirit, then your prayer
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: life is going to go kaput because you're never going
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  Speaker 1: to understand God. being a creature of time with things
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: like birthdays, you won't understand God. God doesn't have to
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  Speaker 1: get in a hurry because God doesn't get old. God
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  Speaker 1: doesn't get old because he's not subject to time. Anything
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  Speaker 1: subject to time gets old. Anything born out of time
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  Speaker 1: is ageless as part of being eternal. So when you
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  Speaker 1: start talking about being eternal, eternity supersedes time. Time is
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  Speaker 1: a child of eternity, an offspring of eternity. Eternity created time.
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  Speaker 1: The celestial created the terrestrial. The divine created the human.
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  Speaker 1: The supernatural created the natural. In the beginning, God created
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  Speaker 1: the heavens and the earth and the earth was without
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  Speaker 1: form and void and darkness covered the face of the deep.
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  Speaker 1: But God was there to create it before there was
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  Speaker 1: an it to create. Are you following me? David says
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  Speaker 1: about God, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. You
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  Speaker 1: were God before there was a where or when or
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  Speaker 1: this or that. You were God. You were God before
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  Speaker 1: there was anybody there to tell you you were God.
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  Speaker 1: You were God. God alone, God all by himself, God
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  Speaker 1: of the universe, God of the world. That's why I
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: don't pray to the universe because he created the universe.
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  Speaker 1: Why should I pray to what he created when I
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  Speaker 1: can pray to the one who created it? This is good.
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  Speaker 1: From everlasting to everlasting thou art God. From as far
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  Speaker 1: back as I can see, there was God. And as
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  Speaker 1: far ahead as I can see, there was God. God
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  Speaker 1: is eternal. So when you read the Bible, the Bible
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: says all kinds of things that don't make sense if
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you don't understand that. For instance, it says that the
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  Speaker 1: lamb was slain from the foundations of the world. In
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  Speaker 1: other words, talking about Jesus, he was crucified before Adam
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: and Eve were born. That means that God had the
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  Speaker 1: answer in eternity before time produced the question. So whatever
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  Speaker 1: you're asking God to do in eternity, it's already done.
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  Speaker 1: It's already settled. Let me prove that. Job said, my
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  Speaker 1: witnesses in heaven, my record is on high. In eternity,
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  Speaker 1: it's already done. It's already finished. In eternity, I'm already healed.
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  Speaker 1: In eternity, I'm already blessed. In eternity, I'm already loosed.
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  Speaker 1: in eternity I'm already set free in eternity there are
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  Speaker 1: no wheelchairs in eternity there are no broken limbs in
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: eternity there is no sadness in eternity there is no
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  Speaker 1: abuse God lives in eternity he created time so I
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  Speaker 1: would have an address so I would have a concept
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: so I would have appreciation of days teach me to
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  Speaker 1: number my days so I may know how frail I
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: am he created time so I wouldn't take life for
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: granted He created time so I would appreciate my life
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: and your life. He created time so I would get
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: the courage to say things to you that I wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: say because I'm running out of time. If I was
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: an eternal being, I would think about it longer, maybe
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: not say it ever because I have eternity to think
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: about it. But since we're running out of time, the
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: older I get, the older I get, the sharper I get,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: the quicker I'll tell you When I was 30, I
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: might not would tell you, but at 60, I will
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: let you have it. I will let you have it
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: and not look back to see how you felt about it.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Because I'm running out of time. Running out of time
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: makes you get to the point. Running out of time
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: makes you say what needs to be said. God lives
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: in eternity. We live in time. So God is neither
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: coming or going. He is always here. Remember when Moses said,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: who shall I say sent me? And God said, I
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: am that I am. Not I was or I will be,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: I am. Because he's always present. He is the same yesterday, today,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: and forevermore. I am in today. I can't go back
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: to yesterday. I'm waiting on tomorrow. But God is in
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: tomorrow while I'm in today. That's why when God gives
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  Speaker 1: me a word today, it can heal something that broke yesterday.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Because he's not subject to dates. He can say something
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: now that heals something that happened 20 years ago. He
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: can speak something now that changes the outcome of something
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: that happens 30 years from now. Because God lives in eternity,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: I live in time. I have to go deeper. If
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I get on this, I got to go deeper. If
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: you read the creation story in the book of Genesis,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: over and over again, you will see the word read.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: He restored. He replenished. He redeemed. It's to do over again. Okay,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: he did it over again. He did it over again.
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  Speaker 1: It's been done before. Oh, wow. It's been done before.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Somebody say before. See, the problem is I can't remember
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: what was before because I am here present now, but
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: I can't remember what was before. When the Bible says
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: that God redeemed us or restored us or redelivered us
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: or redeemed us from the curse of the law, from
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: sin or death, it suggests that there was something between
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: me and him before. Before what? Before time. Okay, Jeremiah's
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: going to help me out. I got myself in trouble,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: but Jeremiah's going to pull me out. Jeremiah 1, 4, 5. 1,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: chapter 1, chapter, verse 4 and 5. Jeremiah, check this out.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: It's still in frame. I haven't got to the picture.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: The word of the Lord came unto me, saying...
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Before I formed
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  Speaker 1: you in the womb. I knew you before I formed you,
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  Speaker 1: before you had your first birthday, before you were one
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  Speaker 1: week old, before you were one day old, before your
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: mama was pregnant. I knew you before you were born,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: before you were born, before you were born. I set
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  Speaker 1: you apart. I set you apart. I meant for you
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  Speaker 1: to be different. Before you ever even got here, I
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: meant for you to be different. And you spent the
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: first 20 years of your life trying to fit in.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: But the reason you never fit in is that I
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: set you apart before you ever even got here. You
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: didn't even fit in with your neighbors. You didn't fit
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: in with your friends. Uh-oh, you don't even fit in
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  Speaker 1: your family. You're the only one in your family who
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: thinks like you think because I set you apart before
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  Speaker 1: I formed you in the belly. I meant for you
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  Speaker 1: to be different. So don't be upset over the people
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  Speaker 1: who didn't like you, who thought you were cute, who
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: didn't like your hair. I don't care how you change
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: your hair, change your walk, change your talk. I meant
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: for you to be an outcast, rejected, ostracized. I meant
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: for you to be different. Before I formed you in
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the belly, I knew you, I ordained you, I set
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: you apart. Oh my God, this is good. So he
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: knew me. An eternity pass. Okay, this is eternity. Eternity
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: pass is an oxymoron. Eternity pass is an oxymoron. It
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: is two things that totally disagree with each other. Eternity
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: can't have a pass. But the eternity is my only
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: way of describing God. And pass is my human attempt
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: to express an anthropomorphic reality. An anthropomorphic reality, anthro is human.
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  Speaker 1: It's a human attempt to describe something that is divine.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: So eternity past, present, and future. Past, present, and future
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  Speaker 1: are human terms. Eternity is God terms. Eternity passed before
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  Speaker 1: I was born. He knew me. He knew me. He
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: formed me because he knew me. I had a relationship
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: with him before. I had a relationship with him before
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: I met my mother. That's why when he called me,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: I recognized his voice. He said, my sheep know my voice,
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  Speaker 1: a stranger they will not follow. That's why you go
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: to church and get blessed and the person you went
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: with didn't get nothing. Maybe they didn't recognize the voice.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I knew the voice before I read the Bible. You
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: know the word, but I know the voice. You don't
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: hear what I'm saying. A lot of people know scripture,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: but they don't know the voice. He said, my sheep
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: know my voice, a stranger they will not follow. And
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: some kind of way, his voice resonated with me because
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: I knew him before. He said, before I formed you
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: in the belly, when you were just a spirit and
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I was just a spirit, we knew each other on
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: a spiritual level. We connected. We hooked up. We got together.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: I agreed to send you in the time, but here's
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: the deal. If you go in the time, you're going
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: to forget what we had in eternity. That's what being
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: lost is about. The reason I'm lost, first of all,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: I can't be lost if I don't belong to somebody.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: And I can't be lost if there's not a place
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: for me. So the whole notion of being lost is
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: not just about sinful activity, it's about not remembering. So
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: he chose me in him before the foundations of the world.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: That's what the Bible said. He chose me in him.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: He picked me out and then sent me into time. Now, Thomas,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I'm going to send you into time. When I send
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: you into time, you're going to walk into time. And
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the moment you come out of your mother's womb, you
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: won't remember that you knew me before. But I set
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: you apart. I won't lose track of you. I set
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: you apart. And when I get ready for you, I'm
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: going to call you. And when I call you, you're
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: going to recognize my voice, though you don't remember what
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: we had before. I'm going to prove this. Can I
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: prove this to you? Okay, go to Romans 8, 29
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and 30. Look at this right quick. It's just a frame.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: It's not the picture. For those God foreknew, he also
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: predestined to be, oh, this is so good. For those God,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: we're going backwards, foreknew, for those God beforeknew, Those are
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: people that God before knew. That's what foreknew means. Before knew.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: He also, this is future, predestined. Okay. Because I knew
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: you before, I predestined you to be conformed to the
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: image of his dear son. Good God Almighty. That he
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: might be the firstborn among many brethren. Come on. And
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: those he predestined He also called. Wait a minute, go
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: back to 29 again. For those God foreknew, he also
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: predestined to be conformed to the image of his son,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. All
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: of that he did without me knowing it. I can't
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: remember it. Come on.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: He also, he also, he also, that's when I found
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: out I was his. When he called me, that's when
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: I realized that I wasn't what they called me. I
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: wasn't what he called me. I wasn't what she called me.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: I was, are you hearing what I'm saying? So when
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: he called me, we're having trouble with one of the screens,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: but when he called me, That's when I realized that's him.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: That's him. And because he called me, that's when I
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: became aware of who I was before. And it doesn't
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: matter what I was in when he called me. He
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: called me. I could have been in a strip club,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: but he called me. I could have been in a
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: gay bar, but he called me. I could have been
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: a hound crack, but he called me. And all of
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: a sudden, what used to make me happy doesn't make
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: me happy anymore. And what used to give me joy
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: doesn't give me joy anymore. Because God has a way
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: of disrupting your life. Because he called you. When he
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: called you, I like Ephesians. I didn't give you this scripture, Jermel,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: but I like this scripture. Ephesians 1 and 9, having
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: made known unto us the mystery of his will. That's
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: what called is, is to make you know the mystery
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: of his will. You are more than what you're doing.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: He made known unto me the mystery of of his will.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: I meant for you to be raised the way you
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: were raised. I meant for you to go through the
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: pain you went through. I meant for you to be rejected.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: I know it's a mystery, but all things are going
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: to work together for your good. I'm going to make
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: known there's a purpose in your pain. You're not just
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: having pain to have pain. I'm birthing something in you.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: I'm birthing something out of you. This is not just
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: arbitrary pain. This is pain for a reason. I'm bringing
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: something out of you. I'm going to show you who
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: you really are. Because who you really are is a mystery.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Who you really are is a mystery. You work with
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: people who don't really know you. You live around people
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: who don't really get you. You may have married somebody
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: who didn't get you.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Uh-oh.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: We're going to get off there because you're sitting beside them.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: You don't want to say nothing. So just keep looking
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: ahead and look confused.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: Say, huh?
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: I may not even get me. I just spent a
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: lot of energy doing something that I really wasn't predestined
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: to do. Maybe I did it because you wanted it
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: from me. Maybe I did it because my parents wanted
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: it from me. Maybe I did it because my wife
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: wanted it from me. Maybe I did it because it
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: was easy. for me. Maybe I did it because I
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: had some talent in it. But it doesn't give me
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: fulfillment because it is not it. You got me? Now
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: to my text. when we step into this text we
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: step into utter chaos I want to paint it for
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: you the Amalekites were more massive than the Israelites they
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: were more dominant they were brutal warriors the Amalekites were
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: brutal in how they killed they preyed on women and
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: children They killed off those that were weaker physically first.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: They would do anything to get advantage of a nation.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: They were cruel. And worse still, they had hooked up
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: with the Midianites. People who don't even like each other
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: will get together to hate you. In another class, I
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: call them comrades. Comrades are people who the only thing
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: they have in common is what they're against. Constituents are
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: people who the only thing they have in common is
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: where they're going. And confidence, the only thing they have
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: in common is you. So you have confidants who are
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: for you. You have constituents who are for where you're going.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: The only thing about constituents, if they see somebody getting
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: there quicker, they'll leap out of your car into their
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: car because they never liked you. They like where you
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: were going. And comrades, the only reason they are together,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: it's the only thing they have in common. It's their
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: hatred of you or something. So the Amalekites and the
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Midianites were comrades against Israel and it was working. It
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: had beat Israel down to a pulp. Israel has given
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: up everything and they're now hiding in caves. The people
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: God delivered in last Sunday's message. The people that God
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: set free last Sunday and we were shouting all over
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: the place. The people who danced on the dead bones
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: of Pharaoh. These are their children's children's children. And they're
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: in trouble again. And now they're back in trouble again.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: And the Lord is using their enemies to teach. Ooh,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: that should have rung home. If that didn't ring home,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: your bell is broke. God uses your enemies to teach.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: He doesn't use your enemies because they're stronger than you.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: He uses your enemies to teach. So God is using
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: the Amalekites and the Midianites to teach Israel, you have
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: gotten out of control. You have left the teachings of
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: your fathers. You have started worshiping idol gods. And I'm
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: going to allow you to be defeated until I get
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: your attention. Because you're so impressed with yourself, I'm going
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: to break your heart till I bring you to your
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: knees so you will discover me. You were too successful.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: You were too powerful. You were winning on every front.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: And I had to show you something to humble you
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: to make you submit. So God is using the Amalekites
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: and the Midianites. He's not using the Israelites, even though
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: the Israelites are his people. God uses your enemies. If
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: you won't hear his word. That means you're carnal, then
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: he has to speak to your circumstance. And he uses
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: your circumstance because you ignored his word. And God uses
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: your enemies to bring you in line. Israel's beat up
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: bad famine is in the land. Every time they grow up,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: crop the Amalekites and Midianites come out and kill and
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: destroy it. And now we come into a text where
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Gideon is hiding his harvest. I'm going to get back
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: to y'all in a minute. Have y'all ever hid your harvest?
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Has God ever blessed you but you didn't want to
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: show it? They phony. I'm going to talk to y'all.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Has God ever done something for you? Given you a blessing?
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: You was afraid to wear it? You was afraid to
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: drive it? Because you know how they are? And they
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: can't handle what he did. When you step into the text,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Gideon is hiding his harvest in the wine press. The
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Bible says he is threshing wheat in the wine press
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: for fear of the Midianites. Because if they find out
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: that they got any kind of harvest, they're going to
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: take that too. It's a hard thing to live around haters.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: It's an uncomfortable reality when you have to dumb down
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: how bright you are because you're around somebody so insecure
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: that they can't handle the brilliancy of your intellectual capacity
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: and so you gotta go into hood talk. Yo. You
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: in the boardroom talking about yo. Because if you appear
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: too bright, often the person who hired you, how could
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: you pick me and then want me to be stupid?
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: I'm just asking. I don't know. But the person who
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: picked you often hates you or the people around you.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: They were after his harvest. And so he's trying to
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: cultivate his harvest and he's down in the wine press
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: threshing wheat. Lord, I could stay there all day. I
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: can't tell you how many times I had to put
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: my wheat in the wine press. I better not wear that.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: I better not drive that. I better not say that. Beverly, see,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: where are we going to meet? No, let's not meet
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: at the house. We're going to meet at Papa Doe's.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: Because if I thresh my wheat in the open, where
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: my blessed people holler at you, boy, holler at you.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: You got a new house, but you can't tell your
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: cousin Joe. So you act like you leasing. I'm talking
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: about threshing your wheat in the wine press. And there
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: he is threshing his wheat in the wine press because
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: Gideon sees himself as a farmer. He's raised wheat. He
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: has a harvest. He thinks that's who he is. And
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: he's down in the wine press Harvesting but fussing. Now
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: look at this. Here's the strange thing. He's winning but
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: his people are losing. And inequity in your sociological environment
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: creates a painful experience. Because the people who love you
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: don't love what you got. And the people who love
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: what you got don't love you. And now you got
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: a little bit of wheat, but you got to get
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: down in the wine press. And he's threshing his sweet
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: in the wine press. He understands himself to be a farmer.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: And he's angry. He's angry because he never met the
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: God of the Red Sea I preached about last week.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: But he heard about it. His grandmama and him. Medea
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: and them they told him about the God that delivered
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: the children of Israel across the Red Sea and brought
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: them through on dry ground and delivered them up safely
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: on the other side but he sees no millennials he
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: sees no relationship with traditional religion and where he is
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: in his life and he's mad about it She says,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: where is the God of our fathers? I'm through with
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: that stuff. It don't work. If it worked like grandma
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: said it worked how come the Amalekites and the Midianites
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: are killing our people so I have concluded ain't nothing
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: to this if God was this good why aren't you
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: helping me About every 100th comment I get on social
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: media is some version of this. That's nice what you're saying, Rev.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: But if God was all of that, why am I?
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: Hold on. Let me tell you. Let me stop and
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: answer the question so you don't have to write this.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: I'll make this simple. God will not overrule your choices.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: It is easier for you to be angry at God
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: than to take responsibility for the mistakes you made that
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: brought you into the situation that you were in. And
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: by the way, you never asked him before you made
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: the choices that you made. But now he gets the
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: punishment for the choice you made. And you're never going
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: to get out until you take responsibility. Oh, I'm going
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: to get some mail on that. God, hear you just
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: in time. I'm going to need a lawyer. And he
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: doesn't know that while he's complaining about needing deliverance and
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: where is God, and he is looking for God, that
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: God is looking for him. And the Bible says that
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: the angel of the Lord sat down by the winepress.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: Now we got the angel of the Lord sitting down
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: by the winepress. We got Gideon who thinks he's a
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: farmer in the winepress threshing wheat. I need to underscore
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: that the winepress is the place of transition. I need
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: to underscore that the Lord has you here this morning
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: because you're in the middle of a transition. And anytime
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: you're in transition, every emotion in the world comes out
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: of you. Anger and sadness and frustration and fear and
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: doubt and strife and everything comes out of you because
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: you're in an unstable environment. You've heard me talk about
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: being with a weight trainer, being on the ball. I
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: hate them balls. I hate them balls of demonic. They're
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: from the devil. They're from the pits of hell. Give
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: me a bench. Give me a bench. Put me on
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: something solid and I can bear the weight. But they
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: put you on the ball in an unstable environment because
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: unstable environments make you activate core strength. Now you're in
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: the threshing floor. It's an unstable environment. And he's having
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: to activate core strength. And everything is coming out of him.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: And he's upset with God. And he's upset with the
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: religion he's been taught. And he's saying, who's going to
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: come and deliver us out of this? Where are you
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: going to get me out of this? This is your fault, God.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: It's always, when all else fails, blame God. Just blame God.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: The woman thou gave me. Remember that with Adam? I'm
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: in this mess. You gave her to me. That was
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: a subtle way of saying it's your fault. Not I
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: ate the fruit. Not I ran out on her. Not
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: I cheated. Not I haven't worked in two years. No.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: The woman thou gave me. It's your fault. They're talking
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: about don't do it, don't do it. I'm going to
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: do it. Conviction is good for the soul. It's going
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: to be all right. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in,
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: breathe out. You're going to make it. And all of
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: a sudden he's trying to figure out why doesn't God
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: work the way I told him to? And isn't that
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: what most of us are trying to figure out? Why
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: doesn't God work the way I told him to? The
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: way I expected him to? The way I wanted him to?
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: Why didn't God do what I wanted him to do
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: when I told him to do? Excuse me, God don't
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: work for you. God is not on your payroll. God
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: doesn't have to listen at you before he, God is God.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: And the angel is just checking him out. The angel
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: is just sitting by the well watching this fool. I
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: don't guess I should have said that. I don't know
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: whether you can say that on Sunday morning. Well, it's
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: out there now. He's watching this young man. He's... He's
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: watching him go through what the wheat is going through.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: The wheat is being beat down to fruit. All the
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: chaff is being beat away so that the wheat falls
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: to the ground. And whenever God puts you in an
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: uncomfortable situation, he's sifting you. What matters? What doesn't matter?
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: What's real? What's not real? What counts? What doesn't count?
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Who I can't have? Who I can live without? Where
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: my real people at? Holler at your boy. You go
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: through these periods where you get stuck in this wine
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: press and he starts shaking away stuff that you thought
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: you had to have. And it's uncomfortable and it's painful
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: and it's brutal and it's barbaric. And he's beating me
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: like wheat. In the wine press. Away from the crowd.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: Trying to get me down to my core values. Trying
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: to fix me in my roots. Trying to get me
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: together where it matters. Not in my image. He's He's
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: not tinting my picture for Instagram, enhancing my accessories, accentuating
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: my positives. He is beating my high end because he
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: is beating the wheat in the wine press. I can
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: talk to you today because the Lord assured me that
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: I would get to talk to people today whose feet
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: is being beaten in the wine press. And if that's
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: you and you're here today, I want you to know
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: that you're not in there by yourself. I want you
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: to know that God has sent an angel down to
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: the wine press to help you make sense out of
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: this time in your life because sometimes life doesn't make
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: sense how could you bless the Amalekites and the Midianites
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: and not me Where is the God that I hear
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: about on Sunday morning? Where is he on Monday? Where
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: is he in this unemployment line? Where is God in
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: this divorce? Where is God in I'm HIV positive? Where
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: is God? And I'm being beat in places I can't
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: talk about. I'm being beat in the wine press. I'm
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: down in something, being beaten. And waking up in the
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: morning talking about, welcome to JCPenney's. Good morning, may I
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: help you? This way, anything you need. Oh, I'm so
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: glad I can help you. And all the while I'm
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: smiling for people. I'm being beat in the wine press
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: now y'all tell me did I hear from God this
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: morning The wine press is the place where the grapes
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: find out that they're meant to be wine. The wheat
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: is being beaten so that it may become bread. And
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: what's going on in the wine press with the wheat
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: is going on in the life of Gideon who understands himself.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: To be a farmer. And the angel is sitting on
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: the side watching him do to the wheat what God
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: is doing to him. Only instead of Gideon beating the wheat,
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: God is using the Amalekites and the Midianites to beat
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: his wheat too. Only his sweet is us. Trying to
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: get bread out of wheat. Trying to get wine out
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: of grapes. Trying to get Gideon to discover who he is.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: So the angel says to him, I'll finish next Sunday.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: God bless you. he said you got jokes the angel
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: in his greeting in his greeting creates disruption he says
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: to Gideon hey mighty man of valor you're a warrior
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: what I'm just a brother on the JLB trying to
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: make a living down here in this well, trying to
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: deal with some stuff, trying to get paid this minimum
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: wage so I can get some money and go back
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: and feed my hungry kids and buy some diapers and stuff.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: I'm not one of them people. Am I? Could it
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: be possible? One of us has got to be wrong.
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: Because I think I'm a gardener and you think I'm
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: a warrior. Why did you call me that? I am
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: kind of attracted to it. I mean, it would be nice,
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: but I'm not that. I'm from the smallest tribe. And
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: I'm the youngest in the tribe. This is when we
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: build up evidence to talk us out of dreams. We
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: build evidence to dissuade us from going forward. He has rationalized.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: This is not no immediate thought. This is not like
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: something you cough up off the top of your head.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: He has given this some thought. I belong to the
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: smallest tribe. I'm the youngest person in Don't expect much
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: from me. Don't expect much from me. I'm a woman.
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: Don't expect much from me. I'm a minority. Don't expect
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: too much from me. I didn't finish school. Don't expect
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: too much from me. My mama didn't raise me. Don't
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: expect too much from me. I didn't have a father.
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: We build up this story to support Who we think
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: we are. And then the reasons that make us able
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: to cope. With the limitations. And it gives us somebody
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: to hate. That's what I like about it. That's what
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: I like about it. It gives somebody hate. If you'd
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: have raised me. If you'd have stayed home more. If
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: you'd have loved me like you were supposed to love me,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be like this. He gives me a license
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: to hate you and blame you for why I didn't become. Oh,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: he's kidding. I told you they wasn't going to like
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: this now. When we were talking about this at the house,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: I told you this ain't... And here comes a call,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: a high calling, a divine calling, a supernatural calling that
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: has classified information about me that I don't have on myself.
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: And the angel is speaking out of his knowledge of
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: how I was designed and I'm living out of my
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: knowledge of what I grew up around. And I have
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: to decide in this struggle which one of these entities
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: is going to win this fight. What I grew up
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: around or what I was created to be. Because one
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: of them are going to determine what the trajectory of
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: my future looks like. Who am I preaching to? You
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: remember when me and June started that window and siding company?
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: You remember that? I got laid off at Union Carbide.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: Then he started the window and siding company and did
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: me a favor, hiring me to come in there. We
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: was going to do like daddy. We was going to
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: build a family business. And we opened up the windows
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: and siding company. And we kept getting into trouble and
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: ran out of money. And I ended up losing my car.
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: And I didn't have no car because I was following...
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: his vision for my life. When I put my car
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: up to get the business out, I did it because
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: I love my brother and I did it because I
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: wanted us to win. I did it because I wanted
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: us to succeed. But I also did it because I
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: didn't know I was me. Had I known I was me, Jan,
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: I would have stepped right over top of the window
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: inside the company. Gideon is in the wine press because
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: it is possible not to know who you are. Who
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: you really are. are at your core at your essence
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: what you were created to be what your potentials are
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: what you can reach what you can become what you
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: can withstand what you can endure how tough you really
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: are how strong you really are how tenacious you really
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: are it is possible not to know it because your
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: feelings don't always validate your reality You can feel like
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: collapsing and still be fighting. You can feel like the
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: victim and be the victor. You can feel limited and
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: still have it exhausted all that's inside of you. You
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: cannot define yourself by how you feel. Your feelings cannot
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: be trusted. Your feelings will lie to you. Your feelings
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: will deceive you. Your feelings will have you in the
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: wine press. Your feelings will have you down in the
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: wine press beating up wheat. Oh my God. You cannot
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: trust how you feel. Because your feelings are a conglomerate
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: of your experiences. They are built off of your history,
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: not your destiny. They are your response to what happened,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: not what's about to happen. Your praise is about what's
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: about to happen. Your praise is expectation that this isn't
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: over yet. Your praise is about a happy ending on
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: the other side of this crowd. Your praise. I'm not
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: praising God because I'm emotional. I'm not praising God because
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: I'm religious. I'm not praising God because I'm black. I'm
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: praising God because I have an expectation that I may
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: be down here right now. But it ain't over, devil.
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: I'm satisfied.
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: Ain't over. Give me 30 seconds of crazy praise.
• 59:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah!
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah!
• 59:50
  Speaker 3: Yes!
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: Yes! Yes! Good call, everybody! I feel the power of
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: God in this room! Somebody shout, yes! Shout, yes!
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: Yes!
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: I'm going to tear down some stinking thinking. I'm going
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: to get rid of some limitations. that have been imposed
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: upon you that are limiting you from achieving what you
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: were put on this earth to do. I rebuke every
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: lying spirit that ever spoke up in your head that
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: is contrary to your purpose. Everybody who's tracking me, everybody
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: who's tracking this word this morning, touch your neighbor and say,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: I think there's something else inside of me. I think
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: there's something else inside of me. I think there's something
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: else inside of me. I think there's something else inside
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: of me. I think... I think I got something. I
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: don't know what to call it yet. I don't understand
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: it yet, but I think I got something. I think
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: there's something else inside of me. I know I act
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: a fool, but I think there's something inside of me.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: I know I've been strung out on drugs, but I
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: think there's something else inside of me. I know I've
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: been living with this man, but I think there's something
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: else inside of me. Open your mouth and shout out
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: to God. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: I feel it. I feel it. I feel it. I'm
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: talking to somebody. I don't know who it is, but
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to somebody. Can I preach this thing? Shall
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: I preach this thing? I want to preach this thing
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: this morning. I want to preach it till you get
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: a breakthrough. I want to preach it until you have
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: an awakening. I want to preach it until you come
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: to yourself. I want to preach it until you wake
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: up out of your sleep. Touch another neighbor and say,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: I think there's something else inside of me. I would
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: have died, but I think there's something else inside of me.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: I would have lost my mind, but I think there's
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: something else inside of me. I would have thrown in
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: the towel, but I think, I think, I think, I think.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure, but I think. I think there's something
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: else inside of me. I don't think I'm going to
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: die today because I think there might be something else
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: inside of me. I don't think I'm going to give
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: up right now because I think there's something else inside
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: of me. I don't think I'm going to quit just
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: yet because I think there's something else inside of me.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: I may be going through a bad season. I may
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: have to cry myself to sleep. I may have to
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: rock my pillow until I go to bed at night.
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: I may have to go to work in a raggedy car,
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: but I think there's something else inside of me. I
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: might be in a bankruptcy, but I think, I think,
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: I think, I think. Sit down with me for a minute.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: Sit down with me. Can I go a little bit deeper?
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: I feel something about to break in this place. I
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: feel like something is about to break wide open in
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: this place. I'm not going to stop till I get it.
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: till I get it. I'm not going to stop. The
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: moment the angel tells Gideon he's a warrior, he throws
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: him into conflict. How can this be My tribe is Manasseh.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: It's the smallest tribe. I'm the youngest person. How can
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: this be? We're at war with the Amalekites and the Midianites,
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: and they're winning. How can I be a mighty warrior?
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: I'm at the lowest point, and I'm the youngest person
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: in the smallest tribe in the worst situation, and God
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: comes and says something absolutely retarded like, You a mighty
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: man of Allah. That's what it's like coming to this
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: church sometimes. Because everything all week long says give up
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: and die. And then you come here on Sunday morning.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: And I'm telling you, you are the head and not
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: the tail. You are above and not beneath. You are
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: more than a conqueror. You can do all things through Christ,
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: which strengthens you. God didn't bring you this far to
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: leave you. God didn't take you through everything you've been
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: through for you to get here and die in the
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: wine press. I came to tell you something. So I
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: was out in Kenya two weeks ago, and I was
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: doing an interview with the lady. And she said, she
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: was talking about my different business ventures and dabbling in
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: real estate and doing some films and doing all of
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: that stuff. And she said, and what do you think
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: about all of that since you are a preacher? I said,
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: wait a minute. I said, let's correct something. June 9, 1957,
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: when my mama pushed me out, she didn't push out
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: a preacher. Just because you met me when I started preaching,
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: don't define me by how you met me. I was
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: a person before I was a preacher. I didn't start
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: living when I started preaching. I had gifts and talents
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: and passions and dreams and visions from the beginning. So
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: don't put me in your little cubicle. Of your understanding
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: of me. And exile me to spend the rest of
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: my life. Living up to what you're comfortable with. I'm
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: going to make you uncomfortable. Because I'm going to do me.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do me. All the way to the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: end of the game. I am going to do me.
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: There has never been another me. There will never be
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: another me. My son got my name and he ain't me.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: When I do what I do like I do. Y'all
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: don't hear what I'm saying. Can't nobody do. Did you
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: hear what I said? You are original. You are original.
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: A one of a kind. Nobody has your fingerprint. Nobody
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: has your voice print. Nobody has your style, your flair,
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: your grace, your creativity. High five, somebody say I'm bad.
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: Which is good for the white folks. But my white
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: members bad is good. Over here, except sometimes bad. It's
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: African-American colloquialism. But it's good. It is. Now I'm seeking.
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: Somebody watch this. I'm seeking. I'm seeking for somebody. I'm
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: seeking like a drone sent on a mission. It is haunting,
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: nagging feeling. It is a disturbing, restless feeling. It is
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: a feeling that you can't get drunk over, smoke over.
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: lay up over, it interrupts all of those human proclivities
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: with the haunting suspicion that I might be more than
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: I thought. I'm honing in. I'm honing in. I'm honing
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: in on somebody who got in the back of your mind.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: I'm not talking about arrogance. I'm not talking about superfluity.
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: I'm not talking about opulence and excess and ignorance. I'm
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: talking about this nagging, angelic voice that keeps calling you
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: something that you don't see yet. And it's in the
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: back of your head. I think I might be more.
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: And so you try to talk yourself out of it.
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: You say, I'm too old to be anything more. If
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: I was going to be more, I should have been
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: more when I was younger. But if Harlan Sanders would
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: have done that, we wouldn't have KFC. Who starts a
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: business at 65 on Social Security? We tell ourselves these
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: stories to lull our dreams to sleep, to anesthetize the
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: pain of becoming because we don't want to wrestle with
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: Who I might be. And the angel has called me
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: something that does not reflect in my situation. Does not
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: reflect in my feelings. Does not reflect in my circumstances.
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: And I didn't know. Ain't no church like the Father's house.
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: Check this out. I didn't know it was me. I
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: let him beat me because I didn't know I was me.
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: I became a slut because I didn't know. I was me.
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: I dropped out of school because I didn't know. I
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: was me. I went to jail because I didn't know.
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: I let you beat me. Because I didn't know I
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: was me. I thought I needed you because I didn't
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: know I was me. I thought you had more power
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: than you asked me to do. I thought your opinion
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: would make me or break me because I didn't know.
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: I didn't know I was me. I didn't know I
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: was me. I didn't know it was me, but it
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: haunted me. It worried me. It frustrated me. It made
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: me discontent on all my jobs and wherever I went,
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: wherever I tried to rest, the sole of my foot,
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: I found no rest because in the back of my mind,
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: there was this haunting, nagging feeling that I was born
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: to do something else. Why wouldn't I be happy to
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: be on the ground when I think I can fly?
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: What is going on with me? Because I see colors
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: where everybody else sees black and white. I see possibilities
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: where other people say that's impossible. I don't know what
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: this is down inside of me. What am I supposed
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: to do with this? I'm from the smallest tribe. I'm
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: the youngest person. I'm broke. How am I supposed to
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: do this? I'm talking to somebody. The drone is getting
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: closer to your head. Sit still. I'm going to hit
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: you right in the head in a minute. I didn't know.
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: I didn't know I was me. And so I became
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: yours because I didn't know I was me. And I
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: let you use me because I didn't know I was me.
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: And I let you do stuff to me that now
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: I'm embarrassed about because I didn't know. I didn't know
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: I was me. Don't hold my past and get me.
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: I didn't know I was me. I didn't know. I
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: didn't know. If I would have known I was me,
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: I'd have never met you. I met you in the
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: absence of me. I met you to fill the void
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: of not knowing I was me. I didn't know. I
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: didn't know I was me. So when you left me,
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: I almost lost my mind because I didn't know it
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: was me. When they fired me, I felt like blowing
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: my brains out because I thought I was my job
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: and And then I woke up and realized I'm bigger
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: than my job. And I'm bigger than my church. And
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: I'm bigger than my city. And I'm bigger than my circumstances.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: And you know what? I'm bigger than you. I'm bigger
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: than you. I'm bigger than you. Because I know who
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: I am. And I know where I am. And I
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: know what I got going on. And I know what
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: I can do. And I know what I... Watch this.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: Watch this. That drone just hit somebody in the head.
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: High five. Somebody say, watch this. Gideon dropped his sweet.
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: Gideon dropped his sweet because somebody called him a warrior
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: and it made him know that he was more than
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: what he was doing. And after wrestling with God and
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: struggling with God, And putting fleece before God. He started living. Wait.
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: He started living in the middle of his life. Because
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: life doesn't begin when your mama pushes you out. Life
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: begins when you find out who you are. Life begins
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: when it hits you in the back of your head.
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: I'm better than this. I'm bigger than my circumstances. I
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: got a destiny and a purpose on my life. God
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: created me for a reason. He called me for a purpose.
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: I am in this world to do something. Who am
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: I preaching to in here?
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: And Gideon doesn't even know that he's going to be
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: in the book of Judges. He doesn't know that he
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: is going to lead the army that drives out the Midianites,
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: renders helpless the Amalekites, that he is going to take
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: less men and kill more people with less men Than
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: we have ever seen done in the history of the scriptures.
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: If he can get out of this pit. And somebody
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: in this room. You're one pit away. From supernatural purpose.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: And the Lord told me. That if I would preach
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: this message this morning. It would wake somebody up to
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: get up out of that pit. That they would come
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: into another understanding of who they were. That God would
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: do something amazing in their life. God told me if
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: I preach this message this morning, somebody would drop their
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: wheat and grab their sword and stand up on their
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: feet again and understand who they are. Who am I
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: preaching to this morning? You got something to do in
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: this stage of your life that is greater than anything
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: you have ever done in your entire life. In fact,
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: everything in your past was getting you ready for what
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: you're about to do in your life. If I'm preaching
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: to you, make some noise in this place. Make some
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: noise in this place. Yes!
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 3: Yes!
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: Yes!
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 3: Yes!
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: God picked the smallest tribe and the youngest guy with
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: the worst attitude to lead a mass of people. And
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: Gideon starts out with 9,000. And then God says, take
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: them down to the brook and only choose the men
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: who lack water like a dog and when they got
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: down to the brook all of the men who drank
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: in a fancy way were not chosen because you can't
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: have two cute people Not when you in a fight.
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: You can't have somebody who got to have on the stilettos.
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: Not when you in a fight. You can't have somebody
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: who got English French fingernails on. Not when you in
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: a fight. He said, pick out 300 men that will
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: lap water like a dog. That will get down on
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: their knees and start lapping water. 300 men that don't
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: have nothing to lose. Don't care what they lose. This
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: is a season that you have to surround yourself with
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: people who know how to get down. This is a
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: season that God is going to take you. Who am
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: I preaching to? Who am I preaching to? So this
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: is where we're at right now. The anointing of God
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: is in this place. The spirit of God is here.
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: The glory of the Lord is in this place. The
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: Lord has you here for a reason. There's something that
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: God is getting ready to do in your life. There's
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: something that God has for you that's important. And I'm
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: telling you, not knowing is a problem. Not knowing who
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: you are is a real problem. Living your life according
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: to what other people said about you is a real problem.
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: Living your life based on your net worth is a
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: real problem. The message is called I didn't know I
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: was me. Lord have mercy. I feel like I'm supposed
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: to preach this today. I feel like I'm talking to
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: somebody today. I feel like the Holy Spirit is pushing
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: in on somebody today. Gideon would be shocked to find
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: out he made the Bible. Gideon was shocked to find
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: out that he could fight. Gideon was shocked to find out.
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: Watch this. that he was the guy he'd been praying,
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: asking God to send. He didn't have, he didn't know
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: that he was the people he'd been waiting on. Let
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: me bring it down. He didn't know that he was
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: trying to get other people to love him because he
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: didn't love himself. Let me bring it down to reachable goals.
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: He didn't know that he was trying to find in
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: other people what God had placed inside of him. He
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: didn't know that he was asking God to send what
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: he already was. But that day in the wine press
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: with wheat everywhere And chaff on the ground. The angel
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: called him something that he couldn't see. But he became
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: what he was called. Before God formed you in your
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: mother's belly. He knew you. Out of the millions of
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: sperm cells your father shot into your mother. Before you
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: ever read a Bible. One cell out swam them all.
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: The odds were against you before you got here. And
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: when you were on a cellular level, you out swam
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: the rest. That's how you got here. That's how you started.
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: Sometimes when you come from eternity in the time you
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: don't remember who you were before. But it's services like
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: this where God calls you. And he makes you know
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: things about yourself that you didn't know. This message is
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: a confirmation. Confirmation. Jan, I was the last person to
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: know I was T.D. Jakes. I didn't know that. The
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: books were being translated into different languages. I didn't know that.
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: I saw it, but I didn't see it. The stadiums
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: were full. People fighting outside trying to get in. I
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: didn't know I was me. I don't like saying that
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: because it makes you sound stupid. I was on the
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: New York Times bestsellers list. It still didn't add up
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: to me that I was me. I think sometimes grace
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: puts blinders on your eyes. I could see all of you.
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: I couldn't see me. But there was a nagging voice
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: in my head that was correcting damaged thinking. Honestly. Honestly.
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: And I learned something as I got older. I didn't
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: know I was me because I was afraid. Winning has
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: so much responsibility to it. Losing is easy. All you
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: got to do to lose is just let go. Nobody
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: expects nothing from you. Nobody demands anything of you. Sometimes
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: you're afraid of what God has next for you. And
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: I'm being transparent because I'm after something and I don't
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: even know who it is. Most of the people who
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: wrote about me had never met me. And they wrote
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: about a person that I didn't even understand. They wrote
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: about how they would feel if they were me. I
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: didn't feel like that because I didn't know I was me.
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I was playing the piano for people.
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: Loading their cars with bags and driving them around. I
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: didn't know I was me. That doesn't mean that it
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: should have happened any sooner because I think it is
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: the menial things that develop you. I think it is
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: the blind spots that give you focus. I'm not trying
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: to rush the process. I'm just trying to describe a
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: place you might be right now. All I knew is
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: that whenever I got around something that had my destiny
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: in it, I was drawn to it. I was attracted
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: to it. And I would do anything to be in
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: the room with it. And I admired it, but I
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: didn't think I'd ever be it. Because I didn't know
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: I was me. I got off the track a lot
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: of times looking for things that were lesser than what
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: was already mine. I shot too low when I got
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: shot high. And when I did shoot high, I didn't
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: enjoy it because I didn't know I was me. Now
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: there's no need in coming to church. church if it
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: don't help you. This ain't no place you got to come.
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: And you got so many places you got to come.
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: Ain't no need in coming here if you don't have to,
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: if you ain't getting nothing out of it. I'm trying
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: to get you ready for a paradigm shift. Join hands
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: with somebody for just a moment. And let's just make
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: an assumption about them. Let's assume that they have done
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: some stupid things. Let's assume that they have some secrets.
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: Let's assume that they're afraid sometimes. Let's assume that they're
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: coming to church because something keeps drawing them. Let's assume
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: that right now they're in a situation that is the
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: weakest of the tribes, the youngest of the group, down
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: in a pit. Maybe in some area of their life
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: something is not going very well. You can be on
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: top in one area and on the bottom in another area.
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: Everybody needs ministry. Let's assume that God loves them, but
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: they don't always feel his love. And let's assume that
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: God sees him, but they don't always see that God
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: sees him. And let's assume that God is going to
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: help them, but they don't always feel the help of God.
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: And then squeeze their hand and let them know they're
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: not alone.
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 2: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: Let's assume that God called them to church this morning
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: and brought them here because God wanted to get their
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: head together. Let's assume that today is your last day
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: in the wine press. Let's assume that your destiny is
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: calling you. And that God is about to do something
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: amazing in your life. And it might be something that
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: you don't even have a background in. That goes against
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: the grain and blows your mind, but God is going
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: to do it. Squeeze that hand. And you got to
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: be willing to go scared. and go nervous, and go
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: not feeling sufficient, and go feeling inadequate, but God is...
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, sweep this place. If one person in this
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: room has an awakening, it was worth the whole message.
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: If somebody logged online streaming right now just has an
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 1: awakening and their eyes are open and they see that
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: you might be handling wheat, but you're really a warrior. Lord,
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 1: I don't want to, at this stage in my life,
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: I don't want to preach stuff for the entertainment of people.
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: I don't want to do things that don't matter. I
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: feel like I have something to impart to someone. Let
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: somebody receive this word. Hallelujah.
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: Down in the depths of their being, let them just really, really, really,
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: really embrace what is being taught right now. Redefine themselves. Refocus, refire,
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: refuel themselves. I thank you for what you're about to do.
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: I pray that what you're doing in their life right
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: now will last longer than the service. Amen. I pray
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: to get in the car with them and get in
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: the house with them and get in their decisions and
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: get in their choices and get in their situation. I
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: pray that every Gideon in here would find his 300.
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: Squeeze that hand. God is about to put you in
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: a new circle of people. You're about to find your
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: 300 chosen men. You're about to find the people that
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: will get down and lap water like a dog and
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: fight till you get the victory. A change is coming
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: in your life. Yeah. This Sunday morning, this Sunday morning,
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: right here, don't fight it. Receive it.
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 2: A change.
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: A change. A change. You will never be who you
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: were before. A change.
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 2: A change.
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: I want you to pray for the person you're touching.
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: Everything the Holy Spirit gives you to pray over their life.
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: I want you to pray for them right now.
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 3: I am who you say.
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: I am.
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 3: You are for me, not against me. I am who
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 3: you say I am. I am chosen, not mistaken. I
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 3: am who you say I am. You are for me,
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 3: not against me. I am who you say I am.
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 3: I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 3: I am. You are for.
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: Me, not against me.
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 3: I am who you say I.
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 2: Am.
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 3: I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 3: I am. You are for me, not against me. I
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 3: am who you say I am. I am chosen, not forsaken.
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 3: I am who you say I am. You are for me,
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 3: not against me. I am who you.
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: The anointing of God is in this place. The spirit
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: of God is sweeping across this room right now. Souls
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: are being set free all around me. Don't miss this opportunity.