Latest / Pst T.D Jakes -The POTTER'S HOUSE / When God Develops You in the Dark Bishop T.D. Jakes
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: I'm ready to go to work.
- 0:03Speaker 2: Is that all right? If you want to make me
- 0:06Speaker 2: feel real at home, get your Bibles or your iPads
- 0:09Speaker 2: or your cell phones or your eyeglasses, all these technologies
- 0:17Speaker 2: they got today. I don't know where you got your
- 0:19Speaker 2: Bible here, but stand up on your feet as we
- 0:21Speaker 2: go into the Word of God. We're going to read
- 0:24Speaker 2: two scriptures, Acts 9, 1 through 9, and we're going
- 0:27Speaker 2: to read Isaiah 45 and 3. Isaiah 45 and 3
- 0:33Speaker 2: and Acts 9, 1 through 9. Glory to God. I
- 0:41Speaker 2: better get comfortable because I think I got to go
- 0:43Speaker 2: to work here. Somebody say go to work. We'll read
- 0:50Speaker 2: Acts 9 and 1 first and we'll read down through
- 0:52Speaker 2: the nine verses. A very familiar story, but indulge me
- 0:55Speaker 2: as I share it with you. I'm reading it out
- 0:57Speaker 2: of the King James Version, not that it has any
- 1:00Speaker 2: more power In the old church, the old people used
- 1:02Speaker 2: to say the King James Version was the only real version.
- 1:05Speaker 1: Of the Bible.
- 1:07Speaker 2: That's not true. But by the time I learned it
- 1:10Speaker 2: in King James for the witch cause and therefore and
- 1:14Speaker 2: having these precious promises, I'm too old to have to
- 1:17Speaker 2: relearn it in the modern language. So put up with
- 1:21Speaker 2: me as I preach out of the King James. Is
- 1:22Speaker 2: that okay? It means the same thing. And Saul, yet
- 1:28Speaker 2: breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,
- 1:36Speaker 2: went unto the high priest and desired of him letters
- 1:39Speaker 2: to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any
- 1:43Speaker 2: of this way, this way meaning Christians, whether they were
- 1:47Speaker 2: men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
- 1:54Speaker 2: And as he journeyed, he came near, he came near Damascus.
- 1:58Speaker 2: And suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven.
- 2:03Speaker 2: And he fell to the earth and heard a voice
- 2:06Speaker 2: saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And
- 2:13Speaker 2: he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said,
- 2:16Speaker 2: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for
- 2:20Speaker 2: thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and
- 2:25Speaker 2: astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
- 2:29Speaker 2: And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into
- 2:32Speaker 2: the city and it shall be told thee what thou
- 2:36Speaker 2: must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless,
- 2:41Speaker 2: hearing a voice but seeing no man. And Saul arose
- 2:45Speaker 2: from the earth and when his eyes were opened, he
- 2:49Speaker 2: saw no man. But they led him by the hand,
- 2:54Speaker 2: he was blind, and brought him into Damascus. And he
- 2:59Speaker 2: was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
- 3:06Speaker 2: Let's go further to Isaiah, Isaiah 45 and 3. Here
- 3:12Speaker 2: we have the promise of God delivered to us from
- 3:15Speaker 2: the eagle-eyed prophet himself. A promise that I want you
- 3:18Speaker 2: to take with you. A promise that is absolute and solid.
- 3:22Speaker 2: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness. I
- 3:29Speaker 2: will give thee the treasures of darkness. I didn't know
- 3:34Speaker 2: darkness had treasure. I will give thee the treasures of
- 3:38Speaker 2: darkness and darkness. Hidden riches of secret places. I'm going
- 3:46Speaker 2: to unlock stuff that nobody knows but me and you.
- 3:50Speaker 2: That thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call
- 3:55Speaker 2: thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
- 4:02Speaker 1: Oh my God. I love you.
- 4:05Speaker 2: For a few moments, I want to talk about the
- 4:08Speaker 2: treasures of darkness. Can we pray while we're standing? Holy Spirit,
- 4:14Speaker 2: direct our paths. We seek thy face, O God. You
- 4:18Speaker 2: are in a class all by yourself. You're sovereign God.
- 4:23Speaker 2: You're not an abstract idea. You're not a vague possibility.
- 4:27Speaker 2: You are not God as we perceive him. You are
- 4:31Speaker 2: not generic in your being. You are divine in your composition.
- 4:35Speaker 2: You are holy in your discourse. You are righteous. in
- 4:38Speaker 2: your character. You are sovereign in your authority. You are
- 4:42Speaker 2: the mighty I am, Prince of Peace, invincible ruler of
- 4:46Speaker 2: the universe who sits on the circle of the earth.
- 4:50Speaker 1: Have my way, oh God.
- 4:54Speaker 2: I thank you in advance for what you're about to do.
- 4:58Speaker 2: Shake this place. Shake us till we're changed. Shake us
- 5:03Speaker 2: till we're new. I believe you're for miracle working power.
- 5:08Speaker 1: Have thy way. Thou art the potter.
- 5:13Speaker 2: And I am but the clay. In Jesus' name, amen.
- 5:20Speaker 2: You may be seated in the presence of God. Glory
- 5:24Speaker 2: to God.
- 5:26Speaker 3: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and
- 5:31Speaker 3: hidden riches of secret places. God has stuff in places
- 5:38Speaker 3: that nobody knows. I love to read in the book
- 5:42Speaker 3: of Genesis when God got ready to send the flood,
- 5:44Speaker 3: it was not just that the rain came down, but
- 5:47Speaker 3: if you read it, the Bible says he broke up
- 5:50Speaker 3: the cisterns of the deep, meaning that God had water
- 5:53Speaker 3: in the earth that was prepared for.
- 5:55Speaker 2: Such a time as that. And it wasn't just what
- 5:58Speaker 2: came down, it was what came up. And it flooded
- 6:01Speaker 2: the earth because God had pockets of water that nobody
- 6:04Speaker 2: knew where it was. I believe that God has pockets
- 6:07Speaker 2: of blessings that nobody knows where they are but him.
- 6:11Speaker 2: And when he gets ready to bless you, he's got
- 6:13Speaker 2: a thousand ways to bless you. It can come from
- 6:16Speaker 2: every direction. It can come from the north, the south,
- 6:20Speaker 2: the east, the west. It can come from friends or foes.
- 6:24Speaker 2: It can come from haters and imitators and spectators.
- 6:27Speaker 1: When God gets ready to bless you.
- 6:34Speaker 2: He says to us our absolute promise, I will give
- 6:37Speaker 2: you treasures of the darkness. Now Jesus teaches us clearly
- 6:42Speaker 2: and succinctly for us to work while it's day. He
- 6:47Speaker 2: says work while it's day for when night cometh, no
- 6:50Speaker 2: man can work. Work while it's day for when night cometh,
- 6:55Speaker 2: no man can work. But he didn't say God couldn't work.
- 7:01Speaker 2: Man can't work, but God can.
- 7:04Speaker 1: Can work.
- 7:05Speaker 2: When God gets ready to work, he can work in
- 7:08Speaker 2: adverse conditions. He can work without the benefit of surrounding support.
- 7:13Speaker 2: When God gets ready to work, he doesn't need help
- 7:16Speaker 2: from the environment. That's why Jesus said, I am a
- 7:19Speaker 2: root springing up out of dry ground. When I get
- 7:23Speaker 2: ready to spring up, I don't need it to rain.
- 7:26Speaker 2: When I get ready to bless you, I can bless
- 7:28Speaker 2: you around enemies. I can bless you around witches and warlocks.
- 7:33Speaker 2: I can bless you in any situation. I am God
- 7:37Speaker 2: and beside me there is no other. I am God.
- 7:40Speaker 2: And besides me, there is no other.
- 7:42Speaker 1: I am God.
- 7:43Speaker 2: Nobody elected me. Nobody appointed me. Nobody moved me in.
- 7:47Speaker 2: Nobody can take me out. I can't be impeached. I
- 7:50Speaker 2: can't be removed. I am God all by myself.
- 7:55Speaker 1: I was God.
- 7:56Speaker 2: Before there was anybody there to tell me I was God.
- 7:59Speaker 2: I was God before the thunder clapped his hands. I
- 8:02Speaker 2: was God before the lightning flashed. I was God before
- 8:06Speaker 2: the clouds collided. I was God before there was a
- 8:08Speaker 2: whale or wind or this or that or it or and.
- 8:12Speaker 2: I was God before the angels sang their first hymn.
- 8:15Speaker 2: I was God before you ever said hallelujah. I was
- 8:19Speaker 2: God before the morning ever kissed the sunlit sky.
- 8:22Speaker 1: I'm God! It's feeling churchy in here.
- 8:35Speaker 2: My God, somebody is ready for a breakthrough in here.
- 8:40Speaker 1: Shout hallelujah in this place.
- 8:45Speaker 2: If God is going to give us the treasures of darkness,
- 8:49Speaker 2: we must understand what darkness is. And I want to
- 8:53Speaker 2: challenge you because darkness is so pervasive. And even as
- 8:57Speaker 2: a child, it can be quite intimidating. I remember being
- 8:59Speaker 2: a child and being afraid of the dark. Everything changed
- 9:03Speaker 2: in the dark. It changed. My robe hanging over in
- 9:08Speaker 2: the corner changed into the Wicked Witch of the West
- 9:10Speaker 2: in the dark. And I wanted a little bit of
- 9:14Speaker 2: light on so I could see what was coming up
- 9:16Speaker 2: and going on in my room because everything looks different
- 9:19Speaker 2: in the dark. And when it really gets dark, you
- 9:21Speaker 2: can't see anything at all. So what is darkness? Well,
- 9:27Speaker 2: scientists teach us that darkness is not a thing. I
- 9:32Speaker 2: know you thought it was a thing, but it's not
- 9:33Speaker 2: a thing. Darkness is not a thing. It is the
- 9:38Speaker 2: absence of a thing. Darkness is defined as the absence
- 9:44Speaker 2: of light. It is only the consequences or the results
- 9:50Speaker 2: of the absence of that which is legitimate. Light is
- 9:57Speaker 2: a thing because it is quantifiable. It can be felt.
- 10:02Speaker 2: It can be touched. It can be measured. It can be,
- 10:06Speaker 2: it can be, how many watts is that coming at me?
- 10:09Speaker 2: You can measure how much light, the decibels of light.
- 10:13Speaker 2: Sound is a thing because it can be measured. Light
- 10:16Speaker 2: is a thing because it can be measured. And it
- 10:18Speaker 2: came at the speed of light. If you can measure
- 10:23Speaker 2: its speed, it's a thing. You never hear anybody say
- 10:26Speaker 2: it came at the speed of darkness. Because darkness doesn't
- 10:29Speaker 2: have a speed. It doesn't have a decimal. It doesn't
- 10:33Speaker 2: have a wattage. Because darkness is not a thing. It
- 10:37Speaker 2: is the absence of a thing. So in order to
- 10:42Speaker 2: experience darkness, it is when we go through something where
- 10:46Speaker 2: we have the absence of a thing. It is what
- 10:52Speaker 2: we don't have that makes it dark. It is when
- 10:59Speaker 2: you don't have the absence. When you have the absence
- 11:02Speaker 2: of a thing, it can be dark even if the
- 11:05Speaker 2: room is lit. Because darkness is not a thing, it's
- 11:09Speaker 2: a void.
- 11:12Speaker 1: It's an emptiness.
- 11:14Speaker 2: It's an ambiguous existence, a place whereby I cannot see
- 11:19Speaker 2: my way clear. Not because the darkness has power. It
- 11:24Speaker 2: has no power having neither light, having neither heat. It
- 11:29Speaker 2: has no power.
- 11:32Speaker 1: It's absence.
- 11:34Speaker 2: How many of God's people are aching over absence? What
- 11:41Speaker 2: isn't there can be as painful as what is. Now
- 11:47Speaker 2: you have to have lived a while to understand what
- 11:49Speaker 2: I just said. But what isn't there can be as
- 11:52Speaker 2: painful as what is. And in this world, in this Instagram, Facebook,
- 11:59Speaker 2: Twitter world, in this selfie world where everybody wants to
- 12:04Speaker 2: be in the light. and everybody wants to say, see me,
- 12:08Speaker 2: and everybody wants to be on stage, and everybody wants
- 12:11Speaker 2: to be up front, and everybody wants to be recognized,
- 12:14Speaker 2: it is difficult to get us to appreciate that God
- 12:17Speaker 2: does his best work not.
- 12:19Speaker 1: In the light, but in the dark.
- 12:26Speaker 2: In fact, when God gets ready to prepare you for light,
- 12:30Speaker 2: he puts you in the dark.
- 12:32Speaker 3: Amen.
- 12:36Speaker 1: Like an old camera, when a camera.
- 12:39Speaker 2: Got ready to develop the film, you developed it in
- 12:42Speaker 2: the dark. You showed it in the light, but it
- 12:45Speaker 2: was developed in the dark. If you gave it too
- 12:48Speaker 2: much light too soon, you ruined the exposure because it
- 12:51Speaker 2: was developed in the dark. Some of you don't recognize it,
- 12:54Speaker 2: but you're being developed in the dark. You prayed for
- 12:58Speaker 2: the light, but God is developing you in the dark.
- 13:01Speaker 2: Do you hear what I'm saying to you? This season
- 13:05Speaker 2: that you're in is preparation for what God is about
- 13:08Speaker 2: to do in your life. He's developing you in the dark.
- 13:12Speaker 2: Oh no, don't put me up there too soon. I
- 13:15Speaker 2: don't want light when I need darkness. God works in
- 13:22Speaker 2: the dark. It's the first thing he teaches us about
- 13:26Speaker 2: him in the book of Genesis. In the beginning God
- 13:28Speaker 2: created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was
- 13:30Speaker 2: without form and void. And darkness covered the face of
- 13:35Speaker 2: the deep. It covered the face of the deep. But
- 13:37Speaker 2: it didn't stop God from moving it. Because the Spirit
- 13:40Speaker 2: of God moved in the midst of darkness. He didn't
- 13:44Speaker 2: wait for a day before he moved. He moved in
- 13:48Speaker 2: the darkness. If you're going through a dark place, if
- 13:50Speaker 2: you're going through a void, if you're going through an absence,
- 13:54Speaker 2: if you're going through an emptiness, it doesn't stop God
- 13:56Speaker 2: from moving. The Spirit of the Lord moved upon the
- 14:01Speaker 2: face of the waters. And God said, let there be
- 14:05Speaker 2: light and darkness.
- 14:06Speaker 3: Red!
- 14:06Speaker 2: Red! Darkness ran from the light. Darkness runs from the light.
- 14:13Speaker 2: Darkness runs from the light. I want to tell every
- 14:16Speaker 2: witch in the house, darkness runs from the light. Darkness
- 14:25Speaker 2: quivers like a little girl and runs home from the
- 14:28Speaker 2: light because darkness has no existence. It's not a thing.
- 14:35Speaker 1: It's an absence.
- 14:37Speaker 2: The entrance of thy word giveth light. Only God can
- 14:43Speaker 2: work in the dark. And he does some of his
- 14:45Speaker 2: best work in the dark. When he got ready to
- 14:48Speaker 2: create the earth, he started the job in the dark.
- 14:53Speaker 2: When God allows a woman to collaborate with him in
- 14:57Speaker 2: the creation of a human being, he places the embryo
- 15:01Speaker 2: in the darkness of her womb. And holds it there
- 15:05Speaker 2: for three trimesters. He's careful about not bringing it into
- 15:10Speaker 2: the light too soon. Because while the embryo is up
- 15:13Speaker 2: under development. He says I need to do it in
- 15:16Speaker 2: the dark. God does his best stuff in the dark
- 15:22Speaker 2: when the lights are out, when the crowd is not there,
- 15:25Speaker 2: when the people are not around. He does his best
- 15:27Speaker 2: work in moments like that. When God got ready to
- 15:30Speaker 2: create the first woman, he put Adam to sleep. And
- 15:34Speaker 2: there in the darkness, he pulled out of him what
- 15:37Speaker 2: he didn't even know he had in him. I'm telling you,
- 15:46Speaker 2: you still got some stuff in you that you don't
- 15:48Speaker 2: even know that's down inside of you. And if God
- 15:52Speaker 2: decides to put you in the darkness, it's because he's
- 15:55Speaker 2: getting ready to pull something out of you that you
- 15:58Speaker 2: didn't even know was there.
- 15:59Speaker 1: Whoa, man. Check that out.
- 16:06Speaker 2: I didn't know all of that was in me. I
- 16:09Speaker 2: didn't know I could do all of that. I didn't
- 16:11Speaker 2: know I was walking around with all that potential in me,
- 16:14Speaker 2: all that unrealized potential in me. I thought I was
- 16:17Speaker 2: who they said I was. I thought I was a
- 16:20Speaker 2: nobody and a nothing. I thought I was a failure
- 16:22Speaker 2: and a reject. I thought I was the black sheep
- 16:25Speaker 2: of my family. I thought I was a criminal and
- 16:27Speaker 2: an inmate. But then God put me in a dark
- 16:29Speaker 2: place and started pulling stuff out of me that I
- 16:32Speaker 2: didn't even know.
- 16:34Speaker 1: Who am I preaching to in here today?
- 16:43Speaker 2: As long as you take a bag of seeds and
- 16:45Speaker 2: keep it on a shelf, you'll never have a harvest.
- 16:50Speaker 1: You'll never have a harvest.
- 16:52Speaker 2: You can take a bag of seeds and put it
- 16:53Speaker 2: in a shelf and put it in the light somewhere
- 16:56Speaker 2: and it will never produce because seeds were designed to
- 16:59Speaker 2: produce in the darkness. That's why seeds have to be
- 17:04Speaker 2: planted because in the privacy of darkness, seeds begin to
- 17:11Speaker 2: go through a metamorphosis That they could not go through.
- 17:16Speaker 2: In the light. I just want to stop and thank
- 17:19Speaker 2: God that he allowed me to go through my changes
- 17:23Speaker 2: in the darkness. That you didn't put me up in
- 17:26Speaker 2: front of everybody and have to fix some stuff in
- 17:29Speaker 2: the public. But in the privacy of my secret chambers,
- 17:34Speaker 2: there he began to take me through all the wrestling
- 17:37Speaker 2: and the struggling that were necessary to make me become
- 17:40Speaker 2: who you wanted me to be. Because you're sovereign like that.
- 17:43Speaker 2: And you said, I will give you the treasures of
- 17:47Speaker 2: darkness I came to preach to somebody that might be
- 17:50Speaker 2: in a dark place right now I came to tell
- 17:53Speaker 2: you that weeping may endure for a night but joy
- 17:57Speaker 2: cometh in the morning I came to tell you that
- 18:00Speaker 2: where you are is not where you're going to be
- 18:03Speaker 2: that God has given you privacy so he can bring
- 18:06Speaker 2: some things out of you that you didn't even know
- 18:08Speaker 2: that you have I came to tell you that you
- 18:11Speaker 2: got hidden treasure I came to tell you that your
- 18:15Speaker 2: first grade teacher might have lied when she said you
- 18:18Speaker 2: couldn't learn or you couldn't think or you couldn't be
- 18:21Speaker 2: or you couldn't do or your first boyfriend or your
- 18:24Speaker 2: first girlfriend might have lied when they said you were nobody.
- 18:27Speaker 2: They met you before God put you in the dark.
- 18:30Speaker 2: But after this, you shall come forth. Yeah. Oh, God.
- 18:44Speaker 2: When God got ready to go into covenant with Abraham,
- 18:47Speaker 2: he put him to sleep. And there in a unilateral covenant,
- 18:51Speaker 2: without any help from Abraham himself, God entered into covenant
- 18:55Speaker 2: with him that affected his children and his children's children
- 19:01Speaker 2: and his children's children's children. Some of the things that
- 19:05Speaker 2: you're going through aren't even about you. They're about who's
- 19:11Speaker 2: coming after you. They're about breaking curses off of your future.
- 19:17Speaker 2: It's about that child you got. It's about that promise
- 19:21Speaker 2: you got. It's about things you don't even understand right now.
- 19:25Speaker 2: But after a while, you're going to be shouting the
- 19:26Speaker 2: victory and saying it was good for me that I
- 19:30Speaker 2: was afflicted. For had I not been afflicted, I would
- 19:33Speaker 2: have never seen the glory of God. Oh, I feel
- 19:39Speaker 2: the presence of God in this place. Something is about
- 19:43Speaker 2: to happen in this place. I can feel it in
- 19:46Speaker 2: my bones. I can sense it in my spirit. something
- 19:50Speaker 2: is about to happen I'm just glad to be in
- 19:53Speaker 2: the place set me in the balcony I can still
- 19:57Speaker 2: get my blessing.
- 19:58Speaker 1: Something is about to happen.
- 20:19Speaker 2: The transformative power of God. The ability to turn this
- 20:24Speaker 2: into that is often done in the dark. To bring
- 20:29Speaker 2: Abraham out of Abram. To bring Sarah out of Sarai. Oh,
- 20:35Speaker 2: it's often done in the dark. To bring the resurrected
- 20:40Speaker 2: Jesus is often done in the dark. He puts you
- 20:45Speaker 2: in a private place and there he begins to bring
- 20:48Speaker 2: about change. Now, to my text. In my texts this morning,
- 21:06Speaker 2: ladies and gentlemen, there is a very interesting gentleman, a
- 21:09Speaker 2: man of note and notoriety and intellectual as it were.
- 21:13Speaker 2: He is known in the gates amongst the great thinkers.
- 21:18Speaker 2: He has been educated at the feet of Gamal. He
- 21:21Speaker 2: would have been known by Socrates and Aristotle. He is
- 21:24Speaker 2: an aristocrat and a nobleman. Intellectually, he is bilingual. Five
- 21:30Speaker 2: different languages he spoke in. He was respected amongst the
- 21:34Speaker 2: scholars and the thinkers for his intellect, for his capacity,
- 21:38Speaker 2: for his power.
- 21:39Speaker 3: He is a.
- 21:40Speaker 2: Hebrew of Hebrews. He is a Pharisee as it relates
- 21:44Speaker 2: to religion. Concerning the law, he is zealous. As it
- 21:48Speaker 2: relates to aristocracy, he is of the tribe of Benjamin.
- 21:52Speaker 2: That means he comes from the order of kings. That's
- 21:56Speaker 2: why he is called Saul, reminiscent of the first king
- 22:00Speaker 2: of Israel. Saul is his Hebraistic name that lets you
- 22:04Speaker 2: know that he is somebody.
- 22:08Speaker 1: But he is wrong.
- 22:11Speaker 2: He is also the same little boy that held the
- 22:14Speaker 2: coats while Stephen was stoned. Those early impressions leave depressions
- 22:21Speaker 2: and demarcations in how we see the world. He started
- 22:26Speaker 2: out early seeing Christians killed. And when you teach children
- 22:31Speaker 2: to hate at early ages, it is hard to get
- 22:34Speaker 2: it out. And so he grows up a religious hater.
- 22:47Speaker 2: A religious hater. He is religious, but he is a hater.
- 22:53Speaker 2: Don't be shocked. Religion often hates. Religion often kills. Religion
- 23:02Speaker 2: starts wars. Religion burns innocent women and calls them witches
- 23:08Speaker 2: and finds out later they was wrong and never apologizes.
- 23:11Speaker 2: Religion can be a murderer. Religion is a dangerous thing.
- 23:15Speaker 2: That's why Christ did not come to give us religion.
- 23:19Speaker 2: He came to give us relationship. And whenever somebody has
- 23:28Speaker 2: relationship with God, somebody who only has religion will try
- 23:32Speaker 2: to kill them. That's why the most dangerous enemies Christ
- 23:39Speaker 2: ever encountered were religious people. The sinners loved him. The
- 23:44Speaker 2: winebibbers loved him. The wayfaring people loved him. It was
- 23:48Speaker 2: the religious people that hated Jesus and sought to kill him.
- 23:53Speaker 2: And that is the irony of the text because now
- 23:56Speaker 2: we're dealing with the next generation of the same story.
- 24:01Speaker 2: The little boy who was holding the coat when Stephen
- 24:03Speaker 2: was stoned has now grown into a man. And the
- 24:06Speaker 2: Jesus that he is taught to hate is now ascended
- 24:09Speaker 2: and seated on the right hand of the majesty on high.
- 24:12Speaker 2: But the fight continues. The fight continues. You see, Saul
- 24:18Speaker 2: is a terrorist. He is what we would call a
- 24:22Speaker 2: terrorist today. He would be on our terrorist list. He
- 24:26Speaker 2: would be on our flight list. He would be on
- 24:28Speaker 2: our warning list. Saul is a terrorist of Christians. And
- 24:33Speaker 2: he thinks he's doing God's service. Beware of people's ministry
- 24:40Speaker 2: that is defined by who they are against. Your religion
- 24:52Speaker 2: should not make you hate, it should make you love.
- 24:56Speaker 2: Your religion should not make you hate, it should make
- 24:59Speaker 2: you love. Your religion should not make you hate, it
- 25:03Speaker 2: should make you love. Anytime you stick your chest out
- 25:06Speaker 2: and brag about who you don't like, you don't know Jesus,
- 25:10Speaker 2: you just know religion. And so Saul is on his
- 25:17Speaker 2: way to do some more killing Not more, mo. There's
- 25:25Speaker 2: a difference between more and mo. Don't worry about it.
- 25:33Speaker 2: It's African American colloquialism. We'll explain it to the white
- 25:38Speaker 2: folks later. Mo is what you say when you can't
- 25:42Speaker 2: afford RE. He's on his way to Damascus to do
- 25:50Speaker 2: some mo. killing he has threatened them because terror lives
- 25:58Speaker 2: in an atmosphere of fear he has threatened them and
- 26:03Speaker 2: he needs him to be afraid and he's gotten the
- 26:05Speaker 2: paperwork guess what from the priest to go Christian killing
- 26:13Speaker 2: to drag them in chains back to Jerusalem and persecute
- 26:18Speaker 2: them He is going to destroy them. And while he
- 26:24Speaker 2: is on his way, God stopped him. Now let me
- 26:29Speaker 2: tell you something. I don't mind you shouting about what
- 26:32Speaker 2: God did. And I don't mind you shouting about what
- 26:35Speaker 2: God gave you. And I don't mind you shouting about
- 26:37Speaker 2: what you're driving. And I don't mind you shouting about
- 26:39Speaker 2: what you got on. But let me shout about what
- 26:43Speaker 2: he stopped. There were some things that were headed my
- 26:49Speaker 2: way and just before the enemy snatched it, God stopped it.
- 26:54Speaker 2: Is there anybody in here that you could see calamity.
- 26:58Speaker 1: Coming down the road? But just in the nick.
- 27:01Speaker 2: Of time, God... High five somebody and tell them God
- 27:10Speaker 2: stopped it. He stopped the cancer. He stopped the AIDS.
- 27:15Speaker 2: He stopped the suicide. He stopped the depression. He stopped
- 27:20Speaker 2: the fear. He stopped the anguish. Just in the nick
- 27:24Speaker 2: of time, God stopped it. Somebody give him three minutes
- 27:29Speaker 2: of craving. He stopped it. He stopped it. Tell everybody
- 27:44Speaker 2: you can reach. He stopped it. He stopped it. He
- 27:47Speaker 2: stopped it. He stopped it. He stopped it. He knocked
- 27:50Speaker 2: it down off his feet. He laid it out on
- 27:53Speaker 2: the ground. He stopped it. He stopped it. They said
- 27:56Speaker 2: I wouldn't make it, but he stopped it. I got
- 27:59Speaker 2: to praise him because he.
- 28:06Speaker 2: Anybody been through what you've been through should have had
- 28:08Speaker 2: a nervous breakdown. But God stopped it. My God, my God,
- 28:24Speaker 2: oh my God. There's some almost folks in here, almost destroyed,
- 28:29Speaker 2: almost lost their mind, almost faded, almost collapsed, almost died,
- 28:36Speaker 2: but just in the nick of time, just when hell
- 28:39Speaker 2: thought he had you, just when Satan said, I'm coming
- 28:42Speaker 2: in for the kill, God! Drop!
- 28:47Speaker 4: Drop!
- 28:47Speaker 2: Drop! I could spend the rest of my life thanking
- 29:08Speaker 2: him for the things that didn't happen, that could have happened,
- 29:12Speaker 2: that should have happened, that would have happened, but God
- 29:16Speaker 2: stopped it. If he doesn't do anything else, I'll thank
- 29:20Speaker 2: him for what he stopped. He knocked Saul down. While
- 29:34Speaker 2: he was yet a little ways from Damascus. it was
- 29:41Speaker 2: a close call he almost got there and God stopped
- 29:48Speaker 2: him and knocked him down and he said who is
- 29:53Speaker 2: it Lord who is this and he said I am
- 29:58Speaker 2: Jesus and whom thou persecutest. Now wait a minute, wait
- 30:02Speaker 2: a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Throughout all
- 30:04Speaker 2: of the Bible, you will never read where Saul ever
- 30:08Speaker 2: attacked Jesus. And yet Jesus said, it is Jesus whom
- 30:13Speaker 2: thou persecutest. Saul never attacked Jesus. He just attacked the
- 30:20Speaker 2: believers in Jesus. That means, that means that if Jesus said,
- 30:26Speaker 2: you're persecuting me when you're persecuting my people, that means
- 30:30Speaker 2: when you jump on me, You jumped on him. That
- 30:35Speaker 2: means that the battle.
- 30:36Speaker 1: Is not mine.
- 30:37Speaker 2: It belongs to the Lord. That means I got back
- 30:41Speaker 2: up in the time of trouble. That means when you
- 30:43Speaker 2: attack me, God takes it personal.
- 30:47Speaker 1: That means I don't have to fight you back. That
- 30:50Speaker 1: God will fight on my behalf.
- 31:04Speaker 2: My God. Look at your neighbor and say, you better
- 31:08Speaker 2: lead me along. I'd hate for you to get out
- 31:15Speaker 2: here on 40 and God have to stop your car
- 31:17Speaker 2: in the middle of the road. I'd hate for God
- 31:20Speaker 2: to have to shut you down to get some sense
- 31:22Speaker 2: in your head. I'd hate for God to have to
- 31:24Speaker 2: put you in a hospital to get some sense in
- 31:27Speaker 2: your head. You thought I was by myself. No, baby.
- 31:30Speaker 2: I ain't never by myself. No, I ain't never by myself.
- 31:36Speaker 2: I'm always packing. I'm always loaded. I'm always ready. You
- 31:41Speaker 2: thought you was picking on a nobody. I love the
- 31:55Speaker 2: way Jesus shows up. People say I'm a bit animated
- 32:02Speaker 2: and I can be a touch theatrical, but that's me
- 32:07Speaker 2: being like the Lord. Because, I mean, the Lord could
- 32:11Speaker 2: have just appeared, but no. He sends a great light.
- 32:15Speaker 2: He makes a grand entrance. He sends a great light.
- 32:19Speaker 2: I know it was a great light because it was
- 32:21Speaker 2: greater than daylight. It has to be a mighty great
- 32:26Speaker 2: light to be great light in daylight. It was a
- 32:31Speaker 2: light so strong that it knocked Saul down to the floor.
- 32:35Speaker 2: It was a light so strong that Saul knew he
- 32:38Speaker 2: had never seen anything like it before and it was
- 32:42Speaker 2: the last thing he saw before everything went dark and
- 32:50Speaker 2: he went blind and it was dark it was dark
- 32:56Speaker 2: but it wasn't over it was dark but it wasn't
- 33:00Speaker 2: over it might be dark for you right now.
- 33:04Speaker 1: But it's not over.
- 33:11Speaker 2: You might be going through a season since darkness is
- 33:15Speaker 2: the absence of a thing. You might be going through
- 33:18Speaker 2: a season of the absence of a thing that you
- 33:22Speaker 2: legitimately need. But it ain't over. You may have to
- 33:29Speaker 2: function for a while without the absence of the thing
- 33:32Speaker 2: you adore. But it's not over. You might have to
- 33:37Speaker 2: go up without what your neighbors have. but it's not over.
- 33:43Speaker 2: It's just that God has created the treasures of darkness.
- 33:49Speaker 2: And in order to create the treasures of darkness, he
- 33:51Speaker 2: has to take away light so that he can incubate
- 33:56Speaker 2: what he's.
- 33:57Speaker 1: About to do in your life. Lord, I'm preaching better
- 34:06Speaker 1: than you shout.
- 34:13Speaker 2: You see, they once asked a blind woman, they said,
- 34:16Speaker 2: it must be terrible to be blind. I can't imagine
- 34:20Speaker 2: what you must go through. I feel so sorry for you.
- 34:23Speaker 2: She said, oh, it's not so bad to be blind.
- 34:27Speaker 2: She said, it is better to be blind than to
- 34:30Speaker 2: have sight and not have vision. I'm quoting Helen Keller.
- 34:40Speaker 2: Helen Keller said, I'm better than you. I'm just blind.
- 34:46Speaker 2: You got eyes and have no vision. Listen at the
- 34:53Speaker 2: profundity of what she had to say. She has made
- 34:57Speaker 2: a clear distinction between eyesight and insight. Saul has lost
- 35:06Speaker 2: his eyesight and so that Paul might find.
- 35:12Speaker 1: His insight.
- 35:17Speaker 2: Sometimes you have to go through something to really get
- 35:22Speaker 2: your insight, to find out who you really are, to
- 35:26Speaker 2: find out what you really got, to find out that
- 35:30Speaker 2: you're tougher than you thought you were, to find out
- 35:32Speaker 2: that you can do more than you thought you could do.
- 35:36Speaker 2: Sometimes you have to get away from your eyesight because
- 35:38Speaker 2: your eyesight informs you of your circumstances. Through my eyesight,
- 35:44Speaker 2: I connect with that which is around me, not that
- 35:48Speaker 2: which is within me. And sometimes I cannot be delivered
- 35:52Speaker 2: by that which is around me. I can only be
- 35:55Speaker 2: delivered by that which is within me. If I look
- 35:59Speaker 2: around me, I see circumstances. If I look in me,
- 36:03Speaker 2: I see hope. So sometimes in order to really get
- 36:08Speaker 2: your focus, you have to shut down your eyesight to
- 36:13Speaker 2: build up your insight. Or we could say it this way,
- 36:16Speaker 2: the just shall walk by faith and not by judgment.
- 36:22Speaker 2: If you've been looking at some things that's been discouraging you,
- 36:25Speaker 2: shut your eyes to what you see and turn on
- 36:29Speaker 2: your insight to what you believe. For greater is he
- 36:32Speaker 2: that is in you than he that.
- 36:35Speaker 1: Is in the world.
- 36:36Speaker 2: The power that's going to deliver you is coming from
- 36:39Speaker 2: the inside. When they first came to Mary and the
- 36:45Speaker 2: angel came to Mary and said, hell, Mary, you've been
- 36:48Speaker 2: highly favored. You shall bring forth a son. She used
- 36:51Speaker 2: her eyesight and said, how could these things be? Seeing
- 36:53Speaker 2: as I know not a man, she's looking at her circumstances.
- 36:58Speaker 2: And then she used her insight and said, nevertheless, be
- 37:00Speaker 2: it unto me according to thy word. And because she
- 37:04Speaker 2: yielded to this time of being misunderstood and talked about
- 37:08Speaker 2: and ostracized by her neighbors and almost divorced by her
- 37:12Speaker 2: would-be husband, because she was willing to go through all
- 37:16Speaker 2: of that, she delivered that which would deliver her. There
- 37:25Speaker 2: is something in you that will deliver you. But in
- 37:31Speaker 2: order to produce it, you have to go through the
- 37:35Speaker 2: dark place. Who am I talking to today? Amen. Let
- 37:42Speaker 2: me go a little bit deeper with this. Saul gives
- 37:46Speaker 2: up his eyesight that he might gain insight. He starts
- 37:50Speaker 2: out leading men to do that which he thought was
- 37:54Speaker 2: right but was really wrong. And then he ends up
- 37:58Speaker 2: with the men he was leading, leading him. But when
- 38:04Speaker 2: they started leading him, he had, in spite of no eyesight,
- 38:08Speaker 2: he had greater insight. And for three days, he stumbled
- 38:13Speaker 2: around in the dark. I have gotten my greatest blessings
- 38:22Speaker 2: stumbling up on stuff. I didn't plan it. I just
- 38:28Speaker 2: happened to be at the right place at the right time.
- 38:32Speaker 2: I didn't know I was going to meet somebody that
- 38:34Speaker 2: was going to change the trajectory of my life. But
- 38:37Speaker 2: I stumbled up on something. I want every person in
- 38:41Speaker 2: this room that ever stumbled up on a blessing to
- 38:44Speaker 2: make some noise in this house. Yeah.
- 38:55Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 38:55Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I stumbled on it. I stumbled up on it.
- 39:01Speaker 2: I stumbled up on it. I stumbled up on the treasure.
- 39:05Speaker 2: I stumbled up on a miracle. I stumbled up on
- 39:08Speaker 2: an answer. I stumbled up on deliverance. I stumbled up
- 39:11Speaker 2: on wisdom. I stumbled up on.
- 39:13Speaker 1: A new job.
- 39:14Speaker 2: I stumbled up on a business. I stumbled up on
- 39:18Speaker 2: an opportunity. I just stumbled. I feel something about to
- 39:27Speaker 2: happen to this place. who I'm preaching to, but you're
- 39:32Speaker 2: about to stumble up on something. Something that the devil
- 39:35Speaker 2: thought you would never get. But God's going to let
- 39:38Speaker 2: you be in the right place at the right time.
- 39:40Speaker 2: You didn't plan it. You didn't orchestrate it. You didn't
- 39:44Speaker 2: even expect it. But oops, there it is. Oops, there
- 39:50Speaker 2: it is. Crest down, shake it together, and run it over. Oops.
- 40:01Speaker 2: I feel a prophetic utterance in this place that God
- 40:20Speaker 2: is going to give you hidden treasure. And you're just
- 40:27Speaker 2: going to stumble up on it And he doesn't want
- 40:30Speaker 2: you to wait till you get it to praise him.
- 40:37Speaker 2: He wants you to praise him. Like it's already done.
- 40:42Speaker 1: Like it's already. Like it's already. Like it's already.
- 40:59Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 41:01Speaker 2: You're going to stumble up on this baby girl. You're
- 41:04Speaker 2: going to stumble up on this. Tell all your haters
- 41:07Speaker 2: I can't help it. I tripped over it. I stumbled
- 41:12Speaker 2: into it.
- 41:13Speaker 6: I fell across it. I had to get my little
- 41:23Speaker 6: Pentecostal shout in right there. Because it occurred to me
- 41:26Speaker 6: God might be talking to me too. And when praises
- 41:30Speaker 6: go up. Sit with me, I'm almost finished. You must
- 41:47Speaker 6: understand that, yeah, I'm with you. I feel him too.
- 41:57Speaker 1: Is he on your roll? I feel it.
- 42:01Speaker 2: Is he on your roll? Is he touching your spirit?
- 42:06Speaker 2: Do you feel him in your belly? Shout yes!
- 42:12Speaker 1: Shout yeah! Shout yeah!
- 42:20Speaker 2: Y'all gonna make me go somewhere. Y'all gonna make.
- 42:23Speaker 1: Me lose my mind. Up in here. Up in here.
- 42:28Speaker 1: I'm about to shout. Up in here.
- 42:31Speaker 5: Up in here.
- 42:32Speaker 1: You gonna make me do my task. Up in here.
- 42:36Speaker 1: Up in here. You gonna make me leap for joy.
- 42:56Speaker 2: At this, my brothers and sisters, sit with me three minutes,
- 43:01Speaker 2: because you got me excited. You're about to make me
- 43:04Speaker 2: mess up Lakewood. Y'all been paying all that insurance all
- 43:11Speaker 2: these years? You're about to need it this morning, because
- 43:16Speaker 2: there's some folks out there about to tear this church
- 43:18Speaker 2: up in here. Because they're standing on the verge of
- 43:22Speaker 2: a supernatural. Press down. What I want you to get
- 43:43Speaker 2: as I regain my composure. In a nutshell, I'm trying
- 44:01Speaker 2: to teach you the power of insight, of inner illumination,
- 44:11Speaker 2: of listening at that which comes from within. The power
- 44:17Speaker 2: of vision is not a sensual thing. Vision is a
- 44:24Speaker 2: spiritual thing. It has nothing to do with what you taste, smell,
- 44:34Speaker 2: hear or see. In fact, it often contradicts everything you touch, taste,
- 44:43Speaker 2: smell or hear. The enemy will try to come in
- 44:47Speaker 2: through your eye gate, ear gate, nose gate. Your senses
- 44:51Speaker 2: will contradict what God told you in your spirit. So
- 44:55Speaker 2: Paul gave up his eyesight. for his insight. Fast forward
- 45:02Speaker 2: many years later, he will write to the church at
- 45:05Speaker 2: Ephesus and he will say, I pray that the eyes
- 45:11Speaker 2: of your understanding might be enlightened. Why does he pray
- 45:18Speaker 2: like this? Because he has had this experience on the
- 45:22Speaker 2: Damascus road that teaches him the value of enlightenment. He says,
- 45:28Speaker 2: I pray that the eyes of your understanding, of your
- 45:33Speaker 2: understanding of how you see the world might be enlightened.
- 45:39Speaker 2: This prayer comes from a man who saw the world wrong.
- 45:44Speaker 2: And God used him to set it right. The craziest
- 45:49Speaker 2: thing about it, of all the people for God to use,
- 45:54Speaker 2: he used the very person's Pharisees who hated him to
- 46:02Speaker 2: lead the New Testament church to write the majority of
- 46:08Speaker 2: the epistles to establish the fundamental doctrines of the Christian
- 46:13Speaker 2: faith were all developed by somebody who used to be
- 46:17Speaker 2: a Christian killer your enemies have a purpose That's why
- 46:30Speaker 2: God doesn't want you to hate them. Because he will
- 46:35Speaker 2: make your enemies. Oh, y'all know the word up in
- 46:40Speaker 2: this church. Y'all know the word up in this church.
- 46:44Speaker 2: Y'all know the word up in this church. Y'all know
- 46:47Speaker 2: the word up in this church. And if you're not
- 46:50Speaker 2: speaking to your enemies, you might miss your footstool. The
- 46:59Speaker 2: disciples were afraid of him when he got converted. God
- 47:04Speaker 2: had to speak to them to get them to let.
- 47:07Speaker 1: Him come in.
- 47:08Speaker 2: Because they didn't know that God had given Saul the
- 47:11Speaker 2: treasures of darkness. They thought he was still who he was.
- 47:16Speaker 2: Always leave room for your enemies to change. Because what
- 47:31Speaker 2: God has for you is too big for you to
- 47:37Speaker 2: be small. What God has predestined for you is too
- 47:49Speaker 2: big for you to be petty. It's too big for
- 47:53Speaker 2: you to hold a grudge. Because God in one chapter
- 47:58Speaker 2: is going to take one guy who's got a chain
- 48:01Speaker 2: and get ready to kill you. And then make him
- 48:05Speaker 2: a servant to write the New Testament to feed you.
- 48:12Speaker 2: That's what this text means. This text means that people change.
- 48:19Speaker 2: This text means you ought to forgive. This text means
- 48:23Speaker 2: you ought to let go. This text means that we
- 48:28Speaker 2: have this treasure in dark places, in earthen vessels, that
- 48:36Speaker 2: the excellency may be of God.
- 48:40Speaker 1: And not of us.
- 48:42Speaker 2: This text means that when you walk out of here
- 48:46Speaker 2: expecting this blessing that I just prophesied over your life,
- 48:51Speaker 2: don't just open your door to your friends. Because God
- 49:05Speaker 2: may use your enemies to bless you. So if you
- 49:11Speaker 2: stay angry at your ex-husband, uh-oh, I lost a man, Jesus.
- 49:19Speaker 1: I had the whole 35 minutes, but.
- 49:21Speaker 2: When I brought up that ex-husband, all the joy just
- 49:25Speaker 2: went right out the exit door. A blessing is coming
- 49:34Speaker 2: your way. A hidden treasure is coming your way. And
- 49:41Speaker 2: the darkness that you're in is just a sign that
- 49:46Speaker 2: it's coming your way. In my book, I talk about
- 49:51Speaker 2: the saying to the observer, to the observer, to the
- 49:55Speaker 2: outer observer, planting and burial look the same. Outwardly, it's
- 50:08Speaker 2: the same action. You dig up the earth, you put
- 50:13Speaker 2: something in it, you cover it up. But when you're
- 50:17Speaker 2: burying it, you're covering it up for it to stay.
- 50:22Speaker 2: When you're planting it, you're covering it up for it
- 50:25Speaker 2: to change. The Lord said to you today, you have
- 50:36Speaker 2: not been buried You have been planted. I want you
- 50:50Speaker 2: to stand up on your feet as I remind you
- 50:52Speaker 2: of what Job said.
- 50:53Speaker 1: There is hope for a tree.
- 50:55Speaker 2: That if it be cut down.
- 50:58Speaker 1: At the smell of water it will sprout again.
- 51:19Speaker 2: You might be in a dark season, but I prophesy
- 51:25Speaker 2: you will sprout again. Not only that, you will laugh.
- 51:38Speaker 1: Again.
- 51:38Speaker 2: I mean belly laugh I mean joyous laugh. I mean
- 51:46Speaker 2: hilarious laughter. And if you can handle that, I'm going
- 51:49Speaker 2: to throw something else on there. You will dance again.
- 51:56Speaker 2: You will dance in your own house. you get in
- 52:00Speaker 2: your shower and start dancing. You'll be in your house
- 52:04Speaker 2: and dance without music. When you see what God brings
- 52:08Speaker 2: up in your life after this, you will rejoice again
- 52:13Speaker 2: because the Lord sent me to Lakewood to tell you
- 52:15Speaker 2: I'm going to give you the treasures of darkness and
- 52:21Speaker 2: the hidden secrets. that have been hidden from everybody else,
- 52:25Speaker 2: I'm going to give it to you so that you
- 52:27Speaker 2: will know that I am the Lord your God and
- 52:31Speaker 2: I am the God of Israel. Clap in this house
- 52:34Speaker 2: if God blessed you this morning. I said clap in
- 52:42Speaker 2: this house if God blessed you this morning.
- 52:46Speaker 1: I said clap in this house if God.
- 52:58Speaker 2: Reach out and touch someone as we prepare to close.
- 53:01Speaker 2: The person you're touching right now. As good as they are,
- 53:09Speaker 2: as gifted as they are, as talented as they are,
- 53:12Speaker 2: as blessed as they are. There's so much more in them.
- 53:23Speaker 2: There's more wisdom and more life and more joy and
- 53:26Speaker 2: more potential and more possibilities than what they've experienced. And
- 53:31Speaker 2: no matter how they grin at you, they go through
- 53:36Speaker 2: some dark places sometimes. When they're not going through somebody
- 53:44Speaker 2: that they love, it's going through a dark place. And
- 53:47Speaker 2: when they go through a dark place, they wonder where
- 53:49Speaker 2: is God? Jehovah Shama, the Lord is there. He's present
- 53:55Speaker 2: in trouble. Squeeze that hand. He's right there right now
- 54:01Speaker 2: developing your next blessing. Developing your next season. Developing your
- 54:08Speaker 2: next place of increase. Developing your overflow season. It's happening
- 54:13Speaker 2: right now. Don't mess with it. Don't touch it. Don't
- 54:17Speaker 2: touch it. It's in the development stage. Don't expose it
- 54:21Speaker 2: too soon. Don't talk about it too soon. It shall
- 54:26Speaker 2: come to pass. It shall come to pass. It shall
- 54:32Speaker 2: come to pass. Squeeze that hand. Lord, I shared with
- 54:46Speaker 2: them what you shared with me. And I tried to
- 54:50Speaker 2: tell them what you told me. And I asked the
- 54:53Speaker 2: Holy Spirit to take my little feeble attempts and add
- 54:56Speaker 2: the increase. Let this word go home with them. Let
- 55:01Speaker 2: it get in the car with them. Let it get
- 55:03Speaker 2: in the house with them. Let it go to work
- 55:06Speaker 2: with them. Let it get in their business decisions. Let
- 55:09Speaker 2: it get in their personal life. Let it get in
- 55:11Speaker 2: their finances that they might be going through a crushing,
- 55:14Speaker 2: but you're getting ready to make some wine up in here.
- 55:18Speaker 2: You're getting ready to make some wine up in here.
- 55:21Speaker 2: You're getting ready to make some wine up in here.
- 55:23Speaker 2: I thank you. I thank you, Lord, I'm not tripping.
- 55:38Speaker 2: And then again, maybe I am. Let me trip on
- 55:42Speaker 2: this next blessing. Let me trip on this next opportunity.
- 55:47Speaker 2: Let me trip on this next door. Let me trip
- 55:51Speaker 2: on this next situation that you're bringing into my life.
- 55:56Speaker 2: Just when I thought it wasn't going to happen, I
- 56:00Speaker 2: just tripped up on something. Lakewood, I leave you with
- 56:12Speaker 2: nothing but treasure. I can't make you take it. I
- 56:18Speaker 2: just put it in your reach. If you receive it,
- 56:22Speaker 2: clap your hands and take it in right now. With
- 56:43Speaker 2: everybody standing and nobody leaving, if you're in this room
- 56:51Speaker 2: and you don't know Jesus, while heads are bowed and
- 56:55Speaker 2: eyes are closed, if you're in this room and you
- 56:58Speaker 2: drifted away from the Lord, if you're in this room
- 57:03Speaker 2: and you've been going through some dark places and it
- 57:05Speaker 2: made you kind of doubt sometimes and it made you
- 57:09Speaker 2: kind of cry sometimes, It made you kind of wonder,
- 57:14Speaker 2: does God even love me sometimes? It's no mistake that
- 57:20Speaker 2: you're in this service today. You're in this service because
- 57:26Speaker 2: God has a plan for your life. And you'll never
- 57:29Speaker 2: get there being a backslider and you'll never get there
- 57:31Speaker 2: being a sinner. You'll only get there if you can
- 57:35Speaker 2: say yes to the Lord. You may not even be
- 57:38Speaker 2: from Houston. You might be visiting this city from out
- 57:40Speaker 2: of town. Let me tell you something, sweetheart. This was
- 57:43Speaker 2: a setup. God gave you the time off and sent
- 57:55Speaker 2: you to Houston to get this word so you could
- 57:58Speaker 2: come out of that funk you've been in and move
- 58:02Speaker 2: into your destiny and into your purpose. And I ask
- 58:09Speaker 2: the church to pray because I know that Satan doesn't
- 58:14Speaker 2: want to let you go. I ask the church to
- 58:19Speaker 2: pray because when you've been a little boy and certain
- 58:22Speaker 2: things happen to you as a child, it affects your
- 58:25Speaker 2: perspective as a man. Little girl, it affects the woman
- 58:29Speaker 2: you become. Saul held the coats and became a killer.
- 58:36Speaker 2: Whatever happened to you affected Satan. where you're at right now.
- 58:40Speaker 2: But that is not your destiny. That is your history.
- 58:46Speaker 2: And I call you out of your history into your destiny.
- 59:00Speaker 2: Watch this for just a second. Don't clap, just pray
- 59:03Speaker 2: for just a moment. Just pray. God wants somebody in
- 59:08Speaker 2: this room. And he wants you real bad. And I
- 59:14Speaker 2: can tell by the feel of the anointing that's in
- 59:16Speaker 2: this place. The call of God is on your life.
- 59:21Speaker 2: And if where you are right now, you sense that
- 59:24Speaker 2: God is talking to you. And you're not a Christian
- 59:29Speaker 2: or you used to be a Christian or you're that
- 59:31Speaker 2: special category that we make when we're backslidden that you
- 59:35Speaker 2: think you and God have a special arrangement that you don't.
- 59:41Speaker 2: Because God wants to be full-time, not part-time. Not a
- 59:45Speaker 2: chick on the side. He's calling you. And if you
- 59:56Speaker 2: have a heart to say yes, slip your hand up
- 1:00:00Speaker 2: in the air. Say, I want to be saved. I
- 1:00:05Speaker 2: want to be saved. I want to be saved.
- 1:00:08Speaker 1: I see you. I see you. I see you. I
- 1:00:12Speaker 1: see you. I see you. I see you. All over
- 1:00:17Speaker 1: the building. All up in the balcony. I see you.
- 1:00:21Speaker 1: I see you.
- 1:00:23Speaker 2: Pray this simple prayer with me. Lord Jesus. I invite
- 1:00:28Speaker 2: you into my heart. I confess my sins. I repent
- 1:00:35Speaker 2: of them. I'm sorry. I've been stubborn. I've been foolish.
- 1:00:42Speaker 2: But today, I see a great light. Today, I say
- 1:00:49Speaker 2: yes to you. I'm going to serve you as my
- 1:00:53Speaker 2: Lord and my Savior. Because you died and rose up again,
- 1:01:01Speaker 2: so will I.
- 1:01:03Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, amen.
- 1:01:07Speaker 2: Give him all the praise you got.
- 1:01:09Speaker 5: Love you, Lakewood.
- 1:01:11Speaker 1: Let's tell YouTube Jakes.
- 1:01:16Speaker 2: How much we love him today.
- 1:01:21Speaker 7: Thanks for coming out. We love you very much. If
- 1:01:24Speaker 7: you prayed that prayer, get plugged in here at Lakewood.
- 1:01:27Speaker 7: Until we meet again, may the Lord bless you and
- 1:01:29Speaker 7: keep you. May the Lord watch over you and give
- 1:01:31Speaker 7: you his peace. May the Lord show you his favor
- 1:01:35Speaker 7: and you have a blessed, faith-filled week.
- 1:01:36Speaker 1: We love you.
- 1:01:37Speaker 7: God bless you. We'll see you back real soon.
- 1:01:42Speaker 5: Thank you so much for making Lakewood Church a part
- 1:01:44Speaker 5: of your weekend. We believe your new week will go
- 1:01:46Speaker 5: better because you did. If you just prayed that prayer
- 1:01:49Speaker 5: with Pastor Joel, we'd love to hear from you. send
- 1:01:51Speaker 5: us an email through our website, lakewoodchurch.com. We know that
- 1:01:55Speaker 5: God loves you, has a plan for you, and we'd
- 1:01:57Speaker 5: be happy to help you on your walk with God.
- 1:02:00Speaker 5: I'm Terry Williams, co-director of volunteer teams here at Lakewood Church,
- 1:02:04Speaker 5: and I'm so excited to share with you some of
- 1:02:05Speaker 5: the great things we've got coming up real soon here
- 1:02:08Speaker 5: at Lakewood.
- 1:02:09Speaker 4: One of the awesome ways that Lakewood Church invests in
- 1:02:12Speaker 4: you spiritually by helping you with your walk with Christ
- 1:02:15Speaker 4: is through Monday Night Bible Study. Monday night is a
- 1:02:18Speaker 4: continuation of Sunday, We go a little bit deeper into
- 1:02:21Speaker 4: biblical studies. And if you are here in the Houston area,
- 1:02:24Speaker 4: we encourage you to come and join us on Monday
- 1:02:26Speaker 4: nights on the fourth floor. If you are not, it
- 1:02:29Speaker 4: will be streamed free online.
- 1:02:32Speaker 5: Our ninth annual Youth and Young Adult Conference, Hope in Life,
- 1:02:35Speaker 5: is descending on Lakewood Church this June. June 19th through 21st.
- 1:02:40Speaker 5: Come on out for three incredible nights. We have incredible
- 1:02:43Speaker 5: speakers coming to join us. Louis Giglio will be here.
- 1:02:46Speaker 5: Pastor Mike Todd from Tulsa, Oklahoma will be here. And
- 1:02:49Speaker 5: our very own Young Adults Pastor from Lakewood, Nick Nilsen,
- 1:02:52Speaker 5: will be speaking as well.
- 1:02:53Speaker 4: My anchor is the cross where Jesus died.
- 1:02:57Speaker 7: And that's the place where the love of God was demonstrated.
- 1:03:00Speaker 1: Because if I'm getting out of here and it took.
- 1:03:03Speaker 6: You to get me out of here, I must be
- 1:03:06Speaker 6: moving into something better.
- 1:03:10Speaker 2: Love will push through fear.
- 1:03:12Speaker 1: To rescue. Love will push through fear to men. And
- 1:03:16Speaker 1: that's what peacemaking will require.
- 1:03:18Speaker 2: It will require the spirit of God and the love
- 1:03:21Speaker 2: of God.
- 1:03:22Speaker 5: We've got incredible music from artists like Torrin Wells, our
- 1:03:25Speaker 5: very own, as well as Social Club Misfits. You don't
- 1:03:28Speaker 5: want to miss it. And believe it or not, this
- 1:03:30Speaker 5: conference is absolutely free. If you're not in the Houston area,
- 1:03:34Speaker 5: book your flight and get here. You won't want to
- 1:03:36Speaker 5: miss this life-changing conference.
- 1:03:39Speaker 4: We are so excited to share with you that Pastor
- 1:03:41Speaker 4: Victoria's new book, Exceptional You, is out and available anywhere
- 1:03:45Speaker 4: books are sold. Make sure to grab your copy today.
- 1:03:49Speaker 5: Thank you again for making Lakewood Church a part of
- 1:03:51Speaker 5: your weekend. We strongly believe your new week is going
- 1:03:54Speaker 5: to go better because you did. Our pastor believes in you,
- 1:03:57Speaker 5: loves you, and wants to see you reach your full
- 1:04:00Speaker 5: God-given potential. Thank you so much for tuning in. And
- 1:04:03Speaker 5: if you're ever in our area, we encourage you to
- 1:04:05Speaker 5: come on out and be in the room. It's so
- 1:04:07Speaker 5: good to take in great worship and an awesome message,
- 1:04:10Speaker 5: but there's nothing like being in the room, present with
- 1:04:13Speaker 5: thousands of believers, going all in.
- 1:04:15Speaker 2: In a moment of worship.
- 1:04:16Speaker 5: We love you and thank you again for tuning in.