Dancing in the Desert - Bishop T.D. Jakes

[Music] his word is a lamp into my feet and a light unto my pathway his word has guided me through storm seen and unseen i'm thankful today for the word of god if you don't love god's word you don't love god you possess no more of god than you do of his word and as we prepare our hearts to go into the word today i believe that we have a message that's going to speak to your heart in a definite way i want you to get your bibles right now yes i want you engaged with your bibles not just watching a television show i want you to have an experience with your bible where you come into a covenant relationship between you and the scriptures i don't want you to have a covenant relationship with me and not have a covenant relationship with the word of god so open up your bibles quickly whether it's in your phone or in your hand or exodus chapter number 15 verse 19-27 we have a custom in our church we stand for the reading of the word because we respect god's word and i invite you to participate if you will again the book of exodus chapter number 15 verse 19 through 27 when you have it say amen for the horse of pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea and the lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them but the children of israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea and mariam the prophetess the sister of aaron took a timbrel in her hand and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances and miriam answered them sing ye to the lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider have drowned in the sea so moses brought israel from the red sea and they went out into the wilderness of sure and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water and when they came tomorrow they could not drink of the waters of mara for they were bitter therefore the name of it was called mara and the people murmured against moses saying what shall we drink and he cried unto the lord and the lord showed him a tree which when he had cast into the waters the waters were made sweet there he made for them a statue and an ordinance and there he proved them and said if thou will diligently hearken to the voice of the lord thy god and will do that which is right in his sight and will give ear to his commandments and keep all his statues i will put none of these diseases upon thee which i have brought upon the egyptians for i am the lord that healeth thee and they came to elam where were 12 wells of water and three score and 10 palm trees and they encamped there by the waters can you say amen can you say man again i am attracted to the centerpiece of which i intend to add many accruments but i am attracted to the fact that miriam number one brought her tambourine to the desert and that she would at this particular moment beat her tambourine and all of the women would begin to dance and i want to talk to you from the sydney dancing in the desert write that down dancing in the desert can you say amen you may be seated before i get lost in extrapolating the truths that the holy spirit has whispered in my ear from this text it would be remiss of me if i did not congratulate my wife uh once again this is her birthday week and i want to celebrate you and say happy birthday week happy birthday month as long as you want to extend it uh it's your thing girl do what you want to do we're with you 100 dear sarita a little bird told me it is your birthday i am thrilled to join the flock of well-wishers remembering you on your special day may you have a terrific celebration filled with the love of family and friends president bush joins me in sending you our best wishes for a very happy birthday love laura bush hello sarita i've been invited to take this occasion to wish you a very happy birthday and so i do i wish you a very very very happy happy happy birthday hi sarita i just wanted to wish you a happy birthday as someone that is so deserving because you're such an inspiration to all women myself and all the women of the world you set the perfect example of love and faith in the word of god and just a great example for us so thank you so much for your contributions and just have the happiest day ever you so deserve it dear sarita happy birthday to a woman full of grace and compassion you are worthy of celebration not only today but every day barack and i send our warmest birthday wishes on this milestone occasion i hope you are surrounded by the love of family friends and all those who know you best today as you take the time to reflect on life i hope you take tremendous pride in all you have accomplished and in the ways you have touched the lives of those around you at the potter's house and around the world i for one am grateful for all you do for women and children in your many successful and meaningful programs at the church and for your unwavering support of the bishop i loved having you guys join us for the becoming tour and hope it's not long until we see you again may your year ahead be filled with lots of laughter exciting adventures and much joy happy birthday sarita you and your loved ones have my very best with love michelle it's my privilege to wish mrs sarita jakes the happiest of birthdays it is said that one only rightly sees with the heart and that much of what is essential is invisible to the eye it's with a heart full of love and concern and care that mrs jakes is able to coax to life that which has been hidden and buried and that which is a treasure in the lives of many women who would otherwise have their gifts and talents overlooked or forgotten are able to assume a position of responsibility and lead highly productive lives women find their voice because of her coaching and encouraging women from boardrooms and garages bay windows beauty shops pulpits pews women from garages and laboratories and classrooms and operating rooms and studios all together begin to get a sense of confidence that they can live a purposeful life and release whole young men and women into a world that is now filled with uncertainty and ambiguity she is a woman who is often calm in chaos she can be quiet in a storm and yet she has the fortitude and the courage to struggle to bring the future to life not only for herself but so kindly and generously for so many others there is so much to her she is a woman of wear grace she is a woman that is an eloquent witness uh so much so until she cannot be confined to a verbal one column ledger it's not enough to embrace all of who she is her death and her breath but we're grateful that for us she is a north star and one whose light is rekindled over and over again in the lives of others whether she's working with the developmentally delayed whether she's concerned with debutants or whether she's bringing her design and dignity to homemaking and to being an entrepreneur we're grateful that god has put this woman in a place where we can intersect and observe her life she is for us a candle that is repeatedly rekindled and we are grateful for the inspiration happy birthday mrs sarita jakes and now let's join bishop jakes for the word dancing in the desert the dichotomy of the subject itself is mesmerizing to really think about the whole complexity that these women would with dancing and deserts don't go together deserts are a place you survive not dance and and yet there is this dichotomous oxymoron between the activities of the woman and the location in which the activities are mentioned you don't see people dancing in the desert and yet these women are dancing in the desert i'm going to get to that a little bit later but there's something about women and there's something about worship and there's something about word and there's something about water there's something about women i i've i just finished a book called when women pray there's something unique about women themselves and how they pray not to exclude the men but there were no men dancing the women responded to this moment and i want to explore what would make women dance like i did when women pray women you you hold a unique role in the kingdom of god you have to understand your spiritual role you fought for your corporate role then you fought for your political roles but you also need to understand your spiritual roles there are something that you bring to the table that is unique to the species that nobody else can do quite like you do it that's why jeremiah said sin for the women of mourning and let them take up a wailing uh he understood that there's something unique about when you pray and when you worship that sets you apart that's why jesus went down to the well and sat by the well and waited for one woman to come to teach her how to worship because when women get it yolks are broken bondage is destroyed people are set free generational curses are released destinies are altered when women understand who they are so just think about that as we go into the text because this text starts out with the flamboyant dance of women who seem not to even notice the desert but they're in the middle of the desert with sand dunes and dust hills standing all around them and heat so overwhelming that most people would have passed out these women grab their tambourines and begin to dance in their colorful garbs around and around and around on the edge of the banks of the river and they dance while pharaoh died they danced over the corpses of the deceased and dead horses were on the banks and still they danced don't lose your dance sister or you will not be able to make it you have to keep your dance no matter what the desert is you might be in right now you have to keep your dance uh somebody write down keep your dance something to be said though about this text this text is very interesting because in the span of a few short scriptures we keep hearing about water it is at the red sea that they begin to dance and i want to spend a few minutes talking about water and i want to talk about god and i want to talk about god and water and water and god because there is a theology to be extrapolated from the text as it relates to the understanding of god and water and first of all we must realize when we first met god we met him at the water in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness covered the face of the deep the first thing god moved on and the spirit of the lord moved upon the face of the waters the first thing god moved on was water and it's important that you understand that there is a theology to be extrapolated about god and water i'm not sure that i can fully grasp it but i just want to point out to you that there is some kind of thing between god and water that is so important that all throughout the bible the theme continues as the law first mentioned suggests that it would that we will always see some unity some connection between god and and and and water pharaoh drowned uh in in in the water yes he did yeah the the the priest had to wash in the water before they could go into the holies of holy it's a new generation that was born in the desert had to pass through the jordan in order to get to the promised land there's always something about god and water he taught moses how to draw water out of a rock uh moses smote the rock and the water spewed forth out of the rock not out of the creek bed not out of the river not out of the ocean but god burst water out of a rock later he told him to speak to the rock and the water would gush water out of the rock there's something about god and water i can't figure out exactly what it is but there's some synergistic opportunities for us to understand more clearly that god seems to have this this preoccupation with water jesus starts his ministry at the water he's down at the jordan river and he comes down to the jordan river and john is baptizing at the jordan river and john looks up from the baptism at the jordan river and says behold the lamb of god which taketh away the sins of the world and jesus came down and the bible said straight way he went down into the water and rose up out of the water when jesus came out of the water the heavens opened up look at god in water water and god water and god and god and water when he came up out of water the heavens opened up and the voice from heaven spoke and said this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and jesus ministry started with water let's go back and understand that the first miracle that jesus did was done with water uh his mother mary said we've run out of wine and he he told the servants to go and get some water six perkins of water and when they brought the water to jesus it was out of the water that jesus turned water into wine there's something there's something between god and water that's why baptism is so important there's something between god and water i know you think it's just a ceremonial ritual a routine optional to have or not to have but don't underestimate the power of water water has power water has force water has smite water has significance in water has a theology peter met jesus walking on the water jesus called his disciples while they were standing by the waters there's something about god and water lydia was baptized right outside of philippi at the riverbanks of the water philip told the eunuch hears water what does hinder me from being baptized is something about god and water wherever you see one you see the other he reveals himself uh with water he told the woman at the well if you drink of the waters that i have you will never thirst again there's something about god and water and water and god and here we experience some things about god that we would not understand otherwise if we did not develop an appreciation for god's attraction toward water he moved upon the face of the water and then the bible said on the sixth day of the creation that god created man out of the dust of the earth he formed him but you must also understand that the human body is made of water so it must not have been dust alone it had to be water also the brain and the heart are 73 water the lungs are 63 water the skin contains 64 water your muscles and kidneys are 79 water and even your bones are watery at 31 so when god got ready to make man he made man out of water so when the spirit of the lord moved upon the face of the water the spirit of the lord also moved upon man which was also water your body is composed of water you can go longer without food than you can without water because water requires water you always need whatever you are spirit needs spirit word needs word water needs water your thirst is made out of what you're made of you want what you are then you are made of water and god loves water and god loves you to put the text in context then we must understand that when god gets ready to deliver the children of israel who would have thought that god would have fought pharaoh and his army with the simplicity and the natural substance that we call water we don't normally think of water as a weapon we don't think of it as a tool of warfare if i were going to fight pharaoh i would never fight him with a water hose i would never shoot a water gun at him but god shot a water gun at pharaoh look at god god god can use anything he doesn't have to have special artillery he don't need a m16 he doesn't need an atomic bomb when god gets ready to arrest anything he can arrest it with something you never thought of here we are in this country thinking about nuclear warfare and atomic bombs and all types of things and all of a sudden a germ is released something nobody could see and it shut down the whole world with something you can't even shoot at that's why it's not wise to get into a fight with god his ways are past finding out his methods are past finding out the way he fights is so strategic it'll be something in the air it'll be something in the ground it'll be the jawbone of an ass away god's fights are so strategic who would it have a top that pharaoh would be killed by a water gun but when god gets angry anything is lethal in his hands when god's had enough he'll take you out with something that should have kept you alive he killed pharaoh and what he was born in the same substance that when his mama's water broke ease the labor pains of his birth was the same water that brought him in was the same water that took him out be careful all the enemies of god you got to be careful about being an enemy of god because god will take you out with something that you never even thought was a weapon as nor when god gets ready to work with water god will send rain down from heaven noah had never even seen rain and he built an ark around something he had not seen and all of a sudden he began to rain down from heaven not only that but god broke up the cisterns of the deep god had water on the whole and it lifted the ark up and everything that was saved found life in the water and everything that was unsafe found death in the water isn't it funny how god can bring life and death out of the same substance at the same time depending on where you are he was killing one and making the other one live with the same water that lifted noah destroyed noah's age god god god uses water he uses it he uses it he uses it to cleanse he uses it to change and in my attacks today it is difficult to ignore the brilliancy of god's mind and that this text is not just filled with the beating of tambourines and timbrels and the skipping and the dancing art of hebrew women who are celebrating their liberation but it is also contains three different illustrations that god is trying to teach us of how he will work with water it is the introduction of the children of israel after 400 years of being estranged from the relationship that they had with god for 400 years they had not offered up a sacrifice to god for 400 years they had not had a ceremonial cleansing or washing to god for 400 years they had not worshipped god their ideas about god had become distorted by their association with the egyptians and yet as much as they could remember of him they prayed unto him now we will know that their memory is altered because when they got ready to build an image of god they built it like the egyptians so we know that they did not have a clear image of god and in spite of the fact that their theology was wrong their voice was still heard because god told moses i have heard the cry of my people crying out to me god heard the cry of a people who had not worshiped for 400 years of a people who had primarily lost their vision of who he was and yet though his vision was veiled from their memory with the fragments of what they had left of their understanding of god that was passed around the dinner table with slaves from generation to generation ten generations whispering things that they could only remember about god and yet god it was enough god that when they cried unto him god still heard them you're not too far off you're not so far he won't hear you you're not so bad he won't hear you you're not in so deep he won't hear 500 years since they had served him but when they cried he still hurt him i want to pause a moment and thanking him for hearing my cry i just need a david mama david said i love the lord because he heard my cry i love him because he heard me evidently i know i wasn't worthy to be heard but he heard me anyway i didn't have a clear vision of who he was when he heard me anyway i had not served him nor sacrificed well enough to deserve to be answered but he said i love the lord because he heard my cry and pity to every groan as long as i live and troubles rise i will hasten to his throne you can't help but love a god who answers the cry of a fallen man 400 years they had fallen away from god 400 years they have been trapped in the bondage of slavery 400 years since they had offered up a sacrifice 400 years they were living in a strange land up under the bondage of a hard 400 years they had been infiltrated and indoctrinated with false theological understandings about god and yet when they cried god heard them good god almighty what an amazing mercy that god could hear the cry of a child that had not sacrificed nor served him for 400 years and that he would dare to own them to the degree that he would fight for them that god would fight for the fallen is mind-boggling that god would fight for a group of slaves a group of broke disadvantaged disenfranchised slavery yet god went to war for them as if they were valuable slaves were expendable commodities but and so giving us gifts at weddings and yet god told pharaoh israel is my son my firstborn son he's my child he's my child he belongs to me and until you turn my son loose i'll kill your sons until you deliver my people i will wage war against you until you let them go because i have heard the cry of my sons prodigal though they were wayward though they may have been backwards so they may have been confusing their vision of who i am they must have been and yet i heard their cry there's something about a parent and the cry of a child that is distinguishable there is a cry that you can make i don't care what's going on in the house there is a cry that you can make and everybody keeps on watching tv but there is a blood-curdling cry that when you cry it every mother will drop her plate and every father will drop his toolbox there's something there's a certain bond that when you hear the cry of your child your adrenaline begins to escalate your nerves stand on edge and all of a sudden you're stronger than you were before you heard the cry it is an instinct that god puts between the parent and the child god said i've had the cry of my children [Applause] i will fight you with stuff that you have never been fought with before i will fight you with flies i will fight you with frogs i will fight you with lucas i will fight you with water and so he devised a plan a method of escape a commitment to their deliverance god always has a plan to get you out of what you're into if you stay is because you choose to stay god has a way of escape there is no temptation taking us such as is coming to man but god is faithful who will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able but will with the temptation with the temptation not after the temptation with the temptation also make a way of escape god is not sitting in heaven playing with his phone trying to figure out how am i going to get them out of this oh my god they're in a mess right now what am i going to do any angels got any ideas how am i going to fix this let me see if i can call somebody god already had the answer before hell asked the question so in our text today we are seeing the unveiling the apocalypse the revelation of the strategy of god and god says i want you to take the blood of a lamb and apply it to the doorpost and i'm going to send a death angel to pass by and he said don't worry about how many people go down when i see the blood oh sure when i see the butt you don't hear me when i see the blood you don't need no other shelter when i see the blood you don't need a tent you don't need refuge you don't need armor you don't need medicine when i see the blood i i will pass over you i got to stop a minute and thank him for all the times he passed over me have you ever had god pass over you when you should have been dead but he passed over you you should have been cut off but he passed over you you should have been destroyed but he passed over you you should have been eaten up but he passed over you you had no right to have that place but he passed over you if he don't give me nothing else i still got to praise him because he i got to dance because he passed ah i ain't praising him for my car i'm not praising him for my house i'm not praising him for my shoes i'm not praising for another kind of stuff i'm praising him ah because he passed that's the way we used to have church nowadays and praising god for stuff because they got a promotion they're praising god because they had an expensive dress put on sale they praising god because they got a check in the mail they're praising god for stuff but we used to dance because we dipped our robes in the blood of the lamb and i'm saved you don't hear a lot of that anymore and yet god brought them out in their ignorance he brought them out in their blindness he brought them out with their flawed theology he brought them out with their bad attitude he brought them out murmuring and complaining he brought them out disoriented he brought them out confused he brought them out you don't get out because you deserve to be out you don't get out because you're good enough to get out you get out because god is good enough to bring he blocked them he brought them out now you must understand that egypt was the america of its day it was the superpower of its era it stood head and shoulders above any other kingdom of its time it has gone down in history as being the preeminent government power of its age we are still worshiping around going around taking pictures around studying around observing the the the magnitude of the brilliance of the kingdom of egypt we're still studying their pyramids are still standing thousands of years later their architectural designs are still being studied their craftsmanship was known in all the earth egypt was the superpower of its error pharaoh was the kind of leader that you could not have an international summit and leave out the pharaoh of egypt because egypt was a superpower you have to understand that these people are not fooling with no jack leg upstart johnny come lately individual who's an egotistical maniac fail was a force to be reckoned with he decided whether men lived or died he made a decision and you couldn't catch your breath he made a decision and armies were destroyed women were violated he made a decision an entire villages were set on fire he was not to be trifled with had he risen again that's why moses ran and spent 40 years because pharaoh was not to be fooled it is that kind of power that is chasing a group of slaves out to the riverbank can you imagine the kind of fear they felt when they heard pharaoh huff beats coming in behind them he didn't just use his chariots he picked out 600 chosen chariots the fastest in the fleet the mightiest of the crowd the most skilled warriors said he had 600 men chasing a bunch of farmers down to the red sea and if god didn't make a way they would have been totally destroyed i feel the holy spirit's saying right now there's somebody watching me right now that you're in a predicament that if god doesn't make a way you're gonna totally be destroyed man can't help your friends can't help you neighbors can't help you your uncles can't help you you're in a crisis mode situation and whatever that is that's coming up behind you it threatens to totally annihilate you and that's why god's got you watching this message right now because if god be for you he's more than the world against you he's about to pull you out and if you miss the rest of the message this is your jump off point you could dance right here because god's about to snatch you out of your worst nightmare of your deepest fear of your worst anxiety god is about to pull you out yeah yeah when god gets ready to move it he will move it out of the way and i know you hear the hoof prince and i know you feel the threat because the enemy always threatens before he destroys he's a terrorist he wants you to be fearful and frightened and afraid it's not like this was a sneak attack they could hear trouble coming to terrorize them their emotions were frozen their will was paralyzed they were so distraught they started murmuring and complaining against god and moses they wanted to go back into egypt back into bondage back into rape back into slavery anytime you want bad better than good you're afraid i want to talk to people who are so afraid that you chose bad over good you chose wrong overright you chose to stay in a house full of violence rather than to get out there on your own but this is the day of your liberation this is the day of your emancipation this is the day that you are set free and the bible said [Music] that god used what was in his hand against what pharaoh had in his hand pharaoh had 600 chosen chariots skilled men of warrior god had water and wind and the bible said he spoke to the wind and the wind blew the water back for miles and miles then he told moses he said not only will i bring you out but i'm going to bring you out comfortably i'm going to bring you up comfortably see the red sea experience is where god teaches israel separation so point one is god will separate you at the red sea he says i am going to teach you separation i am the god of separation i separated day from night i separated light from dark i separated water from ground i separated the firmaments that were above the water from the firmaments that were beneath the water i am the god of separation and so you don't have to be afraid of what's trying to overtake you because i'm the god of separation and i will put a barrier between you and it and i will set you apart because you're mine i am the god of separation somebody right now he's a god of separation he's the god of separation and god uses water to teach him that i will separate you by the water and the bible says that they step down into the dry seabed of the red sea and there they go walking through on dry ground because when god brings you out he'll put you in an environment so good that you don't even have to get muddy later on later on in the new testament the apostle paul will exegete this text and tell us that what we call a red sea deliverance god called baptism for he said did not god not baptize the children of israel unto moses in the cloud and in the sea i didn't know i was at a baptism service i thought i was coming out of a fire escape but god says no this is not just an escape this is a baptism and i had to baptize them because they went in the water as slaves they came out of the water as sons i had to baptize them to put a line of demarcation between how they define themselves then and how they define themselves now which is what baptism is for for as many of us has been baptized into jesus christ have been baptized into his death that likewise we may be also in the likeness of his resurrection we went down into his death we come up into his life they went down so that who they the enemy was chasing could be pronounced dead we died in the red sea all of your slaves died in the red sea did not come out of the water but sons but when pharaoh got ready to step into the way that god had made for his people instead of it being a way that the wicked could walk through too when the wicked step down into the water god told the wind go back and the waves collapse and they drown i know he is the master of the winds and the waves because in the new testament when the disciples were crossing over on a ship they woke jesus up with sleep in his eye and he stood on the bow of the ship and he spoke to the same elements he said peace be still and the bible took note the winds and the waves obeyed him that is the same wind and waves that obeyed him in the book of exodus when he spoke to the wind and said no more it stopped blowing back the waves and the waves came in and pharaoh drowned now see this with me if you will 600 chariots horse driven chariots are drowning in the red sea the animals the chariots the swords and the shields are floating in the water josephus the historian says that bodies were littered all up against the banks of the red sea coming up out of the water dead so that when the women started dancing they were dancing on the dead ah hallelujah who would ever thought that god would deliver you so well that you would dance on what was dancing on top of you and i know it sounds foolish but that's why i'm telling you to dance in the desert that's why i'm telling you to dance in the desert because while you're dancing your devils are dying while you're dancing your diseases are dying while you're dancing your dead is dying while you're dancing your enemies are dying and when mam grabs her tambourine she did not just do it out of joy she did it out of warfare ah because when you praise god he is magnified and the more you praise him the more he'll work for you so when you see god bringing you out don't just stand there look at him but grab your tambourine and start dancing in your just ah if you praise him if you praise it if you pray them in your house if you pray them in your living room [Music] there they were dancing in the desert little did they know that when these women started praising god they would set off a catastrophic series of events with water remember when god told the woman if you believe on me as the scriptures have said out of your belly shall flow rivers of water some things aren't going to happen till you praise him some things aren't going to happen to you speak up some things are going to happen to you grab your tambourine in the middle of your desert and say i refuse to be depressed and i refuse to cry and i refuse to walk around this house looking all sad i'm gonna grab my tambourine and devil i'm gonna dance on top of your head i'm gonna dance give me some old time holy ghost pinnacle i'm gonna [Music] dance hold him call him dance dance dance dance dance and they all went down not one of them escaped the death count was 100 percent not one man live to tell what happened because when god says i will destroy your enemy he means i will totally annihilate your enemy and i don't care how big he is god says i will bring him down and the red sea closed in but the red sea closed in not just to destroy pharaoh it also closed in so that none of the lesser troops could follow the pursuit that's point number two point number three it closed in so that when the children of israel got into the middle of the desert they could not go back hey i can't go back i'm too far in i can't go back this god does to teach us about separation so as the text moves along the water is still flowing out of this dance so the bible says that they were three days into the wilderness and when they were three days into the wilderness they came to a place of water but when they got down to drink the water was bitter bitter does not just mean that it tasted bad it was dangerous to drink and the people cried out whenever the people cry out the leader is always miserable the people cried out against moses we have nothing to drink and the only thing you can do as a leader is when the people cry out to you moses turned around and god said we have all you can do is echo the job of the minister is to echo the voice of god to the people and echo the voice of the people to god and so moses is echoing to god what the people said like he echoes to the people what god has said because moses stands between the people and god he tells them what god says he tells god what they said the people have nothing to drink they ask god for water and he answered with a tree i want to talk to the people who prayed for something and the answer doesn't look like the question you got down on your knees and you prayed for water and he answered with the tree this might be the most important moment in all of the scriptures because this is the moment of sanctification this is the moment we went from separation to sanctification this is the moment that not only is god trying to answer their craving he is letting us get a peekaboo a glimpse at jesus just a glimpse it's just a glimpse see you remember what jesus told the woman at the well if you drink of the water that i have you will never thirst again he did a water commercial for the samaritan woman he did a taste test he said if you keep drinking what you're drinking you always come back there's something wrong with your water but if you drink of the water that i have you will never thirst again they prayed for water she said give me this water that i thirst not they prayed for water and god answered with the tree the tree is a type of calvary the tree is the rugged cross the tree is a prophecy of the only thing that god had that would turn the bitter waters of your life's sweet god told moses i know the problem is the water but the answer is the tree good god almighty your problem may look like water but your answer is the tree it is a foreshadowing of the cross it doesn't look like it has anything to do with the problem but god told moses to throw a tree at the water is shandabo shaya throw a tree at it touch your neighbor and say throw a tree at it throw a tree at it elbow them and tell them throw a tree at it throw a tree at it i know you need money but throw a tree at it i know you're praying about water but throw a tree at it draw trees so they threw a tree into the bitter waters of mara and the water turned sweet the water that was bitter turns sweet by the inclusion of the tree he'll make the darkness light before you whatever's wrong he'll make it right all of this is in this text right here the same way that jesus took the water and turned it into wine they threw a tree into the bitter water and turned it into sweet the answer is the tree on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross was a wondrous attraction for me and i'll cherish the old rugged cross because you see the cross turn my bitter water sweet if you're watching me right now i don't care if you're bitter because of drugs bitter because of crack bitter because of cocaine bitter because of abuse bitter because of molestation bitter because you're stripping on a pole i don't care what the bitterness is in your life the tree will turn its sweet this tree is calvary they threw a tree in the water and it changed this is the place of sanctification sanctification will take what's dirty and make it clean what's bitter and make it sweet what's dark and make it light do you hear what i'm saying to you and it all happened because of the inclusion of the tree you know what your life needs right now it needs a tree you got a degree but you need a tree you got an investment you got dividends you but you need a tree you got capital gains but you need a tree you're beautiful but you need a tree nice hair but you need a tree you got a career but you need a tree the reason your life still tastes bitter is because you have not thrown a tree at it the tree is a prophetic utterance of calvary the only thing that can turn the bitter water sweet is an old rugged tree and so here comes moses rushing down to the water carrying a tree just because god said so and throws the tree out into the water and says drink you see whatever was bitter in the water the tree absorbed it it took it away behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world every curse that was contrary against me he took it away every law that stood against me he took it away every demon that stood against me he took it away he absorbed he was wounded for my transgression he was rules for my iniquities just as my peace was upon him with his stripes we are healed he absorbed it on the cross he who knew no sin became sin and absorbed the punishment for my sin that i might be vindicated in the sight of god just as if i had never done it he turned my bitter water sweet because god threw a tree at it that's the second lesson in the text the third lesson on the text and i'm almost done it said after that they had drank and were full we cannot stay around miracles those one-time one-off experiences that god does in our lives we can't stay there what's wrong with the church today is that we have built monuments off of old revelation and we have hung our head on something god said to somebody 150 years ago as if god was through talking when they died you must understand the difference between a moment and a movement god did give them a moment but he didn't mean for them to stop moving and hang around that moment and build a doctrine and a theology and a denomination around a moment because god wanted them to keep moving he had something else for them up ahead i'm almost done but in those few short passages of scripture they went on a little further write down i got to go a little further i can't just hang around what grandma taught me i got to go a little further i got to go beyond what my father's taught me i got to go a little further and when they came to elam point number three and i'll be done i'll be done when they came to elam god got ready to teach them the third step of the lesson when they got down to elim god taught them sustainability okay so we've gone from separation to sanctification to sustainability because this was not a moment done with the tree when they got to elam they came into a prepared blessing somebody had been there before i know somebody had been there before i can prove to you that somebody had been there before because there were 12 wells in elam there were 12 wells in elam now wells are not natural experiences it's not a lake it's not a pond it's a well somebody had to dig it but god had somebody dig it so that when they got there the well would already be there i want to tell you that god will give you houses that you didn't build and vineyards that you didn't go that somebody's digging right now a well so that when you get to the place the water will already be made and god will sustain you now when they threw the tree in the water they drank but they didn't pitch their tents there but when they got to the 12 wells at elab the bible said they stayed there a while they pitched their tents there wow i prophesy god is going to give somebody sustainability not a one moment one-off experience not a short time experience for you to look back on with wondrous attraction and always refer to the good old days it used to be god is going to give you a sustainable blessing there were exactly 12 wells of water and get this my brothers and sisters there were 40 palm trees this sounds like a resort there are 40 palm trees at least 40 at least 40. might have been 60 60 it wait you'll understand in the desert there are palm trees and whales in the desert for slaves god's got a blessing for you you can have it reach out and grab it god's got a blessing for you god's got a blessing for you you can have it reach out and grab it god's got a blessing for you the tree is already built the wells are already dug all you got to do is pitch your tent and there with the whales all around and the palm trees for shade he gave his beloved rest in the wilderness and there they danced and rejoiced and worshiped and said we'll stay here wow he gave his beloved rest he put him in a resort in a desert now he was already a cloud above them by day and a pillar of fire by night but he gave them palm trees for beauty for shade somebody god is about to give you some shade it's been a scorching hot season but the lord has prepared palm trees now the other tree went in the water but this one grew up out of the desert and so we keep seeing trees attack we keep seeing trees and we keep seeing water and god is teaching us something about trees and water and out of the desert grows these palm trees for shade do you need shade do you need shade have you been walking through the scorched dry place of a pandemic barely making ends meet watching the news every night stressed out and that your wits in do you need shade they sat under the palm tree and there they rested in the desert i prophesy rest over your life i prophesy god is going to bring you ishay ishaikando god is going to bring you into a place of rest some shade tree is waiting for you to lay down under it and the well has already been dug you have always dug your way out of everything the enemy ever sent against you but not this time god said i am going to bring you into another man's labor you're going to drink from a well you didn't dig and i am going to give you shade from how much it cost you to be you i am going to bring you and to rest and you say how do i get to that rest you will find that place of rest when you learn how to dance in the desert as long as you murmur and complain you'll never find your palm trees but the moment you decide i'm gonna find me a tambourine and i am going to beat that thing to the glory of god and i'm going to worship god in the middle of my desert i hear the sound of the bell's ring of rejoicing coming into your house i hear the sound of rejoicing coming into your desert i hear the sound of rejoicing coming into your hospital room i hear the sound of rejoicing coming into your marriage i hear the sound of rejoicing coming into your business i hear the sound of a relentless voice of praise breaking out sing thou barren woman thou that does not conceive oh start rejoicing right now i know you don't see it but there's going to be a rejoicing coming in your life and god is going to bring you into a resort a time of rest a time of peace a time of provision and most of all a place of sustainability and you'll be able to pitch your tent there and sit down and rest a while [Music] because he has provided for you [Music] i want to pray for you right now [Music] you're in the desert be honest we all are 2020 has been a dry place [Music] it has been a place of uncertainty not quite into our promised land and hearing the reminders of our past behind us this has been a year that we as a people particularly people of color have been reminded of our bondage like never before we have heard the sound of pharaoh chasing us yet again we've been reminded that the right to vote could be lost [Music] we've been reminded that we could still be hunted and shot down and killed we've been reminded that we could still be destroyed and how much we own and how smart we are has nothing to do with it we have been this text the god says i'm going to bring you into a place of sustainability i'm going to bring you away from your fear and i'm going to fight off your enemies and i am going to give you rest and what we need to do right now is throw a party and dance in the middle of the desert and confuse the enemy because i want you to know in the middle of a pandemic and an economic crisis somebody's building whales for you [Music] and you're going to come into a place of abundance because change is in the atmosphere and all the people of the earth ought to rejoice because the only person who ought to be mad is the devil if you ain't drowning in the red sea you ought to rejoice because god is breaking the back of oppression and moving away the curse of the memory of fear so that the slaves would not have to spend the rest of their lives on the run that's why miriam danced it wasn't just that pharaoh was dead the threat of him coming up again was destroyed god says i will wipe out the memory of what horrified you i got whales waiting on you and palm trees above your head and if you got the faith to stand right in the desert and dance right now i got the power to bring you into a place of sustainability [Music] i got a i got the power to give you equity i got the power to break the yoke of your yesterday [Music] and you will be many things but you will never be that again you will go through many tests but you will never go back to that again you will have much opposition but you will never go back to being pharaoh's boy ever again that's why she danced she danced because women are mamas she danced because she knew her sons would not be born in captivity she danced because she knew her nieces and nephews would not have to make bricks and change beds she danced over the possibility of a brighter tomorrow and so i'm calling for women everywhere to lead us into the dance and lead us into the worship and lead us into the prayer that breaks the curse that tells hell you can't have another generation not another generation you cannot have my daughter you cannot have my son you cannot have my grandchildren you cannot have my great-grandchildren i'm calling on the women to dance in the desert until yokes are broken and dance in the halls of congress and dance all over the white house and dance all over d.c and dance all over the hospital ward and dance in the emergency room and pal hell you can't have nada generation god shut down the church so you could stop dancing in the church and dance in the place where the power is needed in the hospital room in the boardroom in the courtroom in the halls of congress in the white house god wants your praise in the streets he wants your praise in the alice he wants your praise out there where people need to see you dance in the desert why would we stay in here and dance amongst ourselves when the whole world has gone dry so lift your voice like a trumpet and shout unto god with the voice of triumph right in your house [Music] so to your baby boys know they're free shout to your granddaughters get their degree shout into the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our god and of his christ i am commanding you i am imploring you i fled out begging you to dance in your desert 2020 has been a dry place but while it has been dry for us buildings are still going up skyscrapers are still being built bridges are being made across lands and territories and people are taking over while some are going down some are going up and i decided i'm not go i didn't come this far i didn't come this far to go down i didn't come this far to be a statistic i didn't come this far to go out going back into the the curses of my grandfathers i did come this far to fight the same battles that john lewis fought no i might fight another battle but i won't sit back and let you take over territory you can't have my child you can't have my house and let all the saints rejoice dance in ethiopia dance in lagos nigeria dance in a craw dance in johannesburg dancing melbourne i know the numbers are going up a dance right in the middle of melbourne get in the streets of sydney and lift your voice like a trumpet and give god the praise and dance in seattle and dance in chicago and dance in canada and dance in the uk and dance in london oh my god do you hear what i'm saying dance in birmingham dance in mobile dance all over the earth in italy in switzerland in iraq in iran in venezuela in mozambique dance before him sing before him in south africa dance in chile dance in the fiji's dance in the bahamas dance in jamaica dance stand dance in your desert dance [Music] because if you will give god your dance he will give you his water [Music] your thirst is over [Music] your first is over your thirst your thirst [Music] it's over [Music] it's over and i decree and declare a new season in your life i decree and declare water in your desert streams [Music] in your desert it's coming from the water [Music] if you have not accepted jesus christ in the free parliament of your sins i want to throw a tree in your water if you've accepted him and you've never been baptized and you're being chased by your past you know what you need to find a place and go down to the river like lydia did like philip did like jesus did like the hebrew children did like the new generation did and be baptized if you've done that just dance [Music] dance because when you dance in the wilderness you let hell know i don't believe this this won't last and as you give him a dance he'll give you living water [Music] can i pray for you just me and you maybe you've never had anybody that you could be honest with pray for you [Music] i don't want to pray for your image and who you pretend to be i want to pray for who you really are i want to pray for the scorching heat [Music] that threatens you in your dry place i want to pray [Music] that you get your dance man now no need of me praying if you're gonna go back and act like you were acting before this prayer is for people who refused to go back to the bondage that came out of the murmuring they came out of the conversation the storytelling the vernacular the rehearsing the same dead stuff over and over again i want to pray for your liberation right now i want to pray that your pharaoh drowns right in front of your face and you find your tambourine [Music] you hit it find your tambourine and beat it in the devil's face spirit of the living god we want the water you have for us if we have to crawl for it if we have to cry for it if we have to pray for it if we have to reach forward give us our dance back give us our praise back we humble ourselves in your presence we drop our heads in humility [Music] i will not leave this desert without my dance i will not leave this desert without my dance without my son without my daughter without my house without my peace and i don't care how long i gotta fight for it i'll fight all night i'll pray early in the morning i'll pray before the break of day i'll go to sleep praying and talking in tongues but you will not curse what god has blessed never again i take a stand this day [Music] and so let the children of god dance right in that apartment right in your grandma's house look crazy all you want to get up and dance move dance [Music] in your desert god bless you [Music] may heaven smile i pray you dance [Music] i pray you dance again right in the middle of the desert [Music] till waters flow [Music] until streams come out of the earth [Music] until you find your palm trees and you find your will i pray you dance [Music] that's my message [Music] that's it i'm through i'll leave you to your dance [Music] [Music] praise god from whom all blessings fall praise him all the creatures praise father's hey let's [Music] let's go [Music] glad you're this my [Music] your life [Music] [Music] [Music] we love to see your praises come on let's do that again so glad you're in our lives [Music] from the blue ground [Music] [Applause] say to you cables [Music] lord [Music] [Music] [Applause] yes and because we lit your name on high father we say this god we thank you for giving our first lady another year we love you lady jakes you

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 851,989

Rating: 4.8351278 out of 5

Keywords: td jakes, faith, potters house, bishop jakes, The Potter's House of Dallas, TPH Dallas, td jakes sermons, bishop td jakes, inspiration, td jakes motivation, motivation, sermons, td jakes ministries, motivational speaker, motivational speech, gospel, motivational, td jakes sunday, td jakes 2020, td jakes sermons 2020, dancing in the desert, praising god when you're down

Id: 5S54h5h2j-g

Length: 82min 35sec (4955 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 16 2020