Girded! - Bishop T.D. Jakes

[Music] and i'm going to go into the gospel of saint john yes and i'm going to read a few passages of scripture out of the 13th chapter of the gospel of saint john are you with me now before the feast of the passover when jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the father having loved his own which were in the world he loved him until the end and supper being ended the devil having having now put into the heart of judas is curious simon's son to betray him jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from god and went to god he rises up from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself and after he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded can you say amen father bless the word tonight as we share the word that it might give life that it might give seed to the sower and bread to the eater as we learn more effectively what it really means to be girded with the towel yes to be dressed for success god i pray in the name of jesus that you would speak in such a powerful and prolific way that we come into a richer and fuller understanding of your word and that we would know it and that we would utilize it and that we would be changed by it in the name of jesus we pray everybody out there say amen i want to use one word and the word is girded girded he girded himself with a towel what does it mean to be girded when we read in the book of genesis the first thing that we encounter is adam and eve strolling through this utopia that god has created for them for them to be able to move to and fro throughout the garden without the encumbrances of clothing of any kind they were both naked and not ashamed as they moved throughout the garden because god had willed it so and we we first begin to understand once man falls and he becomes aware of his own nakedness that he needs some extra girding clothing his first attempt is to make fig leaves and to make aprons and cover himself but we cannot really cover ourselves we can never really cover ourselves nothing that we make nothing that we do nothing that we earn nothing that we have will ever sufficiently cover us and so the voice of the lord the bible says walk through the cool of the garden and god asks adam adam where art thou and adam says lord i heard thy voice i was naked i was afraid and i hid myself he had covered himself and yet he hid himself hiding in the bushes covered by the bushes i guess he thought that he was wearing camouflage but in fact we cannot camouflage from god because the bible teaches us that all things are open before him with whom we have to do and so therefore in a moment of vulnerability and transparency adam has to go through the ritual of of laying aside that which he has made to cover himself and allowing god to take the coats of an innocent animal and to cover him in such a way that would cause him to be appropriate to stand in the presence of god and the only way that we are appropriate to stand in the presence of god is through blood for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin before there was sin there was no need for coats of skin adam was covered with coats of flesh but when sin came along there was a need for a blood sacrifice the innocent lamb just walking through the pasture finds himself snatched by the neck a knife applied to his throat ripped from the top to the bottom and turned into coats of skin so that adam might have the appropriate material to cover himself and thus begins the human story from the book of genesis called the book of beginnings we are constantly seeing a discussion about girding and covering we see it in the tabernacle when god is preparing uh the the priest garb for aaron and moses is up on the mountain top and god is designing the clothing that would be the covering that the priest would wear god meticulously designs the apparel that he would be girded in to identify him to give him distinction amongst all of the millions of people that are in the desert the high priest was easily recognized because of how he was girded yes so girding is important to god it was important with god as it related to aaron it is important in the new testament in ephesians when paul says put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand the wows of the devil you don't often think of god as a tailor but god is in the business of making coverings for us that we might appear covered and clothed unless i get too far ahead of myself let me go back to the beginning of the text itself and to discuss with you the emotional entrance into the scene first there is an intellectual awareness that jesus knew knowledge that his hour had come he knew that so the bible goes from his intellectual understanding that push has come to shove that that the alarm clock has sounded that his time of showing himself and proving himself and healing the sick and raising the dead has come to an end and now it is time for him to go back to the father jesus knew it jesus knew it but james didn't know it bartholomew didn't know it matthew didn't know it but jesus knew in that way that people often know that it's their time not just jesus but old people sometimes they tell you i'm tired stop praying for me let me go home they know when it's time jesus knew it was time can you imagine sitting at a dinner table everybody laughing and talking and in the back of your mind you know that this is the time this is the last supper and while people casually sit around and enjoy the festivities in the back of your mind it's the awareness that this is the last time that we will have suffered together in this way that is the feeling of this text the feeling intellectually of this text that jesus has privileged information information that is not shared with those with whom he associates with because every time god shows you something it doesn't mean that you need to tell everybody around you jesus knew that it was time but he did not share with them that it was time and there are some things that you ought to keep to yourself jesus kept it to himself that it was time for him to be offered up he understood full well the power and the intensity of that moment he understood that satan had now entered into judas iscariot he knew it he knew the moment he entered which meant that he wasn't always there but but satan has now entered into judas's period and coerced him to act out his diabolical mission that would lead to the assassination the coup of the king of the jews and yet jesus sits around the table with all of them and the bible says that jesus sits there not talking from a place of malice or anger or revenge or or self-aggrandizement but it talks about how he loved them and how he loved them to the end so now we are moving from the intellectual understanding of what time it is down to the emotional reality that we have a god who can love a judas do you realize that at that supper jesus fed his judas what kind of god do we serve that has the ability to feed his betrayer what kind of god do we have that can sit in between john on one side who is the one whom jesus loved and judas on the other side and feed them both it challenges us to understand that we will all have our jobs and we will all have our judases and we cannot afford for neither to disrupt the fact that we love them all that's a tall order i know it is take a deep breath take a deep breath most of us fall far short of loving much less feeding our judas the moment we know you're a judas we move you as far away from us as possible the jesus is so perfect in his love and so complete in his essence so absolute in his deity that he has the capacity the capacity to love not just john god was easy to love but to also love judas john sits at the table so intimate with jesus that he has laid his head on jesus breasts judas on the other hand would later kiss him and betray him with a kiss a kiss and a head on the breast and jesus still knew who he was he was the same jesus with john on his breast as he was with judas and his kiss asking only this question friend why betray me with the kiss i'm wondering tonight as we study the word of god if there's anybody in here who knows what it's like to be betrayed to be betrayed at the hands of somebody whose mouth you have placed bread i think one of the most painful things about betrayal and the thing that you rehearse in your mind and are tormented by is etude booty youtube brutus after i fed you after i gave you a job and an opportunity and allowed you into my space and into my life that you would betray me that's a very painful thing but because jesus came to die for people like judas too he is able to sit comfortably in his chair between a john and a judas because neither one of them the sincere love or the famed affection was able to make a withdrawal from who jesus was he was just who he was and the lesson that i want us to get out of this is neither your friends nor your detractors can take away from you or diminish who you are once you know who you are and you know whose you are and you know why you are you can deal with one on one side and one on the other and not lose track of the conversation and that is that is the beauty of this text that is the beauty of the text that i want to start with today is that it opens up with a declaration of love a decree a declaration of love pure and holy and absolute and he says he loved them to the end a declaration of love in the face of people who are not lovable but he loved them to the end and i think that it's not that we don't have the capacity to do it i think that we're afraid of the vulnerability of loving people who who have uh illicit intentions uh diabolical intentions toward us it is difficult to climb over your humanity and find that divine place of perfect love because we are so focused on what they're doing that we don't understand why they're doing it jesus understood why judas betrayed him he knew that satan had entered into judas and the moment you begin to realize that you're not fighting against a person but a spirit then you'll stop slamming the person and recognize that it's the spirit that has to be dealt with jesus could have stopped judas he could have rebuked satan he rebuked the winds and waves but he is actually using satan's diabolical plan to accomplish his own divine purpose paul's right there paul's right there god is using satan's diabolical intention to accomplish his purpose and if you don't believe that go read romans 8 28 just stop and read it right now for we know that all things work together for the good of them that love the lord who are called according to his purpose not all things are good there's a job and there's a judas at everybody's table they're not all good but they're going to work together for the good of them that love the lord no joseph says it better than i when his brothers came in after betraying and throwing him in a pit and allowing him to be sold by the midianites into slavery and telling his father that that that he was dead and taking 20 pieces of silver they saw their brother [Music] they sold their brother and yet joseph has reached a point of maturity in his life that he comforts his betrayers and says you meant it for evil but god made it good i don't think you can have peace just by prayer i don't think you're gonna have peace just because you anointed yourself with oil i think you can have peace when you make peace with things turned out the way they were supposed to turn out for me to be who god wanted me to be when you finally get to the point that you recognize that things had to turn out the way they turned out in order to shape you into the woman or the man that god created you to be then the sting has come out of the viper and though he has bitten and though he has left the bruise you are no longer poisoned in your soul because you know who you are and you know whose you are and you know that god is working all things as ephesians says after the council of his own will he worketh all things out to the council of his own will god worketh all things after the council of his own will we need to talk about that right now because things are crazy right now and there's betrayal and there's denial and there's there's there's treachery and the diabolical intent that we all deal with every day and sometimes for people we love sometimes from people we're married to or people that came out of our own bodies out of our own loins or from our parents or grandparents and we have to we have to rise to the point that we begin to trust the fact that god is still in control even when the enemy is at the table wow if i stop right there i've already preached god is still in control even when the enemy is at the table not only did jesus allow him to sit at the table with him he encouraged him and one place he says what thou do is do it quickly go go do what you're gonna do because he understands that it's not just the good things that people do that usher us into our destiny sometimes it is the wicked things that they do the treacherous intentional things that they do that still drive us into his will and into his purpose such was the atmosphere of the evening and jesus sits at meat with them and not only does he sit and meet with them it would seem appropriate that if jesus was having dinner with me i would be serving him but jesus is serving them and he says the one who dips with me one of you is a devil the one who dips with me is a devil and he's serving take eat this is my body that is broken for you so the body of christ is serving them the body of christ and they are eating the body of christ while they are talking with the body of christ or we could say it this way the physical body of christ is serving the memorial body of christ to the church who is the mystical body of christ so that eventually they will behold the glorified body of christ did you get that don't miss that that is the tension of this moment and the bible goes on to say that that that supper has come to an end and when supper has come to an end jesus rises from the table which is always an indication that that dinner is over when when the most affluent one rises the the meeting is over if you go to a boardroom and and and the person you came to meet gets up the meeting is over it's just over if you're having lunch with somebody and and the more fluent person rises up from the table the meal is over but it was not over until he had fed them it was not over while they talked and while they asked questions and asked lord is it i and i say debated and discussed amongst him says it was not over all of that has now come to an end and jesus rises from the table now he who was low has been made high and now he stands above them and does the strangest of things the bible says he laid aside his garments now take your sanctified mind and and just see this as if it were a movie and not a text and the supper is ended and jesus rises up from supper and he starts disrobing in front of his disciples allowing himself to be vulnerable real mentorship is not just teaching people principles but allowing them to see who you really are and we really don't get real mentorship we we we see our teachers ideals but we don't see their realities and so we go back with a bag full of ideals and an empty suitcase full of realities and the ideals without the realities throws the scale out of balance but the truth of the matter is jesus stands up and begins to disrobe himself and it reminds us and it tells us so graphically and so poignantly that that he who came to cover our sins would be stripped paul says he became poor that through his poverty i might be made rich and so he's he divest himself of his vestures and then having divested himself of his clothing and they see him as he is he then girds himself with the towel and goes from above them to stooping down beneath them able to stand above is one kind of power but able to drop to your knees is another must realize it takes as much power to kneel as it does to stand it takes as much power and as much grace to lower yourself as it does to elevate yourself and to lower yourself in front of your students your mentees your disciples your followers he he strips himself he raises himself he strips himself and then he humbles himself he raises himself he strips himself and then he humbles himself he raises himself he strips himself and then he humbles himself and that in essence is what he did to come in the first place who is worthy to open the seals the book of revelation says and loose the seals of the book and the lamb was found worthy i will do it he rises from glory he pours out of himself in heaven his glory and honor and empties himself out the bible said he emptied himself out in order to become a man in order to come in the flesh and then finds a virgin named mary and she becomes the mother of jesus the mother the matriarch the word matriarch is the same where we get material from in other words he got dressed in her womb with matter her matter her material therefore becoming kin to me he is my kinsmen redeemer he has become kin to me not because of his spirit but because of his flesh and we now begin to recognize for the first time that the flesh that he borrowed from mary that he wrapped himself in was a human material matriarch mother through which he was able to become brethren and become kin to be the moment he put on her material he had to give up his omnipotence he could be every place he did couldn't have all power he had to give up his omniscience they asked him when is the kingdom coming he says not given unto me to know not the son nor the angels but the father which is in heaven so there were certain things he couldn't know anymore there were certain powers he couldn't use anymore omniscience omnipotence on the presence he could be here and not there he had to wait on the boat to land to get off he had to do things he didn't have to do before because he was no longer omnipresent he emptied all of that out he laid all of that aside and and wrapped up in her flesh and she became his mother because she gave him the material of humanity and when she gave him the material of humanity he became eligible to die for us without that matriarch without that material without that flesh there'd have been nothing to nail to the cross so we we honor and we recognize her contribution because his matriarch his material gave flesh to his promise let's say it this way john 1 1 says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god john 1 14 says and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us another passage of scripture says his name shall be called emmanuel god tabernacled with us what is tabernacle a tent what is a tent material what is flesh material he got the material from mary so that god could tabernacle with us oh this is rich for the first time in all of the eons of eternity he knew what sleep was like he knew what tired was like as god he neither sleeps nor slumbers but now he becomes subject to tiredness for the first time in his life he knew what hunger was like after being tempted in the wilderness the bible says afterward he hungered and satan said oh i've got you vulnerable and this is what stops most of us from being able to kneel or to serve or to work it's because we're so afraid of being vulnerable that we would rather wrap up in a lie than strip down to the truth and be who we really are the courage to love the courage to be in love the courage to serve the courage to lift someone else up the courage to take the back seat not the hot seat to come into the room and sit in the back and wait to be elevated all of these pictures point toward lessons that god is teaching us now let's go deeper in this because we're we are looking at jesus who is teaching without talking i said he's teaching without talking most of god's teaching is without talking he allows us to learn through the situations we are able to experience and experience working patients it causes us to have an experience with god and sometimes it isn't so much what god says is just watching what god does that brings us into revelation knowledge and there we are stumbling around trying to say with words something that was not revealed through speech and the assignment the reason i wrote the book don't drop the mic is because the big challenge that we have is to take the abstract revelatory experiences of god and translate them into a language that touches the hear that's oh that's that's an amazing thing to do to have to grapple with to find language to express that which cannot be uttered jesus hasn't said a thing he's loved him until the end we we hear his thoughts but this is the last night this is a grand finale there should be uh a great miracle he should have levitated or or maybe he should have uh turned the wine back into water he started out turning the water into wine maybe he should have ended by turning the wine into water no he doesn't do any of that he doesn't raise any dead people he doesn't have any grand finale at the end his grand finale is to stand up take off his clothes and gird himself with the towel while they watched what is jesus teaching the disciples in the final exam of the semester of the graduating class from the university of jesus what is the instructor now showing us that we need to learn how to both abase and abound how how to be able to to ascend and descend how to be able to stand up high how to be able to drop down low and how to do it from a place of vulnerability god i know you don't want to hear this i know you don't i don't even want to say it and i've been many a time in my life i didn't want to hear it but god is calling us to be vulnerable nobody listening at me right now wants to go to a dinner party and get up in a restaurant or anywhere else dining room or whatever and stand up and take your clothes off while everybody else is dressed and be in your right mind but jesus laid aside his comments in order to be vulnerable enough for god to use you you have to lay aside your agenda everything can't be about you and how you feel and what you didn't get and who wasn't there for you and who didn't love you and who didn't come through for you and and what you've been going through and you and you and you and you stopped if you are going to succeed in this moment you have to have the courage to lay aside your garments and just be vulnerable if if if you lay outside your garments it can heal your relationship with your daughter or your son your husband or your wife but you you you're so busy covering up i'm not going to apologize to you apologize i'm not going like i need you like like if i don't say it that makes it less true whether you say it or not it's still true lay aside your garbage he laid aside his government and in in this instance the garments can be anything to stop you from your reality he laid aside his garments have you laid aside your garments or are you asking god to bless your cover-up jesus laid aside his garments it is a foreshadowing of the fact that he will be stripped naked and beat in public and hung naked from a cross and die publicly in a place of shame and degradation and humiliation it's a dress rehearsal if you don't pass the test in private you won't pass the test in public if you can't become proficient about being able to lay aside your garments around your disciples then how can god use you in front of the whole world jesus laid aside his garments now i don't think for a moment this is a striptease it absolutely is not he did not just lay them aside to lay them aside he's getting redressed like adam had to be redressed he is the last man adam and adam had to lay aside his fig leaves in order to be covered with the coats of skin and jesus laid aside his garments in order to be covered with a linen towel the question then becomes for the hero tonight a little list you might need to make right now what all do i need to lay aside to do what god has called me to do is it pride is it my tongue is it my attitude is it my perspective is it my addiction to proving that i'm right what do i have to lay aside in order to be vulnerable enough to complete myself i want to go deeper in this tonight i hope you're getting something out of this uh because i think that this is important i think it is revelatory i think it is relational i think it is relevant i think it is necessary for us to really come into our fullness that you cannot be a christian from a place of safety you cannot be a great preacher from a place of safety you cannot be a great witness from a place of safety you cannot be a social justice activist from a place of safety you cannot change the world from a place of safety too many of us are so worried about what people are going to say about us do i look right what do they think of me what are they saying about me what did they write about me no no no in order for god to do what he's getting ready to do for you in this season you have to lay aside your garments and not care what they say because you know who you are jesus laid aside his garments and girded himself with the towel gird it jesus laid aside his garments because he's reacting for us the stripping of adam in the garden from the fig leaves to the coats of skin the god has to redress us in order to use us that god has to take off of us the things that were made for us or placed on us and strip us down so that he can give what he has for us a lot of us are covered up right now and things that that that other people made for us their expectations who they think you are what they want from you what they need from you what they expect from you is all you're covering and you've been dressed all of your life up in a garment you didn't even make for yourself but you've had to wear it but god is bringing you into a season then he's gonna take that off take all of that baggage and all of that weight and all of that worry and all of that expectation take it all off and strip down because i'm getting ready to use you strip down like this no i'm going to put something on you i'm going to encourage you with a towel on a king you want to put a towel on a king yes i want my son to become a servant and so he became obedient even unto death the death of the cross and it is proven and how he girded himself with the tao he says what i'm about to do is service what i am getting ready to show you is the cost of real service you have to lay aside your agenda you have to be willing to face the scorn of your observers you have to go from being above to getting on your knees and being beneath and i am about to show you how to serve and he girded himself with the towel why does jesus go through this change at a dinner party because what he is about to do is nothing but pure service nothing but pure service absolute service it would be a shame to live and die and serve nobody any good but you it's always been about you you you how you feel what you think what you didn't get who didn't love you who didn't do this it's always been about you but in this hour god is stripping us of all of the head and bringing us down to a place of pure service girded he girded himself with the towel that is the apparel of a slave now jesus is standing in a room full of men who are dressed like men businessmen tax collectors physicians scribes and jesus who is the greatest in the room now stands in the room like a servant because what he is about to do is serve now wait wait wait wait you think that i'm talking about the fact that he poured water into a basin and washed feet i'm going to get to that in a minute but what i'm really talking about is that he's getting ready to go to the cross and that was a service not only to the to the 11 men left in the room no no no no no not just to them not only to the generation that he lived in no not just to them but 2000 years later to us he went to the cross to serve us sometimes when you serve it's not just for you it's for your children and your children's children and your children's children's children and it breaks generational curses and it releases generational blessings generational blessings will come if you humble yourself down lay aside your garments and think about somebody other than yourself and gird yourself with the towel your children's children's children will be blessed because you served we're coming into the easter season and it's going to be all about the death burial and resurrection of the lord and for other people it's about getting the extra day off from work and for some people it's about dying eggs and easter bunnies and all that kind of stuff listen listen none of that resurrection sunday the time that we commemorate the death burial and resurrection of the lord is about service and in order to serve you can't do that trying to be equal amongst others you have to be willing to be vulnerable and the greatest service that jesus could do is not to open up the blinded eyes of pardemas or to heal the woman with the issue of blood or to stop this the widow of nain's son's casket and touch it or to say to the dams of damsel arise that's not the greatest service that he could do the greatest service that he could do is not to speak to the ten lepers and tell them to to go show themselves to the priest that's not the greatest service that he could do the greatest service that he could do is not to tell the woman at the well if you drink of the water that i have you will never thirst again that's not the greatest service that he could do the greatest service that he could do is not to stop the stanch of the woman with the issue of blood that is not the greatest service that he could do the greatest service that he could do is not it's not to rebuke the winds and the waves so we could have a nice boat rise or on a cruise ship crossing over to the to the gatorade no no no no no no no no that's not the greatest the greatest service that he could do is to lay aside his garments his flesh and serve all of humanity on an old rugged cross i buried my friend the other day my friend of 60 years and i used a portion of this text to talk about him because the greatest thing that could be said about him is that he was a servant but he was a servant in such a way that that he brought hunter to service and class and distinction and service i'm talking about the economic right service he made service look good many of you heard me talk about my father my father was a janitor and he used to mop and he i swear he thought that mop what was was a paintbrush and that he was michelangelo because he would move it was with a gliding strap and pop it into the corner and swing it back to the other side whatev it was serviced but it was done like it mattered not like i gotta hurry up and get off work no it was it was it was dignity brought to service jesus the lamb of god jesus my kinsmen redeemer jesus my day star jesus my bulwark jesus my bridge over troubled water jesus my ancient of days jesus my helping ages pass jesus my joy and sorrow jesus my wonderful counselor jesus my master physician jesus the bright and morning star jesus the lineage of the valley jesus the very lamb of god girded himself with a towel and got down on his knees with a basin filled with water and washed their feet now understand the disciples did not get to the upper room because they called uber they didn't come by taxi they didn't come riding on chariots they didn't even come riding on donkeys they had walked some of them for miles a day to get to the upper room you don't wear sandals in a palestinian area with dust and blowing wind and sand and have clean feet jesus put those dirty filthy feet into a clean basin of water and watch them what is he teaching us uh etiquette is he teaching us hygiene is he teaching us uh good manners is he teaching us political correctness no it can't be political correctness because normally uh in jesus day you wash the feet when the guests came in not when they were getting ready to leave what is he teaching us he is teaching us that no matter what dust you gathered on your journey no matter what you walk through no matter what happened to you no matter what is clinging on to you from your past i am the one who can refresh your feet and wash away the dust of where you've been and get you ready for what's about to happen in your life and i do so of my own volition without you requesting me to do it i do it because i have taken on the form of a servant that's what he did when he came through mary he girded himself with the towel we call flesh and he came to serve us that he might wash away the dust of our journey now listen at me again i don't know where you walk through my heart goes out to you i understand that you can't live to get your age and haven't collected a lot of dust i've been through a lot of things and stepped into some stuff and sometimes some stinky stuff and made some terrible mistakes and maybe been in jail and maybe been through heartache and maybe been through divorce or maybe been through adultery maybe been tied up to perversion i don't know what you walk through but i do not i do want to tell you this no matter how dirty your feet are jesus is saying give them to me the thing that keeps you up at night the thing that makes you cry while everybody else is asleep he says i want to wash that off for you the guilt and shame the agony i want to wash it off of you the painful memories of an abortion i want to wash that off of your feet the atrocity of having taken somebody else's husband he said i want to wash that off your feet the audacity for you to do every evil and demeaning thing that you could and did and you know and i know that you did jesus says give me them feet give me those feet give me those feet give me those feet i am going to wash that [Music] away everything you've been through and everything that happened to you and every where you've been in every horrific secret you've ever had and every diabolical plot you've ever released and every baby you've ever aborted and every pain you've ever had as terrible and horrific as that may be jesus is saying hand me that foot give it here i know it's not clean i know it's walked through this and i know it's walking there and i notice walk through them but put it in my hand and here let me wash it and i'm praying tonight that while i'm teaching that god would wash your feet and ease your mind and wash away your guilt and wash away your pain and wash away your shame and wash away your agony and yes even wash away your grief that terrible terrible grief he says give me that foot get give it here give it here peter said oh no lord i'm not not my feet jesus said if i don't have wash your feet you'll have no part with me would you give him your feet tonight he's dressed for it he's girded for it he's wrapped up in a tile for it he can handle it give it to him he wants to wash your feet a few times in my life i've had people come up to me and said the lord told me to wash your feet and it always makes me feel a little funny i always make you feel a little bit uncomfortable i'm not the kind of person who really needs to have that done who feels grandiose or important or superior or anything like that but out of submission and humility i would take off my shoes and my socks and what i could have raised up my pants lace and they were washing my feet and i don't know who is the most humbled by the person who's washing the feet or the person who's getting their feet washed because i'm i'm not worthy for you to wash my feet jesus so can you imagine showing jesus all the dirt she collected from where you've been through and sitting there while your king washes your feet that's the texture that's the thing that's that's what he's girded for that's what he's dressed for he's dressed to handle your darkest secrets your deepest stain your sweat he's dressed to handle that funky stuff that has collected in your life from the journey your temper your anger your dysfunction your unbelief your doubt your fear your father issues your mother issues he wants to wash your feet fat is the beauty of this text that's that's what's in this book that's what's in this book he wants to wash your feet and he did it in practice in private and he did it in public on the cross and he took on the form of a servant to do it for this purpose came out into the world not to heal people cause it's still gonna be some more sick people not to raise people from the dead because everybody jesus raised from the dead died again so he didn't come to raise lazarus from the dead he didn't come to raise her with her name son from the dead he didn't come to stop the woman with israel but she still died lazarus still died the widow's main son is not here today they all died for this purpose came out into the world he was born then he might destroy the works of the enemy he was born that he might be girded with a towel and become a servant a servant to that which he had created and how dare you and i stand there and not serve and turn up our nose and think we're important we don't serve we don't sing we don't give we don't sow we we we we're we're so important at the table but the one that we're worshiping is no longer sitting in the chair his chair is empty he's on his knees washing feet when are you gonna humble yourself to a place of service the job you got is nothing but a towel for you to serve with the influence you have is nothing but a towel for you to serve with the affluence that you have is nothing but a towel for you to serve with the knowledge the gift the talent the technology the whatever it is that you do like nobody else can do was given to you as a towel wrap yourself up in it and serve something bigger than yourself because the hour has come for you to be girded i hear the sound of running water and servation has changed again and again and again and i hear the sound of water because water always typifies going to the next dimension woman if you believe on me as the scriptures have said that out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water this spanky of the holy spirit that's the next dimension she's in the flesh he's taken her into the spirit out of your belly she'll flow rivers of living water in the book of genesis when the earth was covered by water we are seeing the earth being baptized it's coming up out of the water and bring forth bring forth bring forth bring forth could not be done until it had been through the water when the children of israel were being chased by pharaoh and they come to the red sea he takes him through the water they went in as servants they came out as sons when the priests got ready to go into the holies of holies before they could enter in they had to wash at the labor and wherever you see the water running it's a sign that god is inviting you into the next dimension woman if you knew who i was you would be asking me for water because i want to take you to a dimension that you don't need another husband and another one and another one and another one and the one you got is not yours it's all gonna stop when you get this water i'm gonna take you into a dimension where you're no longer desperate and chasing people and looking for love in all the wrong places a new generation is born in the wilderness when the children of israel are going through the wilderness a new generation is born and god says i want to bring you to the promised land which is the next dimension but you got to go through the water so there there are the jordan the purpose of the jordan was for them to go through the water so that they could go into the next dimension the eunuch here's water what does hinder me you've taught me something about jesus and i'm ready to go into the next dimension in the book of revelations and there in front of the throne it's a sea of glass before the 24 elders and before you can get to the throne you have to pass through the water passing through the water signifies going to the next dimension it's why we baptize you it's why we baptize you with water because you're going into the next dimension it's why you had to go through the red sea it's why you have to go through the jordan it's why the priest had to go to the labor and it's why jesus ran water to wash feet because he's getting ready to graduate the graduating class of jesus university to become the early church fathers wow i don't know where god's getting ready to take you i don't know i can't see it but i know it's the next dimension or you wouldn't be listening right now i don't know what he's getting ready to do in your life but i know you cannot go until you're willing to lay aside your garments and humble yourself and drop down on your knees and allow him to wash your feet jesus led a life of service of giving you struggle over giving money jesus gave his life god so loved oh there we are back to that word again i love him to the end same thing in john 3 16 god so loved the world the world not the church he loved the world not america he loved the world god so loved the world god the infinite power so the infinite degree loved the infinite emotion that he gave the infinite gift his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish what are you giving are you living bro when was the last time unselfishness just just fell off you and you just tripped it off and you served something bigger than yourself [Music] this is a great place to sow a seed this is a great place to give an offer this is a great place to plant something into the kingdom but don't do it if all you're going to give god is stuff don't do it [Music] only do it if the offering is symbolic of a awakening you're having in your heart and in your spirit that you are called to be girded as a servant and then your job is the towel he girded you with and you and your knowledge is the towel he girded you with and that voice you got it's a towel he girded you with and you won't even you won't even get that you won't you won't give what has been given to you you won't give what has been given to you i give you 500 and i ask you for 50. i give you a thousand i answer 400 you won't give but no i'm not giving a no no no no i get i just gave it to you whatever you got god gave it to you and he's asking you to be girded with the towel and see it as this is how i serve the lord [Music] and [Music] this was the last night of the great feast and the great passover whatever they were going to do with god they had to do it then whatever you're going to do for god do it now [Music] if you're gonna say something say it now if you're gonna forgive somebody forgive them now if you're gonna sow into the kingdom so right now if you're gonna live a life of service do it right now because i don't know for sure but as best i can tell from what i'm reading in this book and what i'm seeing happening in the world we are fastly approaching the last night with the king and we're running out of time instead of finding out how we can serve we're still talking about ourselves and what we didn't get and what we need and what we've been through and what happened to us and how we feel and what's going on in our heads lay aside your garments lay them aside right now i dare you the devil doesn't want you to do it hell is nervous demons are trembling satan is upset say this pacing the floor afraid that you're going to lay aside your garments do you know how long he's been making them outfits for you and he's afraid that the holy spirit is going to speak to you in this moment and you're going to lay aside your garments and take on the form of a servant and if you do then and only then can you call yourself a christian because you'll never be christ-like sitting at the table gobbling up the food you'll be christ-like when you find some dirty feet and you wash them and this is the word of god to you how do we practicalize it how do we how how do we make that tangible in our lives we do it through our giving [Music] and we do it through our living but most of all we do it through our loving because until you get the loving right that's why the text started out with i have loved them to the end until you do it through your loving it won't show up in your living and it'll never happen in your giving you know why you just love you jesus says i loved them [Music] now i have a towel tonight will you be girded in it or will this just be another wednesday night that you checked us out on bible class night and you got a good thought and you made some comments and some of you all are teaching bible class while i'm teaching you're so busy teaching bible class that you can't even be taught i look at some of the comments i'm amazed sometimes that you're having your own little bible class while i'm teaching stop the mending and hear this word [Music] don't let anybody say something stupid and distract you what they say what they think what they heard is irrelevant the only thing that matters is that you lay aside your garments take on the form of a servant and gird yourself with the doubt [Music] too many people in the kingdom are sitting at the table and not enough on their knees i call you to your knees loving living giving loving living giving it doesn't matter what you give if you don't live and you don't love [Music] it doesn't matter how long you live if all you live for is you if we had to make up stuff to say about you at your funeral then your living was in vain he said i love them to the end i lived for them out die for them i will serve them by giving give me those feet [Music] picture it smell it unwrap the sandals the dirty encrusted mud-filled sandals and pull them off the sweaty feet because god says i'll take the very worst of you and make the very best of you [Music] that's how much i think of you that i girded myself with the towel and washed your feet tonight my brothers and sisters and ladies and gentlemen and friends and onlookers and followers and subscribers and whoever you are members of the church e-members wherever you came from tonight the message is girded i lead girded mothers and girded fathers and girded sons and girded daughters and girded deacons and girded bishops and girded preachers and girded apostles and girded prophets we got too many people who keep trying to be important and not enough people who will draw down on their knees and serve good leadership is service great leadership is great service the only job opening god has is slave there are no positions and no penthouses he called you to serve he did not save you so that you could come here and get a word of inspiration to help you reach what you're trying to get done god will let you reach what you're trying to get done when he knows that you will get there and use it to serve him and not just your own agenda god wants to know can he trust you with what he's about to release in your life are you girded for what's next if you are girded for what's next then i hear the water running i hear the water honey i'm bishop t.d jakes i'm the senior pastor of the brothers house and this is our wednesday night bible class and i'm leaving with you it's simply called gurdy i pray tonight for you that the power of the holy spirit would touch you in a supernatural way that you would take the risk of being vulnerable that you would strip away all of your agenda lay aside your garments and take on the form of a servant and make your life about something other than you and experience the joy that only comes when god can use you are you girded are you ready give me that feet [Music] [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 224,846

Rating: 4.8910923 out of 5

Keywords: td jakes, faith, wtal, woman thou are loosed, megafest, potters house, bishop jakes, pastors and leadership, pastors, leaders, instinctbishops, village, girded, gird up your loins, WNBS, Wednesday Night Bible Study, Bible Study

Id: aAoAAKl8nl4

Length: 74min 1sec (4441 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021