In Flickering Light - Bishop T.D. Jakes [March 8, 2020]

calling all woman Thou Art Loosed alumni it's a woman's History Month and we want to hear from you on Sunday March 15th following service you are invited to a free casting call to share your inspirational woman now at least moments come and share your historical life-changing revelations and experiences that have influenced your own life over the years for a chance to be featured in upcoming promotional media opportunities to participate in the casting call on Sunday March 15th you must submit a brief summary of how your experiences of past woman now at least conferences have helped you shape history and impact your community at public relations at TD jakes toward the deadline to submit your field summary is Thursday March 12 [Music] [Music] I was reading an article obviously the offering at the end of servers oh I was reading an article that that really kind of enhanced my message our article didn't produce my message it actually complimented my message and I want to just read it an excerpt out of the federalists and and I think it's gonna be quite helpful let me see I'm gonna read it out of my pad it's just a texture it's let me put it in context so it makes sense the article is about the exiting from religious institutions of the millennial generation that the increasing number of Millennials allegedly according to the article declare themselves as nuns and while I have a lot of feelings about the accuracy of that I'm not sure whether they are so much exiting faith in Christ as much as they are developing an aversion to organized religion but for the purposes of the article they could not differentiate between the shifts that we see going on in church attendance as opposed to the it having a bearing on your relationship with God that is to say that they associate Christianity with buildings I do not because Christ never saw a church like this and the early church didn't see this they met outside and in houses our faith cannot be locked up behind walls yeah nevertheless the statement is nonetheless true that there has been a decline amongst most groups not all not really ours but there has been a decline in church attendance on the basis of this group this growing group of people who call themselves nuns they don't want to be labeled they don't want to be classified and that's but that's not just true about religion that's true about politics that's true about education it's true every institution is having to shift and it's thinking about how we feed the flock of God because all of them are not gathered in contemporary walls some are gathered online you see they have new ways of ingesting information restaurants are having to adjust target is having to adjust those that do not have just collapsed JC Penney's going down serious going down we're seeing a worldwide shift in all institutions it does not negate the efficacious power of the blood of the Lamb it's just a season at a time that we're going through it so anyway let me go back to what they said leave what I said alone they said the flip side of this is that religious and married parents nurtures substantially more children than do unmarried and unreligious parents and of the children of parents who show what this of the children of parents who show very high commitment to religious practices such as religious education reading scripture at home and church attendance 93% remained in the faith as adults in other words the whole precipitous of the article built around the fact if the Millennials declined and they're in attendance is because the Boomers didn't carry their kids to church so that they're saying that if you if you change what your children see you can change what your children will become it goes on to say this means that nuns phenomenon will soon peak and begin to die out in 2017 the pew forecasted that by 2060 nuns will be a shrinking share of the world population and the world's future will be more apt to attend local church services and I couldn't help to think about it in my own life I was asking some young people coming up in the elevator I said tell me about your parents and they said my my parents go to this church my parents raised me up in church I've been in church all my life that's also my experience as well I watching the way we raised our children it was not uncommon for you to see us pray over food it was not uncommon for you to see their mother in particular praying for them in the morning before they sent them off to school let us not lay the entire responsibility for Christian development on the church the real impact of faith happens in what you do in your house and when children see you honor God in the house I mean just to bless the food to pray when you're going through trouble to see you grab their hands in the morning and send them off with a brief word of Prayer little things like that instill values in children and what it really boils down while you may be mentored at church what you are modeled at home will override what you are mentoring do y'all hear what I'm saying to you so I want you to think about that I want you to hold that and I want to everything that I'm saying of late is really centered around bringing Christ out of the church into your house into your car into your life into your iPad I want to be able to look down your Twitter line and see some Jesus in your Twitter life I want to be able to go on your Instagram and see the pictures line up with the picture you showed me on Sunday morning I don't want to see they told me not to say that so I'm not gonna say that you know some of them handles you got conflict with how I love you and I'm shocked when I see the handle because it don't match up with the sister that I just saw running all over the church it got quiet for a minute some of y'all changing your handles right now cuz you didn't know I was looking but I've been peeking checking you out we want to bring down the inconsistencies between Sunday and Monday where you are not just somebody who goes to church on Sunday but you have had an encounter a real meaningful experience with God and it begins when you see God differently than just a police officer over your behavior and you really do see him as a family member that's why Jesus said when you pray start out by saying our Father he didn't say our God Oh ruler our master he is all of that but he wanted you to feel the intimacy of a relationship with God rather than the religious responsibility of a relationship with God it's not at all about religion it's all about relationship oh you ought to be shutting me down anyway I'm going to go to the Word of God I'm going to be in 1st Samuel chapter 3 verse 1 through 4 I'm just going to read a few passages I'm not even going to exegete the entirety of the story there's just something that caught my eye in this very familiar story I love this text I'm scared to get too deep into it because I could stay too long I can spend the night in this text baby boy both of my personal life and my spiritual life this text has fed me in ways I can't even begin to explain sometime at your leisure read through the whole chapter it's idiot we are looking at well let me go into it and I'll show you what we're looking at the boys Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli in those days the word of the Lord was rare there were not many visions one night Eli whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see was lying down in his usual place the Lamb of God had not yet had not yet gone out and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the Ark of God was then the Lord called Samuel Samuel answered Here I am can you say man I want to talk about in flickering lights what stands out to me in the King James Version it is translated and air the lamp of God went out God called Samuel in flickering light you know how it is when the candles about to go out or an oil lamp is about to go out and you've run out of oil and it's down to the last little bit and the light begins to flicker it is it's the flicker I'm after it's not really Samuel it's not really Eli it's it's the flickering that drew my fascination father God in the name of Jesus I stand before you today because there is no other God I can stand before you alone are God and besides you there is no other and it is with great humility that I stand in your presence today for no other reason but to honor you and to appreciate you and to thank you and to acknowledge that I'm literally standing in your grace I have both feet in your mercy and it is by that mercy that we are not consumed as we share the bread of life today and let it be so powerful and so profound and so prolific not that I am recognized but that you are recognized that hell is horrified that demons tremble that sickness fees the road I thank you Lord for even weariness and tiredness leaving out of our body I thank you for nervousness and stress taking wings and flying out of the room I trust you over the next few moments to give bread to the eater you don't have to feed somebody who refuses to be fed but father give bread to the eater wherever they are whether they're the church is sitting on the couch give bread to the eater and scene to the sword I thank you in advance for what you're going to do have your way in this place in Jesus name somebody shout a man you may be seated yeah let's go to work man the Bible teaches us clearly about the purpose of God has a lot to say about the purpose of God and when it begins to tell us about the purpose of God much has been written about it much has been sung about it much has been said about it I myself have shared and taught series on the purpose of God included it in my books and shared it through the resources that are available to you letting you know that you are not an incident or an accident or a mistake that you are intentional that God taught you here yeah that's a good one right there God thought you here that's why that particular sperm cell out swam all the rests because you were chosen before you were born so why would you now think that the choice is based on you since you were selected from the very beginning God says this way before I formed in the mother's womb I knew thee and I ordained me to be a prophet unto the nations before you had Bible study before you had class before you cleaned up your life before you got baptized before you even knew who God was God's selected you now the circumstances surrounding your birth may not have been ideal but environments are irrelevant to choice in fact God has a way of picking the most unlikely people to do the most amazing things but whenever such discussions emerge and we begin to talk about those things a lot of times on Facebook Twitter Instagram I started getting questions back from the little clips they pray that says a bishop dishonor Earth's my uncertainty it exists in many of us because we have great musings and confusions about what is God's purpose for my life am I on the right track or not am i doing what God called me to do am i serving the way God wants me to serve am I in the right city did I move to the right house did I get the right companion did I get this out of the other and we we carry purpose into minutiae you know should I be a cashier or manager if it has nothing to do with outcomes it is all left up to you that is to say God doesn't care whether you bought the blue house or the white one as long as it doesn't affect your purpose or your destiny God doesn't care it's like me on my GPS system when I'm driving in a strange place okay I admit it I use it even the Dallas but what gets on my nerves about the GPS system is that sometimes she talked too much okay and I think shut up I know this part and then other times she talks too little because I'm driving through a place of uncertainty and uncertainty scares me and I need her to reaffirm me by saying you know they need to add some like you're on the right track don't worry something five miles away just keep going but the propensity of the GPS system is not to talk unless it affects destination are you hearing what I'm saying to you and see what I want you to think from a god perspective is that purpose for your life didn't begin with you and this is what I love about God this is one of the ways I try to be like God is to be strategic because God is a strategist purpose didn't began when you got converted purpose didn't began when you were born purpose has been set in place from generation to generation the stage is set before the call begins if you will remember Samuels mother Anna had a barren home now understand when we start talking about barren wounds barren whom speak to the same thing that hungers that hunger does the Bible says he that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled so attitude has something to do with altitude God says I'm not going to force-feed you you have to want this the barrenness of his mother created an urgency and appreciation for a child and if it had not been enough alone he said pnina along to provoke her to model what success looks like because a lot of times if you don't know what success looks like you will settle for okay if you waiting for me to preach I already started he created the environment of discomfort that would ultimately drive Samuels mother Hannah into the presence of God now I want you to hear that because I want you to understand that God is not a flight attendant he is not there for your comfort God who creates comfort whose Holy Spirit is the comforter is also the god of discomfort be choosing which tool he needs to use to ship you in to the purpose and place of destiny if comfort does it do it God will make you uncomfortable where you are however you define discomfort to create an environment that shifts you my GPS user me make the turn see to get in the middle lane get in the right lane and I'm in the right lane this kills me what exit to get all and then when I get up to it in case these things are blind and some make the heart make the turn like she's gonna jump out the car and beat me up God says I will make you uncomfortable before I will let you miss a turn so let's look at it this way a minute I'm gonna give you another scripture I put up Romans 8:28 2:30 and and some of you could probably quote it but but it's important to the setup for what I'm about to say for we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to his purpose who have been what according to his one so there's a land of connectivity between call and purpose I was upstairs and telling them Brenda Ellis was singing that first song with the choir I said how do these singers remember all these words to all he said I can't think of a song to save my life I could sing about two lines and then the rest of it is created but I can quote scriptures in my sleep I can remember message as I preach when I was 25 years old the whole sermon I outlined and everything is still in my head now the reason I can't do what they do is because God has said make to turn make the turn because I thought I was called a gospel music I grew up playing the piano and directing the choir and if God had to force me to make the turn I would have been somewhere in the choir I can't play well enough to be in the band but I would have been somewhere in the choir singing son but the Holy Ghost said make the turn make the turn make the turn because you are called according to he said I'll send you somebody to play for you I'll send you somebody to sing for you I know you like music but that's not what I want you to do I predestined you to do something else and some of the things that you think of the devil it's really God saying make the turn make the turn and make the turn I know you don't want to do it but make the turn make the turn make the turn make the turn shut your mouth he will whip you to solace he will whip you into submission he will drive you away from your insecurities make the turn make the turn he'll give courage to the discouraged he'll give strength to them that afraid order to make you make the turn in time many season berth 29 for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed but those who why wait we wait for those God foreknew ain't gonna get into it if those God foreknew he knew me for little he pleased he knew me before he knew me before he met amazing people so how could I surprise him you might surprise you you might surprise your mama you might surprise your church you might surprise your friend but how you how could you surprise a God who for knew you God says I know your thoughts are far off before they even get to your head I see them coming those he did foreknow he also predestined he those that he foreknew he predestined he already set up the stage [Applause] now watch this I want you to give this he foreknew me and he predestiny without me so I don't remember his foreknowledge because I don't have foreknowledge so I can't bear witness to his foreknowledge other than the Word of God because I was not cognizant of the fact that while I was feeling my daddy's Lord's God foreknew me but the Bible says that Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek while he was still in the Lords of Abraham that means when I pay tithes I bless my sperm cells my seeds my children I that hadn't even come out yet God said I already blessed them in their father he foreknew you he foreknew you I didn't like my father here if it accomplishes the purpose of God God will use a sewer rat God will use a [ __ ] named harlot God will use an ass and give him the ability to speak in order to accomplish his purpose trumps every problem in your life for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son to be conformed conforming is uncomfortable you can't form a clay vase without pushing on it without pulling on it without applying pressure I would suggest to you that most of what you call demonic and attack and spiritual warfare is just the Potter push it on the clay [Applause] to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters for those he predestined he also called now this is when it gets good though all the foreknowledge and all the predestination he did without my knowledge and then when he calls me he brings me into a setup that was already set up you don't know my said I've I said I wasn't good you're not listening at what I'm saying it doesn't have to feel good to be God for those he predestined he also called and because I knew you would mess things up those he called he also justified those he justified he also glorified so so I predetermined the end from the beginning because I knew you and I know exactly where to push you to make you move cities I do exactly where to push you to make you join churches and you exactly where to push you to shift you into a destiny move I know exactly where to push you to force you to have a hunger to take the right courses in the right schools to prepare your mind for what I'm going to do in your life and hear this nothing that you have been through shall be wasted I'm gonna tell you all over here cuz y'all look more spiritual the night group over there nothing that you have been through shall be wasted not one tear not one soul not one agony not one mistake not one misfortune not one accident nothing that you have been through shall be wasted Jonah you're a real good prophet I'm going to send you to Nineveh I'm not going to dinner but I'm going to touch it go ahead and go to Tarshish I'm going to use that to go ahead and run I'm going to use you're running away from me for my glory I'm gonna let the fish swallow you up and leave you at the bottom of the mountains for three days and bring you out just so Christ can come along and say even as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days so shall the Son of Man be in the Lord parts other your pain in the shadow of my power oh my god but in a narcissistic society where you think everything is about you you fail to understand that God has been setting you up before you even existed you don't bring the actor on and then set the stage you said the stage before the scene is executed you know in the film business you don't even shoot the movie in sequence if it's convenient and budgetary convenient you may shoot the last scene before you shoot the first scene and then in the editing suite you cut it till it all pitch together to come in to the ending that has been predestined from the beginning oh you're a human are you with me you don't okay so we enter into the text at the point of the unveiling of the purpose of God for Sandhya's life it's not the beginning of the story this is when he comes into the awareness of what God has predestined and for known in his life making decisions about me without me the call is when I become aware of Who I am in him are you following me good up until this moment all Samuel knows is religion he if you read down in the text you will find that Samuel of new religion before he knew relationship be careful don't that you don't feed people religion to hide the fact that you don't have relationship a lot a lot of the cute preacher that you see today uses a lot of metaphors and a lot of social colloquialisms to hide the fact that I don't study people have a way of covering for their inadequacies that if they razzle dazzle you with this you won't notice that I really didn't develop that we have this young man working in the temple and the Bible clearly says that he does not know the Lord that means evangelism doesn't start out there sometimes you have to convert the converted because we're all in here but some of us have taken placebos now the doctors know exactly what I'm talking about when I say placebo everybody gotta peel you can't tell which peel they got but some of them have a placebo so you can get an honest assessment of the effectiveness of the medication everybody sitting here but everybody's not getting the word some are giving a placebo because they're not really focused on the word of God they just want to say they went to church I'm just warm enough I've even got to the point yet but a fiery test will tell whether you took the medication or whether you have a placebo people I told you will let you know whether you got the real deal or you got a placebo if your feelings can get hurt and you quit you didn't really have an encounter with God you had an encounter with me but I if you got an encounter with God yes you got an encounter with God you'll stay with him when he's pushing on the clay you'll stay with him when he's pulling you into places that you don't feel comfortable in you'll stay with him when friends surround you you'll stay with him when friends leave you you'll stay with him when everybody loves you you'll stay with him with everybody hates you because my soul has been anchored my soul is not ended in our friendship my soul is not anchored in a paycheck my soul is not anchored in my car my soul is not a get in my house my soul no no hear what I'm Glenn my soul has Bob keep on raising [Applause] all right look at your neighbor say something's about to happen I feel it in the room I feel it in the atmosphere I feel it in the environment I feel that something is about to happen this is a tipping point in our church where the Holy Ghost kicks in and begins to do amazing stuff and if you've been sleep through the rest don't miss this because something is about to happen I want to invite you to shout with us till you can be like us somewhere along the way God will find you somewhere along the way God will touch you somewhere along the way God will heal you [Applause] I just got to my first point [Applause] all that other stuff that was just a frame now imma set the picture in the young boy named Samuel has come up in the church knowing the rituals knowing the ceremonies knowing the routines knowing his responsibilities than the church but has not really had an encounter with God his mother has taken him at an early age when he's just been weaned and brought him up and him in a religious environment and he knows how to be religious he knows how to raise his hands he knows how to clap on and off beat dependent he [Applause] he knows the words to the songs he doesn't even have to look at screen he's in God has put him in an environment that suggests an encounter with God that actually is flickering it is a he has been born into a time what I call a flickering era of enlightenment the Bible says that they say this way he says the word of the Lord was scarce in those days and there was no open vision now this this first sentence and I'm quoting I read it out NIV but I'm pulling out of King James because I'm old when I start preaching we didn't have an IV so I learned it in KJV the Bible says the word of the Lord was scarce in those days and there was no open vision this first verse does not deal with Eli the temple but the sociological environment that surrounds the community that he lives in his world view of God for years I've pondered in my mind does the church affect culture or does culture affect the church I know where the salt of the earth and we're supposed to affect the culture but we cannot live autonomously and isolate ourselves and not confess that the culture also affects the church because we are limited to simple things like language in the conveyance of language language creates words but it doesn't control pictures so when I say our Father did somebody who had a good one I'm gonna help you to see it they get a warm feeling but when I say our Father to somebody who was beaten every day they say so even though we convey the same words we don't give the same pictures and it is actually the pictures that teach us so that's why all of us can hear the same message and everybody walks out with something different it's because my words form different pictures based on your worldview I'm amazed I went through a time pastor I was trying to be like my friend Archie Dennis's deceased now I went to Archie's church and after church he would ask his members what they got out of the message and he chairman would stand and tell what they got out of the message so I went back to my church in West Virginia now I said so what did you get out of the message it depressed me so bad that I said either I gotta stop this or I gotta stop preaching this is this is just just just you know I was about 28 or so and I I couldn't understand at all that I studied and prepared and and meant to convey that they walked away with it you know it was a witness to leave my husband [Applause] no baby you heard what you wanted to hear because you came in here with your mind or leaving him and now you're using my message to justify your behavior I did not say that you heard that so this is a flickering era of enlightenment and I want to go back to that I want to talk about that a little bit the the environment around it the the Bible says said the word of the Lord was scarce the the word of the Lord was scarce so it wasn't that there wasn't any light it was flickering and there was no open vision in other words NRB says not many visions it wasn't that there weren't any but they were scarce flickering the problem with being born in a flickering environment is not just that the light is flickering it is also that a flickering light is normal and in and into - I'm gonna bring at this point I grew up poor I grew up I realized that retrospect we were poor girl as my sister I got a witness we was told we couldn't afford the last Oh an artist pronounce it correctly we were polled the reason I know I was polish because when I went to school and they had spaghetti sauce I didn't know what it was because my mama put hot ketchup it ain't that bad if that's all you know you don't hear me it's not that bad if that's all you know and TV what like it is today and there was no social media and so we didn't get to compare ourselves with everybody else it was only as I got out of my environment that I began to understand that what our thought was true wasn't as true as I thought because isolation always affects education you see as long as women couldn't drive they as long as they couldn't drive and all they could see was a kitchen they stayed in the kitchen but when they mr. Riley got driver's license now they said wait a minute I want to be able to go I want to be able to work nah I said I want to be President of the United States because isolation affects education and that's why the more you're exposed the more you want to change and whatever God was to change a thing he will start a change way back here to affect something that's going to happen up here some of the breakthroughs that God's going to give you in your life are not for you they're for your children and for your children's children look at your neighbor says about the ship that ship is bigger than me it's my kids it's my grandkids is my great-great grandkids I played my part in the ships [Applause] I'm going somewhere you're going with me now we now understand that the environment around him does not expect much and God is getting ready to do much so so Samuel coming into the temple is not just another prophet coming along to speak in that environment though the word of the Lord was curiously in those days it's a paradigm shift it's bigger than this one guy but it starts with him what is God trying to start with you it'll never happen if your goal is to fit in God didn't call you to fit in he called you to stand out stop trying to fit in with people who don't want you anyway God wants you to be your own person and stand on your own two feet it's final your circumstances in spite of your environment in spite of your situation God wants you to stand up and be the man and the woman that he called you to be away with what do people say away with what they said about you away with what you heard stand up who am I talking to this boy they started singing that song it really blessed me cuz it started talking about a shift and whenever you hear a shift you think next week [Applause] but you only said God has started the shift before the Prophet ever opened up his eyes we are comparing Samuel who is a prophet to the environment of Eli who is a priest there are two different jobs in the same place the Prophet is to declare thus saith the Lord but he's been raised up around priests who are there to minister to the people and be the voice of the people to God in repentance in prayer so Samuel has the benefit of being softened by being ministered and trained by the priests are you following what I'm saying now his world is flickering his mentors are to the socket verse says Eli eyes had grown dim this this flickering priest this flickering priest he's not all gone but he's not all there he's not blind but his eyes are dim he has not always been dim or the Bible would have said his eyes grew dim so it is possible to start out with 20/20 and over time and over life his eyes grew dim later we will find out that his hearing is bad he can hear Samuel better than he can hear God see Eli has been serving a long time and I'm gonna say something and I don't mean this as a generalization this is why it's not always good not all grandparents should be raising children [Applause] because your eyes grow dim you are but you're not gonna bring this filth in my house the kid got a cellphone grandma they're not bringing in brown paper bags anymore are you but she don't know where to fight because no matter who you are over time your eyes grow dim and you put up with stuff that you wouldn't put up with and you take stuff that you wouldn't take and and the the priesthood the whole the whole institution can suffer from men who stayed in power too long Oh God make me here I'm trying to hear it but the more I feed the more he feeds why do we stay too long why do we hold on I'll tell you why we hold on because we think positions define us and and we think if they don't call you a policeman you not anybody if they don't call you a pastor you're not anybody if they don't call you executive admin you're not anybody you have allowed the title to eat up who you are the title doesn't make the person the person makes the title but if you're not careful you will cleave to things out of season and kill yourself trying to be what you used to be rather than to release yourself and enjoy every season of your life so we have a we have a flickering point of connection with God and the church has suffered from it Eli sons are out of control is hard to control grown kids it ain't easy controlling the little ones the older they get though the more opinionated they become you used to lay out what the baby was gonna wear baby didn't say nothing wait a while I'm not wearing that I don't like that color that's not what they wearing at my school the longer you live the less you can control oh I'm preaching some stuff [Applause] his his site had grown to flickering his ears have gotten bad and yet it is in this environment that God does his best work if I was God I should stop right here because I go down the wrong world already if I was God y'all should really be skating but if I was God I would bring the perfect man out of the perfect environment but because God strength is made perfect in weakness God will give you a flickering environment give you a flickering mentor and yet bring something out of you that changes the world you would think that that that Allah had any value cuz because he couldn't hardly see he was almost death he had grown them in front how people want you till you grow them that's why you can't get addicted to the applause because as you continue on things change and the love they say they have for you is not for you it's for what you produce when you get where you can't produce what you used to produce you'd be surprised how fast people will drop you [Applause] - and Phineas were able to escape his judgment they were doing their own thing they were going in their own way you later see that he didn't understand the voice of good wait wait wait wait let me correct that the oxymoron in the story is that when God called Samuel Samuel can hear it but he doesn't understand this is the problem with the young they can hear things they don't understand so all of a sudden you see me do something and you say I can do that and you saw it but you don't understand what all is behind this all you see is what's happening right now you don't see all the things that went on for weeks and weeks behind the scenes you don't see the staff operating you don't see the volunteers operated you don't see the lawsuits you don't see the crisis management you don't see the budget you don't see the circumstance you don't see the bills you don't understand the insurance we got to pay you don't understand the rules that we have to mend - you don't understand what all is behind it but all you see is the suit and you see the collar and you walk around here you get you some glasses and you start walking around you say I got this really I can dress like intimate but I can't run like it I can't do what Emma did is an insult to the profession to underestimate how much it costs to participate you don't come when it rains you don't come when the Super Bowl is on you don't have the commitment yet but you have the gift you have the gift so don't don't get rid of Eli because his eyes have grown dim and it is true he's gotten weak he lets things go down that he would have stood up against you get tired you get tired of fighting people hotline finances acting a fool like they lost their mind Eli's old now he's just trying to make it on here just trying to make it on in but don't devalue him he doesn't hear well but he understands well Samuel could hear God but he didn't know what it meant Eli knew what it meant but he could no longer hear God brings people into your life because you need them don't be so caught up in what you can do better than them that you don't understand that you still need them because every gifts got a blind spot every gift got a blind spot every gift got a blind spot all right here to counseling to tell you there comes I can counsel you as a pastor and I think I'm pretty good at it I think I'm real good at it but there comes a point in complexity that I will come over and tag you and say this is one for you you got to understand your limitations it doesn't mean you're not valuable but you have to understand where gifts are not enough to take you the last mile of the way and if you don't understand when to get out you will hurt people that you're trying to help that's why I encourage all husbands and always to start trying to be your spouse's pastor [Applause] you're trying to help but you're gonna kill them you can't be their therapist you can't be their counselor you can't use sometimes you can't even be their mentor even though it means well pastor she just won't hear me what you talking about that you had one scripture you quoted backwards cuz y'all was in an argument [Applause] and you you haven't been doing this long enough to look at the whole picture you don't read your Bible you just write stuff out of my sermon and try to repeat it and you take it excerpt to manipulate the thing in your house you haven't done it from a perspective of not having a personal investment in it so your wisdom is blurred by what you are trying to make me become [Music] [Applause] you'll I had grown old Samuel is about to hear the call that's going to change his life it's gonna change the priesthood it's gonna change the nation of Israel it's gonna change the world as they know it it's gonna happen to a young man who didn't even know God until this moment he had been predestined he had been for known but he didn't know it wonder what you don't know about who you are I appreciate message a couple of months ago I didn't know who I was if I didn't know who I was I'd have done things differently I didn't know this was gonna happen to me it just happened it's not like God came in there and gave me a full-scale report that this is where your life is gonna be at this a it would have changed some stuff I did at 19 and 20 and 30 and a little bit at 40 [Applause] you understand I never will forget Cornel West and I debated each other many years ago at Princeton and I was debating Cornel West and they were quoting passages that I wrote out of my first book woman are loose and I told when I wrote that book I wouldn't talk in the Princeton I didn't write you that with you all in mine I wrote that with my church in man that was my worldview and so it's one thing to take truth that is true in this environment and try to put it on that environment wonder who you are wonder could you have an encounter in this temple that changed the trajectory of your life that shifted everything that explained your past that explored your childhood they got deep down into the questions in your life and then you begin to understand that's why we're Romans 8:28 how all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord who are the called according to his purpose and then you start saying sir it was good for me that I was afflicted had I not been afflicted I would have never seen it was good it was good it was good looking somebody say it was good it was good it was good it was good what I call bad it was good it was good it was good we was born poor it was good daddy taught us so were thinking it was good that mama educated us at home it was good that we didn't have fancy clothes to wear he stopped us from being proud he stopped us from big arrogant it made us able to reach all kinds of people I'm glad it made me tough it made me strong it made me independent of what you think I'm not used to you lacking me no way so I can't lose what I never had somebody talk to me [Applause] [Music] yes it was good that they didn't like me on the school bus it was good that they rejected me God taught me how to be isolated he taught me how to make myself happy it was good that we couldn't buy toys it made me creative anytime you can go out and play in the woods with her Oh y'all hear what I'm saying and you can get an old stick and a rock and a ball and a bat and get out in the woods and create stuff it made me creative it made me inventor it made me strong it made me see things that were not there it was good it was good what you have been calling bad you wanna start calling it good [Music] [Applause] God leave Eli in the world just long enough to influence who's next y'all made me sweat this longer [Applause] this ain't Corona [Applause] this is christos come on top of it somebody this is Jesus Riva I want you to catch this [Applause] I'm gonna brag on you a little bit honey there's a lot I can break on if I have a break on this my wife is meticulous she's meticulous even when she all had to be meticulous as we get older things get harder I tell y'all take away because we flicker and she still won't bring me a meal without a place man if I want seconds she'll never bring it on the dirty plate I think don't give me another play I got time for that just throw some food over top of it it's all going to the same place it's gonna be alright we're seeing there I do little nasty stuff [Applause] he's the food right out the refrigerator go heat it up drag a little saucepan back into the bedroom got a spoon in the saucepan when she comes back home I gotta clean up so she can't see what a he's and I really AM I'm an animal I'm an animal I don't like it till his nasty mess in there secrets of everything it'd be so nice I always know when she home because when I come in the house I smell the candles yeah and when I know she'd been gone I try to do like her I'd be lighting candles too late the room smell like fried fish [Applause] I've always been I was the one who could cook she couldn't cook when I married I was the one who could cook so she always set the table not she didn't do it all at all she made a cobbler the other day the cobbler was so good it made me man cuz I always did the desserts I said wait a minute you've gone too far back and I thought I got my ego under control I said what did you put in there she uh thinks the table should be made right and so when she said the table she'll put a candle offer or something on the table or some flowers on the table and it should decorate the table certainly when we're doing something you know worthy of it and and it'll be the centerpiece and and what you have to understand yeah what you have to understand is that for me the centerpiece of this text [Applause] the centerpiece of this text is not Hoffner nor Phineas they might be at the table but they're not the text it's not Eli not even Samuel they they're at the table but they're not the text the centerpiece which is never something you eat but it sets the atmosphere for the evening the atmosphere for this text is set by a footnote in the author's writing that says an air the laugh of God went out but that as the light flickers Samuel heard God call him in flickering light I'm too young Lord I'm - Oh Lord I'm not ready Lord I can't do this Lord God said I'm going to call you in flickering light now you must understand that it was Samuels job to keep the light burning but at night there was this this this period where the light would flicker and even the priests had to rest and the writer notes what time it was by telling us where the light was an air the lamp of God went out just before it went out that's what it means that's before it went out as it began to flicker God calls Samuel and the Lord told me to tell you but the world around you is flickering and then he has mighty man of Valor and women of Valor that he has used in mighty ways but alas they too have began to flicker and if you don't go past just having church to becoming the man and the woman of God you were created to me the future will seem impossible so in the midst of fluctuation and flickering light and limited sight in this adverse flickering light God sir Samuel Samuel Samuel has laid down for the evening he's a young man laying and what's comfortable Samuel is resting in his own comfort but at all is a disruption of comfort Samuel and Samuel could hear the call and he got up and went to Eli because Samuel thinks it's about his mentor and Eli didn't hear anything Eli says I called the not good I can lay down again all of this is happening in the flicker of life Samuel tries to get comfortable again and about the time he's about to go to sleep God says Samuel because what he lack he wants to be faithful he said did you call me sir he lies oh he says I called him Ahab's [Music] go back it lay down again yes sir I'm seeking my own comfort I'm doing my own thing my way I do me like I do me I go where I want to go out where what I want to where I say what I want to say I'm comfortable I'm a new generation I make my own rules I got my own plans I'm fixing up my life like I wanted to be I'm living like it's cold I'm doing my own thing I come when I get ready to come I leave when I want to leave because I'm keeping it comfortable but you're keeping it comfortable is killing what's going to happen next so God says share your did you call me and then Allah perceives he can't hear it anymore but he can still sense it look at this process this process of transition there's a process of transition there's a generational process of transition there's a miscommunication between generations look at look at and look at Eli's synonym back Eli was rejected Samuel Samuel has to face a rejection of Eli and Leigh in the comfort of his own rebellion and yet God keeps calling him Samuel Eli perceives that the Lord has called him he says kumarkan lay down only this time when you hear the call say speak Lord [Music] for the servant the servant the servant here at the call and the reason the reason we went front when Samuel goes back and he lays down on the bed again he is now armed with what Eli has given him we have something to give you we're left in the earth to pass it on the question my spiritual father said something to me that I had to grow in their understanding somebody said to him will you be my spiritual father and you know how efficient what is here this what's it baby the question is not can I be your father I've already proven that I can be a father the question is can you be my son that's the part that has to be proven if Samuel had not obeyed Eli then the rest of the Bible would have never happened out of Samuel Direction wars were fought and Wan kingdoms were conquered Kings were anointed out of Samuels call came David's call to ministry out of David's called to ministry came the lineage of Jesus Christ out of Jesus Christ came the New Testament apostles out of the apostles came the power of the Holy Ghost reign over the church all of the Bible was waiting on Samuel to say the right thing that he could only get from Eli to break the yoke that was over his life and God did it all in flickering light I'm gonna close with if the Lord told me to tell you don't wait for the light to stop flickering don't wait for the stability you crave don't wait to feel like you're ready for what's next don't wait till the conditions are right and the circumstances all in place because we walk by faith and not by sight where God is getting ready to take you next is in flickering light and I stole God I said when I get to the end of this Lord I think I will call for the people under 40 because I want to anoint the next generation and I do and I do but the Lord said the strangest thing to me he said you cannot determine the next generation by age [Applause] [Music] cuz cuz I have some late bloomers who are just coming into their season in the second phase of their life and they're just now about to step into what they should have been into twenty years ago and now they're suddenly here things that it's all starting to make sense he said so don't call next my age called next my opportunity he said I want you to pray for the people that are on the verge of an opportunity that is about to be birthed in flickering lights and everything shaking around you and everything's moving around you and yet there is a call on your life I've got something to tell you I've got something to pass over to you and that's something too will you I've got something to convey over to you if you are standing on the verge of something right on the edge of something and you paint see details and everything is flickering a little bit as you're wondering do you have what it takes and you're still wrestling between your comfort and your call sometimes you're in your call and sometimes you're in your comfort I have a warrant for your arrest the time of you flickering back and forth between call and comfort is over this is the beginning of a new moment of direction and purpose and call and glory in your life I don't know who you are you might be 20 you might be 52 you might be 31 you might be 45 but if you feel like you're about to come into something you're a little bit scared and you're a little bit nervous and you're a little bit unstable this is your message this is God's word for this people at this time you might be watching online but you can still catch this anointing that I'm gonna send to you today right where you are no couch I want you to start worshipping God in yo somebody start wasserman him right now [Applause] [Music] I'm gonna put you on the spot kid I put you on the spot Oscar let me put you on the spot only if you're comfortable I want to talk about the conversation we had about gospel artist versus being who you became can I do that okay you can't say no I got you out of here I didn't know I was going to let's go dude he said to me you know I love gospel music I want to be a gospel artist and I am nothing wrong with being a gospel artist a great thing to be he was operating in that Lane I said that's fine you can do that that's a great job we need gospel artists we need you we need all of that I said but nobody goes to college for eight years to be a gospel artist nobody who can direct symphonies and write for orchestras does that so they can be in gospel artists I tried to make you see who you are and what you could do and this year he didn't see who he was he didn't see who it could be he was shooting too low he was shooting based on what he saw around him I said why would you settle for that when you can write four symphonies you can travel around the world you can be an ambassador in two areas that being a gospel artist would never be able to take you your mama suffered and being without for you to be more than just somebody who can see and can play you're bigger than all your doubts you're bigger than all your fears that's why I had to come and watch you get your doctorate you don't know who you are you don't know what you can do you don't know what you can be you don't know what you can have you don't know what you can reap don't settle for what you sow God will do more with you than he did with the people who inspired you lift your hands alone with your mouth to get ready [Applause] the anointing of God is in this place the Spirit of God is in this room there is an impartation taking place in this room I want you to stop your inconsistency stop your trouble change your strategy focus yourself get your mind ready get your house ready get your heart ready not many days hence God is going to release his purpose and his destiny in your life he's been getting you ready all of your life it is about to happen open your mouth [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] copyright for I was walking down the hallway one day I ran in April we were talking and she was telling me she said I've just loved music I love to sing I love that said that's wonderful you got a beautiful voice amazing board keep singing you're always saying I'll sing in your sleep you got to wake up singing I'll sing while you're brushing your teeth you got to keep on singing but why did you get a master's degree in business administration if all you was gonna do a sing you could have come out of you kind of got a GED and been able to sing and I said you need to increase your vision of how you see yourself as of yet [Applause] you know you never realized [Applause] can you hear me father pouch tab you hear me can you hear me [Applause] the stage set the table is pretty and God said in the flickering light of your error the flickering light of your church the flickering in your own insecurities none of it will stop me from calling you Samuel Samuel Samuel you ain't been listening what are you supposed to say when God says Samuel speak Lord for thy servants [Music] [Applause] you got your heart open you got your hands up you got your heart opened you got your head open that's normally that's the only where we leave you with your hands up and your heart open but I'm gonna push you open up your hand open up your head the way you see it is not the way it is what God wants to do with you it's bigger than what you've been aiming it I appreciate your appreciation for where you are but what God wants to do is bigger than what you have in mind the great question for you is are you willing to be uncomfortable are you willing to go scared and uncertain do you understand that you are in the precipice of the rest of your life you cannot rewrite your history but you can affect your destiny you don't have another day to waste crying about yesterday when God gave you today so you could change tomorrow karate of sleep and the Lord told me to tell you if you would wake up if you would stop playing games and wake up God would amaze you I preached this message to you in flickering light [Music] many of my dear friends are fading away Alzheimer's sitting in physical infirmities slowing them down God in His mercy has left me strong I did this when I was you if I had to do it neither been too late don't you miss this moment don't you miss this moment cuz you were scared I was scared every day don't you miss this moment cuz you're uncertain faith thrives and uncertainty we will watch you as long as we can we will guide you as long as we can but this is your moment and don't you let no devil in hell stop you you hear me don't you let no devil in hell stop you some will subdue nations some will rise into positions of power some will rise into powers of financial giftedness of profitability beyond your imagination some of you will do incredible things but let me tell the rest of you you don't have to be big to be great some of you will raise world-shaking children some of you will touch the person who touches the world you'll heal the people that rocked the nations you'll minister to people that subdue kingdoms and the devil's job is to try to make you think that whatever you got is insignificant if you don't read it on the front page of the paper but the press does not define greatness everybody famous is not great and everybody great is not famous and so don't look for the bright lights [Applause] don't look for the bright lights cuz I know people in the bright lights I know people in the bright lights that are committing suicide I know people in the bright lights who are strung out on drugs I know people in the bright lights who have lost their mind I know people in the bright lights that you can't trust with a nickel or leave alone with a child don't look for the bright lights your destiny is not in the bright lights your destiny is not in the bright lights your destiny is not in the bright lights stop feeling bad about yourself because people have not discovered you acknowledge you accepted you bless you or increase you your destiny is not my children in the bright lights your destiny is in the flickering lights [Applause] I feel like we all have a candle we all have this light that we're given to carry that light is your destiny this is what I tell people exposure is so important if you see it that means you can do that means you can do it if you are not in the room where changes are occurring you are in the yard where consequences

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 657,943

Rating: 4.8209 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, td jakes 2020 motivation, in flickering light, td jakes in flickering light

Id: 0IYPTYqPJP4

Length: 91min 29sec (5489 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 08 2020