It'll Work If You Work It! II - Bishop T.D. Jakes

i'm going to draw your attention back uh to second kings 19. but before i do i want to introduce some guests that are going to be joining me so that we can have some dialogue and some witnesses i have assembled a panel of erudite and charismatic leaders of diverse backgrounds that will give you a practical look on how to work it because they are people that work it uh the first one i will call is frederick johnson uh it's hard for me to call him frederick johnson because i've been calling him ship for so long his aka is sib the surgeon he's an internationally known and locally respected barber shop owner winner of the cedric barber battle and the broner brothers battle global ambassador for lustre squirrel products aka sip the surgery would you clap your hands and welcome him this brother turned barbaring into a business like i have never seen has done movies has done television has won awards travels all over the place has done amazing things when he could have just cut hair and went home and i asked him to come tonight because i believe his testimony is powerful and it is blessed but it is also within your reach next is marcus dawson marcus dawson is that yes y'all know marcus marcus is an executive for the td jakes real estate ventures and the potter's house he's responsible for acquisitions he's responsible for the executive management uh here at the local church he is a musician he is a composer he is an entrepreneur uh he has so many titles uh i run out of them i have been with marcus and marcus has been with me since he was 17 because he's only about 19 now yeah yeah he was 17 years old when he came first as a musician to me and represents a growth pattern from faith to faith and from glory to glory where you start out in one thing and that thing leads to another thing and it leads to another thing and though you only see him on the keyboard he does a whole lot more within the organization and within the real estate ventures than that and it is largely because he had the liquidity of god and the nimbleness of mind to re-invent himself and we're at a time where you need to be able to reinvent yourself next is the pastor of the potter's house of fort worth he is pastor patrick winfield he's the campus pastor of the potter's house of fort worth he's an educational consultant and educational advocate and doctoral student at dbu board member of the young men's leadership academy and working to build the bridge between church and education through strategic partnerships and service leadership we're excited to have him here tonight he is also amen one of our principals contributors and directors and consultants for fisom he's teaching he's working in the fightsome department what a great privilege it is uh to have his expertise and experience in the development of our fights approach you're saying what is fights of potter's house school of music google it uh school of ministry sorry potter's house school of ministry and you can find more information you don't even have to be a member of the church if you want to sharpen your skills and develop yourself in biblical expertise and literacy faison is for you whether you are called to ministry or whether you're just a christian who says i want more fisom is the place for you thank you for being here tonight once more let's honor him last but not least our final panelists for tonight's discussion is allison draper lolly i want you to welcome her tonight currently she is the chief development officer for td jake's foundation there's a great deal of difference between the foundation and the real estate ventures you will see a multiplicity of corporate coordinations uh in part because you have to understand you have to build uh corporations around your dreams don't leave your dreams in wonderland like dorothy looking for the wizard of oz but build business constructs that house your vision or you won't have given god anything to bless this particular aspect of what we do is the tdjx foundation it is a not-for-profit is it a 401c3 it is focused on philanthropic endeavors whereby we can be the catalyst and bridge between corporate america and community needs creating job placement creating opportunities for betterment creating stem programs creating opportunities to connect uh young people into steam arts science technology engineering and math and so much more would you welcome allison draper tonight to be here before joining the td jakes foundation she was a c-suite executive in the media industry and served there for about three decades and we are blessed to have you here allison we welcome you once more give a big noise and a big shout out so what we're going to do i want to go to first kings 19 19-21 uh where we left off sunday and i want to go to second kings and i'm going to share 2nd kings 7 through 18 and i'm going to rehearse these texts in your ears with the hope that i might extrapolate from the text a few ideas that we did not get to cover i didn't even get to finish sunday i just walked away i just i just walked away i walked to the door and said and they saw him no more and i disagree i didn't even deal with the 50 uh school of the prophets who went out looking for elijah to come back uh so i want to talk a little bit about that tonight uh there's some good stuff in here but let's start with first kings 19 19-21 when you have it say amen could you stand on your feet for the reading of the word i want you good and alert tonight i want you awake i want your head on i want your head on straight i want you ready to receive i want you listening for clues and tips that you can use in your life in your marriage in your business in your corporation with your children all of it will work if you work it this is not just about business this is not just about uh how to use your faith to get up on your financial fee it might be how to work your marriage it might be how to work a troubled child it might be how to work through a problem in your life that you're having trouble getting through it will work if you work it say that with me it will work if you work it and so i want to break it down into how we can make it work let's go so elijah went from there and found elisha son of shayphath he was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen and he himself was driving the 12th pair elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him isn't it funny that god doesn't use people who aren't doing something have you noticed that the disciples of jesus call all were employed god calls busy people god doesn't call lazy people sleepy people waiting people lounging people god calls busy people because he wants you to catch the rhythm of what he's about to do when elijah meets elijah elijah is not sitting up under a tree chilling somewhere he is working on the 12th yoka oxen in the hot sun plowing in the field trying to make something happen how many people in here are trying to make something happen hold your hand up high don't be ashamed yeah because that means god is looking for you god is not looking for somebody who's not trying to make something happen who's satisfied to sit where they are if you're satisfied to sit where you are and be where you are take a nap god is looking for people who are fishing or washing their nets or climbing up trees god is looking for people who are tax collectors god is looking for people who are after something who are chasing something because there is something you learn in the chase don't you get so you stop chasing something you might have to chase it slower but still always keep something that you're chasing that you're doing that you're productive god wants people that are after something because this is the kind of race that requires that you be in movement when he meets you so that you can catch his rhythm so that when he passes the baton you are already in flight how many people feel like you're already in flight elijah then left his auction and ran after elijah he ran after elijah he ran after elijah said let me kiss my father and mother goodbye he said and then i will come back with you elijah said go back what have i done to you he could not discourage this boy he would not be discouraged i want to talk a minute to all of you folks that are so easily discouraged the man that elisha admires tells him to go back and he ain't hearing it and the first time the bank says no the loan says no the boyfriend says no boya says no you go home and eat four gallons of ice cream go into a state of depression and sit up and little watch love stories and crawl over yourself if you're gonna work with god you cannot be easily discouraged you have to be tenacious you have to be relentless you have to keep getting your fight back elijah the prophet the true prophet the man of god the man who confronted kings and kingdoms told him to go back and he said no i'm not going back he put his life in jeopardy to say no to elijah but he kept on going because he was wanting something which makes me want to ask you the question how bad do you want it how bad do you want to do you just casually want it is it some fanciful lofty idea some some uh euphoric ideology that you embrace to entertain yourself with the grandeurs of illusion of the possibility of something that you actually never expect to aspire for or is it something that you really have set your teeth for and you're willing to get down and grunt for it and go in the labor for it and push for it elijah was after it and he wasn't taking no for an answer so i want you to make up in your mind i'm not taking no for an answer yeah that's right i'm not taking no foreign answers so elijah left him and went back he took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them he burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people and they ate then he set out to follow elijah and became his sir i love this verse this is my favorite verse because elijah elijah is saying to elijah i ain't got nothing to go back to how many have made up in your mind i don't have nothing to go back to going back is not an option we can take that off the table i'm going to burn the ox i'm going to burn the plow i'm going to fix it so the enemy does not seduce me into the entrapment of fantasizing about the past my good old days are in front of me i said my good old days are in front of me i have no shrines around the tombs of things i've already slayed i don't have time to worship around the shrine of dead goliaths let the dead bury the dead i'm looking for the next giant i'm swinging the next rock let's go after it let's get it let's go for it are you with me now let's go to second kings chapter 2 verse 7 through 18 just for a minute 50 men from the company of the prophets went and stood at the distance facing the place where elijah and elijah had stopped at the jordan now elijah and eliza have been hanging out for most theologians say about six years so this is not a quick trip young people this is not an instant grab this is not an upload on youtube and you got discovered and now you're a millionaire this is a six-year apprenticeship of really investing in something that you want to change the trajectory of your life and the time invested is worth the reward it promised and implied elijah took his cloak rolled it up listen closely elijah took his cloak rolled it up and struck the water with it the water divided to the right and to the left and the two of them crossed over on dry ground when they had crossed elijah said to elijah tell me what can i do for you before i am taken from you let me inherit a double portion of your spirit elijah replies and as they were walking along and talking together suddenly after six years suddenly after six years of apprenticeship suddenly somebody shot suddenly when god does it it's gonna be suddenly you're not gonna see it coming it's not gonna be gradual it's gonna be suddenly when the door opens it's gonna open suddenly that's why you got to be ready you can't have the door open and go get ready it's going to be a suddenly moment in your life now talking together suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them and elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind and elijah saw this and cried out my father my father this was the only father he had he had kissed his mother and father goodbye this was the only expression of fatherhood that he had left my father my father he's not asking about my man told my mantle my position my position my race my race my inheritance he has come in the six years to know that the man is more powerful than the mantle he understands that the relationship is where your value is if you're taking those relationships are your greatest resource relationships are your greatest resource you will never be anything in the kingdom till you value relationships every successful corporation re values relationships that's why when you go back to the same hotel they don't have to ask you the same questions because they kept a foul on you they know you need an extra extra large road they know you like your slippers this way because they want to establish a relationship with you if corporations value relationships how much more you as an individual ought to buy your relationship i'm not talking about the lady across the street and the person who rolled your eyes at you at big bear i'm talking about the relationships that promise fruit my father my father the chariots and horsemen of israel oh god and elijah saw him no more then he took hold of his garment and he tore it into elijah then picked up elijah's cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood at the banks of jordan and he took the cloak that had fallen from elijah and struck the waters with it where now is the lord the god of elijah he has but when he had struck the water not when he shouted not when he challenged god not when he act like it was god's fault the bible says when he struck the water it divided it will work if you work it if you don't work it it will not work there's no need in blaming god for it not working if you have not taken the cloak and doubled it up and struck the water you have to do what you saw your father do to get what your father got it's not going to be laid hands on you and you get it by supernatural osmosis you have to duplicate the effort not just the status when he struck the water it divided to the right and to the left and he crossed over the company of the prophets from jericho who were watching said the spirit of elijah is resting on elijah and they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him they could see his daddy on him they could see his teaching on him they could see what six years of serving and pouring water on the man's hand had done to elijah he wasn't a flunky after all he wasn't stupid after all it wasn't wasted time it wasn't wasted energy it was worth it look they said we your servants have 50 able men let them go and look for your master perhaps the spirit of the lord has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley no elijah replied do not send them but they persisted until he was too embarrassed to refuse so he said send them and they sent fifty men who searched for three days but did not find him some of us have spent days searching for what god is finished with we have spent days and effort and energy rather than embracing where god is we have built monuments about where god was and we had spent all of our energy trying to get close to what god used to do the good old days rather than directing your effort into the streams and the consciousness of what god is doing right now are you with me right now when they returned to elijah who was staying in jericho he said to them did not tell you not to go i told you not to go god is not going to do an encore on a past blessing he says behold i will do a new thing in you the former things have passed away when i moved elijah he was done i took of his spirit and put it on elijah and now you have to embrace where god is not where god was some people are loyal to dead men i know i'm gonna step on some feet tonight it's gonna be tough tonight you're gonna need your your your foot pads and your doctor shows and everything because i'm gonna step on some bunions and coins and everything it will work if you work it father god let the word be made flesh as we share tonight the infallible truths of god's word let us sink deeply into our hearts in the name of jesus we pray amen rest on your seat get off your feet chill yourself out let's get ready to have a provocative conversation i introduced this conversation from the premise that this meeting between elijah and elijah is cataclysmic it is as explosive as ruth chasing down naomi and saying thy god shall be my god and thy people should be my people and where thou dwellers i will dwell and while the citizens said without diet i shall die that those words are immortalized from this moabite woman has interjected into the hebrew bible words from an idolatrous woman who yet perceives the realm of faith so eloquent and so beautiful that it has become etched out in the book of ruth and epitomizes the place of connection it is a place of union it is the place of consummation of the relationship it is to their relationship what consummation is to the wedding it legitimizes it it connects it elijah and elijah connect not in a bed not somewhere else they connect in a field don't sleep on that don't sleep on that because all that we will see is sowing and reaping all that we will see is seed time and harvest all that we will see will come out of this young man behind the plow working in the field there are a couple of things i want to introduce before i turn it loose to my panel the same tools that got you here will not take you there a lot of us are trying to go there with the tools that brought us here we're loyal to the tools we're loyal to the relationships we're loyal to the place we don't recognize that the tools that you use when you're planting is not the tools you use when you harvest you got to be able to shift equipment when you come into the next season of your life and i don't know who it is it's somebody watching me on stream or somebody in this building you're not understanding why the tools aren't working you raked your way here you had a hole you got here you planted you water you got here but baby it's harvest time you need a different set of equipment to harvest than you need to sow that means your relation pool has to grow your thought process has to go grow your language has to grow your involvement the places you attend has to grow because the people who brought you here may not be the people who can take you there that mean you leave them that mean you hate them that mean you don't appreciate them doesn't mean you don't honor them don't mean you don't go to lunch and eat some dried chicken with them every night then but it does mean that you understand that in order to get there you have to take up new relationships elijah met elijah and he knew wow this is it this is it means i can kiss my mama goodbye on behalf of the president of the mama's boys club you don't kiss your mama goodbye easy you might wave at the old man you know say hey daddy i'll be back home in a little bit you don't say goodbye to mama and daddy and walk away from them and their hopes and their dreams and their field and their work and the body of their life's work he left it all burnt their plow wasn't his plow burnt his plow ate the ox he said i'm gone he closes every door on being stuck in the state of sowing and not reaping you closed the door on being who you were so that you can open the door on being who you are have you closed your escape route your way back home i told you sunday the red sea closed not just to drown pharaoh but to stop the children of israel from going back when they missed the leaks and onions there was no way for them to go back and get it because the passageway was closed you got to close the door on certain relationships you got to delete certain phone numbers you got to you got to block certain people from inboxing you if you are going to be free to go into the future you have got to let the red sea close and let pharaoh and his chariots drown in the red sea so that you can go from being a slave to who you were to a son of who you are becoming and that ain't easy that's hard work that's hard work to do that i told you it'll work if you work it we want to talk about different people how they worked it sip talk to us a little bit i mean you could have been just like a regular barber rent a booth in somebody's shop uh cut some hair make some money feed the kids going about your business what happened to you that made you work it to the point that now you have people working for you and you start winning these awards doing these television shows what what got you thinking out of the box what does barbering have to do with television shows bishop thank you for having me tonight how y'all doing bishop my journey as a barber started at an early age i'm originally from mississippi so me being a neighborhood barber cutting hair at school it kind of like was easy to build my relationship because i started cutting my friends and then my friends kept on referring me to other people in mississippi so it was kind of like easy in mississippi to be a barber but when i moved to texas i didn't have my game planned together like i did in mississippi because i didn't have no clientele here so when i first moved to texas that was the early 2000s i didn't have my plan together so when i first got to texas i failed as a barber i could i quit cutting hair i started doing commercial industrial air conditioning and uh that didn't last too long because that wasn't my passion that wasn't my dream to come to texas to be an air conditioned guy and so what happened was when i moved to texas i mean after i got fired from the air conditioning job i said man i got to go back to what i know and that was cutting hair and still i didn't have a plan but i knew i was going to get back into something that i loved doing and i knew i could do it really well so i started working in a barber shop out here in uh in arlington texas and uh when i got to the shop everybody knew i can cut but i saw the guys getting kind of like jealous at me because i'm a new guy people starting to sit in my chair because they saw that i can work or whatever but it still was kind of slow so i heard about a hair battle in arlington texas that was like 2006. i went to that barber battle and i never been to a barber battle before so i didn't know what they expected the battle i went went there with flip-flops on some cut out jeans and a barber jacket but i knew i could cut hair because uh even though i didn't have a clientele i still thought that i was like the best barber in the world and that's just me being from a little small city i went to that barber battle and uh i won i made a thousand dollars off doing one haircut it blew my mind because i never dreamed of something like that and uh what happened was i went back to the barber shop with that trophy not only now i'm saying that i'm the best but i got a trophy to say that i'm the best uh cutting hair and that sparked the fire i mean some that i like i said i didn't know i had a passion for even competing so i went from state to state city to city uh winning uh barber battles and so when i like i said the first time i went i went and cut off jeans in a barber jack and flip-flops the next time because i saw some seasoned veterans at the first show i said man i'm gonna do what they do they had custom suits on they had custom barber chairs so i took a look a little further i went to the next show i had me a custom barber chair i had me a little cheap suit on uh uh i had lights i had smoke machine i had everything they said man who this guy is just his second show or whatever and uh i played the part i looked like i had been doing it for years like i said i knew i had the skill and man the buzz just came uh uh so now everybody is lining up come to the barbershop get the haircut and so uh what a lot of people doing now they give themselves their name but uh the the people gave me the name sip the surgeon originally from mississippi and when they get in my barbership seemed like i gave him an instant transformation looking the best they ever look and so that name kind of stuck or whatever and so uh worked in somebody's shop for a few years and i outgrew that because now i see the ability i've been going to shows i see people owning uh their own products their own barbershops becoming educators and so man i said man i want to do all that stuff my own self so um open my first shop uh 10 years ago in arlington texas and uh i was wondering how i was going to feel fill these chairs up little that i know that barbers was watching me and uh man it was easy to get barbers that want to do the same thing and a lot of those barbers didn't secede because they saw everything that they accomplished but uh they wasn't willing to do the hard work they wasn't willing to work the long hours in the barber shop they were so when i got to the shop i didn't i didn't have a budget to uh have somebody to clean the shop i was in a cleaning shop i was in there taking care of clients uh the police was coming by at the barber shop at night that's a man you come here at 12 o'clock at night they thought a black barber shop it had to be something going on uh negative in in the barber shop but i got a radio execs uh coming to the barber shop late at night got uh dj's i got uh the barbershop is close to general motors so i got employees from the plant coming to the shop later at night so they were surprised to see that it wasn't nothing bad going on but i was just just taking care of my clients at the hours that they was available to come to the barber shop and so after uh winning all those battles going over the uh uh from east coast to the west coast i started getting invited to uh hair battles and i was invited to like one of the biggest battles that was on tv it was cedric's or barber battle entertainer he had a a show uh a bat on tv i went there man i stole the show i think i stole the show just because i put on the show and he wasn't expecting i'm telling cutting hair with chainsaws and everything i knew that i had to grab the attention look i knew they had to grab the attention of everybody i knew everybody that they invited was good good barber so i said man i got to put on a show this is going to be on tv went there won the cedric's barber battle that was like the biggest battle that i've ever won and so now i won cedric's barber battle now i'm invited to the biggest uh barber battle in atlanta georgia it went down there i had all the young guys so i mean i'm looking good for my age or whatever but everybody that uh compete against normally they like have my age they're the young guys i'm representing for the 40 and up club i almost fit the club but uh one uh brunner brothers and still the current champion uh from dallas texas holding the title in atlanta georgia right now and so uh by winning uh brawner brothers in atlanta georgia uh bump uh bumped into a product company called luster's product and now i'm a global uh ambassador for them for the u.s and uh uh international uh team and uh been featured on uh wait wait wait when you get these moments and you get on television what makes a barber bring a chainsaw it was it was just being creative some country stuff from being from mississippi my grandfather was a he cut trees all his life or whatever and that was kind of like inspiration man how can i uh make these people think i'm doing a crispy edge up because uh one of my techniques is using the razor blade like a lot of barbers wasn't using a razor to do edge ups everybody do clippers so that was fascinating for a lot of my clients man he using a razor blade and so i said well man what can i take it to another notch on tv to entertain these people that i'm gonna do an edge up with not a razor blade but the chainsaw came to mind and uh they loved it because they didn't know what was to happen because all the previous shows before they were just doing regular barber and stuff but when i came i had a custom i got fascinated too like when i started doing my custom barber chairs i wanted like the best leather to be on the uh barber's chair i flew from dallas texas to uh 29 palms that's in california to get cayman croc to put on my barber chair i ordered a full coil ostrich to put on my chair so i looked at it when i was doing my barbecue i was investing in means so i wanted the best stuff i wasn't trying to you know put rims on a car i'll put custom chrome pieces on my barber chair because i would invest in my future yeah yeah yeah yeah that's what it means to work it that's what it means to work it to to be innovative to be creative to to have your gift take you into a room that your experience doesn't validate but you are smart enough to adapt to the room quickly well these flip-flops is not the right thing to wear here you know i got to come in here with a suit or i need to do something different i need to change my process rather than to feel rejected at the core of what you said one of the things that that that really moved me is that you always thought you were good yes i always believed in myself yeah yeah see see if if you don't think you're good nobody else is going to think you're good and and and then the other thing that helps about it is not only did you think you're good you are good there are people who think they're good that's not good you have to make sure that if you think that you don't think more highly of yourself than you are you got to make sure that you've done the work to actually be that good to get the attention you can't win all these awards across the country if you're not good but winning the award doesn't mean that you're making barber chairs that you're refurbishing stuff you took the business and turned it into other business ancillary business what else can you do with what god gave you what else can you do with god what god gave you can you just bake a cake and eat it and die or can you do something else with what god gave you can you get attention another way he comes in there uh with this with this with this all you people are going to pay you attention they either think that you are going to murder people oh we got a lunatic we got to call 9-1-1 or this guy has got attention are you willing to get out of the box is is your vision too boring for the opportunity that you have do you have the wherewithal to take it to the next level when we say it'll work if you're working this is what it means to work at 2 a.m 3 a.m 3 30 a.m 4 00 a.m in the morning this is what it means to work it do the barber chairs do the events do the competition and cut the hair it's not for the lazy people entrepreneurship is not for the lazy people parenting is not for lazy people marriage is not for lazy people pastoring is not for lazy people you might not see it all you see a sunday morning wednesday night but every day in my calendar is full of something if you work hard god will bless you god will bless you god will bless you i know we're living in the age of self-care and self-care is wonderful after you do something we got people getting self-care who have not done any work you know you have to do some work god put adam in the garden he was open about work he said to till the ground to work the soil to take what i gave you and turn it into something else the bible says when god dispersed talents he expected them to turn it into something more than what he gave them for what god gave you did you just keep what he gave you or did you turn it into something else what else could it be who else would have thought so he takes these antique barber chairs uh and finds him they look like nothing when he gets them he makes them over and puts them on the market again he's working his social media he's working his his facebook he's he's he's going the extra mile with his customers steaming their face doing stuff that other people don't do if you do what others have not done you will go where others have not been you have to put the work in or you don't get there let's talk to marcus for a minute you you you were supposed to be a musician dude you were supposed to be a musician you grew up you're a pk you came out of north carolina you weren't born in north carolina you grew up in the church i hired you as a musician we're flying back and forth on the plane we're talking about business what happened well i think bishop um the thing that was so interesting to me and i count as as a massive blessing is the exposure i think that's what happened you know being able to to sit with you in rooms and you have to know during the time you and i were traveling it was very popular for the pastors to go in one room and they would send the musicians in another room right it was common but you always summons for me to be with you sitting next to you in the room so i was able to overhear the conversations that you know either the prominent leaders i mean from kings to presidents and business leaders were sharing and i would take those nuggets home i remember early on in my career um i was starting to to do uh television music and i was writing jingles for a lot of different companies and and i felt myself getting burned out because i could only do one jingle at a time one of the things that i did was i contacted guys who had equal or greater skill set contracted with them so that i could take on more contracts to do more jingles yes and so in in that attempt i was able to multiply my efforts where i could only do one piece at a time now i'm doing 35 pieces of music a week you know and i built my first publishing company with um over 35 songwriters and we had about 350 compositions in uh in my portfolio at that time but that was only because of the exposure that i watched with you and i don't know if you remember this but you gave me a really hard lesson one time you said you know what you're too good to yourself you know you you celebrate too soon you know your generation um you know you guys will go party he said but benjamin the bible says that benjamin would raven as a wolf and in the day he would devour the prey but in the evening he would divide the spoils and when you broke that down to me what you're saying is while he's young and while he's healthy he's out hunting you need to go kill something you need to go bring a deal in and and that stuck with me in a way that i've able i've been able to kind of use that throughout my whole musical career and for me i love playing but i was so fascinated with putting the deals together that it started to get my attention and then when you started handing me contracts sometimes you would just hand them to me like read this and tell me what you see you know what i'm sitting there reading i don't know you know he's like no this is what you pay attention to and so all of those lessons that i was able to gather from you uh it helped me to be able to apply it to something that was was a passion that i didn't know was a passion because i spent so much time playing the piano and playing the organ you know just making sure we had the most current music and you know melodies and writing songs and things like that that i didn't know that i had this passion stop right there i think that's something we don't understand about parenting when you have kids you have the same kids in the same house eat the same food have same parents grow up in the same situation you don't get the same result you you just do not get the same result but you sow the seed anyway yeah some of it will fall on good ground some of it will fall on stony ground some of it will fall amongst thistles and thorns and be choked out not everybody takes advantage of exposure but if you're a person that appreciates exposure do you not know you have to give an account even for this class tonight you have to give an account for this class tonight because every time god exposes you to something you go to the next level i would throw him a contract and read the contract and tell me what you think about it what i'm measuring him i'm measuring it number two i'm mentoring him number three i'm modeling him and and i'm i'm seeing if he can transfer what he has done with music which was no small thing because what he did was take a two-handed job and turn it into a 12-handed company when you got two hands you've already limited your resources because if you keep it within yourself you can't broaden it out the fact that he brought in other contractors which we don't do because we want to keep a hundred percent but a hundred percent of a dollar bill is not as much as ten percent of a million do the math on it so broadening your horizons and going into another uh zone is very very important if you work that thing somebody say work that thing you got to work that thing and that requires restructuring rebranding how much did you have to go out of meetings we were in and run back and google stuff trying to figure out what they were talking about well the funny thing when you first started introducing me to some of the people that we ended up doing business with there was no google okay so i was running to the public library to get a book to understand business and sitting up at night and and really forcing myself to get it you know i didn't want to be able to just throw out terms for the sake of being able to do it because somebody may call you on that so you really want to learn the information so you can apply it you know and it did cost everything you know i remember um some of the guys will be hanging out and they're going to the mall and shopping and i just didn't have time to do it right bishop i just didn't have time to do it nor did i want to do it because i was focused yeah i knew where i wanted to end up you know um years ago um i kind of read this book about quincy jones and quincy jones story is so unique it's like he was a phenomenal musician but the music was really a conduit to a greater conversation that he wanted to have later and so i felt like that was part of my career music got me into the room it allowed me to meet you but now that i'm in the room i have to reinvent myself i have to learn the rules all over again so that i'm relevant in this new room this new space that i'm in the big word to me is focused the big word is focus whatever you have to do to focus on what you're trying to get done you have to focus on it and go he could elijah could not be the next prophet if he was still plowing the field sometimes you're doing too many things and sometimes you have to be willing to burn the plow on what you were doing so that you can focus on what you are called to do okay and this is the problem of the gifted because sometimes you are so gifted you don't know where to focus and and you have to begin to narrow your scope down to what is going to be more beneficial long-term to you and as you begin to focus on that area you you narrow your scope you can't have a broad scope and hit a bullseye target you have to have a laser focus on that target and keep that thing as your goal this guy committed six years of his life now i know there are people saying what they got to do with jesus we preach about jesus all the time come back next wednesday night we'll talk about jesus right now we're talking about life okay so so don't worry me to death about that most of y'all are getting up in prayer lines asking god to do stuff as if they were miracles that are not miracles they're just that you like the business acumen to be able to go to the next level a car is not a miracle sweetheart a house is not a miracle sweetheart all those say sending your kids to a private school is not an act of the holy spirit jesus didn't die on the cross so you could get a third bedroom dope dealers have third bedrooms crackheads have third bedroom don't reduce that stuff down to tangible things understand that in business be men and if you begin to understand that you can save god for the big stuff the cancers the walking on the water the breast cancer shrinking in my body my leg being lifted my heart being restored those things that man cannot do most of our prayer line 70 of the requests are built around things you could do if your question is something you can do don't ask god to do it you can pray by the side of the bed all night long but when you get up in the morning god won't make the bed god will not make the bed listen i left it for him several days i tried it out it does not work god will not make the bed you can pray beside the bed fall out on the bed talking in tongues get up from the bed he still does not make the bed you know why you can make the bed you need to understand that you're asking god to do stuff that you can do yourself it will work if you what and when you started talking about going to the library before we had google number one you made me feel old but aside from that how committed were you to discovering who you really were wow i'm trying not to get emotional that's okay because i realized in order to do what i needed to do there were some generational things that had to to be broken so it would cost me everything and i would ask myself knowing that it would cost me everything was i willing to pay the price yeah and i couldn't not say yes yes was the only answer there was an option for me and so it it i knew it would cost me everything some days i didn't know how much it would cost but i just knew it would be worth it oh my god oh my god did you hear what he just said he wanted to break generational curses and generation of courses in cursing sitting about pouring oil on your head it's about doing the grunt work to change the trajectory of your family so his boys got to grow up seeing their daddy reading stuff other than the bible studying doing deals other than the bible so they don't have to overcome a thinking that thinks down here when they have a call up here are y'all hearing what i'm saying somebody how to break that curse you got to break that curse and it's not just enough to talk in tongues about breaking that curse you got to get out there and break that curse with energy with effort and with focus and and and how much work do you put in now in the average week oh my goodness uh i'm not sure my day stops but um normally i'm up every morning between 5 and 5 30 and typically when i when i stop you know working on my phone on my computer it'll be somewhere between 11 and midnight but but the funny thing is sometimes i know europe because sometimes we'll be texting each other but right but um but uh the interesting thing is sometimes in the quiet when it's really quiet i'm able to be more productive than i am in the busy of the day you know and so um and i don't mind and i'm driven by because again this is the only thing that matters to me nothing else matters brothers we have to change our image because society projects us as being lazy and we have to change our image and go after our dreams and go after what we want because your gift makes room for you the more i began to find out that he could handle contracts and complex negotiations the more i threw on him okay now he will text you at midnight like it's five o'clock in the afternoon it won't even be like i know it's late but these are two of the hardest working guys i know completely going after you and i'm not saying that you can't stop to eat and you can't stop to play and you can't stop to but but wait a minute he he doesn't go out when we travel and everybody goes out he doesn't go because he is that focused on what he's trying to get happen that he's willing to to sacrifice while others are playing to go where others have not gone what are you willing to give up what would you burn up to walk with elijah good god of mercy what would you what who would you kiss goodbye to walk with elijah talk to me a little bit i mean you're a pastor you're an evangelist you're a missionary you're an educator you're a teacher you're a student you're a father you're a husband you a guy you a dude you're a fella you're a person how do you manage that um first of all bishop thank you so much for having us sometimes i ask myself the same question i know typically typically when people see all of those particular roles they think that you have balance and i learned something just watching jesus christ that there are times in which there are people that he disappointed that over here while he was healing one another was asking for him to come and heal them and while he was having time with the woman with the issue of blood gyrus's daughter was dying right when lazarus was sick they asked for jesus to come and jesus was having his me time and he said he said wait a minute i need my i need my me time i'll get there he's only sleeping so by the time he gets to bethany they're angry with him because he was having his me time and they didn't know that having his me time was a part of the purpose so there are times in which you're not going to you're not going to balance everything but you got to be focused on the very thing that god is calling for you to do right now so one of the things that i've learned how to do and my wife has certainly helped me to do it is to always be present in the moment yeah yeah be present in the moment always be present in the moment so when i'm with my kids i'm the best father i can be when i'm with my wife i'm the best husband i can be when i'm with the church i'm the best pastor i can be when i'm with my parents i'm the best son that i can be when i'm in a classroom and studying for for exam or or writing papers i'm the best student that i can be and when i'm studying for a sermon i require about eight hours per sermon it's not necessarily because because i need eight hours it's because deep down on the inside of me there's so many different things about the text that i want to be prepared for that i require of myself more yeah to get that done and so i'm the best that i can be when i'm in that particular moment oh there's so much i want to say about first of all if you're a preacher you should always have more than you need indeed you may not use all of it but you ought to have all of it and and that understanding of studying eight hours to preach one uh is is a real real thing because that gives you confidence indeed you have thoroughly digested and ingested the material the other thing you said that really stood out to me and gave me goose pimples to be present in the moment that is a big thing to be present in the moment and that's enough reason to burn the ox and burn the plow so that you're not divided bye mama see you later daddy i gotta be present right here this requires my full attention to be present in the moment and i have to learn that because sometimes i'm always in tomorrow i'm always in tomorrow and i found out that the enemy was stealing my today because i was always in tomorrow i would be sitting in tuesday thinking about thursday indeed and i actually went there tuesday and then tuesday was gone and i missed it and my wife would say did you hear so-and-so so i say when did that happen so so i'm a planner i'm a strategic planner i think ahead that sort of thing but i had to go back and be conscious about correcting defects in my structure because everybody has defects in their structure so i could be present in the moment so that the enemy who comes to kill steal and destroy would not steal and destroy my present while i am focusing on my future am i talking to anybody tonight i'm not talking to anybody tonight this is some good stuff this is some good stuff i'm coming back to you in a minute alison jump in this conversation right quick i'd love to so thanks for having me and hello everybody marcus my story's similar in terms of exposure but yet so different i was raised in a work ethic environment it was modeled for me but i also was a third generation female in our family line and no woman before me had had a career wow my my mother and her siblings and on both sides of my family were stay-at-home mothers and that was a full-time job for them and they did a fabulous job with it i have three girls and i see that as a full-time job still but the work ethic was modeled early and i was i was allowed to sit in the rooms as a child my father was a banker and every weekend he'd go work on saturday he'd worked all week long and on saturday he'd go to work and he'd say you want to go with me and i went to work with him on saturdays and and had free reign at that bank but i always paid attention to it right my grandmother was a sunday school teacher and she taught sunday school every single sunday for 50 years and if we wanted to go take a family trip and it conflicted with that sunday school class we didn't take the trip at that time she couldn't go with us so it was modeled and i wanted to work i loved to work and i wanted to work early and so one of my first exposures was dad let me go get a job at 15 and you know my mother had a fit about it and i went to go work at a little retail store and i was the gift wrapper and i'll never forget miss maddie was my employer she was an older woman and she said now i'm going to tell you exactly how to do this this is how you measure the paper this is how you measure the string this is how you wrap the box i paid attention to what you had to do to be successful i listened and i heard it and i was so interested in doing it well and right i can over rotate to perfection and on occasion that i followed the instructions and i was rewarded for that so i watched how to do it i applied what i learned and i reap the benefit right um circumstances in my family changed and i found myself a single mother and at home and my mother called my father and said you've got to let alison go to work this is you know the woman who didn't want me to work and and and didn't have that experience and my father had several hotels at the time in louisiana and he did not want me to come work there he wanted me to go to school and he wanted me to be focused on my education and i said i'll clean the rooms i'll paint the fence i'll do the night audit give me a chance and i again i watched how do you do it how are you successful how do you move to the next level so focus and learning and surrounding myself with people that could teach me and mentor me early and i think that's been a part of everything that i've done you know i really didn't decide that i was going to go into the media business it found me and again i watched in the very beginning when i was early in my career and i was a sales person what was the formula for success for the client to get results because if the client got results they would probably tell someone else that i did a good job for them and then my network would grow and i did that and i did it over and over again and then i got rewarded for doing it and i got a promotion and when i moved into each promotion i just modeled the same thing learn focus on the results for yourself the company that you work for but most importantly the partner that trusted you and invested in you that ultimately got a deal done that was good for both sides um so you know the newspaper business for 30 years is extremely structured very predictable on occasion you know when we were had numerous titles to publish we could have 20 deadlines in a day and multiple divisions had to come in and get all their work in at one time and that structured environment and that rigor and performance really was addictive for me so you know it was real comfortable to stay there it's real natural it was i was successful and it wasn't until my father passed away in 2018 he came to be at our house on hospice care and i moved him from louisiana got him all situated on hospice and went straight back to work that work ethic boom and the hospice nurse called me and said he does better when you're home and i looked at my boss and said i'm leaving everything's covered here because i'd hired good people that could fill in right yes and i went home yes and i realized after all those years i was in my comfort zone and i really wasn't taking any chances i wasn't living in my authentic self and i made the decision shortly after he passed away that i was going to leave that job and i was going to go move into purpose work and take a chance and i gave him six months notice i replaced myself i put him through a budget i did everything i needed to do to exit and i said i'm gonna spend a year in focus silence and work on family business transition everything we need to do there and wait for the right thing to come and in january of 2020 i read a dallas morning news article that you were launching the foundation and i picked up the phone and called beverly robinson and said i would like to speak to bishop and that afternoon you and hattie hill called me and asked to speak to me before beverly delivered that message wow the funny thing about that is yeah clap your hands the funny thing about that is when she was working for dallas morning news i was checking her out see because smartness cannot be hidden and and you never know who's watching you yeah you never know who's watching you so even though you might be doing something that you're no longer going to do do it with excellence because somebody's always watching you they're always watching you the first thing they teach ceos is to always be interviewing everybody i interview we can be sending me an ice cream cone so how long you been working here what do you do what do you think about so always interview because because building a team at least in my style of leadership is the most important thing building a team around you to reach a dream is the most important thing for you to have is a great team the reason elijah is depressed is because he is alone he is alone he is trying to do it all by himself and it drove him to suicide he wanted to die he was anointed he was gifted he called fire down from heaven but inside he wasn't emotionally healthy because he was alone and when you build a team i'm not talking about jojo and nook nook and your cousins and them i'm talking about building a team that's an asset that brings something to the table and preferably something different from you we're gonna take a few questions that may be coming in from the audience but let me tell you something something that's different from you because if you surround yourself with people who are good at what you're good at they will compete with you indeed if you surround yourself with people that are good at what you're good at they will compete with you if you surround yourself with people who are good at what you are not good at they will complete you so you want to hire your weaknesses and not your strength they just put up a picture of cedric uh on the cedric entertainer show and you had and you had that power saw like he was cutting off a tree see you you you have to be exceptional to be noticed there are eight billion people on the planet why should people do business with you why should they do it with you there are all kinds of people talking to your kids facebook twitter instagram why should they talk to you there are all kinds of places where your wife can swipe left what do you bring to the table that's unique to you and to be able to do that and have the ability to be able to do that is a very very very important thing are y'all getting something out of this i'm almost done but i'm going to take a few questions because a lot of times church people leave stuff up in the euphoric idea i'm we're going to the next level i'm going on up a little higher and the lord said hi whoa yeah no yes lord yes lord i'm going up high but once they once they say that they don't tell you where higher he is they don't tell you that higher requires a new wardrobe they don't tell you that higher requires that you study a new language they don't tell you that hire requires that you retool yourself for a greater opportunity they don't tell you that hire requires that you become accustomed to criticism that there is always going to be somebody who said you didn't get me and you have to be okay with that because you are a limited resource so you got to figure out where is the best use of my resource i'm limited i can't be everywhere and this also has to do with capacity you don't have maximum capacity where can you where can you hit the hardest and make it count the most yes ma'am i see a question out there hi papa um thank you for continuing this i have a question for barbara sip um you stated that you always knew you were good and i recognize that something that i struggle with is believing in myself and so i just want to know is this from previous experience that you were able to gain this belief in yourself or was it your upbringing what was it that made you know that you were good well the the best compliment you can get your clients if they tell you man you the best barber i ever had and keep on hearing it and then i know i kind of like knew that i was kind of like good but once my uh client said it i it had to be true yeah thank you you know what that is simple but that is so true it was the hardest thing in the world for me to believe that i could preach yeah it was hard for me to believe that and and when people tell you something consistently believe them believe him don't and let me let me take this opportunity to say something else when somebody loves you don't talk him out of it don't talk about a oh no you couldn't love me i got these stretch marks oh no i got this bunion on my left toe have you seen how fat my ankles are shut up if somebody loves you let them love you don't talk them out of loving you god god loves you through people god gives you favor with people and part of believing him is believing who he sent to build you up in the areas where you have insecurities and let's be honest everybody has insecurities everybody has insecurity and that's why it's so important that when somebody does something well that you take the time to appreciate them to acknowledge them to say something to them because you can never assume that just because a person's good that they know they're good next question i know everyone here is experienced with working in many different ways and we we've heard a very diverse scope of work what do you say to people who knows they need to work it in order for it to work but they just don't know how to work it they don't know where to get that strength to keep working because sometimes me personally like i can work i know i can work i know i can find the strength to work but what about those days when i just don't feel like it i don't feel like up a book to read i don't feel like picking up my bible to read i don't feel like doing it what pushes you through that i don't feel like it well first of all take a day yeah yeah take it take a day the lord took a day take a day but don't take a month you know yeah take a day but don't take a month and and then get back in and get it again number two as long as you see the work as work you'll never be good at it yeah i love it it's fun it's my nfl super bowl game i i mean i get off on it i wouldn't do it if i didn't like it my sister gave me the wisest advice when i started preaching she said the day is not fun don't do it anymore there has to be something in you that's attracted to it or it doesn't work you can't be married to somebody you're not attracted to you can't be yoked on a position you're not attracted to and so even though it gets tiring yes it gets tiring and i get exhausted and i get frustrated and people get on my nerves and all that but i'm basically at my core i'm living my dream i'm doing what i love i'm doing what i was created to do yeah and it's not the kind of tired that you get when you are shaping yourself into what other people wanted you to be make sure you're not shaping yourself into what other people wanted you to be and if it's your thing girl do what you want to do and you know and get up there get a second breath and go at it again and if you don't hit it that hard the next day then take a day and come back around and hit it the next day and it may be that you need more help to enjoy it more because you have to decide do you enjoy frying chicken or running the chicken restaurant those are two different things and you might be stuck at a skillet when you need to be stuck at a marketing meeting what about it do you like and focus on the thing about it that you really like oh this is good this is good i hope that helps somebody next question i see we're getting a little line going y'all online you need to say something let me hear from you hello thank you so much um i just had a real quick question and you said that relationships are your greatest resource so how do you build relationships um if you're a type of person that's kind of shy kind of it's hard for you to connect with other people how do you begin that um building those type of relationships and putting a team together when you're not so used to you know connecting with people in a way are you getting you're nervous or you're a little shy or in that way tell on the devil just tell them i'm nervous i'm an introvert i don't know how to go about this but i admire you and i think you're incredible and and i would like to get to know you better who's who's gonna say no to that i mean who's gonna just just put it just put it out there it's not leukemia it's not it's not some dread disease you know i'm i'm introverted but deep down inside don't let my apathetical attitude appear as indifference because i think you're amazing and i want to learn from you and i want to grow from you and i don't know how to go about that that's one thing that you can do that i think that i think is important to do and the other thing that you can do is build relationships one at a time now i want to dig into this relationship thing don't make professional relationships friendships because you will ruin the whole relationship when you put the weight of your childhood and what happened when you were three and when i was 5 years old i was dyslexic i don't necessarily need to know every little detail about you to have a great working relationship with you if we we are blessed to grow into that kind of relationship that's great but don't come in and and misunderstand a professional relationship from a personal relationship you can have a friend who doesn't know jack about business you ought to have some people in your life who just like the food they just cut up and make you laugh they just for fun then you ought to have some people that need what you have so you can feed them and then you ought to have a third category of people that feed you most of us have more people who need us than feed us and we face emotional bankruptcy because everybody around us is designed to make withdrawals and not deposits when i find people around me that deposit in me i don't get to see them often because they're busy too and they're on the go all the time but when i get to see them i ring all the life out of them i try to get everything i can out of there because i might not see them again for six months somebody's smart enough and bright enough and alert enough to have a conversation about what i'm worried about it's very very fulfilling and i learned that it's impo it's it's okay to get intellectual stimulation from over here and spiritual stimulation from over here and a weight trainer from over here and get somebody else who's my home dog from over here don't put the weight of everything on one person that's the next thing final thing i'll tell you about relationships you need relationships under you staff volunteer friends people relationships under you and you you handle them differently from relationships around you you don't pay them they're not on your payroll they're not connected to you but there are people with whom you can lay your hands on once every six months when you have a need those relationships are valuable and how do you make them valuable you send them birthday cards you send them notes on christmas you do things to stimulate to keep the relationship going to say this anything that you don't invest in will die anything you do not invest in will die and it will die not because they don't like you and not because you don't like them but because you didn't water it you did elijah spent six years watering elijah he watered elijah to bring him to where he was i'll take the next one no more get in line and here's a question from damon uh as how do you find the reward uh in rejection listen everything is not an emotional crisis just because they didn't buy the car doesn't mean they don't like you maybe they didn't have the money maybe they didn't have the car maybe the deal didn't come through don't allow your childhood trauma to bleed through into your professional relationships where everything becomes rejection and then then you develop this wall around you to avoid rejection and you re you're rejecting prosperity there are people that i do business with that i only like but that doesn't have anything to do with business we do business because we can do the deal you got the property i got the resources i got the resources you got the property we got a contract that doesn't mean that we're going to be lifelong friends well i learned it from tv people who do movies together they don't always become friends for life sometimes they do the gig and they never see each other again and i thought every time somebody did a movie we was going to be lifelong friends i call them they never call me back they was on the next set they was gone to the next show it does not mean that because we had a moment to produce a product that we both are proud of that that becomes a lifetime thing you have to get out of your head to become successful in life and stop seeing everything just because you don't like my suit doesn't mean you don't like me it can't you can't breathe in the toxicity of rejection just because the deal doesn't go through and and and when you are rejected find out why because the first thing they teach you in sales is to answer whatever rejection that they might make to the deal before it comes up and maybe you're worried about working weekends but we have weekend service and some of you need 24-hour service but we've already taken care of that and if you need child care we provided child care you want to rule out all the no's before you make the presentation and when you do have a no they're not saying they don't like you they just don't like the deal the deal can be changed next question thank you daddy for continuing this conversation i just want to start off by saying that but many of you mentioned that you were doing something else so my question to the three of you that mentioned it is what did it take for you to transition from what was safe and to that which was purposeful everybody i'm happy to go can you hear me yep all right you know i haven't updated my resume since 1989. wow i mean that's staying in your comfort zone right um but to bishop's point i was lucky enough and blessed enough to have people gravitate towards me and share new ways where i could really utilize my gifts and meet purpose with building an income and supporting my family and having success right so you know i stayed in the same industry for 30 years that's a long time a long time but i had so much opportunity along the way it was not until such time that i decided that i wanted something different that was more purposeful and that really aligned with my personal values at this point in my life and i didn't know what that was going to be and i chose to make the move with nothing else lined up and to step aside and be still and wait and that took a lot of courage and i tried that numerous times over the years and failed at it personally i couldn't i couldn't work that courage up but i reached a point where when i watched my father pass and i measured what really what i valued and what mattered to me i made the decision and i stuck with it that's good that's great yeah sure i'll take a stab at a bishop so um i think one of the things for me is um i wanted to prove to myself that i could do something more than just sit behind the organ uh number one number two and this may sound non-churchy but most of the guys who were playing organ at that time they weren't making enough money for me so i knew that was not anything that i wanted to retire on in fact most of them would play the organ up to a certain point and they would go work in retail or something or whatever they could get their hands on and i didn't want to be that guy so i think somewhere bishop was talking about just being focused on what how you want your story to go you know and just charging a path to help you get there but for me it was really just the the passion that i had to prove it to myself that i could do it whatever it is but i could do it you know we were talking in the back bishop and you were saying that the funny thing is although i passed a different the common denominator is what it takes to be successful is that passion and that drive and that commitment you know that focus and and same thing i mean it's it's that's that's always been sort of my driving force just proven to myself that you do measure up you know you can get in this room and be successful you have to pay for it but if you're willing to pay for it this will be okay my mother used to uh grow corn and pole beans to wrap around the corn stalks okay so she made one thing do two things so rather than have poles in the ground she used the corn stalk as a pole and all around the corn was green beans okay early in life i learned how to do more than one thing and one thing led to a next thing lit to a next thing led to a next thing and and i evolved until i was doing things i thought i could never do and meeting people i thought i could never meet and and just a natural organic process of going to the football game in a suite that you're invited in with some business people you meet somebody and it opens up a trail for you and and the great thing about life is such an adventure you never know where it's gonna take you you never you one ring on the phone can open up a whole new door for you don't be afraid to take it and evolved even if you don't know what you're doing and see that's the problem because a lot of times god would open up doors i'm really honest to god i hope the wrong people are not listening i didn't know what in the world i was doing but i got on the phone and i called people and i asked people to talk to people and i learned and i got better and i faked it a little bit you know until i could make it a little bit and i learned from my mistakes and i evolved and guess what i grew i grew i got to grow my father started a business with a mob in a bucket and ended up with 52 employees i watched him grow into life never ever i beg you never ever stop growing if you stop growing you bore your children you bore your spouse you bore yourself people are attracted to people who are learning and growing and keep yourself interesting if we bought less makeup and more books i'm not against makeup 50 go and get 50 but 50 more articles 50 more reading 50 fixing what's in your head rather than what's on your face will make you because i will have an introduction to your face for a minute but i will live with your mind for years yeah and it's it's the best place to make a great investment uh let me answer one from the internet and i'll take i'm sorry just take two more and i'm gonna cut it off just because it's nine o'clock and i don't wonder where the people are how do you work it when you worked it all your life and you came to a dead end with yourself that's not bad that happens to everybody that happened to ruth that's why she went with naomi because she had worked all her life she had a husband she had a family he died things change the well dries up that don't mean you drive look for the next thing the next thing and the next thing might be a new thing and for ruth it was getting away from her culture her country her food her language her religion and going in with a bunch of people where she was an absolute stranger but new is not bad don't be scared anew because if you're scared and new you're scared of god if god is in the business of being a creator and if god says i will do a new thing in you if you run from new you're running from god and if you hit a dead end it's only because he's getting ready to do a new thing and step into that new thing and step into that new thing and step into a room where you're scared and you're out gun and you don't know what to say and you feel kind of stupid there there's nothing more revitalizing and invigorating as being scared and walking into a room that you don't want to say nothing dumb because you got to go in the room you you repotted the plan you got room for your roots to grow you got room to blossom where you didn't blossom before and then you you get back and when you get back to the room you talk about did i say anything stupid did that make sense do you think this was the right suit to wear it's all right to be insecure and and check it out and double check it and recheck and encase the room like a burglar i case the room like a burglar i look at what kind of shoes i got on i look at what kind of suit they wore i look at how they they told a joke or didn't tell a joke case the room like a burglar don't just be sitting there with your mind in neutral thinking about making some meat loaf when you get back home and all that kind of dumb stuff be there in the room because this is your classroom this is your university this is where you earn the right to stay in the room and then go back and order the shirts and if they're all buttoned down colors get you one you don't have to like it just put it on when you're going in there i got a whole section of suits i won't tell you what i call them but i gotta i got a whole section of suits that i only put on when i'm going certain places but you you got to play the role you the doctor puts on them their mind what do they call them scrubs yeah the doctor puts oil here wearing him all week but he knows he gonna make it in the hospital he got to put on the scrub you got to play the role he didn't run around with no chainsaw now we would have to shoot you and come in here you know but but he knows tv thrives off a drama look at how smart he is to know that's not stuff a barber should know do you have sense beyond your situation if you have sense beyond your situation that may be an indication that you have opportunities beyond your imagination oh gosh that's good that's good let me take your question okay um i'll be really quick um my question is how do you separate your job from your work from your what work oh well there was a time in my life i used my job to fund my work so funding for us is difficult getting access to capital is really hard and sometimes we have to work where we don't want to work to get up the money to do what we do want to do and so so i would take the money from this pocket and take a portion of it and move it to that pocket and invest in it and i'd invest in my own dream now if that investment didn't bring about a return after a certain length of time then i'd have to reevaluate the dream but sometimes you can't get a bank to invest where you don't invest okay so uh this job is means this dream is ends i don't hate the means because it's a means to an end so every day i get up to go to work i might be flipping hamburgers but i'm working on something i'm working on something you want cheese on that i'm working on something yeah yeah yeah you want your bread toasted i'm working on something yeah i gotta let everybody know i'm working on something but i'm working on something you might want to keep your dream to yourself but you're still building up an egg i got out of debt that way i got my first house that way i didn't say nothing to nobody but i was busy pulling money together for us to get up on our feet next question are you all enjoying this if you're online and you're enjoying this type something to me let me hear from you i don't want to feed you things you don't have interest in but i am concerned about us i'm concerned about the leading cause of divorce in this country is about money it's about finances about income the only time the church talks about business is when they get ready to raise an offering i want to be able to teach i want to be able to train i want to be able to challenge you i want you to be able to understand the difference between a miracle and a job so forgive me if i take one night out of the year and talk to you about practical things the bible is filled with practical things taking care of the widows is the bible is filled with practical things it talks about menstrual cycles there's nothing spiritual about a cycle but the bible talks about menstrual cycles god cares about practical things we have to bring god out of this box where all he wants to do is talk in tongues god cares about your children god cares about your health god cares about your body god cares about all kinds of your mind i will keep him at perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee i will guard your heart and mind god cares about you all of your needs i'll supply all of your needs according to your riches in glory we've got to broaden our understanding of god beyond the myopic uh description that a few trolls will place on on social media don't be intimidated because somebody doesn't agree you don't need no education you need the holy ghost that don't pay no rent can i have the holy ghost and pay rent do i have to choose between being spiritual and being broke do i have to choose who says i have to choose yes sir um it's one thing when god says yes to you and you say yes to him so my question is when you say yes to god how do you keep holding on to that word anybody sir i was about 18 years old i received a prophetic word saying there's a young man you're sitting on this side of the church i don't know who you are but i'll know you when you get into the aisle that word came across my whole body felt like it was lowered in oil boiling oil and i did not get up five minutes later somebody else got up in the aisle i said god thank you obviously you're not talking about me the man of god said thank you so much for coming young man but you're not here i'm still waiting a couple of my friends turned around and said to me hey that's you and i was like it can't be me i don't want to preach and i finally got up came down the aisle and he said that's him come here son came to the aisle he poured oil on me prayed for me and all that stuff i went back to the university of illinois in urbana-champaign it was my freshman year at college saying to the lord all right preach what because i don't study the word like that i said yes to something that i felt totally disqualified and unqualified for and god began to speak to me about various things to read and to study and to read and study and the yes to the call became a yes to study and step by step and step by step eventually eventually i was ready to be able to stand up and carry on the responsibility for which i said yes for so i said all that stuff to say this you could say yes by saying yes to the call is also saying yes to the process throw yourself over to the is so process that is so good i just want to put a metaphor to it it's like getting married it's like getting married you know you you get a tux ran a tux she comes down a white dress she's 21 you're 23. do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife to have for better for worse for richer for poor in sickness and in health as long as she both should live do you you say i do but you really don't know what you're saying i do too indeed because the woman you said i do too it's gonna change a hundred times and the guy who said i do is gonna change a hundred times and so you're not saying i do to a moment because you can't freeze the moment you're saying i do to a journey yes you're saying i do to a journey and through the journey you will cry sometimes indeed and through the journey she will get on your lap and death and through the journey you will love her to death sometime and through the journey you will become a man sometimes it's the journey not the destination it's a journey it's really the journey god bless you pop your hands if you got blessed tonight sometimes when i get through preaching and i walk out of the door i wonder did you get it you you know yeah yeah doing this enables me to kind of dig a little deeper and to make sure that you get it cause i want you to get it i want you to get it you got the blessing here of having a pastor that will never be jealous of you i will never be jealous of you you can climb the highest mountain you can outrun me you can supersede me i'm cool because i did my thing and when you do your thing you don't have to be intimidated about nobody else doing their thing i did what he created me to do and am doing it and so i can help you do yours and push you to do yours and encourage you to do yours and train you to do yours and bring together consortiums of bright people as illustrations for you to point to of people who did it and some of the all of them as they began to tell the story all of them did it against the odds first woman in her family and she'd been working in corporate america for years she broke a rule she shattered the ceiling she's a white woman but she still shattered the ceiling i didn't think y'all noticed she was white uh and we're friends we're real good friends she shattered a ceiling she shattered the ceiling he shattered the ceiling he said yes it changed the tradition he didn't know he's gonna end up in dallas texas had no plans of being in dallas they didn't even know me he didn't know he was going to end up being with me 40 some years later he was a teenager bought him his first white suit where my white suit it was about a 42 some years ago it was some years ago we didn't know this was going to happen when you say yes you don't know what you said yes to so buckle up strap down and try to be happy and don't make everything about you they rejected me they hurt me they don't like me they didn't accept me work some of that out at home work it out in prayer work it out in bed don't work it out in the office you don't need to bring all of your life's drama to your desk because that's not the place for you to deal with it get a therapist get a therapist and go ahead and pay them to listen to all of that stuff just dump on them walking off the squeak when you get through screaming wipe your face put your makeup on put your heels on walking and say good morning good morning how are you it'll work if you're working that's what i want you to get tonight that's what i want you to do stand to your feet i'm going to pray for you my pleasure my pleasure i'm thrilled that you enjoy it sometimes i'm intimidated to share the other side of my head head because you know for for yeah yeah thank you i i want i want you to have it because it's your turn and it's your time and and i promised god if he would teach me i would teach you and if he would tell me i would tell you and if he would show me i would show you because i love to see you with i love to see you in in whatever marriage family finance or spirit i'd love to see you win i grieve when you lose i'm a shepherd that's what we do that's who we are let's pray pastor why don't you take us out of prayer yes sir with everything that has been spoken there is so much potential on the inside of you the bible says that many are the plans of a man's heart but a man of understanding knows how to draw it out i want to pray that the understanding that was brought to you in the wisdom that has been given to us through our bishop draws out of everything everything that's on the inside of you and that you'll be able to see those things that probably you were not able to see until it came out of you let's pray father thank you so much for those who are here and those who are watching those father who who have hearts filled with dreams and plans and purposes and potential that has yet to be actualized i pray in the name of jesus that you would bless every person under the sound of my voice those who are watching and streaming alive and those father presently in this room i pray father that he would bless us collectively i pray o god that you would cause for the words of wisdom that came from our bishop oh god to be as containers drawing out of us the things that you've placed on the inside of us so that this treasure that is in this these earthen vessels oh god would be revealed and there would be great excellency oh god that would come from your glory of that revelation i pray in the name of jesus father that our hearts and our lives and our minds and our families will never be the same because we were willing to sacrifice we were willing to serve and we were willing to maintain sustainability now bless our bishop in the name of jesus and that everything that he has poured out we pray father that you would give it back to him in good measure press down shaken together and running over bless him and the entire family and we'll be so careful to give your name glory and praise and majesty we'll be careful god to glorify you we'll be careful oh god to make sure that people know that it wasn't by ourselves that we got to that place but it was you and it's in jesus name we pray every mind said amen and thank god come on let's give god glory and praise you

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 92,862

Rating: 4.922122 out of 5

Keywords: td jakes, faith, wtal, woman thou are loosed, megafest, potters house, bishop jakes, pastors and leadership, pastors, leaders, instinctbishops, village, wednesday night bible study, wnbs, build relationships, reset your tools, panel, alison draper lolley, marcus dawson, patrick winfield ii, frederick johnson, sipp, It’ll Work If You Work It! (Part 2), It Will Work If You Work It! II, 1 Kings 19:19-21 (NIV); 2 Kings 2:7-18 (NIV)

Id: xz6xvAAt6rA

Length: 106min 53sec (6413 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 14 2021