It's Worth the Wait - Bishop T.D. Jakes

foreign [Music] [Applause] I invite you to the book of the ages the best book of wisdom I have ever read the best entrepreneurial God I have ever read best Plan of Salvation that we have ever discovered in the gospel of Saint Luke chapter number 15. I will use a very very extremely familiar scripture and only excerpt a portion of it because it is so familiar that ninety percent of the people of the room would almost be able to quote it by heart and yet indulge me if you will in the luxury of extrapolating from this text an additional thought for the benefit of the hearer as we discuss the Prodigal Son not every man is a father but all of us are Sons and if we become fathers we do not forfeit our sonship for fatherhood that duality of roles is of Paramount importance because in the oldest man in the room there is still a child for that matter in the oldest woman in the room there is still a little girl and at different moments and times you are dealing with both of them and this text is what I'm going to use to talk to all of the many different versions of you I told them yesterday I said there's so many people sitting in your chair yeah yeah there's so many versions of you the happy you the sad you the Restless you the stable you the impulsive View the overlooked you the Curious you they're repenting you the you that is given to mischief and the you that is given to wisdom all of them are wearing your clothes this morning Midway is the story we start in the 15th verse of the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Saint John and it reads this wise out of the King James version and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country talking about the prodigal son left his father's house and went and joined a citizen of this far country who were not Covenant keeping people and when you join yourself to a different kind of person they send you to do things you said you would never do and he sent him into his fields to feed swine so the prince has been sent into a field to feed swine and he it looked good to him [Music] he would train have filled his belly with the husk that the swan did eat and maybe he's hungry because no man gave unto him when no man gives unto you it creates a natural appetite you cannot pour out what has not been poured in and when he came to himself [Laughter] ah I don't know what age that is [Applause] they told me it was 18. but it's not at 66 I am still coming [Applause] to myself divesting myself of all the accruements that other people placed on me and finding out who I am outside of what you want me to be is a process when he came to himself he said how many hired Servants of my fathers have read enough and despair and I I I I I I perish with hunger anybody hungry I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him father I have sinned nobody talks about Sin anymore father I have sinned everybody has their own opinion but he said father I have sinned his admission of his sin is what gives him access back to the father if you confess your sin he is faithful and just to cleanse you from all unrighteousness father I have sinned I have sinned against heaven and before thee and I I am no more worthy to be called thy son I don't even deserve to be your son boy you don't hear that much make me as one of the hard servants and he arose and came to his father but when he was yet a great way off listen to his father's his father saw him do you see your son I mean really see him when he was a great way off not when he's doing what you want him to do but when he's a great way off there are a lot of young men who don't feel seen his father saw him and had compassion not rules not mouth not criticism there has to come a time that you shut up and have compassion and real ran and fell on his neck yes and he kissed his son because there is nothing wrong with being affectionate with your son and the son said unto him father I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and I am no more worthy to because I said see when when you don't feel worthy even when you have an opportunity you don't always activate because of guilt and shame this cataclysmic moment was something the father waited a long time to see happen anybody waited a long time to see something happen the Lord told me to tell you this and this is my subject it's worth the wait I want you to look at somebody and tell them it's worth the wait father God in the name of Jesus as we approach thy Throne we do it humbly and submissively before you because Thou Art God and beside you there is no other release the kind of anointing that impacts people in definite ways that changes them eternally that heals wounds that loosens abundance to Captain free I thank you in advance for what you're going to do have your way great God that you are I trust you for things I can't even discuss manifest yourself in the midst of your people today in Jesus name amen rest easy the works on me [Applause] this is a very interesting text it is one of the few stories Parables as it were mentioned in the scriptures that is void of the presence of any woman at all there is no female character in this text at all if this texts were taught today it would be greatly criticized because now people quickly scan your page to see if they are represented properly in the text you ain't you are not in the text at all this is a man's story it is a story of three different men at three different ages and stages in their life all coalesce together to develop a truth about a god who is explaining his love through a story about men now this is not misogynistic by any stretch of the imagination let us be clear because the Bible is full of women from Eve forward the Bible is full of women from Eve to Bathsheba to Ruth the Bible is full of women from JL to Naomi the Bible is full a woman to the woman with the issue of blood to the woman at the well to marry the mother of Jesus the Bible is full of stories powerful life-changing stories about women it's interesting to note in this particular case this father has son said he could not have by himself and Yet the woman is not mentioned in the text at all I must admit that there is that the Bible is written in the midst of misogynistic times where women were not always valued consequently many of the women who Premiere in the texts are often not even given names in the text they are just referred to as the woman at the well the woman with the issue there is no discussion about what their names were oftentimes men's names were mentioned more readily than women because in the times of the scriptures the birth of a man-child was considered to be more weighty Than a Woman don't Stone me I'm just teaching I am not saying that men are more valuable than women I am saying that was the attitude of the times and so we must put the text in context to understand the complexity of the text itself the interesting thing also to note is that one of the things that I love about scripture this particular verse starts out saying a certain man had two sons that is not accidental we will see that all throughout the scriptures a certain man had two sons a certain man like Adam had two sons Cain and Abel and when Abel was slaughtered Seth was born and still a certain man head two sons this Faire is and Zara is half time and Phineas A Certain man had two sons there's Jacob and Esau a certain man had two sons there's God who has the first man Adam and the last man Adam a certain man had two sons what I love about the word of God it does not show us just the grandiose ideologies of successful families that have no turbulence but from the very first family he warns us that families will be complicated conflicted dysfunctional if the first family was dysfunctional the Apple couldn't fall too far from the tree as soon as God put the man in the garden and pulled out of him the woman and they started the first family murder hit the first family is a clue that there is going to be turbulence the rest of the book with families the law of first mentioned the first family that's mentioned is dysfunctional and all the way throughout the rest of the book we see turbulence we see rape we see molestation we see drunken fathers we see ungrateful Sons we see the impediments of people who dress themselves up like prostitutes and slept with their father-in-law to get pregnant to produce children this if the Bible were to be cinematic it would at least be rated R [Applause] at least rated R because God is honest and Vivid about the fact that life is messy it's complicated that's why you ought not to covet your neighbor because you're standing on the outside and on the outside every family looks good and stable and solid and sane and part of your pain comes from your comparison because you wish that your family were more like them but if you went inside the house you would find out that they are not everything that you thought that they were and maybe you better deal with the devil you know [Music] [Applause] then the devil you don't family is I would rather build a church any day than build a family I would rather build a business any day than build a family I would rather lay block than build a family because black don't have an opinion block don't talk back it stays where you put it come on somebody but raising a family see every block got a mouth and every mouth has an opinion and every opinion has to be expressed and it is your job to hold together all of these different opinions and personalities and attitudes and dispositions and mood swings and midlife crisis and menopause and Adolescence you gotta hold it together for a long long time there is no retiring from your family there is no resigning from your family you will always be attached to them don't believe your divorce papers [Applause] just cause you signed the release doesn't mean you're out of jail because the first time trouble Rises the first time they have a car wreck the first time they get sick the first time they get in trouble they're gonna call you and it's going to affect you I know you said you don't care and it don't bother you but you're gonna have flashbacks because you got a brain and you are having how to where the real people at are y'all sitting in the section over here flashing have you ever had a flashback you broke up but you still got a flashback and you're a little worried but you can't call and you tell yourself you don't care but you do and you're walking around in the middle of night with that little sick feeling in the bottom of your stomach because your stomach won't listen at your head and disconnect from the fact that you are still connected though you are free on paper you are still Bound by experience and found it is our messy business [Applause] we live in a time now that everybody wants everything quick love immediate gratification I'm going to talk about some stuff you don't know about because you grew up on instant grits but I remember when grits were an instant so what you call good grits I just call gritty because real grits are slow cooked Come on talk to me somebody real grits are slow cook take a long time to get the Grits right but that's stuff y'all going in the microwave that you call grits is not really grits because if you want something to have real flavor you got to slow cook it you got to put it on a smoker you got to give it some time you can't cook collard greens in 15 minutes it takes time to cook green you you got to put the meat in and let it boil down and let it thicken up and let it get a little flavor in it come on somebody you gotta cut your greens and wash your green and add them in at the right time and then cover them up and let it cook down let all the juices cook down to you can't tell the greens from the broth and see we don't have time for that we want instant sons and instant fathers and instant marriages listen it takes 30 minutes to have a wedding but it may take 30 years to have a marriage and most of us if we don't get what we need when we need it like we need it in the style that we need it in our love language [Applause] we're out of there and all of these Love Languages sound like the United Nations to me how am I supposed to know what your love language is I'm still trying to figure out what my love language is and when your love language and my love language and then the kids love language gets in there it sounds like the day of Pentecost [Applause] no give me space days acknowledge me no don't make me stand up in front of people shut up [Applause] the family started before the church God knew he had to slow cook it because it was going to take a long time to get that right he did he didn't even bring up the church to the New Testament but he started the family way back in the Book of Genesis because he said this is slow grits [Applause] we gotta cook it real slow because the brothers are going to get jealous and brothers do get jealous and they're going to murder and they're going to kill and they're going to be envious some vocally some silently but it takes a long time to have a family and we're in trouble our communities are in trouble our nation is in trouble and our world is in trouble but all of it is only because our families are in trouble how can you have a strong community and a weak family you must understand that the community is made up of families it is in your family that you learn Authority that you learn order that you have protocol that you have used to anyway I'm sorry you said I'm old folky used to have discipline that's where you learn your art your skill your talent your rules your regulation what time to go to bed it's nine o'clock go to bed go to bed clean your room wash your draws clean yourself up in case you have a wreck [Applause] I'll never be able to understand what a wreck had to do with clean draws he dead but he has [Applause] [Music] mama I died but my drawers was clean they cut both my legs off but my drawers were Sparkling White [Applause] this is messy This is complicated this is difficult this is tough it is tough because the star of the story is seemingly the the Sun the biggest fool in the text has the lead role the most selfish suffering grandized aloof individual in the whole story has the lead role the father is supporting cast and that's what it means to be a father to be the supporting cast it's your job to support and nobody preaches about the father they always feature about the Sun they sing songs about the song they do sermons and poetry on the sun nobody says anything about the father and the father is the one who held everything together but it hurt it hurt and just because a man doesn't cry does not mean that he doesn't hurt this is how I look when I'm happy thank you [Applause] this is how I look when I'm getting ready to knock your head off this is how I look when I'm scared [Applause] and some of our homes are busting up because you expect my face to radiate my emotions like yours does when in reality I can feel everything you feel and go the purpose when they bring me bad news I take it like this when they bring me good news I take it like this and just because the father didn't cry didn't mean he didn't hurt foreign ly we live in a society that gives empathy and compassion to that that is visible so the more invisible you become with how you feel the less compassion you receive because they start saying that's just how he is you Built For This you can do it you can handle it because I took it like this inside I wanted to die I wanted to throw up and I took it like this the father doesn't get the lead role because he's not given enough drama now he probably did when he was younger but drama dries up with age foreign [Applause] just dries up and shrinks down and calms down the younger son said to his father give me the portion of goods that falleth unto me who says anything Falls to you what entitlement that you think just because you're my son that something is supposed to fall to you that I owe you something I had you I did that I had you you hear Glory that's your inheritance you breathe my son said thank you for it he comes to his father with a spirit of entitlement inspect expecting his father to give him his inheritance wait a minute inheritance is what you get when I die so you mean you're in such a hurry to get what I got that you can't wait on me to die you you want me to get out the way because you would rather have the gift than the giver you'd rather have the seed than the sower you'd rather have the healing than the Healer that's what you believe every time you pray in the emergency room to a god that you don't serve you want him to heal you but you don't want to have a relationship with the Healer don't act like you don't understand the prodigal son because it's a whole lot of prodigal sons and daughters in this room who only come to God when they get in trouble and as soon as the trouble is over we don't see you no more because you pray prayers like Lord if you just get me out of can I go deeper [Applause] portion of goods that followeth unto me and and and and then it says something that is the most telling he divided unto them both of them his living his living how much is that his living his life see see whatever he had accumulated he had spent his life to get it so when he gave it to his sons it wasn't that he was giving him money he was giving them his life he divided unto them his living I have given you my life while you picked through it and tell me what's wrong with the gift how it should have been wrapped and how it should have been handled and what should have been done with it it was my life I could have had it without you I could have had it without you I could have went to Paris and I could have went to France but I sent you to school [Applause] I could have went to Venice I could have been in Italy I could have been in Rome I could have went to Afghanistan I could have taken trips to Dubai but I paid your tuition with my life [Applause] that had on your head is my life that ring on your finger is my life and he divided unto them his living and that's okay because if you're really a father you should love your seed enough to invest your life stay with me I'm going somewhere yeah because if I'm going to give my lights to anybody I should give it to my seed if I were going to die right now and I had to pick out who I was going to give my my my my life to I would give it to my seed first the problem is he divided unto them his living not their living his living and the prodigal son took his living and went a horn he spitted on [ __ ] and Tramps and parties and fake friends he's spinning in strip clubs and hookah bars and Heaven parties and dropping it like it's hot and making it rain up in here he made it rain he made it rained it rained with his father's life [Applause] I gave you my life and you bought weaves to impress men who gave you nothing is Father's Day it's Father's Day and I had to sit here and watch you waste waste my living knowing I would not get another one knowing this is my last run knowing that I'm running out of time knowing that I won't get a do-over again and I had to watch you blowing and listen at you tell me what I should have done [Applause] because even though even though you haven't done seem to know how to do it [Applause] if another childless person tells me how to be a father I'll scream [Applause] I know this is going to get me on Tick Tock for sure but here I go if another woman tells me how to be a father I will open my mouth and flat out scream I you can no more tell me how to be a father then I can tell you how to birth a baby I don't know nothing about birthing a baby I don't know nothing about nursing a child you have to know what you don't know shut up being the teacher and just be the white thank you how do you know how to be a father not only are you not a father most of you didn't even have a father and yet you're an expert on how to be [Applause] but that's all right I'm not gonna bother you because you're not in the text it's all right I'm sorry I got off the chase let me get back to the text I'm not gonna bother you today and all your ideas and all the stuff you read in essence and women's today and all the things you heard at the beauty shop about what a man ought to be I'm not gonna bother it today because you're an expert on something you have never done I know I'ma leave you alone I'm not gonna try to argue with you because you talk faster to me go ahead but just because you have taught me doesn't mean you changed my mind [Applause] that's why I looked at you like this when you're talking [Applause] and there you are I want you to feel what the father felt when the sun walked out the door with his life it increased it and invested it and grew from it and multiplied it and did something with it he took everything I told him and everything I taught him and everything I gave him and everything I put inside of him and gave it to [ __ ] that never appear again in the text s riotous living oh and to all of that the father said nothing he said absolutely nothing because he had he had to he had to wait he had to wait when it looked like it wasn't going to pay off I know that's right he had to wait when it looked like he was a failure he had to wait when it looked like it didn't work he had to wait when it looked like it didn't matter he had to wait while they went on without him he had to sit there and wait that's what she says he had to wait while he was running out of time he's running out of time the boy has more time than the father it is not the oldest son it is the youngest son he has the most time and the least since and the old man with the least time and the most sense has to sit back details [Music] and just wait waiting is so hard that the Bible said they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength that means you expend energy just waiting I'm just waiting I'm just waiting I'm tired from waiting I'm weak from waiting I need Revival just to wait [Applause] and so he waited because good grits [Applause] he waited while he spent his money at payday loans he waited while he made dumb decisions he waited while he got tied up with people that never met him no good he waited while the young man valued his friends more than his father he waited while his fake friends who were only with him for the money and the opportunity that he got because he had a father who helped him to be who he was he had to wait while the son picked his friends over his father he had to wait and he didn't say a word Brothers shut up they can't see it till they see it they can't know it till they know it they can't be it till they be it they can't see it just like you couldn't see it when you were their age they can't see it either and you have to the Bible says in Paces you possess your soul you possess your mind you keep yourself from a nervous breakdown when you develop patience you have to know that you should bring forth fruit in your own season and your least shall not wither and whatever you do shall prosper but it's not the boy's season [Applause] yeah you gotta wait on that girl to grow up yes she's gonna act a fool yes she's gonna do stupid things yes she might come home pregnant yes she might get on drugs yes your heart is broken yes you feel like you're a disappointment yes you feel like a failure at your most vulnerable age you feel like I feel I put everything I had in you and looked at you but you gotta wait foreign I don't know who I'm preaching to but I feel like I'm preaching I'm preaching to somebody today see we have lost our ability to wait if the marriage don't work out in the first three years we're out of there if we're not happy in the first five years we're out of there you don't understand how long it takes for two different people from two different worlds and two different family backgrounds to mess together and figure out how to make this work you ain't gonna be happy every day I can't make you happy I'm trying to make me happy I don't even know what I want how do you expect me to know what you want I don't know what you want and I can't make you happy [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and so so the old man waited this Jewish boy has gotten tied up with some gentile people wait a minute you couldn't stay with me and I loved you and now you have attached yourself to a citizen of that country and I had to wait while you gave them honor you couldn't be attached to me but you attach yourself to the Gentiles who sent you out there to feed what I would never feed you for a Jew to eat swine was a curse and the moment they got his attention they sent him to the hall bin not to eat the swine to feed the swine and the boy is so low in his vision and his self-esteem that now he's craving stuff that he's never been exposed to at home [Music] [Applause] and it's not that he was about to have a ham sandwich or some barbecued ribs he was lusting out the corn husk y'all are City people you don't know nothing about a heart pen a hope in stinks is full of slop and feces and mud and his son at his lowest estate you can tell he's at his loss to State because when you get down to your lowest stuff that never looked good to you starts looking good to you stuff that you weren't attracted to you start being attracted to things you said you'd never do now you start doing him and now he would feign have filled his belly with that which the swine did eat because he was hungry I'm not blaming him he was hungry but while he was hungry there was food at his father's house if a man gets hungry enough you'll eat anything you'll do anything I understand that I know what it is to be desperate I want to talk to some desperate young men in this place right now when you get desperate stop telling people What You Won't Do stop telling people where you won't go stop telling people what you won't smoke stop telling people what you won't drink stop telling people who you won't sleep with that's cause you're not hungry if you get hungry enough oh you got to sit there and act like you don't know what I'm talking about you gotta you gotta there with your church face on and act like you haven't done anything that you thought you would never do you got to sit there and look at me on this Father's Day and act like you ain't got no mess no secrets no stuff you don't want nobody to know about like you have never been to the hall being you such a phony that's why I'm full with church folks I want to talk to some real people who have done some nasty stuff some stinking stuff some wretched stuff some stuff you had to blindfold yourself to do I want to talk to some people that looked at calling us and thought it was sexy [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and all the wildest boy has broken his own values and his own rules and his own integrity and everything I put in him and everything I put on him and now he's down in the hall pin where my parenting is tested my parenting is not tested when you're in my house my parenting is tested when you leave my parenting is not tested at nine o'clock in the evening my parenting is tested at three o'clock in the morning my parenting is not tested when I'm driving you to the prom my parenting is tested when you got your own car and you're over somebody else's house you shouldn't be over my parenting is tested when you fell in love with that married man my parenting is tested when that boy got ready to kill you over a girl who was just using you for your money [Applause] you don't have to be a father to understand this pain because there's a whole lot of women in this room who have been raising children and you know what it is to walk the floor at three o'clock in the morning and you can't fix it and you can't stop it and they won't talk to you and they won't take your calls and they won't listen to you and all you can do is wait you tried fussing and it didn't work you tried cussing and it didn't work you tried praying and it didn't work you spoke in tongues and it got worse they went to jail they got in trouble and even on this day some of you are hurting because the people you love are locked up [Applause] and he would feign have filled his belly with that which the swine did eat and all while he was about to eat slop [Applause] have you ever waited on somebody you love have you ever waited on them to call you have you ever picked up your phone and kept looking for a text [Applause] have you ever waited on somebody to miss you [Applause] he looked out the window he waited not knowing if he would ever see him alive again not knowing if the ambulance had just passed by was carrying my son my child my wife my future whatever it is you're waiting on I'm I'm wondering if it's going to get back is it ever going to get back is it ever gonna come home it's not just waiting it's worrying it's worrying and waiting and worrying and waiting see the worry is the torment that the devil leaves with the waiter so that you can't get comfortable in the waiting that's why you have to wait on the Lord and have your strength renewed so you can fight off the worry all the images that come to your mind all the could of Woulda Shoulda all that this might happen that might happen this might die that might die that that this might happen and there he is where his father can help him where his father can't reach him where his father can't touch him and he's already spent everything that his father put in him and now he's down to nothing and that's when we find out what you're really made of when you're down to nothing when all hell has broken loose in your life and it looks like you'll never get back up again that's when we find out are you a man I don't know you're a man why you got money I know you're a man when you're broke I know you're a man when you're backed in a quarter and you're shoved to the wall and if you don't fight your way out you won't get out that's when I find out what you're really made of [Applause] and I don't know what the father did wrong every father does something wrong some stupid some crazy and all while you're waiting you have nothing to think about but maybe if I've spent more time maybe if I'd have took him to the movies maybe if I'd have been at the football game maybe if I'd have been at the dance maybe you wouldn't be in the Hop here maybe it's my fault maybe it's I'm talking about guilt I'm talking about guilt I'm talking to the men but I'm really talking to everybody because this is genderless these feelings are genderless they don't have nothing really to do with gender I'm talking about guilt maybe I should have said something maybe if I'd have fixed a sandwich before they died if maybe if I'd have went to the hospital that night maybe if I'd have went got him out of jail maybe maybe if I'd have drove down to the crack house maybe maybe if I'd have fought a little harder maybe if I had to argue one more time maybe if I'd have pleaded maybe if I would have started crying maybe if I'd sat down in the floor maybe maybe these are the thoughts of the waiter while you wait maybe if I'd have been a better wife he wouldn't have left me maybe if I'd have been a better husband she wouldn't have cheated on maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe it's the thoughts that run through the mind of the people who are waiting and maybe the waiting isn't worth it maybe I'll never see him again maybe my son is dead all of this Jesus teaches to tell you what God goes through see see you think I'm talking about Father's day but I'm not all of this Jesus is teaching is to illustrate to you what God goes through with you while you spin everything he gave you in riotous living and being irresponsible and going in your own way what you don't realize is that God is waiting on you he's he's looking at the watch he's watching it I gave you a chance I gave you another chance I gave you another chance I gave you another chance I'm waiting on you I'm waiting on you to come back home I still love you I still want you I'll take you back even though your friends have dropped you your girlfriends have dropped you the harlots have dropped you the money is gone I'll take you broke I'll take you stinking I'll take you dirty I'll take you smelling like feces I'll take you any kind of way I can get you back I so love you that I'm willing to do whatever I gotta do to get back this is not just about the love of a father everybody doesn't have a father who loves him like that this is the love of our father Our God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son his living that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life and you are making him [Applause] and so the Bible says that there was this moment there was this moment in his life oh my God Lord have mercy there was this moment in his life this epiphany this Divine Awakening this illumination this this apocalyptic unveiling of truth that he came to himself and he wasn't in church and he wasn't in prayer meeting he wasn't in Bible class you don't have to be in a special place to come to yourself sometimes you can wake up in your own bed sometimes you can come to yourself in a nightclub sometimes you can come to yourself in the street sometimes you can be half drunk and have an epiphany and say wait a minute I'm better than this I know better than this I come from better stuff than this I'm meant for more than this surely my destiny doesn't in here surely my life nothing in here surely I was made for better than this surely surely surely no choir no praise team no preachers no singers no dancers he came to himself [Applause] and I'm wondering if there's anybody in here that's having a moment [Music] where you come to yourself I came to myself wait that's a strange statement I came to church this morning I came to The Potter's House that's travel that's distance that's time that's motion that's movement that's Logistics I came to myself you mean I have to travel to get to me you mean I have to get on the road and start the car to find who I really am yes it takes a long time to come to yourself to come to yourself where you really know who you are he came to himself without moving his body he's still in the whole pen they're still snorting they're still stinking it's still dirty it's still a mess but nothing that hell sins against you can stop you from coming to yourself I don't care what you're surrounded by I don't care who's around you I don't care what it looks like I don't care what you did and who you did it with when you get ready to come to yourself you can come to yourself I wish I had a witness is there anybody in here that ever came to yourself Holla At Your Boy [Applause] foreign [Applause] he came to himself and said to himself how you talk to yourself determines where you go [Applause] he talked himself into trouble now he has to talk himself out he says I will arise and go to my father's house glory to God but he knows who he is now this is me Daddy I'm dirty but it's me I'm stinking but it's me I'm broke but it's me I messed up but it's me I'm hurting but it's me I'm hungry but it's me I've been a fool but it's me I finally figured out who I am I spent all your money I messed up all your stuff I spent your time in your life and your energy but I came to myself and listen watch this young man listen good he is so afraid of being rejected that he is rehearsing [Applause] I will say to my father he ain't even there yet isn't it but he's practiced it this time I said I'm saying I'm no more worthy to be called that's uh make me one of your heart sir and he's driving down the road trying to get his speech together because he don't even know his father love him he don't even know that his father's been waiting on him he is preparing to convince his father to take him back and his father is sitting at home [Applause] sometimes your fear is lying to you [Applause] your fear is telling you that I'm mad about the money that I'm mad about the time I wasted that I'm mad about how you spent my stuff and your fear and your guilt makes you think you gotta rehearse it ain't what you're gonna say to me it's what I'm gonna say to you and he's rehearsal I would say to my father I'm no more worthy to be called my son and I'm not even going to ask him to get my bedroom back or anything like that and I'm not gonna ask him for a robe or ring or anything like that because I know I messed up and I'm not worthy to be his son but if he just make me a hard servant I'm gonna tell him I'm gonna come all the way down I'm gonna humble down and when I talk to him I'm just gonna say you know I'm not I'm not expecting you to give him back the Privileges that are blue I'm not expecting you to love me like you love me before I messed up I'm not expecting you to take me back the way you took me before but if if I could just work in the house if I could clean the floor if I could mop the floor if I could cut the grass if I could do something in the yard I just make me one of your hearts or this is what he's practicing to go back and what he's saying to himself contradicts what the father is waiting on because y'all don't hear what I'm saying because he's saying stuff that the father's not feeling the father doesn't feel like you're no more worthy to be my son I disown you I don't want you I don't love you I don't need you the father wants his son to come home not a servant he wants his son to come home he wants his son to come back before he dies he wants his son to come back while he can see him so the man you're getting ready to talk to is not the man that's waiting it's the man you imagine he's dead [Applause] you came to yourself you know who you are but you don't know who I am [Music] you don't know how fast I would run [Applause] who I can't look at you and do this let me go somewhere else you don't know how fast I would run to get you you don't know that I would break my back to get you back [Applause] and the Bible says while he was yet a great ways off yeah it would not be got the choir and join the Deacon board and cleaned up his act and stopped smoking stop drinking stop smelling like dope no no while he was yet a great ways off while he was still smelling like a pot Factory while he was still eyes was glazed over while he was still snorting cocaine while while he was yet a great ways off the father saw him Jesus is teaching us about God the father so that we can get some indication about how to be a father the father don't run down there you be all my money you everything and you've been out there with them Tramps and them [ __ ] and now we're down to nothing and here you come back here and you think you gonna move back in your house and come back in here the Devil is a Lie you must be out there now oh the Bible says that the father was moved with compassion man stop being so hard that you lose compassion foreign was wrong so what it was taken so what he was with the swine he still your child [Applause] some of you act like you love your rules more than you love your son [Applause] this old man has no rules this old man This Old Man when you get my age you don't run over everything it has to be something really serious for you to run over it I might walk over I might take a scoot over but if I come running you either need to open your arms a duck [Applause] if you see a son that's a great ways off God said if if you not even close to right and I see you coming if I see you trying to be clean if I see you trying to get yourself together if I see you trying to stand up if I see you trying to be responsible I will run out to meet you you ain't even got to come all the way back I don't need your speech I just need to see you coming if I see you coming I run out there to get you touch seven people and tell them God Is On The Run guys on the Run he's on the Run he's on the Run he's on the run this morning he's on the Run he's on the run this morning he's on the Run he's on the Run he's on the run I don't know who he's after this morning but he's on the Run he's on the Run he's on the Run God Is On The Run God Is On The Run God is on the run this morning God Is On The Run God Is On The Run he's chasing you he's longing for you he's looking for you he's turning over stuff trying to find God wants you back I don't care what you did I don't care who you did it with God Is On The Run God is chasing you down God wants you back oh [Applause] what made the father run he said the boy was worth the wait watch this you still don't get it the one who's coming back saying I'm not worth it [Music] I'm not worth it it's the one that the father thinks he's worth the wait [Applause] and it's worth the run I don't care if you're 70 or 17. this word is for you I don't care if you're a woman in the balcony or a little boy in the back I don't care who you've attached yourself to yeah yeah and made a fake family out of them and you're more loyal to them then you are those who put the most in you and I know you made some dumb decisions and you blew by a living but you're worth it and I may be the only one in the whole story who still believes you're worth it you don't get it you don't even believe it but when I see you coming I think you're worth it and in that moment while the sun is talking out of his shame you know what the father's talking about bring me the robe kill the fatted calf bring the ring and put it on his finger this my son who was dead is alive again I'm gonna throw a party for failure and a reject because I so love you it's not just I love you [Music] I can't even help it okay stop it I loved it when you took the money I loved you when you spent the money I loved you when you didn't come home I love you when you ignore me and acted like them other people were more valuable than me I Loved You Then I so love you I'll take you back muddy I'll take you back with your flies and your gnats all around you I'll take you back stinky I'll put my robe over your dirtiest secret and I will cover you up because I sold you ain't live till you love like that you ain't live till you love like that if only people you love is nice neat cool people who got it together and they find and they educate it and they smell good and they look good you don't know nothing about love get out of here love will make you turn somebody over and clean them up foreign [Applause] I don't know if I have done well enough at this to accomplish what God wanted me to accomplish but the Lord said to me that you are worth the wait yes and if you would just try to come if if you just if if you just start to do better the old man run out to me that's you miss you you're looking for love in all them other places he he thinks you're worth it oh God he thought I was worth saving I thought of he thought I was [Applause] he thought it I was worth buying for he thought I was worth shooting his blood to get back and even when I thought I was a bad deal I totally myself I told him I said Lord why would you want me you ain't getting nothing I said this is a bad deal I said I can't do this we started arguing when I was 17. I started preaching when I was 19. I can't believe I'm 66 and still doing it foreign stuff about me that I didn't think about myself and I had evidence not to think highly of myself but my his evidence was stronger than mine [Applause] his evidence was a cross thank you

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 1,154,268

Keywords: td jakes, faith, wtal, woman thou are loosed, megafest, potters house, bishop jakes, pastors and leadership, pastors, leaders, instinctbishops, village, the prodigal, god waits for you

Id: a91K9h-3oSI

Length: 78min 37sec (4717 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 18 2023