Making Peace With Your Past - Bishop T.D. Jakes

wow somebody say wow sometimes all you can do is say wow every now and then god does a wonder i wonder is when god does something that you wonder how he did it have you had him do a wonder in your life that's what they meant when they said i don't know how but you made it i don't understand it but you made it tonight i'm gonna get into the word of god and i pray that the word of god gets into you and i want you to stand on your feet if we go to second timothy chapter four verse five through eight and then we're gonna drop down to the fourteenth verse and read to the 22nd verse and i did the first verse in the king james version 2nd timothy 4 5-8 and then the latter part of it verse 14-22 it's the same word but i did it in the niv for clarity of understanding the apostle paul here is writing to his spiritual son timothy he is writing to his successor he is writing to the one who will finish things that he started but are yet to be finished and it starts in the fifth verse when you have it say amen but watch thou in all things endure afflictions so you got to watch and you got to endure afflictions i'm not going to sugarcoat it and act like it's going to be easy to go forward you got to watch everything and there are some things in spite of the anointing that's on your life timothy you're going to have to endure some afflictions and while you're enduring afflictions you can't stop preaching do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy ministry for i am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand i have fought a good fight i finished my course son i have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing now we're going down to verse 14. alexander the metal worker king james says coppersmith did me a great deal of harm i didn't i didn't go through without enemies [Music] i was anointed but i had some enemies alexander the metal worker did me a great deal of harm the lord will repay him for what he has done i don't have to give revenge the lord will fight my battle for me the lord will repay him for what he has done you two should be on your guard against him because he strongly opposed our message at my first defense when i came to court went on trial no one came to my support but everyone deserted me may it not be held against him but the lord stood by my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it and i was delivered from the mouth from the lion's mouth the lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom to him be glory forever and ever amen by the way tale priscilla and aquila in the household of aneesophras erastus stayed in corinth and i left trapeze sick and malatus but greet all of them tell them i said hi do your best to get here before winter ubulus greets you and so does putin's linus claudia and the brothers and all the sisters the lord be with your spirit grace be with you all so says the word of god remain standing i want to pray with you i'm going to talk tonight about making peace with your past making peace with your past spirit of the living god fall fresh on us tonight and anoint these lips of clay that they may be endowed with the kind of anointing that is necessary to declare your word not my own anoint my mind with clarity of thought and nimbleness of wit that i might have the help i need from the holy spirit to implant unto your people something that will give life and strength and hope and help to them i believe you for it and i thank you for it in jesus name somebody shout a man you may be seated in the presence of god well tonight we're in second timothy and it is one of the epistles written uh by the apostle paul that is said to be one of the pastoral epistles first timothy ii timothy and titus are pastoral epistles they're not so much apostolic in their nature they're not global in their view they're more personal they're more intimate they deal specifically with pastoral issues in a different tone and tenor than any of his other writings they're not preoccupied with doctrinal ideologies and setting of the government of the church they're focused on a pastoral perspective as if a shepherd is talking to his sheep it is written by the apostle paul in the last period the last season of his life so it's seasoned well there's nothing like food that's seasoned well everybody could cook but everybody doesn't season well paul is well seasoned seasoning comes through suffering seasoning doesn't just come with age i've seen people get old and not be seasoned i've seen young people who were seasoned beyond their years but through the things and the events and the vicissitudes of life paul as well sees it he has learned how to abase and abound he has learned how to have and he has learned how to be in one his life has had fluctuations in order to be seasoned you have to endure fluctuations different seasons and different eras and different attitudes and different perspectives have all been thrust on him and he's handled everything that has come his way now paul is not illiterate and he's not uneducated he is very literate he's very educated he's very intellectual he is multilingual to say the least he has sat at the feet of gamel he has been trained and respected by the great thinkers of his era he is profound he is prolific he is well spoken he is articulate he is able to write well and he's able to think well he is spiritual enough that he has seen some things that he has chosen not to write because they were so spiritual and so divine that he thought that you couldn't handle them some things he said could not be uttered he has suffered persecution he has both given persecution and suffered persecution he has attacked christians before he got saved and then he has been attacked himself see a lot of people are good at giving pain but they're not good at taking pain paul has done both he has given pain and he has taken pain because god is careful that paul would have some recompense or reward even though he was saved for the suffering that he has afflicted on the early church because he was a christian chaser and often a christian killer and yet he has survived all of that through an encounter that he has with god on the road to damascus that introduces him to christ at the expense of losing the respect of all of those around him he is controversial now he is rejected by those who once accepted him he is of the tribe of benjamin he comes from a succession and an order of royalty and kings he is zealous concerning the law he is a pharisee he is well versed in old testament theology and ideology and profound and prolific so much so that he staggered at the gospel of jesus christ because he is so filled with old testament ideology that he found it difficult to transition into the next move of god sometimes you can be so full of where you came from that you can't see where you're going do you hear what i'm saying to you paul has preached the gospel and of all things god sent him to the gentiles it would have been enough to send him to converted jews but no god sends him to the gentiles the very thing that a pharisee would never eat with or sit down with or talk to has become his ministry and he is called to be the apostle to the gentiles it's like being the president of the dogs the head of the heathens the ceo of the rejected the ambassador of the idolaters the gentiles were full of fornication and perversion and orgies and and they were polygamous in their ideology and they were full of all types of debauchery there was a great disdain for them and god has anointed paul to minister to people that were disdained and rejected by everybody else and anytime you're called to minister to people that have the disdain of society you get persecuted because even religious people don't want you to be involved with certain types of people his ideology has been questioned to the degree that they laughed him out of the synagogues paul is not used to being laughed at he's used to being respected but they laughed at him and made mockery of his mind and his intellect and his ideas because he would dare to believe that jesus is the embodiment of god himself and even amongst those who embraced jesus they were reluctant to receive him because of his past operating as a pharisee so he was not welcome readily at the table with peter and james and john after all paul was not there when peter james and john were on the mount of transfiguration and paul was not there when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of his garment and paul was not there when jesus raised lazarus from the dead and paul was not there when jesus calmed the raging sea here comes this johnny come lately apostle who has been killing and persecuting the christians and now he wants to sit at the table with the rest of the apostles as if he'd been there all the time and they were suspicious of him it took revelation for them to even begin to slowly embrace him so paul knows loneliness he knows what it is to be hated on his left side he knows what it is to be hated on his right side for preaching the gospel he has been persecuted for preaching the gospel he has been beaten like a slave for preaching the gospel he has been stoned at lystra and left for dead for preaching the gospel he has borne in his body the marks of the lord jesus for preaching the gospel he has been thrust into prison after prison for preaching the gospel he has been ostracized by his friends alienated by his own relatives rejected by his own community for preaching the gospel he has had to stand in destitution and isolation and comforted himself and licked his own wounds and lifted up his own head and had to keep going when other people wished he would die for preaching the gospel he has endured all types of afflictions to come to this point in his life and we get to taste the nectar of his final words his final thoughts his conclusion his finally my brethren the sum total of everything that seasoned him and set him apart and made him unique that elixir that rich residue that is left when the when the pot has boiled down to its lowest gravy now we are tasting the final droppings that are coming from paul as he says i am about to be offered up when paul says i'm about to be offered up he is reminiscent of the drink offering which a drink offering is a type of libation and a libation is when you take a drink and you begin to pour it out little by little drop by drop every time he went through something it took something out of it every time he endured an affliction it took something out of it until he was down to nothing and when he was about to be offered up he was down to the last drop that means the cup has been turned completely up dropped by drop every time you go through a test it takes something out of you you survive it but it takes something out of you you made it but it took some out of you you endured it but it took something out of you you made it out but it took some hours you went through the funeral but it took something out of you you went through the scandal but it took something out of you and little by little you lose more and more it's not age that gets you it's experiences that it took your strength to survive and now he says i'm about to be offered up which means timothy i'm down to the last drop and i am i'm about to be offered up you must realize that you can survive and still suffer you must realize that you can survive but it still costs you something you survive the divorce but it costs you something you survive the teenage pregnancy but it costs you something you survive the addiction but it costs you something you survive the scandal but it costs you something until little by little people don't realize how much has gone out of your cup to still be standing oh oh my god do you hear what i'm saying look at somebody say i'm still here i'm still here i'm still here i'm not the same but i'm still here you know you can drive a car and little by little it'll tell you that it's got three quarters of tank and then if you keep driving it's got a half a tank and then if you keep driving it's got a quarter tank and if you keep driving it's got an eighth of a tank and if you keep on driving it's all the way down to empty that means the further you go the more it costs you it's not the years it's the mileage it's the things i went through it's the things i suffered it's the antagonism i endured it's a betrayal that i went through it's the friends that rejected me it's the deceit that i do it and it took all of my strength to get back up i want to talk to somebody that it took all of your strength to get back up it took all of your might to get back up these are the writings of the pastoral epistles of a man after he has endured affliction and tribulation and pain and agony these are the final droppings of the master or raider himself and we get to hear his personal letters to timothy and titus as he shares with them his conclusion because when you get to the end you want to know was it worth it you remember when john was about to be beheaded and he told his disciples he said go and i want to know is he the christ or shall we look for another he said i identified him in the jordan i was sure about it in jordan but now i'm about to lose my head and before i lose my head i just want to be sure that it was worth it do you hear what i'm saying midlife crisis is wondering was it worth it that's why it's a crisis because you get to the middle of your life and you wonder was it worth it do i have what i expected to have to show for being at the stage i'm ahead in my life right now am i appreciated am i valued am i validated am i loved it's the inner wrestling of a thinking mind trying to balance an account before you close the books such as the spirit of second timothy it is that spirit that we come into the text because he is talking to timothy from the place of trying to close the books the accounting is coming to an end he is coming to the end of his journey it is important that you understand it i want i want you to say that are you with me so far set that aside that's an appetizer we'll come back to it in a minute i want to get into another thing i want i want to share a little something else there's an interesting narrative of the life of oladu equiano a lotto equiano it's not a name that would immediately pop up in your head you don't hear much about a lot of equiano not in history not in the bible not anywhere because in 1789 he is a former slave that writes a book in 1789 that is published about his abduction he was born in 1745 he was tricked and sold into slavery in the western part of africa he is from the tribe of ebo at 11 years old he and his sister are abducted and he finds himself being drug away from west africa now called nigeria before it was called nigeria colonialism has not taken place yet and he finds himself in the bottom of a boat floating like a slave toward europe at 11. and he is persecuted and he is beaten and he is dog and he is ostracized and you must understand that when he begins to come to europe he is bought like he is property he becomes a property of a european man and given another name but the problem is he never forgot who he was [Applause] sometimes people will give you a name but never forget who you are sometimes people will call you a name but never forget who you are sometimes life will call you a name but never forget who you are sometimes finances will call you a name but never forget who you are sometimes doctors will call you a disease but never forget who you are don't let people take away your identity just because of your circumstance and your situation there was slavery everywhere it was moving all over the world and it just started becoming popular we're entering into a period of slavery and it's everywhere it's in europe it's coming out of west africa it's in the americas it's everywhere it just so happens that this boat goes to europe the african slave's voice from africa takes as many to america's and some of them it takes to south america and others it takes to england the cross-cultural geopolitical journey from a slave to freedom from hedonism to christianity has become his life's work he's trying to figure out who am i now separated from my parents separated from my culture separated from my tribe separated from all the things i have had 11 years to settle into now i'm uprooted from all of that and taken as property i'm a line on a ledger i am the net worth of a stranger i have been relegated and delegated into the net worth of an individual from which i have no experience at all this is what he says that i find interesting institutional slavery can raise the master as an above man as the slave is forced beneath but listen to what he concludes both corrupting the master with power and crippling the slave with the lack of it in other words he says nobody gets away clean just because the master is a master doesn't mean that he doesn't suffer because the power has corrupted him and there's a saying about power power corrupts but absolute power absolutely corrupts so in order to be a slave master it has to speak to your lowest instincts so i might be crippled as a slave but you're corrupted as a master and he started speaking these kinds of words he said i considered that trials and disappointments are sometimes for our good listen listen to how he he is making peace with his past he says i can i consider that trials and disappointments are sometimes for our good and i thought god might perhaps have permitted this in order to teach me wisdom and resignations for he had hitherto shadowed me with the wings of his mercy and by his invisible but powerful hand brought me the way i knew not he allowed this to happen and if he allowed me to suffer i comforted myself not in the goodness of the master but the goodness of god that if he allowed me to go through this kind of suffering that some kind of way there's something that he wants me to get out of it or he wouldn't have allowed it to happen i don't know if that helps you like it helps me but but but that really helped me these reflections gave me a little comfort and i rose at last from the deck with dejection and sorrow in my countenance yet mixed with some faint hope that the lord would appear for my deliverance in other words i was holding on by a thread but i tied a knot in it and i held on is there anybody in here that's been through enough suffering in your life that you held on by thread and you were just holding on by the skin of your teeth and you made it over and sometimes he felt like giving up and sometimes he felt like diet and sometimes he felt like committing suicide but there was just a little just a little bit of real light just a little little bit of light coming into the dark arc that lit it just enough for you to press your way through the storm and the rain and listen at how he gets a life he gets the light by what he says to himself [Applause] it is the way you talk to yourself that determines whether you endure hardness or not whether you can stand affliction or not it is what you choose to think about he said i chewed i chose to believe that god would bring me out of this an 11 year old boy says i chose to believe that god would bring me out of this that he was to teach me something and rather than to focus on the bitterness of my disappointment i've focused on the fact that some kind of way i'll come out of this wiser and stronger and better and richer and fuller these are the first scenes of my life though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow the truth of the matter is there's not a person in this room that has not had their pleasure mingled with sorrow this slave boy who is 11 years old from nigeria from the tribe of igbo who was captured and abducted and don't think that that has stopped happening human trafficking is still happening don't think that it ended with the emancipation proclamation slavery is still alive or well in this country and around the world people are still living in abducted situations out of their control in this city in this state there are people that are against their will being held in bondage and there are task force set up by a police department that do nothing every day but work to liberate young girls and young boys that have been snatched out of their country and made to work without pay right in your city right up under your nose and i laugh when i hear us say if i had lived in slavery days i would have had you are living in slavery day as long as there is inequity there will be slavery for somebody you just choose not to look at it but it is there every week somebody gets busted for taking somebody from their country and having them working in massage parlors and different places that you might frequent you have to have your eyes open because sometimes the people who are giving you service are doing it against their will [Applause] he says early on i accustomed myself to look for the hand of god in the minutest occurrence any little sign of any little touch i look for the hand of god and to learn from it a lesson of morality and religion and in this light every circumstance i have related was to me of importance i look for god even in pain after all what makes any event important unless by its observation we become better and wiser what makes any event important if we don't use it to become better and wiser and learn to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly before god can i go on with this i love this i love that you should get the book you should order the book to those who are possessed of this spirit there is scarcely any book or incident so trifling that does not afford some prophet while to others the experience of ages seems of no use and even to pour out to them the treasures of wisdom destroying the jewels of instruction away because some people have a deaf ear to wisdom they have no value to profoundness their minds are so narrow that even when you give them good things say throw it away jesus said it this way cast not your pearls to the swine neither give that which is holy to the dog come on talk to me somebody he said and i had a great curiosity to talk to the books as i thought they did to me and so to learn how all things had a beginning for that purpose i have often taken up a book and have talked to it and then when nobody was looking i put my ears to it in hopes it would answer me [Music] in other words i so valued wisdom that i led the book that talked to me i talk back to it and then listen to see if i said something maybe it would say something to me if you start listening for books to talk to you especially the bible you would be surprised how the bible will be your counselor will be your advisor will speak wisdom and and you would be surprised what it will do for you in your life if you would listen if you would not just depend on the preacher to do all the feeding but if you would develop a relationship and start listening and have an ongoing conversation with the word he said and i have been very much concerned when i found it remain silent something said nothing to me at all but i was listening i was listening i want you to understand these quotes because i think they are powerful and i think they are relevant and i think they are profound and if you give me just a few minutes i'm going to tie them into apostle paul and show you why i talked about it he says all ye nominal christians might not an african asked you learn you this from your god your religion allows you to do this to me how can you worship god and steal me eventually he found his way to freedom and became a husband and a father and a very successful entrepreneur and i want you to see the before and after pictures one shows him as a slave and once shows him as an entrepreneur if he would have remained bitter he would have stayed like the first pitcher but because he refused to allow the pain that he endured to enslave him he ended up in the second picture i'm talking to somebody i don't know who i'm talking to you either get better or you get bitter you either allow the pain to engulf you or you rise to something above it that blows your mind and sets you apart and sets you on a different level and you would put the pictures up there again i want you to choose which one you're going to be are are you going to get bitter or are you going to get better in our text we are reading the memoirs of a man enslaved to the gospel his life was not his own paul did not belong to himself he was a prisoner of the gospel he was a slave of jesus christ the difference between alado and quijano and paul is that paul has eventually become a willing slave [Music] remember when paul identifies himself as a willing slave he is a willing slave however the suffering and the strange mixture of feelings of dejection and yet hopefulness are quite similar in order to work for god every day will not be a great day every day will not be an easy day every day will not be a kind day if you're going to work for god see damascus was the place of his apprehension he caught jesus caught in in damascus on the road to damascus and all the way up to damascus saul now paul is leading the way but when jesus got through with him the people that he were leading were now leading him and now he is brown a prisoner of the gospel to preach to the gentiles he has lost the respect of his jewish orthodox brethren he's even faced struggles to be accepted by other apostles and yet god used him mightily that means that you don't have to have a general consensus in order to be effective for god that means that you can be controversial and still be effective that means you don't have to put your mission on hold until everybody votes for you and everybody likes you and everybody supports you and everybody undergirds you it means that you have to come to a point that you begin to understand that god is with you even when people are against you even when people are scandalizing you and ostracizing you doesn't mean that you can't be purposeful oh do you hear what i'm saying and mr equiano ends up an entrepreneur and a successful one and they had to reprint his book over eight times in his lifetime and more after he died the book of a slave in the 18th century i don't care what's going on around you if god is for you he will raise you up anyway i don't care what you read in the paper i don't care what you saw on the news i don't care what your education is what your background is if god is for you he will raise you up and set you up and bless you and take you to a place that you know not of do you hear what i'm saying to you when paul tells timothy i have fought a good fight i have often preached that i've taught that i've listened at it i've shared it but i never really thought about this he didn't say he won he never said he won the fight he just said he fought the fight i want to talk to some people who have lost some battles but you kept on swinging yeah yeah yeah yeah he said i fought a good fight i fought a good fight he didn't say i won every fight see we we would like to think that he won every fight but he didn't win every fight there were certain cities that rejected him there were certain people that withstood him there were certain individuals that attacked him he didn't win every fight but he stayed in the fight and i came to tell you tonight that the holy ghost said if you stay in the fight i will bless you you can fight a good fight win or lose i fought a good fight i fought a good fight of the father i fought a good fight as a mother i fought a good fight as a preacher i fought a good fight as a man see god gives you credit for the fight not the score oh y'all don't want to hear what i'm saying to you yeah yeah yeah yeah if you hear what i'm saying you'll shout me down tonight because god wants to know will you fight back it doesn't matter who got the most licks in he wants to know will you fight back when paul tells timothy i fought a good fight he's not bragging that he won every fight but he's telling timothy you got to be prepared to fight a good fight in season and out of season reprove and rebuke with all long suffering even though sometimes they will not endure sound doctrine do it anyway because god will bless you just because you fought i want to talk to a room full of fighters today if i could get me a few fighters online are there any fighters online that you fought a good fight you fought a good fight you won some you lost some but you fought a good fight you stayed in the ring with you didn't have no money you stayed in the ring when you did have some money you stayed in the ring when you felt like fighting you stayed in the ring when you didn't feel like fighting and paul is coming to the end of his life and he said i fought a good fight somebody holler i fought a good fight [Applause] i fought a good fight now let me let me let me put this in perspective this this is making peace with your past because if you don't make peace with it you're gonna always be complaining about the ones you lost and what you didn't get and what didn't happen and what didn't come through in your life but it doesn't matter whether you got it or you didn't get it what matters is that you kept on fighting if you really got faith you'll fight when you win and you'll fight when you lose you'll fight when you got a job you'll fight when you don't have a job you'll fight when people love you you'll fight when people hate you i fought a good fight somebody said i fought a good fight there comes a time in your life that you have to reconcile yourself that you may not it may not have turned out the way you wanted it to turn out and everything might not be in place the way you wanted it to be but if you fought a good fight you still got a crown made up for you i want to talk to my fighters that there's a crown waiting for you that there's a blessing waiting for you that there's a door guard is going to open for you if you keep on swinging if you keep on swinging if you keep on swinging if you keep on swinging if you keep on swinging if you keep on i don't care what the devil throws at you just keep on swinging i don't care what they say about you just keep on swinging just keep on swinging you may break your heart but keep on swinging i fought a good fight a good fight i lasted all 13 rounds i stayed in the fight i was bloody but i kept swinging i got a black eye but i kept on swinging i got a busted lip but i kept on swinging timothy i fought a good fight if you're gonna be my son you're gonna have to be a fighter you might not be a winner but you got to be a fighter i fought a good fight [Applause] let somebody say fight back you got to fight back you got to fight back and you got to be proud of the fact that you fought back i won some and i lost some but i fought back sometimes i got over sometimes i went under but i fought back and you've got to be able to make peace with the fact that fighting a good fight is enough whether you won the fight or not if i kept the faith i won if i kept the faith if it was just a little rope and i held on to the rope if it was a piece of thread and i held on to the faith i have kept the faith sometimes i had doubt sometimes i had fear sometimes i had worry but i kept the faith none of it made me backslide none of it made me walk away i said thank you jesus when i didn't feel like saying thank you jesus i said glory to god when i didn't feel like saying glory to god because i wanted hell to know i don't have nothing but a string but i'mma hold on to the string and i'm gonna keep the faith and the lord wanted me to tell somebody tonight it looks like you're going down for the third time but hold on to what you got left and as long as you hold on to what god gave you you have kept the faith somebody take a minute and praise him for the faith you got left [Applause] yeah yeah praise him for the faith you got left i lost my car but i got my faith i lost my friends but i got my faith i lost my family but i got my faith i lost my job but i got my faith i still got my faith that's what the devil was after the devil don't want your car the devil doesn't want your house that ever don't want your shoe what the devil is after is after your faith and i want everything that's listed at me that's got some faith to give god 30 seconds of crazy ridiculous praise [Applause] you see this is the thing i want you to see i think i hadn't got to sweat now i didn't mean to go to sweat y'all made me sweat something about to happen in here [Applause] the thing i want you to see is oladu knew that he might die a slave but he also knew that he might not he knew they might beat him to death but he also knew that he might not he knew they might destroy him but he also knew that he might not and he kept on fighting and kept on fighting and wiggling till he finally got free and the lord told me to tell you that if you keep on fighting eventually you'll get free it may not be the day it may not be tomorrow but if you keep on fighting eventually you're going to get free somebody needs to stay in the fight stay in the fight stay in the fight there ain't no way in the world he was supposed to get free but he stayed in the fight and he kept on punching until somebody had to liberate him and let him go he went from being a slave to an entrepreneur [Music] he went from being half naked to be walking around in custom-made clothes because he stayed in the fight you got to stay in the fight i want to talk to somebody that's tired and feel like giving up and feel like it's not worth it and feel like you've been through too much and feel like you've been doing too much pain i want to encourage you tonight that the next punch might be the last punch swing when you don't even feel like swinging punch when you don't even feel like punching because god has a plan in fact had they not abducted him [Applause] he would have never ended up the entrepreneur and the author with the wisdom and the story that made him a best seller people always talk about what you're running to but they don't notice what you're running from it's what happened behind you that determines how fast you move in front of you and if you don't make peace with your past if you don't listen to me if you don't make peace with your past you'll never accomplish what your past came to propel you into there is a reason preacher said it's sunday this ain't nothing but confirmation of what the preacher said sunday this ain't nothing but god adding word on top of word on top of word on top of word that i got a plan even when you got a pain i got a plan even when you got a hurt i got a plan even when you feel like giving up and throwing yourself away are you hearing what i'm saying to you paul said when my hour came to trial no man stood with me now this is amazing because paul has spoke to cities he's transformed communities he's established churches he has healed all manner of diseases he's even raised people from the dead you would think out of all of the body of his work when he went on trial somebody would have stood with him he said when i came to defense no man stood with me normally when you go to court your lawyer is standing with you paul said i had nobody to plead my case no man stood with me but then he says watch this watch how he won't let bitterness creep in i pray that the lord does not lay it to their charge [Music] have you grown enough in your faith to pray for the people who let you down oh come on you got you you on the boat now you got the ride you on the boat now you got to ride all the way in paul has learned how to pray for the people who disappointed him he is making peace with his past he says i can't afford to die bitter and angry and upset and full of resentment and frustration because it's going to weaken my strength [Applause] so even though i was disappointed that no man stood with me i pray that god does not led to their charge where was the man i raised from the dead where was the woman i healed from diseases where was the woman i cast demons out of where were all the people i delivered all through the bible where were the churches i established where were the pastors i set in place where were the people i gave a second chance where were the people i poured into he said when i really really really really really needed somebody no man stood with me notwithstanding the lord stood with me and what i'm supposed to tell you is stop worrying about who didn't [Applause] and use it as an opportunity to brag about how good god stood [Applause] is there anybody online that god stood with is there anybody in the building that god stood with is there anybody on the internet that god stood with is there anybody on facebook that god stood with you in the hospital in the courtroom through the pain of life the lord stood with me the lord stood with me the lord stood with me i finished because the lord stood with me good god almighty i feel the holy ghost in this place right now the lord stood with me if he stood with you you ought to praise him like he stood with you [Applause] sit down sit down because between y'all standing and the organ chasing me y'all got me going too fast i feel the holy ghost sit here i feel the spirit of god in here i feel the spirit of god in here because this is my testimony too the lord has stood with me he'd been standing with me all my life he was standing with me when i wasn't standing with him he was still standing with me and i'm here because the lord stood with me are you with me tonight are you with me tonight now this is what i'm after tonight you got so many years that are your discovery years adolescent years discovery years those are some tough years tough on you tough on your parents your discovery years who am i am i what they call me where am i who you name me who am i and you go through this discovery years and then you go through this this period in your 20s generally where you're trying to stake your claim on something that's solid but you still got a lot of kid in you and a lot of crazy in fact the brain doesn't fully mature about consequences until you're in your early 20s so you're living in the moment without regard for consequences you have to mature to consider consequences by the time you're in your 30s you ought to be grappling after something trying to build something trying to do something trying to become something that's why i love what we're doing and what we're getting ready to do with our young adults because those are your building years your 30s and your 40s are your building your those are your building years those are your formation years those are your development years those are the make or break you years when you get in your 50s and 60s you begin to recognize that i can still win and i can still accomplish some things but you start to begin to recognize i may not get what i thought i would get when i started and if you don't learn how to be good with that you'll become a saul to some david [Applause] and you'll end up trying to kill somebody who's coming because you wasted your turn [Applause] can i go a little bit deeper making peace with your past doesn't just mean making peace with your sins it means making peace with your station in life getting to a place where i'm good with it alexander the copper smith hates me but i'm i'm i'm good with it i'm gonna put that over in the i'm good with it column because i got to balance these books i'm good with the fact that i still can see further than i will ever be able to go by the time you get to your 70s you started to begin to understand that i can see further than i can reach and if you're not good with that you'll become bitter and you'll become a hater and you'll start trying to destroy people who have more time and more energy than you do what is a sign of maturity is when you have made peace with where you are that's why the bible says watch this godliness with contentment is great gain to be contented doesn't mean that you don't have ambition doesn't mean that you don't have goals it means that you don't use your ambition to create frustration y'all ain't gonna talk to me tonight you can't be so ambitious that you turn into a witch you can't be so ambitious that you start cutting people's throats to get ahead you can't be so ambitious that you become vicious and and and become ruthless and become dangerous you've got to come to a point that maybe you wanted some things for you that god didn't want for you and you have to be good with where he placed you and you might not ever get back to west africa but you got to learn how to bloom where you're planted and if i never get back and if i never go here and if i never go there i'm going to be as fruitful as i can in the land where i am i'm good with it i can't spend the rest of my life wishing for something that may not ever happen again i'm good with it to come to a place of contentment where you can lay down at night and be contented doesn't mean that you don't have anything that you go after any goals or anything but it doesn't mean it does mean that whether i get it or don't i'm still gonna be okay whether you like me or don't i'm still gonna be okay whether you clap or don't clap i'm still gonna be okay whether you support or don't support i have come to a place of making peace with where i am in my life and what i went through in my life and i'm good with it because i can't make you feel good about you until i feel good about me let me help the preachers that are watching online you can quote what i quote but until you've been through what i've been through it's not going to be effective the only way to be effective is that you've gone through enough that it's changed your attitude that you are good with where you are in life and you're happy to be you and you're not trying to be nobody else and you're not wishing you were somebody else and you're not wishing you had another mama and you're not wishing you had another daddy you're saying it was good that i was afflicted if if it had turned out any other kind of way i wouldn't have ended up where i ended up thank you for rejecting me thank you for leaving me by myself you taught me how to pray you taught me how to stand on my own two feet if you would have been there i would have never met who god wanted me to meet if you would have been there i wouldn't have been hungry enough to become anointed enough to become powerful enough to be where i am i'm talking to somebody today about making peace with your past so that you don't spend the rest of your life trying to get back somewhere that there's no boat to take you back but there is strength to bloom where you plant it and to prosper where you are you have to be good with being you [Applause] with your big self you got to be good with being you with your skinny self you got to be good with being you with your ugly self you got to be good with being you with your pretty self because though i might not have what you have i got something you don't and i'm not gonna focus on what i don't have i'm gonna focus on what i do have yes i'm gonna do all i can to enhance what i got but some things god gave you he didn't give me but i'm not in a race with you i'm in a race to be the best me that i was oh y'all don't hear what i'm saying so paul says when people did not stand by me the lord stood with me now who would you rather have stand with you he said the lord stood with me and strengthened me put that scripture back up there again because i want to get that scripture just right down in the last part of second timothy but the lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the gospel might be proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it and i was delivered from the lion's mouth look i was delivered you don't understand i was delivered from the lion's mouth imagine now he means that figuratively but imagine that literally i was delivered from the lion's mouth look at how many lions mouths you've been in i was delivered out of the mouth of people that i thought was my friend and really my enemy i was delivered i was delivered from the lion's mouth i was delivered from the thing that could have devoured me i was delivered the reason i got to praise him i was delivered i should have been dead i should have died of age i should have had a nervous breakdown i could have lost my mind i was delivered from the lion's mouth when you see me praising god you can imitate my step but you can't imitate my gratitude because nobody knows like i know what my lion was everybody in here got a lion everybody in this room got something that had you in its clutches and you could be strung out under a bridge and you could have tracks in your arm and you could have od and you could have lost your mind but i want you to think back on the lion that had you in his mouth and look at you now and i want you to give god a praise for how he delivered you out of the mouth of the lion and he says because watch this because i was delivered the lord will rescue me see on the strength of what i've been through in my past god has built up enough resume in me that i am confident now that the lord will rescue me from every evil attack that means that the things that used to worry me don't worry me like they used to and the things that used to drive me crazy don't drive me crazy like they used to because of the lion's mouth i've got enough faith to believe god against every evil thing that's in my future i'm going to use what i've been through in my past to prepare me for my future so i'm gonna leave you with with four words the first word is restitution restitution damascus was where paul is called to serve restitution for his deeds you you can't do just anything and not have any restitution there comes a point in your life that you can't just take and not give back there has to be some level of restitution and number two i want you to get this word resolution resolution is a point where you accept god's plan over your own life and and you resolve in your own mind you resolve this is it i think i think it takes a long time to be married it takes about 30 minutes to have a wedding but it takes a long time to be married you can be married and still be looking through a window at your own life it takes a while for you to say this is it i'm all in i don't just have one foot in it i'm i'm not just testing it out i'm not just seeing i'm not i'm i'm not just leaving it out clause i'm not keeping a fire escape open i'm not running around throwing a d word out it takes a long time for you to really settle in crazy as i am and crazy as you are we just gonna be crazy together resolution means that you have now accepted the course god has for your life resolution means i'm not envious of you oh i'm going deep now resolution means that i'm not comparing myself by you i don't have to measure up to you resolution is i'm good with who i am i'm good with the gifts i bring to the table i'm not intimidated by you i have resolved that my gift is just as effective as yours i know you got the shield and the sword and the shiny stuff and all i got is a rock and a rag but i'm good with the rock and the red and the rock and the rag brought me all the way here when i started preaching they said you can't get on tv preaching like that they said you can't get on tv preaching like that you run around i was stepping across pews i was young and then hollering and sweating town wrapped around my day they said you can't act like that and be on tv i said okay i said which camera is the right camera they said the one is red i looked through and said get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get ready get kicked you [Applause] people they said people who preached like me couldn't build churches like this [Applause] they said that we could have church in a funeral home in a garage or a storefront they said we weren't smart enough to get here and build this kind of facility this church is as wide as two football fields this church will hold 14 000 people with overflow this church can satellite around the world with our own equipment they didn't think that you could talk in tongues and jerk and holler and still be smart enough to get to where this church got this church bought 400 acres of land before i was 40. hallelujah and i still got my dance here and i still got my shot here and i still talked in tongue and i still praise my god and i still lift him up why would i be jealous of you when god is trying to get you to a point that you are good with what he gave you even if it's a rag and a rock run on out there and throw it at goliath and watch him fall out [Applause] you cannot win the fight if you don't have confidence in your equipment i cannot go out there and fight goliath acting like you because i ain't you yo yo yo your shield is sharp and beautiful and shiny and your sword looks like it could cut slightly straight through meat but i don't have no experience with that i do know how to work this rock and this rag and why are you laughing at how stupid it is i did more with the dragon rock than you did with your sword and shield [Applause] so don't try to intimidate me with what you got you have to come to a resolution that you're good with what god gave you with your short self you gotta if you short you gotta work it grab the mic and pull it down to where you are and let the devil have it if you tall you gotta stand up and work it and use what god gave you don't you know when moses came to god and said i can't speak because i stammer god said didn't i make your mouth when are you going to be good with how god made you didn't did did not i make your mouth couldn't i have fixed your tongue if i wanted to resolution is whatever age you're at that you become happy to be who god made you i'm in the right body i look just right i'm who i'm supposed to be i'm as smart as i need to be i'm gifted in the areas i need to be gifted in to do what god created me to do and in the areas i'm not gifted i'm not supposed to be gifted there that made room for me to get other people around me resolution means i'm good with being me paul couldn't die right if he wasn't good with it he says i have finished my course not yours timothy i wasn't asked to run timothy's race i was asked to run my race i'm good with my race i have finished my course resolution means i accept that now i want to i want can i take a little time the third hour i want to spend some time with is reciprocity reciprocity is real important reciprocity is sowing and reefing is seedtime and harvest and i want you to get this every relationship whether it's business personal financial emotional or marital will only survive to the degree that there is reciprocity you have to make sure that there is reciprocity the whole earth survives through reciprocity right now my whole backyard is covered with leaves and the leaves are going to go back down into the ground and fertilize the soil so that the soil is not depleted so the tree that took from the soil is now giving back to the soil and that's reciprocity never let anybody be better to you than you are to them you might not give them back the same thing but you've got to give them back something or it will die reciprocity is critical reciprocity is necessary reciprocity is not taught so now we got people who are better at taking than they are giving and then they can't figure out why the thing dies it dies because you rode the camel to death you wrote them down to nothing you wore them out it might show up in the first few years but eventually they're going to wear out because you are better at taking than you are giving and i want to warn you it's important that i warn you you watch it online it's important that i warn you eventually you're gonna lose that job cause you take more than you give you're gonna lose that man because you take more than you give you're gonna lose that woman cause you take more than you give cause nobody taught you reciprocity seed time and harvest sowing and reaping summer and winter while the earth remains there will always be reciprocity reciprocity is very important and what paul is complaining about what paul is dying from he didn't get reciprocity if all the people that paul had helped would have come to help him they would have never killed him you die because you give out [Music] he says when my hour came to trial i didn't get it back no man stood where i stood with everybody nobody stood with me they took me for granted till they wore me out and anybody will die without reciprocity your daughter your son your husband your wife your savings your career your credit i don't care what you applied to it survives through reciprocity if you don't learn anything else tonight learn this don't just let people keep giving to you and say oh that's just how he is he just like that he just that kind of person she's just nice like that she's just so nice she's just so nice and you'll never do nothing back you're gonna kill it you're gonna kill the relationship you are obligated you might not be the same thing you get back but you are obligated to give something back the earth gave the tree nutrients and and all types of uh minerals in order for it to grow the tree gave it back leaves but it gave something back and i want to ask you what are you giving back for all you take and suck up and use you got to make sure that in every area of your life there is reciprocity my wife and i have been married 39 years we wouldn't have made it 39 years we had hills we had mountains we had valleys we had disappointments we had pains we had shortcomings we had failure we had hurts but we also had reciprocity when i got sick she took care of me when she got sick i took care of her when she was down i cooked when i was down she cooked whatever it to look to make it happen i made it happen i washed clothes i mopped the floor i did whatever i had to do i shut down my schedule to let her know she's important she will tell you right quick when it comes to me she will fly where i am she will come get me she will come get me if nobody else will come and get me our marriage survived not because i was a good man not because she was a good woman our marriage survived because of reciprocity this church has survived because of reciprocity we've been through storms we've been through witches we've been through haters we've had them curse the building we had them put chicken's blood all out in the street we had witches come in the building and curse the building i told them you should have fried the chicken and went to dancing oh hallelujah but we survived because of reciprocity i want you to look for areas in your life where your books are out of balance where people or jobs or things or churches are giving you more than you give back because if you don't have reciprocity don't be surprised when it dies paul this is his last letter and he's telling timothy the reason he didn't win is no man stood with you you got to make sure that you're as good at giving as you are taken i can carry you i can carry any one of you for a little while but eventually i'm gonna get tired if you pass out right now i can throw you on my back and i can carry you away but after a while i'ma have to let you go cause you're dead weight reciprocity stops you from being unlovable because you're ungivable oh god y'all don't want me to teach [Applause] reciprocity should be a natural animalistic instinct that starts in your children i don't care if they don't do nothing but draw a giraffe and bring it in and put it on the wall you ought to teach them to give something back take out the trash mop the floor even if you don't mop it right even if you leave streaks in it do something back we are raising up people who don't know reciprocity i'm gonna a lot of you're losing and you don't know why you're losing you're losing because you are not as intense about giving back as you are about getting all roads lead to you it's all about you and as long as it's all about you you are killing somebody [Applause] and generally it's somebody who loves you hear me tonight hear me tonight i want you to get anointed to give back to the person that gives to you write this down feed what's feeding you the whole creation survives off of it the oceans have water because of it you the the the reason the mist goes up in the air we got clouds and the rain comes back down again it's because everything god created survives off of this principle feed what's feeding you if this is not feeding you don't feed me if it's feeding you make sure you feed it back because reciprocity is a spiritual law sowing and reaping is reciprocity and i'm not just talking about offerings find something build something bake something make something clean up something do something make me miss you [Applause] i'm almost done i'm almost done i'm gonna stop i'm almost done but this is important because it's killing us we're not teaching people reciprocity my final number is number four is reparations god said that's all right paul you didn't get it on earth but when do you get to heaven [Applause] i'm gonna give you reparations none of them stood with you down here but when you get to heaven i'm gonna give you the crown of righteousness i'm gonna give you double for your trouble i'm gonna pay you i'm gonna pay you in retroactive pay for everything you didn't get on this side i'm gonna make it up to you on that side can you prove it by the scriptures yes jesus when he told the story about the good samaritan and the good samaritan got to the innkeeper and he gave him two daenerys and he said if i owe you anything i'll pay you when i come back he says i'll make it up to you i'll give you reparations i'll go back in the past and restore that that the cankerworm and the palmer worm and the locust said up the god we serve believes in reparation so to everybody whose account is out of balance and you're wore out and you're tired and you give more than you get back god said don't worry about it if they don't pay you i will if they don't bless you i will if they don't appreciate you i will if they don't restore you i will as i close tonight i have said some strong things to you tonight i pray i have not cast the pearls before the swine i pray that you will use this to be a better person a better deacon a better leader a better husband a better wife a better business person a better community person i pray that you would be that the yoke of selfishness would break off of your neck [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and that you would stand by the people who stand by you [Music] that you would feed what's feeding you all we need for the world to continue that's all we need is reciprocity if the rain keeps coming down and if it humidifies and goes back up to the clouds and the cycle that god put in place is enough to sustain the earth as long as there's reciprocity you know what global warming is the lack of reciprocity it means the stuff we are making is stopping the earth from doing its thing that the smog we're putting up in the air is creating a blockage that's stopping reciprocity and it's changing our weather till the earth is dying for the lack of getting back what it's giving the whales are dying the polar bears are dying because we have filled the oceans with our filth and the whole earth is suffering from the lack of reciprocity stop it in your house stop it in your business stop it in your life and little by little we will live again this is paul's last letter he wrote it to timothy and he tells timothy bring me some paper because god is still talking to me and bring me a coat cause i'm cold and the last thing timothy hurry up i've been alone so long come before winter i won't last much longer because i have given them out i have offered up i'm down to the last drop and i won't last much longer and if you're gonna do anything do it before winter if you're gonna be a better person do it now if you're going to get in the reciprocity do it now stop taking for granted that people just are the way they are because they've been doing it so long and start to wonder are you tired do you need help how can i serve you like you serve me how can i make you feel important how can i show you that you matter because as a christian i am called to reciprocity that's why it says muzzle not the mouth of the oxygen it's a grain then if the ox works it ought to be able to eat as well as it works that's reciprocity he said do not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth the grain because he has a right to get back on the level he works on take the muzzle off your life take the muzzle off your husband take the muzzle off your children take the muzzle off the people you love take the muzzle off your job take the muzzle off so that you make sure that if i work i also eat if i carry the burden i get the reward make it easy to love you [Applause] make it easy to love you and the quickest way to make it easy to love you is to make sure that you have reciprocity and that your account is balanced because some of you are living out of balance and this message is a warning before you go bankrupt and somebody just says i'm out of you i'm just tired i'm worn out bring balance sometimes i tell my wife no no no no you can't cook no you're tired [Music] i do it i'll do it i'm not so high i can't do it if i if i can't cook i'll order something i'll make sure i make sure you you get some time off you don't have to be no slaves [Applause] i'll clean up i'll do it she when i'm cooking sometimes she'll come in she'll clean the dishes while i do the cooking reciprocity you might be losing your relationships not because you're not a good person but you haven't learned reciprocity with your children with your church you say you're a member of this church and you never support or serve or work or labor in any way how are you a member [Applause] because you watch because you watch me work [Applause] you don't have to join to do that just just watch when you join i should feel your help i pray the holy spirit convicts you i pray the holy spirit speaks to you in such a way that you begin to look at yourself and say how can i do better can i pray for you tonight because i i think this is a warning i think this message is a warning i think you're so busy wrestling with your past and your insecurities and your doubts and you and you and you and how you feel and what's going on with you and what what's your emotions and you don't like this you and you and you and you that you don't have room for me or them or us can i pray for you tonight because that the holy spirit would anoint you to give you have been given so much and i want you to have confidence in what you have to give to the point that you can give it and not doubt it and not feel like it's not enough it's enough if it's your best it's enough you don't have to feel inadequate and use that as an excuse not to give it because you don't think it's good enough even if it's not enough i'll take it it's better than nothing [Applause] don't let the enemy talk you and to be better at receiving then you argue it matters how you feel but it matters how they feel too i'm talking right to somebody this is an emergency in my spirit i feel like somebody is about to break carrying you because your relationships are always about what you need what you want how you feel what's going on with you you you that's wrong by your hands let me pray with you right now father i have shared with them the word of god amen i have shown them how you can have a rough past and still have a bright future i have shown them how you took a slave and made him a businessman and an author and an entrepreneur in the 1700s i have shown them how even the apostle paul needed somebody to stand with them i have shown them how they cannot allow their past to forever forever leave them chained from giving and serving and sowing and working now holy spirit do the work go deep down in the hearts and the minds and touch your people because it don't matter how much we dance if we don't change it don't matter how much we shout if we don't change don't let us continue to be who we were after all we've been through what the slave writer was trying to tell us is that everything you go through how to make you a better person i rebuke deceitfulness and selfishness and treachery i come against it in the name of jesus we cannot serve you when we are overcome with ourself and tonight if we don't do nothing else if nobody comes to the altar if nobody gets saved if nobody get backslider comes back to the lord if we could just leave here a little bit better than we were when we came then it would be a great wednesday night service [Applause] lord we got people in their 40s and 50s and 60s who are still wrestling with their past we need to make peace with it peace peace be still [Music] some of the people who hurt you are old some of them dead you got to let it go make peace with it and step into the fullness of what god has for you before you crush somebody and kill somebody and victimize them over something that they didn't even do i rebuked that spirit and i call a supernatural healing to come into your spirit and into your life and into your heart and i pray that when you wake up in the morning that you wake up in the morning and thinking about somebody other than you giving to somebody other than you serving somebody other than you living for somebody other than you before you get your last letter i pray that you come before winter the leaves are starting to fall and the temperature is changing and you've been stuck in this season for years and i pray you come before winter and bring something when you come bring something to the table bring something to the company bring something to the church bring something to the marriage bring something to somebody other than yourself stop by tychias and get my coat and pick up some paper and come on here boy before winter because i feel the breeze coming and i've lived as long as i can with no man standing by me in jesus name amen amen giving the best praise you got if this message bless you make some noise you

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 279,031

Rating: 4.9136491 out of 5

Keywords: td jakes, faith, wtal, woman thou are loosed, megafest, potters house, bishop jakes, pastors and leadership, pastors, leaders, instinctbishops, village, Making Peace With Your Past, the potters house of dallas, 2 Timothy 4:5-8, 2 Timothy 4:14-22, Bishop T.D. Jakes

Id: d8ubSTUf1yU

Length: 96min 58sec (5818 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 28 2021