The Mysterious Ministry of Snakes - Bishop T.D Jakes

[Music] i will get in this word i'm excited about this word go to numbers chapter 21 verse 1 through 9 and there you will find the text that we're going to explore tonight and the interesting subject that we're going to use to uh to really diagnose and analyze this text when the canaanite king of arad who lived in the negev heard that israel was coming it's our customs stand for the reading of the word let's do it all together amen thank you for respecting that when the canaanite king of arad who lived in the negev heard that israel was coming along the road to atharium he attacked the israelites and captured some of them then israel made this vow to the lord if you will deliver these people into our hands we will totally destroy their cities the lord listened to israel's plea and gave the canaanites over to them they completely destroyed them and their towns so the place was named horma they traveled from mount hor along the route to the red sea to go around edom but the people watch this closely but the people grew impatient on the way are you impatient on the way they spoke against god and against moses maybe it's out of their frustration but they spoke against god and against moses and said why have you brought us up out of egypt to die in the wilderness there is no bread there is no water and we detest this miserable food [Music] do you hate what god's given you do you hate god what god's given you because it's not what you had in mind do you hate who god's given you [Music] got a little quiet there yeah yeah yeah sometimes we pray for things and then when god provides it we don't have an appetite for what god has given us we only have an appetite for what we expected and what we had in mind and they spoke against god and they spoke against moses and they complained about not having any water and they complained about not having any bread and even though what they had eaten was better than the bread they wanted because what they had eaten sustained even their clothes even their shoes didn't wear out what they had eaten was stronger than the bread they wanted sometimes i'm glad god didn't answer my prayer if god would have gave me what i wanted i wouldn't have made it what i threw up what i made it through but when god gave me what he wanted me to have i had to learn to like it oh y'all don't hear what i'm saying you have to be willing to make changes but these people weren't willing to make change then the lord sent venomous snakes among them they bit the people and many israelites died the people came to moses and said we sinned when we spoke against the lord and against you pray that the lord will take the snakes away from us so moses prayed for the people the lord said to moses make a snake wait lord we're trying to get rid of snakes that's what we're praying about we're trying to get rid of the snakes we want you to drive the snakes away and you want me to make a snake why would you have me make a snake when i'm trying to escape snakes ah i'm confused the lord said to moses make a snake and put it upon a pole and anyone who is bitten can look at it and live so moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake they lived wait god didn't get rid of the snakes because they said when anyone else is bitten they can look on the snake you made and i thought we was trying to get rid of the snakes i want to talk tonight the mysterious ministry of snakes [Music] the mysterious ministry of snakes i know this is going to be tough i know it's going to be hard because i know y'all don't like snakes yeah i know it you don't want to hear nothing about snakes but you're going to hear about snakes tonight because that's what god gave me anoint this word lord overshadow it with your spirit move in a supernatural way endow us and enable us with the grace that enables us to receive everything that you have for us in the name of jesus christ our lord we pray all the people of god said amen said amen and said amen again you may be seated in the presence of god well the children of israel are leaving egypt and going into the wilderness trying to make it to the promised land now the wilderness as you know is a desert place and for the most part is a very dry place that was not habitable by many and those that were in the wilderness were nomadic groups and troops of people who moved here are there and control different regions that they had to pass through on their way to their destiny it's amazing who all you have to pass through on your way to your destiny yeah all the different kinds of people that you have to deal with to get to where god wants you to go but they're on their way and they're on their journey and in the process of being on the journey it is not just the heat by day or the cold by night or the lack of water or resources or cities to draw from that makes the wilderness such a difficult place to get through it is not even the external wilderness that is the primary wilderness that i want you to understand tonight the wilderness that they walked through was treacherous and dangerous and difficult and not accommodating for that mass amount of people with children and women and men to make it safely through to the other side now the promised land was ready for them it flowed with milk and honey the promised land was amazing they could build houses there and live there and reclaim their territory and the promised land was what they had in mind when they left egypt but in between the promised land is always the wilderness that nebulous indescript place that has no zip code for which you cannot explain through gps systems exactly where you are that that somewhere in between places most of us spend most of our lives somewhere between places we're not where we used to be but we're not where we're gonna be we are somewhere between places and when we are in somewhere in between places we have to deal with the wilderness walk how do i walk with god in a wilderness how do i walk with god in a place of uncertainty and a place of discomfort and a place that is full of foreign people that i have encountered for the first time seeing as i have been cocooned in egypt for 400 years i call egypt a cocoon because they went into egypt a family and they came out a nation that god put them in egypt to gestate the promise that he gave abraham that ultimately they would become a great nation and they grew a great nation under tribulation because tribulation often though the enemy means it for evil it often makes you greater and you come into an awareness and a deeper understanding and multiply in fact the bible says it clearly in exodus the more they afflicted them the more they grew so the way to grow is to endure affliction if the enemy were wise he would never afflict you because instead of it killing you and it caused you to grow it made you stronger it made you more prayerful it made you pay attention it made you come to church in the middle of the week it made you long on this broadcast in the middle of the week and quiet all the kids and cut down the tv and shut down the noise because you're going through something where you need to hear from god because you're in a wilderness but the wilderness is not just about dry land and cold nights and about inclement weather and the wilderness is not just about the dryness and the lack of food and the lack of comfort and the lack of being at home the wilderness is also the the uncertainty that lives inside of us when we know we are not there the uncertainty that lives in our own mind when we are not sure do we have what it takes to get there the uncertainty that lives in our mind when we can't really describe where there is but we are groping after it hoping that we might find it because we have concluded that anything is better than backwards some of us have made up our mind we don't know what heaven looks like but we know that we're not there yet we know that we have not seen jesus yet and we don't know exactly what he looks like and we argue amongst ourselves about what he looks like what color he was how long his hair was how he would handle what would jesus do and we argue about what would jesus do and none of us know exactly what we're talking about because the jesus i know is unpredictable the jesus i know is unpredictable the jesus i know is a rule breaker the jesus i know is not particularly religious the jesus i know did not fit in with the priests the jesus i know was not welcomed in the synagogue the jesus i know was not appreciated amongst the pharisees or the sadducees that jesus i know hung out with wine members that jesus i know you don't have theology for the jesus i know forgave a woman caught in the act of adultery the jesus i know ate on the sabbath day the jesus i know healed people against the rules that jesus i know was radical oh my god i wish that they would come back that we would serve a radical jesus and not a religious one not one that we've been taught not one that we've been induced to believe because you don't know god until you know him in jesus are you hearing what i'm saying and so they are somewhere in between where they are going and somewhere in between where they were and they're out in this nebulous place of not really understanding who they are because they themselves have been slaves for 400 years and anytime you have been slaves for 400 years 10 generations of slavery has washed most of the religious religious faith out of them the theology out of them the torah out of them their understanding of scripture has been dismissed from them and they're struggling to understand who god is they see his glory fall on mount sinai and they're trying to understand that they are sons and not slaves but under pressure under pressure under pressure we have a tendency to revolt back to what is familiar even if what is familiar is not what we like under pressure we'll go back to it under pressure we'll date somebody again that we knew didn't work the first time under uh y'all not gonna get with me un under pressure under pressure we'll go back to things that didn't work for us the under pressure the alcoholic will start drinking again under pressure the drug addict could go back to drugs again under pressure people have a tendency to go back to the familiar just because we don't like the ambiguity of being in between in that ubiquitous place of not quite being there yet but not being here yet and not fully understanding what it means to be a son how do you teach a to be a son yeah and they're they're dealing with this and while they're dealing with the internal conflict of not fully embracing what it meant to be a son of god he delivered them like they were his sons he fought pharaoh like they were his sons he drove back the enemy like they were his son he released plagues like they were his sons they walked through the red sea on dry ground like they were his sons they came up and danced like they were god's sons and daughters they shouted like they were god's sons and daughters but how many of you know that you can shout and still go home and worry you can shout and still go home and be restless you can shout and still go home and be depressed in the moment you can be excited because you see what was chasing you was destroyed but then when all of that calms down you still aren't sure because you are not there yet the real wilderness i'm trying to see trying to get you to see is not just around you it is also within you so you can sit in an air-conditioned car and still be in a wilderness you can drive a mercedes and still be in a wilderness you can have a full-time job and still be in a wilderness you can get married and have two kids and still be in a wilderness you can have more degrees in a thermometer and still be in the wilderness as long as you wrestle in your mind because you are not certain as to where you are and who you are and most of your life you've been a slave and now you're trying to be a son but how does the son of god act when you have not seen any any influence that reminded you of a son of god for 400 years such is the case and while they are struggling with their own identity and their circumstances around them and the environment in which god has placed them in to prepare them for better while they are struggling with all of that here comes the canaanites to attack them along the way i wouldn't mind going to god's school if everything else would be quiet while i'm being educated i wouldn't mind being in transition if i didn't have problems while i was in transition i would mind being in transition if people didn't die while i was in transition i wouldn't mind being in transition if i didn't have to experience grief while i'm in transition i wouldn't mind having transition if i didn't discover a lump in my breast while i'm in transition the enemy has a way of catching you off guard catching you not quite there yet catching you in between places and attack you and he attacked them before they got there and let me tell you right now that the enemy will not wait till you get there and you get comfortable and you get your bags unpacked and you become etched into the fiber of a community called there the enemy will attack you while you're on your way and everybody in here knows it whether they admit it or not while you are still trying to get yourself together the enemy will attack you and try to destroy you and knock you out and if your faith is not strong in god you will not be able to withstand the wows of the enemy and the bible said the bible the bible said the bible said that they became weary along the way and i'm wondering tonight if there's anybody in the room or anybody online or anybody that will watch this that is weary along the way how long lord before we get there taking your children on vacation loading up the car putting all the suitcases in the trunk and a little bit of food in the back and all they ask you is are we there yet are we there yet are we there how much longer do we have to go how much longer do we have to go and like a child sometimes i get down on my knees and i must confess i myself have asked god how long before i get there this is taking longer than i expected i thought i'd be married by now i thought i'd have my house by now i thought my business would be up by now i thought i would have recorded by now i thought i would have written my book by now i thought i would have been established by now but here i am in this nebulous place called wilderness internally and externally and now i got to fight while i'm worried [Applause] i don't mind having to fight but i don't want to have to fight while i'm worried i don't want to fight while i'm trying to balance on the beam of uncertainty i don't want to have to fight and certainly not the canaanites and the canaanites got in and killed some of them and the israelites were angry and they said to god if you give us this nation we will utterly destroy them and he did and he did and they were still not there yet have you ever got the victory [Music] only to remember that you're still not there yet have you ever fought off whoever you had to fight off or survive whatever you had to survive and only not you couldn't even enjoy the victory because you still had to wake up to the reality i'm still not there yet i got you straight i gave you a piece of my mind i put you in your place i got you together but i still go home to deal with the uncertainty of having not arrived at the place that i had in mind when i started to walk such is the text before us tonight and the bible said that they they railed against moses and they rail against god because whenever we are disappointed we look for somebody to blame and it is always easier to blame somebody else and to blame us when you write the books that you read you will always be the hero nobody writes a book about themselves and writes in that they were the victim nobody comes in and lays down on the couch and say i was wrong they will always blame somebody else because we always want to push away from us a responsibility for being where we are so they blame moses why did you leave us in egypt why did you bring us out here to die there is no food out here there is no food out here what were you thinking about to bring all these people out here and now we have to walk by faith and not by sight and our provisions are gone and all we have is this invisible god who will not show his face to us if he would show his face to me maybe i wouldn't feel like this but they are frustrated they say there's no food and there's no water and we loathe this bread this manna this stuff that falls from heaven is tasteless it does not taste good where god has me i want to talk to somebody tonight that where god has you doesn't taste good it's not that god didn't sustain you but it doesn't taste good it's not that you're not making it but it doesn't taste good it doesn't appeal to your appetite it is not what you had in mind it hadn't it's not the life you would have fixed for yourself and yes you are still here but it does not taste good manna they said what is it what is this that god has given me it's keeping me but it's not satisfying me to be kept by jesus that's what my grandmother used to say oh to be kept by him oh sometimes being kept doesn't taste good the mana wouldn't even let their shoes wear out but it didn't taste good they they had on the same clothes they had when they left egypt not a thread was worn on their garments but it didn't taste good we've got to learn how to be grateful beyond how things taste yeah we got to be grateful based on results this is working for me type on the line this is working for me yeah i don't know whether you like it or not but it's working for me i don't know whether you like me or not but i don't care it's working for me i don't know whether you like what i got on or not but i don't care it's working for me you got to get to a perspective of does it work for you and if it's working for you you got to tell your taste buds shut up this may not be what i planned on but if this is what god wants me to have lord i thank you that it's working for me i thank you that i made it this far and it's working for me i thank you that you sustained me and it's working for me it's not what i wanted but it is working for me to god be the glory and if you can't say that come on and let me take you to the aids ward and the cancer ward and the homeless places that show you some real suffering because sometimes you don't have gratitude cause you got too much if you get down low enough you'll learn how to be grateful for little stuff but in the absence of an example of worse you won't appreciate better because it ain't best [Applause] you didn't hear what i said that was so good in the absence of something worse you won't appreciate something better because you're holding out for best and when you get the best you're going to praise god but god is raising up a generation of people that will praise him for better they haven't got the best yet but they're thinking right where they are are you one of those people that can be right in the middle of the wilderness not exactly sure how to be his son but you're gonna stand right here in your little tent and give god the praise the strange praise of a nebulous place the strange praise that comes from being in between the strange place of honoring god in neutral i'm not in reverse and i'm not in drive but i'm gonna put it in neutral and still give you the praise i don't know how long i'll have to be a neutral but i'm gonna give you the glory right where i am i will not be unthankful because i have not arrived i will be thankful right where i am see most times our faith is always in front of us or behind us look what the lord did or look what the lord is going to do but nobody is looking at what god is doing right now did you know that god is doing something in your life right now at this present moment right at this time of nothingness and blandness at this time of incompleteness at the time that you're murmuring and complaining and talking about the indecisiveness of the world around you did you not know that god is present right now [Applause] they failed to acknowledge god because they were uncomfortable they failed to acknowledge god because they didn't like the food ain't that pitiful i don't like the food i don't like the food so i want to go back to being a slave isn't that a little stupid i don't know about you but i could eat just about anything rather than to go back to being a slave yeah yeah yeah i could make do i could make do i don't like radishes but i could eat them if i had to eat them yeah yeah i don't like radish i just don't like it i don't like it i know what it is but i can eat it before i go back to being a slave i i i mean i like being single but i can live single before i go back to being a slave i may not like the circumstance that i'm in right now but i can put up with it lord because when i think about where you brought me from at least this is better than that and i thank you for this while i'm waiting on the other oh god i feel like i'm preaching already and i haven't even really got to my text yet but i feel something going on in this place and they murmured against god and they murmured against moses and the bible says that the lord sent circuits it doesn't say the devil sent them it doesn't say the witches said them it doesn't say some evil enemy release them instead it says that the lord sent serpents we never preach about the lord sending serpents because people don't like to talk about serpents they don't like to look at serpents and they don't like to realize the fact that sometimes god sends trouble sometimes god sends things to sting you sometimes god sends sting to sense things to wake you up sometimes god sends things uh to to to chastise you sometimes god says see and it's not just that the serpents came the bible is clear the lord sent them how do we explain in our theology a snake sending god i can do good with a man ascending god i can do good with water coming out of a rock but how do i explain a god who works through the mysterious methodology of sinning snakes and i i looked at it and i was amazed and they said to moses they said to moses we have sinned against god i guess they did confess because when you get bit bad enough you'll confess have you ever had to deal with a liar and they kept a lie going but if you got them trapped deep enough they would come out with the truth i'm amazed that the people that are lie to you like you're stupid and you have to act like you don't know and all the while you know that they're lying to you all the while liars just lying all the way and all of a sudden they had to come clean because when you get big bad enough [Applause] you come in and talk about well i wasn't going to tell you but we you know you know i mean somebody knows what i'm talking about i i wasn't going to bring this up but but but something happened the other night there is a snake bite that will make you tell the truth there is a snake bite that'll make you come clean there is a snake bite that'll make you go to somebody you were talking about and say i've been talking about you and i'm sorry they weren't coming if they hadn't been bitten but there is a way that you can be bitten in such a way that it'll humble you down and make you say i i talked about you and i was wrong yeah and the lord will get the truth out of you if it has to send a snake bite oh yeah be sure and type that the lord will get the truth out of you if you have to sit a snake bite the lord will bring you to a place of humility if he has to send a snake bite the lord knows exactly what it takes to bring you to your knees to make you submit to make you humble to make you cough up the truth to get you past your pride and your arrogance and bring you to a place of submission and yes the bible said the lord sent serpents he sent snakes and and and and it bit them and some died and they came to moses under duress they didn't come to moses out of conviction they came to moses read the text they came to moses out of duress if there if there were no snakes here they wouldn't have done it the people came to moses and said we have sinned when we spoke against the lord and against you duh we have did you know it's a sin to speak against god and who he sent that's why i have peace when you know that god sent you you don't have to fight for yourself because when you speak against somebody that god sent you're speaking against god also it's not that moses was so much but god was using him and if god saw fit to use him don't speak against who god chooses to use so they said we have sin against god and we have sinned against you pray that the lord will take the snakes away from us pray pray you have a relationship with god that we don't have we can talk to you but we can't talk to him we can talk about him but we can't talk to him and so we have to come to you and ask you as a mediator to pray for us to pray that the lord will take the snakes away from us so moses prayed for the people wait a minute to every leader you have to be big enough to pray for people who hurt you you don't have to graduate from yale you don't have to graduate from prison god bless you if you did but you do have to be big enough to pray for people who hurt you job prayed for his friends that's how he got healed moses is here praying for people who a breath ago were talking about him like he had a tail but moses had the composite of personality that made it possible for him to be adaptable enough that he was not that he no longer had a tendency to hold grudges i want to ask tonight are you a person who holds grudges because that might be what's holding you up in the wilderness you might be stuck in the wilderness because you lack the dexterity and the flexibility to end the adaptability to be able to transition quick enough to get over what you heard they said and be able to function in the position you have been given in spite of the feelings you have been having oh if you would eat that if you would eat that i'm preaching it but you that doesn't mean you're going to eat it but if you would eat that that would save marriages if you would eat that that would save homes if you would eat that that would save churches if you would eat that that would save relationships if you would eat that you could sleep good tonight if you would eat that you would have peace but we have a tendency to hold a grudge so that we thought i'm praying for you you brought this on yourself you're sure to shut your mouth you got this coming i bet you won't say nothing else but moses does not use this as an opportunity to seek revenge he goes to god and he prays and he prays for them and he prays for people who heard him and the lord said and the lord said to moses make a snake that's that's create a godly puzzle because it is almost like god is deaf because we are talking to you lord to get rid of snakes and at a time that we want the snakes to go away you have asked moses to make one whenever god asks you to do something that doesn't seem to make sense that contradicts the crisis that you're in there is something that he wants you to learn along the way how can moses make a snake he is not a creator and yet the one who could make a snake has has moses to make a snake now god can make a steak but moses is now being asked to make a snake and the only way moses could make a snake was to make it out of brass and the only way to make a snake out of brass was to melt it down and beat it into shape and as moses began to beat the brass into the form of a snake he does not know it yet he may even die without knowing knowing it but every time he beat the brass it was a picture of what the father did the son he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we're here pipe it on the line make a snake make a snake make a snake make a snake mix neck moses had to make a snake and he couldn't make a real one so he made a brass one and brass is symbolic of judgment and when he started beating the brass it is the execution of judgment on the brass that turned into the form of a snake and put it up on a pole he told him he put it up on a pole and when he put it on a pole he said then when anyone was bitten by a snake they can look at the bronze snake [Music] and lil y'all didn't get it god said i'm not going to remove the snakes [Music] i'm not going to remove the snakes i'm just going to give the antidote in the midst of the snakes so that if anyone gets bitten there is an escape from the poison all they have to do is look at what bit them y'all don't hear what i'm saying it seems like to me that it had to make it make a lamb or or or make something make an eagle make something that eats snakes or make a hulk something that would eat a snake no no no no no no he said it's gonna take a snake for a snake and he said make a snake and put it on a stick and lift it up high [Applause] lift it up so high they have to look up at it and every person who looks up at it shall live oh god have mercy i'm not going to take you out of the environment of snakes but i'm going to give you power over their bite [Applause] i'm gonna leave you in the world i'm gonna leave you in the presence of enemy i'm gonna leave you in the presence of darkness but behold i give you power and you will tread on serpents you will walk on the thing that was trying to walk on you i'm going to leave you right here in the presence of it you asked me to take away the snakes and i told you no i'm gonna have you make a snake for a snake and this texas seldom explored it's seldom talked about but in reality this is a very important text and when i read it so now i'm just talking when i read it i was really amazed because it made me think of a of a cartous kind of is a emblem that is used amongst doctors for medicine you know the one with with the pole and the snake wrapped around it and i thought to myself wonder if that's where it came from and so i started doing some research in reality i found out there there are two versions of the symbol and i've i found out that a codocious is really really a staff that was carried by an olympian god called hermes so then that got me curious to find out was hermes was this theology amongst pagans living at the time of moses and i found that it was prevalent 1500 years before moses can i go on it it's it's greek mythology that's what the doctor's emblem is it's it's a part of hermes greek theology he was a messenger between gods and humans which explains the wings and a guide to the underworld which explains the staff are you following hermes was huge yeah hermes was used also the patron of travelers which makes his connection to medicine appropriate because doctors had to travel great distances by foot in order to visit their patients coliseus so this emblem represented the traveling of medicine from house to house making house calls has nothing to do with the text at all and when i began to study it in one version herme hermes was a myth he is given he's given the staff by apollo the god of healing and so down through tradition it became an emblem in another version he receives the staff from zeus the king of the gods greek mythology and it is entwined with two white ribbons later the story goes that the ribbons were replaced by serpents and that as the serpents climbed up the pole instead of fighting at the top they found balance and that became the emblem and i thought wow so here we are with something completely unrelated to medicine let me show you why i wanted it to be related to medicine because often the cure is made from the cause y'all don't hear what i'm saying often the cure in medicine is made from the cause the antidote is made from the venom if you get snakebite there's an antidote for it but it is made from the venom and though that's that that codocious did not start with the scripture the principle of coliseus is applicable in the text because they're trying to get away from something and god said make one let me show you something let me show it to you somewhere else maybe you'll see it better from here he told elijah elijah said i'm in a drought and a famine and i'm in a seabed where there is no water and god says to him dig ditches in your valley i told you there ain't no water in the valley i got and you're telling me to dig a ditch in a ditch because when i do decide to make it rain i'm gonna make it rain beyond the parameters of what you have in place y'all don't hear what i'm saying to you y'all don't hear what i'm saying see see see see this this this this this text jesus was born about 4 a.d moses lived in about 1628 bc moses died 40 years later so moses did not get his influence from coliseus he got his influence from god god told him make a snake put it on a pole and raise it up and moses didn't know that when he lifted up the pole he was lifting up jesus how to reach the masses men of every birth for an answer jesus gave the key he said if i if i be lifted up from the earth i'll draw all men unto me lift him up lift him up till he speaks from eternity he said if i if i be lifted up from the earth i'll draw me unto me [Music] watch this john 3 14 15 just as moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness so shall the son of man [Applause] be lifted up so moses is in the old testament casting a shadow of the cross [Applause] [Laughter] and the cure is made from the bite we talk a lot about jesus being the lamb and he is but when we call him the lamb we're talking about the payment when it said even as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness it's talking about the penalty we talk so much about the payment we don't talk about the penalty you must understand the difference between the payment which is the lamb of god and the penalty which was he became sin who knew no sin that we might be the righteousness of god if he became sin who knew no sin how did sin get here in the first place oh it came from the snake sin came from the snake so if he was lifted up as a lamb y'all ain't ready for me if he was lifted up as a lamb it wouldn't cure what i was bitten by even as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so shall the son of man be lifted up he became sin who knew no sin it wasn't that he committed sin he became sin it wasn't that he was an adulterer he became adultery it wasn't that he was a murderer he became murder he became sin who knew no sin at this bible class come on let's go so so when he's on the cross he says eli eli lama sabotage my god my god why has i forsaken me it's because he's become sin so when the father looks down at the stick he doesn't see the sun he sees the serpent [Applause] he was wounded for our transgressions [Music] y'all don't hear what i'm saying he he was bruised for our iniquities why have you forsaken me because he is not lifted up just as the lamb he is lifted up as the serpent watch this you need to understand this if you don't understand this you're going to miss something that god wants you to have that jesus epitomized everything that was contrary to god on the cross and god executed judgment that should have went to you on him so that you might be able to look on him and live talk to me somebody [Applause] talk to me somebody talk to me somebody type on the line he did it for me he did it for me he did it for me cause i've been bitten he did it for me cause i was swelling he did it for me cause i had a fever he did it for me because i was a mess he did it for me because i was born in sin and shaping and iniquity he did it for me because i couldn't cure myself he did it for me because i couldn't help myself he did it for me because i grew up in the middle of a generational curse he did it for me and i can't help it that my brother didn't look up or my sister didn't look or my auntie didn't look up i looked up and when i looked up and saw him i got the healing the snakes are still there but i got the healing people are dying all around me but i got the healing people are getting worse instead of better but i got the healing come on talk to me somebody i got the healing not because of how strong i was but because of where i looked to for help talk to me if you're glad about it give him 30 seconds of praise can i go deeper with this thing let me go a little bit deeper with this thing something's about to happen i feel glory coming in the room i feel glory and i feel the spirit of revelation and knowledge in him coming in the room i feel healing coming in the room i feel hell being frustrated in the room because moses made a snake somebody write down make a snake he made a snake he made a snake the snakes are slithering across the ground and god says make a snake he made a snake but the snake was beaten the snake was beaten out of brass it was beaten it was wrapped around and twisted it borne our griefs and carried our sorrows and wrapped around a stick jesus was carrying the cross up golgotha's hill and it was as long as he was carrying it nobody was redeemed but if if he was lifted up he said i'll draw men unto me y'all don't hear what i'm saying come on come on come on let's let's get in this word let's get in this word let's get in this word let's let this word get into us you need this word because the devil has the audacity to tell you you're not going to make it the devil has the audacity to tell you i bet you and you gonna die i bet your grandmama i your mama and now i bet you the devil is alive you might have got them but you didn't get me because i looked up and when i looked up i got delivered and i got set free if there's one person in the room that's been delivered i want you to give god a praise right now just to pray [Applause] [Music] so what we have what we have is the light of god's glory shining on the cross and when the light hits the cross it casts a shadow [Applause] on moses watch this and so when they started prophesying about the cross they draw a parallel between the cross and moses and the serpents because moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness is a type of christ being lifted up and becoming sin for us on the cross and look at how similar the images are y'all don't hear what i'm saying the images are similar and both of them had to be lifted up and both of them had to be looked to in order to be redeemed do you hear what i'm saying to you and and god set up the situation that put moses in a predicament that he would have to present the cure which was a cross and when he lifted it up it is god teaching in the old testament what he what he reveals in the new testament it was concealed in the old testament it was revealed in the new testament so what you see in a shadow which is just a tight in the old testament now becomes a reality in the new testament somebody take three minutes and just give god glory come on come on come on you're gonna get there come on you're gonna get there come on you're gonna get there come on you're gonna get there come on you're gonna get there come on you're gonna get there [Music] [Applause] as much stuff as you did you cannot afford to sit there with your lips glued together and act like you don't oh god of praise i'm talking about your sin your mess your disgrace your embarrassment and you can't sit there and give him a cute little praise like you don't know what i'm talking about because he was lifted up for your transgression he was bruised for your iniquities he did it for you because there was no cure for what was wrong for you but jesus took your place [Applause] [Music] let's go a little deeper let's go a little deeper come on i got to hear it yeah i got about 15 minutes come on let's go let's go to galatians chapter 3 verse 11 verse 14. clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before god because the righteousness will will live because the righteous will live by faith so the law couldn't do it the law is not based on faith on the contrary it says the person who does these things will live by them come on watch this close christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us oh wait a minute oh wait a minute he redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us wait a minute he he he redeemed us by becoming what was against us [Music] moses healed them from the snakebite by lifting up a snake christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole that's why the bible says that they beat him on the whipping post and josephus a historian says that they beat him so badly he should have died on the whipping post but if he died on the whipping post it would not have redeemed us so he fought death off on the whipping post and said no man takes my life i lay it down and if i lay it down i'll pick it back up again and they nailed him to the tree and lifted it up because he had to be lifted up to complete the story and take on the curse for us he redeemed us in order that the blessing given to abraham might come to the gentiles through jesus christ i'm still in the word so that by faith we might receive the promise of the spirit he redeemed us so that even though we were not legitimately an heir he adopted us by taking our place on the cross and paid the price that i might be delivered he became a curse to break the curse right on the line the curse is broken right on the line the curse is broken right in your notes the curse is broken tell all your children the curse is broken tell your daughter the curse is broken tell your son the curse is broken run outside and haul out the window the curse is broken tell hell the curse is broken tell the witch the curse is broken tell the warlock the curse is broken lay hands on yourself and say the curse is broken lay hands on the cancer and say the curse is broken i feel an anointing coming in this place i feel a release of the holy ghost because somebody is crazy enough to take god at his word and believe that the curse is broken at the top of your lungs shout the curse is broken the curse is broken and your son just broke loose the curse is broken and your daughter just broke loose the curse is broken and your family just broke loose the curse is broken shouted out the curse is broken [Applause] can i go a little bit deeper follow me back to genesis because i want to show you how it all started i showed you how it ended i showed you what happened in the middle i want to show you how it all started in genesis chapter 3 verse 2 through 7. play it for him don't i don't want to read it play it for him now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the lord god had made and he said unto the woman yea hath god said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden god hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die and the serpent said unto the woman you shall not surely die forgot that know that in the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be open and ye shall be as gods knowing good [Music] and that's how it all started [Applause] through the slithering pacing moving of a snake moving through a promise sin entered into the world crawling on its belly walked up to the woman and started talking and when he started talking to her he disputed what god said wait a minute he disputed what god said and they cursed what god had done sin has a continuity that followed all through the scriptures it came in by snake to stand up against god's word it moved through the desert as a snake to bite god's people it slid it all the way up to calvary and when it got to calvary god said i'm gonna make a snake for a snake and they hung him high and they stretched him wide and when they did so god put an antidote in the world for whatever you're into whatever you're into i gotta cure whatever you i gotta cure whatever's got you out of sorts i gotta cure whatever's got you sick i've gotta cure whatever is making you swell i've got a cure whatever is getting on your nerves i got a cure whatever's got you on the verge of suicide i've got a cure whatever's got you sticking a needle in your heart i've got a cure whatever's got you snorting cocaine i got a cure they hung him behind and they stretched him wide because he is secure to whatever is ailing you and i dare you to look on him tonight if you look only him he'll deliver you if you look only him he'll set you free if you look only him he'll heal your body if you look on him he'll save your soul i feel the power of the holy ghost in this room the spirit of god is in this place if you look you can live love somebody and say look and live look and live that's why the devil doesn't want you to look there are two things that the scriptures ask you to do one it asks you to look and the other it asks you to live and the devil doesn't want you to live so he doesn't want you to look so he keeps it with your head down because as long as your head is down you can't look up but i dare you tonight to look up because if you look up you'll see your salvation is drawing now somebody take a moment and give god a praise [Applause] one look one look one look will set the captive free one look will open up the prison doors one look will break the yoke of sin one look will make the chains fall one look will open up the prison doors one look will be a shield and a buckler one look will cause your heart to sing one look will make your feet start dancing one look will give you peace in your mind one look will give you joy in your soul the devil don't want you to look because if you look his bite can't kill you if you look his curse can't destroy you if you look the gossip cannot kill you if you look the witch cannot hex you if you look he'll give you beauty for ashes to all of joy for mourning if you look he'll give you the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness look at your neighbor and say i dare you to look i dare you to look i dare you to look the mysterious ministry of snakes is god just says if you look you can live you're so busy looking down you're so busy looking in you so busy looking around you're not busy looking up if you look up you can live look up your salvation draws now [Music] you

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 1,224,457

Keywords: td jakes, faith, wtal, woman thou are loosed, megafest, potters house, bishop jakes, pastors and leadership, pastors, leaders, instinctbishops, village, wnbs, the mysterious ministry of snakes, niv, numbers, t.d. jakes, td, wednesday night bible study, bible class, how does the lord provide, learning how to give thanks

Id: B8ysAwzr4wA

Length: 64min 1sec (3841 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 27 2022