The Shadows of Greatness - Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts

[Music] i was praying about what i could share with you and not just about my dad's life but about your life asking god how can we use this moment where we're celebrating bishop to also take inventory of our own lives to also be stretched changed and transformed in our own life and i believe god's given me a word that will be helpful so i'm just going to ask that you would be patient with me as i was praying on the way in though i couldn't figure out so i i study and i prepare for my word but then i know also that god has a word for me before i step into the moment and as i was praying like god what is the word that i need to have with me as i step into this moment i felt god tell me two things i'm on the way i felt god say i'm going to meet you there then i felt god say there is great glory assigned to this day and i don't know exactly what it means but i believe that somewhere along the line as we're in this message that god's going to make it clear what that means but if you sense glory don't hold it in because i believe we're going to push each other into whatever it is god has for us in our time together i'm gonna be in first kings chapter three if you're visiting and you just sat down welcome to the potter's house we stand for the reading of the word yes you've been standing during worship but i promise we'll be fast i'm so honored to be here it's always just incredible to come home and serve in the place that grew me up and raised me i have to tell you i'm super excited in november i'm going to be hosting my women's conference here in dallas at the potter's house dallas it's november 5th through the 6th and we have some limited in-person seats available but we also have a virtual experience and i asked our team if we could just have a discount like a family discount because the potter's house dallas is family and they told me that we would have a promo code for 10 off registration all you have to do is use the code dallas i have been praying about what this moment will mean for every woman connected to it and god just told me that this is going to be a space in which women can come and finally exhale i don't know who else has been holding their breath in this season but god told me that woman evolve is going to change and it's going to be woman exhale and that women are going to stop holding their breath and inhale god's presence and so if you know a woman or a woman i want you to meet us here november 5th through 6 for woman evolve online or in person and there's even registration outside today you can get a free gift if you register today first kings three i'm going to start in verse 4. my subject is the shadow of greatness the shadow of greatness and i'm going to start in verse 4. if anyone's wondering reading out loud is the most intimidating part of preaching and i've got eight scriptures for you amen this is solomon solomon is king at this time solomon the son of david has become king and after securing his position and expanding his territory he goes to the high place he has an intimate encounter with the lord and my text begins it says now the king went to gibeon to sacrifice there for that was the great high place solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar at giving on the lord appeared to solomon in a dream by night and god said ask what i shall give you and solomon said you have shown great mercy to your servant david my father because he walked before you in truth in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you you have continued this great kindness for him and you have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day now o lord my god you have made your servant king instead of my father david but i am a little child i do not know how to go out or come in and your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen a great people too numerous to be numbered or counted therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that i may discern between good and evil for who is able to judge this great people of yours this speech the speech please the lord that solomon had asked this thing then god said to him because you have asked this thing and you have not asked long life for yourself nor have asked for riches for yourself nor have asked the life of your enemies but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice behold i have done according to your word see i have given you a wise and understanding heart so that there has not been anyone like you before you nor shall anyone like you arise after you spirit of the living god fall in this place as only you can do god you have already decided what this moment will be in heaven our job is to be free enough and open enough to receive everything that this moment has for us father i pray that in this moment there would be no distractions that we would not be plagued by the questions or the fears but that we would clear the channel and that you would speak so clearly father let there be none of me and only you no nerves no anxiety no weariness gather your strength your power standing on the inside of me to the extent that lives would be changed that curses would be broken that hell itself would back up off of your people because that's what happens when you breathe in a room god and don't just breathe in this room god while they're in this room breathe in their house god breathe in their car god breathe over their families god don't let it just happen in this room let it happen to every room they ever walk in that your breath would meet them before they even step into it because we know you've gone ahead of us and you have certainly made every crooked path straight we turn this service over to you and we say have your way great god that you are in jesus name i pray amen amen again you can sit down now and you don't have to worry about standing again until it's time to go home you ain't got to go home you got to get up out of here you know i don't know if i'm the only one who's ever had this experience but there have been moments where i've had an idea or opportunity that is so great that i didn't even know where to start it's like in my mind i understand that i want to write a book and i know that that entails getting a laptop but how do i actually write the book or moments where you're maybe starting a podcast or even trying to get sober there are moments in our life where we have great opportunity but we don't have the small steps god what do i do with the greatness that is within reach but yet so far away i was thinking about this this notion that we can have a great opportunity but not get started because we don't understand the small steps or we are discouraged by the process connected to greatness and so instead we stay stuck often stagnant not because we don't know how to get started but because we don't know how to finish it would be one thing if i knew how to finish but sometimes there is a process connected to greatness that is intimidating because i don't know what i'm going to have to go through in order to get to that final vision that god has casted for me there's a metadata engineer named john saddington and he created this graphic and it's called the emotional journey of creating anything great i don't know whether or not they have this graphic to put on the screen but in this graph it's almost like there is this ramp from getting to great idea to manifestation of greatness and what happens in the ramp is that you start off high before you actually go down when you start off high you have thoughts that like this is a good idea and i can't wait to get this started but the more that you begin to pursue that greatness you recognize that this is going to be harder than i thought that i'm not as qualified as i thought and little by little what started off high now begins to descend into what i like to call the shadow of greatness it is the shadow that we must all survive in order to actually step into greatness all of us in this room are living in the shadow of greatness not just a great opportunity but sometimes this great grief sometimes when we hear the word greatness we automatically assume that that greatness is something that is good and exciting but there are some moments where the greatness feels like the valley of the shadow of death and this shadow is where we get stuck in the pursuit of greatness and i was praying about this message and asking god to reveal to me the steps that we need to take in order to survive the shadow of greatness the unavoidable moments in which our our tenacity and our strength is put on test because we aren't sure whether or not we can actually measure up to that it's where we get stuck it's where we start to give up it's where we become divided i want to have a great marriage but now that i'm in the marriage i realize that the shadow of having a great marriage means i have to survive that we don't know how to communicate i want to start a business and i want to have a great business but in order to have a great business i have to survive the shadow that comes with me not knowing anything about numbers or building a website or marketing i want to be a great person i want to overcome and have integrity but i have to survive the shadow of greatness and there are some moments where i think i'm just going to die in the shadow of greatness that i won't actually be able to experience it at all maybe that great marriage isn't for me maybe the wholeness isn't for me maybe the happiness isn't for me it's what happens in the shadow that deters us from moving forward this is why paul tells the church in galatians to not be weary in their well-doing paul had to write this letter to the church of galatia because he recognized that if they don't survive this shadow of greatness then they will become divided and the church will not be established he was trying to tell them you got to survive the shadows you got to stick together in the shadows you got to be focused in the shadow you got to persevere in the shadow i know the shadow was trying to divide you but don't lose heart in the shadow keep your heart and maintain your faith because if you keep going you're going to reap god you're going to reap if you don't faint you got to stay plugged in in the shadow i'm raising that child in the shadow whose word is this somebody's standing in the shadow and you're trying to figure out is the shadow trying to bury me or is it trying to prepare me and i want you to know that the shadow is trying to prepare you for the greatness connected to your name when you started praying for greatness you didn't know this but you were praying for shadows when you started praying that god would elevate you you didn't know this but you were praying for shadows no wonder david tells us yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i shall fear no evil i gotta walk through shadows some shadow walkers in this room there's some greatness in this room there's some breakthrough in this room i hear god saying your fear is afraid of the dark but your faith is a light that will help you survive the shadow there's some who are you who is this shadow walker in this room i'm not gonna give up in the shadow i'm not gonna quit in the shadow i'm not saying that i don't recognize what it is but i recognize who's working down on the inside of me god god's calling you to be a shadow walker i'm going to do it in the shadows if the breakthrough is going to happen in the shadow this isn't going to be a miracle that everyone can see this is going to be a miracle that only takes place in the shadow where is the shadow the shadow is my spirit man the shadow is my soul god says i'm gonna pull you through in the shadow and the shadow and the shadow the shadows the shadows the shadows i see you shadows i hear your shadows but i'ma keep pushing through anyway i feel your shadows but i'm gonna keep moving in the shadows the problem is that nobody tells us just how expensive greatness is [Music] the cost of greatness is so expensive that you can't even buy it full price you got to make payments on it in the shadows i'm making payments on this thing i'm making payments on greatness that's why i went to therapy i know y'all don't believe in therapy but i got to make payments on greatness i know you don't believe in communicating and sweeping things under the rug but i gotta make payments on greatness i know you're still at home but i had to get plugged into church because i got to make payments on greatness payments i got to make payments on this thing god said i can't give it to you full price i can give it to you outright that each time you go from glory to glory that you make payments on greatness and the shadows it's how we collect them payments baby it's expensive to be great and i just want you to know that i'm not talking about the type of greatness that makes you famous or rich that's cheap that's cheap let me be very clear in an age where you can show a little something and become famous that the kind of greatness that i'm talking about breaks generational curses off of your no no no i'm talking about real greatness i'm talking about the kind of greatness that attracts heaven's resources because i'm trying to do something that's bigger than me i'm talking about the kind of the greatness that changes the way my family has ever done everything i'm talking about real greatness i'm talking about when god puts oil on you i'm talking about when people start confessing that jesus is lord without ever stepping foot in church because they had an encounter with you i'm talking about real greatness where all of a sudden your child gets an epiphany about who the lord is greatness greatness greatness oh god i feel you chasing down these shadows god i feel you this is the kind of greatness that everyone ought to be hungry for but only few of us are sensitive enough to understand that we have to survive the shadows in order to get there making payments on greatness god i wish you would just give it to me overnight but you keep making me make payments on this greatness i keep going through trial after trial i know i asked you to make me a strong tower but i didn't mean put me in the fire in order to do it god says i'll answer what you pray for but you got to survive the shadows in order to get it that how many payments did you make over 45 years of ministry payments on greatness when we find solomon in our text he's been trying to make payments on greatness you really have to read chapters one and two to get full context on where he is in this moment but he becomes king after one of his brothers and he have a disagreement about who should receive the crown his mother intervenes and reminds david that he said that solomon would become king and now he's placed in a position that he didn't necessarily fight for someone else fought for him to be in the position and someone else wanted it but just because someone else wants it doesn't mean that they can have it when it's already assigned to your name i wish i could say that somebody thought they were going to hustle their way into the position but they can't hustle their way into what god has already assigned to your name and god will make someone else your advocate to where you don't even have to fight for the position because god's going to let someone else advocate for where you're supposed to be i know you're not in the room but they're talking about you in the room because somebody's already advocating for your right to be in the room all right all right that should have broke something off of somebody who's been hating the fact that they're not in the room because god says you don't have to be in the room to be in the room [Applause] oh god oh god [Applause] they don't tell us what solomon is doing when bathsheba's trying to make sure that he gets what's rightfully his i know somebody in this room has never had someone fight for you but i hear god saying that you don't have to have someone fighting for you to trust that i will fight on your behalf god says there's something happening in the shadows that wasn't even supposed to be my message but imagine being solomon minding his business and all of a sudden bathsheba is in the shadows working things out and he doesn't even understand what's happening i hear god saying that you can't see the shadows in which i'm preparing the way for you to step into the moment you don't see what's happening behind the scenes that's the only problem about being front and center is that you have no idea what's happening behind the scenes oh [Applause] solomon had some work happening behind the scenes let me tell you what i'm not gonna do what i'm not gonna do is lose my voice cause i got something to do today solomon has come to this phase in his life in which he has the luxury of no longer knowing what to do in chapters one and two we see how solomon becomes king and the first thing that he does is everything that he can do to get rid of his father's enemies so that he can make sure there is no threat for when he is properly positioned and i call it the luxury of no longer knowing what to do because when you no longer know what to do it means you've done everything that you can and when you've done everything you can then you make a demand on god and say god i don't have anything left to do it's a powerful thing to know what to do with a dilemma oh if i get a flat tire it's a nightmare because i don't know how to change a tire but if someone else gets a flat tire it's just an inconvenience because they know what to do and sometimes we're asking god to step into a situation that we haven't even stepped into and god says if you would do everything that you can then i can do everything that i can but what if god is only given according to the level in which you give you want god to give everything while you sit on the sidelines and god says if i do everything and you do nothing then this is not partnership but partnership is when you say god i'm going to do everything that i can do i'm going to make sure that every enemy i can put under my foot is under my foot god i'm going to clean house john would say it like this sometimes you got to prepare the way for the lord and you want the lord to move in your life but i want to understand have you prepared the way for the lord have you done everything that is within your power to make sure that when god steps into the room that there's nothing that i could have done instead solomon solomon has done everything he can has anybody in this room done everything they can i've done everything that i can i don't have anything left to give i don't have any other enemy that i can chase down with my own resources i've called every single person i've could and now solomon is in the shadows the shadows of not having anything else i can do because he's in a position that feels so much bigger than him if we were looking at that ramp we would see that he's come down to the point of what my husband would call diminishing return that if i give any more right now i know that i'm not going to get anything else back it's so important that we make sure that we do everything that we can so that when we finally begin to pray that we show ourselves worthy of the prayers that we're praying for god i god i forgave god i prayed about it god i applied everywhere i could apply god this is not something i can do within my own power i need to tap into a power that is greater than mine but i'm not going to ask you to spin while i withhold god i want to come to you and let me tell you something if you want to borrow something from me i would highly appreciate if you was broke when you asked for it because i want to believe that you gave everything you could before you began to call me god says have you given anything towards that very thing you're praying for you want that child to be saved but are you saved yourself you want that marriage to be healed but are you healed yourself you want that career but what are you doing to train what are you doing to study i want to say that god i did everything that i could so that when exceedingly and abundantly comes that it's taking off at the end of my capacity that is taking off from the end of my expansion god i'm going to do everything that i can do i'm going to make sure that i read every book that i listen to every podcast because god wants to have a well that he can pull from god i studied for this message and i was studying stuff that didn't even have anything to do with this message because when i step into the moment i want to make sure that i've done everything i can so that you can pull from whatever you need to pull from god says i want to make a demand on you too but i want to make sure that when i pull from you that you're willing to give and god's been pulling on somebody pulling on you to forgive pulling on you to go back to school pulling on you to align yourself pulling on you to shut your mouth and lift up your hands pulling on you to step into the moment god i feel you pulling and i've been resisting cause i don't know how you're gonna pull me from where i am to where you took them but i hear god saying if you would stop focusing on them and allow me to pull that thing on out of you i don't know who you are but i hear god saying there's more in you than you think there is there's more anointing on you than you think it is there's more strength in you than you think it is and this situation is pulling out what i put in you i hear god saying i know what i put in you and i'm trying to pull it out i'm trying to pull it out your grace for this you're anointed for this pull it out somebody yell pull it out somebody yell pull it out somebody yell pull it out i hear heaven pulling it out and then i want you to yell pull me up pull me up pull me up out of this depression pull me up out of this second guessing pull me up out of this fear pull me up out of this grief solomon did everything he could now it was time for god to pull him on up god i've done everything that i can do oh glory i feel you in this space somebody's about to get pulled up somebody's about to experience breakthrough somebody's about to go out of this place not thinking the way that they came in i hear god saying when i pull you up i'm going to pull up your mind i'm going to pull up your language i'm going to pull up the way that you connect i'm gonna pull up your relationships i'm getting ready to pull i'm getting ready to pull i'm getting ready to pull lift your hands if you don't wanna be missed in the pool getting ready solomon says if you gonna pull up don't miss me pull up on me pull up on me god i'm ready for you to pull up on me god i had man pull up on me i saw businesses pull up on me and all of them left me empty but when you pull up on me you're gonna feel me like i've never been filled before when you pull up on me i'ma have a slingshot when you pull up on me i'm gonna be different than i've ever been i'm gonna do something you've never seen but done before you're gonna become someone you never thought you could become and it's not gonna be because you held back it's gonna be because you poured it all out and when you poured it all out i'm gonna stretch your capacity pull up [Music] solomon i'm positioned for greatness but i don't feel great i'm positioned for breakthrough but i don't have strength you gonna have to pull up on me and so solomon goes to a great high place a place higher than the level than the kingdom he's been assigned to because no matter how great that kingdom is there is a greater kingdom that i have access to and sometimes i gotta move up to another way of thinking i gotta move up to a place where i have no distractions i've gotta move up oh god i don't know who you are but you pulled out of a situation because it kept pulling you down when god was trying to pull you up and nobody understood it and you couldn't even communicate it but i hear god saying that you separated so i could pull you up that you moved out of the way so i could pull you up and so he found a place where he could worship without distraction he found a place where he could sacrifice without distraction without someone wondering what is he praising about what is he praying about he found a way to be intentional about going higher god i hear you taking me higher but i cannot be pulled up and carry everything along the way i've got to be intentional about creating an environment where you can meet me for the greatness that you have assigned to me god i wish i could say it god i see it but i can't lay hold of it but i must i must lay hold of it it's not optional i gotta break this curse i gotta tap into this anointing i gotta write this book i i have to change the world for little people who experience the things that i experience it's gotta come out of me i feel like jeremiah sometimes is shut up in my bones i gotta reach for this thing and i gotta disappoint some people in the process cause oh god solomon had to disappoint bathsheba because bathsheba was trying to navigate his position and you may have got me to it but you can't tell me how to do it oh that's somebody's word right there just because the person holds the door open doesn't mean that they get to tell you how to work the room i thank you for holding the door open now it's between me and god what i gotta do here now it's between me and my anointing what i gotta do here i thank you for being the door that god used but you were not the door that god says gotta stay with me god you may have opened the door through them but you really open the door because of who i am and i don't want to be so busy being loyal to them that i am disloyal to the god who brought [Applause] i got to be loyal to the god who sent me i got to be loyal to the god who gave me the gift i got to be loyal to this moment because you told me oh god i don't know who you are but god has been telling you who you are and you've been so busy trying to be loyal to them that you've been disloyal to the anointing that's on your life but i hear god saying that everything's going to break in this room that the glorious sign to this room was for you to remember who was god and god alone to remember who you are and to pull yourself up to a place where you can hear the miracles when they happen sometimes we can't hear the miracles when they happen because i'm too busy hearing why i shouldn't be here too busy hearing my own fears my own shame but there is a great high place that you can go out god i'm going to tell you how we get there solomon the most powerful thing he says in this text is that in order for him to come to god in this moment he had to be willing to not be king he didn't come to god with his resume he is king and at this point has established himself as king but when he goes to this great high place he says but i am just a little child but you king but i'm a little child but you grown but still i'm a little child but you've been in business but still sometimes i feel like a little child but i'm grown with grown kids but sometimes i still feel like a little child i didn't come to god with my resume i didn't come to god with everything that i'd done i came to god because of who he is and in order for me to see who he is it made me feel little and it made me feel small and god says that's how i can work with you because in order for you to become small you got down on bended knees and when you got down on bended knees i said now you recognize who the great i am is now you understand who the god you serve is i am but a little child look at my grown broken self look at my grown worldly self look at my grown lustful self god i'm still a little child god i'm still a little baby and yet yet you've called me to greatness god god i'm gonna have a great family i never seen it before god i feel like a little child [Music] god i'm too little for this 45 years of ministry god i'm too little i'm too little for this greatness the shadows the shadows do you a favor cause they make you little [Applause] and when the shadows make you little you look a lot like matthew 18 2 through 4. when jesus says to the disciples how do we make it into the kingdom of heaven they want to know and jesus tells them that i'll read it to you says then jesus called a little child to him and set him in the midst of them and then it says assuredly i say to you unless you are converted and become as little children the shadows make me little and i used to think that was bad but now i'm beginning to think that now it primes me for the move of god connected to my life i gotta get little oh god i feel my health coming something about being little not just little solomon wasn't just little he was little and hungry it's one thing to be little but it's another thing to be little and hungry some people give up at the crossroad of little because one path requires me to be hungry and the other path requires me to quit but god says if you could master the art of being little and hungry then i could allow you to enter the kingdom of heaven because when you enter the kingdom of heaven hungry that's when god can really unleash the fullness of who he is i may be little but i'm hungry i may be little but i'm going to get hold of what god has placed down on the inside of me i may be little but i'm still king i may be little but i'm still anointed for this i may be little but there's no one who can do what i'm called to do but me so god i may be little but i'm hungry i'm hungry for you to place me into a room where you can make a demand on what you put down on the inside of me i won't put my crown down just because i'm little god uses little things if you don't believe me ask the little boy's lunch that fed the multitude little and hungry got together and miracles broke out little and hungry got together and overflow broke out little and hungry got together and we moved to dallas and from charleston west virginia little and hungry got together and it brought your hips into this room little and hungry got together and international ministry broke out from this house little and hungry got together and that's how god's going to do it in your life you're going to be little and hungry you're going to try to be big but little's going to have you because little is the way that god moves miracle litter jamel if i could have my text in matthew one more time i'm almost finished assuredly i say to you unless you are converted i looked this word converted up in the greek and what i saw is that it was translated converted but in more accurate word is actually twisted you're gonna have to get twisted to become little you're gonna have to let life twist stretch oh somebody's in the twist i'm gonna have to get twisted you're not gonna do this unless you're willing to get twisted into this guy twisted god's been twisting you and turning you and you're trying to figure out which way is up and i hear god saying you don't see it from the outside looking in but what i see is how i'm twisting you into proper position i'm twisting you into humility i'm twisting you into who you need to become for the mantle that is connected to your life you're gonna have to get twisted for this and i hear god saying don't resist the twist i hear god saying don't back out of the twist i hear god saying you're more flexible than you think twisted solomon said i'm ready to get twisted i'm in the shadows to get twisted i'm going to do what no one can see so that i can become who god has called me to be god says i'm twisting you in the shadows i'm twisting you for the greatness i'm twisting you for the ministry i'm twisting you for the marriage i'm twisting you for the position i'm twisting i'm twisting i'm twisting you [Music] i'ma twist you till you're little i'ma twist you till you lose that pride i'm gonna twist you till you lose that bitterness i'm gonna twist you till you're hungry again i'm gonna twist you until the words come out of your mouth i'm gonna twist you until this stretch comes into your back i'm going to twist you into that room i'm going to twist you into that business i'm going to twist you in the breakthrough the generational curse will be broken in the twisting god i feel you god you got me twisted god you got me twisted who am i gonna become in this twist i wanna praise god in advance 15 seconds of praise for who i'm becoming in the twist i don't know what's happening right now i'm dizzy but i know i'm becoming in the twist i know i've got breakthrough connected to the twist i hear god saying when you get out of this twist you're gonna have more leverage than you ever had more thoughts than you ever had i'm gonna twist you in the rooms you don't belong in i'm gonna twitch that marriage until it looks like what i anointed i got twisted into this i got twisted in the ministry i got twisted into this position and it made me feel little but i let god twist me anyway i let god turn me anyway i didn't want to move but god twisted me i didn't want to do it but god twisted me twisted shouldn't even be in this room but i got twisted into this follow me and i will make you fishers of men i'm going to twist you until you become a brock that i can build my church on all throughout the bible we see twisting how could david the shepherd boy become the king of king of israel he got twisted into position moses got twisted into position and it all happened in the shadows in the shadows of greatness god is twisting you god is twisting you in the shadows god god you got me twisted solomon had come to a point where he'd run out of the breadcrumbs that is dead left for and now he's got to come into his own but one thing his father did teach him was about the power of shadows yes there will be shadows of death but there will also be the shadow of the almighty psalms 91-1 says he who dwells [Applause] in this secret place of the most high higher than my circumstance higher than my doubt higher than my fear higher than anxiety higher than my pride higher than my ego shall abide under the shadow of the almighty so yes you are certainly in the shadows of greatness a great call a great marriage great depression yeah i see you in the shadows sometimes it may even feel like the shadows of death shadow of depression shadows shadow of god will i ever think the way that i once thought about you god i'm in the shadows there is a shadow that is greater than any shadow our one job is to be willing to twist ourselves from up underneath life's shadows to get in the presence of the almighty shadow and if you're wondering how you make it to the shadow of that greatness it starts with you being little i want to invite some people to the altar who recognize that they need to get twisted converted to a little child so that you may have an encounter with god i want you to come to this altar if you're standing in the shadows of greatness but you feel so little because what you need now more than anything is the kind of touch that allows you to say greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world i love that scripture because it doesn't refute that the greatness outside of the world is illegitimate there is greatness outside but greater is he that is in me you haven't been feeling that greater in you i don't feel that greater in my marriage it feels like the weapons are not just forming but they are prospering god we're running the risk of being divided in the shadows god where is this greater you speak of i need a touch from greater when solomon goes to the great high place of gibeon he does not go with the priest he goes by himself that means if you're with someone who's not ready to come down that's okay sometimes you gotta access greater by yourself god i wanna be greater than this and i'm not talking about cheap greatness i want to be solid i want to be anchored i want to be rooted i want to be healed i want to access your presence i don't want to be defensive i don't want to use my mouth as a weapon i want to be greater than this i want to have integrity i want to mean what i say and say what i mean i want to be greater than this i want to be a reflection of who you are on the earth i want to experience greater enemy and i don't want to be jealous of the greater outside of me god i see other people's greatness and it makes me feel little god says that's okay bring your little self to this altar i don't need your big self that impresses the world i don't need you to have it all together i don't know who that impresses i want you to bring that little bit of faith that little bit of hope that little bit of innocence you have left bring it to this altar we could wait for the prayer or we could begin praying right now didn't have anyone leading him he just took his little self up there i'm not asking you to recite the bible or say a prayer as eloquent or fancy as you've heard your pastor or grandmother pray god hears little prayers god prayers from little people in the shadows of greatness god where's i don't feel courageous god i don't feel brave i don't feel strong god god i'm weary god i'm tired i didn't even want to come today i didn't even want to watch this message gotta feel so little god nobody ever made me feel big nobody ever loved me i always felt little so i've been trying to be big god but little's got me little won't let me go and now instead of rejecting little i'm gonna embrace the little but i'm gonna bring my hungry with me god i'm hungry god god i'm hungry to understand how i'm going to lead these great people how will i lead this family how will i lead this ministry how will i lead this team god how can i lead myself i lost my mother how can i lead myself i lost my father how can i lead myself i feel so little god everyone's growing but me everyone's moving but me god how could you leave me here little but hungry hungry for your presence hungry for your spirit because where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty that means i can belittle but i can be free where the spirit of the lord is there is hope that means i can be little but i don't have to be afraid where the spirit of the lord is there is patience that means i can be little but i don't have to pressure myself every single day pressuring myself to become more and do more god meet me in my little god meet me in the little spaces the little places nobody knows about the disease i haven't told anyone about god meet me in the little the little the little the little the little when i walk out of here i'll be big but when i'm at this altar i just want to be little i'm putting my crown back on when i leave but just for right now i want to be little little old me it's me oh god little old me standing in the need of prayer not another violation not another disappointment not another pain not another rejection just let me be little i don't wanna god i wanna say ouch god i wanna say you kinda disappointed me too that i thought you had my back but god i'm coming back to you because i believe that you are faithful to the liver god i'm running back to your arms i may be little but i'm coming i may not have the faith i used to have but i'm coming i'm dragging myself i'm moving myself back to this space of grace god and i'm gonna have to twist myself to get there and let go of my pride to get there but i'm gonna come by any means necessary [Music] because the only thing that matters to me in this moment is mastering little little by little little by little that's how the change is coming that's how the breakthrough is going gonna happen little by little jesus says if you wanna follow me you gotta be little you can't be like the pharisees coming and talking about all the things you didn't do and how righteous you were you got to be like the tax collector that says i'm a sinner and i've fallen short and i'm not even worthy of your mercy but god if there's any space for little old me in your plan god if you're still doing miracles and you're looking for a volunteer god would you choose somebody little god if you're still doing breakthrough and you're looking for a volunteer you can use little on me you can't hear but i can hear a little prayer from over here it's okay to let go it's okay to let it out you don't have to worry about who's watching everybody's got their own little to worry about in this moment i don't want you to look back on this moment and wish you would have opened your mouth and i wish you would have lifted your hands open your hands like heaven is pouring out greatness i prayed that god would breathe in this room and that while god was breathing that he would breathe in every room you step in and when you open your hands that's the first room he wants to breathe in fill this room fill this empty space married couples god fill this marriage single people god fill this hole business owners god filled the gaps in my education ministry god feel the anointing god for where you've called me to go feel it feel it feel it feel this little cup i had a vision i'm going to pray i'm almost done i had a vision and the cup was so little that it almost seemed like it wasn't worth feeling at all i felt god say that he knows this secret about the cup that the secret does that the cup doesn't know that is the more that i feel it the more that it grows somebody came to this altar with a little cup and i hear god saying that as you receive then i'm stretching that cup out that you had a cup for just a little bit of faith somebody's just been praying to make it day by day and i hear god saying that i'm ready for you to make it year by year decade by decade i hear god saying i want to move in this room who are you i want to have breakthrough in this room who's hungry for it that your days of just surviving day by day could be over if you let me fill that cup i'll fill it to the overflow what does that mean that means i'm not going to say these same prayers next year because god met me at the altar right here and he fed me for generations my children's children's children are never going to thirst anymore because of the cup that's being expanded in this moment [Music] somebody caught that somebody received that for the household somebody received that for their spirit i see you sis i see you sis i like that cup getting stretched when she first came down she wasn't hardly moving but i see you're over there getting breakthrough that's what it looks like when that cup gets stretched that's what it looks like when you finally twist yourself into the position of breakthrough god you told me ah glory let's check out our did it make that there was great glory connected to this moment you told me that and somebody's standing in the manifestation of that moment you better be careful who you're standing next to you may get caught up when god pulls them up you may be living in the overflow of their glory you're not just standing next to no regular person you're standing next to somebody who's hungry for glory you better watch out you may go home and get full off of my cup you may go home and get full off of what god is doing in my life you don't know who you're standing next to there's glory assigned to my name this breakthrough just connected to my name glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory glory generational glory glory glory glory glory taking my mind back glory depression's gotta go glory i feel the spirit of god moving in this place i feel the spirit of god moving in your car i feel the spirit you better watch out when you get to your car you may get to your car and find glory waiting on you you may get to your house and find glory waiting on you you better start looking for glory i know what happened at this altar i'm looking for glory everywhere i go where is your glory in this situation where is your glory in this business glory over this book glory over this ministry i won't stop till i touch glory i won't quit till i touch glory tryna stop spirit god god without a doubt you have met us here little but hungry god we've been standing in the shadows of greatness and there have been moments where your sons and your daughters have been overwhelmed by the darkness overwhelmed by the demand of the greatness that we see but cannot access and we've been trying to puff ourselves up to say that we got this and we can do this but at this altar god we have brought our little selves and god we're praying that like you did for solomon that you would do a heart work give me an understanding heart that i can understand god the problem with the shadows is that it's where i get confused but if you would give me an understanding heart god if you would give them an understanding heart you could change our expectations with an understanding heart you could change our language with an understanding heart god do our hard work in the spaces where we feel the most little god i pray for my fellow little people god what an honor it is that you would trust us to survive the shadows of greatness and yet god you've placed that trust in us because you recognize that there is a shadow greater than the shadow we're just trying to survive god and that is your shadow i commit these my brothers and sisters to the shadow of the almighty god i break covenant with the shadows of depression the shadows of pressure the shadows of hustling the shadows of just trying to be great for the sake of being great we break covenant with those shadows we don't want anything to do with those shadows those shadows are man-made shadows god instead we commit ourselves to abiding in the secret place of the most high where our innocence is restored listen where our creativity flows where we are patient and forgiving where we are innocent and pure where we are resilient god i commit them to the shadow of the almighty god i know that when they're in your shadow that i don't have to worry about them when they leave this place help them to live with the consciousness that they're living under the shadow of the almighty that even when i feel like i'm by myself that i'm under your shadow that even when i feel like no one understands me that i'm under your shadow my marriage is under your shadow god i've done everything i could with that child now i commit that child to your shadow god help me to live with the consciousness of being under your shadow we repent for chasing the wrong shadows for putting pressure on ourselves to be what man and culture says we should be we repent and just from now on god make us little and may we find joy that was buried in our circumstance peace that has been there all along god i'm not even asking that you would change anything just change us god seal this word as only you can do as you seal this word god allow them to continue to water it so that it can take root and produce fruit i come against the spirit of fear i come against the enemy i rebuke it right now in the name of jesus you will not uproot this word that they receive you will not knock them off a position from this word that they receive i rebuke it right now in the name of jesus and i cover them by the blood you're covered in the blood you want to talk about a shadow there is a shadow that the blood creates and the shadow that the blood creates repels anything that the enemy sends your way and i plead the blood of jesus over your mind i plead the blood of jesus over your house i plead the blood of jesus over your child you may not have the strength to say it but i'll say it on your behalf i plead the blood of jesus over your business i believe the blood of jesus over your health i rebuke you cancer in the name of jesus and the name that is above every name i rebuke you covet in the name of jesus in the name that is above every name get up off of them get up off of their family get up off of their peace and let your power flow in jesus name amen amen can i just hear worship for a second can you seal this word with your worship can you seal this word if worship pushes the enemy back if praise pushes the enemy back can you back that devil up off of you for a minute can you back that shadow up off of you for a minute [Music] family i dare you to keep worshiping like this i dare you to play this message over and over again i dare you to share this message and to bring everything connected to you out of the shadows and into the greatest shadow that we can ever be in listen it would be remiss of me if i didn't give those of you who believe in marking the spot of transformation an opportunity to put some kind of seed in the ground this doesn't have to be something big just do it according to the level of your transformation somebody may not know what i'm talking about the currency that moves the world i sow it into the currency that i know i need in my life the world may move by finances but my life moves by the spirit and i take a seed when god has moved in my life and i place it in the currency of the spirit realm because i want my life to get in the currency that matters and if you want to sow into this message i'm not going to give a specific amount only you know the level of seed that you want to put in the ground but i'm telling you there is something powerful about not just giving but give and write it down my husband and i were doing this whenever god sent a word for us we took that word and we sowed a seed i'm not talking about a word that you just found on instagram i'm talking about a word that brought breakthrough into your life that changed the way that you think we would write it down and we would write the amount that we gave and then we would look back and say you know what there was harvest connected to that seed i hear god telling somebody you need to start writing down the seed that you sow so that you recognize harvest when it comes or otherwise you'll be calling it luck but it's actually an answered prayer it's not a coincidence you sowed into this it's not a coincidence that your child starts living in the shadow of the almighty you sowed into this your health doesn't just change you sowed into this you sowed with your praise you sowed with your worship and now i just want to give you an opportunity to sow with seed there are instructions on the screen you can give however you want to give i'd like to sow 500 into this babe this is my credit card amen um i want to pray for those of you who are giving you can figure out the arrangements when you get there but if you're going to give i just want you to throw your hand in the air i want you to throw your hand in there i want to pray over your seat god we didn't just come and receive we came and we sowed we're sowing into this moment because we recognize what this moment is this moment is not for everybody so i don't expect for everyone to sow but this is a moment for somebody that they will mark as the moment when everything changed god and so we put seed in the ground as an acknowledgement of what is took into what of what has taken place this is the message that twisted me into position and because i'm sewing into the twisting i know that i'm going to reap harvest based off of this twisting thank you god for every seed represented here and for the harvest connected to it i hear god saying i don't know who's sowing in particular whatever you're sowing about you're going to need help for the harvest somebody's sowing something that they will only receive the harvest for and that's good you're going to be able to reap that harvest by yourself but i hear god saying specifically that somebody is sowing in such a way that they're going to need help for the harvest and i hear god saying that when you sow into this word that you're not just going to sow into harvest but god's got the help connected to the harvest as well i don't know if it's a partner i don't know if it's employees i don't know if it's funding but i hear god saying that when you sow the help is connected to the harvest so god we receive whatever it is you have connected to this moment our hearts are open our eyes are open let us continue to be like solomon understanding that it is only with your wisdom that we will experience the greatness of the call thank you god that you choose us we not worthy sometimes we downright raggedy and yet you still use this thank you god what an honor it is to be in partnership with you in every area not the least of which is our finances receive our seed in jesus name amen family i love you [Music] you

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 275,326

Rating: 4.9225688 out of 5

Keywords: td jakes, faith, potters house, bishop jakes, The Potter's House of Dallas, TPH Dallas, td jakes sermons, bishop td jakes, inspiration, td jakes motivation, motivation, td jakes ministries, motivational speaker, td jakes sermons 2020, sundayservice, tdjakes, sarahjakesroberts, Sarah Jakes Roberts, tdjakes 2021, pastor sarah jakes roberts, the shadow of greatness, shadowofgreatness, shadow of greatness, theshadowofgreatness, do you want to feel valued, can god be my breakthrough

Id: M5aWrm0hS0g

Length: 79min 38sec (4778 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021