TD Jakes - A Blind Date
God finally set up a house called Solomon's Temple, and he set up Solomon's Temple so that we would have a stabilized place to meet. It means my wandering is over, my search is over. I come to a place of stability. Solomon's Temple means I can come to the same place. Every time I'm not on the move. I'm not nomadic. I'm not traveling. I'm not on the move. I know who I am. I know where I am. I have possessed the land, and Solomon's Temple is where we hang out with God. Glory to God. It's a date with God. It's a date with God. It's a date with God. It's a date with God. I have a date with God. It's about... the truth of the matter is when Gabriel came to Mary and said, "Hail Mary, you've been highly favored amongst women. You shall bring forth a son and his name should be called Jesus".
Jesus is a meeting place between humanity and divinity. He is all the way man and all the way God. Jesus is where humanity and divinity meet together. Jesus is where, it's a place where grace and truth are met together, righteousness and peace kiss to each other. "Truth shall spring up out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, I, the Lord, will give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increases," talking about Jesus. Jesus is the meeting place. He is Emmanuel. He is God tabernacled with us. He is God living amongst us. He is God hanging out with us. It is God at the bowling alley. It is God playing ping-pong with us. It is God coming down to our level. He said, "My thoughts are above your thoughts. My ways are above your ways. You'll never be able to reach high enough to reach me. So since you can't reach me, I'll come down where you are. Mary, let me borrow some flesh, and I'll wrap myself up in a body 'cause I got a date. I got a date. I got a date. I got a date".
And when the date was fully come, it didn't matter that they didn't have a house. They had a date. God said, "We'll have a date if we got to meet in the barn. If we got to hang out behind the bushes, I got a date with you". This is the place where humanity and divinity have collided with each other and all the magi came to bring gifts. They didn't even fully realize what had happened. Heaven had come to earth. The kingdom had come. The will of God had come down. The celestial had touched the terrestrial. The divine had touched the human. The holy had touched the humane. In Jesus Christ, they were all met together. It's a date. Jesus is God having a date with man. Jesus is God having a date with humanity. Jesus is God having a date with wretchedness. Jesus is God, holiness meeting humanness. Jesus is God.
God wanted a date with a... "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting..." This is a love story. This is a love story. This is not a scandal. This is not an embarrassment. This is not about a young girl gone wild. This is not about somebody getting pregnant. This is a love story. This is how far God would go to get to you. This is how far God would go to reach you. This is how far God would go to reach you, that he would wrap himself up in the dressing room of Mary's womb and come walking out like a man. And the Bible said he became obedient unto death and took on him the form of a servant so that he could have a date with a slave.
Come on. Come on. Come on. Go with me. Go with me. Go with me. Go with me. Go with me. These dates, these moments express the attitude of God and how far God will go to get who he wants. God will go in the club to get who he wants. He'll go into a den of iniquity to get who he want. Everybody, God didn't get them in church. Somebody, he'd spin you around on the bar and say, "You don't have no business in here". Somebody, you had to leave out the hotel room, say, "Ain't nothing wrong, but I got to go". Something pulled you out. The reason you are here this morning is because something pulled you out. The Bible said no man can come to the Father, save the Spirit draw him. The Spirit drew you out. You didn't just come on your own. The Spirit drew you out because God has a purpose and a plan for your life.
I don't know who I'm talking to, but somebody in this room God drew you out. You said you wasn't coming, but God drew you out. You said you wasn't finished partying, but God drew you out. You was about to make you some money on the side, but God drew you out. Oh, that's why you ought to give him the highest praise because God drew you out. He drew you out. He drew you out. He drew you out. Somebody shout, "Hallelujah". So in our text this morning, it almost reads like an ambush. It's a setup. Saul does not know that he has a date with God. Saul is busy operating off of old commandment, the old commandment being the Old Testament. He is being obedient to what God did say, not what God is saying. Some people are loyal to what God has said but not loyal to what God is saying.
"Man should not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". That means I got to live in his mouth. I got to stay close to him so that I can get updates. If I don't get updates, I'll be operating off of old dates. And if I'm operating off of old dates, I don't have an update. And if I don't have a update, I'm going to miss my blind date. So I got to get it together so I understand that I'm not operating, Saul was operating off an old date. He wasn't wrong. He wasn't evil. He wasn't wicked. He wasn't bad. He just hadn't got an update. The other day my phone was acting crazy. I thought it had lost its mind. I thought, "Well, maybe I got to buy a new one".
And then I looked in the phone and realized there's nothing wrong with my phone. It just needed... There may not be anything wrong with you. You might just need an update. You might need an update. You might need an update. You might be operating off an old date and think you're serving God and you don't even know what you're doing and you're killing who God is raising. You're tearing down what God is trying to erect. You're messing up your house, messing up your life, messing up your marriage all in the name of the Lord because you got a old date and not a... Come on, come on. We're going to get this. We're going to get me and you, we're going to get this today. Everything that Saul has experienced is circumspectly in alignment with his current situation. It makes sense that Saul would act this way. Saul was raised to think this way. He was taught to think this way.
Many theologians and scholars think that Saul was the boy who was holding the coat when they stoned Stephen. So all of his life he's been around Christian killers and he calls himself defending Jehovah, not fighting Jehovah. He calls himself defending Jehovah because when you have an old date you can innocently do damage to good people because you're operating off an old date. When you got an old date, you'll put women out of the church 'cause they're wearing pants. When you got a old date, you won't let them in the altar because they got on make up. When you got a old date, you won't establish somebody in the kingdom of God 'cause the man is wearing a hat. If you got an old date, you got an old memo... women shouldn't be wearing lipstick. If you got a old date, you will major on the minor and minor on the major. Saul has an old date. He doesn't have an update.
What's wrong with a lot of our churches, even in this contemporary society, is that we're operating off an old date. They're preaching off an old date. They don't have an update. They don't have a present revelation of who God is right now. They don't know who he is right now. They know who he was to their fathers, but they don't know who he is right now. So they can't touch this generation because they got this depression mentality. They're preaching like they were back in the '20s and they don't have a Word from God. Is there a Word from God? Is there a Word from the Lord? Can I preach... I'm about to feel like preaching now. I done fooled around and got myself happy. Hallelujah. I need a Word from God, a present Word of right now God. Not a logos but a rhema.
A right now God, a God right now, a God that can fix this moment, a God for this present danger, a God for this attack that's happening right now. "Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". But Saul has no update. He has an old date. Psychology suggests that the past experiences are strong likelihoods of what the person's next experience will be like. Like if I've been a murderer all my life, why would you think I wouldn't kill you? If I've been a philanderer all my life, why would you think that I would be upright with you? A person's past behavior is a predictor of their future behavior. That's what psychology suggests is a feasible way of deducting what a person is capable of. Once I learn what you're capable of, I handle you a little bit different. It's not that I don't forgive you, but I watch you. Where are my real folks over here?
"I forgive you, but I'm watching you. I forgive you, but I'm watching you. I'm looking at you because now that I know what you're capable of, I didn't know you could talk to me like that, but now that you show me that you're capable of talking to me like that, now when you say nice stuff I take it with a grain of salt 'cause I don't know when you're going to switch on me". Come on, where are my... are there any real people? Did any real people come to church this morning? "And thank you for showing me what you're capable of. Thank you for showing me what you're capable of so I don't put too much weight on you, so I don't lean on you too much, so I don't expect too much for it. Thank you for showing me that the chair might fall so I might sit in such a way that if it falls I don't have to go down with it. Come on, for showing me", Hallelujah. You ought to take a minute and praise God for what your enemies taught you.
Unwittingly he has become the executor of genocide. Saul single-handedly is trying to eradicate Christians. It's genocide. He wants to purge them out. He wants to clean them out. He sees them as spots in the feast of charity of Israel. He thinks they need to be removed. He thinks they're a cult. He thinks they're demonic. He thinks they're evil. That's why he thinks nothing of killing men, women, boys, and girls. It's genocide. And he's on his road to Damascus.
Saul is going to kill the Christians never considering that he could be wrong. Before you draw blood, before you draw blood, before you lacerate somebody's name and reputation, before you set yourself up as judge of the universe, always leave room for the fact, "I could be wrong". Can I go deeper? Can I go a little bit deeper? I'm almost finished. I just want to go a little bit deeper. And so God gives him a great light that knocks him off his beast and the one who goes to subdue gets subdued. He falls off his beast onto the floor. He sees a great light. He sees a great light, epiphany, an awakening, a moment.
This is what the Holy Spirit said he's going to do in here today. The Lord said if I preach this Word today, somebody's going to get an epiphany. They're going to have an awakening. They're going to have a moment where they begin to recognize that all the things that set you up, that brought you to this place, God is getting ready to divert your path and change your way and order your steps. And even though you have been conditioned to respond a certain kind of way, God is getting ready to do a new thing in your life. Watch; a thing for which you have no point of reference, a thing for which you have not been trained, a thing that you are not like the other disciples. You didn't go to the school they went. You didn't go to the university they went. "You're going to feel like an impostor, but I'm going to raise you up and put you in a place and I'm going to do a new thing in your life".
I don't know who I'm preaching to. You're not going to feel capable. You're not going to feel sure of yourself. Saul didn't know how to be no Christian. He knew how to kill Christians. He didn't know how to be one, but he got knocked off his beast. Sometimes you get knocked off your beast and it's not the devil. Sometimes you get knocked off your beast and it's not your haters. Sometimes you get knocked off your beast and it's God to stop you from doing something stupid that's going to mess up the rest of your life. Sometimes he broke up with you and it was God. Sometimes she left you and ran away with your best friend, and instead of crying you ought to go to dancing. You ought to get right by the dishwasher and start just, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. You knocked me off my beast. You knocked me off my beast. You got me together".
Saul falls off his beast. He falls down on the ground and all of a sudden he loses his eyesight that he might gain insight... And this is what happens to him. Let me grab somebody. Let me grab you. Come here. You ain't doing nothing. Come here, come here. Ain't nobody trying to kill me. Now, you go in front. I got to hold on to you because in order to get out of this I got to walk by faith. I can't walk by sight. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. When the story started I was leading you, but the tail has become the head. This is prophetic to how Saul will live the rest of his life. God is training him how to walk by faith.
Whoever I'm preaching to... stay right there. Whoever I'm preaching to, God is training you to walk by faith. You don't see your way clear. You don't have all the answers yet, but the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and the Lord delighteth in his way. He delighteth in his way, but he doesn't explain his way. Watch this. Job said, "The Lord knows the way that I take. I don't know, but the Lord knows the way that I take. And when he has tried me, I shall come forth as pure gold". And he says to him, "Go down to Ananias's house". "Lord, how am I going to get to Ananias's house? I can't see Ananias's house". "You're going to have to trust me". Here is the Word of the Lord for the Potter's House at this junction. You're going to have to trust him. God has a place for you to go that you cannot see. You must trust him.
"The reason your job is important is that even though I'm not one of the original 12 and even though they don't like me and even though I'm an outcast and even though even Ananias is afraid to let me in the house, I will write most of the New Testament. I will establish the New Testament church. I will set up the apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists. I will establish the perfecting of the saints. I will reveal the mystery of the Godhead. Great is the mystery of godliness; for God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles and recede into the world. I will be stoned, I will be snake-bitten, I will be shipwrecked, I will be alienated, I will be ostracized, but none of these things kill me because I'm walking by faith".
I close with this. You have been waiting to see your way clear. If you see your way clear, you'll never get there. The only way to get there is to go vulnerable, go scared; go not in your own strength, not walking in your own wisdom, trusting in God to bring you to the place that he's supposed to bring you, and you can't get mad because Ananias is scared of you. You did enough stuff that Ananias is supposed to be scared of you. Stop acting like people are evil 'cause they're scared of you. How could you expect for them not to be scared of you? You just changed this morning. You've been nice to your daughter for two days and you said that didn't work. It's like me being on a diet, eating a salad for lunch and then looking in the mirror.
Ain't nothing going to be in the mirror. You going to have to do this awhile to build credibility. Watch this. This is one of the most pivotal moments of the New Testament. We would not have the New Testament if this had not happened on a blind date. The blind date is a blind date 'cause he never saw it coming. Now, let me tell you... stand on your feet. Let me tell you what God showed me. I'm after something that's beautiful. I'm after something in particular this morning. Let me tell you what he showed me. Whoever God wants, you didn't plan on it. You just came. You just watching online. You did not plan on giving your life to Christ. You have another agenda.
There's somebody in here from a completely different religion. This ain't even in your background, but the Lord said to me today is your blind date. Today is the day that you have an epiphany that will change the trajectory of the rest of your life. It is not what you plan to do, it's not what you set out to do, it's not what you were walking toward, but this is going to be the moment that disrupts your life and sets it on a new course and a new pattern that it's never been before and you're going to find out that everything you've been through has prepared you for this moment. Hold your clapping for a minute. This is what I've learned so far in 66 years, maybe this one thing. It is hard to let go of what you had in mind.