TD Jakes — A Fight for the Territory
Hello, brothers and sisters. What a joy it is to have this opportunity to share the Word of the Lord with you. You know, the Bible is an interesting book and it's full of interesting characters from Old Testament to New. More times than not, when you read in the Old Testament there were bloody fights, and battles, and people being scarred, and skewered, and everything else. And most of the time they were fighting over territory.
The message today is called, "A Fight for the Territory". Don't give your territory over to the enemy. You may have territory that you don't even realize. And this time we're going into Luke chapter 8, verse number 33 through 39. And the message again, "A Fight," yes it is. Life is a fight but it's "A Fight for the Territory".
There are a few simple points that I want to bring out in this text, that I think are relevant to you. And before I do, let me put the text in its most simplistic form for those who may not be familiar with the text. Jesus has just gotten off of a very turbulent cruise, and reached his destination, and stepped out on dry land in a place that is called Gadarenes. And Gadara is part of ten provinces that were so similarly suited that Jesus purposefully went into them to affect change.
The moment he steps off the boat a wild, hairy, gnarled, grotesque figure comes running toward him. Gets close to Jesus, and falls down at his feet, and begins to worship him. He is worshipping at the feet of Jesus. And then the next thing he says, he says to us... Jesus, "Don't torment me. I adore you. I adore you. Don't torment me. Don't attack me".
And imagine being a disciple and you're watching this happen. And the guy's doing the right thing, he's worshipping. But there's something wrong with the worship. And as he worships Jesus, a conversation goes on between them on a different dimension from what the disciples could see. For example, he calls Jesus, "Son of God," and at that time most of his disciples did not even, even know who they were with. They weren't there at the virgin birth and they were not there in the Jordan River. And they had seen him as a teacher, and a rabbi, and a master, but this guy runs over, and falls down, and starts worshipping, and calls him "The Son of God".
And Jesus begins to minister, well not really minister, he begins to negotiate, if you please. In his grace, he negotiates with these spirits who say, "If we must leave the man, don't make us leave the territory". And Jesus cast the demons, who were called "legion," out of the man into a herd of swine and the swine run down the hill into the lake and drown. And all the herdsmen are shocked 'cause they've never seen anything like this before, run to the city to tell 'em what happened, and the city comes out to see Jesus because of the demon.
If there hadn't been for the demons, there wouldn't have been a miracle, and if it hadn't of been a miracle, there wouldn't have been a revival. The city comes out to see Jesus because of the demon. You're up under attack for a reason. Jesus went through a storm to get to this man. This man is significant. One guy, one hairy, stinky, smelly, gnarled up, demoniac guy and Jesus went through a storm to get to this guy. In fact he says, "Let us pass over to the other side". So, that's why he got on the boat in the first place, to reach the other side. Jesus said, "Let us expand the territory".
And whenever you get ready to expand your territory, expect a demon to show up somewhere. As long as you stay over there, and this stays over here, everything'll be all right. But the moment you try to break away from where you came from and take over new territory, that's when all hell breaks loose in your life. He's fighting about territory.
I cannot tell you, it's embarrassing how long I taught and preached this text and didn't see the point. I didn't see the point for the pain. I saw the pain, I didn't see the point. The pain, the pain of this man that could not be contained, the pain of this man that couldn't be stopped, the pain of this man that had no life and had no future, that hated himself, and cut himself in the tombs of pain of this man, the self-annihilation of this man, his tendency to attack his own future and prosperity. I couldn't see anything but his pain and because of the pain I didn't see the point. Because you know when pain gets strong, you can't think, you can't reason.
When pain gets strong, you can't figure things out. Sometimes we are so engrossed with pain that we don't get the point. You can have pain so bad it makes your blood pressure go up. You can have pain so bad that you lose your appetite. You can have pain so bad that you stop eating, and you stop talking, and you stop believing, and you stop smiling, and you don't have your personality because your pain is stopping you from being who you are. If you take a minute and look at your life, every time you're about to step into new territory all hell breaks loose and sends a storm to stop you from getting there. And the storm doesn't seem connected to your goal but it is a strategic attack.
In fact, I'll go deeper than that. I would go far enough to say that the enemy knew who you were gonna be before you got here and he did some things early in the game, sometimes 20, 30, 40 years before you reached the destination to try to mess you up, so that you wouldn't be prepared to be who God called you to be. The storm always occurs before you get the territory to stop you from getting there in the first place. I bet ya there's some people in here almost died in the crib. I bet you there's some people that almost died in the first couple of years of your life. I guarantee you there's some people that were abused, and molested, and ostracized early in life before anybody got a chance to see who you were gonna be.
The storm started before the boat landed. If Jesus hadn't have rebuked the storm, he wouldn't have never made it to Gadarenes. And then I didn't recognize that Gadarenes was inhabited by Gentiles. Why didn't I know. Why didn't I have the sense to know that in that era, no traditional, orthodox Jew would be raising pigs? Now, when I hear "Jesus, let us pass over to the other side," I'm not sure whether he's talking about geography or nationality. He was crossing more than regions, he was crossing cultures, and anytime you start crossing cultures, all hell will break out 'cause the one thing the devil hates is for all types of cultures to bow down and call him Lord.
The demons didn't care nothing about that man. When Jesus came along the demons didn't worry about leaving the man, they just didn't want to leave the territory. That devil isn't interested in you, he's interested in your territory. He's interested in your region. He's after your turf. He's after your stuff. There's something that you have that he wants and he doesn't care about you. He says, "I can use her. I can use a pig. I could use a goat. I could use a dog. I could use her sister. I can use his brother. I can use somebody close to them".
In fact, demons have been known to jump from place to place, from house to house. That's why it's not good to have your spirit open, even in a funeral, 'cause when the devil gets through with one person. Don't be distracted by what he's doing to you. Dr. Jill, he's not after you, he's after your territory. Kathy, he's after your territory. He's not after you, he's after your territory, your influence, what you're doing, what you trying to get done. He's not after you, he's after your territory.
Stop taking the fight personal. The fight is not personal. It's not even about you. It is so strong. Look at the storms that preceded it in your life. When you didn't even know who you were storms broke out. Storms are things that happen beyond your control and you become victimized by a storm that's out of your reach. Go back into your life for a minute and look at the things that happened that you couldn't control before you even got to where you are now. He knew you were gonna be something. He's scared to death of you or he wouldn't fight you like that. You don't pull out big supernatural warfare to fight somebody that doesn't have any threat. If he weren't threatened by you why would he start a storm way over here? We never see this anywhere else in the text. He is afraid of what you would become.
So, he said, "I better start early before she grows up, before she learns Scripture, before she gets washed in the blood, before he gets up in the anointing, before he gets himself together, I'm a catch him about 3 or 4 or 5 or 7 or 8, and I'm a start a storm to stop him from becoming who he was created to be". And then Jesus has to come through the storm to perform the miracle.
What are the storms that Jesus has to come through to get to you? What are the walls and the barriers that you have built up consciously or unconsciously that Jesus has to come through to get to you? But good thing about it is Jesus woke up and rebuked the storm. "Peace, be still," and the winds and waves were slain. He lands, the second level of attack occurs.
Now, the enemy runs out to him and falls down. "I couldn't stop you from getting here, let's make a deal. I have enjoyed, I have enjoyed attacking this man. I messed him up so bad he couldn't live with nobody, he couldn't stay with nobody, he couldn't even live with himself. I brought him down so low that he ended up all alone and all he does night and day is cut himself in the tombs. I have enjoyed abusing him. I have enjoyed attacking him. I have enjoyed watching him eat himself up, and say what he couldn't be, and what he couldn't do, and what he couldn't have, and what he couldn't enjoy".
I'm talking about self-inflicted wounds. The things we do to ourselves, the things we say when nobody's around to ourselves that stops us from doing what we do. Do you think you got that mentality by yourself? No, there's a spirit using that to attack you so that you are... even when we got you away from your haters, you were back in the tomb cutting yourself. He said, "I've enjoyed doing all of that. I've enjoyed convincing you that you are nothing, you're never gonna be nothing, you came from nothing, and you'll never get out. You'll never be loved. You'll never be happy. You'll never be blessed. You'll never be free. You'll never get yourself together. You will never be nothing. I've enjoyed attacking him".
But he was not the point. You got to hear this because he was not the point. It was the territory. It was Gadarenes. It was the region. Don't you come over here, Jesus, on my territory. This man had so much demonic influence on him that we don't really know the name of the demon because it wasn't just one. It was so many that they were called, "Legions". Legions are regimented, augmented, gathered together in force, united to destroy and uproot whatever they can. Legions is organization, it's structure, it's order. Legions, you don't use "legions" when you talking about, "We just hangin' out". Legions are trained, skilled soldiers that are marching at the same time.
See, what you're fighting against is not chaotic incidents. But it is a strategic task force that has been sent against you, strategy working in motion. See, the one thing you got to understand about Satan, Satan is organized. Even though he'll strike you with the spirit of disorganization, Satan is always organized. You don't call a group of men, "legion" if they're not organized. In fact, Jesus said that Satan was so organized that he could not be casting out devils by the power of a devil because a house divided against itself shall not stand. What I'm trying to get you to understand is that these aren't raw incidents that are happening to you. This is a marching legion of enemies that are coming against you to bring you down. And the strategy is over the territory.
What do you have that the devil knew you had early enough to start a storm before you got to this point? And it was intense enough to leave you in the tombs cutting yourself. And you think it's about you? It's about your territory. It's about your "shall be". It's about your destiny. It's about the purpose of God on your life. It's about all the people you will influence, and touch, and heal, and bless, and deliver. It's about the areas, the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. It's about you finishing your degree. It's about you going to school. It's about the position that you're not even in yet.
You haven't even got to the place that you're going to get yet that the devil's got more faith than you. He believed in you when you didn't believe in yourself. He must believe in you or he wouldn't have sent legions to stop you from getting there, and that's why it's time for you to stop cutting yourself, and stand up and be who God called you to be! You'll never reach your destiny locked up in this tomb. You'll never reach your purpose cutting on yourself. You'll never be who God called you to be living with dead folks.
Touch three people and say, "I'm coming out of this". I'm coming out of my cave. I'm coming out of my cave anyway I can. I'm coming out of my cave with the devil on my back, I'm still coming out of my cave. I'm gonna get to Jesus if I have to come depressed, if I have to come oppressed, if I have to come possessed, I'm coming to Jesus. Swap somebody and say, "Get outta my way"! Have you noticed how over the past 4 weeks our church has been having crazy worship? Going into praise so strong that you couldn't control it and couldn't stop it? Don't you know that God wouldn't send the spirit of worship if he wasn't gonna liberate somebody in this place? I dare you to open your mouth and give God some praise!
See, Satan didn't mind you come to church sitting on a pew looking like a pocketbook with your legs crossed and sitting up there watching me like you're at the movies. Some of y'all come to church, all you need is a bag of popcorn 'cause you don't participate, you just spectate. And as long as you were a spectator, the devil was all right with that. But the moment you started raising your hands and worshipping God, all hell breaks loose because the devil's about to lose the territory. Give God a praise!
I'm out of time. I've gotta stop there, but don't get it twisted, it's all about your territory, your destiny, your "shall be". Hold to your ground, having done all the standing, don't you dare give way just because you're facing tough times. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. A fight for the territory is God's way of encouraging you that that's your land, that's your stuff. Hold on to it.