TD Jakes - Welcome To The Family (02/21/2022)
Drawing from Ephesians' repeated emphasis on the riches of God's grace and mercy, Bishop T.D. Jakes proclaims that salvation is a free gift through faith, making Jews and Gentiles—circumcised and uncircumcised, insiders and aliens—one family in Christ, welcoming all into God's wealthy commonwealth regardless of past, while urging resistance to the pull back to the familiar.
The Riches of Grace and Mercy
All through Ephesians, you keep hearing about the riches of his mercy, the riches of his grace. It is no accident that God keeps using this term rich. Do not sleep on that word rich.
"The riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." The worse you are, the richer he looks.
So all the people say, "How could you use him?" "I could afford to; I did not run out of grace. My grace was rich enough to cover; my grace is rich enough to cover your wretchedness."
In fact, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. That way, anything you get done, you know you did not do it; it was me doing it.
"I got you that job; I got you that contract; I got you that business deal; I opened up that door for you; I made that way for you; I got you in that school."
Lord, let somebody hear this word this morning. Oh, who would not serve a God like this? Everything you got, he gave it to you.
Walk over and slap somebody; say, "My daddy is rich." You better be careful; do not fool with me. My daddy, my daddy is rich; my daddy is rich; my daddy is rich; my daddy is rich.
He intercedes for me; he pleaded my case; he made a way for me; he opened doors I could not see. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he has.
Where are my forgiven folk? Make some noise.
Saved by Grace Through Faith
Come on down; give me some more of this text. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the," what? "Gift of God."
Lord, have mercy; it is the gift. It is the gift. That is why I can raise you up together—even though she lives better than her, I can raise them up together because it is not by works.
I want you to see this; it is the gift of God. You mean you are going to raise?
When you read the genealogy of Jesus Christ, it is absolutely amazing. You got good women in there like Sarah; you got incestuous women like Tamar right in the room with virtuous women like Rachel, and they are raised up together in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
They are in his family; they are in his family. Ruth the Moabitess, who was an idolatrous, is in his family.
So who are you to lock me out of the family? You do not get to say. Slap somebody; say, "Welcome to the family."
Come on; give me some more of this; give me some more; give me some more.
This is, "Not of works, lest any man should boast." Come on; now we are just now getting down to what I am supposed to be doing.
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
God's Workmanship for Good Works
That is what we are. He is talking to Gentiles; he is talking to idolaters; he is talking to fornicators; he is trying to make them understand that, "We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
God has ordained for you to live a better life than you are living. Come on.
"Wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision." I want to break that down.
In the Bible, the sign that you had a covenant was whether you were circumcised or uncircumcised. If a man was uncircumcised, it meant that he was not a part of the Abrahamic covenant.
So he says, "In your times past, you were Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision."
In other words, the circumcision are the covenant people, and the uncircumcised people are the uncovenant people, and he said, "You were called Uncircumcision by the people who had a covenant" because when people have a covenant, they call everybody else names.
You were called that by, "The Circumcision in the flesh made by hands." Read on.
"That at that time ye were without Christ." Now, I am getting to it. "You were without Christ," check this out, "being aliens," "being aliens"—or let me use another word that would be appropriate here—"immigrants."
You were not born into it; you were not by nature a part of the family; you were aliens. "Aliens from," what? "From the commonwealth of Israel."
From Aliens to Family
Remember, we kept hearing that word riches—riches, riches, riches of mercy, riches of grace—and now we hear the word wealth. You were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
You were aliens "and strangers," "strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in this world." That is what the Bible says you were. Read on.
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes afar off are made nigh." You were aliens; you were aliens; you who were strangers are made nigh.
You know how America likes to say, "We are a nation of immigrants"? The church is too; we were strangers; we were aliens, but we were afar off; now we have been made nigh.
How did we get to be so close? "By the blood of Jesus." Come on, brother.
"For he is our peace, who hath made both one." We are one; we are one.
What Paul is doing is defining what the church is; he says the church is one. It tore down; it "broke down the middle wall of partition between" the Jew and the Gentile.
There is neither male nor female, Greek nor Jew, bound nor free; we are all one in Christ Jesus. He has torn down the wall of partition.
I know before you would not eat with me because you called me Uncircumcised. I know that if I ate out on your plate, you broke it.
I know if I drank out of your glass, you threw it out. I know I was considered unclean, but God has torn down the wall from between us and hath made us one and hath raised us up together.
That is what the church is. You are not any better because you were Israel than I am because I am Gentile; the church has made us one in Christ Jesus.
One New Man in Christ
Come on; give me some more. "Having abolished in his flesh," "having abolished in his flesh"—talking about Jesus—he "abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace."
He took the law—the broken law, the law I messed up—and fulfilled it and became my righteousness, that if I believe on him, he made as if I had never done what I did and gave me equal standing with the good folks.
Now I can stand right beside the good folks; I do not have to take my hat off and say, "Yes, Sir Boss," when I see you come in because he paid the price and fulfilled my righteousness and abolished in his flesh what was contrary.
That is why he was nailed to the cross—to pay the price for me that I could appear in the family with all of you good folks.
I am going to show you; I am going to show you. People often ask me how do I get messages; I am going to show you how this message dropped in my spirit.
In my devotions—in my personal devotion time—I was in Numbers 10:29, and when I got in Numbers 10:29, it inspired me to share this word with you, and I want you to check it out.
I was reading in Numbers 10:29; I want you to check this out; it is kind of cool—and yeah.
"And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, 'We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, "I will give it to you."'"
O God, we are on our way to the place where the Lord said, "I will give it to you." That is what Moses said to him.
Invitation to the Midianite
Moses says this to Hobab, who was his father in law—NIV says brother in law; they debate about it. Historically, it does not matter which one; he was in law; he was a Midianite.
Let me show you what a Midianite was. A Midianite is a descendant of Abraham's second marriage to Keturah.
I got you, brother; I got you, brother. When Sarah died, Abraham married again. The fact that Abraham married again is a miracle because before Sarah died, Abraham was impotent.
When God strengthened his loins, not only did he birth Isaac—blessed be God—when he got his transfer, his transfer outlasts his wife.
His wife died, and he said, "I am not through yet." Now, you have got to get this. Isaac was the promise, so he had already gotten a promise.
But he said, "I am not through yet," so he married again—another woman named Keturah—and he had six sons.
You see what I mean by blessed be God? You see what I mean about a download? You see what I mean about allowing a temporary circumstance in your life to make you think your life is over?
Abraham in latter day was better than his former day; he went from impotent to Isaac; he raising Isaac; Sarah died; he got married again; he married a woman named Keturah and had five more kids—five more kids—and this is the descendants of the kids.
So when the children of Israel were in Egypt for 400 years, the Midianites were living in the desert; they were Abraham's kids too, but they were from a different mama. Okay? So they were outside.
Now watch this; watch this; watch this—and give me a minute; let me say this.
Now, Israel has been enslaved for 400 years, but they have the gross wealth of Egypt, and now they are moving across the desert with the wealth of Egypt—so much money on them that the Bible says the children's backs were bent over carrying the wealth.
I am talking about generational wealth; I am talking about on your children and your children's children's children; I am talking about pressed down, shaken together, and running over; I am talking about bent over with it; I am talking about my cup runneth over.
And they are moving across the wilderness with the gross national product of Egypt on their back, and they run into the Midianites—which is where Moses has been for 40 years, on the backside of the desert with Jethro, hanging out with the cousins on the other side of the family.
He was hanging out with them. And the Midianites are now there, and they are having a conversation, and he says there—put the text back up there because I want them to see it—"And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, 'We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, "I will give it to you."'"
Now, Moses is talking about what he is going to, and I am telling you what he is going with. He already got; he already done cleaned Egypt out; he has had supernatural debt-cancellation at the Red Sea because when Pharaoh tried to follow him to the Red Sea, he drowned in the Red Sea.
And if the one you owe is dead, you do not owe nobody, so he has had supernatural debt-cancellation at the Red Sea.
And now he is talking to Hobab, talking about, "Come on and go with us." He says the Lord has said, "We are going to the place of which the Lord hath said, I will give it to you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel."
God Has Spoken Good Concerning You
Close your eyes right now; close your eyes right now. I want to get this in your spirit right now; close your eyes.
God has spoken good concerning you—not evil; God has spoken good concerning you.
It might be in front of you; you might not have your hands on it right now; you might be enroute to it; you might be on the journey, but God has spoken good concerning you.
Stop being scared of your daddy; stop being scared of your daddy. God has spoken good concerning you.
I know his voice is rough; I know he talks loud; stop being scared of your daddy; stop running from him, Israel; stop running from him.
When he speaks on the mountaintop, stop running. God has spoken good concerning you.
Breathe that in; God has spoken good concerning you. I do not care what the doctor has spoken; God has spoken good concerning you.
Listen at me; I do not care what the accountant has spoken; God has spoken good concerning you.
I do not care what they wrote about you on a blog site; God has spoken good concerning you. Receive that; let that in your spirit; settle that in your mind.
Now watch this; I am almost finished. God says to Jethro—God says to him, "And he said unto him." He said, "Come thou along with us, and we will do thee good."
And instead of the guy saying yeah, he said, "I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land and to my kindred."
See, when we are presented with better, our inclination is to resort back to the familiar.
Every time God is trying to raise you up, you have to resist the gravitational pull.
There is somebody in here right now; I am to break the pull that keeps calling you back down to less than what God has for you.
The reason you keep going back down and you are subject to the gravitational pull of your past is because you do not feel worthy of what God is trying to give you.
And if you do not feel worthy of it, you cannot receive it, and you will not get the download.
That is why the enemy is accuser of the brethren because he always wants to make you feel unworthy of what God wants to give you.
Who am I talking to today?
Welcome to the Family
And so here comes worthiness into your spirit; here comes worthiness into your spirit.
You do not have to go back to anybody; you do not have to go back just so your kindred will accept you; you are given an opportunity to come on in the family.
Now this is our wealth; we went through 400 years to get it, but come on; come on; come on.
"Come thou along with us, and we will do thee good." I know you came from another tribe, another order, another place; that is all right.
I know you came out the streets; you do not know too much about church; that is all right.
I know we do not look alike or speak the same language; that is all right. Welcome to the family.
Welcome; welcome to the family. I know you have made some mistakes; I know you have been through some things you are ashamed of, but the Lord said, "Welcome; welcome to the family; welcome to the family; welcome to the family."
The Lord said, "Welcome to the family. All kind of stuff in my family"—that is what Jesus is saying—"I had Ruth the Moabitess, and Tamar was in incest; Rahab would work the corner, and I still let them in my family."
I am raising up Jews and Gentiles; I am bringing in aliens and strangers, and I want to give you family. Welcome to the family.
Do not allow the gravitational pull that always pulls you back to take you back to the familiar. Come thou; come thou along with us.