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TD Jakes - It's Not For Sale


TD Jakes - It's Not For Sale

Read Romans 1:16, just so I have a scriptural reference for it. Put it up on the board, the Romans 1:16. "For I am not ashamed," this is Paul talking later. "For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first," not only, first, "And also to the Greek". The Greeks were Gentiles, the Greeks were Gentiles and all of a sudden they're in this situation, from Samaria to Ethiopia, they are being stretched in this text. If Simon had been Orthodox Jew, he would have understood that you cannot buy the Holy Spirit. One of the hardest things I had when I came here to pastor, I came from West Virginia, I pastored a small church, I pastored church people, I pastored people, even sinners knew how church worked. You could go into the strip club and say, "God is good," and they would say, "All the time," and you say, "All the time," and they say, "God is good".

I see the comedians open up their lines in the nightclub because there was no real line of demarcation. I got down here and y'all got, like, real sinners. We had faux sinners, yeah, they wasn't like real sinners. Y'all got the real deal. They'd get in church, they get saved, they don't understand anything about church at all. So I'm driving out the lot and this homeless guy who had just gotten saved waves at me with tears in his eyes and says, "I love you, Mr. Bishop". And I drove off, I waved at him and smiled and everything, I drove off and I thought, "He don't even know what a bishop is". The other guy hollered at me, "T.D. my man, dog". I was driving around Dallas one night, down 35, and a brother hollered out the window, he said, "I love you, man, they love you in the joint". Somebody said, "That's right, they do". And I had to decide: did I wanna hold onto my tradition or did I want to grow into my purpose? Did it really matter whether they understood what a bishop was or not? Does it matter whether he call me by my name on my title? my momma called me by my name. Sometimes we worry about the wrong stuff.

Now they have grown outside of the window of their religion but that's where they went because there was hunger, and that's the mission, is to go where there is hunger for what you have. Stop trying to talk people into wanting what they don't want. You don't want what I have? God is now stretching me, bringing me into a people who have a hunger for what other people ignored. When I started my church in West Virginia, I could teach Bible class and it might be 12 people there. And I'd be teaching my heart out to 12 people, sweating, walking up and down the aisles, standing on top of the pew, talking about, "The devil is a liar". Wouldn't I do it like that? "The devil is a liar". I preached till my shoes was wet, I preached till I left wet spots in the carpet, you would've swore I was talking to a room like this. I was, in my spirit. You can't wait till you get there to get there, you gotta get there before it actually is there, you gotta call those things that are not as though they were. It wasn't but 12 people, but it was thousands to me.

Now, one of the things that I have to do in order to receive the ministry that God has for me; I have to drop my religiosity or give up on my destiny. Because my Destiny was with the people who were hungry, not with the people who knew what a bishop was. Y'all don't hear what I'm saying, if y'all heard what I was saying you would shout better today. You gotta go into uncharted waters. And because the mission has now four step to move into a new arena, to come to a new area, the thing that is strange to me is that. Can I show you something, can I show you something real quick? This text I love, and I'm gonna tell you why I love this text. I love this text because it's only when I read the 8th chapter of the book of Acts, that I understand the 4th chapter the Gospel of Saint John. You remember the woman at the well? When Jesus was talking to the woman at the well, down at the end of the chapter, he says, "The harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few". He said, "Look ye how the harvest is white," "The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few".

I realize now why Jesus waited at the well for that one woman. You remember that one woman planted a seed in Samaria? What's happening in Acts, is that they are now harvesting off of that seed that was planted by that one woman. One man plants, another man waters, and God gives the increase. Oh God, see, you shouldn't get me out here like this, you shouldn't get me out of here like this, y'all playing with me now. I'm going to explain something to you and help you to understand. Some of you can't understand why you're being fought like you're being fought, you don't understand who you are. That woman wasn't nobody to be fought, she wasn't nobody for Jesus to wait on, she didn't have no important titles, no great positions, she was kinda-kinda-kinda-uh. "What had happened was..."

You know, she had five husbands and she was in a situation. She wasn't nobody for Jesus to be seen with, she wasn't nobody for Jesus to be waiting on, but that one woman was a kingpin. Some of you don't understand why you are up under attack like you are is because you're a kingpin, you're gonna do something or say something that's going to start something that outlives you and outlasts you. And the enemy is afraid of you because he understands the power, glory. Somebody shout, "Power". The woman at the well, when she said, "Come see a man that told me everything I had ever done," this is that same city. Now Philip is coming to reap the harvest, Philip steps into her harvest and converts the entire city, breaks the spell over the city because the woman had planted a seed. It was easy for Philip to preach because she had testified. By the same token, if you're the one who plants the seed, don't be upset 'cause you didn't get the harvest. Sometimes, all God wanted you to do is plant a seed.

I remember being backslidden and I come out in front of the store and I was doing something to unlock the store and get ready for the day and I was backslidden and somebody drove past and hollered, "Minister Jakes, God loves you," and it felt like electricity going all through me. I don't even know who it was but it was a seed. It was a seed. You entered into the harvest of a seed. Philip is in the harvest of a seed. I'm not losing you, am I? You with me? Okay, good, okay, watch this. Philip is in the harvest of a seed and that's why he is effective, he is only effective because of what she did. That's why you can't feel bad about yourself just because you did a little something and it doesn't look like it's everything you wanted it to be, it was enough to get it started, it was enough to get it planted, it was enough to meet that person, it was enough to be a witness, it was enough to be a testimony. Now, when God sends Philip in, the ground is fertile because of you. The mission is to stretch the Gospel beyond the normal.

Oh God, I feel it. The mission is to stretch the Gospel beyond the normal. Every brother, or sister even, who came out of the hood, I mean the hood, stand up for a minute. The reason God got you in this church right now; because you came out of the hood, you understand certain things about the hood, God's gonna use you in a way that he couldn't use somebody who didn't come out the hood because you speak the language, you know the issues, you know the problem, you are anointed to go into places where other people can't go. Give yourself a praise, God's getting ready to stretch you. You may be seated. Everybody who speaks Spanish stand up, everybody who speaks Spanish stand up. The reason you speak Spanish is because God can use you in places that he can't use me 'cause you can go in there and tell them things that I can't say without an interpreter.

God has a plan for your life so you will learn over here, you will work over there, you can win more effectively, you know the customs, you know the routines, you know the food, you know what's funny, you know how to tell jokes in that environment that resonate with those people because that's why God uses devout men from every nation. The mission is to stretch the church, not isolate the church, not close it in, not shut it down, we need to broaden it out. Say, "Amen," somebody. Oh, this is getting good, it's getting good, it's getting good, it's getting good. Shake your neighbor and say, "God is getting ready to stretch you". Lisa will tell you, when I talk to the people about Goldman Sachs, I said, "We can't be you if we don't see you". We don't have little boys in the hood saying, "I want to grow up and work for Goldman Sachs," 'cause they ain't never saw Goldman Sachs, they can't even spell Goldman Sachs. As long as we stay in our little modular, insulated environment, we can't change anything.

When you get out of Jerusalem, and go down to Samaria, you're gonna take the whole city. When you get stretched, you're gonna get used. Oh my God, oh my God, you're getting ready to go into a whole different dimension so God is preparing you. Tonight, and again on Tuesday night when I'm with you, it's gonna be getting you ready for what God is gonna do in your life going forward. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Push your neighbor on one side and say, "Give me some room". Give me some room 'cause I'm getting ready to enlarge, I'm getting ready to enlarge, I'm getting ready to enlarge. I'm getting ready to strengthen my cords and lengthen my stakes, I'm getting ready to enlarge, I'm getting ready to enlarge, I'm getting ready to enlarge, I'm getting ready to enlarge, I'm getting ready to enlarge. Tell your old friends, "I'm getting ready to get on your nerves, you're gonna be saying, 'She think she's something, she forgot where she came from, I remember him when he was young.'" Let them go ahead and talk about your past, get ready to enlarge and go to the next dimension. "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice, I will rejoice".

Hallelujah. Tell your neighbor, "I'm coming out". I'm coming out of every hole and every dungeon and every cave and every small place, I'm coming out to the next dimension. I'm coming out into my purpose, I'm coming out into my mission, I'm coming out into my ministry, I'm coming out into my destiny. Shout, "Yeah". Glory to God. I talked to you about the money, I talked to you about the mission, now I want to go to point three, and as we move on I want you to begin to understand something. If you get this, y'all still with me? this is important. I want to get the malignancy. The malignancy is exemplified by Simon who has, I actually believe that he was a believer because the Bible said he believed. So if the Bible say you believed, you believed. He believed and was baptized but his mind didn't change. His mind didn't change, so he brought a carnal mentality into a spiritual situation.

Now, Philip didn't rebuke him, Philip had enough to convert him but not rebuke him; Peter rebuked him because Peter had walked with Jesus, Peter had suffered with Jesus, Peter had seen Jesus beaten, Peter had seen his beautiful young flesh lacerated until there was no beauty that we should desire him. Peter had seen the blood spatter, Peter had heard him grown in agony, Peter had been with him in the Garden of Gethsemane and watched him pray and sweat till he started bleeding through the pores of his skin; Peter saw what it really cost to have the Holy Ghost. Philip didn't handle this, Peter did because Peter was a part of Jesus's inner circle, so he got to see up close what it cost Jesus to be Jesus.

So Peter is insulted by what Simon says, Peter is insulted because Peter was the one who ran down and found the tomb empty, Peter was the one who was so frustrated and so fearful when Jesus was crucified that he lied and said he never knew him. Peter had seen Jesus up under the kind of pressure that he couldn't even take, Peter knew what it cost to be anointed, Peter knew that Jesus had writhed on that cross, almost unconscious; that he had been beaten beyond recognition; that they had taken a cat of nine tails and the spikes had ripped his flesh til his insides were hanging out of the lacerations of his skin.

I want you to see this thing. Peter knew that Jesus had been nailed to the cross and that a crown of thorns had pierced his skin till the blood had dripped in with the sweat and the tears and fell down his face. Peter knew how he had been humiliated and stripped naked and hung high and stretched wide and up under this Palestinian sun, with nothing but heat and wind and sand blowing against his naked wounds, Jesus died till the ground trembled; he died till the sun refused to shine; he died till law collapsed into grace; he died till the veil in the temple was rent from the top to the bottom; he died till Mary said, I can't see it anymore; he died until the thief said, "Surely this man is the Son of God". He died. Do you hear me? He died, he died. Peter knew what it cost. And you think you can buy this with money? You think you can buy this with money? You think this is that? You think just because you were a star out there you're going to come over here and be a star over here? You think this is that? You think it's the same thing? This is not the same thing. You think you can get this in a year?

I never will forget, I had a young man that I was pastoring and he told me, "I don't have time to serve you; in three years, I'll be you". In three years, he had backslid, got on drugs, ended up on crack, and left out the church altogether. Because he underestimated the cost of the oil, he underestimated. See, he thought 'cause he could buy my suits and he could walk like me and he could talk like me and he knew some of the people I knew and he had done a few articles and he'd been on TV a couple of times, he thought he could get it on sale. He thought, because you can get cute in little suit, you got it. This is not for sale.

The problem with this generation is that we want everything for nothing. You can't be my friend overnight, you can't be my friend overnight, you can't be my friend overnight, you can't be my friend overnight, you can't be my friend overnight, you cannot be my friend overnight. We can shake hands, we can do selfies. wanna do a selfie? Let's do a selfie. You can't be my friend overnight until you suffered with me, until you've been through bad times with me, until you've cried with me, until you've proven to be loyal, until you've proven to me that you keep your mouth shut, until I got your secrets and you got mine, until you've been consistent for a while. You can't be my best friend overnight. Oh, I'll be nice to you but you can't be my best friend overnight. Glory to God.

See, the problem with Simon is that he underestimates what greatness costs, he thinks he can buy it, he thinks he can buy it. And there are people trying to buy you and there are people trying to be you, and everybody hating on you really wanna be you, everybody hating on you really want to be you. Now, I have never had anybody doing better than me that was hating on me, not yet, not yet, not yet, 'cause everybody who's doing better than me is busier than me. You've gotta have time to be a hater, you gotta be free to be a hater, you gotta have nothing else to do but be a hater, to be a stalker, to be stalking me on the internet. You got to have nothing to do to be doing that. People who really got something to do I don't have time to be your hater, they don't care what you doing, they don't care what you into, they trying to get done what they're trying to get done.

Can I have a witness? I want one witness somewhere, give me a witness somewhere. Slap your neighbor and say, "I paid for this". I paid for this, I paid for this, I paid for this. I dug myself up, I dug myself out, I pushed myself when I felt like quitting, I cried myself to sleep and still went to work in the morning, I disciplined my bad behavior, I brought myself up under subjection, I encouraged myself when I had nobody to encourage me, I cried to work and still went to work, I kept on fighting even when I thought I was losing. Oh, do you hear what I'm saying? It's not easy, it's not easy, it's not easy, this is not for sale.
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