TD Jakes - How to Carry the Promise
When the Bible first says that the Lamb was slain from the foundations of the world, it was talking about Jesus all the way then, and yet we did not see him born or even on the cross yet. Because eternity is not restricted to time, it doesn’t have to wait for time to come in order to manifest. Eternity is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Time was created by God during creation; God existed before the first day was made, so eternity is bigger than time. Time is just a microcosm of eternity. Somebody say «Amen.»
And from a lofty perspective of a theological understanding of the magnitude of this moment, this is cataclysmic. Any time heaven starts shouting, it’s cataclysmic. Any time the angels start rejoicing, we ought to be the first ones to give God praise and honor and glory. Anytime the angels start praising God, we ought to outdo them in praising God because He came to redeem us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they’re shouting over something that they couldn’t benefit from; we benefit from something that we won’t shout about. That’s why the Bible said, «Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,» because He came for you when you were in the pit. He came for you when you were in trouble. He came for you.
And yet, as powerful as this moment was, it had problems. You must understand that the fact that you have been empowered does not exempt you from problems. When we look at it from a divine perspective, we see the very power of God, the strategy of God, the strength of God, the inexhaustibility of His wisdom, the manifold wisdom of God, the Ancient of Days, the Sovereign God, the Mighty God. But from a human perspective, this night has a lot of problems. From heaven’s standpoint, it was shouting time, but from Mary’s standpoint, it was not a shouting time.
Number one, there was no precedent for it. Anytime God does something for you for which you have no point of reference, it’s frightening. It’s fearful. It’s uncertain. When you can’t look back in your life and point to something that is similar, and all of a sudden, you find yourself in uncharted waters, it’s uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact it was unorthodox, so you could not lean on the Hebrew Bible to get precedent for this kind of birth that she had.
Can you imagine going to your rabbi and saying, «You know God got me pregnant the other night»? Yeah, I’ve had a few come to this church to say that, and I had the same reaction you just did. So, there you are without the benefit of sociological support, theological foundation, or previous experience; you are out there on your own. I want to talk to somebody that God is saying something to you for which you have no precedent, no background, no support. You’ve never seen Him do anything like that in your life before, but He said something to you, and you believe it. There was no precedent for it.
Number two, there was no place for it. God had given her a word and a promise but not a place. What do you do when God has given you a word and a promise and you have no place for it? What do you do when you know God spoke to you, you know He appeared to you, you know the Holy Ghost came upon you and left you with child, and the God who was thoughtful enough to come upon you and leave you with child didn’t think of a place for you to stay? I’m amazed at the many people in this room and in this world who are online right now. You’ve been anointed for something, but there’s no place for it. You got a message, and there’s no place to preach it. You’ve got a song, and there’s no place to sing it. You’ve got a vision, but you don’t have a building to do it in. You’ve got a business in you, but you don’t have a company yet. You’ve got a book in you, but you don’t have a publisher. Sometimes God will give you something for which you have no place. Am I talking to anybody today?
Number three, there was no presence of angels. The angels were making a whole lot of noise when they announced to her, «Hail Mary, you have been highly favored. You shall bring forth a son, and his name shall be called Jesus.» But by the time she was heavy with child, riding on a donkey, I would presume in the hot Palestinian heat to give birth to a child without a physician, there were no angels saying, «We got your back. Don’t worry, girl, everything’s going to be all right.»
Sometimes God gets quiet when you’re in His will and in His purpose, and He still says nothing at all. Sometimes you have to walk by faith and not by sight and not have the affirmation or the reaffirmation that the God who said it is still with you, and you got to keep on walking anyway. Sometimes heaven gets quiet while you get nervous. Heaven gets uncomfortable to the degree that it does not come to make you comfortable; it intends for you to have discomfort. She was in the will, but she was uncomfortable.
Why do you know that? The Bible didn’t say that, no. But common sense says that if you’re about to have a baby and you’re riding on a donkey, come on sisters, back me up: if you’ve ever been pregnant, would you like to take a ride into Bethlehem on a donkey? Yeah, saddle strapped to a donkey traveling down the road, and all of a sudden, you find yourself in a situation where you are completely uncomfortable. I want you to understand in this age and era where our comfort has become so important that there are times in life that God doesn’t care that you’re not comfortable. Oh God, He doesn’t know. God cares; He cares about His purpose. He cares about His will. He cares about His destiny. But God doesn’t always care about your comfort. Being in the will of God will make you uncomfortable. If you don’t believe it, ask Jesus about the cross.
So there was no precedent for it, there was no place for it, there was no presence of angels, and number four, there was no plan for it. She didn’t know that she was going to give birth to that baby in Bethlehem. The reason that she came there, she is not going to have a baby; they were going from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to pay taxes. It was a quick trip that was necessary to pay homage or to pay taxes because Joseph was from the city of David. She did not get on that beast saying, «I’m gonna have this baby.» She comes into the region; it appears that the birth of Jesus wasn’t planned to occur in Bethlehem by Joseph. He went there simply to handle some business.
The King James Version says it was to pay taxes; the NIV says it was the word used for tax could be interpreted to register. Whether they were registering their marriage or because they were from town, there was some sort of decree that required an immediate trip, and they were traveling pregnant. I want to talk to some people that are traveling pregnant. You’re traveling pregnant; you’re traveling with something inside of you that hasn’t come out yet. You’re traveling with discomfort; you’re traveling with unease. You’re moving forward, but there’s something down inside of you that’s weighing you down. They were traveling pregnant. Everybody had to go pay taxes, but they were traveling pregnant.
The difference that set them apart from other people is that they were traveling pregnant, and they had no plan that this would be the trip that took them over the edge. They had no plan that this would be the trip where her water broke. They had no plan that this would be the trip where she became so heavy with child that she went into labor and gave birth to a child in Bethlehem. They had no plan for it. They had no idea that this was the moment. This infant incidentally, Bethlehem in the New Testament is often referred to as Ephrata in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, when it’s referred to as Ephrata, Rachel died giving birth on the way to Ephrata. This is not a nice, easy trip.
Rachel went into labor and had Ben-Onai, the son of my sorrows, and died just outside Bethlehem. Maybe God kept her outside of Bethlehem so that she wouldn’t fool herself and think that she was having the Messiah and said, «I’ve got to stop you before you get here.» But she died; no, she died a little ways outside of Ephrata, almost there, and God said, «This is not the one that I want to be born in Bethlehem. No, no, no, no, no. No, there is one coming that’s going to be born in Bethlehem that will be King of Kings. You’re pregnant with a King, but I’m gonna produce a King of Kings and a Lord of Lords, and he’s gonna be born in Bethlehem. So whatever you’re gonna have, you’re gonna have to have it on your way.» But what they are like is neither one of them expected for their water to break and for them to dilate nine centimeters and give birth on the road.
What do you do when what you’re carrying breaks forth before you’re ready? What do you do with what you thought would happen in 2022 happens in 2021? What do you do when you lose control of the promise, and it happens when it happens, and you’ve got to adjust to what you’ve got to adjust to? What do you do when God has a plan, but you don’t? You know God did not promise to let you in on His plan; He allows you to walk in the dark. God knew she was going to have that baby in Bethlehem. It was prophesied that He would be born in Bethlehem. God knew she was going to go into labor, but Mary didn’t know, Joseph didn’t know. He had no plan; he had no place to stay; he had no presence of angels.
Joseph didn’t know what to do because the thing broke loose quicker than he thought. I want to take a minute and talk to somebody; what God has been talking to you about is going to break loose quicker than you think. What God has been speaking to you about over the last three months is gonna break loose sooner than you think. What God has put in your spirit, you think it’s gonna break loose at the end of 2022; God said it’s gonna break loose sooner than you think. Oh, if I was preaching years ago, I’d holler, «Get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready…» Your time schedule is not God’s time.
What an inconvenient place to go into labor. What a filthy place; who wants to have a sanctified baby in a desecrated place? And the heat is on for Joseph to make an emergency decision, an emergency decision because it appears that Mary is going to have her baby in the same place that Ruth had Obed, and Joseph is a descendant of King David, and Obed is David’s great-great-grandfather. And it seems like it’s happening again. Only it is not Ruth this time; it’s Mary, and she’s pregnant. I had a plan to pay taxes, not nurse babies, but it happens when it happens.
What I just said right there is worth the whole sermon: it happens when it happens. It happens when it happens, ready or not. It happens when it happens. You gotta get ready, because it happens when it happens. You gotta stop living in the moment and get ready for the unexpected because it happens when it happens. You gotta stop spending up to the limit and get some reserve because what God’s gonna do is gonna happen when it happens, and when it happens, you gotta be ready for it. It happens when it happens.
I don’t know who I’m talking to, but I’m talking to somebody. Write this down: it happens when it happens. You can’t live like you ain’t pregnant; you can’t live like you’re not expecting something. When you’re expecting something, you gotta have enough stuff in your bag to get you through in a pinch because it happens when it happens. It happened, and all of a sudden, in the night, in the night, in the night…
Preaching this now, you don’t get it because we live with electricity. Jesus never saw a light bulb; He never saw a lamp. There were no streetlights. It happens in the dark. In the dark, God brings the Light of the World into the world. In the dark, He displays Him like a diamond on black velvet against the blackest of nights. God brings in the Light of the World, and in the darkness of light, with every door He’s knocked on, closed…
Oh, I wish I had time! If I had time, I’d talk to some frustrated men. Everything you knock on, it’s not working. Everything you tried is not working. Every time you knock on the door, they shut the door in your face, and it’s a crisis; it’s an emergency, and you’re worried about your family and yourself. And I want you to know you’re not alone. The Bible does not hide the frustration of a man trying to find an open door, going after door after door, and each door is shut in his face. And it’s the darkness of night; the baby says, «I won’t wait any longer.» All he sees is a barn over yonder across the field, and in the night, he makes his way.