TD Jakes - Walk Me Through It
In the Book of Acts, chapter 12, verses 1-14, it would almost appear that we’re pretty organized and structured. We put a great deal of effort and energy into presenting our best to you, but we don’t always coordinate between the worship team and the preaching. However, it sounds like we did this time, because what they just sang aligns with what I’m about to preach: Acts 12:1-14. This is probably more Bible reading than you’ve done this month! We are reading from The Message Bible; you can follow along if you want, or you can look at the monitors on the screen.
This is when King Herod got it into his head to go after some church members. But why is the king going after church members, and why are politicians targeting the people of God? He murdered James, John’s brother. James didn’t even do anything! When Herod saw how much this raised his popularity with the Jews, he arrested Peter, saying, «If killing one is good, let me kill another.» All this occurred during Passover week, mind you, and he had Peter thrown in jail, with four squads of four soldiers each to guard him—16 soldiers in total. He was planning a public lynching after Passover.
While Peter was under heavy guard in the jailhouse, the church prayed for him most strenuously. That’s why we must keep our intercessors active. Then the time came for Herod to bring him out for the kill; the timing was right. This was a strategy—it had a date, a sequence, structure, and order. It was a plot. That night, even though Peter was shackled to two soldiers, one on either side, I love this! I can stop right here and preach on this all day: Peter slept like a baby! Woo! Glory to God! When’s the last time you slept like a baby, even with guards at the door? I almost called it «Sleeping with the Enemy,» because if you can sleep and have inner peace when your outer circumstances are completely contradictory, that’s faith at its best. Sometimes faith doesn’t say a word; it snores.
The guards at the door kept their eyes on the place; Herod was taking no chances. Suddenly, an angel appeared at his side, oh my God! Suddenly, someone shout «suddenly!» Suddenly, there was an angel at his side, and light flooded the room. The angel shook Peter and got him up. The handcuffs fell off his wrist! That’s not how that works; the handcuffs fell off his rib! Glory to God! Something is getting ready to fall off of you; something they thought they had locked tight is about to be released! The angel said, «Get dressed, put on your clothes.» Peter did it, then said, «Grab your coat, and let’s get out of here!» Woo! Let’s get out of here! Look at someone and say, «Let’s get out of here!»
Peter followed him but didn’t believe it was really an angel; he thought he was taking some Ambien. (Don’t sue me; I’m just being funny!) He thought he was dreaming. Can you imagine living in a way that you think it’s a dream, scared to believe it’s real? They passed the first guard and then the second. They came to the iron gate that led into the city; it swung open before them on its own! Good God, have mercy! They were out on the streets, free as the breeze, because the angel got him to that first intersection. The angel left him, going his own way. That’s when Peter realized this isn’t a dream!
I have to stop there a minute and tell you that when God answers your prayer, sometimes it takes you a while to believe it. Does anybody want to be honest for a minute? Have you ever had God do something for you, but you were scared to rely on it because you weren’t sure it was going to last? He said, «I can’t believe this really happened.» Look at this! The Master sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s vicious plan and the spectacle the Jewish mob was looking forward to. Still shaking his head, amazed, he went to Mary’s house, the Mary who was John Mark’s mother. The house was packed with praying friends. Oh God, give me some praying friends!
When he knocked on the door of the courtyard, a young woman named Rhoda came to see who it was. But when she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so excited that she forgot to open the door and left the answer to prayer standing in the street. This morning, for what God is going to do, for what the enemy has conspired to circumvent, my subject is «Walk Me Through It.»
No, wait! This is not for the people who take no risk; this is not for those who see their way clear. This is for the people who dare to go into adventurous spaces they have never experienced before, spaces for which they have never been trained. It doesn’t make sense that you would have this opportunity afforded to you, and yet you have it. Today, I want you to throw your hands up and say, «Walk me through it!»
Father God, in the name of Jesus, let the word be made flesh while it’s being preached today. I thank You for Your power. I thank You for Your grace. I thank You for Your anointing. I thank You for Your consistency. I thank You for Your patience. I thank You for Your love. I thank You for Your grace. I thank You for Your hand of mercy over our lives. I thank You, Lord, for the things You’re about to do. I believe You for miracles. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Somebody shout amen! You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.
There is a word, there is a word, there is a word, there is a word, there is a word from the Lord. I’m wondering if you’ve ever found yourself in a situation where you didn’t really belong. This text is so opulent, so exciting and excessive, that it’s easy to get caught up in what happened without examining why it happened. That’s how much of your life is today; we deal with the «what,» because the «what» is so flamboyant, challenging, and scary. Very few people have a tendency to ask «why.» We pray about the «what» but ignore the «why.» Part of the ability to navigate through something is to understand not only what happened but why it happened.
If you get caught up in what happened without understanding why, you will become emotional and think that everything that happened is your fault. «I must have done something wrong.» Who’s to say whether it’s the mother or the father that the child should be born blind? We are always looking for someone to blame! The first thing we start talking about in times of calamity is, «Who are we going to blame?» Did the fire department get there on time? Did they set the buzzer? Did they send the signal? Did they issue an Amber Alert? We always want someone to blame for what happened.
But many times, in order to think clearly, succinctly, and intelligently so you can pray effectively, you must get beyond what is happening in your life to understand why it’s happening. Why is this happening in my life, at this time, in this way, and in this place? I need to know how to handle it! If I don’t know why it’s happening, I don’t even know how to pray. I don’t know whether to rebuke the devil, plead the blood, bind the witches, come against Satan, or thank God for counting me worthy to go through a test.
I don’t know whether to repent because I did something wrong or accept it as a test that I have to face. Is this just a season in my life I’m going through? Am I self-sabotaging myself? I don’t know whether I need a therapist or an exorcist. I do know that I need an «IST»! I just don’t know if it’s a therapist or an exorcist. I don’t like what’s happening in my life. I don’t like being in trouble.
I don’t know anybody in the room who likes being in trouble. When I was raising my kids, I would tell them, «When we get home, we are going to dance.» I didn’t mean it in a good way! They knew right then they were in trouble. My mother didn’t have to say anything; she just had to look at you. She would give you that look, and it was as if your blood stopped moving through your body. Your heart would stop beating! They couldn’t get a pulse on you anywhere, because without parting her lips, that look announced, «I see you, and I’ve got you! If you don’t stop right now, I’m going to get you! If you’re lucky, you’ll wait until we get home, but if you don’t stop, you’ll get it right now!»
All of a sudden, you find yourself in trouble. I don’t like the feeling of being in trouble—my pulse quickens, my stress levels go up, and my body goes crazy. I have all these mental images of what’s going to happen. «She’s going to kill me! She’s going to absolutely kill me!» Well, I had good reason to think that. My mother told me she could kill me and have another child that looked just like me! She said they wouldn’t even know I was gone! I was about four years old, thinking, «Can you really do that? Can you just replace a brother like that?»
You go from that kind of trouble to adult trouble—mortgage due, rent due, not getting along with my wife, a daughter that’s not speaking to me, a son who’s upset with me—that kind of trouble. And though you are experiencing adult trouble, you feel it like a child: «I’m in trouble! I’m in trouble!» You lay down at night and think, «Oh God, I’m in trouble! I’m getting ready to retire, but I have nothing to retire on. I’m in trouble!» The doctor says my creatinine is running high. I’m in trouble! They found a knot in the corner of my breast, and the test hasn’t come back yet. I may be 50, but I’m experiencing it as a five-year-old: «I’m in trouble!» I can tell how everybody stops talking when I come into the office; I’m in trouble.
But a lot of the things—most of the things—that happen in our lives, we’re actually just caught in the crossfire of a bigger fight. Oh, this is so good! You might be the victim, you might be the pawn, you might be the recipient of tragedy, but it’s generally about something bigger than you. It’s bigger than you! You hear people say, «The devil came into my room last night, and I had to wrestle with the devil all night long.» Come on, girl! You know the devil didn’t come into your room last night! You know you’re not that important that the devil would make house calls and spend the whole evening wrestling with you!
The devil only showed up a few times in all of the Bible. And you mean to tell me the devil is over your house drinking a hot latte and telling you everything he’s going to do to you? Come on! We need to get a grip on reality. But we’re experiencing trauma as if we are five years old, and we don’t know, we don’t know the «why.» We just know the «what.» We don’t understand where it’s coming from; all we know is that we’re in trouble.
Generally, once you conclude that you’re in trouble, you start looking for someone to blame. There are three different schools of thought: one group of people blames spiritual elements. It’s always the devil: «The devil made me do it.» My daughter, since she’s not here, I’m going to share this story: She broke a tiger statue in my living room when she was nine years old. She broke it completely in two. It was a beautiful tiger that we had behind the sofa. I don’t know what she did to break it—I’m not sure whether she was jumping up and down on it or hit someone with it. When I confronted her, she said, «The devil made me do it.» I thought, «No! I can’t even punish you because I’m trying not to laugh!» She just totally disarmed me with that line.
Many people think the devil is the root cause of everything that happens to them. We blame the devil for everything—even if we broke the tiger, we point fingers at the devil, because we’ve been taught that everything is spiritual. Others blame other people. They don’t blame the devil; they blame external people. «My first husband was crazy; my second husband was crazy; my third husband acts like… He didn’t have any sense. My fourth husband didn’t appreciate a good woman when he had one. My fifth husband acted like he never complimented me on my hair.»
Now, after about five, you ought to start thinking maybe it ain’t the man; it might be you. But y’all don’t do that. You know what y’all say? There ain’t no good men left in the world. It never comes up as an issue that it might be you. It’s just that there ain’t no good men left in the world. You dated five men out of eight billion people on the planet, and you have concluded that the rest of us are all crazy because you had a bad experience, and you have never considered yourself as the problem. You just think she’s crazy. That’s what the brothers say; that’s what we say about y’all when we break up. «Man, she’s crazy.» Crazy is a catch-all phrase. You don’t know what kind of crazy she is. We don’t do a complete diagnosis. But when one guy tells you another guy is crazy, all the other guys look at her and go, «Okay.»
So you go down that road and blame other people. We blame other people for being late. We blame other people for not paying our bills. We blame other people. And this is one I don’t understand: I don’t understand how you can borrow money from me, not pay me back, and then blame me. Now you’re mad at me? Wait a minute! I’m the one who’s broke! I’m the one out the money! I’m the one you didn’t pay back, and you’re rolling your eyes at me? We blame other people for stuff. We break the third group; we blame ourselves for everything—stuff we had no control over, things we couldn’t fix. We beat ourselves up about everything. We defend ourselves in front of the attacker, but when we get home alone, we blame ourselves. «I’m not enough!» «Imposter syndrome.» «I’m inadequate; I can’t do it.» «Look at me; I mess up everything.»
We go all the way back to the first grade. That’s why I flunked the first grade; that’s why I went through a test; that’s why I made an F on my report card. We go all the way back, read a whole résumé to validate why we are no good, and we start attacking ourselves. In our text, it is clear; it does not leave it to our imagination to conclude what category this is in. Peter is definitely in trouble. Yeah, he’s going to die in the morning. Yeah that’s right; he’s going to die in the morning, but it is not the devil; it is not the other disciples, and the worst part is it’s not even Peter. Peter has done nothing wrong. Why do bad things happen to good people? You find yourself in this situation where, not only are you trying to endure the problem, you’re perplexed because you don’t understand the problem.
«I don’t understand why you don’t like me, and you’re my child, and everything I’ve ever done was for you.» I don’t understand why you don’t like me, and I’m your son. How could you not like your child? You go through all of these questions in your mind, and when you come to church, all we do is tell you to give Him a praise. But let me tell you what praise won’t do: praise won’t answer your questions. Praise won’t always resolve your issue. Praise face won’t take the place of an apology. You can dance all over the church, but you still didn’t apologize, and you don’t have any peace. I don’t care how fancy you are; you can run around this church until you need a water bottle that says «After House» on it, and it still won’t solve the problem because praise won’t fix what you need to fix—I knew nobody was going to shout! Give them a «B1» shout; they need to shout.
Let me tell you something: you’re trying to figure out what is going on, and the church comes to you and just tells you to praise the Lord. «Hey, I’ve got a lump in my breast, and I’m going to give God the praise.» But when I got through dancing, I still had a lump in my breast, and it’s growing. What do I do when I find myself in a situation, and I don’t know who to blame, and I don’t know how to pray, and I don’t know how to respond to it, and I don’t know how to talk about it? I don’t have language for it. I’m going through it. I’m going through something; Peter is going through something that the other disciples could not relate to, and he’s going through it alone. Even if they could relate to it, he can’t talk to them.
I want to talk to some people who are going through some stuff alone. You’re going through some stuff alone, even though other people are around. You’re going through it alone, even though other people have an opinion. You’re going through it alone, even though other people may be talking about it. You’re going through it alone. Peter is going through this alone. There’s no James; there’s no John in the room. There are no people standing around him. Misery kind of enjoys company: If I’ve got to go through it, let me go through it with somebody. But most of the things that torment the soul, we go through alone. Single people think they go through it alone because they’re single, but married people know that being married doesn’t mean that you’re not going through it alone. Having somebody laying next to you doesn’t mean that they’re going through it with you.
That’s right; that’s right. Thank you for the ten people that aren’t hypocrites—the ten people that can admit that you can lay next to somebody and you can even spoon alone. This is a keen test for men, ladies: when you ask him what he’s thinking, and he says nothing, it doesn’t mean that we’re not thinking nothing. It just means that we figure we’re going through this alone. Peter is going through this alone. What did he do to go to jail? Thank you, Luke, when you wrote the book of Acts. You do not leave me to guess about how Peter got in jail. He got in the crossfire of Herod Agrippa I. He got in the crossfire of a political decision where the king decided to attack the church member for strategic advantage to go up higher in rank with the Jews.
The backstory is King Herod Agrippa I was partly Jewish; he had been sent to this outpost. He wanted to be their king, but the Jews did not legitimize him as being authentically Jewish. So he’s trying to gain some Jewish points. I don’t know if Jewish people have points; Black people have points, but Jewish people I don’t know if y’all got points or not. But he’s trying to get some points. And so he knows that the Jews don’t like the Christians, so he is hating on who they’re hating on to gain status so that he’ll have more power to get where he’s trying to go. He doesn’t even know Peter; he doesn’t even care about Peter; he’s not thinking about Peter; he doesn’t care about Christianity; he doesn’t care about what they’re trying to teach; he doesn’t really care about Orthodox Judaism. He cares about his career.
If you don’t understand why you are being attacked, you don’t know how to respond to the attack. If you don’t understand that the bloggers get paid by the hits they get, then you’ll think they’re talking about you because you’re you. No, they’re talking about you because people know you, and people are going to argue about you. The more they click, the more they get paid. And you don’t understand that talking about people has become a business. Some people don’t do anything for a living except talk about people. I mean, this is your full-time job. What do you do for a living, sir? I talk about people. That’s what I do. And it pays really good because if I talk about big people, I get a lot of hits. And if I get a lot of hits, then I get paid a lot of money. And if I get paid a lot of money, I don’t need to work any other kind of job.
All I need to do is say something titillating and salacious enough to get you to click on it, and the more clicks I get, guess what? The more checks I make. Thank you for clicking. Thank you for arguing both sides of the issue. Thank you for responding because you’re driving my algorithms up, and I am getting paid. So they pick you out not because you are Luther Vandross or whoever you are, James to whoever you are. No, no, no, no; they pick you out because everybody knows you, and everybody’s going to click on it. And you got caught in the crossfire. Peter had preached that day at Pentecost. He was an influential Christian; he had ignited the switch that provoked the outpouring of the Holy Spirit down on the people that caused 3,000 souls to be added to the church that day. Peter had influence! Peter had such influence that Herod figured if I kill the first disciple and they like that, if I get the ringleader, I will really be on top. I’m going to really be on top.
See, that’s why every neck’s got to pray for every head. You can’t get into a fight between the neck and the head and argue about position. You need to understand: heavy is the crown that rests upon the head. The higher you go, but before you pray about going up, realize the higher you go, you’re going to get caught in fights that you didn’t start. You don’t even know the person; you don’t know what’s going on. I called a friend of mine one day, and I was reading an article in the Chicago Sun. The guy was just giving me the blues. I mean, it was an entire op-ed, of which I was at least a third of the op-ed, and I didn’t even know who he was. I called a friend of mine and said, «Who is this guy?» He told me who he was; you know, I said, «I never even met the guy.» He said, «It doesn’t matter.»
It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do. When you’re in the crossfire of somebody else’s ego, there’s something about what I just said that felt prophetic as it was coming out of me. It felt prophetic—like somebody in this room is in a situation right now, and you are bearing the brunt force of other people’s decisions that are affecting you, but they’re not because of you. They have their own agenda, and you have to stop worrying about yourself and worrying about your efficiency. Just because somebody is trying to get in with the Jews so that he can set up his kingdom, it has nothing to do with Peter’s theology, his preaching, his teaching, his gifting, his power, his favor, or his anointing. Yet Peter is in jail; it has nothing to do with him, but he’s in jail.
It was not even his fight, but he was in jail. It was not even his problem, but he was in jail. He has had no argument with Herod, but he is in jail. He has not ticked off the city, but he is in jail. Bad things do happen to good people! God does not always order sunshine in the morning. God does not always order blue skies and seagulls flying over your window; that’s not the way God works. God will order trouble for your life and allow you to get in trouble because God is a present help in trouble. And if you want to be where God is, God will let you get in trouble so He can show Himself strong in your situation. I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but God put you in trouble just so that He can show you how strong He is and that He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
See, Herod was the king, but Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And what you’ve got to understand is the accountant doesn’t have the last say; the lawyer doesn’t have the last say; the judge don’t have the last say; the court doesn’t have the last say—God is going to have the last say! It may take some time; it may take some tests; it may take some trials. But what God has for you is for you! What I want you to see in the first phrase of this text is that this is a strategy of which he is being victimized by a systemic strategy that set him up. The Bible says that we are not ignorant of the wiles of the devil. The wiles of the devil are his strategies; Satan has a strategy that is tailor-made for you. He has a strategy; he intended for him to be arrested, and the Bible says that Herod thought in his mind, «If I kill him, it’ll make me greater.»
Let me tell you something: killing me doesn’t make you king. Killing me doesn’t make you king. So, but this is a strategy that he has employed, and he is determined to make sure that Peter does not get out. Now you might not know Peter, but he must know something about Peter because this is ear-cutting Peter. You know you’ve got your Thomas’s and your John’s and your James’s, and then in every church you’ve got a few Peters. They’re saved; they love the Lord, but if you flip them out, it’s a few of them in here. I won’t point them out to you, but it’s a few people in here right now; they look real saved. They’re nodding, they’re clapping their hands, but down in the bottom of that pocketbook is a 9 mm. I’m sorry, y’all; this is Texas, gods, and guns.
Okay, yeah, yeah, there are a lot of people in here right now. Yeah, yeah, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, they’re, they’re, you know, you can’t tell in church. Go in the parking lot; that’s when you find out who’s saved in church. The parking lot will tell you the Christians, the Saints from the Aints, because they’re all going to be Saints in here when they get in that parking lot. And if you cut them off, you’re going to find out how much Holy Ghost they really have. Don’t pay those tongues any attention; just go in the parking lot, and you’re going to find out who is who in the Kingdom of God. Thank you, Lord, for telling me what the King was thinking, because my first question whenever people do anything crazy—who work for me, or I work for, or I work with—my first question is, were you thinking? Whatever comes after «what were you thinking» is not going to be good, but it is sincere.
I want to know what you were thinking. The Bible tells us what Herod was thinking, and it had nothing to do with Peter, but he was going to die in the morning. Can you imagine dying over something that had nothing to do with you? He’s not dying for his witness for Jesus Christ; he’s not dying for the magnitude of his ministry; he’s not dying because he healed too many people. He’s dying because Herod is ambitious. Have you ever found yourself on death row because of somebody else’s ambition? Married folks, let me talk to y’all. Have you ever found yourself in trouble because somebody was after your spouse? I bet you better holler back at me right now before I point you out! And it’s not that you burned the toast; it’s not that you don’t come home at night; it’s not that you’re not a good wife; it’s not that you’re not a good husband.
But somebody’s plotting on you; they’ve got a strategy at work, and they’re out to discredit you. And you find yourself in a situation where you know they’ve been talking to someone. You don’t know who they’ve been talking to, but you’ve been married to them for 20 years and they haven’t talked like this. And here they come after 20 years, and now they’re talking strange. You’ve been talking to somebody; come on, come on, come on, come on, come on! And Peter is thrust into jail. And listen, he gets 16 soldiers, divides them into four quadrants—this is respect. This is respect! The level of attack determines the level of respect. If King Herod didn’t know that Peter was somebody to deal with, he would have put one man on him to guard him, and that would have been adequate.
But he quadrupled the necessity of putting enough guards on him because Herod knows that if he gives Peter half a chance to get up, Peter will pull out his sword and start cutting off ears and setting people free. And that same devil knows that about you; if he gives you half a chance to get on your feet, all hell is going to break loose in that place. Hallelujah! And y’all don’t hear what I’m saying; he knows that you have power! He knows that you have power, and he’s attacking you because you have power. High five somebody and say, «I got power!» I know I got power because I got problems. If you got power, you’re going to have problems; the problems are a sign that you have power. Nobody sends that level of problems if you don’t have any power. You don’t get 16 soldiers to guard a three-year-old; you get 16 soldiers to guard one man when that one man is bad and has power! Somebody in here shout because you got power!
You’re under attack because you got power. You’re being besieged by the enemy because you got power. He’s put unnecessary guards around you, but if it isn’t this, it’s that; if it isn’t that, it’s something else. As soon as you get through that, here comes something else, and it’s all because hell is nervous about you. Hell is nervous about what you’re going to be; hell is nervous about what you’re going to do, and he’s increased the guards to block you from getting where you’re trying to go. Do you hear what I’m saying? But throw your hands up and say, «Walk me through it! Walk me through it! Walk me through it! Walk me through it!» Because I will not die today! Cool points to Peter; he’s got 16 soldiers, he’s handcuffed to two of them. He’s handcuffed to two Roman soldiers; this is the greatest expression of faith I’ve ever heard. Silent faith screams! Silent faith screams!
Faith that will not become discombobulated just because you’re under attack is faith at its best. Running all over the office anointing the elevator with oil might not be faith at its best. Faith at its best is peace in the midst of the storm. Faith at its best is peace in the middle of the storm. And I thought to myself, «Peter, how did you sleep in prison on the night before you are going to be killed?» Simon has been beheaded. Now, if you’re going to kill me, you know, stop by CVS and pick up something. You know I’m not for this dramatic stuff; I like my head! You might not like my head; I know it ain’t fine, but it’s my head! I want my head! Don’t cut my head off; cutting my head off would probably mess up my nap. If I thought you were going to cut my head off in the morning, I probably wouldn’t sleep that night. Peter, sh!
And so I ask Peter, «I said, Peter, how in the world did you go to sleep chained to two guards in the inner sanctum of the prison? That even if you whip them, you got 14 more to go before you get out?» And you sleep, dude? Where did you learn how to sleep like this? And then I remembered how Jesus was asleep on the boat. Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you. And the thing that Peter has learned from his mentor is to sleep in the middle of a storm. If you can keep your peace when all hell is breaking loose; if you can refuse to react in a predictable way when all hell is breaking loose, God will find a way to bless you. And sometimes the best response to the attack is sleep. It says, «I don’t know what He’s going to do, but He’s going to do something.»
The sleep says, «I don’t know how He’s going to move, but He’s going to move something.» The sleep says, «I don’t have the answer to the problem, but I know who does have the answer to the problem.» The sleep says, «The battle is not mine; it belongs to the Lord.» The sleep says, «Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.» The sleep says, «The enemies that you see today, you shall see them no more.» The sleep says, «When the battle is over, I’m going to shout the victory, and I’m going to need some rest to get my dance on.» Touch three people and say, «Sleep through it! S-L-E-E-P through it! Yeah, sleep through it! Sleep through it! Don’t argue about it, don’t fuss about it, don’t fight about it, don’t get mad about it, don’t get upset, don’t cuss anybody out about it; just sleep through it!»
He that hath begun a good work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. I don’t know who I’m preaching to in this building, but God says sleep through it! Don’t get even, don’t get revenge, don’t retaliate; just go to bed because God has determined your end from your beginning! And when it’s all over, He’s going to give you a breakthrough! I need a 30-second praise break; I’m getting my peace back! I’m getting my peace back! I’m getting my confidence back! I’m getting my trust back! I’m learning how to just go to bed and leave it in God’s hands. I’m leaving my children in God’s hands. I’m leaving my wife in God’s hands. I’m leaving my marriage in God’s hands. I’m leaving my future in God’s hands. For the Lord knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as pure gold!
Somebody give me an old-fashioned Hallelujah Pentecostal! And while he was sleeping, you know God does His best stuff while you sleep. When God got ready to bring Eve into the world, He put Adam to sleep because God doesn’t need your participation in order to bless you. When God gets ready to give you what you need, you can be sleeping, and He can still pull out of you what He placed inside of you and cause you to prosper. And Abraham, He said, «Abraham, through thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed.» Go to sleep, and I’m going to make a covenant for you without you! And Jesus hung His head in the lops of His shoulders and died till the sun refused to shine, and the ground began to tremble. And God was working the night shift.
Tell somebody, «He’s pulling stuff out of me in my sleep! He’s working it out for me in my sleep! He’s moving obstacles in my sleep! He’s turning it around in my sleep! He’s making a way in my sleep! He’s providing in my sleep! I don’t have to do anything; I don’t have to say anything; I don’t have to plant no gossip; I don’t have to retaliate; I don’t have to scheme and plot; you stay up, I’m going to bed! I’m covered, I’m protected, I’m loved, I’m cradled, I’m taken care of! I’ve got the blood of Jesus over my life! Hallelujah!
I’m blessed in the city, I’m blessed in the field, I’m blessed in my uprising, I’m blessed in my downsitting! I don’t know who I’m talking to, but God said you’ve been up too many nights and it’s time for you to just go to bed and rest in the Lord! He that hath begun a good work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ! Who am I talking to in here? Sit down, I’m just talking to you. He slept like a baby! Draw a line between sleep and suddenly! Sleep and suddenly! Sleep and suddenly! Suddenly, there appeared an angel in the room. Peter didn’t do anything to call him; in fact, I was trying to find the hero in this text and I’m kind of confused because I wanted to preach it was Peter’s faith. But Peter didn’t even believe it was real!
And then I wanted to give the intercessors all the credit, but they were praying for an answer. When the answer came, they wouldn’t even open up the door. And when Rhoda told them that God had answered the prayer, the people who were praying didn’t believe it. So where is my, „Yeah?“ Now, that’s way back! Where is my hero of faith in the text? Where is my hero of faith? Peter doesn’t believe it; the intercessors don’t believe it, and still, there was a suddenly! Wait a minute! Maybe if Peter didn’t do anything to get himself in, maybe he doesn’t have to do anything to get himself out! Maybe if God sees fit to get you in trouble, God will get you out of trouble! And maybe you ought to stop sitting up at night thinking, „What should I do, what should I do, what should I do about this? Who should I call? Where should I go? What should I do? What should I do?“
Maybe you shouldn’t do nothing! Because you didn’t get yourself in it, maybe you don’t have to do anything to get yourself out! And maybe the best response is, „Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Jesus! Sleep! Thank you!“ Suddenly! Sleep is the method of Jesus! Only Jesus sleeps through tornadoes, hurricanes, stuff flying all through the air, boat about to go underwater, ship being filled with water, feet wet—Jesus! It matters who mentored you! Yes, I ain’t going to finish! I ain’t going to finish! If your mama was hysterical or your daddy was hysterical, when you get in trouble, you become hysterical because they taught you how to respond to stress. As a little kid, you watched them react to trouble, and you learned, „This is how you react to trouble.“
If Mama cussed everybody out when she got in trouble, then when you get mad, you cuss everybody out! If she never said anything, you don’t say anything! Depending on whoever your mentor was—may not even be your mother—may be your father, maybe your auntie; whoever had the deepest impression in your life, they taught you how to react! Yes, Jesus taught Peter how to sleep! Jesus taught Peter how to sleep! Lord, teach me how to sleep! Teach me how to just stop my wheels from turning and my brain from spinning and me trying to figure my way out, and me worshiping the idol of my own intellect as if I had to be smart to be delivered! So then my intellect becomes my idolatry because I think I got to figure my way out of everything!
Teach me how to sleep because if I can get to sleep right, then you can get the suddenly right! Sleep suddenly! Sleep suddenly! You’re watching online; you’ve been all worried, all upset; been walking the floor; can’t sleep; can’t figure out what’s wrong with you—trying to figure everything; can’t cut your brain off! Go to bed! Go to bed! If you didn’t do anything to get yourself in and you don’t have anything to repent about and you don’t have anything to apologize about and you were just doing what God created you to do and somebody threw you in jail, get in the jail, fluff up under your shoulder, and go to bed because He’s Alpha and Omega! The beginning and the end, the first and the last, and if He got you into it, He will get you out of it. Because all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.
Now, somebody say, „I’m going to bed tonight,“ that’s what I’m going to do. In fact, I might not even wait till tonight; I might take a three-hour nap. I might just go home, get a piece of chicken, climb into bed, and go to sleep, resting until about 5 or 6:00. Then I’ll get up and practice again. I’m going to rest in the Lord. I’m going to rest in the Lord. I’m going to rest in the Lord in spite of my handcuffs, in spite of my budget, in spite of my limitations, in spite of my finances, in spite of my dilemma, in spite of my child who’s cursing me out, in spite of my husband who left me. I’m going to rest; these are nothing but handcuffs. They don’t stop me from sleeping. They tied up my hands, but they didn’t tie up my peace. I’m going to bed, handcuffs and all. I’m not going to stay all night twisting my wrist, trying to figure out the combination or steal a key. I’m going to bed. An angel appeared suddenly; God is a suddenly God. He will show up suddenly.
And see, this contradicts faith, because you want to see Him coming. You want Him to tell you what He’s going to do and how He’s going to do it: „I’m going to send an angel at 10:35, and I want you to be dressed and ready. At 10:35, we’re going to blow this joint and get out of here, stepping over all these sleepy people. But if you wear your tennis shoes, you’ll be ready for it, so don’t wear your church shoes.“ We’re going to crawl out; we’re going through the window because the door is closed. And when we go through the window, I want to measure you to make sure you don’t get stuck. Then, once you get through the window, I’m going to pull you out of it. You want God to explain His stuff to human ears; God never explains how He’s going to do it. He just does it. He just shows up; He just appears; He just moves; He just works it out suddenly.
Somebody shout suddenly, let the devil hear you say suddenly! My God, suddenly an angel appeared. The angel didn’t come in; it just appeared; it just showed up. The angel didn’t walk in and disturb all the guards; he didn’t tell them, „I’m coming. You think you’ve got Peter, but I’m going to show you something today. I’m going to wear you out.“ No, the angel did not create unnecessary disturbance; he disappeared. He just moved suddenly, and the angel appeared. For every prison you’re in, there’s an angel. For every prison—emotionally, mentally, physically, attitudinally, intellectually—there’s an angel. Just one; that’s all you need. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident: one thing I just need, one angel. The angel appeared in the room, shook Peter, woke him up, and told him, „Hurry up!“
Now, He wouldn’t have to tell me that; I don’t have any revelation for that. If you’re waiting on me to give a profound point, I don’t have a profound point for that because if I was about to be beheaded in the morning, God would not have to tell me to hurry up. I would have beat the angel getting out of there! I’d be saying, „Come on, fool, we’ve got to go! We ain’t got time for this!“ The angel told Peter so calmly that he had to tell Peter to hurry up about his problem: „Hurry up! Put your clothes on; put your shoes on!“
Watch this; I’m going to walk you through it. This is the word of the Lord to you: hurry up, put your clothes on; yes, put your shoes on. Follow me; I’m going to walk you through it. I swear, I don’t have your address; I haven’t been living in your house, and I’m not laying under your bed, but somebody’s been praying. I don’t know how to get out of this, and God is saying, „I’m going to walk you through it.“ I know you don’t have wings, so I’m not going to operate on a level and a dimension that you can’t handle. I could fly out if I appeared, but since you’re a walker, I’m going to walk. „Wait, Lord, we have to go through four quadrants of soldiers. I’mma walk you through every one of them.“
I would have thought they were all asleep, except the text says that at least one of their eyes was wide open. But do you know people can look at you and not see you? You can be moving, and the people in your office don’t know it. You can be getting loose, and the people in your house don’t know it. God can move in such a way that He can make you invisible to people who think they’re watching you. They have surveillance on you, but they can’t trap you because God is bringing you out. Who am I preaching to? This is going to be so slick that they walked through the guards, and God walked them through it. I don’t know who this is for; I don’t know why I’m preaching this today. I really don’t know. I’m just as dumb as a mailman who can’t read the letter. I’m just delivering the letter; the letter says God is going to walk you through it. I don’t know what it is; you have to determine what your 'it' is, but whatever your 'it' is, God says, „I am going to walk you through it.“
You don’t have to see your way clear; you don’t have to know how to get out of this; you don’t have to figure out anything. God says, „If you just follow me, I’m going to walk you through it.“ I don’t know who this is for; I want you to make it yours. I want you to touch somebody and tell them, „God’s going to walk me through it! God’s going to walk me through this season of my life! God’s going to walk me through the pain of this present danger.
God’s going to walk me through this political toxic environment I’m in! God’s going to walk me through my enemies, my Judas’s, my betrayers, and my naysayers! God said He’s going to walk me through it! It’s going to be a process, but little by little, every step I take, He’s going to take me a little bit further. God is going to walk me through it.“ Listen, as I prepare to close—not because I’m finished, but because the text isn’t finished—but I’m going to stop right here. If God walks you through it, no weapon formed against you shall be able to prosper.
Now, now, now, sit with me, stand with me a minute, and think on this: how many times in your life did God walk you through stuff that you thought you couldn’t get through? Yes, sir, didn’t He do it before? Didn’t He walk you through things that you thought were going to kill you? Didn’t He walk you through some dangerous moments that could have destroyed you physically, emotionally, financially, mentally? Didn’t He walk you through it? You lost your house; He walked you through it. You lost your spouse; He walked you through it. You lost your parents; He walked you through it. You went through pain you didn’t think you could take, but God walked you through it. The word of the Lord to you today is: I’m going to walk you through it.
The weirdest thing about the text, as I hasten to close, is that the angel didn’t leave him until he was safe. When they were free as a bird, the angel went on his way. One other thing I’ll point out—I’ve got twenty but I’ll point out one more—every obstacle on the way out opened automatically. The chains fell automatically; they walked through the guards automatically; they got to the gate, and the gate just opened. Everything opened until they got to the believers. When they got to the believers, Peter was knocking at the door. Why, in God’s name, would you be knocking now, when every other door opened in front of you? Because faith without works is dead, being alone.
So God says, „I’m going to open every other door, right? But the last door is on you.“ Now, hear this good: the last door is on you. Many people will not open the door to better. They have been raised in trauma, pain, and sin, and they’ll knock at it, but they won’t open the door to better. They know what to do; I was talking to a girl about eating healthy. I said, „I know all that stuff.“ „Yeah, but it doesn’t work because you know it.“ That’s right. You have to do it. „Don’t eat processed foods, and I don’t want you to eat over three ounces of meat per day, and lean meat and all that…“ „I know all that, all that extra help in the vegetables and fruit, and I know it; but until I do it, it doesn’t work.“
So God says, „I’m not going to open every door because here’s the test of your faith today: will you open the door to the best version of yourself? Will you open…?“ This is a simple thing; it doesn’t seem like it ought to be hard. But would you open the door to happy after a lot of losses and a lot of pain? Has sorrow become your address and you’re knocking on it because you like the idea of happiness, peace, joy, and contentment? But the last challenge the Holy Spirit gave me is that the last door is on you. Yes, and you have people in there praying for Peter to come.
Rhoda goes to the door, recognizes Peter’s voice, but won’t open the door to what they prayed for. How many times do we pray for things, and then when they come, we’re scared of what we prayed for? Let me break this down—let me no, no, don’t clap, don’t clap—let me break this down. I’m believing God for a companion. I’m praying, I fasted—I fasted three times, for three weeks, from three cigarettes. You know, y’all have some fasts we never heard of in my day! I’m fasting from bubblegum; I’m fasting from Instagram. Right? When I came up in church, we didn’t fast from Instagram. Yeah, we fasted from food.
You’ve been on a 40-day fast? You look like it! I was in Africa, and they said, „This man’s been fasting for 40 days.“ I thought, „Oh, I don’t believe it!“ When I saw him, I said, „Oh my God, he’s been fasting for 40 days!“ The brother came in there; he looked like a skeleton in a doctor’s office. And then when somebody comes, you won’t open the door. You pray for a job, and then when it comes—I mean, a job that fulfills your gifts and highest use—you’re scared of it. You prayed for your family to be made whole, but you won’t apologize. God is walking you through it because sometimes we ask for stuff that we want but are not open to. God said you’re one door away!