TD Jakes - Selective Service
In the Gospel of St. Mark, chapter 15, verses 9-21, you will find my assignment this morning. There are many things that I want you to consider before I delve into this text, starting with the global nature of God Himself. A lot of times, when we approach Scriptures, we do so either from a Judeo-Old Testament understanding or a Christian-New Testament understanding. However, in our minds, we envision what we have seen. We make the Bible American if we’re from America; we make it from a Spanish-speaking country if we’re from Spain; we make it African if we’re from an African perspective.
But the Bible is so intricately crafted that if carefully studied and woven, we find that God has included all of us. It did not say that God so loved the church; it said God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have, as a possession right now—not something to hope for, but eternal life. You think you’re going to get eternal life? No, you have eternal life. The reason it says God so loved the world is because it also states that it is not God’s will for any to perish, but that all come to repentance. He had to suffer enough, bleed enough, die enough to make His blood effective and inclusive, inviting the whole world into His experience.
Yet, because we learn about God through movies, television, and Sunday school books, we may have certain images of what occurred. Your image, however, is not as broad as your God. Your God is broader than that. In the tapestry of His history and the study of His lineage, He includes people of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and moral complexities. He includes Rahab the harlot, Ruth the Moabitess. Jesus claims these individuals as His ancestors—people that some of you wouldn’t eat with—and they are in the lineage of Jesus Christ.
So I want you to think globally, and I want to focus on this during Black History Month. I want to emphasize that this truth has not been passed on to us as a new revelation; instead, we were always part of the tapestry, just like everyone else. That is why we can have white folks, black folks, and brown folks all dancing and shouting together. Whether you are black, white, or brown, we’re dancing about the red—y’all didn’t hear what I’m saying—we’re dancing about the red, the blood, the blood, the blood. It wasn’t special blood for a special people; it was enough blood to save us all.
We are diving into this at a time of great derision and adversity. Jesus has been passed from judgment hall to judgment hall. He has faced all kinds of adversity. He has been beaten with a cat of nine tails, scourged sorely—so much so that Isaiah says His innards were hanging out. Not just back-scarred and beaten, but His insides were peeking out through the lacerations in His skin. In this state of adversity, debauchery, decadence, and humiliation, He is paraded down the street in front of a crowd of people who were, and were not, interested in Him at all. I do not want you to think that the 5,000 people who ate the fish and bread were there. I do not want you to think that the woman with the issue of blood was there. I do not want you to believe that the ten lepers were there.
For the most part, Jerusalem was the place where people came to conduct business. It just so happened that on this specific day, they were conducting business at a time when the scared, beaten, bloody, lacerated body of Jesus Christ was put on the Via Dolorosa, on the cobblestone streets of Jerusalem, carrying a wooden cross on His bloody back. Now Pilate is in a dilemma because he must execute a sentence on Jesus that his wife warned him about in a dream—it might be to his detriment. Not willing to take responsibility for the execution, Pilate brings Jesus out before the people and gives them the choice: «Do you want Barabbas, or do you want Jesus?» The priests knew that the people would decide; they had campaigned against Jesus. This is the underbelly of the text. Are you ready? Let’s dive in.
But Pilate answered them, saying, «Will you that I release unto you the King of the Jews?» For he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him out of envy. So he jestingly calls Him the King of the Jews; he’s making fun. When you’re anointed, people will mock you. That’s why you’ve got to get your feelings out of people; you don’t always receive support from the place you sowed. It is possible to sow over here and reap over there. But the chief priests moved the people so that they should rather release Barabbas unto them. They are playing games, and Pilate asked again, «What will you then that I shall do unto Him whom you call the King of the Jews?» He modified the term «whom you call the King of the Jews» because he didn’t want to offend Caesar.
After all, Jerusalem had become an outpost of Rome, which had taken over various territories, including the Middle East and parts of Northern Africa. The Roman Empire had grown. They cried out again, «Crucify Him!» Pilate asked them, «Why? What evil has He done?» But they couldn’t answer, and so they cried out even more exceedingly, «Crucify Him!» Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas the thief and delivered Jesus, after having scourged Him and commanded that He be crucified.
The soldiers led Him away from the hall called Prætorium and gathered the whole band. They clothed Him with purple, planted a crown of thorns upon His head. Nobody asked him to do that; they’re just adding insult to injury. It’s not because they adore Him; they began to salute Him, «Hail, King of the Jews!» Be careful of people who say the right thing for the wrong reasons. I’m already preaching. They smote Him on the head with a reed, spit upon Him, and bowing their knees, worshipped Him—not really. How many «not really» people do you have in your life who are just going through the motions? Let me get back to you.
When they had mocked Him, they took off the purple robe and put His own clothes back on Him, then led Him out to crucify Him. They compelled one Simon of Cyrene, who was passing by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear His cross. My subject this morning is «Selective Service.» Now the people over 40 are nodding their heads because they know what Selective Service means, but I’m going to make it plain for everybody. Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on Your word today and let it bring forth fruit in our lives. Open our minds, our thinking, and our understanding that we might be able to behold Your wondrous grace, Your splendid ability to step into our lives and do things that transcend human comprehension. The great God that You are, I trust You to have Your way in this place. You are sovereign; You are Yahweh, omnipotent, omnipresent. Manifest Your glory in this space, I ask in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen, amen. You may be seated.
Now the term «Selective Service» might not be familiar to you if you’re a young person, and that’s not a bad thing. There are lots of things that you know about which we don’t know. But we know about this: Selective Service was noted on the top of what we call draft cards. Back when I was a young teenager, every male was issued a Selective Service card at a certain age because they were eligible to be drafted. Drafting was often how men entered into the Vietnam War. So, we were born in war. That’s something you have to understand about Boomers—we were born in conflict, not in peace.
When you are born in strife, you have a different kind of resilience and perspective, because that was your normal. You had wars too, but they didn’t show you the bodies like they showed us. Do you remember how they would show you the bodies? Now they don’t allow the media to cover the bodies coming off because America doesn’t have the stomach for war. We talk about war from a budgetary perspective, not from the human capital that war costs. But we grew up in a generation where the human cost was always in front of us. You had to have a certain resilience to stress because you were surrounded by it. Between civil rights and the dogs barking and biting, and the hoses being turned on, that was the norm of the day. So we don’t respond to trouble the way you understand because some of you were raised in peace.
The draft, also known as conscription, has been used in the United States throughout various periods of history. This was not just common during the Vietnam War; it goes all the way back to the Civil War, from 1863 to 1865, when the draft was instituted. The draft meant that whether you wanted to go or not, if you were drafted, you had to go. They reinstated it in World War I and again in World War II from 1940 to 1947. They continued this method. All through 1943 to 1945, they continued drafting people into the war.
In fact, shortly after the Vietnam War, they started moving away from that technique. At the top of your draft card, it would say «Selective Service System.» Selective Service—you’ve been selected to serve; you’ve been chosen to serve. It’s essential to understand that while the draft existed for about 20 years, it was interspersed between conflicts. First there was, then there wasn’t, and then there was again. In other words, you could be going about your daily life, doing your own business, going to school, taking classes, and all of a sudden, get a Selective Service card indicating you have been drafted.
It’s a funny thing, but it’s true. We have to understand that this was the way they kept the army base full because we were more proficient with human capital and on-the-ground combat than we were with airstrikes. We had the Navy by sea, we had the aircraft, but many wars were fought on the ground. One reason we have so much population in the world today is that we have less conflict. Less conflict means more people; more people mean more crowds; more crowds mean more housing; more housing means more jobs.
Some of the benefits of becoming a little more civilized—and I don’t mean civilized but a little more civilized—have resulted in having more people. So, we get to have «petty problems.» We argue about things that we didn’t get to argue about in the '60s because we had bigger problems. Small arguments are for people who don’t have big problems. Have you ever faced a problem, and then another one came along that made the previous one seem irrelevant? You worried to death because you were behind on your mortgage, and then you found out that your spouse had cancer. Suddenly, you said, «I don’t care about the mortgage; I don’t care about where we stay; I don’t care where we live,» because real trouble recalibrates what a problem is. Those who are clapping are those who have faced real trouble.
Real trouble comes into your life unannounced. You get a call saying your mother has died, and all of a sudden, it doesn’t matter that your wife is overweight. You had a huge argument earlier about her weight, and now you’re buying a frosty while remembering you bought her a treadmill for Christmas. Then you get that text, and all of a sudden, you could care less about the frosty. I escaped the draft; I was not a draft dodger. It just so happened that by the time I became eligible to be drafted, they had cut off the draft, and I didn’t have to go through that. But my brother went through the draft process. He didn’t go to war, didn’t head off to battle because of health reasons—he was rejected. But he had a Selective Service card, and the reason I remember it so well is that I used to borrow it. Well, don’t judge me; I’m seven years younger than him. But I grew fast; when I was 13, I was about 6 feet tall. At 13, I looked old enough to be drafted.
I had my brother over at the house the other day, and he took a picture to put up on the screen. He was posing, and yeah, that’s my one and only brother in the world, Ernest. I hope he’s not watching right now because I’m not sure that he knows I used to take his Selective Service card. I’m not certain; we never really talked about it, but I borrowed it a few times to get into places I shouldn’t have, to buy things I wasn’t supposed to buy, and do things I wasn’t supposed to do. They would ask if I was old enough for the Selective Service card, and I was as tall as he was then, so I fit the description. I had the profile, but I was not of age.
Selective Service—drafted, drafted, drafted—is a term we use in the country and in the streets. Selective Service is what we use in the government. From a theological perspective, we would use a term called «chosen.» To be chosen is to be drafted. It means I didn’t ask for it; I wasn’t seeking it. This is not an answer to prayer. I have been selected; I have been chosen. When we think about being chosen, it sounds so good; it’s easy to preach about. «I am chosen; I am the Lord’s chosen.» It sounds impressive and just as prestigious as the scarlet robe they put on Jesus and called him King of the Jews.
But in reality, being chosen is not always fun. The truth is that many times in the Bible, when you were chosen, you were chosen for struggle, for strife, for resistance, for obstacles. While it was difficult to be chosen, it was also a compliment that God thought you were worthy enough to be chosen. Somebody say, «I have been chosen.»
Now, yeah, yeah, you didn’t say it with much enthusiasm, but that’s okay. I won’t have you say it over again. I have been chosen. A lot of the things we are praying against, we have been chosen to deal with. Let me prove this chosen concept. Jesus says, «Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.» I know it was you who walked up the aisle with tears running down your face and knelt at the altar, giving your life to Christ, but the only reason you had tears was that I convicted you. I chose you. I drew you. I pulled you, and now you say you chose me. But in reality, I chose you.
God chooses people; he doesn’t put it to a vote. He doesn’t give them a say in the matter; he simply chooses them to play certain roles in life at a particular time, and he doesn’t always announce to you that you are chosen. For example, with Jeremiah, who was trying to resist the call, the Bible states, «Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. I ordained thee, and I sanctified thee.» You don’t get a choice in this. You are going to be a prophet, to be a prophet to the nations. You shall go to all that I shall send you. Say not that you cannot go, that you are a child, because I have chosen you. There are people in this room who don’t understand their lives because they find themselves in a situation they didn’t pick, that they didn’t want, that they didn’t choose, that they didn’t desire, that they didn’t pray for. You were praying for something way over here, and God put you way over there, and you don’t understand why.
For example, the Bible says that when the sons of God came around the throne, among them also came Lucifer. God said to him, «Where have you been?» He replied, «I’ve been going to and fro and up and down throughout the Earth seeking whom I may devour.» And God said, «Have you considered my servant Job?» You know how that story goes. «Have you considered my servant Job?» He said, «I can’t do anything with Job because you’ve got a hedge all around him.» Glory to God! That’s why people who aren’t going through shouldn’t talk about those who are going through, because the only reason you’re not going through is that God has a hedge all around you. Satan says if you remove the hedge from around him, I will make him curse you to your face. And God said, «I will remove the hedge from around everything but from around his soul. Now, you can attack him, but it’s his decision how he responds to the attack.» Job is a righteous and upright man. Just because you’re righteous and upright doesn’t mean you don’t go through trouble, but it does mean you get to choose how you respond to the trouble that you’re in.
Are you hearing what I’m saying? Joseph was chosen; he didn’t ask his father Jacob to make a coat of many colors and put it on him, but the father made a coat of many colors and put it on him. It was thrust upon him; he didn’t even know to hide it that he was chosen. He told his brothers that he had a dream, and he expected them to be glad. This is the funny part for me because sometimes God can bless you, and you can expect people to be glad for you, yet the very people you told, thinking they would be happy for you, secretly despise you because they are envious of the choice whereby you have been chosen.
I just need ten witnesses. If I could get ten witnesses—Joseph was chosen—he was actually chosen ultimately to be the Prince of Egypt. But in between, he gets thrown into a pit, he gets lied on at Potiphar’s house, he gets cast into jail. Isn’t it amazing how many obstacles can get in the way of your destiny? In between you and your destiny, can you imagine Joseph sitting in the pit at the bottom of a dry well? They were lying on him, saying he was dead, and they took the coat of many colors he was so proud of, smeared it with blood, and brought it back as evidence that he was dead.
Joseph thought, «How can I be favored and be in this condition?» There are some of you going through things right now who are asking, «How can I be favored and be going through what I’m going through?» You don’t understand that this is just a step in the process of God moving you into the place He’s got to move you to show forth glory in your life. He showed you the coat, but He didn’t show you the pit. He showed you the palace, but He didn’t show you Potiphar’s house. He showed you would be exalted, but He didn’t show you’d be fired first. He showed you a big house, but didn’t show you you were going to be homeless first. But you have been chosen.
Talk back to me and say, «I’ve been chosen.» David was chosen. David was chosen of God; he was chosen by Samuel to be the king of Israel, and Samuel had anointed him with oil, preparing him to be king but sending him back to take care of sheep. Yes, can you be great and still do menial tasks? Part of his testing was, «Can you be anointed to be king and go back and shovel sheep dung?» This is a test of your character; this is a test of your humility; this is a test of your patience. Timing is everything. The vision is for an appointed time. In the end, it will speak and not lie. God may not give you the details, but when it’s all over, everything’s going to be alright because you have been chosen. You have been chosen to be a delivery boy, an Uber Eats driver.
David did not know that when he went down to the field to bring lunch to his brothers who were enlisted in the service, this would be the moment in his life when he was chosen. All he knew was that when he got down there with the lunch, he ran into an incident that he was not expecting, and that incident defined the fact that he was chosen. You know you’re chosen by the level of trouble. If a kitty cat scratches you, you might not be chosen, but if a lion comes after you, it’s a sign you’re chosen. The devil wouldn’t attack you the way he is if you didn’t have something awesome to do in your life. David did not wake up that morning thinking, «I feel like fighting a giant.» He was just packing lunch to bring food to his brethren who were in a fight; it wasn’t even his fight.
I want to talk to some people who are fighting things that aren’t even your fight. You just got drafted; you just married into a fight, you just got hired into a fight, you stepped into a situation; here you are, whistling and skipping down there to bring them some lunch so they can eat, never knowing this is the day you’re going to have to use your weapons in a way you never had to before because you have been chosen for a fight. Nobody could beat Goliath but David. None of Saul’s army could defeat Goliath, but David could because he was chosen. Look at somebody and say, «I’m chosen.» Yeah, you’re getting a little bit better with it; it’s coming on. «I’m chosen for this fight; I’m chosen for this giant; I’m chosen for this person; I’m chosen to raise this child; I’m chosen to do this job; I’m chosen to function in this office.» The safest place for me to be is in the will of God. I’m in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing, and I don’t have to find my giant; my giant will find me.
Wow, I think that David should send Goliath roses because Goliath put David on the map. If Goliath hadn’t been there, Saul wouldn’t have noticed him; he would have never been invited into the palace. But sometimes, God allows you to go through trouble because trouble becomes a stage that He places you on to show your resilience, your strength, your tenacity, your power. I’m talking to somebody; I don’t know who it is, but holler at your boy and say, «I’m chosen.» When the mother packed the lunch for the little boy in case he got hungry while hearing this Reverend Jesus preach down in the desert, she packed two fish and five loaves of bread. The boy was carrying a greasy bag with two fish—catfish probably—and might have had cornbread. He was going down there with some catfish and cornbread; he did not expect to have to give up his lunch; he expected to eat his lunch. But the little boy didn’t know he was chosen; he didn’t ask for it; he didn’t seek it; he didn’t pack it and say, «I’m going to give away my lunch.» He just found himself in a situation.
I want to preach to some people who have found themselves in a situation they don’t even know how they got there. You, yourself, and the disciples up there are saying, «We’ve got to send the 5,000 men away—not to mention the women and children—because we don’t have enough food.» Jesus said, «What do you have?» They said, «All we have is two fish and five loaves.» Excuse me, «All you have is two fish and five loaves? I don’t get to vote on this; this is my lunch!» But people will count your gift as their gift when they need you. They will pull you in there and use their account and count it as if it’s theirs. Here the boy who had a lunch ends up with no lunch so that the people who had no lunch could eat.
Now he has to go get in line and sit down and wait for them to count in groups of fifty only to get back what he already had in the first place. Sometimes, when you’re chosen, it’s not right; it’s not fair; it’s not just; it’s not true. But God has selected you to serve in an unjust situation, and you have to be strong enough to give up your lunch knowing that if you sow it—oh my God, I felt the anointing on that—if you sow it, you’re going to reap it back.
Somebody holler at me for a minute. The disciples were chosen; not one of the disciples just walked up to Jesus and said, «Hey, I’m looking for a job, and I was thinking about being on your staff and being in your committee.» Jesus chose all twelve of them, including Judas. Wow! He drafted them. I don’t care what you’re doing; put your nets down, come on and follow me, and I’ll make you fishers of men. I’m talking about life; I’m talking about what life will do to you; I’m talking about messing up your plans and messing up where you thought you’d be. There are some people in this room who would not have dreamed in a thousand years that you’d be sitting where you are right now. But when God has chosen you, He orders your steps in such a way that He’ll bring you to a place you thought you’d never be. Am I preaching in the right place or what?
Jesus was chosen as Father. If it be Thy will, pass this bitter cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done. I have been chosen to stand before the Sanhedrin Court. I have been chosen to be ostracized by the Pharisees and Sadducees who have mocked me all my life. I have been chosen to be beaten with a cat of nine tails until my intestines peek out through the skin of my stomach. I have been chosen to be publicly humiliated in front of my disciples, my friends, and my mother. I have been chosen to be ostracized and nearly faint from the loss of blood because the enemy tried to beat the blood out of Him. He couldn’t break the curse until He got to the cross, so the blood that fell on the ground didn’t count. He had to go to the cross to redeem the world. He said, «If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.»
Now we know it was God’s design. Can I take my time? We know it was God’s design, but I also want you to see that God can order something in heaven, and you can still get set up on Earth. The priests got together with Pilate and worked out a deal that led to Jesus' demise. It was the plot of the priests to put Jesus in this position. They had infiltrated public opinion and controlled public opinion so that when Pilate would ask, «Who do you want, Barabbas or Jesus?» they would reject the Jesus who healed the sick, raised the dead, and turned water into wine—the Jesus that many thought was the Messiah and would be their King. The Bible prophesied it: He came unto His own, and His own received Him not; they rejected Him. It was a setup, but every setup is an opportunity for God to stand up and show Himself strong in the lives of His people.
Now, to our text: we catch a stumbling Jesus, not a standing Jesus, a stumbling, bent-over, broken-down, bowed-over Jesus. Not a walking-on-water Jesus, not a resurrected Jesus, but a bleeding, wounded, suffering Jesus. The same Jesus who healed the woman with the issue of blood is now bleeding profusely Himself, and there is nobody to staunch the bleeding. Teach, the bloody path that leads to purpose is stained with sacrifice. It does not come because you want it. He stained the streets of Via Dolorosa with His own blood. He who stops bleeding did not stop His own bleeding. Sometimes, you can help other people out of things you can’t get yourself out of. Can I get an amen here?
I’m talking to selective service people who have been chosen. And now He’s in this scene, and it would have been enough that they put a crown of thorns on His head. It would have been enough that they put the robe on Him and called Him the King of the Jews. It would have been enough that they beat Him almost to death until His guts were hanging out. Isaiah said there was no beauty about Him that we should desire Him. He does not look good in this moment.
There’s somebody I want to preach to: you don’t look good in this moment. This is not a good season. It’s not a good period in your marriage. It’s not a good stage in your life. It’s not a good stage in your career. It’s not a good stage in your home life. It’s not a good stage between you and your daughter. It’s not a good stage between you and your son. He’s looking bad, and He’s trying to make the best of a bad situation. He’s a stumbling Jesus. We’ve seen a standing Jesus, we’ve seen a sitting Jesus, we’ve seen a sleeping Jesus, but now we see a stumbling Jesus. He does not look omnipotent. He does not look omnipresent. He does not look omniscient. He looks weak and frail and broken and tattered and torn. But man looks on the outward appearance; God looks on the heart. I just want you to understand, if you’re a stumbling son, He understands you because He is a stumbling Jesus.
The Roman soldiers who got tired of making fun of Him said, «Let’s hurry up, Simon! Simon of Cyrene, come help Him with the cross.» Now, I need a little time, can I help? In all of the synoptic gospels, they refer to Simon as Simon of Cyrene, but Mark is the only one that refers to him and his children. Everybody else, Matthew and Luke, refer to him as if he were a stranger on the side of the road. Most commentaries talk about Simon as if he were a stranger on the side of the road, but when Mark talks about him, he speaks from a place of familiarity. He says, «Simon of Cyrene and his two sons,» and he names his sons, which tells me Mark knew Simon. Mark does not look at a person and name them and their kids if he doesn’t know the person.
So Simon is not here by accident; he is here by providence. Simon is here on purpose. Incidentally, Cyrene was in the northern parts of Africa. He is here at this particular point in this particular time, and at the moment that Christianity is being established, this Black man from Africa has been planted in this spot, and Mark knows who he is, and he even knows his children. So it is not true that Simon just showed up on the scene as if he were being recruited to do business. This is a setup; this is an assignment. Simon has been chosen to play this role in history. This is an intervention where this dark man from Africa comes in to lift the weight of a cross that he would never die on, but he is there to lift the weight.
Is there anybody here to lift some weight off of somebody? That’s your calling, that’s your mission, that’s your anointing, that’s your gifting. You’ve got the capacity to lift a weight. It’s not even my cross; it’s not my cross, but I’ve been drafted to carry it. So I’m boggling in my mind trying to figure out how Mark knows Simon of Cyrene, and then I begin to realize and understand, first of all, that Mark is not one of the Apostles. He’s an evangelist. He writes the Gospel but is not listed as one of the 12 Apostles. He is Mark the Evangelist. Second of all, Mark comes from Cyrene.
Why didn’t anybody tell us that Mark is African? Why didn’t they tell us that Mark knew Simon and his children, that Mark had been raised in Cyrene and had gone into Jerusalem and had been trained in Rome, but he had not forgotten his roots? Steady, Bishop, steady. Why didn’t they tell us that this was a setup, that Simon would be selected to help Jesus carry the cross? We don’t hear this kind of conversation because it was not beneficial for us to understand that our face was in the text.
So I read it in the African Bible, and started studying it there; then I began to verify it through other sources. According to the African Study Bible, we had a very prominent role to play that we were not told. We were not told that Augustine came from Northern Africa, that Augustine, who is responsible for fighting for the doctrine that would become the Nicene Creed, was from Africa. We were not shown to be there lifting weight, but are we not weightlifters? Have we not always been weightlifters? Jesus, when Moses had to flee out of Egypt and had to flee into the desert, came to a place where he ran into Jethro, who was called «Burnt Face.»
Jethro, who lived in the desert, lifted the weight of Moses’s pain off of him and taught him how to survive in the desert. Because once you’ve been in a desert, you are there not to replace anybody, but I can tell you how to get through the desert because I was raised in a desert. I was raised in trouble. I can tell you how to take $10 and feed five kids because I’ve been in the desert. I can tell you how to make it with your lights off and your water off. I can tell you how to do that because I was raised in what you’re going through. Your job is your job; my job is my job. But God has me on assignment to lift the weight off of you, to tell you that weeping may endure for a night, but joy is coming in the morning.
I want to talk to every depressed, broken, wounded, hurting person in this room. You might be weeping right now, but they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. How do you know? I’ve cried myself; I’ve suffered myself; I’ve agonized myself. There’s something you get from the tears that makes you able to receive the blessing. Stop trying to take shortcuts to get to success. There’s a reason you’ve been afflicted. There’s a reason you’ve been ostracized. There’s a reason you’ve been overlooked. God is training you to make you tough enough so that when you get there, having done all to stand, you’ll stand with your loins girded about with truth. I feel like preaching this morning. I’m talking to somebody in this place this morning. Somebody give Him 30 seconds of crazy praise!
Away with this idea that Christianity is the white man’s religion. The devil is a liar! Christianity is man’s religion; it’s for everybody, all colors. All people can find their place in the Bible. You belong where you are. Touch somebody and say, «You belong where you are.» You didn’t ask for it; you didn’t seek it; you didn’t desire it. It’s not what you had in mind, but God has chosen you to play a particular role at a particular time. I want you to stop crying about it, complaining about it, and fussing about it, and start giving God praise for it right now.
Whoever I’m preaching to, you may be in the balcony, you may be all the way in the back, but whoever I’m preaching to in this place, God’s got you right where He wants you. We are always preaching about Simon Peter, but we hardly ever preach about Simon of Cyrene. These two Cyrenians, we never acknowledge that they came out of Africa. It’s not a big deal until you don’t acknowledge it. It’s not a big deal that the Ethiopian eunuch came from and went back to Ethiopia until you don’t acknowledge it. It’s not a big deal that the Queen of Sheba comes out of Ethiopia and that Solomon didn’t make her rich; she was rich when she got there. It’s not just that she was Black; she was a woman. She was rich and in authority, in a position of power. There was no liberation movement; she was already walking in power. It’s not a big deal until you don’t mention it.
So I heed to my close. The question arises: can you serve unmentioned? Can you serve unnoticed? Can you love overlooked? Can you serve and have people never call your name? Can you be the other Simon, the other Simon? I feel my Pentecostal roots standing up in me right now. I know what it is to be the other Simon. I know what it is to be overlooked. I know what it is to be pushed aside. The first time I came to a conference, they almost knocked me down trying to get the best seats. I ended up in the balcony, in the nosebleed section, in the furthest seat all the way at the top because I was not Simon; I was the other Simon. I came to talk to some people: everybody’s overlooking you, but God has a plan for your life, a plan for your future, and a plan for your destiny. Don’t be afraid because it is not merely serendipitous; God has a plan for your life, and He has chosen you to play a role in history that may not always feel good, that may put a weight on you that you didn’t expect to have.
Yes, Lord, I haven’t forgotten! You have been chosen to raise that child—not the good one, the one that gets on your last nerve and drives you crazy. Anyone else would have hit him in the head with a skillet, but there’s an anointing on your life to play that role that nobody else could fill. Could it be possible that you have been chosen to be married to someone that other people wouldn’t be able to stand? But there’s a grace on you, there’s a gift on you, there’s an anointing on you, there’s a power on you. Your mama couldn’t take it, and your sister couldn’t take it, but God has chosen you to lift up the cross and carry a weight.
I want to find Simon. Simon, are you in this room? Is there a Simon in the room? I don’t care what gender you are; I don’t care what color you are. Before life is over, all of us get an opportunity to carry something we didn’t ask for, to carry something we don’t want to carry, to lift up a cross that isn’t even our own. All of us will get a turn to be spat on, to be treated without dignity. All of us will be a footnote in somebody’s story: Simon of Cyrene.
If it were not for Mark, we wouldn’t even know this dude was a person who mattered, who had a family, a life, and a history; that he had been drafted when things were at their worst to walk with a stumbling Jesus. Peter walked with an erect Jesus, a strong Jesus, a water-walking Jesus, but Simon of Cyrene was chosen to walk with a stumbling Jesus. I submit to you that in this age, as Christianity stumbles and many have dismissed it as irrelevant, and the number of churchgoing Christians is declining, could it be possible, could it be possible, could it be possible that God has chosen you to lift up the weight of the cross in this season?
Let me go deeper. That thing that you want to get out from under, that thing that you want to quit, that ain’t even fair—that thing where you get no credit, no acknowledgment, and you don’t even feel appreciated—that thing that you didn’t ask for, you didn’t sign up for this stuff. I can hear your prayer going up to God; you told God, «I didn’t sign up for this.» No, you got drafted because He knew you were strong enough to stand up under the load of something that would have crushed anyone else, and you’re the only one holding it together. You’re holding the family together; you’re holding yourself together; you’re holding the kids together; you’re holding your spouse together. It’s not fair; you’re not treated right; you don’t always feel appreciated.
Where are you? I’m talking to somebody—wave at me if I’m talking to you. You have been chosen to play a role that nobody else in history could play except you, and sometimes you have been chosen to be attacked. You have been picked out to be picked on; you have been set aside for such a time as this. You will go through a season that doesn’t seem just, that doesn’t seem fair, and that doesn’t seem right. But God has chosen you to bring down a giant that nobody else could bring down but you; to stand up to a test that nobody else could stand up to but you; where nobody could witness in the hospital with breast cancer and still be a witness to the nurse while the nurse is treating your sore. It could be possible that God has set you in a situation that you absolutely hate, but God has drafted you because He knew that even with your feelings hurt, tears running down your face, and your body wracked with pain, He knew you’d still bear up the weight of it all.
As I come to the close of this message—and I’m not closing; I’m just quitting because it’s polite—I want to talk to people who are kind of crazy like me. I thought life would be fair. I thought if you did good things, you’d be appreciated. I thought if you did your job, you’d be acknowledged. I thought if you helped people, they would help you back. I want to talk to somebody right now who has been chosen and selected to serve in the midst of pain. When nobody’s looking, you cry yourself to sleep, and when nobody’s looking, you want to quit, and you’ve threatened to walk away a thousand times. But walking away is not in you, and you’re here today, and I’m preaching this message for you to tell you that God knows who you are and knows what’s going to come out of you.
The reason your children are named is that you’re going to break generational curses. I am here to tell you that God will always leave somebody around who understands what you’ve been through, where you came from, and the pain you bear. And I am here to tell you, for every Simon, there is a Mark. I know it’s no mistake that you’re here—that God has drafted you for this assignment, and nobody can do what you do like you do it because you have been born for such a time as this. In Israel, it is a requirement that if you go to school, you must be trained for the military; you’re born to fight; you have to fight. In Ukraine, they started drafting men without asking if you want to fight; they said if you’re a man and of a certain age, you have to fight. Life does not ask you how you feel about the fight; you have to pull up your big girl pants and stand up to the fight. Who am I preaching to? Make some noise in here!
I chose you; I chose you; I chose you; I chose you; I chose you to raise that child with a learning disability, with that behavioral problem, that temperament, that attitude. I put something inside of you so that you are the only one who can get through to that person. And don’t you stop believing in yourself because God sent me here to preach to Simon. I don’t want Simon Peter to come to the altar; he gets enough credit. You walked on water, you caught masses of fish, you preached on the day of Pentecost; you get enough credit. Your shadow falls on people, and they get healed. I didn’t come to preach to Simon Peter; I came to preach to Simon of Cyrene, who has been placed at a particular place, at a particular time, to play a part in history and seldom gets mentioned at all. Simon of Cyrene, whether you are black, white, or brown, this is bigger than that.
Whether you are male or female, if you are carrying a cross you didn’t ask for, I want you at this altar. If you are carrying a cross you didn’t seek, if you just came down here to bring some lunch to your brothers and now you stand in front of Goliath and it is trying to kill you, and you’re having to fight big stuff that wasn’t even yours. If you’re watching online, I’m talking to you. The anointing of God is in this place; the Spirit of God is in this place. God is speaking right to your situation; He is answering your prayer. You thought it was going to be fair, didn’t you? You thought it was going to be right; you thought it was going to be just. God moved you, Simon, to be at the right place at the right time because you have the anointing to lift a weight that would have crushed someone else.